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Monday, September 24, 2012

On a personal note...

Some of my readers may have noticed I have rarely been posting anything lately.  Unfortunately this has been a result of lack of time, not lack of ideas.  Let me give you a glimpse into what I have been up to lately.

Let me start at the beginning.  2 years ago my husband got a new job.  I decided to quit my job at a local software company and leave my steady income and great health insurance to stay home with my little girl.  Best decision ever - but also a decision that made things very hard.  We went from 2 pretty stable incomes to 1 income (the type of income people start out in hopes of getting something better, not the type of income you use to support a family of 3, a cat, and a mortgage.)

I was torn.  I wanted to help support my family in a way that made a difference, but it was very important to me to be able to stay home with Lily.

I looked into a few options, including making crafts and selling them, which I ultimately decided would be too time consuming with not enough payoff.  I wasn't willing to do anything to make money that involved selling things to my friends or family, or "take a gamble" on a paycheck each month based off of how much of something I had sold.

As I was thinking about this one day I remembered someone I used to know who supported her family doing Medical Transcripting from home.  I won't go into the details of how it all happened, but I will tell you I was definitely prompted and guided to eventually choose to go back to school to become a medical transcriptionist.

I chose Career Step because I had heard that they were one of the best schools out there, so often times a company that needed to hire would go directly to Career Step and ask for recommendations from their recent graduates, making it much easier to find a job after graduation.  It felt right, so I went for it.  I am so glad I did.

School was completely self-paced and online, so I ended up putting it off for a while due to some other priorities in my life and picked up again seriously just this summer when I finally finished.

I found out I had graduated with honors, and then just 10 days later I had an offer for a job.  I had applied and tested for a lot of companies on my own, but Career Step was actually the one who found me the job I took doing just what I had heard about, recommending me to a company who had come straight to Career Step looking to hire.

I got my dream job - the one I worked so hard through school to get.  The job I got lets me choose my own hours - and even how many hours I want to work which can vary week to week.  They just pay me for what I do.  It is the perfect home-based job for a stay-at-home mom looking to earn some extra money.

So that is why I haven't been on much lately.  I really do have intentions of posting how-to's for the list of projects I still have to post about .  I am still planning on making that happen.  Posts just may be inconsistent.

**After graduating and getting a job I have had many friends ask me how to get into this.  I really do totally recommend it.  Please email me at jessica@utahcountymom.com for more details - I have a lot of useful information to share if you are interested!!  I know it may sound "too good to be true" but I promise you it is not.**

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Live Butterfly Kits

This summer was a busy one, but one of our favorite things we did was getting a Live Butterfly Kit in the mail.
Our butterfly kit came with a habitat, food, and live caterpillars.
 
 
The kids loved holding the caterpillers and watching them eat and grow.
 

 I couldn't believe how big these things got so quickly!

 
Eventually they crawled to the top of their container and hung upside down to form chrysalides.  Once they start hanging you aren't supposed to touch the container for 24-48 hours while they change.

 
Once hardened you take off the lid and put it in the butterfly habitat to wait for them to emerge.

 
Just a few weeks after they arrived they were already butterflies!  The kids loved watching them change and learned a lot.  They would sit and watch them every day and talk about it all of the time.

 
Once we had them for a day or two as butterflies we decided to let them go.  They were very friendly and sat with us a while before flying off.

For the next few weeks we would see them around our yard from time to time.  This was a great educational activity for kids (and adults) of all ages, and took very little effort on my part to make it happen.  I definitely recommend getting your own butterfly kit to try.
 
Butterfly kits are sold many places, but I got mine here.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

BYU Game Day Outfit

Are you ready for the big BYU game this weekend?  Lily is!
 
 
It's not too late to make an outfit for your little one.  Remember this outfit I made last year?
 
 
The shirt honestly only took me 5 minutes so you still have plenty of time if you have the supplies.
 
For a complete how-to on how to make this outfit as well as a link to the Fresh Living TV show on it, see my post from last year here.

Fall Bucket List

I saw this cute bucket list and decided to create a similar one for us. I do well with lists, and am excited to enjoy my favorite season with my favorite tiny girl.

 

Feel free to use my FREE Microsoft Publisher Template to personalize a list for yourself!

I will try to be more diligent at blogging as we do these fun activities!