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We are in the middle of the holiday craziness, the year is almost over and the last few months seem to have flown by.

This has been a roller-coaster of a year for me. I struggled with a low in my chronic depression and anxiety for a few months which affected my creativity. One of my coping mechanisms is distracting my brain by getting busy. So I put energy into my business by going through the process or renewing some certifications, getting some new ones, revamping my business website and adding a blog to my business.

That has paid off in increased confidence and some new clients which has left this website in the backburner longer than I’d like.

Homeschooling is going but it feels like we’ve been coasting on autopilot for a while. Zen, my Kindergartener, is mostly unschooled because his learning style is not traditional books compatible. It amazes me how much he is still learning though. Meanwhile, Shammy, my second grader, has been doing well with mostly independent work. I give him a to-do list, he finishes it whenever he wants throughout the day and I check it that evening. I still make sure to leave him plenty of free time for “unschooling”, for example right now he is writing a comic book just for the fun of it so I am not about to interrupt that to give him worksheets to complete.

I have a lot of resources that we haven’t used this year because that’s just not where my drive and motivation have been lately. I know that this is all part of the cycle of life and I know that we’ll circle back to that eventually, in the meantime at least we are maintaining steady progress so we don’t fall behind.

The Homeschool Scouts group that we were in has unfortunately fizzled out, and while I “could” take it upon myself to revive it, I have to recognize that my skills aren’t exactly compatible with what is needed and there is no room in my plate for that, the last thing I need is a new source of stress. I just can’t handle stress like I used to.

My volunteer project, the Treasure Coast Homeschooling resource directory and calendar has celebrated it’s first birthday with increased popularity and enough sponsors to pay for itself so I have been gradually making improvements to it as we go.

So that’s it in a nutshell. We are alive, we are well, just busy with life. Wishing you a very happy new year. Meanwhile, you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram.

My freelancer toolkit

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Update:  A lot has changed since I wrote this post.  Click here to view the updated list but if you are looking for mostly free apps, keep reading this one.
I love being self employed, no two days are the same and I have the freedom and flexibility to contribute to my household while still being present for my children and homeschool.
I am always in a quest for efficiency and innovation while keeping overhead costs as low as possible.  My current overhead is just business tax and liability insurance, which are unavoidable, I strive to use free tools as much as possible for everything else.  So while there may be some "better" tools out there for a small monthly fee, I do my best to steer clear of those because those costs can quickly add up.
I am regularly asked about what tools I use so I have gathered a list for ease of future sharing. Some tools are must haves that I use every day, other tools are only used occasionally.
My business is two-pronged offering bookkeeping and website services so I have divided the items in 3 categories.  General business tools that can help any freelancer, Accounting Tools specific to those in the bookkeeping industry and Web tools specific for webmasters.  That way you can skip the sections that don't apply to your industry.

General Business Tools

General Organization: Evernote- Free, upgrades available

This is a must-have tool for me.  I use it for EVERYTHING in my life, business, volunteer work, homeschooling, family organization and more.  Anything important is saved to Evernote, including important documents from my safe.  This article was originally written in Evernote before posting online.
With this tool my information is available from any device, I can easily "clip" websites and save them to my Evernote account, sort by "Notebooks" and categorize with tags.  The search feature means that I can find anything that I need in seconds.  I can draw, speak to and record through the mobile app and later access that through my computer.  I can set reminders and share notes with others.  I can encrypt notes for extra security.  So many features that I love.
The free version has limitations on monthly uploads and number of devices but it has met my needs just fine for the 6 years that I have been using it.  They offer Plus and Business levels for those that need additional devices, collaboration tools, and other features.

E-mail, calendar and general office: Google's Tools (Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc)- Free, GSuite $5+ per month

I had Microsoft Office since before I started freelancing but if I didn't I would use Google's office suite exclusively instead of paying for MS Office.
I am not a fan of checking multiple e-mails or having to use a program like Outlook so I love my Gmail because I have all of my different e-mail addresses funneled to the same inbox and replies go from the correct address with the custom signature automatically.  With filters, I can tell at a glance what is business, personal, etc and with a click I can see an inbox of just business messages,
I use Google Drive for cloud file storage and sharing with clients.  When a client uploads a file through my website, it goes directly to my Drive bypassing my server completely for increased security.
With Google calendar I track not just business but also have personal and group calendars connected, I also have my Facebook calendar linked so if I RSVP to a Facebook event, it automatically shows up on my this calendar.  This integrates with my appointment booking software so a client will never book an appointment at a time when I am busy with something personal.
If you are setting up a new business it may be worth using GSuite for the custom features, at $5 per month it's a pretty good deal for what you get.  Due to the extensive customizations of my free tools and the fact that my Drive has expanded storage, I haven't had a need to switch and pay for GSuite.

Phone- Google Voice- free

I don't like to use my personal cell phone number for business but at the same time, I don't want to have to pay a monthly fee for a landline or carry a second mobile. Google Voice is perfect for this, I get a free business line and I am able to make and receive phone calls from my computer and cell phone.  I get call forwarding, text, voicemail transcription, call recording and more.  When my cell phone rings I can easily tell which line it's coming from so I can answer appropriately.

Accounting Software- Wave Accounting- free

You can't be self-employed and not keep track of your finances.  If you don't want to be bothered by this, hire me and I'll do it for you.
This software choice comes as a surprise to other bookkeepers.  As a Certified ProAdvisor, I get QuickBooks Online Plus AND Self Employed versions for free and as a Xero certified advisor I get that software for free as well yet I use this free accounting tool.
I started using Wave with a previous business before I had access to the other tools but it wouldn't have been hard to switch at all.  I tried QuickBooks for a while, I am very familiar with it since it's what most of my clients use but I found that I enjoyed Wave so much that "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".  This isn't the right tool for everyone but it's great for freelancers.  I love that my income is automatically tracked and I can just email receipts to a special address and they get digitized and processed to approve so I don't have to do any data entry.  With the reports, I can easily see how the business is doing.

Invoicing/billing- Wave Accounting- free, pay only to process online payments

Since I already use them for my personal accounting, it's only logical to use them for my billing too.  While I have access to other invoicing and payment processing tools, using Wave's integrated features means that the bookkeeping side is automatically done for me so all I have to do is reconcile at the end of the month.
It is easy for me to create an Estimate, convert that to an invoice, configure recurring invoices, set up automatic monthly credit card charges to my client's card so everything is automated requiring minimal to no effort once configured.  In addition to credit cards, through this platform I am able to accept bank payments which means that I no longer have to wait for a check in the mail, the payment processing fee is competitive to popular processors such as Stripe and Square and well worth it when I get paid faster and don't have to worry about making a deposit to the bank because it's done for me.

Customer Relationship Management- Streak CRM- free, upgrades available

I am late to the "CRM" game, I fought the need for as long as I could, I tried other CRMs such as Agile and Insightly but they weren't a good fit.  I don't need bells and whistles and don't want yet another system to log on to so I was happy when I found Streak.
I found this by accident when I had outgrown my old e-mail tracking tool, this is just one of many features that Streak offers.  This CRM is a Chrome extension that works with your current Gmail so everything is done within my e-mail inbox.  I love it so much that in addition to business I use it to track my volunteer work and book reviews that I do for fun.  There are mobile apps to access data while on the go but I haven't had a need to use those much.

Cloud Storage Box/ Dropbox- free and up

As mentioned above, I mostly use Google Drive for internal storage and client uploads but I also use these tools with some clients, mainly to share completed work.  Their free plans are adequate for my needs but upgrades are available if you need extra room.

File Encryption- AxCrypt- free, upgrades available

I make it a habit to keep all client files in the cloud but from time to time I may save something locally along with my personal business files.  While I have firewalls to prevent remote access, if someone were to just take my computer or hard drive I would be in big trouble without file encryption.  Sometimes clients will request a backup on CD, DVD or USB drive and I like to encrypt those as well.
There are tools that will encrypt the entire hard drive or have additional features but I have been using AxCrypt for years before those tools became popular and it's another case of "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".

Password Manager- LastPass- free, upgrades available

Working with so many bookkeeping and website clients I have a long list of username and passwords to keep track off.  It's very insecure to keep those written down on my desk.  I originally had an encrypted list on Evernote but there are just too many of them.  LastPass makes it so I only have to remember 1 password for everything.  It keeps all other logins secure for me, I can sort them, edit them, view them and I can use it to generate strong passwords when creating a new account.  The browser extension does the typing for me, there is a mobile app as well.

Contract Signing- Hello Sign- free, upgrades available

If you are a freelancer, I strongly recommend that you have written agreements with all of your clients.  They don't have to be fancy and there are plenty of free templates online.  When working virtually like I do, I never meet most of my clients in person, so signing contracts can be a tedious process.  In the past I would email the document, they would print, sign, scan and email back or send it via snail mail, it was a pain in the rear.  With Hello Sign I am able to e-mail the agreement and they sign online with a few clicks.  It's quick, easy and legally binding.  Their free account gives you 3 documents per month which is adequate for my needs, there are plans for additional documents and other features.
There are other options that also offer a few free signatures per month but I prefer this one because of their Gmail integration so it's faster for me to get the signing done.

Appointment Scheduling- Calendly- free, upgrades available

I offer a free consultation to all potential clients and sometimes have a need to have a virtual meeting with current clients.  Trying to find a mutually convenient time via email can be time-consuming and have a lot of back and forth.  Calendly allows customers to view my availability from my website, select the time that works for them and book their appointment in seconds.
I have tried many other scheduling services before but I like this one best because it syncs with my Google calendar automatically, that is usually a paid feature with other services and I don't book that many appointments per month to justify paying a monthly fee.  If I enter something on my Google calendar, the time is no longer available to book and when someone schedules an appointment, it automatically shows on my Google calendar.
Social media management- Hootsuite- free, upgrades available
I admit that I don't use this tool as much as I should.  Marketing is my Achilles heel and I suck at it, my business would grow faster if I could be better at it.  This tool allows you to plan and schedule your social media posts in advance to promote and maintain customer engagement.
Internet Security- VPN Unlimited-  Price varies
While the firewall and file encryption protect the client and business files on my computer.  The VPN give you privacy while working online and protects the data being transferred through the web to prevent those passwords, etc from being intercepted.  If you work while on the road and use public Wifi, this is a must-have in my book.  There are other reasons why a VPN is a good idea beyond just business needs so you should research that.  There are many VPN options available, some free, some very expensive.   I like VPN Unlimited because they offer a lifetime subscription, fast speeds, lots of server locations and no data limits.  Combined with a special promo I paid a very low price for lifetime protection for 5 devices.  They have plans for more devices if you need.

Remote control- Teamviewer- free, upgrades available

I rarely if ever use this anymore since all of my tools are cloud-based.  This comes in handy a client has an issue that needs remote access to their computer.  I have used it to teach how to use accounting software, or the WordPress backend before.
The only time I use it now is to access my computer while traveling, that way I don't have to bring a computer with me.

Teleconferencing/ Screen Sharing- Free Conference Call- free, premium features available

Another tool that I don't use often but it's great to have.  I get free conference calling through Google Voice so I really only use this for the rare occasion when I teach a webinar using screen sharing or have to get together with a large group of people.  If I wanted to have a large conference right now, I can just post my number and access code and we can all join and chat without pre-planning.

Bookkeeping Tools

QuickBooks Online Accountant- free

This is a must-have if you are a bookkeeper servicing clients that use QuickBooks Online, you get access to all of your clients in one dashboard, have workflows, note sharing, etc all in one place.  The Accountant ToolBox has a lot of useful features not found in regular QBO. I have my ProAdvisor dashboard, apps, payroll and more. It also includes my own QBO account which I don't use.  I get a wholesale rate on QBO subscriptions that I pass the discount to my clients or build it into my package pricing.  
 
This tool is free as long as you remain ProAdvisor certified or have active clients in your dashboard, otherwise, Intuit can take it away after 6 months.  So if you are considering this but are not ready to launch yet, don't sign up until you have the time to at least complete your certification.
 
 

Xero HQ- free

The Xero equivalent of QBO Accountant.  A dashboard connecting all of my Xero using clients in one place.  I also get access to 2 versions of Xero that my clients can't purchase on their own, I can build it into their monthly packages along with being able to resell the standard versions.  I also get my own copy of Xero for my business and a demo company that is great to show a client the software's features and for training.
 
 

Secure File Storage and Organization- HubDoc- free for accountants, $20/mo for clients

This is a good solution for those that want automated paperless filing for their business.  Once bank and vendor connections are set up, the system automatically downloads all statements daily.  You can integrate it with cloud storage and with QBO and Xero to reduce data entry and make your business audit proof.  Uploading receipts and other documents is easy through the app or by sending to your custom email address.  
 
Clients that use this service don't have to worry about having to send me their statements every month because Hubdoc does it for them.  My practice dashboard has all of my clients in one place and I can use wholesale billing to build in this feature to my package pricing.  I would love for all of my clients to eventually be using this.
 
 

File Upload- CloudWok- Free and Up- Update: CloudWok has announced that they will discontinue service in March 2018. I am currently testing alternatives, sadly, none of them are free.

I regularly need to receive documents from clients, not all of my clients use Hubdoc and I don't like using e-mail for financial information such as bank statements so I use CloudWok to provide an interface integrated to my website, for clients to securely upload documents to my cloud account.  While there are many tools in the market for this, I didn't want the extra expense or hassle of a client having to remember an username and password to share files.
 
The free plan is limited and slower but adequate if using developer tools and not needing files fast.  The upgrades are very affordable starting at only $1 a month.
 
Bookkeeper Insurance- Hiscox- price varies
As a freelancer, I don't need the regular business insurance but it's good to have professional liability coverage specifically for bookkeepers.  Some clients even require it!  This is also known as EO (Errors & Omissions) coverage.  Not a whole lot of companies offer coverage specific for bookkeepers and the other ones that I contacted were a lot more expensive.  It was super quick and easy to purchase my policy from Hiscox and I got my certificate of insurance within seconds.    

Website Tools

FTP/SFTP- Filezilla- free

I can easily manage the FTP credentials for multiple sites, transfer files, edit file permissions, etc.  
 
Maintenace/backups/uptime monitoring, etc- ProSites/ManageWP free with premium features available
This is a must-have when managing websites.  ProSites is the same product but available to GoDaddy Pros in a separate dashboard.  You have a dashboard with all of your websites in one place, you can assign the websites to clients and tags for website status to easily see which ones are in development, live, etc.  
 
Many features including backups, security monitoring, updates, performance checks, etc.  Most features are free and then have a premium version.  All costs are a la carte so you can pay for premium backup for one website and not the other.  You can also generate client reports and white label for customers which allows you to even turn off customer access to the code editor so they won't accidentally break the site.   The pricing is very competitive and you only pay for what you use with bundles available for a large number of sites.
 
I have found their customer service to be excellent and I wouldn't offer website maintenance services without this tool.  
 

WordPress Framework- Themify   Some free themes, everything else has a price 

This is a heavily debated category for WordPress developers and everybody has strong opinions about why their favorite is the best choice.  I don't feel so strongly about it and don't care if you use something else.  I personally wasn't impressed with the popular frameworks like Genesis, Divi, etc. and Themify was the right price at the right time.  Since I have lifetime developer access it would make sense that I would continue to use it.
 
They have some free themes and many other affordable ones.  Their prices are very competitive and they offer additional discounts occasionally. You can purchase just one theme or the whole enchilada including all of their themes and plugins.  They have a Builder plugin which I admit I rarely use because I am used to a different one but I find their themes to be greatly customizable for virtually any need.  I use them as the foundation for then building my own custom theme.  Some people complain about their updates being glitchy but so far I have never had a problem ::knock on wood:: and their customer service has always been quick to reply, even at odd hours and on holidays.
 

Website Firewall- Wordfence- free with Premium version available

This is a must-have for any website.  This firewall has blocked so many attacks and alerted me to vulnerabilities that I would have overlooked otherwise.  It has a lot of customization options and you can choose to get notified every time something happens and/or just get periodic reports.  The Premium option unlocks more features and you can get a discount for multiple years/multiple sites.
 
 

Security Scanning- Gravity Scan- free, upgrades available/ ManageWP- $1/mo per site

I use ManageWP for security scanning on some sites but Gravity Scan, by the makers of Wordfence also offers a free option with a trust badge that will make your website visitors feel secure.  
 
 

Troubleshooting- Chrome Web Developer tools- free

This is good for troubleshooting and testing, more options than just using the "Inspect" feature on the browser.  There are similar products for other browsers but I am a Chrome gal 🙂
 

WordPress Site Duplication- Duplicator- free

A plugin to easily relocate WordPress sites.  I mostly use it to transfer from a local development environment to live site.
 

Theme Testing- Theme Check Plugin- free

A quick and easy way to test WordPress themes to make sure that they meet the latest standards.  
 

Custom Icons- Fontello- free

A website where you can create custom icon sets, good if you are creating a theme from scratch and want more variety than just Fontawesome.
 

Local server environment- Trellis and XAMPP- free

These are tools to set up WordPress in a local development environment.  In a nutshell, my computer is the server and everything is hosted locally.  Used when building a new site from scratch or testing new features or major upgrades that I don't want to risk breaking the live site.  I use both from time to time, mainly based on which name I remember first, lol.  DesktopServer is another alternative for this but I find their free features to be limited.

Brickfest Live Review

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Brickfest Live is a LEGO fan event that travels around the country and sets up for a weekend in each city that it visits. It’s not the only LEGO fan event available but the only one that I have attended in the last decade.

My husband bought me a VIP ticket to the West Palm Beach event as a Mother’s Day gift, he and the kids would have general admission which meant that I could enjoy the event by myself first, I was SO excited!

While my review is of the West Palm Beach event that already passed, from what I have read on other reviews it’s practically the same experience at every location so I decided to write this to help others that may be wondering if the event is worth it.

Based on the website there looked to be a lot to do and I couldn’t wait to experience it all, sadly some parts were disappointing so I will list each feature advertised and what I thought about it.

VIP– Thumps up
Benefits: 1 hour early admission. Lanyard with VIP badge. Bag, exclusive minifig and LEGO accessory pack.
I attended the Sunday event and there were less than 10 VIP guests on line at 9 am so I practically had the entire place to myself. Since it was so empty the organizers allowed my family that was hanging outside waiting for general admission to start to join me early. I liked having the exclusive mini figure, talking to other VIPs the figure is overall the same but the heads are different, mine has a standard face which is a slight bummer but not hard to fix since I have hundreds of LEGO heads in my house. The LEGO accessory pack was a pretty full bag with weapons and other minifig accessories.

Derby– Thumbs Up
Children have 5 minutes to build a car and then the event staff will race them for you. This is a high demand activity so if VIP, make sure to do it before general admission starts. My kids had fun with it.

Glow Zone– Thumbs up
There is a display of glow in the dark builds plus several tables for you to build your glow in the dark creation. I had lots of fun with this.

Theater– Thumbs Down
The website advertised theater and trivia but it was not available at our location.

Architecture– Thumbs up
There is a large skyscraper model with tables to build your own architecture designs. I enjoyed it but not as much as other parts.

Mascots– Thumbs Down
The website advertised this but we didn’t see a single one in the 5 hours that we were at the event

Models– Thumbs Down
The website uses a plural term for this but we only saw 1 model.

Robotics– Thumbs Down
Yet another thing that was advertised but was not at the event. It’s very disappointing because my kids love robotics and were really looking forward to this.

Floor puzzle– Thumbs Up
This was a fun part. You are given a LEGO plate and a diagram to lay out your bricks which will be part of a giant 30,000 piece mosaic for a mystery character. You can come back and do it again. Because I was there early I got to do the very first tile. Shammy and I did it about 7 times and loved it.

Build wall– Thumbs Up
This is fun free play for the kids, just bins of bricks and a LEGO wall for them to create whatever they want.

Mini golf– Thumbs Down
This was disappointing, it’s a just a very lame mini golf course that has LEGO bricks glued around the edges. It wasn’t challenging at all and not very “LEGO-y”. My son that loves mini golf wasn’t interested in doing it again after 1 round.

Jr Builders– Thumbs Up
This looked like a fun area for toddlers to play with giant soft bricks and Lego Duplos. Mine were too big so we skipped that area, if you have toddlers, this will probably be their favorite part.

Mosaics– Thumbs Up
I had more fun with this part than my kids did. There are several templates available and you use 1×1 bricks to create the picture and then place it on the wall. The variety of designs seemed limited and although there were several bins full of bricks, some colors were difficult to find.

The Brick Show Experience- Thumbs Up
This is a YouTube Lego show that had a booth at this event, we didn’t stay for the actual show but the kids got to get an autographed photo. It looked like only one of the hosts were present.

Gaming– Thumbs Down
The website advertised LEGO video games but they were not available at our location. This was very disappointing for my youngest as he loves LEGO video games and he was looking forward to trying out new games to request for his birthday.

Space– Thumbs Down
Again, mentioned on the website. Nowhere to be found at the event.

Brick Pit– Thumbs Up
Like a ball pit but with LEGO! All of the bricks were one color and you could build whatever you wanted, my kids instead made brick angels and pretended to swim, they have thick skin!

Marketplace– Thumbs Down
There were only about 7 vendors. I didn’t see any vintage sets sets and only a few custom builds. It was mostly minifigs with outrageous prices. There was a lot of variety in pricing, one vendor had a Darth Maul minifig for $13 while the vendor behind him had what looked like the same minifig for $33. So comparison shopping was a must.

One vendor had current and recently discontinued sets for either MSRP or much higher. I could have gotten the same sets cheaper on Amazon or Ebay. The only vendor that I liked made crafts out of LEGO such as bow ties, earrings, bracelets, Christmas ornaments and more. I mostly shopped from him and the bow ties are so cool that I even got one for myself.

Conclusion

This event is mainly geared for kids so if you are an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) there isn’t as much to do but it can be a fun experience. Admission is very pricey and the regular price was not worth it in my opinion. My husband took advantage of a Flash sale and Groupon deal which saved money but it still felt like a ripoff because so many of the advertised attractions were not offered.

While I had a good time, I don’t know that I would pay to attend again if it returns to my area. It does make me want to check out competing LEGO shows.

Do you have a plan?

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What happens if you are suddenly not available? Can your spouse take over without issue? Do they know where everything is?

That is not the case in my house, while I keep my husband informed, he lets me take care of “administrative things” record keeping, taxes, insurance, kid’s health information, etc. He doesn’t try to commit it all to memory and that is ok, he has enough on his plate. While he remembers their pediatrician’s last name and could Google his phone number, he doesn’t know their insurance details off the top of his head. While he knows that Zen has multiple allergies, he can’t recite the list from memory. This is ok while I am around but what if suddenly I am not?

I recently witnessed an acquaintance going through this challenge when his wife suddenly became unavailable for several weeks. I don’t want my husband to go through the same.

So I have set out to figure out a way to make sure that if I have an accident or suddenly become seriously ill that he can know where to find everything without having it memorized.

Some people have “Emergency Binders” but I am too techie for that, I just don’t see myself keeping a binder up to date. So I took inspiration from my USB stick of important info in my bug out bag and set out to make an alternative for which he doesn’t have to remember an encryption password (this is the guy that doesn’t remember his e-mail password).

My solution? A “Cheat Sheet” in the cloud.

There are various options to do this but I choose Google Docs as it was easy to setup “sharing” with his e-mail address and send a link in his e-mail to ensure that he doesn’t have to remember where it is, he just needs to go to his e-mail and find the link to the file or log on to his Google Drive and see it.

Since it’s a cloud file he will always have access to the latest information without me having to e-mail or print a new version every time I make an update.

The document lists essential info including:
– location of important documents such as: birth certificates, social security cards, medical records, house deed, insurance records, tax records, etc
– where to find the key to my documents safe
– contact information for all healthcare providers, insurance and prepaid Legal Plan
– list of allergies, medications, blood types and any other relevant medical history for the kids and I
– details on insurance payments, renewal due dates, etc
– Umbrella School enrollment information and contact info

For security, I didn’t include social security numbers or account login information on this document, instead I reference where he can locate these documents in the house.

 

What is your plan?

Happy 2017… 2 months into the year

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It’s not often that I take a step back and look in to see how many hats I am wearing, no wonder I am overwhelmed!

  • I homeschool 1st grade and preK on children with different learning styles
  • I am a Breastfeeding Counselor for the Health Department “on call” 7 days a week until 9pm, except holidays.
  • I volunteer as a leader for La Leche League and I am pretty much “on call” 24/7/365
  • I am the Director of Finance of a national nonprofit organization
  • I have a freelance business doing Virtual Bookkeeping and WordPress Websites and this time of year is the busy season
  • I am the webmaster and editor for a local homeschooling resource website
  • I am the webmaster for several non profits
  • I am a Beta reader and reviewer for several authors
  • My kids are now in a scouting group, while not super time consuming, it does add more things to the calendar.
  • I still have to keep the house from falling apart (laundry, dishes, cooking, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing toilets… you know how the list goes…)

So while I may stay at home 6 out of 7 days of the week, I am definitely not twiddling my thumbs!

Add to that a recent cyberstalking nightmare that makes me want to turn into an internet hermit…

So yes, no wonder I haven’t been able to keep my promise to update you more often. Lately there just haven’t been enough hours in the day. But I am here, we are healthy and eventually the dust will settle and hopefully the muses will visit me at the same time that I have some spare time to write.

Meanwhile I am using my little spare time on house projects and planning next year’s curriculum shopping list (spoiler: We are using The Critical Thinking Company products again!). In the meantime, you can get glimpses on our day to day on Facebook and Instagram, both updates show on the sidebar of this website.

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