The Porch Swing @ Shady Creek Hollow

Thinking Christmas

Yes, I'm already thinking Christmas....in fact I'm pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping. How you may say? Well, for one thing we have drastically cut down our Christmas gift giving list over the years. Currently it's down to immediate family and grandparents. We give little hospitality type gifts to neighbors and friends. Nothing pricey, but I do try to come up with something unique every year.

This year I'm giving the neatest little candle metal holders [they have the word 'Wish' cut out of them & I must say they are too cute] with a suitable peppermint scented candle. I got the holders at Garden Ridge for a dollar [just about everyone I saw the day I was shopping with my Mom had their cart piled with these little beauties, so they're probably sold out by now] and I'm using some of the leftover yet still new candles I bought last year from a local DollarTree.

I found a Christmas themed book that I just loved written by Dorethea Frank Benton & I was able to score a bulk sale on them from Amazon. As you know I've already made my moonshine jelly [recipe here at the blog].But my most favorite holiday early shopping secret of all is a new website I found from China. Go here to check it out:

Christmas Bargains

This is one of the few Chinese vendors that will let you buy only one item if you so desire. It has real merchandise, not knock offs, & the prices are incredible. If you like nice handbags, perfumes, jewelry, watches, sunglasses, name brand shoes, and apparel you just might want to check this place out. Best of all, you can pay with paypal!

Here's the disclaimer, there are no prices listed and you have to make a list of product numbers from the items you like and actually e-mail one of their agents to get your final price....but all I can say is that I was very pleased! I've got two huge boxes of items coming my way and Hutch estimates that I saved us around 800-1,000 dollars in various holiday, birthday, & anniversary expenses for the coming year.

Now is the time to be shopping and planning for a frugal Christmas season. My motto is that with enough planning anything can be made more frugal. Hope you are doing some planning of your own.  

Hot Air Balloons

I had a lovely evening last night. First Hutch took me out to eat at one of my favorite places, Olive Garden. You have to understand that we eat out very rarely and so this was certainly a treat for me. We have been really watching our fat and carb grams lately. At our age you have to slow down in the consumption of both. But last night we ditched our good intentions and feasted like old testament prophets!

Then Hutch took me to see a hot air balloon festival in a little town near us. Oh those balloons were so beautiful. I'll post several photos that Hutch took so you can see them. Several of the balloon owners were offering tethered balloon rides. But since I'd been up on a fireman's platform about fifty feet off the ground, and these were only going about that height, I passed on a ride. 

The balloons were so majestic as they filled with hot air and floated away up over head. The best part is that the festival was free. And so was the parking. Hutch and I had the most fun hanging out and watching the balloons and watching the people watch the balloons.

Anyhoo, that's what's going on around here this weekend. I'm puppy sitting for my daughter and son in law while she's in a wedding in Savannah and my mom is coming in tomorrow for a one week visit. I'm looking forward to spending time with her. She is wanting to learn how to surf around on the computer, and I'm thinking once she tries it she'll be hooked!

Hope your weekend is starting out nicely and that you have tons of good stuff to look forward to as well!  

   

A Proverbs 31 Businesswoman

I haven't been around here much in the last couple of weeks because I have been making plans for a new e-business I'm really interested in. I can't say too much about it yet as I'm still in the learning curve. But suffice it to say, I'm learning a lot about dealing with exporters from Thailand, India, & China. The ones I've been talking to are super nice folks and hopefully over the next year or two, I will develop my budding business plan into something I can be proud of.

As soon as the business is up and running I'll be sure and tell you all about it, and how I got started. I can tell you that the first step in my business plan was to find a niche that I didn't see too many other folks filling. I've done tons of research on the internet (especially eBay). I've found a couple of niches that I'm interested in.

The next step- which I'm in now is to develop inventory and the necessary skills to complete the items I want to sell. You can just be a middle man and make a nice little profit. But I wanted my business to incorporate a creative skill I've always been interested. I know of one lady who is doing quite nicely with a pattern she developed for an easy to sew cloth diaper. She sells the patterns for 5 dollars a piece on eBay and makes about as much as you might make from a small part time job.  

I'm not looking to make myself anything other than a homemaker with a small profitable sideline. I started being stirred in this area recently after doing another study of Proverbs 31-the Godly Woman Proverb. I've always been so impressed by the way this ideal woman takes care of her home, nurtures her family and, still makes enough money from the sale of her handiwork to buy a vineyard and manage it. I want to be that kind of woman.      

If you are being stirred in this area too, I encourage you to make your own plan for a stay at home e business. One of my favorite tools that I've found is the site www.Alibaba.com . This site is the world's biggest import export hook-up. If you find your niche and have a few hundred dollars to invest into it, this is a great place to find low cost goods and parts for making your business plan come true.

One of my friends made a good income by importing pearl jewelry and holding 'open houses' four times a year in her living room. She was a part time stewardess whose regular flights were to China. She'd go to the pearl warehouses each time she was there and fill up her carry on bag for pennies and resell the pearls at her home shows. I loved her open houses and always bought lots of goodies there for Christmas and birthday gifts. My Aunt came all the way up from South Georgia one time to go with me. She bought all her holiday gifts for ladies- her total was well in excess of 400 dollars. We were there for probably an hour as she 'shopped' and I would guesstimate there were between 15 and thirty ladies coming in and out while we were there.

My business will not be in pearls as my friend has kind of got the corner on that market in my little town. But you get the idea of what I'm saying. There are all kinds of niches out there, you just have to do the homework and find yours.     

Anyhoo, as you can see I'm really excited about my prospects. I'll try to keep getting back here as much as possible so I can tell you all about it.