BRACES ON FACES - 2ND SET

Devon had an appointment at Senestraro Family Orthodontics yesterday and is now sporting braces. I'm completely blow away by how quickly this happened! Just like we did with Silas earlier this year, we took a picture of all of us and the pie chart I tracked our progress on.

This pie chart makes me smile. (And the 75% slice makes me twitch because I absentmindedly wrote the date in the wrong spot. I confess to almost printing a new pie chart and redoing it at that point.)

The support I received along the way as I worked my Pampered Chef business was amazing, the little checks I've earned from Amazon affiliate links and Random Conversation Starters sales have helped, and some unexpected gifts have filled my heart even more than they filled the pie chart.

I took a picture with the second little W to receive braces after we got home. I'm super excited for him!

Two kids down, two to go! The next sets will be a slower process, as I'm no longer working a part-time job to pay for it, but that's fine. Those kids are younger and there's no rush. We'll just keep plugging away at saving money and filling up pie charts until we've paid for all the #BracesOnFaces.

HANGING UP MY PAMPERED CHEF APRON

Thirteen months and one day ago I became a Pampered Chef consultant, working 100% virtually to earn money for all the #BracesOnFaces our family needs. My goal was to pay for one set of braces each year, a goal which has been exceeded with one set on teeth for six months and another set more than halfway funded. It's been an awesome experience!

As I told you back in May, my income from Pampered Chef resulted in a loss of health and dental insurance coverage. It was a fair and reasonable change, but something that I'd never thought to consider when I started my Pampered Chef business, as my paychecks weren't going into our general budget. I continued on with my work, but started paying premiums for me and Tim out of my checks before putting anything toward braces. (Thankfully, the little Ws ended up being able to retain coverage.)

The transition to Pampered Chef income covering insurance premiums has not gone smoothly and it's become very clear that it's time to step away from my business. When faced with tough decisions that have no clear answer, people often say they wish God would put a flashing neon sign over the best option. Those proverbial signs have been flashing with increasing intensity and I have full confidence that I'm making the right choice.

I want to make it very clear that the problem lies entirely with the details of our financial situation, not at all with Pampered Chef.

• I love the products - a huge variety of items that ensure every person can find something useful for the way they live, lifetime guarantees on several kitchen tools, and cooking made easier in my own kitchen.

• I love the company -  awesome customer service for people buying their products, a phenomenal host benefits program, the ability to start a business without investing several hundred (or thousand) dollars on products you then have to sell if you want to earn anything, and endless training and rewards for consultants.

• I love the people - fellow consultants who celebrate each other's victories, cheer each other on through struggles, and support each other's businesses in a spirit of camaraderie instead of competition.

• I love the flexibility - the option to work virtually or do live cooking shows, shake it up and do a little of both, and determine my own hours.

I would stay if I could, but I can't.

So, what does this mean for my customers?

• My party - I will be submitting a final catalog party of my own on 10/12 for anyone who would would like to place an order. Giveaways included! Click here if you want to be part of that and here if you'd like to see some of my favorite products before you place your order.

• Individual orders - People can still order directly from my site anytime through November.  

• Catalog parties - I can help anyone who wants to have a catalog party through November. I'll just create a link your friends and family can order from while you earn host benefits, without having the Facebook party element.

• Virtual parties - I have some great gals on my team who I'll happily refer anyone to who's wanting a Facebook party. 

And what does this mean for #BracesOnFaces? I'm still committed to making it happen, one mouth at a time, however long it takes. I'll just find a new way to go about it that's better for my family.

Thank you so much to everyone who supported my efforts to finance #BracesOnFaces in one way or another over the last year. The words of encouragement spoken, purchases made, parties hosted, referrals passed along, and enthusiasm shared as slices of pie charts got colored in has been such a huge blessing!!! I'm hanging up my Pampered Chef apron now, but I'll be forever grateful I got to wear it for a while.

POSITIVE CHARACTER TRAITS

Perhaps my favorite part of touring Pampered Chef's home office last month was a wall they've filled with positive traits they want to encourage in the people who work there. I loved it!

These pictures aren't very good because they weren't intended for sharing, only for reminding myself of what the wall said, but I'm including them anyway. Each picture is a floor to ceiling shot, just for scale reference, and I have all the text written out below since the pictures are hard to read.

Integrity 

Do what's right

Say what you mean.

Be honest and expect honesty.

Trust others and be trustworthy.

Authenticity

Be real, be you

Stay true to who you are.

Don't take yourself too seriously.

Have a positive attitude.

Bring your unique personality into everything you do.

Humility - Stay grounded

Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

Give credit when it's due.

Leave your ego at the door.

Ask for help when you need it.

Meritocracy

Drive results, get rewarded

Bring your best to work every day.

Go beyond the day-to-day to achieve stellar results.

Contribute great ideas, the best one wins.

Raise your game.

Forge your own path to greatness.

Passion 

Love what you do

Focus on what excites you.

Dive in with both feet.

Remember that what you do matters.

Be better than you were yesterday.

Accountability

Take ownership

Learn from your mistakes and improve.

Be reliable. Follow through.

Own your ideas and actions.

Be a team player. Act like an owner.

Innovation

Challenge yourself

Be creative. Be curious.

Be adventurous. Collaborate.

Embrace new ideas and ways of thinking.

Express your opinions openly. 

Respect 

Treat others well

Be approachable. Have compassion.

Consider how your actions affect others.

Treat everyone fairly and with dignity.

Acknowledge one another by making eye contact and saying hello.

Talk to people directly, not behind their backs.

This wall was obviously directed toward Pampered Chef's workplace environment, but I think it's a good list of things for all of us to aspire to in every area of our lives. 

IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST

Folks, our kitchen has exploded with Pampered Chef products this week!! So much fun!! 

As a consultant, I had the opportunity in June and July to earn free fall/winter products based on my total sales, all of which arrive in August. As a director, I get most of each season's new products for free and the fall/winter products ship in August. As a conference attendee last week, I was able to buy several items at a significant discount, as well as receive a bunch of giveaways, then have them all shipped to my home at a bargain price.

My director boxes arrived on Friday while I was in Chicago. I knew that's when they'd come and told my family before I left that they could just set the boxes aside. This is the text I got from the little Ws that day. It's like they knew I'd be excited or something!

I returned home super late on Saturday night (or early Sunday morning, if we want to be technical about it), went to church a few hours later, then slept most of the day away. Monday was spent catching up on life, but I finally got to tackle my new stuff that evening. Two director boxes and a bag filled with several things I purchased or was given at conference.

More packages came on Wednesday. Those boxes didn't arrive until way after they were supposed to and no one was home. Tim got back before I did and this is the text he sent me. Think I have my family trained?

One deeply discounted cookware set I paid for, a different cookware set that I won, one Free-For-All box earned in June and July, and one box filled with a combination of things I got in two mystery boxes I bought at conference.

Finally, the last Free-For-All box arrived yesterday.

That's seven boxes and one huge bag overflowing with awesome kitchen tools, much of which I didn't pay a dime for!! I admit the minimalist in me is a little overwhelmed with getting so much at once, but my frugal self is thrilled to get so much for so little. What do I plan on doing with all of it? Some will stay right here in our kitchen. Some will be sold. Some will be used as rewards for customers and teammates who reach various milestones. Some will be given away. All of it will be put to good use in one way or another.

You guys, I'm so thankful for how Pampered Chef is not only paying for #BracesOnFaces! That's all I expected from this business. Just earning money through a virtual business (by choice, as some people do cooking shows) to fix all the messed up mouths in our family. One set per year was my goal and we're currently more than halfway toward funding the second set in 11 months. Crazy!

To have it not only do that, but also give me the opportunity to stock our kitchen beyond what I ever could have imagined and give away products to some people is such a blessing for our family! On top of that, I regularly get to hear people tell me how much they love whatever products they recently bought at a party and will never, never, never get tired of seeing a host rack up free and discounted products for their own kitchen. I love that part!!

By Friday morning at conference I knew I was going to show you all these boxes, but the last thing that happened before everything came to an end on Saturday afternoon was that the home office gave each person there a ticket for a free kit to give away to someone who would like to start a Pampered Chef business of their own. Seriously. A free start on a business. Who does that? Pampered Chef, evidently!

Braces may not be an issue for you, but maybe you or someone you know has another need or desire that Pampered Chef could meet. It could be financial goals, a group of teammates who become friends, a chance to get out of the house (cooking parties) or to interact with people from home (virtual parties), a kitchen filled with awesome products, or something else. If you're on Facebook, come join my closed group, Pampering the Chefs with Bethany Weathersby, to find out the scoop on how and when I'm giving that kit away. (Come join me there even if you're not interested in the free kit!) If you're not on Facebook, leave a comment here with your e-mail address. I'll send you the information, then delete your comment.

As for me, I'll be whipping up meals with my new cookware and trying out new products so that I can tell you all about them later on!

PAMPERED CHEF NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2018

Last week I headed to Chicago for my first Pampered Chef National Conference. I'd really struggled with whether or not to go. I wanted to attend and had no doubt it would be an investment for my business, but also realized the money could go toward #BracesOnFaces instead. After a handful of conversations with Tim, who thought I should go right from the start, I decided to go for it.  I left Portland with some friends late on Tuesday night.

We arrived at our hotel Wednesday morning and I took a 90 minute nap to try taking the edge of my exhaustion after pulling an all-nigher on the flight. I checked in later at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and took a picture to prove it.

Next stop was Pampered Chef's headquarters for an optional home office tour. The kitchen I'm in below is the one they use for all of their demonstration videos.

We also saw their test kitchen, various office spaces, shipping warehouse, and so on. It was neat to see everything that goes on behind the scenes and I'm really glad I decided to take that tour.

Later that evening was team time, a chance for all the people in our organization to get together and celebrate each other's achievements. The group below is all the people from our group at conference who promoted to director since last year's conference.

Photo credit: Christina Fox

Then it was off to Adobe Gila's for a late dinner. I was so stinkin' tired by this time, having only had an hour and a half of sleep since 6:00 the previous morning!! I ended up eating there twice during my time at conference and it was tasty both times. 

Photo credit: Jodi Dillmon

When I got back to our room I found this sign on the door from Faith. I always write cheesy poems that start with "Roses are red", so she busted out a poem for the occasion.

Roses are red

Directorship too
I knew from the start

It would look good on you

So glad you are here

Your first conference to see

All the great things in store

And making new friends to be

It started with a goal

#BracesOnFaces for five

I'm so excited to celebrate
Here with you live

Thursday morning was spent at some training sessions that I was interested in. They were rally helpful, confirming some changes I'd been pondering already and giving me new ideas to help my business. I'm so thankful for other consultants who are willing to share their experiences and perspectives to help others!

Off to lunch at Park Tavern, another place with awesome food that I ended up eating at twice, then back to the convention center for the first general session with all the conference attendees. There were three general sessions, all filled with recognition, helpful training, fun entertainment, exciting announcements, and awesome giveaways.

That night was a glow party for all directors. As a rookie, I hadn't known what to expect and wasn't well prepared, but other teammates had extra glowing things and passed some my way. Faith, Melissa, and I have known each other for over a decade, having originally met on Sonlight's forums, so we took a Sonlight Sisters picture before heading out to the party.

Photo credit: Faith Hayes

Then another shot once we crossed the street.

Friday morning Dani and I headed out early. As first time conference attendees, we were given early access to the Chef Shop that day. I went live on Facebook that morning to describe that experience, but the nutshell is that I got a bunch of stuff at a steep discount, plus a free set of stainless steel cookware. Then I got the world's nicest person at the FedEx counter and had some teammates save me a whole bunch of time waiting in line. Awesome start to the day!

Next on the agenda was director training, a time filled with great advice and ending with another giveaway. Bonus points for the fact that one of the four leaders of this session was Stacie, someone most easily described as my grandma in the Pampered Chef family tree and who's team meetings I attend each month.

That afternoon was another general session and it included all new directors walking the stage. I'm in the middle of the first shot, walking to the right in a black dress, then at the end of the stage in the next one.

Photo credit for both pictures: Brandy Puente

We snapped a picture on the way out of that general session of me with Dani, my first teammate and friend of 29 years, and Faith, my director and friend of 12 years.

Photo credit: Melissa Lake

Had to take a quick shot back at the hotel with my red scraper, a gift to all directors who walked the stage.

Another general session, then it was time for dinner. It was a huge treat to see Brenda, another Sonlight Sister I've known for eons, but had never met in person. This was the third conference she's driven out to for the sole purpose of a meetup, but it was my first time being part of it. I'm so glad that worked out!! Of course, we had to take another Sonlight Sister picture to commemorate the occasion.

Photo credit: Faith Hayes

That night was Sips & Sweets, a relaxed time of hanging out with all the people on our team. We started in someone's room ...

... and ended up in a central area of the hotel.

Photo credit for all three pictures: Jodi Dillmon

Saturday was the last day of conference, so I chose one more training session to sit in on and went to the final general session. We had a few hours to kill before heading back to the airport, so I packed up a few last few things and joined some friends for lunch. 

That little carry-on? It as all my clothes. The big suitcase? It's filled with Pampered Chef products, mostly free fall/winter products and some deals I scored from the Chef Shop.

Off to the airport we went. It turns out that "take everything out of your pockets" when you go through security means just that. It also turns out that when you forget your phone is in your back pocket you get to spend some quality time with a TSA agent. Oops. 

Photo credit: Tina McAdams

Another late night of flying, then I met Tim outside the Portland airport at 1:00 Sunday morning. Such a great week!!

A FUN TEAM MEETING & A SHIFT IN MY BUSINESS GOALS

I attend a monthly Pampered Chef team meeting that I love going to. It's a great time of encouragement, training, eating, laughing, and visiting. Naomi always tells me that she's going to join my team when she turns 18, so I thought it would be fun to bring her along for one meeting. This month's just happened to have a pink theme because of a Help Whip Cancer promotion that's going on in May. That color is right up her alley, so I asked if she wanted to come along. Not only did she join me, but she dressed in pink from head to toe. I love that girl!

What I didn't know was that Tim had been scheming with some of my teammates for several weeks to make a guest appearance. He walked into the meeting, which I might add is almost an hour away from our home, to congratulate me publicly for my recent promotion, present me with some beautiful flowers, and let me know that our family will be paying for me to attend Pampered Chef's National Conference. They also had him share a little bit about what it's like to be the spouse of a consultant, so he spent a couple minutes talking about that.

Trips like the conference aren't in our budget, I'm not putting my Pampered Chef income toward it because I'm focused on #BracesOnFaces, and there's no way I could justify spending family money on a trip that was only for me, even if it's business investment and tax write-off. My plan was that I would pay for it out of our savings account, then reimburse the total from some money that's just mine, money that never gets touched, but Tim is making sure it all gets paid for out of our family budget.

Tim's not the wordy one in our marriage (understatement of the year, I know), so to come and say a little something to the team, and to be the one to initiate the whole thing is a big deal. To make the money end of things work out when we're not a family with that much wiggle room for non-essentials is a big deal. To support and encourage my endeavor in a variety of ways, especially after many years of me supporting his (which is fine and I'm not complaining about), is a big deal. The whole thing was super thoughtful and I really appreciate it! I didn't think to get a picture taken at the meeting, so I had Silas snap this one when I got home.

Team meetings are always fun, but this one was better than most!

On to the next thing.

We haven't had health insurance through an employer in about 5 1/2 years and have received it through the state instead. I simultaneously love and hate that, as I don't want to be supported by tax payers at all, and certainly not for this long, but it's also been nice to know that the rare times we need medical care would be paid for. Just like when I didn't use all the food stamps we were offered several years ago and asked to be taken off the program once we didn't absolutely need that assistance anymore, even though we still qualified, I never want to take help any longer than I truly need it.

On Saturday we received notice that we no longer qualify for free healthcare because our income is too high and our coverage will terminate at the end of May. Ordinarily I'd be thrilled to get that news, but I felt like I'd had the rug pulled out from under me. My attempts to meet one specific need in our family ended up sabotaging the provision of a different need. So discouraging! I spent most of Saturday in tears, just incredibly frustrated. There wasn't anything unfair about it, but it was still a bit of a shock.

Tim and I talked when he got home that evening. I chatted with the director team I'm part of a little later that night. I got a good night's sleep. I had a relevant Bible verse pop into my head completely out of the blue. I got some facts about our options moving forward. I asked Dad for his opinion. I talked to Tim again.

As of now, the plan is that I will continue my Pampered Chef business. However, braces will have to become secondary to health insurance premiums. We're eligible for a discounted premium, but we still can't afford it with our regular income. So, as I always explain in my live #BracesOnFaces updates on Facebook, my paychecks will still go first to tithing, second to charitable giving, and third to a little bit of business overhead. However, the balance will no long go all toward braces. Instead I will pay for our health insurance premiums, then put the remainder toward braces.

That's obviously going to slow down the pace of saving for braces, but that's fine. My pace has been faster than my goal anyway, but it's not like it actually matters how fast it happens. Silas has braces on now and I'd like to get Devon's done sooner than later because his mouth is so messed up, but I hadn't originally planned on having money for his until September 2019 anyway. We'll be ready long before that, despite the shift in how my paycheck gets spent.

Even if Naomi could get braces soon, and we don't know if she could because she hasn't had a consult yet, she doesn't need to. Tyler obviously has many years to go before he's ready, so we'll just stick with our plan to save and then set the money aside.

So, that's that. We'll just keep taking Pampered Chef one month at a time. I'll do my best and we'll see how it plays out for our family.

RANDOM PICTURES

I haven't been very consistent about blogging lately, which means I have a random assortment of pictures to share. Here are some from mid-February through mid-March. 

2/12 - Tyler chose to draw while I was reading to him for school one day. Any guesses what book he illustrated as I read? If you guessed Dolphin Treasure, you're right!

2/13 - Naomi had a spontaneous phone call with Mrs. Carter late one night. She was happy to begin with, as she and Pam have a sweet friendship, but then she got a major case of the giggles when describing a concert that had booths with things for sale. It sounded like she said she was at a concert with a lot of booze, which led to hysterical laughter and tears streaming down her face. It took quite a while for her to regain a composure!

2/14 - Hair twins.

2/18 - Trying out the new (and free to me as a reward for work I'd done) 10" Stainless Steel Nonstick Skillet from Pampered Chef.

2/19 - More skillet experimentation.

2/22 - This is the way short people take care of their responsibility to clean the exterior of the fridge.

After you work hard, you play hard. If you got a little bit of snow, that means heading outside and building a little snowman.

2/24 - The two biggest Sudoku addicts in our home working together on a puzzle.

2/25 - And still more skillet experimentation. We don't usually take pictures of ordinary cooking, but I'd wanted to share some pictures on my Facebook business page when the skillet was released. I figured I'd share them here since they're part of daily life.

2/27 - Reading in bed is definitely a perk of homeschooling!

2/28 - I'll never tire of young readers enjoying a book on their own.

3/15 - Tyler's weekly job this month is cleaning the bathroom. Silas popped in to check his progress on this particular day, then hung out to coach him through the parts he still had to finish.

3/16 - Reading partners.

I'll come back later with some pictures from mid-March through mid-April.

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