Supply & Demand

How many of you have looked at a charge for a service and thought, "That's stupid to pay someone to do that; I can do it myself for less (or free)!" On the flip side, how many of you have ever had a task that we just dreaded doing, and procrastinated, put off, rationalized against, and otherwise avoided it? Nathan often reminds me that the Laws of Supply and Demand dictate that at some point, a consumer will be willing to pay for services. Maybe those of us who have procrastinated and avoided our tasks finally decide to just pay someone else with more time or better skills to do them for us.

I am ashamed. I've been staring at my ironing for a month--one dress in particular--and creatively avoiding it, feeling blessed that we have enough clothes to go without a few particularly wrinkly pieces for weeks on end. In my defense, the dress was fully lined and had boning, and it was tricky fabric. I could have done it myself, but really didn't have the time or energy to focus on such a meticulous piece of work. I finally took it to the dry cleaners and had them do it for me. One hour and $3.78 later, my dress was freshly pressed and hanging in my closet. Much better than stressing over it for a month.

Here We Come a Wassail-ing

Growing up my siblings and I enjoyed watching Will Stanton's Claymation Christmas Special at home, and our early-morning Seminary class had a tradition of watching it on the last day of class before Christmas. So, in honor of those traditions, I want to share some of my favorite clips. :)











("Sounds like an old sheep-shearing song.")

Merry Christmas!

Cha-Ching

I keep waiting for it to feel like Christmas. Seems like all the things that made the season special for me growing up aren't going to happen anymore. I was downright depressed last year; I have to figure out a way to make my own cheer.

Meanwhile I discovered yesterday that my favorite twinkle-lit garland doesn't work, I can't get hot water in my washing machine--which Nathan is content to let be since we do pretty much all our laundry in cold water anyway, 'tho I think it'd be nice to at least have the option--and we still have a leak in our roof by the chimney. We had a guy come look at it while Hurricane Ida was blowing through, and he offered two options. We agreed to try the simpler fix first, but I saw yesterday in the torrential downpour that it didn't work, so on to Plan B: reroofing. Right after our new furnace and new hot water tank. Ho Ho Homeownership.

Last night Nathan asked me to scan all his mission pictures over Christmas break for a seminary lesson...

*sigh*

I was hoping to have a few more years to recuperate before starting that one. But, it will be nice to have it done. I finally finished my Blurb photo book of my childhood pictures, and I'm almost done organizing my sister's digital photos as part of her Christmas present. Isn't it amazing how quickly technology overwhelms us, no matter the form?

May your days be Merry and Bright...

New Addition

Meet the latest addition to our household as of Saturday. David named him "Beeper."

Sorry my point-n-shoot camera didn't like focusing on him, no matter how many times I tried. This was the best photo of the bunch.

Pampered Chef personal website

Hello again everyone!  I have set up my personal website for Pampered Chef, and you can now place orders (and pay securely with credit card) online at www.pamperedchef.biz/natalienash. 

Until I reach a certain sales quota I can only receive online orders associated with a show, but it won't be long before I can accept individual orders online, as well as do wedding registries and fundraisers. (I can, of course, help you manually with those things already.)  I'll keep you posted!  Meanwhile, there's a show open in my name, so you can go to my website, enter Natalie Nash as the host, and shop 'til you drop.  Christmas is only 91 days away!

Many thanks to all of you for your fantastic support in this new journey.

Natalie
_________
Independent Pampered Chef Consultant
919.266.6503
pamperedbynatalie@gmail.com
www.pamperedchef.biz/natalienash


"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
- Elbert Hubbard

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Natalie Nash <other2nashes@gmail.com> wrote:

(My apologies if you get this more than once.)

Dear Family and Friends,

As a full-time homemaker interested in doing just a little something extra, both for a creative outlet and for a little discretionary income, I've often pondered work-from-home options, ranging from floral design to medical transcription.  None seemed to fit my personality or my family's needs, until this last week, when I decided to become a Pampered Chef Consultant!  I'm very excited to have found a job that works for busy moms and still allows me to focus on my family.

Whereas most jobs have a 90 day probation period, Pampered Chef has a 90 day promotion period.  The more cooking and catalog shows I do within my first 90 days (through December 25), the more incentives I'll receive, in addition to higher commission.  They also offer an EXTRA free gift to those who host shows with me within my first 30 days (through October 26), just as a way of saying "Thank you for Jump Starting my Business."

So YES......this is my request to all of my family and friends to help me get my business started.  It only takes $150 in orders to qualify for a catalog show (perfect for out of state family and friends).  You will be shocked by how easy it is to get orders if you take a catalog with you to work, school and even to a soccer practice.  But, if you do live near me, I would be thrilled to come to your home and cook for you and your friends.  Let me show you how easy it is to make delicious meals at home for less than $2 a serving!

Want to learn more?  On Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00 PM, I will be hosting a "Kick-Off Party" in my home.  I would love if you could make it.  I will be sending out flyers and emails announcing the party, but I wanted to personally send you an email and let you know what I have decided to do.  I am excited about the opportunities that are ahead of me.

If you are interested in learning more about the business or just have questions about it, please don't hesitate to ask.  I would love to have someone join me and we can embark on this new journey together.  Thank you so much for your support, and I hope to see or talk with you very soon.

All my love,
Natalie Nash

Independent Pampered Chef Consultant

pamperedbynatalie@gmail.com (for Pampered Chef-related stuff)
www.pamperedchef.com

P.S. In a few weeks I will have my own personal web site and will be able to offer wedding registries and fundraisers.  You will also be able to order products online anytime!

"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
- Elbert Hubbard

Pampered Chef Email

I set up an email just for Pampered Chef stuff...

pamperedbynatalie@gmail.com

May I Have Your Attention Please...

After some pondering, mulling, weighing, and debating (and, for my brother's sake, I'll add musing, cogitating, brooding, ruminating, deliberating and meditating :), I decided to become an Independent Consultant for The Pampered Chef.

I love Pampered Chef's products, and feel like this will be an opportunity for me to earn a little extra money doing what I do already--share my opinion about consumer products--while still focusing my energies as a full-time homemaker. I'm also excited to learn more kitchen skills!

I'm still working on getting a website, but drop me a line at pamperedbynatalie@gmail.com if you're interested in hosting a show or purchasing any products! Another option for those far, far, away is to do a catalog show, which does not involve any demonstrations. Then I just send you a bunch of catalogs and you and your friends peruse them together.

Some of you may be excited to learn that September's Guest Special is 20% off select Stoneware and metal bakeware. With no quantity limits, here's an opportunity not to be missed!

July Trip: New England

ROAD TRIP!

In July we went to visit my brother Sean's family in Connecticut...via Niagara Falls. We set the destination in the GPS, hit "Go!" and off we went, on a very scenic route. (We later realized the GPS was set to avoid toll roads, so we were all over those back roads, lol.) We had planned to drive all the way up to the falls in one day and sightsee the next, but about 9 hours into our 12-hour drive Daniel started throwing up--a lot. After the fourth round in half as many minutes, and I only managed to catch the last with a plastic bag, we pulled over to change his clothes and wipe out his carseat. I implored Nathan to stop for the day even though we were short of our goal. We were in the middle of NOWHERE. GPS saved the day! It was so nice to hit "nearest hotel" and get directed to a town just east of us with a hotel, a Wendy's, and a Walmart. Thankfully Daniel didn't have any more episodes, but he did have a high fever that night (yay Walmart for a Tylenol run!).

The next day we headed out again, and just as we crossed the New York border, Daniel started fussing again. Fearful of vomit round two, we pulled over, and a nice man stopped to check on us. When we told him we thought the kids were just tired of being cooped up, he offered to show us the way to a local playground. The boys loved that.

After about 30-45 minutes we headed back on the road and arrived at Niagara Falls mid-morning. We didn't bring documentation to cross the border, but we did go on Maid of the Mist, which I think was way more fun than crossing over.

After we toured the Falls we drove to Lockport, NY to see the Erie Canal. We also did a tour of Lockport Caves, which was pretty cool.

We spent the night in Rochester, NY in preparation for our stop in Palmyra. In the morning as we were eating breakfast, the hotel's fire alarm went off. We evacuated the hotel and the boys watched in awe as two firetrucks pulled in, firemen hopped out in all their uniformed glory, tossed axes and other tools to each other and hoofed into the hotel. We don't know what the problem was, but one of the firemen gave each of the boys a Junior Fire Chief sticker afterwards.

In Palmyra we visited Hill Cumorah, the Martin Harris Farm, and Joseph Smith's homestead, including the Sacred Grove. It was the first day of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, so between that mess and our eagerness to get to Sean's we didn't spend a lot of time in Palmyra.

We finally arrived in Hamden, CT that night. While visiting Sean and Jenny we got to ride an authentic steam locomotive in Essex, CT. That train had been used in the latest Indiana Jones movie, "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", in the scene where Shia Labeouf rides his motorcycle onto the train platform and calls out to Harrison Ford on the train. Take note that Harrison Ford was sitting in car 503 as you look at the pictures...

We also visited Watch Hill, RI, one of Einstein's favorite haunts. The kids rode the country's oldest merry-go-round, made with surplus rocking horses! Then we headed to the overcast & chilly beach. David had never been in the ocean before that time. He had a blast.

They took us to Boston and we walked the freedom trail. We also visited the New England Aquarium. Oddly enough, as we were wrapping up our visit, the fire alarm went off there, too. We quickly grabbed our strollers (which we had checked at the front desk for easier maneuverability) and ducked out so we didn't have to wait an hour just to get our strollers back.

We finished the day in Boston's Little Italy with dinner at a cute little restaurant and pastries from Mike's Pastry!! Yum-O. Thanks for hosting us Sean and Jenny!