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So what has happened over the last year? It really felt like I just was never gonna get this thing started. Well to start I did actually try and get my DBA online and for some reason it never went through even though I was given a number of some sort, thankfully it never cost me anything, which I only found out when I was looking for the payment after the 5th try. Also my job had me working mandatory OT from February 2021 to September 2021. I was working 50/60 hour weeks, trying to take care of my family (Father In Law died on FEB 21, 2021) which also included my HUBs who was trying to get help for his depression at the time amongst other things, Trying to keep my step daughter from failing not only last school years (just barely made it) but now also this school years (not doing well at all) she also decided that she was gonna be a bad 14 1/2 yr old and try to do somethings she dang well knew were a no no, fortunately we found out and upped her therapy sessions so all is well now on that front, Now if only she would take her school seriously. I was also trying to keep my own sanity which was slipping everyday. I was able to finally get back on my meds which did help a bit as I was getting almost daily anxiety attacks but I also burnt out. It still makes me laugh when the company has these meetings that tell us we have to work all these extra hours but not to burn out and when I asked for a week off only gave me three days. Frankly, I still love the company but that was pretty crappy. So because of my mental state I had to put A Hint Of on hold. Then I lost my job, go figure right. Like I said I loved the company, I really do, I still would refer anyone that is in the field or wanting to get into EKG Tech to them. I have nothing really negative to say about them, things happen. They were very supportive of my mental issues and offered as much help they could offer for me, they were the most patient people I have ever met as far a corporate medical company could be. They really tried to help me but I was burnt out and mentally just not capable of being where they needed me. So now I actually have the time to take care of things, and low and behold after a few weeks my anxiety gets better too. There was a bit of time there I thought I was gonna have to try something new or up my meds cause although I was doing better I was still not where I needed to be. Lost the job and now everything is doing fine. I filed for unemployment and can pay my bills hopefully till I start making just enough to cover them and then beyond. Also near the end of January I finally get my DBA, I got myself an EIN just cause I don't want it connected to my SSN. I already had stock built up from when I was trying to open last spring so I already had product ready to go. Then my Hubs Biological mom who I have yet to met at the time and lives in California needs our help. Now my Hubs has a half sister who lives nearby in California and was helping their mom out but apparently she cant be bothered to do so.... we, btw live in Texas. His mom has diabetes and was in a couple car wrecks and she is too afraid to drive anymore, understandably so. So after looking around at housing, apartments and retirement communities or basically anyplace that would be close enough for us to help her out and finding that none are in her limited price range in our area we decided to build her a little MIL Suite on our property which thankfully is almost an acre, already has a second electrical pole and two septic tanks and access to city water so it would be super easy to build something. She is paying for it from her savings so that is much appreciated as we couldn't afford it on our own. So she gets down here and boom second day sugars get dangerously high, like almost 1000 high and is hospitalized, She gets out after 4 days she doing way better. I'm getting her set up with doctor appointments, changing her addresses in her banking and ins and everything. and I manage to also get my first listing on Esty! Things are looking up, right? No. Its currently 2:46am here in Texas as I'm writing this. I can't sleep, my knee is bothering me and my MIL is running a 102 fever and has been throwing up. she also has very bad acid reflux, sugars have been on the high side but not dangerous thank god and she hasn't been fully vaccinated, she has only gotten one shot. I'm not saying she has to get the shots, but it is Texas we have a high Covid rate and she also has never been vaccinated for the flu. She also hasn't been wearing a mask which I did tell her would be a good idea since she's high risk and in a high rate state. I am also high risk, I have asthma that is hard to control when sick and I am fully vaccinated including booster and I am going to get the flu shot soon too. I wanted to take her to the ER but she wanted to wait till morning. So although I do have listings and do plan on adding more as I haven't even done half of them yet I have to take a break today to take her to the ER and hopefully it will be nothing. I hope that I can get a few hours at home while the sun is out to get some good photos for the listings before we have this next storm come in. So I'm just gonna try and go with the punches and run this biz as best I can with everything that keeps coming at me. I always tell my hubs that nothing can be fine with me, that if everything is fine something is about to go wrong. I know that thinking is my anxiety talking but for the past few years it seems to be 100% true. Funny thing is none of the things that are going wrong have anything to do with Covid, not one. Were introverts so not going out all the time was our normal, Me and my mom are medical so many of the things they told us to do we already were doing, we had very little we had to change. So can't blame the dumpster fire of 2020, 2021 or what has happened so far in 2022. I feel that when I write post like this, I'm being to personal, that I'm sharing to much of my life and no one wants to hear this. Could be my anxiety and I'm sure some if not many of you agree its too personal. Thing is I still feel its important to share for two reasons. One I have anxiety and this actually helps me even if sometimes its uncomfortable, I'm not sharing the things that are too private, there are just somethings I don't thing should be shared publicly especially if its not my story to tell. Two, there are people that are trying to start their business just like me that have struggles and can relate to what has held me back and made it hard on me and I want them to know they aren't alone and that its still possible, still a struggle but that it doesn't have to get in your way. I may never be as successful as some people, I just want to make enough to pay my bills and have a little extra to go see a movie or something. What can I say, I'm a woman of simple needs. That's my update for now, Keep and eye out on my Instagram feed for listing updates as they will be happening for the next week or so.. See Ya! **UPDATE** So as I mentioned I had to take my MIL to the ER as she still had a fever even though it was down to 100 because she had an appointment on Monday and I didn't want her turned away because COVID. Well they looked at a wound on her leg and it was infected. So now she has been admitted to the hospital, I was there till about 1am. So I will be spending my weekend split between the hospital and the house helping get her new MIL apartment built. All in all she is going to be fine they just have to get her leg under control so that we can take good care of her here. She was release from the hospital on following Monday so she only had to spend the weekend there and she is doing fine, the leg is no longer infected and her sugars are under control. I know the doctors and nurses aren't ever gonna see this but lord I know she isn't a easy patient and she was super cranky from her sugars being high the whole time but they are just great and so understanding, They did take good care of her and its very much appreciated! She has a new doctors appointment and the walls for the apartment are going up soon. And I was able to get all my ready made earrings listed on Etsy! Now I just have to finish some so I can list those too!
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Hello, I'm, Krysten Lynette and this is A Hint Of...
I'm the owner and creator of well everything. I started this little adventure after watching far too many YouTube videos. I really liked all that you can do with polymer clay, it's so versatile. I have actually followed Ace of Clay for years now but I have no skill in sculpting so when I saw that you can make jewelry, my interest was peaked. See I have a TON of jewelry, like a lot. There is something about earrings in particular that can complete an outfit to me. Big or small, bright or neutral, shiny or matte there is really no limits. I have always kinda mixed it up a bit. If I'm wearing all black, red earrings, and in truth as much as I love color I tend to wear a lot of neutrals especially black and gray, which most likely also has to do with the fact that when your plus sized that's the main color they sell you. So adding a hint of color kinda became my thing. My style is pretty eclectic to say the least, I have had people describe my style as, soft grunge ,vintage, defiantly have some mom vibes too and I sometimes I put them all together. I also in my day to day wear a lot of plain jane clothes, nerd attire and business clothes. And depending on my job at the time scrubs, which I have quite a few of including a R2D2 scrub top I just love. Speaking of job, I was working a full time job as an EKG Tech at the time I originally posted this. I don't hook them up to anyone, even though I can, I pretty much just stare at two monitors screens of already recorded Holter data and make a report for the doctor to look over. I worked at a company that leases its monitors to hospitals and doctors offices around the the US and Britain, so I don't come in contact with patients and since COVID I have been working from home since before the shut down. So I have pretty much been making earrings on my off time but it hasn't been and easy start. I got put on furlough in April/May of 2020 and even though I had way more free time I just couldn't bring myself to really get started, I was still in my planning stages of what can I do and what can't I do and to be completely truthful I'm still not 100% sure how I'm gonna manage basically two full time jobs. I set the goal of opening in the spring of 2021 thinking that should give me enough time to sort things out without the pressure of the deadline. Well then things started happening, beginning with me being put off furlough. My step-daughter Sweets started up school again right when I started working again. She did great at first but she needed to be under constant supervision because she has zero self motivation to do her work. And since it was all online at first she needed a fast internet which I have due to work. So she stayed with us for a few weeks during the day going home to her mom when she got off work but then her mom wanted her to come back to her house to do the work, Okay fine, but here's the kicker cause no one was watching her she ended up failing, not because she was making bad grades (she did but not enough to mess her up too much) she wasn't even turning in her work, so she had a ton of big fat zeros. After 2 or 3 weeks of arguing with her mom she finally agreed to let Sweets come back so I could get her caught up, which I did in a week, this was not easy, I literally had to do bad at my job and be way down on my productivity to help this girl just not fail, I got her from F- in I think it was 3 of her classes to making nothing lower than a C. Then her Mom wants her to go back to in person school during COVID. We agree caused by this point I'm mentally done and stressed and would welcome a break, Hubs helped a lot but since he was working I was alone with Sweets every day and there were a ton of fights. There's more to this story but then this post would be nothing but me ranting. So now she's doing better and my job is wanting to know what's going on. so now I have pressure from them. There was some very dark days I tell you. And my only real escape was playing with clay. SO I'm working, helping with Homework, and playing with clay. So by October I'm thinking you know what if I get my DBA I might be able to open early...NOPE. My Grandma got sick, so me and my mom are helping to take care of her she got to the point of not being able to walk and was in a lot of pain so we finally had to put her on hospice so she could be comfortable. October 31st she passes at home peacefully. So now I'm grieving and my father in law is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It took months to get him on chemo due to doctors. By then he gets to stage 4, he starts chemo anyway, gest jaundice and has to have multiple surgeries and they have to stop chemo. We end up going to his home every weekend to help take care of him and my Mother In law. He gets better and starts it up again and then in February he passes peacefully at home. This BTW is the short version of all that started when I start getting serious to about starting A Hint Of... So here it is April 6th which is still technically spring and I filed for my DBA, that is literally all that I'm waiting for so I can open A Hint Of and get the party started. I really am hoping that I can start selling soon. And as I have the time between work and well work, I will be posting in the blog. Hopefully if all goes well I can branch out into resin and maybe get a 3D printer, a laser engraver, doing more than just earrings, I want to make tie tacks and tie bars, keychains, magnets... really I have so many ideas of things I want to branch into that would all fall into A Hint Of. This blog is my way of sharing everything I have learned and know as well as what I have, sharing is caring and that includes knowledge. I might not share how I do my personal stuff but I can send you on the right path with the right tools and the right knowledge. So keep a lookout for new post in the Review and DIY pages of The Blog. So with that I will let y'all go, if you can't already tell I am a talker but I did warn you in the about me page. But please leave me a comment here and on my Instagram and take a look while your there. Like and share if you want...share the love. . Krysten |
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