Update

Things have been going pretty well. This is the month that my husband will get his largest commission check of the year, so we are excited about that. We are expecting about $9,000 and it has all been allocated in the budget, but it is exciting never the less.

A large portion ($5,000) has been planned to pay for our new boiler (heating system) but now it looks like it might not cost us that much. At a get together over the weekend, we had mentioned that we would be doing that this summer and one of our neighbors who works in hvac said he has a buddy he uses for boilers and they can get us a great deal. So, that sounds promising. I'd love to have extra money to add to the debt snowball.

Things have also been going really well with my jewelry business. I have actually just opened up a second shop! The first shop features fine sterling silver and gemstone jewelry (www.dazzlingjewelry.etsy.com) and the second shop features these really fun and inexpensive pendants made from Scrabble tiles. These endeavors have been taking a lot of my attention and energy.

In my fine jewelry shop I have had 24 sales over the last 2 1/2 months including one wedding order that I'm working on right now of 5 earrings and 5 matching necklaces. I'm very excited doing my first wedding party! I am also doing a sample for another wedding, and if she likes how it looks with the bridesmaid dresses she will be ordering 10 of them! So, I'm pretty psyched about that. I have already sold items to London, Autralia, and Norway! I'm making some decent extra money to add to the snowball (though I haven't been too good about tracking exactly how much), but even besides the money, it feels really good to be creating items that people are actually buying!

In my new pendant shop I have had more than 20 sales just in my first week alone! I'm so so so excited! This shop is currently my passion! It is so fun to make these cute pendants. And they are relatively inexpensive to make and sell so I can really create until my heart's content. I am planning to bring these pendants to the local craft fairs this fall and think they will do really well there.

So, I have been busy, both creating and earning. I do need to get my booking in order and make sure these extra funds make their way to our debts. But I feel a renewed sense of purpose and accomplishment. I think there is even hope that these extra funds may help us become debt free by the end of 2008!

I'll keep you posted. And thanks for continuing to stop by and check on my progress even though my posting has not been as steady as it was in the past. I feel very lucky to have my on line - blogging - buddies! Your support has helped so much during this journey! :)