Audra Coldiron

I couldn't get busier if I tried. Here I have a very rare spare moment since I woke up so early. I decided that I have to cut back on sleep if I'm to do everything I want to do in a day! Actually, Irie had a crying spell around 5:45 so I just decided to get up and get a move on.

Hip Klips are going very well. Alli has been selling at festivals within 200 miles of here and of course getting a great response. Since we licensed the product to The Seagull Company they have been taking care of wholesale store orders we've been selling at festivals and finding others to sell at festivals across the country. So far we only have 4 active vendors other than us but it is a start. We're doing this for test marketing purposes and to keep a hand in the business. As Alli was heading to a festival last Friday she was confirmed for a 10 day music festival in Bethlehem, PA that we've been on a waiting list for. We hesitated to confirm since we weren't sure if we had enough Klips due to our last shipment of damaged goods so Sonny and I unwrapped and checked the last 1500 yesterday and I shipped them off to be repaired and returned by Aug 4th. Even if they don't get returned in time I'm pretty sure we will have enough Klips for the show and our CA vendor who orders 800+ at a time and might have a show during that time. They have yet to be confirmed.

Our web sales have been picking up too. I started advertising on Facebook and have seen a noticeable increase in sales. Whenever I have web stuff to send out I bike them to the post office a few miles away with Irie and sometimes Quinn too. I like the exercise and they like the ride because I usually stop and get them a treat on the way back. We just hired a publicist for a 4 month campaign starting Aug. 1st, so I'm very excited to see the results of that.

The garden is a monster. It is taking up all of my time that Hip Klips don't. Everyday this week I've spent 3+ hours in the morning weeding. It has been sooooo hot that it is miserable doing it in the middle of the day. I try to time it so I can do my computer work or hip klip work in the middle of the day but sometimes I don't get out there until 9:00 or so which lands me right at noon when I'm finished. This doesn't include the harvesting that I try to do in the evening before the sun goes down. Our string beans and soy beans are ripe for picking and I'd say beans are about the most time consuming thing to harvest!

We had a pond dug last month and Dolly was finally able to come and deliver our dairy goat who is actually in milk. We've been getting around a gallon a day and so far haven't had any trouble finding things to do with it. Irie drinks a lot of it, Mike turns some into ice cream and I have started making cheese. I just make ricotta for now. I plan to buy a cheese press and learn to make the hard cheeses. Interestingly enough a couple days ago we left a pot of pasturized milk out overnight by accident. I didn't care because I was planning to make cheese with it. I heated it and went to add the coagulant and noticed it was already turning to cheese!!! I've heard that you can use lactic acid to make cheese so I guess it had started to turn and produce lactic acid. It turned out to be the best batch I've made yet!

I got over my fear of the table saw and found out I love carpentry! A couple weeks ago I got irritated enough with myself about starting projects (buying the materials) and never following through. My excuse had been a lack of time but I think it was really that I needed to use the table saw by myself and was scared of it. I decided to just go for it. I built out a wall in the bathroom to cover the pipes that Mike had put on the outside of the wall and it turned out great! Now I'm hooked. I'm going to do all the projects I've been thinking about since we built the place that I could never get Mike to do with me. Next on the list is the door frame to the bedroom then the utility closet to cover the electric panel and finally I'll be able to get to the crown molding to cover the wires that Mike had hung on the outside that drive me crazy. After that then I'm on to trim, then tiling in the kitchen and bathroom, etc.

Quinn and Irie are doing great. Quinn takes care of her when I'm in the garden and Mike is tending to the animals and/or building structures (and taking them down... and rebuilding them... and taking them down...) I think he's stricter with her than we are. In fact, I know he is! lol... I've always said he is 6 going on 16. He might even be 6 going on 26! Irie is a maniac. A couple days ago Quinn was at Grandma's so Mike was attending to Irie as he was working on the "barn". I didn't see it but he said he turned his back for a minute and then heard her "ah-ah-AH!" noise she makes when she's really proud of herself. He looked up and she had climbed up the ladder and had gotten on top of the roof and was looking down at him as happy as could be. Of course he was terrified and impressed all at the same time. I sure hope she likes gymnastics because she'll be great at it. She's also starting to show some interest in potty training. She has told us before when she has to pee and poop and will do it on the potty but it's not consistent. She's only 19 months so she has time.

OK. That's all for now. I've got to go harvest!