Jammin'

Those who know me in real life are probably sick of hearing about this, but I'm excited so I am going to post about it and you can just skip it.  I won't be offended :-)

The "it" and "this" I'm referring to is becoming a Jamberry Nails consultant.  If you've never heard of Jamberry Nails, then you're just like I was 2 weeks ago.  I was invited to an online Jamberry party, and decided to ignore it because I had no idea was Jamberry Nails were, nor the inclination to go find out.  But somehow I eventually noticed what they were, and then I got QUITE interested.  It is one of my dearest wishes to have always-pretty nails, but trying to accomplish that puts me in direct odds with one of my most important priorities, which is to expose myself to as few harmful chemicals in my beauty regimen as possible.  "Real" nail polish and the nail polish remover that it requires are, as we chemists like to put it, yucky.  Plus I am not good at doing my own nails, I ALWAYS immediately mess up at least 2 of my nails as they're drying, and within 2 days my nails are all chipped and ugly again anyway.  I have gotten the Piggy Polish natural nail polish for my girls (plus various other kinds) and they don't even last a day without flaking off.  I love getting manicures, but again, yucky chemicals, pricey, you still can't keep your nails looking perfect without having them done every week (which is bad for your nails), and if you want french tips or any designs it costs even more than a regular manicure.

Jamberry Nails are little vinyl "shields" that you peel off, heat up with a blow dryer, and apply to your nails with pressure, then just file them down like you would your natural nails.  They take slightly longer than nail polish to put on  (about 20 minutes the first time), but they look adorable and last for 2 weeks, so I feel like it's actually worth the effort.  I won't pretend that vinyl is awesome for the environment, but it IS much better for you than all the volatile organic compounds found in nail polish that you breathe in and absorb through your skin.

2 weeks of super-cute nails that are cheap and require no artistic skill?  Sign me up!

I ordered 4 sheets of nails, and applied the Halloween ones as soon as they arrived.  Once they had been on for 3 days and I could see for myself how good they looked and how well they lasted, and I went to order a bunch more.

Love 'em

However, as I was loading up my online shopping cart, I realized that for just about $20 more I could become a consultant and get free nails all the time, tell everyone I know about them and possibly even make some money.

So now I'm a consultant!  At first I figured I would just aim to make back the cost of the consultant start-up kit ($99) and consider myself lucky if I made any more money above and beyond that.  But then I started to think about all the possibilities and figured if I was going to give this a shot, I might as well REALLY give it a shot!

So that's how I find myself signed up to host a party at my house and sell at a bridal show, a holiday "boutique" and a firefighter quartermania bingo in the next couple weeks.  As if the holidays aren't full enough to begin with!

But I've always thought it might be nice to be able to bring in a bit of money while still being at  home for my kids.  Unfortunately, chemistry is not really a work-from-home profession, and I never came across anything in the direct sales category that I actually WANTED to sell.  But I'm surprised at how quickly this idea grew into something I knew I wanted to do, and how many opportunities have popped up already!

And I still get a chance to use my chemistry degree at home occasionally too.  In fact my husband just called down the stairs and said he's scared of the drain cleaner I bought so I guess I go get to "perform some chemistry" right now!  I'm used to doing science on his behalf though.  I've been doing it ever since we were 12 and I offered to pull the heart out of his frog in science class because he was too grossed out :-)

P.S. That stuff was LEGIT!  I don't know what they're doing selling it at Wal Mart.  I have a couple little acid burns on my arm right now, I feel like a real chemist again!  Good thing I'm not using chemicals in my nail polish too :-)

Need a web designer? I suggest you ask someone else

Yesterday was pretty awesome. And it was made all the more so by the fact that I expected it to suck.

I dropped Emily off with Grammy, then headed to my endocrinologist's office. I'd called the office several times over the past 2 weeks, trying to tell her I was pregnant and needed to get my thyroid levels tested. It's incredibly important to have your thyroid levels under control for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy because the baby's thyroid doesn't start working until about 12 weeks. So I was getting pretty nervous and angry as the weeks passed. I decided to go into the office in person and put the smackdown on the receptionists (who are annoyingly protective of the doctors...I KNOW they're busy, but I am a patient and I haven't heard back in 2 weeks! I'm not getting any less pregnant!) I was a bit nervous because I hate confrontations, but morning sickness decided to hit me harder than it ever has so far yesterday, so I figured I could draw on my sick pregnant lady anger to get me through. They assured me they'd have a lab slip ready for me tomorrow. "I WILL be back tomorrow!" I threatened.

Then as I drove away the nurse called and said she had mailed me a lab slip on Monday. Good then. Thanks for letting me know jerks.

Next on the agenda was going to the lab where I used to work. They had contacted me because they need some website updates. How hilarious is that? *I* know more than anyone there about web design. ME. Who knows next to nothing. Oh well, I figured I'd give it a shot, although I fully expected it to be a waste of time because I don't remember the passwords or even how to use Frontpage in the first place.

Well amazingly enough, I was able to install Frontpage, remember where all the website files were, and update everything they needed me to. I kept expecting to hit a brick wall and not be able to fix things, or worse still break the website, but it all worked. My boss also offered again to make me lab director, and took me out to lunch. My morning sickness let up just long enough for me to scarf down an awesome cheeseburger and fruit.

So I was paid WAY more for 2.5 hours of work than I ever earned for a whole day's work there as a chemist, I got to visit with all my old coworkers, and my old boss took me out to lunch, which she had never done before. This consultant thing is definitely the way to go. Too bad I don't actually know what I'm doing, and even if I did I would be in competition with part of Will's company, so probably no future there :-)

Then I went to my parents house to pick up Emily and had dinner there. The morning sickness definitely came back when they started cooking the tuna. I seem to be doing better today though.

So I feel good for having earned some money, and quite amused that I earned it through working on a website. Sure my yard is un-mowed and the dishes languished in the sink for far too long, but hey, I got paid! For the first time in 2 years! Yay!