Saturday, July 21, 2012

Closing our Etsy store

Now I've been on Etsy for 2 years come October.  For the first year, I didn't sell anything, this second year, I've done quite well but let's be honest.  Etsy fees are astronomical. 

Sadly it's true.  You don't have to pay anything to open the store, but they charge you to list your item, and they also take a % of your item's purchase.  Now, nothing is wrong with that, everyone needs to make money, but PayPal already takes a percentage, and Etsy does too.  This has left me no choice but to up my fees on Etsy.

Thankfully, Katie of 3 Sweet Peas brought to my attention HyenaCart.

I've seen HyenaCart a lot for cloth diapers, and I finally went on over and saw they too do crochet and knit items. 

This is great for us, because we can be charged a one time monthly fee for my items to be listed.

Now there has been some debate, or worry is a better word, about HyenaCart.  This past weekend they were infected by a virus, and then some say they caught another virus that following Wednesday night. 

So we needed to weigh our options.

My husband looked over the site, and I still think in the long run it's more beneficial.  So we are plugging on to close my Etsy store and move over to HyenaCart.  Our Etsy store will close officially on August 3rd, and our HyenaCart will open for stocking that Sunday on August 5th.


Also, making diapers for me was a way to just kind of  get through the summer.  I love making them and will continue to make them, but fall and winter is the busiest time of year for me.  I have so many birthdays, an anniversary, Christmas, bazaars, it's crazy.  So not many diapers will be posted on HyenaCart, mostly it will be custom made to order crochet and knit items for Christmas and a few diapers that I have laying around.

We hope that this transition will go smoothly and I hope to see many of you there!

Our New Store!


Monday, July 16, 2012

The Washer from Hell....

So I officially have the washer from hell.

Want to know why?

I want to share with you how I make my washer work.

About a month ago my washer went kaput.  And quite literally.  We have a Maytag Neptune.  We bought it used about a year and a half ago after my washer of 5 years went kaput.  To keep with a theme we bought a used set.

Unfortunately we didn't do a whole lot of research on what exactly goes kaput on them.  What goes kaput, is the electrical door lock mechanism.

So my husband got this genius idea, he'll take the door lock mechanism off and if the wires were broken he would just solder them back together.  It turns out that was the problem, so he took it up to his brother's house and attempted to solder them back together.

It didn't take.  So then he went up to Radio Shack got some wire nuts to tie them back together.  Then he got the idea to re route the wires to make the computer THINK the door would be locked.

This worked.

For 2 washes.

Turns out the computer is pretty smart.  It will only wash clothes for 2-3 rounds(if we're lucky 3) then it needs to be reset.


Here's how it works
First off, the od light will start to flash and beep at you.  Signalling to you that the door is open.

Then you have to grab the "washer machine opener tool" which is a putty tool.  We keep it ON the washer so it doesn't get lost.
Then you have to jimmy open the washer, which thankfully the top is hinged, so you just press the release buttons under the top of the washer and it will lift open.

Like this.
There's one on each side so you have to get them both.

They look like this once you get it open.

It's the little grey thing in the corner of the washer base.

Then you have to find the electric controls that harbor the door lock mechanism under the other side of the lid.  It looks like this.
Once you find it you must unplug the wires from the central control box.
Like this.
Then you plug it back in.  Shut the lid.  And......

It runs.

Weird huh?  The husband wants to place a switch on it, but hasn't yet.  And yeah it's very, well, weird that this is how we use our washer, but this versus 700 for a new one?  Makes unplugging it and plugging it back in all worth it.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Chips and dip? Possibly!

Ok so with my son have a wheat intolerance and lactose intolerance, I should be steering clear of these foods, but....it's not always possible.  This next recipe is wheat and dairy free.  Thank goodness.  It's cheap and easy to make too.  Can take a while to prepare though.

Adapted off of Allrecipes.com

What you'll need

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1/4 lime or lemon juice fresh
2 TB olive oil
1/8 of a tsp ground black pepper
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, drained(or make your own)
1 14 ounce can pinto beans (or make your own)
1 bunch cilantro(I hate fresh cilantro, dried works fine for me, I put about 2 tsps in)
1 avocado cubed


Edit:  This tastes even better if you add in about 1 tsp of Ground Cayenne Pepper or about 1/4 of a taco seasoning pack!


My last batch I started the night before.  I soaked 1 cup of pinto beans overnight.  Then when I got up I started slowly cooking them on the stove.

To cook the quinoa, it's 1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water.  Combine together, with a dash of salt if you choose, and cook it like you would cook rice.

Make sure to let beans and quinoa cool

In a large bowl combine all finished ingredients.  The olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper, tomatoes, beans, cilantro, avocado and quinoa.

Stir and enjoy!


The total price for this meal is as follows
Quinoa $3.49 a lb
Beans $1-2 for a bag or $1 for a can
Tomatoes $1-2 for a can
Avocados $1 for small $2 for a large one
Lemon or lime $.50

And you should have some sort of oil on hand.  Dried cilantro is about $3 but a fresh sprig is about $1

Total price for this meal is $10

Pair with corn chips or gluten free chips and enjoy.  It tastes to me like bean dip and makes for a very hearty meal!


It tastes so much better than it looks.  YUM!



And here's my lunch, with the avocado and yep I cheated, those are my wheat filled pita chips.