Have you seen all the ads for some super-exclusive home fragrance system? They feature celebrities talking about how everyone who visits their home exclaims that it smells like a high-end hotel. Whatever that means. Two summers ago I stayed in a very fancy historic hotel in Chicago’s Miracle Mile and it reeked of weed, inside and out. The one slow elevator couldn’t keep up with the guests’ demand so we took the stairs to and from our room. Unfortunately my allergy to marijuana had me wheezing so bad I could barely climb up the 2nd flight. So, that's not how I would describe it! Anyway, recently I was indulging in my bad habit of reading trashy online magazines about “famous” people and one article caught my attention. Some lady I’ve never heard of who is “famous” for some reason I can’t remember ~ she might be on a reality tv show I don’t watch or married to some sports player. Anyway, the reason I clicked on the article is the headline said amidst whatever controversy is going on with her right now (she might be declaring bankruptcy, getting divorced, losing her house, going to jail or all of these, I wasn’t paying attention to that part) she spent $100,000 on essential oils. So I was like “what?!” And that’s why I read this story about the lady I’ve never heard of. It seems she spent all this money on the home fragrance system currently blanketing the airwaves with ads. The premise of the system is it goes inside your air vent system. It seems basically to consist of a diffuser you put in your air intake so it blows all through your vents. So, first of all, I am on board with essential oils, specifically Young Living’s, because at least one study has shown the chemical fragrances in 98% of home products are carcinogenic. This effect is enhanced when these chemicals are exposed to heat, such as in the clothes dryer or those little electric air fresheners you plug into the wall or the ones you melt in a little burner. Pure, all-natural steam-distilled essential oils, such as Young Living’s, not only freshen your home but may have therapeutic benefits as well. I certainly don’t want my “clean” home giving us all cancer! And it’s a great decision to avoid heat dispersal, even for essential oils, because that can break them down. You want a diffuser that disperses the oil with ultrasonic vibrations or passive means, such as air flow. But seriously, $100K?! Are they insane? Diffusing essential oils is the most economical way to use them because only a few drops can travel all through your house as the tiny particles of oil are blown around in the air. That’s why I can justify my more expensive splurges on oils like lemon verbena or Melissa (lemon balm); one bottle lasts practically forever. I can’t believe anyone would spend so much, especially if they are facing all the troubles this lady has. I have an even cheaper way than traditional diffusion: use your vent filters. Just sprinkle a few drops of your favorite oil over the vent filter when you change it out and as the air blows through your home the oil will be dispersed along with the scent, no crazy-expensive “system” required! Some more tricks: Add a drop or two inside the cardboard tube in your toilet paper when you change the roll. When the roll turns it will release the scent. Or put a few drops on your vacuum cleaner filter and you will release the scent when you vacuum. Or a few drops on a cotton ball inside your trash can… etc etc. The more you think about it the more opportunities you’ll see. A note of warning: undiluted essential oils will eat through plastic and take the finish off wood furniture so don’t use them on or in anything like that. I made a short video showing how I add fragrance to our air system to keep our home smelling fresh. And people do always comment about how great our house smells but they usually just keep asking “What is that that smells so good?” No one has ever said it smells just like a “high-end hotel”! Watch the video here. Then, I made another video while suffering from having stinky wet dogs running in and out of the house on a rainy day. Don't let bad odors rain on your parade – let me show you how to reclaim your home's scent and enjoy a clean, odor-free living environment. Watch that video here.
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In this alarming blog post, we shed light on a disturbing new trend that is leading to the closure of Etsy sellers' shops and even legal action against these small business owners. Read the post by clicking on the button below.
Those of you who get my newsletter were just introduced to the new Making It With Mandaline blog (which will soon become a podcast or vlog or maybe both; I haven't decided yet!). I'm so excited to build this movement! We will, I hope, learn to make it together, whether "it" is money, dolls, art, diy essential oil creations, business success, etc, etc. I am currently putting together a private membership site where we will have our own community to take course talk and just hang out. Today's post is about a rare doll, something of a mystery to many, the Marilee or Mary Lee doll by Effanbee. Some people think she's a version of Patsy-Ann but she's not... find out all about it from my new blog post. And to be the first to hear about all these wonderful new developments, sign up for my updates and freebies. Pick your passion and get messages tailored just for you.
Great news! Signed copies of The Ultimate Zucchini Cookbook are back in stock! You can order this unsigned from Amazon or signed from my shop. I sold out of my first printing of signed copies and had to order more and for whatever reason they were nearly a month late. But they're finally here. Thanks so much to everyone who bought one so I required a second printing! I truly appreciate it and hope you love the book. In fact, if you do love it please leave me a review on Amazon. When you send me a screenshot of your review I'll give you a FREE eBook! Want to try before you buy? Just click the button below for a FREE recipe that will have your kids begging for zucchini.
Here's a doll mystery for you: did Horsman make a full-composition version of Baby Precious? The large head is the Horsman Baby Precious. I have only ever seen documentation of Baby Precious as a cloth body doll with composition limbs and head. Precious came in several sizes but all were supposedly cloth body.
Well, the other day I got this smaller doll, a full compo baby similar to Baby Patsy. Look at the face though ~ doesn't that look just like Baby Precious? Now, Horsman sold their molds like all doll companies did back then, so this could just be a different doll made from the mold. It's not cheaper doll like they often were; it's every bit as high-quality as the Horsman doll, so it might have been produced for a department store. Montgomery Ward and FAO Schwartz and pretty much all the regional department stores had their own private label branded dolls made by the big doll companies. But if you happen to know who produced this smaller Baby Precious please let us know in the comments! Besides Baby Precious I am working on a bunch of different Patsy family and similar dolls. I have Effanbee Rosemary just about ready to go. Supposedly Rosemary was the precursor to Patsy and her friends. That's according to Effanbee so I guess they'd know, but she's so different from Patsy ad Patsy Ann; I feel like Dainty Baby is a much more similar doll. Dainty Baby came out in 1912 and is a cloth body doll with molded hair. She looks more like a child or toddler than a baby but maybe Effanbee still considered her a "baby doll". Rosemary (sometimes sold as Rose Marie) came out in 1926 and looked much more Victorian than Patsy. She has teeth and originally had long dark curls and a cloth body with compo limbs and head. Patsy came out in 1928 and was followed by Patsy-Ann. Both those dolls are composition dolls with molded hair and painted eyes. They were popular enough that Effanbee made a whole line: Patsy Joan, Patsyette, Baby Patsy... and then Patsy's friends, like Mary Lee (who was also sold as Marilee by a department store). Mary Lee reverts to the Rosemary type, with sleep eyes, teeth, and a wig. It's very confusing because Effanbee recycled different bodies for these dolls, so I have a Mary Lee I'm working on right now who is marked "Patsy-Ann" on her back and uses the bent arm Patsy-Ann full composition body. At any rate, these were apparently ubiquitous. Patsy and her friends are all around 20 inches tall or even larger, but they eventually released all different sizes, even a miniature 6 inch version. These were fashion dolls as well as play dolls and there were many different styles of clothes you could buy, even equestrian sets! Just like the American Girl dolls of today. I made some videos showing these dolls and you can watch them on Insta (and if you recognize any of the unmarked ones please let us know in the comments who they are). It's been a while since I've posted about my transformation. It's my new normal and I forget you might not have heard about it.
That's me in 2017 on the left. At the time I was basically going incognito because I was so ashamed of my weight. Bleached hair, sunglasses, hat, scarf... I tried to smile but I was hot and miserable that day. That's not even my highest weight; I'd already lost some weight after switching from a raw vegan diet to keto after my son's diabetes diagnosis. Despite all the hype, the plant-based diet was a disaster for me. I blew up to the highest weight of my life and suffered from debilitating arthritis. Once we found about our son's Type 1 Diabetes I researched the disease exhaustively trying to learn to keep him healthy. I even started testing my blood before and after each meal like he did and found out I am extremely sensitive to sugar, even the "healthy" sugar in fruits and vegetables. For a while strict keto and low-carb diets worked well for me, but then my weight plateaued. I tried extended fasting and that also worked for a while but then it stopped too. It turns out, I have an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's Disease that is triggered by strict diets and fasting. Over the years I've settled on a more moderate approach, combining intermittent fasting and carb cycling. I am completely transformed! Although I will turn 50 in a couple months I look and feel younger than I did 7 years ago, back in 2017. I want everyone to know about this lifestyle. Happily, Young Living devised two different plans to ease people into intermittent fasting. I am so thrilled to be able to offer the 5 Day Nutritive Cleanse plan free of charge! I even devised a mini course to go along with it. You'll get a free membership to my Customer Center as well. I hope you enjoy this lifestyle as much as I do! Just click the button below to get the plan. If you've been reading this blog for a while you know my "secret" isn't really secret at all. But I have refined it over the years and I wanted to update you. You might remember in 2019 I lost 50 pounds with extended fasting and following a pretty strict keto/carnivore diet. I was in a fasting group led by a doctor.
Well, after a few months the doctor got more and more extreme. He started recommending dry fasting for a week at a time. By the time I left the group he was advocating drinking your own urine and doing 40 day fasts. That wasn't the only reason I left (although it was certainly the main reason!). I had stopped losing weight and even gained weight during a five day fast. My hair was falling out. I was having extreme stomach discomfort as well. None of it should have been happening; fasting researchers typically find regular fasts help digestive issues. A couple years later I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease. Mystery solved! Hashimoto's Disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own thyroid. It is triggered by stress, including stress on the body caused by extreme dieting and exercise, Vitamin D deficiency, and pregnancy. I had been dealing with the symptoms for 23 years before I was diagnosed. It started during my first pregnancy when my husband nearly died and became disabled in a work accident and unbeknownst to me my son was sucking all the vitamin d out of my body because I was following the no-fat diet recommended at the time by my obstetrician. So I had the trifecta and every single symptom, but no amount to doctor visits amounted to a diagnosis, much less a cure. After experimenting on myself with essential oils and various diets over the years I got it somewhat under control. Then in 2021 a COVID bout brought back all the symptoms and this time my treatments weren't working. I went to the doctor but after $600 or tests was told I was "fine". At that point I had been bleeding heavily for almost 4 months. The doctor's own testing showed I was anemic and deficient in vitamin B-12 but that was apparently not a cause for concern to her. I was complaining to my son, that very same baby I was pregnant with when this started, about the lack of treatment. My son is now a biologist and he ordered me some tests. Within 3 weeks I had a diagnosis and all-natural treatment plan from Dr. Westin Childs and within a few months I felt amazing. Learning about my disease taught me to stay away from extremes, so now I just skip breakfast some days and breakfast and lunch other days instead of doing long fasts. I do a 24 hour fast no more than once a month. Instead of following a strict diet I cycle carbohydrates and foods, so I eat keto 3 days a week, medium carb 2 days a week, and high carb 2 days a week. Nothing is off limits but I am steadily losing weight. I even lost weight over the holidays and I didn't deprive myself at all. The best thing is, I look younger than I did 7 years ago. I will be 50 in a couple months and this is working for me. It even worked for my 75 year old mother! Stay tuned if you're interested in starting a plan like this because I have something great in the works! I made a short video about it but this site is glitching and haven't been able to load it here. You can click the button below to watch. It's Quarter 1 of 2024, usually a quiet time in the life of a retailer. A typical year sees the 4th Quarter pushing me to the limit packing and shipping orders. I run a lot of sales in the period: early Black Friday, Black Friday, last minute gifts, after-Christmas, etc, etc. Usually that works like a charm. Last year was an exception, unfortunately. While my doll hospital business was way up, more than I could handle honestly, my sales were flat and disappointing. It's not that I don't appreciate my doll hospital customers; I do! I love bringing someone's doll back to life and hearing about the happiness they feel when they watch their mom or daughter open it as a holiday gift. However, doll repair is really labor-intensive and I can only do so much, so I am limited in the amount of money I can make.
And I REALLY needed a great 4th Quarter of 2023 because of all our unexpected expenses (son's broken wrists, furnace and A/C and water heater replacement, daughter's college tuition, etc). It didn't happen, despite me working as hard as I've ever worked. I just marketed myself to the bone, but it wasn't enough. Or maybe it was too much of the wrong thing... Because over the past month and a half I worked with some new mentors and took some new classes and as of today my sales are up more than 200%! I'm not running any discount offers and this is usually a dead time of year but I'm doing a lot better. I made a short (less than 60 seconds!) video and tagged my teachers. None of these are affiliate links or sponsored links; just great people I recommend. Click the button to watch: You might remember, last year Meta hired me to make Instagram Reels. I had to make 5 Reels each day and I threw myself into it. After all, I was already doing social media so I might as well get paid fr it, right? Well, that turned out to be a bust. I did make money and that was great, and sometimes I still get payouts for content from Meta, but it really hurt my engagement. Like, it PLUMMETED to a tenth of what it had been. Why did this happen? I have no idea. At the time I wondered if Meta was hiding my Reels so they wouldn't have to pay me since the payment was based on the amount of views and engagement. Just before Christmas last year they announced they were ending the program, so I think it must not have been working for them either. Then they rolled out their verification program, which you have to pay for just like Twitter's. I am refusing to pay for it because it's a terrible way to authenticate accounts, which was proven when someone made a fake Elon Musk account and paid to get it verified and started trolling him constantly. (But don't think I feel sorry for him; I think he got exactly what he deserved. I can't stand that guy). So then I thought maybe they are restricting traffic to unpaid accounts. If you've been in business for a long time you can remember a time before social media, when you just ran your business. I have mixed feelings about it; on the one hand, social media is incredibly valuable. I can still remember when I started writing my blog and then posted about it to Pinterest, how my business just blew up. That was all free, just sweat equity, and it's still more effective than any paid advertising I've ever tried. On the other hand, the amount of time you have to spend seems ever-expanding. When there was only blogging and Pinterest it was no big deal, but now there's blogging and podcasting and YouTube and TikTok and Tumblr and Instagram and Facebook (both groups and pages). My various coaches advise 3-5 Instagram Stories per day, at least one Live (typically filmed on Facebook and shared to Instagram and YouTube), at least one Reel or Short, and Instagram Carousel posts too. Then there are the platform requests. Right now Instagram is asking creators to make at least one Story per day. TikTok and YouTube have both contacted me asking for more long-format videos (why I don't know, since mine get virtually zero views). TikTok is really pushing creators to sell things in their "TikTok Shop"... it's just endless. So I was really happy to discover Eric Thayne during the One Funnel Away Challenge. Eric has one framework he uses to create one post each day, which he then shares to three platforms. It's SO much easier and his clients are getting great results. His free Year of Content class is happening right now. If you missed the first couple days it's okay; he sends out replays. Just hit the button for his Instagram profile; the class registration is his link in bio. This is NOT a paid post; I just wanted to share a class that's helping me feel free of the onerous requirements I've been laboring under. And if you're wondering about One Funnel Away, I can't recommend it enough! Besides 30 days of class walking you through building a funnel (with LIVE training!) you also get several free software accounts to help you with everything from video editing to copywriting and business training. Then you get bonus days with more training on ad creation, social media content creation, and using influencer marketing. The course is only $100, just an amazing value, and you get lifetime access to it as long as you're a ClickFunnels member. I AM a ClickFunnels affiliate, which means if you sign up for ClickFunnels with my link I may get a payment. There's no cost to you!
Do you want to feel happier in 2024? Me too, so I'm doing a thing. Every day I'm just coming up with as many positive things in any situation.
2023 knocked us down, big time. We decide to remodel our kitchen after saving up for 10 years. Literally a few days after we ordered the materials and new countertops... our son broke both wrists, our water heater died, our furnace died, our air conditioner died, and then our daughter's first tuition payment was due. Then for a finale, my mother got a possible cancer diagnosis and our cat got a heart disease diagnosis for which there's really no treatment. We needed a way to pick ourselves back up. Do you want to join me in this project? Should I make it into a challenge? Every day, please tag me with your "happy" list. After I made the video above I thought of a few more things to be happy about: I got my social media done in the down time and my son told me all kinds of things about his life during the commute, so it's an opportunity for us to be closer. Also, if you want to learn to monetize your talents and work for yourself like I did, get my ebook for free, by clicking the button below: |
AuthorMy name is Amanda, but my childhood nickname was "Mandaline". I am a mother of three turning my passion for creating into a full-time business. Archives
March 2024
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