Sugar Beez Buzz

And the winner is!!!!!

2011-02-04T19:38:00.000-06:00

And the winner for the free one dozen Valentine Cookies from Sugar Beez is......

Lethea! Yay!!!!

And for those that didnt win...stay tuned, there will be more opportunities to win cookies!

Valentine's Cookie Giveaway!

2011-01-31T10:33:00.000-06:00

Wow, I cannot believe I have not blogged since August...okay, I can believe it. Life has been pretty hectic to say the least in the last several months...but the bad is behind me, and the wonderful potential of the future lays ahead of us all!

We are ready to come back with a BANG! We are offering 1 dozen Valentine Cookies FREE! Leave a comment to this post and we will pick a winner on Friday.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep updated!

Back in the saddle again!

2010-08-25T07:13:00.000-05:00

I am coming up on the close of my first week back in business. It as been busy and very fulfilling! I managed to knock out 2 orders in 24 hours...that was fun! Orders are coming in and keeping me busy. Which has been great so I have less time to ruminate on the huge changes happening in my life. If you haven't heard, we will be moving back to California at the end of the year. So Sugar Beez is coming to the Los Angeles area! Watch out LA, here we come!

Where the heck have I been?

2010-08-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything! Wow! Lots of changes in my personal life. As you can see from my last post, I was let go from my job. Then my personal life began to take a turn for the worse too. I'm now in the midst of ending a 22+ year marriage and it has been very stressful. I actually took a break from cookies all together for about a month. I couldn't function or focus on cookies so I figured it wasn't fair to keep taking orders. During that month I actually gave serious consideration to giving up on cookies all together. Thank goodness I put that thought down to focus on just getting through my days.

I am now on the upside in terms of my self-esteem. I'm feeling better about myself and my decisions and so I decided to revisit the issue of Sugar Beez and whether to continue...and my decision is...yes, I will continue the business. I do get a lot of enjoyment out of doing cookies and I'd like to think I'm good at it, so why not do something that affirms my self worth?

So, back to the Kitchen Aid!

Change is the ONLY constant

2010-05-29T08:36:00.001-05:00

On Monday, 05/24/2010, the company that I worked for since 2004 decided to lay me off. Bummer. It was on one hand a relief, on the other a huge stessor. I was relieved because I had really begun to hate my job as a manager. It was hard to get 41 people to just do their job. I definitely was becoming tainted and angry. I believe all things happen for a reason, and I see the lesson in this is I was let go because I definitely would not have left on my own. This job was the provider for my family's insurance benefits, so that was the stressor.

I looked for the good in this event and that is that I now have plenty of time to focus on cookies! I spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday working on cookies and thoroughly enjoyed not having to rush or think about work.

There is a benefit for Sugar Beez in this little bump in the road for me...I have come up with some really great ideas that I will be incorporating into the business and website, so watch for those! Such as a limited time special where you can purchase a $20 coupon which will get you $30 toward your next purchase!

After almost a week of not having to deal with a stressful job, I'm relaxed, centered and focused again!

1000 cookies, 10 days - DONE!

2010-05-20T21:14:00.001-05:00

We did it! We met the challenge, completed not 1000, but 1002 cookies in 9-1/2 days. We certainly had our bumps in the road on this journey. For instance, these were cookies with graphics being printed on edible paper (with edible ink of course) made by a company with the initials of KK. I have been a customer there since 2008. But their customer service this last time was the straw that broke our relationship!

I placed a very sizeable order last week for this 1000-cookie order. The cookie order was due to be delivered today. I order Wednesday last week expecting my order would ship on Thursday and be delivered on Monday. On Friday I still had not received my shipping confirmation from KK so I called. I gave the young lady I spoke with my order number and she said "your order shipped yesterday."

First of all, I put instructions in the "comment" section when I placed the order that if the order did not go out on Thursday I wanted to pay for 2-day shipping. I asked the young lady if she would please forward me the tracking number. An hour later I received the email with the tracking number and it showed my order did not ship until FRIDAY! And it shipped ground with a delivery date of May 20! I was very upset. I called back and spoke to someone else who told me they were very sorry, but they could not help me! WHAT!

I tried calling UPS and they told me they had not even picked up the order yet! WHAT THE HECK! I called KK back and they said again, sorry, can't help you. I was furious! FUR-EEE-US! I sent them a scathing email telling them I would find my supplies else where and that I would not order from them again!

So, I found Tasty Foto Art, read some positive reviews online and order from them, overnight shipping ta boot. The cost was cheaper than the order I placed with KK and their lame ground shipping! Sold on the price...

I received the edible paper sheets and ink cartridges from Tasty Foto Art the very next day as promised. I was super pleased with their product. It did not dry out like the other product always did. It was thinner and had NO TASTE! We were all amazed by the fact that this product had no taste...none! So, to shorten a long story...I'm only ordering from Tasty Foto Art from now on!

After that fiasco we got back on track with production of our 1000 cookies. We set goals on cookies to roll, cookies to bake and cookies to ice on a daily basis.

Let me introduce you to my team of cookie elves...

Gina, my 22-year-old daughter who does it all, mixes dough, rolls dough, cuts cookies, bakes, frosts, bags, tags and bows!

Neva, my 20-year-old daughter who rolls and rocks! She mixed dough and rolled and cut an amazing 300+ cookies in a day!

My sister Tai-Lynne who is the queen of cornering!

My daughters Kiona, Karyn and Kami for all their help bagging and sealing and building bakery boxes!

This was tiring, but a great accomplishment for...

1000 cookies, 10 days!

2010-05-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

Yep, you read it right, 1000 cookies, 10 days. We can do it! But we will be hairless, snarling beasts by the time the order is complete!

When it is all said and done we will have used 30 pounds of butter! And about 49 pounds of flour and powdered sugar.

I can still recall the first time someone asked me to do 4 dozen cookies and I panicked! Now, 400 might set me a flitter, and 1000 definitely will, but I know we can do it. I love a challenge.

Bad weather, great baking day!

2010-05-12T08:59:00.000-05:00

It is cold, rainy and dreary today...my favorite baking weather! And lots of baking to do!

We had a great Mother's Day. My daughter Karyn got to be the cookie fairy and delivered bags of Mother's Day cookies to surprise women with sweet treats! It was really rewarding and lifted my spirts!

I have a lot of cookies to get done and love losing myself in the task of decorating.

Moving beyond disappointment

2010-05-09T17:59:00.001-05:00

I was so excited that this weekend would be the opening of my first retail experience. I was taking over Smash Cake in Chicago and was very excited. We had been planning and baking all week long, really looking forward to a Mother's Day opening.

Yes, I was very scared too. I worried that I would not be able to make enough money to sustain my family. I could not afford to fail. Failure would mean a very expensive loss for me, my husband and our five daughters. But as the date got closer little things began to pop up. These small things began to become very large things...and I had to make a decision to move forward with a bad choice, or cut my losses and get out while I still could.

It was a good decision to back out, although it was very disappointing to everyone involved. It meant some added headaches and expenses for everyone involved. But if I had moved forward it was becoming very apparent to me that I would fail. I did not have the mentoring support I thought I did and certainly didn't have enough money to make repairs to nonworking equipment and I would not be able to operate until those items were working. Every day I postponed opening we would be hemorrhaging money. I could not do that.

An opening I had been so looking forward to was not going to happen. I had my first experience with very angry customers who did not care why I was not able to host their parties, had called into question my professionalism and had even gone to my blog and used things I said there against me. I think the intent was to try to persuade me to change my decision by guilting me into hosting their party, or maybe it was just to embarrass me, I'm not sure, but it surely was not nice.

It has been three days since I made the decision to back out, and like I said on Twitter, sometimes good decisions disappoint, but a bad decision would have hurt people.

Lesson learned!

Procrastinating or Postponing?

2010-04-29T05:36:00.000-05:00

We (Gina, more than and I) came to the realization that we were no where near ready to open this Saturday. So the decision was made to postpone opening for 1 week to get better prepared. This raised the question for me, am I again procrastinating? Oh yeah, I definitely did way too much procrastination and a lot of overextending myself. Took on way too many orders for the week before a grand opening, but I kept telling myself I need the customers, and I need the money. Is taking the time to blog procrastinating? Naw...right?

So, even though we are not opening this weekend I am still finding myself waking up at 3:30a to toss and turn, stressing over the massive responsibility of taking on a retail bakery. What the heck was I thinking?! Do I know what I'm doing? Nope. Will I learn? Maybe. In time to prevent from going down in a fiery mass? Maybe not.

Everyone keeps telling me to follow my dreams...what happnes when dreams turn into nightmares? Ever have that happen?

Okay, enough wallowing in stress...let's look at the bright side...this little shop is in a great location. I have the great privilege of calling Michelle Garcia at Bleeding Heart Bakery my friend. I try not to bug her with questions too often, but I do always have that well of knowledge to dip into when I really need to (and sometimes when I don't really need to, but just want to). She sent me an email last night telling me it would all get easier, and I believe her...but WHEN!

And the panic sets in!

2010-04-27T21:08:00.000-05:00

So here it is Tuesday evening and we are set to open the bakery on Saturday...I'm totally panicked! Do I have the right license? Is the phone going to work? Will we have enough product? Will we have too much? What if no one shows up? What if too many people show up? What if they don't keep showing up and a week after we open we are sitting there twiddling our thumbs?!

I want this to be successful enough to sustain me and my family, but what if it isn't! Anyone else ever open a bakery? Any tips to share?

Just puttin' it out there

2010-04-15T16:20:00.002-05:00

Flat Fred 2
Originally uploaded by sugarbeez

Last week I hung out my dirty laundry on National Public Radio for all the world to hear. That was very hard for me to do and scared me to death. I was so concerned that it would ruin the trust and relationships I had built when people learned of the skeletons in my closet.

What I learned by this experience is that no, it did not ruin relationships at all, it actually has helped me to build new and wonderful relationships. Folks actually called me an inspiration (insert blush here). I am not an inspiration, just a a testament to what a person can do if they look for the lesson in life experiences. I learned a lesson from my experience with welfare fraud. (1) It's wrong. (2) No, Welfare will not just slap you on the wrist and ask you to pay them back. (3) Yes, jail is very rough and scary. (4) It was my own bad decision that put me in jail for welfare fraud.

Not only do you have to learn a lesson from life experiences, you have to put that knowledge to work. I changed the way I thought. No more living for the moment; I had to always consider the consequences of my actions. No more short cuts...no more instant gradification. If something doesn't happen right away, then it was not meant to happen. Everything truly does happen for a reason, and it happens when it is suppose to.

I think so far, the most meaningful relationship I have made since the airing of that NPR segment has been with a lawyer. A couple of nights ago I received an e-mail that read "I found your website while searching for custom cookie bakers in the Chicago area. As an amateur baker I am impressed with the business you have built. I read your blog and as a former prosecutor I am impressed with how you have dealt with your past and moved forward in the face of adversity. ~ Joel Rothman" That really touched me, that someone who has been on the opposing side of what I was dealing with back then could be impressed with ME!

He called me the next morning to talk about a custom cookie he was interested in having me create. I was absolutely honored to create a cookie for him. The story behind this cookie is really interesting and hopefully someday soon I can share that story, or maybe Joel would be good enough to share the story behind the cookie design as a guest blogger?!

Here is a picture of the cookie that I created for Joel.

Tail of the Tiger!

2010-04-14T11:54:00.001-05:00

As we get closer to the opening of Sugar Beez/Smash Cake I have gotten so busy! I keep telling everyone that I feel like I'm hanging tight to the tail of a tiger and I having the ride of my life!

We are booking up fast for parties in May. That's exciting and a little bit daunting too! Sunday 4/11/10 I worked at Smash Cake to help with 3 parties being held and to get my feet wet. I got a taste of what I can expect when we are running Smash Cake...and how tired I can expect to be!

The parties were a lot of fun and I learned a lot, like some very creative ways to enterain a group of 21 six- and seven-year-old girls! Freeze dance worked great!

Bleeding Heart Bakery provided some delicious pizzas and some totally tasty baked goods! I could have eaten their apricot bars all day long! I think right now that is my favorite treat from BHB! You can bet we will be carrying those at Smash Cake!

We will be hosting a Share Our Strength bake sale at Smash Cake this Saturday, 4/17/10, for the food bloggers and then again on May 1st for our own opening. I hope you will stop by and say hello!

Learning to accept "me".

2010-04-07T12:57:00.001-05:00

Earlier this morning WBEZ aired an episode of Dick Gordon's The Story about me. It was really hard for me to talk about that part of my life.

I committed a crime 14 years ago and as a result I was convicted of felony welfare fraud in California. I was ashamed of what I had done. When I was in jail I realized there was no one to blame for my plight but me. I made a bad decision and here I was...in jail. Before that ah-ha moment I had always asked myself, "why is this happening to me" when something bad happened. Never did it occur to me before to take responsibility for my own actions. I always looked outward to find a cause.

From that moment on I set about making changes. First, I made full restitution to welfare, 1-1/2 years ahead of the court-ordered schedule. Second, I stopped blaming others for my situation. I realized that I was the only one that I could change and control. I had to live positive, think positive and be positive.

The day before this episode of The Story aired I was having dinner with Judy and Mary of You've Gotta Get It. I shared with them the content of the episode and told them how scared I was about sharing that part of my life. I was afraid of ruining the friendships and trust I had developed here in Illinois and in the Twitterverse. They both encouraged me to share my story. They felt what I have overcome would inspire someone to overcome their own difficulties.

So, hopefully, if you heard the segment on The Story about me, you took away something positive from it. If you didn't have an opportunity to hear the segment you can listen now here.

I would be glad to hear what you thought, was it inspirational? I am open to questions also. I hope you listened with an open spirit.

On a side note, after I paid restitution I went back to court and had the felony discharged, meaning I am no longer a convicted felon.

What "giving" means to me.

2010-04-07T06:18:00.000-05:00

I'm a nurturer. That's why I have five children, 2 cats, a dog, 2 birds and a fish. I think I was born with the drive to take care of anything needy. My mom can tell you stories of hurt birdies in boxes, stray cats, raggedy dogs that I brought home. I'm sure she thought I did it to drive her nuts!

When I was newly married my husband and I struggled to balance work, family and finances. Sometimes having way too much month left at the end of the money. Some really great friends and family members would help us with childcare or sometimes a gallon of milk. Now that I'm a little older, a little wiser and a little better at managing my money I try to find ways to pay forward the generosity that was given to me. My husband probably thinks I do this to drive HIM nuts!

I have let various displaced family members live with us, his brother, my sister, my sister-in-law and her 2-1/2 kids. No, never all at the same time, but it did sometimes cause some tension between me and my husband.

I give of my time, sometimes my money and always of my compassion, it is my way of paying my rent in life for my time on this planet. I strongly believe that everything we give will come back to us...that could be good or it could be bad, but it is what you make it.

Bleeding Heart Blessings!

2010-04-05T10:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm going to try to get better at blogging than I have been. I've been so busy, but some really fabulous things have been happening.

I would say that things really began to change for me personally in July 2009. We had moved to Illinois from California in November 2004. I left all my family (aside from my children and husband) and what few friends I had in California. I have been working from home in the medical transcription field for more than a decade and a half. In California, I made friends by socializing with women that were standing outside the elementary school waiting to pick up their children. In Illinois, November is not the time of year that you stand outside waiting to pick up your children. And in our community the children are bused anyway. So I had no real opportunity to meet other women.

This began to cause a problem that I hadn't really noticed right off. I honestly began to develop a phobia, not of going outside, but of socializing with strangers. I also have a skin disorder, vitaligo that helped to feed my fear of meeting people.

In July 2009 I attended my first Iron Cupcake Chicago challenge. I love baking and I really wanted to participate, but I didn't know anyone there and I was now aware of my phobia. I had also decided that I was going to get out and meet people and get over this phobia. So I contacted the woman in charge of IC:CHI, Irma, and threw myself into the challenge.

The day of the challenge my kids literally had to keep talking me into going. I kept coming up with excuses not to go, some I thought were actually really good excuses, but the kids kept pointing out to me they were just excuses. One of my daughters even had to go with me so I wouldn't chicken out. Actually, standing at the door of the restaurant where the challenge was held, holding the door handle, I had a panic attack, but my daughter reassured me and I went in.

I managed to have a good time and made up my mind then that I would beat this phobia and socialize more. I also began to use Twitter as a way to socialize and meet more people.

Okay, fast foward to January 2010. I have been to several Iron Cupcake Chicago challenges, and even a couple of Iron Cupcake Milwaukee challenges. At IC:MKE I was fortunate to meet Michelle Garcia of Bleeding Heart Bakery.

I guess I made an impression on Michelle Garcia the night I met her. I know she liked my cupcake, a Goose Island Oatmeal Stout cupcake. And she visited my website too. I found this out a few weeks later. She liked the work I had done on my cookies enough that she asked me to start decorating cookies for her bakery. I was thrilled to death!

My dream has been to grow my business to a point it could sustain me and my family. I love baking and decorating cookies and participating in the IC challenges has made me realize that I love baking cupcakes too. In February I had been looking around to find a retail space for Sugar Beez, but nothing was panning out even with the help of the Robin Schabes, the Director of Lakefront Development for the City of Waukegan. She was so helpful and so motivated to help me get into a space in Downtown Waukegan, but it just did not work out. I told my daughter, Gina, that when it was meant to happen it would happen and it would not be hard or challenging.

At the end of February, Michelle Garcia and I began talking about Smash Cake. Michelle has been concentrating on her bakeries, and wasn't able to give the attention to Smash Cake that it needed in order to be successful. SC is more of a space for hosting children's birthday parties than the type of bakery Michelle currently opperates.

Michelle is such a great person. Yes, Michelle is famous for having been on Food Network cake challenges 8 times. Yes, she owns a kickin' bakery with her husband Vinny, but she has proven to be the kind of woman that I try to be, gives back because she has been blessed.

So, on May 1st Sugar Beez moves into Smash Cake! This has worked out so easily for us and has felt like it was meant for us. I see nothing but a fun endeavor growing the business with my daughters and my husband. We will start promoting here very soon and planning for our opening day.

My kids, my husband and I have already decided that opening day proceeds will go to Share Our Strength. We will be hosting a Great American Bake Sale on our opening day, come out and help make it a success!

Sugar Beez introduces Cupcake Delivery to Lake Co, IL

2010-02-23T06:55:00.000-06:00

Delicious wonderful cupcakes are available everywhere in Chicago. You can even get delivery cupcakes in Chicago through Mari, the wonderful woman who owns and operates Foiled Cupcakes. Well no more feeling left out Lake County! Sugar Beez is expanding our menu to include cupcakes for delivery in Lake County, IL.

We will start by offering 5 flavors that will always be available and one monthly flavor special. We will launch our cupcake delivery service on Monday, March 15, 2010.

Sugar Beez Cupcake Menu

Chocolate Cupcake with your choice of vanilla or chocolate buttercream frosting.
Vanilla Cupcake with your choice of vanilla or chocolate buttercream frosting.
Lemon Cupcake (for the citrus fanatics like me!) with sweet cream frosting.
Espressor Cupcake with a jolt of coffee flavored buttercream frosting.
Red Velvet Cupcake with a delicious cream cheese frosting.

March's Monthly Flavor Special

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake!

Tell us what you think or what you would like to see for April's Monthly Flavor Special! Give us a SHOUT!

How to get organized

2009-12-21T11:24:00.000-06:00

What do you find to be the most helpful tool to keep you organized? Me? The tool that works for me is Microsoft Outlook Calendar. I put reminders in there for me to get certain projects started, completed or items ordered. However, I did run into a snafu...my computer died and I lost the data there.

I have since started using my cell phone calendar instead, since my cell phone is with me constantly. I do worry about losing my phone, and then losing all the data stored in there.

Anyone use an online calendar program? I'd be seriously interested in one that would e-mail me what I need to do...then I wouldn't have to worry about losing my data if my computer died or I lost my phone. Maybe there is already something like that and I just need to google it?

What do you use to keep organized? I'm always open to hearing better ways to do what I need to do.

Closing out 2009

2009-12-18T10:19:00.000-06:00

I've been reading a lot of business blogs. Some of my favorites are Spin Sucks and All Business because they break it down and make it simple for those of us who don't know nuthin but no business planning! Yeah, what the heck was I thinking trying to start a business when I have no idea how to run a business...sure, I can decorate a cookie, but that doesn't mean I will be successful as a business...but I digress...

All Business suggests that as we get to the close of this year we look back at our business over the year and list what worked and what didn't and use that list to help us plan and change the business in the new year. This sort of reminds me of New Year's Resolutions...but this year I really need to change the things that didn't work for my business...and what was that? ME! Procrastinating...I need to stop doing that....really, really need to stop doing that.

To help me prevent procrastinating I have decided that I'm just going to work on the habit...it takes 21 days to change a habit, so hopefully by the end of January procrastination will no longer be a word you will see in my blog!

Okay Nike...I get it...I gotta "just do it."

Procrastination

2009-12-16T09:16:00.000-06:00

One of the biggest hurdles I have encountered in growing my business is trying to combat procrastination. I admit it, I'm a big procrastinator. I have read that the only way to fight procrastination is the infamous Nike motto "Just do it."

I agree with what I have read, that the biggest reason I procrastinate is because I think the task at hand is going to be hard. Usually, once I start I do find that it isn't nearly as difficult as I had made it seem in my head. And in most cases, once I get started I get lost in the enjoyment of what I'm doing, it's just getting started that is the hardest part.

What do you do to avoid procrastinating?

The journey

2009-12-10T06:34:00.000-06:00

When I first started decorating cookies, let's face it, I sucked! I think back to some of those first experiments in the kitchen...baked too long, so they were hard, the icing too runny so it slid over the edges and onto the counter...and my kids will tell you, they didn't even taste good!

I started looking on the internet for information on how to perfect the art. What I found is most people wanted me to pay them for what they knew. At that time I didn't have the money or the desire to give up my money for information.

I did eventually find wonderful giving women that were more than happy to share what they knew and I want to be like that...isn't it said, what you give away will come back to you tenfold? So, I plan to share here what I have learned from having my little cookie business. Oh, my joke about my cookie business... so, I started my cookie business because I wanted to make a little extra money doing what made me happy...be careful what you wish for, because all I make is a little extra money.

A little about me. I have a full-time job working for a medical transcription service. I get to work from home and raise my children. Three years ago I started my cookie business. It has grown each year. My goal is to get it to where I spend more time baking and decorating that I do working!

Join me as a chronical the day in a life of a busy woman...mother, wife, employee, cookie decorator. I will share what I know and hopefully learn some too!

Update on Neva's custody hearing

2009-12-06T20:05:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday December 1, 2009, Riley turned 8 months old. Neva also had a date with a judge to receive a decision on who would be granted custodial rights. We are so excited to announce that the judge confirmed custody was already Neva's. With a written judgement from the court Neva no longer has to worry about Riley's father taking the baby without permission or keeping him against her will. The court required a planned visitation agreement be set for that day.

Things have settled down now that there are no doubts who has custody and what the visitation schedule is. Neva would not have had such a stress-free successful day without the wonderful help of the many kind people that extended monetary assistance, legal guidance and paralegal services. Our thanks go out to all of you!

Cookies for a Cause

2009-11-09T08:51:00.001-06:00

This is Neva and her 7-month-old son Riley. Riley's father has decided that he wants custody and wants to move out of state with Riley. We aren't having any of that!

We have taken up Neva's cause to help her raise $2500 for the retainer for a family law lawyer. We have a donation button up on our site if you would like to help us raise this retainer fee. Also, all profit from all orders until that goal is reached, will go to Neva's retainer fee fund.

Please help us spread the word! www.sugarbeez.com/cookiesforacause

At-Home Medical Transcription

2009-10-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

I get asked often about my job as a medical transcriptionist. I have been doing it for 15 years. When someone first told me about it, I thought it was a scam. I had seen those ads in magazines and it seemed too good to be true.

But then I gave birth to my third daughter we found the cost of childcare for while I worked outside the home was making it very nonprofitable to work outside the home. We needed my income so I had to look for a solution. I took a chance and signed up for At-Home Profession's study course. I worked graveyard shift for the California Highway Patrol at the time as a dispatcher, so I studied while I was at work. A year after I started the course I was able to leave the highway patrol and start my first at-home transcription job. My third daughter was exactly a year old.

Now, some of you might say, "you worked at the highway patrol and couldn't afford childcare??" Yep, I worked at the highway patrol, but childcare was cutting into my income in a big way. I will say that since I began working at home I save on childcare, gas for my 40-mile commute, cost of work clothes and I have been able to be 100% involved in my children's lives.

There are some really good resources out there for anyone interested in learning more about medical transcription. www.mtdaily.com is one of my favorite sites. There is also www.mtstars.com.

You must have an medical transcription course under your belt before trying to get a job as a remote employee (that is what we are called, us lonely soles that work from home). The least expensive route is to check with your community college to see if they have a course. The alternatives are self-paced study courses such as www.careerstep.com.

I will warn you, it is very lonely working from home. There have been days that I didn't get to talk to an adult until my husband got home from work. You MUST be self disciplined, because you have to keep yourself on track. Oh, and the biggest thing to be aware of is that medical transcriptionists (MTs) are paid on production meaning that you are paid by the line for the work that you do. Some MTs make a very good living, upwards of $40,000 a year...my first year as a MT I made a whopping $9,000! OUCH!

It is possible to make a living and raise your kids...I'm living proof.

Starting a Holiday Tradition

2009-10-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

We make gingerbread cookies for the holidays...this year we will be holding gingerbread workshops in Chicago to teach all the tricks of gingerbread house construction. We are working out the details this week and hope to have all the information available by the end of the week. Date, time, place and cost to be announced! Are you as excited as we are?!

"O" How Exciting!

2009-09-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

How many of my fellow Chicagoans joined me on Tuesday night at the Oprah Kickoff Party? 20,000, that's how many! We partied on the Mag Mile with the Black Eyed Peas and Oprah!

The best part for me was learning the dance to participate in the Worlds Biggest Flash Mob! My favorite flash mob video is the "Sound of Music" train station video --> (clicky here). The same choreographer for that video created a dance to the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feelin" and we spent about 4 hours learning and practicing that dance.

The really cool part of it was that Oprah had no clue we were going to do this. Watch here. Did you find me?! He he, right, like you could find one person in that mob! These two characters were with me! The one on the left is my sister Tai-Lynne, the other is my daughter Neva! Say hi girls!

Oh, and the Mayor and his wife...they looked like they had a great time too!

And we can't forget the BEPs! Rascal Flatts (Hi Joe Don, remember when we sang in your tour bus in Milwaukee?), James Taylor and freaky Chris Angel! Oh, and the beautiful and talented Jennifer Hudson!

Dane Cook? Any one? Any one? No? Oh well, we sure thought it was hilarious!

I don't know, maybe I don't get out enough, but I sure had a great time, dancing, meeting people and just enjoying the freak show parade around me...okay, maybe they thought I was the freak show...but, we had fun!

New Adventures in Sweets!

2009-09-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

Like I mentioned in my last post I have an irrational desire to become a cake artist; do I have the skill...dunno, but I think where there is will to learn there is the ability to gain the skills...that's what I'm telling myself!

I had been putting myself out there to every cake decorator I knew that I was willing to take a free position in trade for learning, since I really cannot afford to go to culinary school, and guess what?! Someone took me up on my offer. I was so excited I could barely contain myself! I met with her today, a sort of get-to-know-me session. I really felt we have a lot in common and I hope that she felt that I really am committed to learning and the opportunity.

In a short time today I learned quite a bit...but the real test will be if I can meet her expectations...yeah, I'm worried! I can decorate a cookie, and I have iced cakes before...hopefully my current skills will be a good enough base to build on...we will find out...stay tuned!

What i know

2009-08-09T12:09:00.000-05:00

I know that there are some people that have too many irons in the fire and handle it just perfectly and gracefully. I know there must be something terribly off with folks like that!

I know...I have too many irons in the fire.

I have a full-time job in the medical transcription field working 40+ hours a week.
I have a small business, Sugar Beez, making custom cookies that takes up 20+ hours a week.
I have 5 daughters that take up every moment of time I can give them.
I have a 22-year marriage to a man who lives and works in CA that we see 4 times a year if we are really fortunate.
I live with my 5 daughters in IL.
I have an irrational desire to become a full-time cake artist when I know damn good and well I make much more money in medical transcription.
I volunteer at my daughters' schools.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I have 1-1/2 grandchildren...Riley who is 4 months old and Ruby who is due 9/19/09 (explains the 1/2 a grandchild, right?).

I do very well at the medical transcription part of my life, and I do a dern good job at the childrearing part of my life, so someone please explain to me my totally irration drive to do something with cakes and cookies and pies and gelatins and all that sweet stuff? I drive my 21-year-old daughter crazy because she thinks I should just focus on cookies. I am good at them, but I want to be good a cakes and cupcakes and gelatins too...am I wrong? Or am I just nuts?

The jury is still out.

2009-06-07T10:52:00.000-05:00

What the heck do I do with this?!

I'm not a cake artist. I rarely do cakes, but I love to lurk on several cake art message boards and wistfully look through all the posts and their pictures. Once in a while I will see something that I think I can duplicate on a cookie and so I will hunt down the tool that was used, such as a gumpaste cutter, patchwork cutter, etc. Then off to my favorite cake art supply website to order the newly discovered tool.

A few days later the package will arrive and I gleefully rip it open to find the tool and nothing else...no instructions, no pictures, no clue! GGGrrrr! After the package arrives (and I've stopped throwing a tantrum over the lack of instructions) I search and search the web for tutorials. Sometimes I find them, lots of times I don't. The next few days (okay, weeks) are spent dedicating an hour or 2 (okay my 4 or 5) to figuring out the tool.

One day it occurred to me…maybe I’m not the only one struggling to learn these tools? And frustrated by the lack of tutorials on the web. Here’s an idea…why don’t I detail my efforts to learn these tools and create a tutorial and voila! my blog was transformed from my mindless blogging to blogging with a purpose! Yay! I love having a purpose, makes me feel so useful!

Beginning next week I will post my first tutorial on a tool. The tool I have decided to do first is the pasta machine. I bought one of these to use with fondant and man, did it take me some time to figure out how to keep the fondant from sticking, and even what I needed to do to the fondant before putting it through the machine.

So keep checking back! If you have suggestions for a tool you would like to see featured, or even a technique, please e-mail me and let me know – tracy@sugarbeez.com.

Sweet Wishes from Tracy @ Sugar Beez

Scurd....

2009-02-10T06:52:00.000-06:00

So the economy has even me shaking in my boots. It is always one of those things that doesn't really bother you until it starts hitting close to home. I havent had much in the way of orders lately so I have been working extra hard at my "real" 9-to-5 job as a manager for a national medical transcription service. Some of our clients are being effected by the economy in that people are just not coming to the hospital for little things. The volume of work is much lower right now that we traditionally see, which means our transcriptionists are running out of work. Transcriptionists work on production, so if they run out of work, they don't earn money.

I have been tightening my budget by cutting down my services on my phone, cable, internet, everything. I'm sure lots of American are doing the same thing, but doesn't that perpetuate the problem? We spend less and this trickles down and shows up as loss of jobs? Sort of a catch-22.

One of my daughters' friends, her father is a physician. They have always been very financially stable, live in a big beautiful house...yeah, I envy them, but they are really down-to-earth friendly people, and face it, they earned what they have. But I found out yesterday that he was laidoff! A doctor, laidoff! What the hacken!

My company did some layoffs in December (how nice, right before the holidays) and now there is rumor that there may be more to come. I sure do hope that help comes soon for our economy.

Day one

2008-06-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

So, I'm going to try blogging....forgive me for my boringness and my errors, oh blogging community! I am very new to blogging, but I figure I am just supposed to speak my piece about what I know, right? So, what do I know?

I know how to make cookies. I have a cookie business called Sugar Beez that has been in business for a year. http://www.sugarbeez.com/ Right now I'm only selling online because I dont have my own kitchen (legal that is). I rent kitchen time from a chef friend of mine and my business is growing. Yay me!

My daughter is a student at a culinary school in Chicago, taking baking and pastry so the little twerp is going to know way more than me! Okay, she already knows more than me because I'm just a house fraus who has a really good cookie recipe (and some killer decorating skils). So, soon she and I will work together to expand the business and its offerings...stay tuned and buckle in, it's bound to be a bumpy ride!