As part of my raking epiphany, I’ve taken some of my images and made notecards. I actually used them in class for a selling strategies lesson (Ahem, prep for a stupid assessment that is NOT aligned to our curriculum, so we needed to redirect our “teaching” to prepare kids to be assessed on something we HAVEN’T EVEN COVERED yet, cough). Anyway, I think I’ve come up with a pricing structure that I’m going to market in the teacher’s room first. Lord knows there’s plenty of other teachers looking for a buck in there, alas, Princess House glassware and Avon religious sculpture is NOT my bag. Photography is, though.

So, for my notecards (3×5 size, glossy) I’m going to charge 1.00 each, or 5.00 for a pre-mixed variety pack. I’m going to offer the option of greeting card size at 3.50/each, pre-ordered. Also available by order, 5x7s at 5 bucks, 8x10s at 10, and 11x14s for 20. I’ll also include a little note of “Other sizes available, just ask!” as my images can go up to 20×30. Yay, Olympus.

My mother has already ordered 8 sets of 8 greeting cards, I’m just waiting til Shutterfly has a sale to buy them. And, for her I’ll just buy them at cost, since the camera came from them (as well as so many other things.)

My kids actually loved the pictures; I was really surprised by that. I think it was good for them to see another side of me, too. They didn’t believe that I had taken them at first, and I think a few are still skeptical. Ah well.

***

On the car front, my parents, as I mentioned, just bought a Sienna and were raving about the Matrix. The Matrix looks nice, but the price tag is just uhh, waaaay beyond us. Well, way beyond our future plans, which they don’t know about. We could afford it now, but we don’t WANT a car payment like that because I want to stay home. A shiny car is not worth breaking even for, you know?

Our plan has been to drive the Escort into the ground. As my dad says “That car doesn’t owe you anything.” It doesn’t, its been a great car for 8 years, and the only thing that skeeves me out at this point is the seatbelt issue. There are some funky smells that come out of the vent when I switch from AC to heat when the seasons change, and that check engine light likes to wink hello every now and then, but for what I use the car for, it’s fine.

However — my parents are thinking they will swap out their Subaru for a Matrix. They put a ton of miles on their vehicles, I mean A TON, and they like the Matrix for my mom — she still has cargo room, and AWD, but it’s a little more efficient, and well, newer. When Dave heard that, he said “What will they do with the Subaru?” Ooohhh.

I mentioned to mom that we would buy their Subaru when they decide to go for the Matrix, which isn’t going to be TOO soon, but they were agreeable to that. (I knew they would be; they always get the trade-in value from the dealer, and then offer all of their friends and neighbors that price to buy it, since trade-in is less that what someone would pay. Make sense?) The Subaru would be about 1/4 the price of a new Matrix, but still has all the stuff I want — AWD, station wagon, AND a seatbelt! That it’s high-miles isn’t too daunting, as it would be an around town car, anyway. And, when/if the parents hear there’s a grandkid on the way (they know that the general plan is that I will not teach when I have a kid, they just don’t know how close — knock wood — that time is) they will be more than happy to cut a deal. They get a new car, and their firstborn daughter and unborn grandkid get the luxury of a driver’s side seatbelt.

Man, that would be so cool. And maybe, just maybe, my cards will pay for it! Heh.