Pumpkin Experiment Pt 2

A few years ago, I did a post about a pumpkin experiment I did, using four different varieties of pumpkin. I cooked each one, skinned and pureed them and then baked some bread with each kind to see if there was a notable difference in flavor. There was quite a difference and I was fascinated to find that there are over 50 varieties of pumpkin out there! 

So, this year I am doing it again! I chose the "winner" from the last experiment to compete against a few new challengers. 

 First of all, finding different types of pumpkins in our small town is not that easy. I had to go about an hour away to find anything other than carving or pie pumpkins for the last try. This time I stopped at a local home decor and nursery because I knew they had a "pumpkin patch." They actually just have a path with piles of pumpkins in it and a hay bale maze, but it works for our community. To my surprise and delight, they had 12 varieties of pumpkin! Looks like I'll be able to repeat this experiment at least one more time without traveling a great distance. 

The pumpkins I chose this time are (from top to bottom): One Too Many, Speckled Hound, Cheddar (winner from last time), and Enchanted. My kids also picked up some pie pumpkins which I will talk about but that I did not use to make bread with. 

 We start with the One Too Many. This pumpkin is quite funny looking! It is white with both orange and green veins running down and over it. We got one that was a bit lopsided, but they aren't all that way. 

One thing I wish I had done before I started was to weigh each pumpkin. Last time I measured how much the yield was, but without any reference to the beginning weight. This time, I did not measure either weight or yield (although, if I go look in my freezer, I can probably figure out the yield.

 The inside of the One Too Many was pretty surprising! It has white flesh with a slight green tinge near the skin. It had very spongy, dry pulp but the flesh began to sweat immediately after cutting. I thought it smelled a bit like cucumber, but my daughters thought it was more like honeydew melon. There was a lot of pulp and the seeds were very large and white. I thought they made the best tasting toasted seeds (yup! I didn't burn the seeds this year like last time!). 

The girls helped me seed all of the other pumpkins, but I did this one myself. The seeds came out of the pulp pretty easily, possibly because it was so dry. 

I also wrote in my notes that the inside was tough but the skin was pretty easy to cut. That is pretty important as I am getting older and cutting things like pumpkins and watermelons gets harder every year. I remember in my notes from the last experiment that one of the pumpkins was so hard to cut that I planned to use a hatchet the next time. I expect that I'll just not use that kind again. 

I will also say that the day after this experiment, my right arm ached all day and night and into the second day. I lift weights every week, so this is pretty significant to have that kind of muscle ache. Pumpkins are no joke!

 The cut pieces all fit on my large bar pan and baked up rather dry. I probably could have put them in for less time. I baked them at 350 for just under an hour. The pieces were less than 1 in thick. 

The baked pumpkin had a very different smell than the raw. It was much more like sweet pipe tobacco. There was not a lot of puree and the flesh was not hard to remove from the skin. It was easy to puree because most of the water remained in the pumpkin. The puree was a green color and very sweet.

The second pumpkin we did was the Speckled Hound. It was a dark grey-green with speckles up and down it's seems. It was a smaller pumpkin but weighed more than the One Too Many. 

You can't tell here but will see in the next photo that while it may seem round, it is really one of the squeezed looking kinds. 

It was not too hard to cut, but not super easy, either. 

The Speckled Hound had a light orange center and its pulp was also a bit dry, although more stringy than the One Too Many. The seeds were very small, round, and very dark. The flesh had a green right around it, as well, which makes me wonder if that indicates a lack of ripeness like with a banana. 

The flesh smelled a little grassy but more pumpkin-like than the One Too Many.There was also an odd hollow part in the very center. 

 The Hound was very loud while cooking- it kind of sizzled in the oven. There was not a lot of water, but more than the first one and the flesh became more yellow after baking. It was very easy to remove from the skin and easy to puree, where it changed colors again to a dark orange. It smelled more tart and more pumpkin-like than the One Too Many.

I baked it at the same temp for exactly an hour. 

 This is not a great picture of the Enchanted pumpkin. It is very white and was the largest and heaviest of the pumpkins we used this time. If you remember last time, the larges was rather light due to it being so hollow. Not so with the Enchanted. It had very little inside and tons of flesh. It was rather hard to cut and had a stringy center. The seeds were large, dark, and fat. They were my second favorite once toasted. This one also had a green tinge and began to sweet as soon as I cut it. 

 You can see that the Enchanted pumpkin is also rather squashed (pun intended). It has a very deep dent in the bottom which makes the flesh grow thick in the center area. 

The flesh smelled like the mountains to me, like a fresh breeze and not very much like pumpkin. 

If you look at the sliced below, you will see how the flesh did not grow symmetrically at all. I ended up cutting each U down the center before cooking. This one took up the large bar pan and 2 smaller cookie sheets to get in the over and baked for an hour and fifteen minutes. 

The baked pieces smelled very sweet and were very easy to remove from the skin. 

At first there seemed to be a medium amount of water when baked. But after removing the skin, there was a lot of water along with the flesh in the bowl. I had to keep pouring it out and I used a slotted spoon to more the flesh into the food processor. There was also so much puree that my processor needed a rest before moving on to the next pumpkin! It began to over heat. It did puree quickly, though and was tasty. 

The next pumpkin we used was the Cheese or Cheddar pumpkin. This was the winner from the last experiment. By "winner" I mean that the bread I made from it got the most votes and that I liked its qualities over all more than the other pumpkins. I read over my last blog post before beginning this year's experiment and thought I read that the Cheese was easy to cut. This one was not so easy as I remembered, but not as hard as the Enchanted. It had all the other qualities as last time: stringy inside almost like shredded cheese, dark flesh, seed that looked traced, etc. It baked in just over an hour and was not as easy to remove from the skin as I noted last time, either. Perhaps this one was less ripe or perhaps I could have baked it longer. The puree was quite nice, though. 

 The last set of pumpkins that we did were the pie pumpkins. I have never actually worked with a pie pumpkin before and I was not impressed. Hard to cut, very dry when baked, not much yield, hard to gut and hard to remove from the skin, and not as sweet as the others. Very difficult to puree due to the dryness. It is said that these pumpkins make the best pies because of that dryness, but I'm not sure the extra work is worth a little more firmness in a pie. The baked pieces smelled a bit like popcorn, kind of buttery. 

These were the seeds in order from Left to Right: One Too Many, Speckled Hound, Enchanted, Cheese, and Pie.

You can see the different colors and consistency of each puree, not to mention the amount! Note that the one with the least puree has the most seeds.

 We measured them all our in batches of about two cups. I say "about" because my husband would scoop less than a full cup in order not to get any on his hands and then try to compensate by adding a smaller amount. When I baked with two of these (he left the other two bowls with some inside), I discovered that after removing one cup from 2 bags, one bag was left with less than one cup and the other was left with much more than one cup! So, the yield is hard to say. When I bake in future, I'll be sure to measure what I take out rather than just dumping a bag in and calling it 2 cups. 

 And, of course, the real test! I made a half batch of muffins with each puree. This recipe called for mixing up all the ingredients except the pumpkin and then adding it last, which was very convenient for such an experiment. I made one single large batch, split it in exactly 4 parts, and then added the different purees. I took the muffins with me to a school field trip and used the 12 children, 1 teacher and 2 moms as voters. I then used 5 teenagers and one admin from school to eat the rest and got a good tally! Best smell was Enchanted (11 votes). Best taste was also the Enchanted (9 votes).

I did not have any muffins this time as I am on a restricted diet, but I did have a taste of each puree and I got to eat the toasted seeds! I decided to simply toast them all together, but that ended up being not the best idea as the smallest seeds (from the Speckled Hound) burned before the largest were done. I ended up just picking them out.

I melted a stick of butter, tossed the raw seeds in it, sprinkled with salt and baked at 350 for 35 min. I say, "I" but it was really my dear husband who finished off the work for me.

See! There he is measuring our the puree for me! Last time I did this experiment, I began baking around 11am and finished after midnight (including the bread). This times I began the project at about 9am but had to take a break to get my youngest to Learning Lab for a couple of hours around lunch. I finished baking the muffins at about 8:30 and my hubs had the kitchen clean before bedtime! And now we have enough pumpkin to last us at least 2 years.

Jamberry Lacquer Remover

Another One of My Passions

Everybody know that I'm a Jamberry Lady; but there are other direct sales companies that I really love the products of. Now, I can't give you an inside look at any of them because, as I said, I'm a Jamberry Lady. I can, however, show you some things that I am pretty passionate about.

Let's talk JEWELRY!!

I mean, I could give you a list of products that I like from companies like Pampered Chef and Party Lite (my two other favorites); but there is something so seductive about a good piece of jewelry.

Premier Designs is my favorite line of Jewelry. They are a direct sales company that turned 30 this year. I first heard about them about 22 years ago when I went to a party in Michigan. Their jewelry line has changed a lot in those 22 years, just as fashion has changed, but the quality has stayed the same! And, oh! The newest line is so versatile it will AMAZE you! But there are a few more things I'd like to talk about before I show the stuff!

 Premier has a certain philosophy that promotes in person shows. I love this! I mean, I do most of my nail shows online and there are some advantages to that; but in home shows are so much more fun, more personal, take up less time, and make more money than online shows. And I love seeing and touching the product. 

I'm having a Premier jewelry show next week. It will be the 4th or 5th time I've done a how, but the first time I've done one in Texas and the first show I've done in about 10 years. Maybe more. I've also been to more than a dozen shows since my first one, but only one in Texas and only one in the last, oh, 8 years or so. 

Here's what to expect at a jewelry show: so. much. fun. Seriously! Like the meme above says, who doesn't love sitting around with a bunch of women, having a few snacks and drinks, and looking at/touching/trying on jewelry? But there's even more. The jeweler (that's the consultant for Premier) will give you a real show- a whole bunch of tips on how to wear jewelry in such a way as to accent the positive and eliminate the negative aspects of your body. There are things you can do to look slimmer, taller, like you have a larger cup size, like you only have one chin! These tips are awesome, and who doesn't want to know how to look their best? 

Plus, there are games and prizes. Oh, and the very best thing- JEWELRY!! Now I've gotten to the good part! Premier decided a few years ago that the best jewelry is the most versatile. They are so right! You will be totally wow-ed at the different ways you can wear a single necklace or bracelet! Here are a few of the most amazing pieces, as far as look and versatility go, and a few of my favorites:

This is Top Notch

Top Notch is a signature piece. One of the videos I saw said that it was only available for one year- which means from last July to this June! It can totally change looks depending on what you do with it. It comes as above with a 3 strand necklace, a reversible enhancer (what Premier calls pendants) and a bracelet. All the pieces mix to form the looks below and more! There are at least 25 different looks you can get form this one piece! I want!!

This is Papaya

Papaya looks like a basic multi-strand necklace. But the awesome thing is what you can do with it- and most of these things can be done to ANY multi-strand necklace! So try them at home!

Twist

 

Knot one strand.

Shorten a few.

Ad a pin (this one is a pin and enhancer with magnetic back!).

Ad a pin to the side.

This is Manhattan (sorry about the picture quality- it is not easy to find good photos of Premier jewelry on the internet- party because they want people to see them in person and discourage consultants from putting it all online). The Manhattan is a simple 8 strand necklace with two metals linked. But you can twist it, loop it, enhance it, and change it to make a couple dozen looks at least!

This is Opening Night- 90 inches of faux pearls and it can be worn at least 49 different ways!!

These are all on my wishlist:

Avery-shown in the first and last pics with 2 other faves (listed below). The Avery enhancer is reversible!

Easy Living- hard to see, but this one is so simple and so awesome!

Pattern Play. Love it!

Pompeii. Seen also above with Avery.

Work it!! Another very versatile necklace!

Seaside! Here it is twisted.

Seaside with the bracelet knotted and attached (it has magnetic closures).

With the bracelet but with some strands hanging.

With the bracelet- both braided- and an enhancer.

And this is the top of my wishlist: Indigo!

I've had several people ask me if I am going to start selling these now- and I totally could! But I really need to focus on one thing and do it well and I have chosen Jamberry. I just love them and think very highly of the company. But, don't be surprised when you see me sporting some of these necklaces (and bracelets and earrings and pins!!).

Jamberry Nails: An Honest Look From the Inside

 After 6 months with Jamberry, I've decided to post a kind of review. I've had lots of people ask me how I like being a Jamberry Independent Consultant and I have had others who avoid the subject like the plague. 

I have always been one of those women who loves going to DS parties- Party Lite candles, Premier Jewelry, and Pampered Chef were my faves. When I was single and trying to get by, I considered doing something like DS, but I was so strapped that I really didn't have the start up fee. I also wondered if I would actually do well. I love talking with people and I can sell well at the places I have worked, but people were always coming to those stores to buy. I didn't have to go out looking for customers myself. So I never took the plunge.

 

 I became a stay at home mom when my oldest was 8 months and we moved from Eastern Washington to Eastern Texas. I enjoyed my time at home. We bought our first house and had a second baby. I never lacked for things to do and didn't feel like there was anything missing, exactly. The only thing I would have liked to change was that I had no spending money of my own. I had an allowance that just covered groceries, gas, student loan, phone, and Netflix (my one luxury). If I wanted to buy craft supplies or a pair of shoes, anything not in my set budget, I either had to scrimp on groceries or ask my husband. 

While having no spending money bothered me a bit, I still loved not working outside the home and I was not really looking for a way to change my circumstances. Then, last May (2014), a friend of mine invited me to a facebook party. I didn't even know they had those. I had not been to one DS party during the two years I had lived in Texas, so I was keen to see what it was. I had never heard of Jamberry. When I saw that it was nail wraps, I became less interested. I don't wear make up, don't do my hair, and never paint my nails. I had worked for Starbucks for 14 years and we were not allowed even clear coat on our nails, so I never bothered. Plus, my nails were weak. I used to paint my toes, but that was about it. Still, I stuck around for the games and interaction with my far away friends (the friend who had the party was someone I knew from Washington who now lives in Idaho). I won an accent sheet in one of the games and then a mani pack. When it arrived, I told my husband that I would probably never do them. But then I saw the Sister's Style Exclusive for that month and it was Flutterby!! 

I couldn't resist! I bought it for only $15 thinking that I would do my nails for something special sometime. When it came, I did my toes and FELL IN LOVE! I had a catalog party and did my hands for the first time. 

I'm not sure exactly why I began considering becoming a Jamberry Independent Consultant. I know the consultant who did my party mentioned some of the benefits and I loved the product. But I had a bug in my ear about it and it nagged at me. I began thinking more and more about it and I joined the sneak peek of the consultants facebook group. 

This is where some of you who have been burned by DS companies are starting to cringe, right? When I was considering entering into the world of Direct Sales, I did my research on Jamberry but didn't really look at anything else. I have recently seen a whole lot of information on some of the other companies out there- not all, mind you, but a couple of the major ones that everyone knows (PinkTruth.com, anyone?)- and it makes me feel sick to think about. But this is my journey, and I'll let you keep reading.

So, I was in the sneak peek, and because I had never done DS before, I didn't really know what to ask. I read the posts by other people asking questions and learned about the compensation plan and fast start bonuses. 

I learned that the Team Manager of the group, who happened to be the consultant who did the party I was in, had only been with the company for 4 months and that her direct upline had only been with the company for  6 and was already an Executive (2 levels up from TM)! Granted, I had no idea how these women got to that point and I had no idea how I would "work the business." I was only interested in working a few hours a week, so I doubted I'd go far. I learned that the company was only 4 years old and had fewer than 50,000 consultants. That to me was both a positive and a negative. I expected there would be tons of changes as the company grew, that there was a ton of potential for profit (as all the "literature" suggested- by "literature" I mean the posts on fb), but that there might not be a lot of support and that the company might not be sustainable. I learned that there was a lot of enthusiasm in the group of about 50 women on this page and I wondered if it was really a good idea to join.

I mentioned to my husband that I was thinking about selling Jamberry, thinking that the cautious man he is would shoot the idea down and that would be the end of it. But he didn't. He didn't even think very long about it. He simply said that it was my decision but that he thought DS played well to my strengths. He had long teased me that Swiffer should pay me commission because I sang their praises so often. And he knows that I did a good job of selling at Eddie Bauer and Starbucks. It was easy for me because I believed in the products I was selling. I knew so little about nail wraps. But I had his blessing, so I looked into it a little more.

I did my research. I Googled and You Tubed. I read blogs, watched videos, read reviews, and chatted a bit with the friend who had the party that I discovered Jamberry in. She was thinking about joining, too, so we shared info with each other. I could find very little negative about Jamberry. There was one blog by a former consultant that was pretty negative, but even when I read it the very first time, I could see how she had made some major mistakes and had then blamed the company for them. But other than that one post, there wasn't a lot to be found. 

So, I signed up on August 1, 2014. It is now February 16, 2015- almost 6 months since my sign up date- and this is what I have found:

- No one is setting quotas for me.

     I set all my own goals. There is an "Active Status" requirement for consultants set by the company, but if I do not make it the only penalty is that I don't get the benefits of my downline. If I am inactive for a year, then I am no longer considered a consultant. That Active Status requirement is $200 a month, which I have never had a problem making. If you don't want to sell $200 a month, you can also be a Hobbyist. The requirement for Hobbyists is $600 a year to keep the free website. Essentially, Hobbyists sell to friends and family and still collect the 30% commission.

       But did you hear me say that I make my own goals? I do. Or I don't. No one is pressuring me in any way to sell. 

- There are no hidden fees.

       The starter kit is $99. With tax and shipping it comes out to about $120 (depending on your tax rate). The only other things you might want to have are business cards, which you can get from VistaPrint for about $25- cheaper when they run a special, and address labels to put on the catalogs and fliers. But you don't have to have either of those things. You don't ever have to have inventory. You don't have to pay any other fees for 3-4 months (depend on which day of the month you sign up) and then the full website is $10 a month after that. Hobbyist website is free. You get a free subscription to TaxBot for recording any expenses you do incur- traveling to parties or trade show (if you choose to do any) or having lunch with a friend and talking about the product. But that's it. You don't have to go to meetings. You don't have to buy anything or subscribe to anything. You don't have to spend any more money unless you want to.

- You have a TON of support! 

       This is no joke. Not only does no one in my up line pressure me in any way to sell, but they are around when I have a question or problem of any kind. I literally call them Jamsisters because they are like family. We support each other emotionally by encouragement, prayers, and shared experiences. We support each other practically by sharing resources of all kinds whether it be just answering questions of our own knowledge, sharing files and photos for doing online parties, or even swapping marketing materials or hunting down retired Jams when someone needs them to run a party for for a customer, respectively. One of my Jamsisters recently had financial trouble when her husband was laid off and we took up a collection to help her! This group is really phenomenal! 

        And it doesn't stop with my team and direct up line. Jamberry's motto is "Make it Right." They support their consultants 100%. They have 24 hr support lines, have a great problem solving team, and they bend over backwards to fix any issues.

- The product is awesome!

        I've heard lots of people say that the nail wraps sell themselves. While this is not entirely true, it is pretty easy to get people excited about something you wear on your hands. They are your advertisement and people notice them. It opens so many doors to conversation that you don't have to sweat "selling." Plus, there are a dozen things to love about the wraps!!

     

- The pay.

      This is where everyone stops and asks, "Yeah. How much do you make selling these things? And how much do you spend."

       This is where it get a little tricky, too. Because no one has the same experiences. The company discourages consultants from saying exactly how much they make because they don't want to ever be accused of making promises. I cannot promise you advancement. I cannot promise you a six figure salary. I cannot promise you will make anything. But I have made enough that I am happy with my choice. I made back the cost of my kit (which I had a garage sale before hand to pay for- NO DEBT for this girl!) with my launch party and almost all of my Jamsisters did, too. I did not make two of the three fast starts (see above) because I only have one recruit. But that is my choice. I have not been out there promoting to get recruits. This blog post is not meant to be an advertisement for Jamberry, but is mostly a resource for anyone looking into doing this. I have never been inactive and I have never had a party that sold nothing. But that is me. 

        The commission rate is 30-40%. Everyone makes 30% on everything from the very beginning. There is no trial period or goal you have to reach to get to the commission level. You make it on the very first wrap you sell. You can make up to 40% depending on how much you sell in a month (see chart above). There are cash bonuses, product bonuses, and a trip incentive. There is also a way to get marketing product (by selling $700 or more in a month). I have only paid for catalogs once (out of 4 times) because I get the credit. 

       There is, of course, a lot of money to be made if you have a team under you. This is your choice and is not required. It is also not a pyramid scheme because, if you notice (chart above), no matter what your rank, you must sell a certain amount of product to make the override extras. This means that you can't just tell your down line to sell so you can make money sitting back doing nothing. No one above you will take advantage of you or pressure you to sell so they can make a wage. At least, that has not been my experience and the experience of my Jamsisters.

I also have to say that I love doing parties. Most of my Jamsisters party exclusively or almost exclusively on facebook. I enjoy the in home parties. I have done more facebook parties because you can reach a wider audience that way, but the in person parties have made more money for me. I have also done Skype parties, which is a combo, and those have done well. I love letting women try on the samples (50 sheets come in your started kit) and talking about the confidence it gives me to have pretty hands. I love making friends both online and in person. I love relaxing with women and not thinking about my kids for a couple hours. I've done a couple dud trade shows but I'm hoping to do a wedding show later this year. I've been to one regional conference (where I sat at a table of 5 women, 4 of whom had nursing babies with them- including me!!) and loved that they actually offered me training and ideas as well as access to people from the corporate office (Oh! And discounted Jams!). I love that I can set my own schedule and that I really do get out of it what I put into it. I love that I can take a vacation when I want to. I love that when I do an in home party, I have one bag to carry and don't have to take more than a few minutes to set up! And I love my nails. 

I hope that this review was helpful to anyone thinking about joining Jamberry. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them at the bottom.