Light it Up at Scentsy Convention 2012

I am so excited to be going to Scentsy Family Convention 2012.  If you follow me on Twitter you would have already heard the buzz.

Las Vegas Hilton

As an Independent Scentsy Consultant I will be attending my first convention July 25th-27th.  Luckily this year it is in fabulous Las Vegas.  Hooray for a stay-cation!  Even  Las Vegas has dressed up for the occasion.

The Convention Center

I can't wait!! Mommy gets a few days off! 
::guilty::  Ok so not too guilty now that little man is teething.  Daddy will be fully stocked with teething tablets and plenty of frozen breast milk.  Even though Scentsy Family is supportive of Breastfeeding mothers and will be providing cry rooms with monitors so you don't miss anything if you want to breastfeed in privacy and comfort. I will not be taking Magnus at just over 10 months old he is VERY active.  Being my first convention I didn't want to spend hours wrestling him and not be able to take notes on ways to boost my business to greater heights.  Sorry, Magnus.. you are stuck with Daddy.

Those 3 days are going to be filled with motivational speakers, new product reveals and even a whole new brand being released.   The first night alone there will be 3 different parties that you can attend.
The Scentsy Ultra Lounge ~ Lights music and dancing the perfect party.
Viva Las Vegas ~ Travel back to classic Las Vegas and party with the King of Rock 'n Roll.
Cirque De Scentsy ~ Amazing acrobats will wow you with their flipping, jumping, spinning and swinging.

I plan on checking in early on the first day to give me plenty of time to browse through the convention floor.  Complete with Scent room, where I will get to smell scents and vote for my favorites!!  There is so much it is hard to pick one thing I am excited about.  From product reveals (new products for the coming catalog), to the final reveal of Brand X (Scentsy Family's new brand to be released in the Fall)
Colbie Caillat will be performing at an exclusive concert, as well as other mystery entertainment.  It's not all fun and games there will be motivation, inspiration and training speakers there to help bring our business to new heights.  
I'm most excited to hear from Carrier Wilkerson, known as the Barefoot Executive.    I am looking forward to her helpful advice and examples on how to keep a healthy balance between family and work, while making my business flourish.

Bird Tricks Saved my Sanity

Want to stop the screaming?  Is your feathered friend a biter?  Don't give up, there is help out there for you.

The best online resource for me as a parrot owner has been Bird Tricks.  Their blog answers many everyday questions that a bird owner may have.  Did you know birds get dry skin like we do in the winter?  

I first became introduced to this website after we rescued Mezmo our African Grey Parrot.   Mezmo was a victim of the poor economy.  His previous owner, a hypnotist or magician in Las Vegas, lost his home to foreclosure and Mezmo was the bird that he didn't take with. sad right? A friend of the family was left to feed him.  They knew we were bird lovers and we took him in right before Christmas of 09.

Their DVDs are an invaluable tool for any bird owner.  Since buying their DVD's I better understand my parrot's behavior.  I thank the training we learned from the DVD's for how fast Mezmo came to trust us.  Going from a bird that would fly around in it's huge cage when you walked into the room, to flying to you and taking food off your fork as you eat.  The clicker training made a huge difference in his response to step up in a few weeks.  The screaming took longer but more due to my response.  Telling your bird to "Stop it" will just lead to them screaming then saying "Stop it" as if to mock you even more.
 
We still have some more work to do with Mezmo, but training never stops when you own any animal.

Clicker Training Hamsters

I am a sucker for animals that need a home. Our African Grey parrot Mezmo is a rescue bird. (He came to us just last December) Mezmo had some behavior problems but after serious clicker training he has changed drastically. It took some work with great guidance from a set of Bird Tricks DVD's I purchased. My only regret was not buying the DVD's sooner.

My youngest sister is moving out-of-state soon and I guess her friend thought it would be the perfect chance to pawn some angry hamsters off on someone. (someone she may never see ever again.) After accepting them my sister realized that there was no way she could take the hamsters on the long move.

In turn our family recently acquired 2 dwarf hamsters with cage and supplies, from my little sister. They are two girl Dwarf hamsters, one is white with pink eyes and the other looks just like the picture. Her friend's kids had stopped handling them as often as they should due to other newer pets in the house, which was why their mom got rid of them. The hamsters are not very well socialized and they will bite. They are very aggressive when treats are given. I think they had also been teased. We are going to try to do clicker training with them. Clicker training is a great trust building activity. It has worked very well with our parrot.

I learned what I know about clicker training from the DVD's we purchased from Bird Tricks. After some research on the web I found someone using clicker training for hamsters as well. Rodents being a food reward type animal clicker training the hamsters will be very similar to the bird. I will just use what I learned from the DVD's and adapt the training for small animals and not a bird.

My goal is to get the hamsters to the point that my kid's can hold them without the hamsters attempting to bite them. As a family, we plan to go visit the nearby pet store this weekend and pick out some new accessories for the hamsters' cage. Our oldest two daughters want to name the hamsters as a family this weekend as well.

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