Finding Balance

How do we find balance when we are trying to juggle to many things?  I have been pondering this all weekend.  How do I find balance? My schoolwork, my beadwork, my housework, my grandchildren...It just seems that I am alway's trying to do a bit more than I can and something along the line suffers.  I have to admit these day's it is usually my beadwork.  It seems like my school work is taking many more hours a day than I ever imagined an online class could.  It seems like I just finish babysitting my newest grandbaby and then I am doing it again.  I am not complaining, I love the time I spend with her, my other two grandkids no longer need me that way but I cannot do much else when I have her, she does not sleep, she is very alert almost all day and needs to be interacted with.  So now I sit and wonder how to keep up with new shop listings on Etsy when I don't seem to find the time to make anything.  I listed the amulet above today, it has been sitting in my "done" box for weeks and I haven't done another since.  Right now I have three custom orders for amulet bags, each one is started, but I am not making progress.  I did my schoolwork this morning.  Then I babysat until 9:00 tonight.  Instead of sitting down to pick up my beading needle I sat down at the computer and went into my classroom to do......more schoolwork!... So now it is 11:00 at night and my eyes are telling me I can do nothing more than climb into bed.  Seems like a very typical day so how do I find that balance that gives me the time to do my schoolwork, be with my family and find the time for my creative needs? This is going to require a bit more thought, maybe I'll sleep on it.

A reason to laugh

It seems like I have not had much in my life as of late to make me laugh.  But this week we stood on my porch and watched an event that had me laughing so hard I had tears running down my face.  The farm next door has a number of pastures and they move different sets of cows around occasionally. Apparently this week it was moving day for the cows that have been across the street to the pasture next to my house.  Well, it did not go really smoothly.  The cows decided they weren't in the mood and decided to go in all directions causing bedlam to break loose.  The cows were running back and forth across the road, Have you ever seen a huge cow run?  There were three farmhands with big sticks running around to try to herd the cows in the direction they wanted.  That did not work out so well.  The farmhands ran right and the cows ran left.  Then the farmhands ran in a circle to the left and the cows ran backwards to the right.  There were cars stopped on both sides of the road because some of the larger, older cows decided to stroll up and down the road.  Three of the youngsters managed to get up into my driveway.  I literally stood on my porch staring down at three young bulls, they were just babies when I moved in here.  Here comes a farmhand on a tractor chasing them and they ran in three different directions.  They sure gave him a run for his money.  All the cows got eventually rounded up into the pasture next to me so we had a happy ending but it sure was fun watching this comedy while it unraveled.  Hope those farmhands got a pay raise!

Thoughts

Life just does not seem to settle down.  Every time I think things will slow down so I can catch my breath and figure out how to catch up, another something or other comes up.  I am just not getting any time to myself other than when I just do not feel well enough to do what is normal.  So I sat once more thinking what I can do for my shop to try to get through the holiday season.  Just cannot accomplish what I wanted and am now resigning myself to the fact that things aren't going to change much.  So I decided if nothing else I would concentrate on my mini amulet bags that I created for my "Love for Tori" line.  And then I would put them all up for a very special price of $10.00 through the holiday season which will fly by us just as it alway's does.

For anyone who may have not been reading my blog for a long time this particular line of mini bags are named for my grand daughter, Tori.  Tori is 17 and she totally owns my heart.  She also struggles with more illness than any 17 year old should have to.  She has a number of problems starting with a type of mono that never goes away.  It lives dormant in her blood stream and flares up when it feels like it. At least once a year and she is bedridden for ages, it has darn near killed her 3 times. 
Then a few years ago we went through the thyroid cancer scare, which is when I created these mini bags, not big enough for much but the perfect size to write a wish on a bit of paper, roll it up and tuck in your bag so it is alway's close by.  A bit over a year ago we finally got a positive result that Tori has both Rhuemetoid Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis, a gift from her father.  So at 17 she lives with the pain of a 70 year old.  This child is such a brave soul and I love her dearly.  I joke with her that we make a great pair with all our illness and fighting to have a normal life when I am rich I am going to go buy us matching lazy boys for the living room. 

Why I am going into all this is a mystery, just deciding to do some more of these bags for my shop just gets me thinking about how much we have gone through over the last 10 years.  I forget what tough people we are. 

It's coming faster than we think

     Tomorrow is October 1st and I absolutely hate the fact that I am sitting here thinking about the upcoming holiday's.  My whole life I grumbled when I walked into a store and saw Christmas decorations before Halloween got here but as an online shop owner now, I get it.  I get it, I get it.  Each year I tell myself I am going to buckle down get rid of distractions and get great, holiday worthy, items made, posted and promoted in my shop in plenty of time for the holiday's because I know I can't wait until December 5th to start.

    Yet here I sit on September 30th, with so many things going on in my life I wonder to myself, when am I going to get the time to create enough?  This has to be the year I get a head start and make gorgeous, creative, beautiful items for one and all and sell them all so I can in turn buy gorgeous, creative, beautiful items to give to my family for gifts.  But when will I find time?  It just is not going to happen.  No matter how much I make up my mind life will always interfere with the best layed plans.  Some one will need me, my school work will get heavy, I will have an episode that stops me from creating.  It will always be something so all I can do is just move forward as best as I can just like I always do.  I will have new items posted, I will work on my ornaments but I will not be performing any miracles.  First and fore most I will concentrate on the ribbon ornaments for my friend for a few weeks.  Then we will delve into the holiday creation in the free minutes of my life.
Just the real life facts in the every day life of Debsparkles.  ;o)

Empowerment

A strong word.  A person can be empowered in many ways.  Today I am brainstorming way's to empower someone and I am going to appeal to your heart.  I have a friend, well I am not sure that is the best description, she is someone who has more than once been a part of my extended family. a best friend to my own daughter, someone we love.  She is in need of help.  Often we all are in need of some help but remember the old saying "no matter how tough it gets someone else has it tougher"
This is definitely one of those moments for me.  I am going to tell her story but I will not name her, she will just be called her because as much as I want to share what she is going through and what I wish to do, I must also protect her privacy.  If you and I are close and have the same group of close friends then you are already aware of who we are trying to help.

She married her high school sweetheart.  Sad and strange as it may be her childhood sweetheart, decorated service man husband quickly plunged her into a life of abuse.  But like most of us woman, she tried to work at things, she loved him and could fix him.  This is a thought I know so very well having spent 5 years married to an abusive alcoholic.  I loved him and I could fix him.  Yeah sure.

She gave birth to two gorgeous kids and the abuse became steadily worse and worse until the day she realized because she is a strong person that she needed to get out of the situation.  She tried living in the same state so the kids had contact with dad but that still left her vulnerable to the physical and emotional abuse.  Recently she came home so she had the support of family and friends  and after a recent court hearing on custody, had to return her children to dads state or face kidnapping charges. 
Any mom can understand the pain of leaving your kids with the man who has beat you over and over.  But she will fight and continue fighting for her children til the very end. 
I truly, truly have to wonder, what kind of a Judge facing a pile of police reports proving a man has beaten his wife over and over, blatantly hands those children over to the abuser without thought to not only their safety but to the woman who has given birth, loved and raised these children and subjected herself to more abuse to keep them safe?  I cannot for the life of me understand it. 

So now to start getting to the point of this post.  As a mom who's kids are her life she has no choice to travel between states for court appearances to fight for her family.  She has friends and family ready to support her emotionally, mentally, physically but the fact is this will cost money.  Lots of money.  Money to travel, pay lawyers, eat and have a place to stay.  The one power not in her reach is ready cash. 

What can I do?  There has to be something, that is the person I am.  Those that know me personally or have been reading my blog know I am dirt poor and never will be able to hand someone money.  But there is always a way and what I do have is my ability to turn my pile of beads into something of value.  So I am in the progress of beading awareness ribbon ornaments.  The samples I have been working on are done in purple because that is the color for domestic violence but I think I will be making them in as many colors as I can.  The only money I take from the sales will be what I spend in shipping.  The rest will go to my friend.  Anything I can do will empower her just a bit more than yesterday.
The ornaments will be listed for sale in my Etsy shop but I will also take custom orders in any color or amount.  If you are interested please contact me through my gmail and I can give you more information.   deb913@gmail.com

So as I make and list more ornaments they will pop up on my pictures or give send me an email if you can help.  Thank you and if nothing else say a prayer for my friend to keep her strong while she gets through this fight to bring her babies home. 

My Weekend

I know, your saying what's that baby doing here again!  I just love showing off my newest grand baby and she was so cute in her new pink tutu I couldn't help myself.

This weekend I attended my first live selling event in a very, very long time.  It was rather fun but I forgot how exhausting it is.  I came home with not only serious exhaustion but an unbelievable sunburn.  I made it through the entire summer without sunburn and in September I get zapped.  fortunately my Italian skin turns to tan quickly so I am now sporting a toasty glow.  Any way, I had made up a good amount of inexpensive chokers, friendship bracelets and keychains.  I put my
Etsy shop into vacation mode and brought every piece from the shop with me.  So I had a good full table.  I did not sell a fortunes worth of stuff but it was not a bad weekend.  I made my table money back with a bit more.  I gave out a lot of business cards for both my Etsy shop and my Avon business.  And I learned what to bring if I am foolish enough to do another live event in the near future.  For the entire 2 days I sold my felt and sequined ornaments and my friendship bracelets.  I pretty much wiped out my stock on ornaments so I need to get busy because I do sell them well during the holiday season.  All in all it was a fun weekend and I am glad I went. Now if I could just recuperate!

Goodbye August

         August has flown by quickly and I do not feel like I have had one minute to enjoy the all too short summer season.  But I do feel like I have accomplished much.  I am very well settled in my new home, boxes are all unpacked, getting pictures on the wall, and feeling content.  I just finished 2 more online college classes and waiting for grades, starting my next 2 classes next week.  Giving some thought to something, actually I have decided to do it.  The town I am living in has a townwide garage sale every September.  I remember doing it about 20 years ago.  I have lived here before when my kids were very little.  I have decided to sign up for a table and now I have just a bit under 2 weeks to make up a bunch of small inexpensive things, maybe bracelets and keychains.  I think I will put my Etsy shop in vacation mode for that weekend and take all the items from the shop.  Should be a fun weekend if it does not rain.  But I better go pick up my beading needles.