My Greatest Fear

Before I traumatize you with a terrible story, I'll show you my latest yarn. It will break your heart (it broke mine).

Enough yarn.

I came to a point tonight when I found myself facing something quiet ugly.

It was hideous... scary... frightening... not for the faint of heart... and definitely not for the eyes of babes.

I reached the end of my crafty rainbow. I tried knitting and was left uninspired. I tried making a wreath and was disgusted with my progress. I even tried to reorganize my yarn and was left halfheartedly stuffing yarn into a tote and hiding it under a table. Yup, I'm done crafting for shows this year.

I have one show left on Saturday and while I have a good amount of stock left, I wanted a few new things but that's not going to happen. I want to knit for myself, spin yarn for myself, bake for myself and making things to sell does not aid in that desire one bit. It was very easy for me to decide to be done. It's nice when messages are clear like that.

So, for now, rest because come next week, it's time to get started on the handmade Christmas list.

Happy Dance

This is me... happy dancing all over the place.

Okay, so you can't see me dancing, but I promise you, it's good. I created my first newsletter tonight. If you didn't get one and want to partake in the 15% discount then fill out the appropriate information over here --------------------------------------------------->

You'll be sorry if you don't.

Just sayin'

A Promise

Dear soon to be 30 year old self...

...I promise to stay true to myself, even if that means finding myself again

...I promise to let my mouth be the voice my mind so desperately needs

...I promise to do better about finding you handmade tortillas more than once a year

...I promise to stay busy being creative even when I want to sit around watching tv

... I promise to continue learning

... I promise to provide you with many opportunities to buy new shoes

... I promise to stop and pet the Schmoo cat on the head at least 4 times a day

... I promise to try and stress out less (I said try)

... I promise that my 30s will be even better than my 20s.

I promise.

I need help.

There. I said it. That wasn't so bad, was it?

I typically pride myself in my creative organizational skills but I've hit a wall with my latest project. My jewelry supplies used to live happily on my sun porch. They were all nicely stacked and tucked away on shelves underneath a vintage sewing table just ready to be pulled out and made into some lovely, sparkly goodness.

However, now they live stacked on a wobbly shelf in my guestroom closet. They lurk there in the dark just waiting to lunge at me the next time I open my closet. The jewelry supplies no longer way to be made into lovely, sparkly goodness but instead hide, unloved and forgotten.

I'm left without a great way to display my supplies within easy reach (no thanks to IKEA for having the perfect shelf in their showroom and then not having it in stock on the way out of their store) and so I must turn to you, my blog reading pal, for help. I need some ideas and inspiration for jewelry supply storage for small spaces. Of course I know the obvious answer "go get yourself some shelves" but I'm look for not obvious.

Please post some ideas (pictures are a bonus) and I'll love you all forever.

Peeking out from the piles

I'm purposefully taking time to peek out from behind the piles of boxes and books and other crud to say that I'm still alive. I've been in my new place for the past two weeks and still it looks like we JUST moved in. The Sweet Boy mentioned that this is the first place we have lived where we haven't been unpacked almost instantly.

Yes. I will agree with that. We have failed miserably in the unpacking department.

But, in my defense, I haven't been unpacking just to unpack. I've been purging. Each time is getting the question "Do you belong in this house? In storage? In my life?". I refuse to keep things just to keep them. If I don't display it or use it, why keep it? To look at it when I unpack it from the next move? No thanks, time to reduce my collections. I've blogged about this a few times this past year. Since my mom has passed away, I've been bringing things that mean something home from her place and my goal is to not add an item to my life but replace an item. One in, one out. I know the saying is usually one in, two out, but I'm still working on that. I'll get there one day.

The Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival is just a few days away (eeeek!). I'm kind of not ready. Okay, I lie, I'm COMPLETELY not ready. I have my yarn ready to go but my knitting isn't quite where I want it to be. I give myself until 3PM today piddle around and unpack more boxes and then I sit down to knit until I pass out tonight. I've also got to put some spinners fiber bundles together. Those will be easy... I think.

At least my crafting area doesn't look like this anymore

It looks more like this

Progress! Okay, off to be busy.

Newness all over again

Mugs in a window I'll be leaving behind

It seems like just last month we moved into our current house. I was so excited as it really is the cutest house in town. A lot has changed since moving here. My mom was diagnosed with cancer, fought for her life and then lost that battle. My brother moved out of the country and I fear daily that I won't get to see him for a few years. Rocky became a great uncle and then I became a great aunt (you'd think we were old or something). I received the promotion at work that I had hoped to receive for so long. I started my woolly business of fabulousness - WoolyHands. We traveled... we laughed... I cried... we smiled... we enjoyed and now it's time to move on.

My simple goal for life at this moment is to not have to rent a house forever. I can't promise you I want to buy a house, but I certainly want to be able to buy a house if it strikes my fancy. You just can't do that this day and age without a deposit. To be honest, you can't just get a deposit put together this day and age either. It takes planning, preparation and sometimes scaling back. So, we shall scale back. 2 people do not need a 3 bedroom house on the edge of the historic district. It's been fun but it's time to be serious. We found a lovely 2 bedroom condo just ready for us to move into. The bedrooms are very large (larger than we have now), the crown molding is new, the appliances aren't that old and it has a fire place. Yes, and honest to goodness working fireplace.

OH - and I'll be saving more each month than I'm paying for my car. Yes, scaling back has its advantages.

I'll be honest with you. I'm very sad to leave our house. It almost makes me cry but I see many advantages to moving across town and those make me more happy than I am sad. Life carries on. Things change. People move. It's what we do.

We're a nomadic bunch.

At this moment, everything is perfect

It's raining a heavy, late summer rain out my windows. Inside my oven are cookies upon cookies. At this very moment, it seems that everything is in love with each other.

I've said it before, but this time I really mean it, tomorrow will be the end of a very tough couple of weeks at work. I'm not sure what this keeps building up to. I'm being challenged in ways that are new to me and I'm left frustrated at the end of the day (typically a very long day) and further behind than I was that morning. Surely this is not what everyone who tries to advance their career goes through... is it? Are we all left to deal with difficult situations/people/places/things? Do we all feel like we're thrown a problem that has no solution?

I know that I'm headed in the direction I want to go. Everyday I love my job but everyday I'm left frustrated and tired. I'll get there and I'll be amazing on the other side. It's just going to take some tough licks along the way.

Thankfully, along the way, there are rainy evenings spent indoors baking chocolate chip cookies. Along the way there are days spent behind some knitting needles creating cozy things to keep me warm during the upcoming winter. Thankfully, along the way, there are lazy afternoons spent cuddled on the couch with the Sweet Boy and the Schmoo napping. And thankfully, along the way, there is family and best friends encouraging me as I go.

So all of this to say, even amongst the crazy, the frustrating, and when you feel you just can't take another step, there is always that late summer rain to wash away the negative and bring forth the sweet moments. Take time to dwell on the sweet and forget about the other.