The Nightmare Before Time Management

Based on the issues I raised in my last post, I decided to change a few of my challenges into goals. 

Goal #1: To prioritize my time in order to balance work, shop, recreation, and my many interests.

• Resources/Inspiration: http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/1006.html

Where does my time really go?

How would I like my time to be spent? (What are my priorities?)

So, what do I need to do differently?
1. Cut 12 hours from work.
2. Add 2 hours to working on shop merchandise, photos, updates.
3. Add 3 hours of exercise.
4. Add 3 hours to meditation.
5. Add 4 hours to relaxation/reading before bed.

That doesn’t seem soooo drastic, does it? Unfortunately, what that means is:

• I have to leave work by 4:00-4:30 every day, and am only allowed 3 hours of work from home (I just spent two hours grading and got through only three essays--help!!!  I need to get more efficient with my grading time!)
  

• Spend one hour per day on my shop or save it for one of the days of the weekend?  I think I will try to post an item or comment in the forums every morning and do the big stuff (taking pictures, etc.) on the weekends.

• Exercise after a long day at work 2-3 times a week, not just on the weekends. (I didn't even get to the gym today, because I'm suddenly sick again.  Hmmm, wonder if this time management thing was just too stressful for me to handle...?) 

• Reinstate my morning meditation on weekdays, whether in the bedroom or living room (already doing better on this one :))
  

• Get off the computer by 8:00 every night so I can read and relax before bed!

Yeesh, no wonder I don't like to think about this stuff.  Gives me a headache.  Well, okay, I already had one...

And that's only goal #1.  The others are:


Goal #2: Take the time to organize my things and clean up after each activity.

Goal #3: Don’t start new projects until I finish up the ones that are already out.

Goal #4: Be willing to learn by doing, instead of just by reading and doing book research about the topic (i.e. blogging, technology, shop stuff).

But I'll get to those in the next few posts!

After getting in some good meditation time yesterday and this morning, I realized this really isn't as big a deal as I'm making it.  Everything will work out in the end.  When I feel the urge to work on each thing, I will.  And it's okay if it isn't all done-- RIGHT NOW.

The Thinker Living in a Material World

This week’s assignment in my 52 Weeks of Blogging your Passion program is to write about an obstacle I’ve overcome in terms of my craft, shop, balancing time, or finding space for things.

I can think of many current obstacles, but one I have already overcome? That’s where I get stuck. I guess my accomplish- ments seem so small. I’ve already written about:

• learning how to knit and crochet when I was young

• how there are way too many yarn shops for me to have a lack of supplies or choice

• and opening my Etsy shop was super easy

No, the real issues are yet to be conquered. The first challenge is figuring and sorting them all out, which is what I will focus on in this post.

My current challenges are:

• Balancing time between work, shop, recreation, and my many interests (that crazy Google calendar!)
  

• Not enough space at home/Not making the time to organize things

• Starting many projects but not finishing them, so they sit around and clutter up the living room

• Wanting to research everything about everything, instead of actually DOING the things!

• I'm such a thinker and love the world of ideas, but struggle with getting those ideas out into the physical world

• And finally, there are so many others who make same/similar products out there, how do I compete for market share?

I always remember the words of my Buddhist meditation teacher when I ask him for advice, "Susan, you need to relax more deeply..." and I know that is the truest advice of all.

But, when I do have to face these kinds of issues, relaxing comes before (and while) taking action.  So, who out there has tackled similar issues?  What advice do you have for me?  I would love to hear it-- and Thanks!

Reaching for the Sun

New growth in the new year

Something I never seem to have enough of

I would have written yesterday, but was taking pictures of product for my Etsy shop aaaaalllll day, and then spent the evening learning how to use Google Calendar.  I vow that this year I'm going to keep all my to do lists on the computer instead of on my regular kajillion post-it notes that end up everywhere...

So I'm supposed to have a "mission" statement to present here, instead of just my usual rambling mode.  I can already feel my resistance to the word "mission" statement rising.  It feels so boxy, like I'm being reined in, corralled, confined.  Or maybe like then I'll have to keep to my word, if I write it down.  What if I can't keep all my promises???

I did write out all my reasons for making my craft--the passion and inspiration behind it, and how I learned it, but think I will leave those for another time.  They seem too cold and formulaic right now, and I'd rather tell them as a story.

Instead, I'll leave you with a few sneak peeks of the new product photos.  They seem to say everything I want to get across so much better than I could in words:

I'm going to try to list one item per day in the mornings before I go to work.  Let's see how long I keep that up!

Peace and good wishes to all in the New Year!

Relaxing Over Christmas Vacation

Here are two projects I have accomplished since I've been on break:



Finally finished putting all the decorative bits on this little guy. Only started him last spring or so. I got the pattern to crochet him from edafedd on Etsy.

Now he's all ready for wrapping!


And this grow-it-yourself herb kit that Nancy gave me for my birthday:


Can't wait to see how they do. Hopefully I'll be cooking with herbs in no time.

Oh, yes, there was one more thing I did--I put new rope on Noah's scratchy post so now it's more than just the bare wood again. Exciting stuff happening over here, let me tell you...

What do I remember?

We've been working on writing memoir pieces in the classroom, and I had to come up with an example to model for the students. Triggered by a piece of writing in our literature book, I came up with this moment from my past:

GONE by Miss Nichols

I still remember that day like it were yesterday, although this really happened 18 years ago. The feelings I had when I walked into the empty bedroom I had shared with my younger sister, wrenched my soul apart. What had been a room full of cosmetics, high-heeled shoes, piles of clothes and teddy bears, was now a desolate landscape. So she had done it, she had run away for real this time. I sat on the floor and hugged myself, then cried like a wild animal in pain.

It was a Saturday morning, and I was getting ready to go to my job at the library. My parents had just told my younger sister Jeanne that they were going to visit my grandparents that afternoon and that she was coming with them.

I felt the tension rise as my sister yelled at them, "You didn't tell me anything about this! I'm not going! I have other plans today."

My parents said, "No, you're coming with us."

"I'm 18, you can't tell me what to do!" my sister screamed back at them.

I think I remember my mom slapping Jeanne, or grabbing her by the wrist to make her point. My sister fought back, causing my dad to jump in. I had to restrain my dad, and break the whole thing up. Meanwhile, the clock was ticking, and I was going to be late to work.

I tried reasoning with everyone, telling Jeanne that you don't get a chance to see our grandparents very often, and telling my parents that they should tell us this stuff at least a day in advance. It seemed like everyone had calmed down by the time I headed out the door.

At work, I quickly forgot about the morning's events, as they weren't that out of the ordinary. Just another crazy morning at home. And I had other things to do--books to check in and out, library cards to make, etc., etc.

When I returned home at 6:15 p.m., the house was quiet. I remember thinking, "Good, they ended up working things out and Jeanne went to Granny and Gramp's with them. Now I can finally have some peace and quiet here."

I went in the bedroom to get a book to read, and suddenly, the true events of that day were revealed. Jeanne hadn't gone with my parents. She had gone GONE. And she'd taken all her stuff with her. The note she left for me said, "To Sue, you were the only cool one. If I left anything of value, please hold on to it for me. Jeanne"

I felt like the breath had been crushed out of me. I crumpled to the floor like an autumn leaf, brittle, dry, and fragile. Right then, my life changed forever, because I learned in that one moment something I will never forget. I learned that you should appreciate the people you love while you have them, because the next day--or in my case, that same day--they could be gone.

* * *

I lived the next year and a half of my life not knowing how my younger sister was doing, where she was, whether she was well or not. My family had to sneak into her high school graduation ceremony because we didn't get an invitation. Watching from high up in the bleachers, it killed me to see my sister down on the football field and not be able to go down and hug and congratulate her on her big day, like she had with me just a few years earlier.

One day I heard from her ex-boyfriend that Jeanne had left his house (the place she went to from our house that day). She had taken all her stuff and just ... gone. I tracked down which department of the courthouse she worked in and went to visit her there.

Turns out she was living just a couple of blocks away from my new apartment in a place of her own. And suddenly, I realized how lucky I was, to have this chance for a fresh start with her. Not everyone gets this chance. The little sister I had known and lived with for 18 years, had turned into a very independent young woman, and it was time to get to know her all over again.

Together, we began to slowly, cautiously, rebuild our family.

* * *

So that kind of got me started on the idea of writing memoir for this blog. I'll see what else I can come up with. The idea of starting over leads me into a recollection from my first year of teaching, with Chris and Arturo. I'll try to write about that next time.