The Drawing Board

Recently my husband and I decided to try our luck an outdoor venue.  Considering the price and the location, we felt it would be an excellent opportunity. This was not the case.  You would think I would know better, but I have been out of the game for a while, especially an outdoor event, I have forgotten a lot.   I made some critical mistakes.  Ones I will not repeat again.  Rookie mistakes.  And I am no rookie.

Number one - I let the price/length of the event cloud my judgement.  I was certain I could make my money back.  I didn't do my homework, ask enough or the right questions.

Number two- I did not check the weather forecast for the weekend.  It rained for better part of the first day.   I also broke my tent(another bad idea.  Never buy a tent on sale at Kmart). EZ Up are the way to go.   You do what you have to do.

Number three - I did not have the necessary outdoor equipment.  Chairs, weights(the wind did not die down until 3 pm), cover sheets, extra tarp, shower hooks, alternate setup.  I use to keep a bag with safety pins, small hammer, clips, rope, rubber bands, bricks, plastic.  This might seem a lot, but when you are outside anything can happen.

Number four - I did not do recon on the surrounding area.  Most advertising is done weeks in advance with poster, mailings, signs in strategic places. 

 
The next time I will not be caught off guard.  Never again.

Time is slipping away

I love what I do.   I love making jewelry, creating cards, recycling, re-purposing, reusing,  multitasking.  I wish I could spend the whole day, just creating(I also like to sell my creations).   I am always trying to do several things with one motion.  I guess that is why I have five blogs.  Yes five blogs, one website.  It sounds crazy.  It might just be.  A friend(Her Blog is Peaceful Reader) of mine mentioned to me that I had not blogged in over 4 weeks.  It did not seem that long, only because I am always making adjustments to the blog without posting.  I do have a tendency to get lost in exploration of the world wide web and making improvements to my many blogs.   All of my blogs now have a great  foundation and all I have to do is add the decorative touch.  The Internet is always changing and I like to keep up with the latest and greatest.  Whether I use it is another story.

Now my reasons for not bogging as I should, are simple.   There is not enough time in the day to do all I things I want to do.  With all that I have to do, I wonder why I am doing what I am doing.   Let me give you an example.

1. Connection with my spiritual life, God and Jesus

Christ(this is a must)

2. Writing., posting, decorating  the five blogs/web site

3. Making jewelry and paper crafts, and any other projects that I tackle

4. Marketing and Advertising for my jewelry and paper craft business

5. Taking pictures, uploading and writing captions

6. Recycling, Re purposing and reusing to save money

7. Reading and seek new ideas, functions, items, etc to promote my business

8. Taking care of my home, family and friends

9. My personal time, time to me and be free

10. I manage the bills, make all the phone class, etc.

11. Preparation for teaching two classes (basic computer class and basic jewelry making/repair and redo.

And on top of that, I am applying to go back to school for web design.  Time has a habit of slipping away. Having to do all of this and work a full time job is insanity.  At least that is what my therapist said.  I feel my days getting shorter and shorter.  As I continue to pile on more things, projects, causes on to my day, it has become apparent to everybody but myself, that I might have a full plate.  I feel better when I am doing something.  It is even hard for me to watch a movie now.  I will be writing or making jewelry while I am in bed.  I feel like it is not productive just to sit.  Activity is the name of this game, my game.

The amount of activity is your choice.  Whatever you can stand.  My choice is to have as much on my plate, maybe having it run over sometimes.  I will have plenty of time to rest.  At least I think so.  I will check to see how much time I have.