Ahh, Saturday!

What noteworthy accomplishments can I post this week?

Well, I can post pictures of two things I did last week now that they should be “received”…

Having such great first birthday photos made making
there photo postcards super easy! Thank you, Aubrianah!

Bibs for a sweet baby boy…

Thank you’s to those folks who made Jackson’s birthday so special…

I have on my list to post how many hair tutus I finished for the Appomattox Rail Festival, but I haven’t done a single stinking one! So scratch that!

I did get my homework posted.

A special Thank you to Jean, from Nana's Designs for
your help with these! Custom embroidery is a beautiful thing!
 I will get her info on facebook, soon!

I did get my weekly chores done.

I did get out of that funk! Again, a special thank you to everyone who was so understanding and supportive.

And maybe most importantly, I am ready to face next week.

No, most importantly, all I accomplished this week  I was able to do because of the wonderful, talented, and supportive friends I have! I sure am blessed!

How about you?

Friday. Your Opinion, Please...

Last night as I was getting into bed at 12:45 (so was that this morning?) I had the TV on and it was infomercials on nearly every channel (all 8 channels we get with the antenna).  Each commercial insisted that whatever their product was was absolutely necessary and whatever the product addressed was the most important part of our lives.

How many things are like that? Everything?

The time I spend on-line or interacting with any sort of media, I leave feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.

I feel the world shouting that I am supposed to worry (and buy products for) my health, my skin, my heart, my mind, my eyes, my digestive tract, my future, my kids, my kids’ health, my kids’ skin, my kids’ hearts, my kids minds, my kids’ eyes, my kids’ digestive tract, my kids’ future, my kids’ social standing, my husband, my husband’s health, my husband’s skin, my husband’s heart, my husband’s mind, my husband’s eyes, my husband’s digestive tract, my husband’s future, what we eat, what we wear, how, when and where we exercise, what we drive, where we live, how it looks, what we buy, where it is made, what it is made with, what vitamins we take, what medicines we take, what we clean with, what we breath, what we drink, how we move, how we think, what we read, our financial well being, our well being, our spiritual well being, our physical well being, our mental well being....and the list goes on .

All of that is just the basics, before you add any silly keeping up with Joneses! (Thankfully, we are the Joneses, so there is no really keeping up to do. Ha!)

I end up feeling like I just can’t care enough or know enough about any of it to make a real difference in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I try to feed our family well, limit TV, promote physical activity, watch our money (or lack there of), think ahead, be prepared…

Then there are all the other things like School and Etsy, that though I am involved in both very part-time there is definitely an expectation of full time devotion to each of them.

So for this Free Advice Friday, I want to know:

Who has time for all of this?

How do you sort all of this out?

What have you chosen for your priorities? And how did you make those choices?

How far do you take it? How involved do you get?

What do you just not worry about?

Thanks for sharing…

Happy Thursday!

Thank you for all your encouraging words yesterday as I worked my way out of that funk! I am in a better mood today and working hard to keep the very edges of that bad mood from creeping back!

Several times now I have mentioned that I have a plan for Thursdays, and I do, sort of.  While I continue to work on that plan, I have decided to share a listing of the week with you. Each week I will pick one listing to highlight here and on the Facebook page. 

I am also going to use Thursday as a day to update things, like the shop page here on the blog, listing pictures and information and maybe a few blog items, as well. There should be lots of pretty or at least interesting things to look at on Thursdays.

For starters, I have updated the picture on my Made of Monday post from the first day of school. If you enjoyed that post, you will enjoy the picture….I promise.

And with that here is this week’s listing of the week!

Vintage Button Bracelet in Black and Orange

I love the shape of these buttons and the way that shape makes the colors play, with spots of light and dark on the curves. I hope you will stop by the shop to check it out or maybe share it with a friend...Thanks so much!

I have been in a really lousy mood this week, like really lousy.

Like bring other folks down with me, lousy!

I know it is not the weather, but the weather certainly has helped anchor this mood in my heart.

Truly, what happened is that frustration turned to anger and self-pity…turned to procrastination and defiance, which made me emotionally vulnerable and tired…Way to mess myself up!

So here I sit writing to you about it – two days behind on chores, two days behind on homework, months behind on projects and days behind on ETSY and other related chores! I feel this huge pressure to get it all done, to get caught up THIS INSTANT! 

THIS INSTANT! ALL OF IT NEEDS TO BE DONE, NOW!

Does it really? No…but it feels like it. I feel like I am losing every bit of the success I have had in the past month in just 3 or 4 days.

How can I be in a bad mood with this cutey around?

And that feels bad, real bad.

I am not sure which feels worse – not having the things done or feeling badly about it. As I sat upstairs rocking Jackson for the two seconds he will snuggle before nap, the song that came to mind was Alabama’s  I’m in a Hurry and Don’t know Why.

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Don't know why I have to drive so fast
My car has nothing to prove
It's not new
But it'll do zero to sixty in five point two

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Can't be late, I leave in plenty of time
Shakin' hands with the clock
I can't stop
I'm on a roll and I'm ready to rock

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Oh, I hear a voice
That says I'm running behind
Better pick up my pace
It's a race and there ain't no room for someone in second place

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

All he wants to do is ride the horse all day!
Maybe this is God's way of telling me to "hold my horses"?

That voice is my voice. No one else is saying I am behind. I am in a hurry, and I don’t know why. I mean, I know, but it is silly, and it is making me miserable. And it is no one but me doing this to myself!

Honestly, Thursday’s chores are quick and Friday is usually chore free, so there is time to make things up there.  The rain will pass and I will get pictures taken for all my new etsy listings.

But Grace won’t be 4 years 5 months 16 days old ever again and Jackson won’t be 1 year 1 month and 28 days old ever, ever again…And my husband won’t ever been in week 3 of his third year of law school ever again, and this time next year we may not live in this house or this town..There are so many things I should be savoring.

So this Wednesday, I am going to slow down, both literally and figuratively. I am going to get some things done, but I am going to do the best I can to let all the rest roll off my back…

Are you going to slow down? What hurries you? Who is that voice for you – yourself or someone or something else?

Tuesday Treasures…

All of these things and then some will be in the shop soon!

Today’s treasure is Halloween…and since Halloween is my birthday all the great things in my Etsy Treasury have to do with both Halloween and  Birthday’s…even if it is just something I would like to get for my birthday!

I have started to put some Halloween things in my own Etsy shop, The Things I am Made of, but alas the weather has thwarted my attempts to finish up (start) photographing a few of the things. Please check back once the rain has past for newer photos. I will also try to get additional photos posted to Facebook, too!

As we head into this rainy Tuesday, enjoy a little spooky celebration and some Halloween Treasures!

Made of Monday....My Birthday!

No, it is not my birthday...

My birthday falls on a holiday, and not just any holiday….HALLOWEEN! Having a Halloween birthday is part of who I am.

I have always had wonderful, homemade costumes. We have always carved fantastic pumpkins. There have always been fanciful, wonderful, spooky decorations. And my family continues that now for our children.

There are some folks who don’t like Halloween and they have their reasons, but for me Halloween has always been a magical time of being a little scared, a lot excited, and celebrating. The anticipation for my birthday begins to build from the moment the stores first put out decorations, and then grows as the Halloween candy fills the aisles. The annual trip to the pumpkin patch is like the beginning of the celebration. And the choosing of the costume and ensuing making of the costume is most exciting of preparations.

I thought I might write about how Halloween isn’t a bad holiday or doesn’t mean what some folks think it means. I even started to research Halloween to see if what I thought matched up with what it is. The more I read, and the more I thought about what Halloween is to me, the clearer it became to me that Halloween is my birthday.

Yes, there are draw backs. There are always lots of Halloween parties so a birthday party is not nearly as exciting as a Halloween Costume party, but my mom did a good job of making my parties special when I was little. And there is never a party on my birthday because everyone is out trick-or-treating. Now, my birthday takes a back seat to taking our own children out. But seeing my kids have a good time is a nice way to spend my birthday.

I am just now realizing that not everyone has the build up to their birthday that I do. The months of anticipation, not only by me, but by everyone who is into Halloween. Not everyone has all of the pre-celebration traditions – like pumpkin gathering and carving, and costume making. Not everyone has a birthday surrounded by festivities and parties, parades and decorations. Some people have birthday’s that are just another normal day.

Not me, my birthday is on Halloween…and that is what I am made of.

And so it is Halloween Launch week at TIAMO! In the next day or so I will be listing all sorts of spooky Halloween items – vintage button bracelets, hair tutus, supplies, cards, banners! I hope you will stop by and check them out!