Juggling

Hello there,

How's your week going so far?

I'm still catching up after the show. Catching up with things so I can have a Better Home and Garden.

I chose this photo for today because the title caught my eye. I took the pic in the first place because it's the issue that has my cushion on the front. I'm still making that cushion, which is annoying. I hate things dragging out, but this project is. And I'm so close to finishing! Might help if it was in the living room where I can see it, but Andrew moved it to another room to get it out of the way. It was on the kitchen bench for weeks, so I get his point.

My crafting status at the moment?

• I have a new class to make up.
• I have a class to punch for.
• I have other things to make for some displays.
• I'm blogging as I can.
• I'm not scrapbooking - other stuff is on the table.
• I'm making a ribbon thing, but I've stalled a bit on that too.
• I'm thinking of doing a December Daily (like Ali) and I've got an idea in mind.

Summary: I'm juggling. And I'm juggling work and play.

You see, craft for me is work and play. I get money for some of the craft I do. I don't get money for some of the craft I do.

When I work, I craft.

When I play, I craft.

I banned myself from crafting (work and play) for a couple weeks a while back and found myself with nothing to do! That included craft related anything...computer surfing, blogging, shopping, actual crafting....everything.

And as it turned out, because crafty work and play are combined for me, the ban didn't last because I had essential work things to do.

Ah, juggling.

And juggling the Home and Garden too to make them function and run smoothly. Smoothly, ha ha. Do you know how many times Andrew's cooked dinner lately? Honestly, he's a legend and he does all these things without raising a sweat, but I'm in a real cooking slump and can't be bothered with the whole eating three times a day thing. And coming up with something new to cook? Please, take me outside and hose me down now.

Tonight we are having plum chops with vegetables - it's going to be nice, but I've got to make myself get in the kitchen at a reasonable time to make it happen. I like cooking, but not all the time. And because we people have to eat all the time, I have to cook all the time. I'm done. I think we'll just eat raw from now on. At least summer's coming and I can do that. And I'm serious - I'll take everything in the fridge, cut it up small, throw it in a bowl and we'll eat that. Cabbage, broc, cauli, lettuce, tomato, cheese, mushrooms, zucchini, nuts, carrot, avo - it's the only way Andrew will eat zucchini, so I praise myself for getting it his mouth. Outwit, outplay and outlast...in the kitchen. If only I could.

In an all-over-the-place mood today as you can tell. Juggling work and play and all that comes with it. Sometimes the juggling is easy, sometimes it's not. Today it's not. It's relentless.

Okay, must go and do some work, but before I do, guess what? LUNCH!

Bye for now!

:o)

PS. I realise you don't get on here to read about how I'm finding things difficult. I know it's about the craft and craft is meant to be good all the time, right? Wrong. It's not. Sometimes craft is messy, expensive and just all over place. Life's like that too. Messy, expensive and all over the place. It doesn't mean it can't be fixed (does it need to be?), it just means it's like that sometimes and that's the truth of it. Craft and creativity are very personal things - sing from your heart, dance from your heart, cook from your heart - the judges harp on that all the time. But what if your heart is a bit messy? What if things are all over the place? Do I really want to sing, dance (or in our case), create from there? That means everyone will know I'm not doing so well and do I really want that? Well, no. And well, yes, because what's the big deal? We're all human, we all have failings, we all get a bit messy sometimes and it's okay to admit it. The admitting it isn't hard, it's the reactions that are the hardest, hey? Who wants to be judged because of the way they feel? Nobody, they just want to be understood or heard. That's it and that's all.

So, I'm just saying it how it is. 'It' being craft and 'it' being life because often they are one and the same. It's a juggle, it's not fun all the time and that's just the way it is. It doesn't bother me, things will change, they always do, but for today, I'm going to eat and then sit at my desk and make something for my new class. And before that I'll pray because I want to talk to God about these things and He listens. Not just for the sake of it, but attentively because I am important to Him. You are too, did you know that?

PPS. Just so you know, all the talk of juggling, finding it hard etc etc sounds like I'm on the floor curled up in a ball blubbering my eyes out. I'm not (well, not today anyway!). I'm just talking here. Putting it out there because it's the truth. I'll bet there's a lot of correlations between your craft and your life. How you approach it and how you feel about it. What do you think? Think on it if you want, if not, that's fine too. I'm a deep thinker, always have been. And I don't do it on purpose, I just do it. Drives Andrew crazy sometimes, but he still loves me. I drive myself crazy sometimes too, but it's okay, Andrew just tells me to settle down and we move on :o)

PPPS. Have a great day, won't you? And if you're finding your juggling hard today, just know that someone else (and I'll bet a lot more too) knows how it feels, okay? Our lives are all different, but we all experience a lot of the same emotions within them. It's the playing field on which we can all relate and have some understanding for each other, yes?