Today’s entry will be short. (Really) I got up early today to a quiet but slightly overcast day. There is a little breeze going to but it isn’t even strong enough to earn the label ‘wind.’ It had rained last night, but it appears to be only lightly, as the ground is wet but not really.

It was still almost dark at 5:57. A sure sign that we are already past the midpoint of summer. That’s OK though, as my favorite time of the year is approaching. Soon I will be writing here in the dark every morning with a cat or two curled up at my side.

Today is going to be one of those ‘tying up loose ends’ days that I have every so often. It seems that when going in several directions, I leave a trail of unfinished tasks that I need to do and some of them are completed in only minutes while others take a couple of hours. But having them hanging around seems to get bothersome and clutters up my already cluttered mind until I can tuck them away neatly and check them off the list.

These aren’t usually exciting days.

Yesterday, I added a short video to my scroll sawing class lesson. I was kind of amazed that even though the video is only just over five minutes, it took me over half the day to do. I say ‘kind of’ because one wouldn’t think that something that short should take so long to accomplish. Especially when you see the quality. Not that it is really ‘bad’ mind you. I think it gets the point across Ok, but it isn’t really something that I would call ‘fancy’ either.

It seems that even though we are going through some tough times with the economy, not everyone is suffering as much as they have been in the recent past. I look to this as a sign of hope that people will be able to make a little extra money by selling their hand crafted items and that perhaps things are looking up just a little bit.

There are many small businesses where I live. Most of Nova Scotia consists of small fishing and tourist towns where work and prosperity is seasonal. As time goes on the resources are depleted, the fishing industry has not been immune to the economic downturn.

As I sit here on Monday morning and reflect on the weekend, I look back on it and think that even though I seemed to be busy every second of each day, I didn’t really get many things of substance accomplished. In reality I did check several things off of the list, but I can’t help but think that somehow I could have done better.

I suppose that sometimes I am not the best manager of time. I noticed that there are times like this past weekend when I appear very busy and I really and truly am, but at the end of the day when I am tallying what to check off the list of things to do, I come up rather short.

Teaching a large group of people with lots of different levels of expertise can be a challenge. I must admit, when I was approached to teach a class here on scroll sawing, I felt a little intimidated. After seeing all the beautiful projects here from so many talented woodworkers, my first reaction was to wonder what I could possibly teach them.

I was first asked in March, just before leaving for the show that I lectured at in Saratoga Springs, New York. At that point it had been several years since I had taught a class, and I had never been asked to lecture previously.

As usual, the days just seem to be going by too quickly. Perhaps it is because all of the ideas I have that it seems that I am always running behind and trying to catch up. I am not complaining, as it is good to be full of ideas, but it sometimes seems that no matter how much I accomplish in a day, there is still more that I wanted to get done.

I don’t want to fall into that trap of never being happy with my accomplishments, nor do I want to feel as if I am resting on my laurels and no longer required to put effort into things that they need.

I would like to be able to post an exciting or remarkable post every day. But some days, life isn’t very exciting or remarkable. That doesn’t mean it is bad. In fact, I would lean more toward those being good days. Although we all like to mix it up a bit, I have no problem with days that tend to be on the ‘routine’ side.

People tell me on days like today that it isn’t really necessary to write here every single day. No one expects it and no one would think twice if I missed a day or so.

For a rainy day, I didn’t do too badly. In fact, I got a lot accomplished yesterday. It was one of those good days where everything flowed along nicely and even though I was in several different directions, things seemed to move right along and by the end of the day, I made a nice sized dent in what I wanted to do.

I got 20 sets of the little skating pond cut. Psychologically that was a huge boost. Just seeing the little figures pile up so quickly (in only a couple of hours) made the whole project far less intimidating.

Part of the reason that I like my job so much is that there are so many different aspects involved in the day to day activity of it, it never seems mundane or boring. Sure, it would be great if I could just scroll saw all the time and not have to worry about anything else, but I think that after a while, even that would lose its luster and not be much fun.

Having a job that is fun and exciting is something that everyone wants and few people have. We have all heard the saying “It isn’t work when you love your job” and I am one who can honestly say that that is true.

Those who know me well know that I am fairly easy going. I have had my share of turmoil in my life, and I am at the point where I just like things to go smoothly. If I get pushed a little bit, I tend not to be reactionary, but rather think things through and consider whether it warrants fighting back or letting it slide. Most of the time I let things go. After all, is it really worth a conflict?

I like being this way. I like the reputation of being even-tempered and cooperative.

It’s going to storm here today, it seems. It actually looks quite gloomy. That’s OK though, as I have lots of indoor things to do today and being inside will help me stay on them and get them done. Although it is a holiday in the US, it is a pretty normal Monday here in Canada. I wonder if there will be any mail yet, as it is quite slow in getting back up and running.

I had a really good day yesterday. I cleaned up a lot of odds and ends and got things set up for the 72 skating pond sets that I need to cut.

When things aren’t going exactly how you want them to in your life, you have two choices. You can leave them the way they are or you can change them. Although I realize that we don’t always have the ability to change each and every situation, more times than not we do and for some reason or another we choose not to.

Change often brings discomfort, as most people like the sense of familiarity and the security that goes along with keeping things as they are, even if they are hurting themselves.

I am kind of working in several directions at once these days. That tends to happen when deadlines are coming up and we are in crunch time.

I worked on my spider web candle tray and got it sanded and oiled. I also picked on the little charm pieces and got them to where I wanted them. At first I did them and I think they were a bit large. I wanted them smaller than the larger spider that I showed yesterday, but they had to be big enough that the legs wouldn’t be even more fragile and they would fall apart.

I suppose I kinda, sorta got “unstuck” yesterday. As usual, I find that being patient and staying on my own path proved to be the best solution. In the past, I have spent much time and energy trying to “fix things” that I had no control over. This left me with less of both to move ahead and continue on. It was a domino effect that greatly limited what I would accomplish.

As difficult as it is for me to do, I have learned to stop trying to fix everything.

I had such a good time yesterday finishing up my latest project.  Each step and addition I made to it made it look a little better.  Building stuff like this is so much fun and I really get a lot of satisfaction out of making these little replicas.  The hardest thing for me to do was to be patient and let the glue dry for each step.  I knew if I didn't wait, I would have a mess on my hands.  I forced myself to walk away after each piece or set of pieces was glued and try to get busy on other things.

Yesterday seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was ten o’clock. It was one of those days where you get so caught up in a project that you look up and it is already dark. I am not done with the project yet. I thought I would be by now but it was one of those times when I underestimated what I was doing and things took a bit longer than expected.

Now I am not saying that is bad. I have actually enjoyed making this project quite a bit. That is after all what it is all about, isn’t it? For most people who don’t do this for a living and make things as a hobby, the joy of creating and seeing something come together as a project is quite nice.

Boy, I got a lot of little stuff out of the way yesterday. You know those days – where there are a ton of small things to do and it seems like they just get in the way of moving ahead. I like days like that because when all is said and done, it feels like you accomplished quite a bit. I even thought through the next project that I am going to be working on today.

I got a newsletter out. It was the second one that I sent in June, but it seemed that there was enough new stuff and people were asking when the new patterns would be ready so I thought it was warranted.

I got the site updated with all the new stuff yesterday, and the weather looks to be good for the day so we are dropping the top on the Mustang and heading out to Halifax (to go WOOD SHOPPING!) and see what fun is in store for us! Our first trip of the season!

Actually, I am writing this yesterday so that you can read it tomorrow, which by now is today and I am long gone, as we are leaving at 5am. (How’s that for something to go with your morning coffee and tea?)

Sorry for short changing you on today’s blog, but the wood stores are calling and it’ll do me good to get out for a day.

Yesterday I had some errands to run. On the way home, we saw that our lumber yard and hardware place was having its annual yard sale this weekend. In the past, we have found some OK bargains there. Lots of what was on sale was stuff that we didn’t find very useful, but once in a while there was something good there. In any case, we figured it was worth it to stop by and take a look.

They had a tent that had a variety of smaller tools on sale. There were a couple of drill presses – one floor model and a table top one – that were a bit better than the one I had now.

Finally it is a day when I woke up to a clear sky and sunshine. It has been quite overcast and rainy for the past several days. I think the last time it was sunny out was Saturday when I washed the car. I have been waiting for a bright day so I can take some pictures of the latest projects with some natural light. Usually I use artificial light, but I like to experiment with both, as some things just look better with natural light. One day I will have to get some photography lights, but not right now.

The day is just starting and already it looks to be a good one. Even though it is kind of gloomy out and raining, I feel good about it and I feel like I am going to accomplish a lot.

Sometimes when we do the most work, we don’t seem to have much to show for it – at least on the surface. Planning something out and sorting out the details frequently takes longer than making the projects themselves. At least for me it does.

I have a busy month ahead of me. The next few weeks will be spent working on projects for the early September catalog.

Well, I am really happy that one is finally under my belt. the good thing is that I actually had fun finishing up. In looking at the finished project, I don’t know why it was so intimidating to me. Compared to the original set, it is quite pared down and simple. But I still think it has its charms and perhaps it won’t be quite as overwhelming to others as it would be to do the entire set. It is actually kind of nice this size.

On the plus side, pretty much everything went without a hitch.

I can almost see the finish line. It is a good place to be. This job has been going so slowly it seems, but I have tried to be extra careful and take my time and get everything just right. It feels odd not to work at my usual pace. I fight the feeling that I am slacking, but there is a part of me that knows better and I am just being thorough so that I don’t miss anything. This is important.

I watch the days tick off of the calendar and it is hard to believe that we are almost half way to Christmas.

Yesterday turned out to be quite busy. I am pleased to say that I pushed the pile a bit, and also got some definitive answers on some things, however I still need to keep a good pace up and continue on. Yesterday I was reminded of a very important word – focus – and that is what I need to do.

I finished the base coat painting on the five figures. I also got to the post office and got the package off to return the mouse to Wacom. That was good to check off of the books.

Some days it seems that when I am getting the most accomplished, I have little to talk about. Calm is good though and I am working on some things that could be ultimately very important to my business and career.

Besides spending about half the day doing the usual mundane chores around the house, for the remainder of it I was working on the pieces from the pond set that I need to send to be photographed for the catalog. Even though I have painted the set several times before, I find that I am a bit nervous about it this time, and wondering if it will be up to their expectations.

Did I ever mention three very important factors in being a designer? They are patience, patience and patience. I don’t think it would hurt if you throw a little patience in there either.

It is amazing how you find yourself thinking thoughts like “it only six months” or “I’ll see it in print by this Christmas!” (said in April). The funny part is that you are thinking these thoughts with no sarcasm or frustration whatsoever. You are really and truly excited.

I must be excited about June being here because I got up so early this morning (just after 4!) It was one of those funny times when you are just lying there for half an hour or so in the dark and can’t sleep. Nothing is troubling you or anything bad like that, you just are thinking about the upcoming day and can’t wait to get started. After a while, I thought “what the heck” and got up. I think the cats think I am crazy. :)

Yesterday was a good day.

I will have to say that it was the nicest day of the year so far.

Some days you can be busy from dawn to dusk and when the day is done, you just don’t know why it went by so quickly. Yesterday was very much like that. There were many things that I had been neglecting around the house that needed attention and it seemed that I spent most of the day doing that. It was not unpleasant though, as getting things accomplished around the house always seems to bring me a sense of satisfaction. I like being organized and find that I get much more accomplished when things are in order.

Yesterday was one of those fun days of working. I spent most of the day putting the finishing touches on my Polar Bear Pull Toy. Sometimes, as with a project such as this, that is my favorite part of designing. All the gritty work is done and it is time to have fun and do all the little things that complete the project.

I went to my favorite little store where I get a lot of the craft and jewelry supplies that I use. Actually it isn’t even a store in itself, it is a grocery store that has a section on the side that has craft supplies, giftware and fabrics.

I am beginning to see that finishing stuff in one day isn’t always possible.

That may sound like a simple and obvious statement, but somehow for me it is somewhat of a new revelation. I spoke the other day about setting goals and accomplishing and whether or not they are set high enough or on the other side of the scale, too high. There were several good thoughts that you posted in the comments that made me think about the process a bit more and come to some perhaps revised thoughts on the subject.

There are times when I plan to accomplish things and everything just seems to fall into place. I make a time table and I actually stick to it and achieve everything that I put on my list. Things are on schedule.

One would think that I would be happy when this occurs. I suppose I am, but it also makes me a bit uneasy.

Did I miss anything? Did I do enough? Maybe I am not pushing myself hard enough? Perhaps I should go and look in the mirror and see if it is really ME looking back at myself.

One thing that I like so much about my job is that there is such a great variety of steps that need to be done in order to keep everything running smoothly. The saying that “necessity breeds invention” comes to mind when I am in the midst of doing so many of these other tasks.

For someone such as myself, who is trying to make a living on my designing abilities, learning all the different aspects of what it takes to not only design patterns, but to produce and market them is a necessity.

Little by little I am beginning to feel a bit better. I felt better yesterday than Monday and I feel better today than yesterday. As long as I feel there is improvement, I am happy. I went to see my own doctor yesterday and she confirmed that there was swelling in my back. I got one more prescription to help with that so hopefully that will also help me get back to normal quickly. I was happy to hear from her that she thought I should move around and not just stay sitting or in bed.

I am sorry guys and girls. Things are still pretty much the same here. I am sure you don’t want to hear about my aches and pains so I am skipping the blog for today. I really appreciate all of your thoughts and kind wishes. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be starting to feel back to normal.

Have a really good Monday. :)

Sheila

-- Contributing Editor, Creative Woodworks and Crafts, Sheila Landry Designs,

Apparently, knowing your enemy does not necessarily guarantee victory.

My mission was to go to the post office and get some mail out. In order to do so, I had to cross enemy lines (the great outdoors).

I was not unprepared. I dutifully donned my long sleeved hoodie, even though the air was warm. Underneath, I had applied a layer of repellent (skin-so-soft) to avert the nasty little beasts.

I knew they could see me and that they were waiting, yet I bravely stepped outside and into harms way.

We all have “off days” once in a while. I suppose yesterday was my turn.

The day started out nice enough, and I was ready to take on the world. But then I noticed some bites on my neck and they were itching and really starting to swell. I honestly don’t know when I got them. I was only out for a bit the previous day and they much have attacked me between the car and the front door.

Before I knew it there were several welts on my neck that were swollen and itching like crazy.

I was very excited when I got to the post office yesterday and found that the light for my new saw had arrived. It was supposed to be sent to New York last month and either it got lost (gotta love the post office!) or just plain didn’t go out. In any case, I needed to reorder it and it has finally arrive.

In all the years I have been scroll sawing, I have never had a “proper” light. At one time I had the swing arm type of desk light, but I found that the vibration from the saw, no matter how little, caused the light to slightly bob up and down and change position.

I don’t feel as if I have anything exciting to write about today. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It seems that I am somewhat in between projects and even though I am in the process of creating new things, I am at a point where things are partially done and not at a point where I am ready to share them with you. I am feeling on edge a bit because I still feel a bit disorganized and need to get a handle on things so that I can move ahead. There are perhaps too many directions to go in right now for me and it is time for me to take a breath and step back a minute or two and assess things.

I want to start off thanking you for sharing your experiences on Etsy yesterday. I received several messages, as well as what was posted here and I am still deciding what I am going to do. One thing that I noticed on Etsy is that they discourage you from posting a link to your own website (unless i am reading it wrong.) If that is the case, then I don’t think I am going to do anything there. They say it would display “avoidance of fees” but I don’t feel that would be my motivation.

I must say that I am feeling a bit relieved today. There seemed to be a lot of little things piling up yesterday and I think it was getting to me a bit. Sometimes it is the small things that can add up and create anxiety. Each one of these things in itself was not really that big, but thinking about them all at once began to overwhelm me.

When I realized that stuff was getting to me, I sat down, made a list and began checking things off one by one as I accomplished what I needed to do.

Yesterday seemed to go by very quickly. I spent the day writing the instructions for my two projects that are going to the magazine for the holiday issue. I am pretty much finished up though and the package will be ready to be picked up today or tomorrow. They should have it by the end of the week.

Writing instructions is a very important part of my job and it takes a great amount of time. The more I talk with and answer questions for people, I become more aware of what information to offer people in writing my instructions.

Did you ever feel like absolutely no one does their job right?? I realize that this is somewhat of a way of life, with cut backs on employees and services and everyone seeming to be overloaded. I try to be patient – really I do – but some days it is in your face and you just can’t avoid the rampant incompetency.

Now, I usually am a pretty patient girl. I make mistakes too and most times others’ errors don’t really bother me that much as long as they are willing to correct them and somewhat humble about them.

I spent the last hour or so trying to find out news about my dear friend Leldon from Cullman, Alabama. Yesterday Cullman was hit with a vicious tornado that wiped out most of downtown. The pictures are devastating and apparently the local hospital was also hit. I worried about him most of the night and even though he was able to check in to his Facebook page after the storm went through his area, he said it was like nothing he has ever seen. I was a bit relieved to see that he reposted on his FB account a couple of hours ago, but seeing the pictures of his home town I know he and his family and friends will have a long recovery.

OK, now it is my turn to have the questions. I know there are many seasoned woodworkers out there that will hopefully be able to help me with this:

What do I do to get the dark, moldy-looking streaks out of oak? I did my usual of Googling it, and most of the responses said to use some bleach, but I don’t want to ruin the natural color of the oak or have it blotchy or streaky.

Let me tell you more about the wood:

I have a couple of boards, let’s say half an inch thick and about 8-9 inches wide in three to four foot lengths that have some of these streaks on them.

Sometimes you just have to spend the day doing something silly. I woke up yesterday morning, fully intending to spend the day drawing the next design for the magazine and getting some work done and somehow by mid-morning, I decided that I wanted to “play” do something else for the day.

I think the thought first occurred to me as I was putting some things away and looked into where I stored all of my acrylic paints. The bright colours were calling to me -

“Come play with us, Sheila! Come play with us!”

They looked so happy and cheerful it was hard to resist.

I awoke this morning to my daily email delivery of the New York Times and the headline read ”Nation’s Mood at Lowest Level in Two Years, Poll Shows”

I get the paper delivered to me each day in order to kind of keep up on things that are happening in the world. The Times (I feel) has a good range of both national and world articles and does a good job in keeping me updated with what is happening. I also get the Chicago Tribune sent to me, which arrives around lunch.

Well, I actually was able to shoot a couple of short videos for you yesterday. I find that I feel much more at ease behind my keyboard writing than I do in front of the camera. I suppose that is natural, and I am sure with practice I will get better at it.

These are both showing some of the highlights of the new saw. The first one shows the general set up and highlights the tensioning of the saw. I want to stress the point that the knob on the back end of the saw is used to raise and lower the arm.

After several months of waiting and anticipation, the moment finally arrived when I got a chance to really get to know and work on my new Excalibur scroll saw!

Even though I had the saw delivered to the show in Saratoga Springs, there was little time for me to enjoy it and really run it through the paces. I was very busy at the show and I must say that I was only at the booth a couple of hours a day, during which time I was usually talking to people who stopped by. Both Keith and I were asked many questions about the saw and we allowed many people who inquired about it ti give it a test run.

Working in the publishing industry sometimes make you feel like you are Alice in Wonderland. Nothing makes sense. There is no sense of time, space or season.

Displacing holidays has been a part of my life for many, many years. I remember well the hot summer days when my friend Cari and I sat at the pool, watching the kids swim while we were on the side painting Santas and Christmas items. I remember how ironic it was that the beads of sweat would be falling on Mr. Snowman while I was trying to paint him and the only problem we had was that the acrylic paint was drying too quickly in the hot sun.

I am finally feeling like I am getting a bit back to normal today. I was still so tired most of yesterday, but I did manage to accomplish a lot of things. I keep wondering if the reason it is taking me so long to get to normal is due to the scope of the trip or the length of time I was away, or is it just because I am a tad older than last time when I traveled. I haven’t been away for so long before though. And even though we had the laptop and everything we could think of with us, it wasn’t the same as being here and running the business from home base.

I am trying to think of an easy and organized way to tell you all about everything on the trip. With the time changes and busy schedule that I was on – especially at the end of the trip – I would have needed to be superwoman to be able to keep up with you all and post daily.

The classes at the Center all ended in the evening, either at 6pm or 9pm and after that and the ride back to the hotel I was simply too tired to write. After being away from teaching for so long, it was truly something that gave a workout to another part of my brain that has perhaps been coasting for quite a while.

Hi, everybody!

We drove most of Monday and half a day today and are back in the Albany/Saratoga Springs area. We arrived here around 1pm and had a nice lunch at Olive Garden restaurant. I haven’t eaten there in ages and love their soup. We then took the afternoon to go through the large shopping mall nearby and just bummed around a bit. It was the first time we really had some slow time since we left two weeks ago and we just enjoyed it.

It rained pretty hard all day yesterday and driving through Ohio was really tedious.

Well, things were going a bit too smoothly. Today I went with Phil to the store and we took my car. When we returned we parked it on the other side of the driveway and I noticed a puddle of oil under the rear axel. Thank goodness everything is open Sunday in Chicagoland. We took it into Firestone where he usually takes his cars and trusts the owners and it turns out that the differential seal on the rear axel is shot.

So I am waiting for it to be repaired before we leave tomorrow.

I have a load of pictures to share and I am having trouble getting them loaded up here. I am at my son’s computer and he has things set up differently than what I am used to and I don’t want to mess with his settings.

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday, as well as Navy Pier and I got some nice things to show you. It will just take a bit to get everything in its virtual place and uploaded properly. I don’t want to have to do it twice, so I will wait and get them up as soon as I can.

(Well, Plainfield anyway!) After a week of excitement, we are ready to begin the next leg of our trip. We arrived in Chicago after a little over 13 hours of driving and everything went according to plan.

For the next several days, (until Monday) we are staying here with my son Phil and his wife Brianna. It has been nearly four years since I have seen him and since then they have purchased their own house. Phil is a Joliet Police officer and lives in Plainfield, which is just outside the west side of Joliet.

Wow! The show was incredible! I promise to catch up better in a bit when I download all of my pictures. By the fourth lecture I felt really comfortable and “in my element”. People were SO nice and I was happy to hear such positive feedback about the lectures.

Today we are leaving Saratoga Springs and heading for New Jersey and visiting the magazine. I will take some pictures and hopefully be able to catch up more when I get to Chicago and on a regular computer. I just wanted to update you all and let you know what a great show it was.

Well, we will finally be able to get into the convention hall and set things up today. We will also be able to meet everyone who is involved in the show.

Yesterday was an odd day. I am really really glad that we got here when we did but I felt like it was one of those “wait to hurry up” types of days. Jeannie and her husband Bill were busy with the final preparations, as you can imagine. Keith and I spent most of the morning looking around and shopping.

Our hotel is right on the edge of a huge shopping strip, where there are numerous stores and restaurants on both sides of the streets.

We're down to the final day here - and not a moment too soon.  I think if I had any more time to think, prepare or plan I would drive myself crazy.  I haven't been in crazy state of mind though.  Quite the opposite.  I  have been quite calm and happy.  I even took some time out to play a bit of Scrabble on my Facebook.

Yesterday my site was down for almost the entire day.  I first noticed when I tried to post my blog on it early in the morning.  (I copy this blog to it every morning).

It’s getting to be that time. The final countdown. I wish I could say that I was sleeping a bit easier, but I think that the excitement is just too much. I awoke up earlier than I wanted to this morning and I almost went back to bed, but I had already had the first sip of coffee and it tasted soooo good that it wasn’t worth parting with it. Besides, I have lots to do today and an early start would probably be good.

I finished most of my printing yesterday. I have a nice little box of note cards with prints of my paintings on them and they are all packaged beautifully in the clear sleeves.

And running I am!

I have never felt such exhilaration in preparing for a trip before. (And I mean that in a good way!) I am torn between wishing it would get here fast and knowing that it will pass so quickly that I want to take my time and enjoy every bit of it.

I got to pick up my car yesterday from my mechanic.

Hiccups are a part of life, it seems. Yesterday things went pretty well, although it seems that there are always little things to get in the way. There was a time when I felt that I was ‘over-preparing’ for this little adventure, but as I get closer to the day of departure, I am happy that I have done things the way I have and have allowed a good buffer zone for these little things that come up.

I know it will sound silly to some, but part of me has felt lazy in the past month or so because I am not really “producing” any new patterns.

“Daylight Savings Time” they call it. I am not really comfortable with it, as I much prefer the autumn when we turn the clocks back and gain an extra hour for the day. 25 hour days are good in my book. Not to mention that I got curious this morning and Wikipideia-ed it and spent another twenty minutes reading about it. After getting up while it is still dark for the past several months, I can’t help but feel like I am being lazy when I see the light streaming in my window in the morning and I am still in bed.

I woke up this morning to news of the earthquake in Japan. I don’t even have “regular TV”, but get my news in the form of the NY Times and Chicago Tribune in my email box every day. I try not to dwell on the news, but I do like to stay informed. Many times it is overwhelming for me.

Since joining here at Lumberjocks, I have met many people from all around the world. There are also many that I haven’t really interacted with, but I have sat back quietly and admired their beautiful work and contributions to the site.

Well, I am happy to report that I am finished compiling the information that I need to get to my accountant to do my taxes. It really wasn’t that bad, because I had all the things in one place. Now next year I need to go a step better and do monthly reports to keep on top of everything. It shouldn’t be very difficult because I really am what you call a ‘small business’ and I don’t have that much activity. With the new site, tracking sales is not difficult at all and I am able to run reports very easily.

Yesterday was good. I finished the two sea shell painting patterns for the classes that I am going to be teaching. I am fairly happy with how they came out and I hope they are clear and understandable.

Writing painting instructions is so much different from scroll saw patterns. Scroll saw and wood working patterns seem to be pretty much cut and dry, but painting patterns have many variables in them. I often find myself when doing a painting adding another layer or changing the tone here and there.

I think that sometimes the most exciting thing about an upcoming event is the anticipation you feel while making plans. As the time comes closer for me to leave on my trip, I find this to be the case. As the pieces fall into place, I find myself becoming more an more excited about the many things that I will do and people that I will be able to see.

I am not feeling as nervous as I thought that I would be by now. There was a time in the beginning of the planning phase where I was wondering how I was going to get through things without being terrified.

Yesterday was just one of “those” days. It seemed that no matter what I did, it wasn’t enough. “One step forward and two steps backward” is the only thing I can think of to describe the day.

I know, I know. I need these bad days to appreciate the good ones. I shouldn’t whine but I suppose I am human and going to anyway. There are just some days when I feel like I am climbing up a muddy hill with an elephant on my back. Nothing really disastrous happened, but it feels as if I worked all day and made little headway.

I never said I was the sharpest knife in the drawer. I don’t really think I am stupid either. But what do I know? . . .

If yesterday was an indication of the weeks to come then we are in trouble. It is amazing how such a simple plan can get so fouled up in such a short time.

It started out simple enough. I wanted to get a new battery for the Mustang so it would be ready for the trip in three weeks. I had to be in Yarmouth (which is about 40 minutes away) for another appointment anyway, so it was a good opportunity to get some errands out of the way.

Remember the other day when I talked about those unexpected curve balls that pop into our lives? Well, yesterday I was thrown a little one and it is a good example of what I was talking about.

With only three short weeks left to prepare for the trip, I am making good progress with checking everything off of the list, but there is still much that I want to accomplish and get ready for leaving. Being gone for almost three weeks is going to be a big thing for me. I can’t remember the last time I had been away for that long, and certainly I haven’t since I had my business up and running.

When is the last time you intended to do something and it really went “exactly as planned”? Be it a project or a trip to the grocery store, it always seems that sometimes things just come up to change the way we wind up doing things. I don’t necessarily think that this is a bad thing. Many times we benefit from these changes and learn from them. I believe the key to be adaptable and ready for variables and have a “plan B” (or plan C or D, etc.)

As I get older, I find myself not only allowing for these small changes, but actually expecting them.

As the days pass by quickly, I realize that I am down to four weeks until it is time to leave for the show in Saratoga Springs. One by one I am getting things lined up and ready. I spoke to Jeannie today (who is my friend that is deeply involved in the show and nominated me in the first place) and we went over several details about the coming event. All is falling into place.

I was getting (just a little) worried because Jeannie was to set up my hotel arrangements and find a place for us to stay.

The term “self-indulgence” has different meaning to different people. Some may see it as buying a new tool and perhaps spending a little more than necessary for the better model, others may see it as having that extra bowl of ice cream after a nice Sunday dinner. Since we all have different ideas of what makes us happy, the definition of being “self-indulgent” changes with every person who answers the question. Generally speaking however, it means doing something that we aren’t normally able to do that is special to us.

Yesterday went by far too quickly. I don’t know how or why time seems to go by so fast, but it does. I see more and more grass through the banks of piled snow and you can just feel the air changing again. Winter is nearly over (now that wasn’t so bad, was it?) and we are definitely moving in the direction of Spring.

Soon we will be getting to my least favorite part of the year – that muddy, dirty transition between winter snow and spring. This year though, I don’t think I will notice it much.

Well, fellow Jocks and Jane’s – I suppose you get the short version today. . . .

I got up as usual, wrote my blog here and was almost finished. Then horror struck – the site here went down.

I thought it was my own Firefox conflicting with the site here, as that has happened before. I reinstalled Firefox and it didn’t help.

I tried Explorer to see if it worked there. Nope.

Then everything went down. :(

I ate a banana for breakfast and made some more coffee and checked.

Last night was one of those nights where I was lying in bed and my legs were aching and I thought either I am really getting old or it is going to snow again.

I woke up to a fresh white blanket that is still coming down as I write and I feel a little better about it. Oh, I realize that I am still getting old, but at least now I can convince myself that I’m not that old. My legs are like built-in barometers and I could always tell when the weather was about to change.

I was very pleased at all the positive feedback that I received from the project yesterday. It really got me thinking about an entire new direction of designing.

However, I am not going to try to kid you – I know absolutely nothing about lathe work. All I know is that you spin a piece of wood and use a chisel to remove material. That’s it.

I don’t know how many of you remember me talking about my good friend Cari who first introduced me to the scroll saw.

I am pleased to report that I am done preparing the two projects to be sent out (Finally!) Yesterday I got over the hurdle of finishing writing the instructions, as well as getting lots of miscellaneous things done. On some days my self-discipline is not as strong as others, but I really stuck to it yesterday and did get things finished.

Woven in between accomplishing that, we had two printers humming and printing out the copies of our patterns to take with us to sell at the show.

As I am laying out the plans for the show in Saratoga Springs, it seems that each day brings more excitement. This is the way that this are supposed to happen, right?

I have a list of what I need to have prepared for the show, and one by one I am getting things checked off. It is still seven weeks away, but so many things count on other people or companies and I want to be sure that everything is in order so there are as few surprises as possible.

My new printer ink system arrived yesterday.

Well, the site update is all completed and everything is up and running. All the new patterns have instructions and they are all checked over and ready to go. Even the Spring catalog is completed and posted and ready for download. It was really a busy weekend.

My plans for yesterday of painting and finishing the little ornaments seemed to go by the wayside. I did decide to offer up the little heart tray to my mailing list customers, which means I needed to make the picture in Photoshop for the pattern cover, which was a bit quicker than cutting it and finishing it.

There is so much for me to consider when looking for a scroll saw. So many questions. So many different opinions. Like most people, I find comfort in familiarity and resist any type of change whatsoever – be it for the good or not.

I am beginning to see that my quest for a new scroll saw is not going to be an easy one. There is so much information and so many models out there that I am quickly feeling a bit overwhelmed. I need to accept the fact that DeWalt no longer exists as I know them and I need to move on to something else.

OK. So I think that I can stop wishing for more snow now. The last couple of days we really got a load of it. I didn’t go out for a walk yesterday, as it was still coming down quite hard but it looks calm out today and I think I will venture out for a little bit at least later on today.

I suppose the most important thing here was that we didn’t lose any power. The lights flickered a little, but other than that it was a normal day for the most part. I had to do some stuff around the house and later in the day, I worked on a modification of one of my designs for a customer.

Staining and photographing the new candle trays took most of the day. I didn’t finish until evening and felt a great deal of relief having that part of the job under my belt. Although there still is the job of writing the instructions and updating the web site, it seems that seeing the project finished was a huge relief. I sent the photographs off to the wholesaler and felt a huge weight lifted from me. With me doing Christmas gifts for most of the month of December, it seemed that I had little to offer for the new catalog.

I really made good headway yesterday. Today I am in the home stretch of things and it is going to be really fun to see all four of these trays come together at once. I have never really done four at a time like this, but since they are all kind of different styles, it is rather exciting.

I will get right down to business and show you where I am at with everything. I took pictures this morning, but nothing here is finished or even sanded for that matter. I do sand things to be pretty smooth before doing the scroll sawing, but I must admit, there are still some planer marks and stuff like that left to take care of.

We wound up getting about a foot of snow yesterday. It is still falling now, but only a few flakes at a time are slowly falling. It isn’t that cold out though and it looks like absolutely no wind, as the flakes are falling straight down and look as if they are doing so in slow motion. It really is beautiful.

I passed on my walk yesterday. I probably should have gone, but I was finishing up the last two drawings for this next catalog deadline and some things still needed tweaking.

The day seemed to fly by yesterday. I spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon catching up on paperwork and emails. It always amazes me how quickly I can fall behind in those departments. It seems that if I am not on top of things for even a day, they seem to pile up quickly.

I like corresponding with my customers and my friends. My customers are nice and pleasant to talk to and they always have some good ideas or thoughts on my patterns. I love to see what others do with my designs because it encourages others to be creative too.

Well, the cats are still alive. When I awoke this morning, all the electronics seem to be working. Nothing was chewed. No one got sick on the floor (that I have seen.) The water dish was only dragged slightly from its normal place, with only a little water spilled. It’s going to be a good day! :D

There is another 4-5 inches of snow on the ground this morning (more flurries!) and it is really looking pretty outside. I need to go to the post office today though to mail out an order.

Life is full of adventure. Sometimes adventure comes into our lives uninvited. Other times we set out to find it. And then there are the times when we stumble upon it unintentionally and it takes us by surprise. Yesterday was one of those times for me.

The day began normal enough. I got up and did my mail and wrote my blog here and did all of my regular morning routine. I had planned on finishing the two new candle trays and photographing them and moving on with other projects.

I awoke this morning to another blanket of snow. Last night when we went for our walk, it was nearly all melted and the pavement was actually clear. We were just saying how warm it was outside. It is truly beautiful outside, with about two to three fresh inches on snow on the ground. It looks so clean and pretty.

Lately we have been taking our walks at night. I don’t know exactly why, but we started this a few weeks ago and have stuck to it ever since. We don’t go behind our place into the woods for these walks, as it is too dense back there and probably not wise to venture through them at night.

No one is more aware of how quickly time passes than I am. It seems as if it was only a couple of weeks ago that we were at the car show on a wonderful road trip in the ninety degree weather. Yesterday though, we had snow throughout the day, with huge, fluffy flakes falling on the six inches that had already arrived during the night.

Although winter is in full swing, I know that spring is just around the corner and before long the snow will be gone and warmer weather will be here.

As I sit here basking in the glow of organization, the sun is just coming up and I noticed that another six inches or so of snow has fallen. Already it is going to be a great day.

Things are just about finished here, with every cabinet and closet getting a makeover. I figured out that there are five closets in this little place, along with the large cupboards in the bathroom and now the new storage unit. That is lots of storage space to keep organized!

It is funny how infectious cleaning things out can be.

I must say, I am somewhat shocked. I don’t know why, but things are going quite smoothly and I don’t know what to think of it. We are starting day three of the project and so far I have no disasters to report. In fact, quite to the contrary. Everything is going well and I am very surprised how – well, nice – the pieces are looking.

I received several emails and personal messages yesterday, but other than orders, I didn’t really respond. If you were one of the people who sent me messages, I do apologize for that and I promise to get back to you today.

Among the many hats I need to wear in running this business, photography is one of the most important and also one of the most intriguing. Although I realize that I will never reach the level of a professional photographer, I have seen a great deal of improvement in my photographs over the years and I am still learning to make my photographs better. This in itself can be a career, as many of you know. I look at the beautiful photography our own LJ member, tyskkvinna (Lis) does and her interpretations and presentation of the subjects she is showing is truly inspirational.

There are some days when I just absolutely love my job. Yesterday was one of those days. It reminded me why I fight so hard on those not-so-good days to keep this job and keep doing what I am doing.

Funny thing was, it wasn’t that much different from most days I have. I printed out some orders that have to go out in the mail today, answered some questions from customers, laid out and cut out my newest project, made a good dinner, and I even took my walk in the evening. We have taken to walking at night almost all the time now.

Well, today will be short as I am already late out of the gate . . .

It seems that I never find myself short of things to do. I suppose that is part of owning my own business.

Last night I had an order in the middle of the night and the customer brought to my attention that on his receipt that he received in the confirmation email, it only showed one item. He had ordered three items and forwarded the receipt to me and I thought it was strange because even though only one item showed on it, the total was correct.

I spent much of yesterday working on some custom type design work that I had promised a couple of people. I always say that I don’t want to get involved in production work, but somehow there is always a project or two that straggles into my life. The only way I accept these type of projects is on a “I will do it when I can” basis, but those of you who have been following me through this blog probably figured out that there is seldom a day when I sit here and scratch my head wondering what to do.

Yesterday was really, really busy. I say that in a good way because I do thoroughly enjoy all the communication that I have with my customers. It seems like there are just days like that when customer correspondence is a large part of the business. It is nice though, because I get a chance to catch up with everyone and hear how things are.

I have one customer who was battling cancer. She had last ordered via the phone in December and was going for some tests to see how she was doing after treatment.

It seems that there is always something new to learn. I am happy that I like learning new things though and I hope I always feel this way.

I spent the working portion of my day yesterday learning how to do more stuff on the site as we are preparing it for the latest update. Although it took a little time and effort to learn the processes on the new software, I am really happy with the results and how things are beginning to look. It has only been a couple of months since we changed over to the new software and I am beginning to feel reasonably comfortable in changing things around on it.

And here we are at the end of another year. I find this to be a time of reflection for most people. A time to both look back and look ahead. It is a time of evaluation, when people set new goals and look to the future with hope. There is something about a fresh start that seems to empower people.

Here on the pink cloud of optimism we are no different. We look at the new year as a time to start fresh, with a clean ledger and use all the experience and knowledge we have gained so far in our lives to make this year the best year ever.

I think that sometimes getting away from things and taking a break can be extremely beneficial. Especially to someone like me who works from home and never really gets away from their business. Over the past several months, I have taken a couple of what I call ‘day trips’ but other than that, I hadn’t really had a break from things. I realize that this is part of owning your own business, but I also feel that sometimes it can get to you and you need to spend some time on other things to keep you fresh and excited about things.

I feel like I have been on vacation for a month! I am not sure why, because I was doing things all the time. Lots of them had to do with the business too. But I suppose the main focus was getting my personal stuff done and really enjoying the holiday. And that I did.

I have been wishing for snow for the last several days now. Having a beautiful white blanket during the holidays just sets the mood right for me. We have received nothing but a couple of light flurries which dusted the landscape only to be gone in a few short hours.

I have only three small presents to wrap before noon. My cooking and baking is done. The house is a mess and I don’t really care. It didn’t quite snow, but it is spitting a few flurries so there is some hope.

I listened to Beethoven’s ninth symphony yesterday while wrapping and finishing up gifts and I can still hear it in my head as I am writing now. It is quiet here now because I don’t want to disturb the memory of it. I hadn’t heard it in years and had forgotten how magnificent it is.

I received many responses from several of you yesterday regarding my post. I do very much appreciate all the useful advice and support, and I thought I would respond in general to many of the suggestions here in today’s blog. I spent most of the day away from the computer, as I wanted to take a break from it for just a while and refocus on some other things that I am working on. I think that proved to be a good decision, as I accomplished a great deal and once again I have a good and positive feeling about my work.

How many of us have made plans to do more than we accomplish over the holiday season? I know I do! It seems that no matter how much I plan ahead, the last week before Christmas is one of me wishing I had done more. I am SO happy that I spent much of the summer and autumn painting the skating pond set for Bernie and Ellen. That is one big relief to have it done (although I still need to build another bridge for their set. Oh well – I have a couple of days yet!)

I needed to go to the post office and get some last minute cards out that have to go to the States.

What a great day yesterday was. It wasn’t as if I won the lottery or anything like that, but I just went through the day feeling like I liked the place where I was at in my life and enjoyed every moment of it. I got some things accomplished around the house, cooked a good meal while listing to some Pink Floyd and Charlie Brown Christmas music, wrapped a couple of things and then went to a nice birthday dinner with wonderful people and had a great evening. I even got to answer a couple of email questions for customers.

Sometimes all it takes is just one person to ask a question for me to be inspired. I believe that is why networking and interaction with others who have similar interests is very important.

There are many small bits of information that we have learned from our daily woodworking and other related crafts and after years of doing things, we take them for granted. I believe this is true for all of us. In the process of creating, we have performed these steps so many times that they become second nature and we don’t even have to think about them.

I am afraid that today’s post won’t be very exciting. Yesterday was a full day, but it was filled with much of what I would call everyday mundane tasks. I needed to catch up on some paperwork. And also I needed to write some letters to people to prod them for various answers to stuff that needed to be tended to. I am not particularly fond of that type of letter writing, as I feel as if I am pestering others to do the jobs they are supposed to do in the first place. I tend to be very patient when it comes to most things and usually wait until the last minute to follow up on the various information that I requested.

I really like when I get so involved in doing a project that I can’t wait to get up in the morning to get at it. Today was one of those days. After feeling kind of stuck for a while on what to do for someone special on my list, I finally got the idea on Saturday and since then it has grown like a well cared for seed and looks like it is going to be turning out to be a pretty cool project.

I decided to paint a wooden sewing box for a friend of mine who loves to do counted cross stitch.

Well, I started the day today with putting the coffee grounds directly into my cup instead of the pot. What does that tell you? I had heated the final cup from yesterday’s pot first thing while I was in the process of making a fresh one (I have a coffee press, so I do finish what is left the first thing when I get up) and I put a nice big spoon of grounds directly into my cup. Hmmm. . . .

I actually set the alarm this morning to get up at 6:30 because I slept until 8am yesterday morning and I wasn’t happy about it at all.

Some days are just more quiet than others. I don’t mind though. In fact, I really do like those time sometimes.

I spent the day yesterday working on my own holiday gifts for everyone, as I want to get them shipped out before too long. I know it is getting to be crunch time. I know many of you also make wonderful gifts that need to be shipped. In my years of sending my delicate woodwork to the magazine to be published, I have learned much about packaging items for shipping.

Yesterday I was able to finish the little cardinal earrings that I needed to get done. They came out cute, and were not very hard to do at all. I had lost the pattern that I used several years ago and had to redraw them, but since they are so simple and so small, there wasn’t the need for lots of detail so things moved very quickly. They are tiny (only about an inch each) and I made them of 1/8” Baltic birch plywood. I used an eye screw as a hanger for them and now only need to attach the earring hook onto them.

Recently when working with some purple heart wood, my partner noticed something unusual. (Maybe it was not so unusual, but it was to us) In choosing a piece of wood for his projects, he noticed that some of the purple heart looked more purple and other areas of it looked more brownish.

He was choosing the piece to make some small overlay pieces on his new ornament patterns and thought the purple color would be suitable.

In his observations, he saw that one edge in particular was quite purple compared to the rest of the piece and almost bright in color.

I actually was able to accomplish all I set out to do yesterday. I didn’t finish working until just after 10pm but I was very happy to get that far with things. I took photos for all six of the new projects that are going to go up on the site today, and I also wrote the instructions for all six pattern packets. I sent them off to my friend to proof read them and besides one small line work error that didn’t convert correctly on one of the ornaments, it appears that I am ready to go on everything.

Sometimes I have to laugh at myself when I look back and read the goals I set out for myself in any given day. I think if I ever actually achieved all I set out to do, I would be labeled “superwoman”. I don’t think it is necessarily bad to set our goals high. When my kids were young, I used to tell them “If you reach your goals, you are setting them too low”. Now I was only kidding when I said that, and I made sure they knew it, but I can’t help but think that there is just a little tiny morsel of truth in that.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I did finish the drawings for the nativity candle tray, but it took me much more time than I anticipated. That’s OK though, because I am happy with the outcome. It just goes with the territory.

I had planned on drawing until about noon or so – give or take. But at that point although I had the design done, I still wasn’t quite happy with it. I wanted to keep it simple, but I didn’t want it too simple. Sometimes it is hard to figure out where to draw the line with that.

I finished the Gingerbread Candle Tray set yesterday. It was near-done for the past couple of days, but I finished cutting and staining the little charms and doing the photography on it. I think it came out OK. It isn’t one of my most intricate projects, but I found that a lot of people are interested in it and I think it will be a nice and quick project to get done in time for the holidays.

Here are the pictures of the finished holder:

After growing up and living most of my life in the United States, I had come to take certain things for granted.  It was only after moving here to Canada six years ago that I began to realize that things are sometimes different in other places and that there is a much bigger world out there.  Now that I am in communication with others from all over the world, it is even more evident to me that these differences exist.

Since I have been here in Canada, I have found that the people here are generally warm and welcoming.

This is the time of the year that just goes by too quickly.  In looking at the calendar, there is the realization that Christmas is just a few weeks away.  For me it is even sooner, as I have to mail several of my gifts out.  If they are to arrive on time, they have to be ready to go in the next week or so.  It is easy for me to get caught up and feel harried.

I am torn between continuing to create new things for my business and making other gifts for the people on my list.

For the first time this season, there is a light dusting of white snow on the ground. It is actually quite pretty though and even though there is only a touch, it is enough to make me realize that the time is quickly approaching when I have to put my car keys away for the winter.

I will probably have one more week of errands and getting things buttoned up and then resolve myself to the fact that I am grounded for the duration. I really don’t mind though, as there is much to do and I need to finish my holiday projects and start planning for the March show.

Although I took it quite slow yesterday, I did accomplish a few things. I planned on taking a nap in the afternoon, but I was involved in other things and I forgot. That was a good sign.

I finished working on the drawings for the gingerbread candle try. The first tray I did was all gingerbread men. But then I looked at it and thought that he looked lonely so I altered the patterns to make him a girlfriend. I decided to include both designs in the pattern as some people have daughters and some sons.

I felt yesterday was quite a productive day. Although I didn’t get any drawing done, I was able to update the site and get the notifications out to the customers about the update and the new sales and such. I am really liking the new software for the site. It makes everything so easy and professional looking. I am now able to add images into the bulk emails I send out and even though I stick mostly to basic formatting, it allows endless possibilities so that I can make my notifications look pretty snazzy.

Time is not always my friend, but it can be if I allow it.

I think that there are instances when we can use time to our advantage. Sometimes by just doing nothing. Although I wasn’t on a rampage or anything near as drastic yesterday, I suppose I was quite disappointed. I think that is the best way to describe my feelings. I felt quite blind sided by what happened and it came at a time when I was questioning my own creativity and just after I had spent a week focusing on getting everything ready for when the big debut of the project and it was quite a let down.

Many times when coming off finishing a long term or large project, I find myself feeling lost for a couple of days. I am going through that unsettled feeling right now. It is as if you are still wanting to work at that feverish pace that you were at and can’t find the right thing to focus on. It seemed to me yesterday that I was all over the board.

I re-read the pattern for the skating pond and my friend who proof reads for me found 3 little typos in it. That wasn’t a big thing and took just a minute to fix.

Yesterday I had two very different incidents which involved errors and customer service. With the economy as it is in such a precarious position, I would think that each and every business would strive to give the best customer service possible. One place I felt passed the test. The other failed miserably. I thought it was interesting how things were handled so differently in the two instances. I thought they were worth sharing.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran out of checks from my Chicago bank and needed to order new ones.

It is with mixed feelings that I see this project come to a finish. Although I am very happy to see it done, it will feel as if there is something missing from my eveings. My favorite time to work on it was after dinner when everything else was done and I just wanted to put an additional hour or so into painting. I really enjoyed painting these figures, and I think by doing so in this manner gave each one the attention they deserved. It is wonderful to look at the pieces and to have documented the creation of the set, as it is going to make it very easy to share the process with others and hopefully they will want to take the time to create one for themselves.

I already know that it is going to be a great day. I only realized last night that we will have an extra hour and that this is the weekend we change our clocks. I always loved that extra hour. Even when I was quite young I enjoyed the advantages of it. Apparently I was even busy as a child and had little trouble trying to fill it.

I decided yesterday that I am going to proclaim a “jammy day” today. I ran my errands yesterday and have no reason whatsoever to leave the house today.

I am writing this blog last night because we decided to high tail it to Halifax in the morning for probably our last trip into the city before winter hits.

Today, we went to a new wood place that our friend Bernie recommended today and got some incredibly low priced and high quality hard woods. Among our finds were some nice ash at $2.00 per board foot, some flaming birch for $3.00 per board foot and some curly maple which was also only $3.00 per board foot. We didn’t get a lot because they are only ten minutes from us (we purchased one 1” board of each).

I made a great deal of progress on the skating pond sets yesterday. It was the first day in several that I really felt like I had accomplished a great deal. I finished the last of the characters, and now I only have the trees and lamp posts to complete, and then the stands for everything and I will be finished.

I say that, but I am thinking about how I may want to store and present the pieces for my own set and the set I am giving away as a gift. Somehow I don’t like the idea of just wrapping the pieces in tissue and stuffing them in a box.

I very much enjoyed reading your responses to my blog yesterday. You all brought up some excellent points that I want to respond to and I hope you don’t mind if I continue the discussion here. There were many good points made and I would love to talk about some of them.

As Tom said – balancing the old practical with the new technical is something to think about, and has raised several questions around here since I have been here. A couple of months ago, the discussion was brought up as to things made with a CNC were considered ‘hand made’.

After my proclamation the other day of my dedication to working on my holiday gifts in the evening, I still had to pack it in by 11pm and slept until what I consider ‘late’ – 7:30am. I was a bit disappointed in myself but I was tired and in the past few years I have found that I need to go with what my body is telling me and give in or I will perpetuate the cycle. My health has been excellent in these past two years though so even though I sometimes feel that I don’t get done what I had planned, it is better than taking myself out for a day or days by overdoing things.

After yesterday’s adventure, I am happy to be able to stay at home and get some work done today. Although I know it is good for me to venture out into the real world sometimes, I can’t help but appreciate the comfort and security of my own surroundings. I have always been someone who enjoys their surroundings, and even though I look forward to the day trips I take, there is something comforting and safe about returning home. I don’t think that it is severe enough to be referred to as agoraphobic, but the undertones are certainly there.

Yesterday I was quite busy with many little tasks that added up to filling the day up. Did you every have a day like that? I must have checked off ten things on my ‘to do’ list that would have almost been forgotten about. Although I didn’t physically push the pile very far on the painting front, I plan to do so today. With all the little things out of the way, I should be able to dedicate the vast majority of the day to painting.

I have received good reviews for the site so far.

I think everything is running normally now. At least I hope so. I was happy to say that I woke up this morning and was able to access my site by typing in the normal address. (I had to clear the cache in my browser, but it worked right away when I did) I had a couple of orders yesterday too, so it appears that all the mechanics of the site are functioning properly. It will probably take a day or so for the servers to catch up with the domain change but everyone should be able to access things by later on today.

Yesterday is the type of day which should reinforce what I have been preaching all along – we follow where we focus. For those of you who are regular readers, you know that the past couple of days have had me doing what I wouldn’t call my favorite aspect of the job – programming and data entry. Setting up the new site can be a tedious and daunting task for someone like me. I know enough to get by, but we all know how dangerous that can be.

I had set the entire day aside to finish up on some issues regarding setting up the site.

There are so many different facets to having my own business as a designer. Drawing the pattern and making the prototype are just a small part of the process. Once those steps are completed, then there is the task of making the pattern packet. This includes photography and writing. It also includes laying out the pattern in a packet format. Then comes the marketing part. I need to decide whether it going to the magazine or directly to the wholesalers and for sale on my own site. If it is going to the magazine it needs to be packed up and shipped out and then forgotten for the next six months or so until it is published.

It was another day of fun and creativity yesterday. I had originally planned on cutting out the next candle tray, but it was quite windy and rainy all day long. I need to do a quick routing on the edges of each of the trays and I usually do that outside, but the weather just wasn’t cooperating. Even though it only takes a few minutes to rout, I thought it best to wait and go on to ‘plan B’.

I like having a ‘plan B’. I think it is something that everyone should have.

The light has just started to appear to the east but for the most part it is still dark out. My neighbor, who leaves for work every day at this time has started his truck up and it is warming up in the driveway. Over the sound of the engine, I hear a faint intermittent scraping noise. I looked out the window in the semi-darkness to see if I could distinguish the source. It was the windshield wipers on the truck, which was covered in a thin layer of frost. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that everyone was complaining from the heat? To me, it is one of the first signs of what is to come.