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I’m still cataloguing my old designs for
quicker reference. I’m not keeping photos of simple items made with just like
Swarovski… I make hundreds of those and they’re not worth cataloguing. Anyway, it’s fun
seeing old designs I’d forgotten about. Okay, story time: There was an otter and he had a task. The task
was to keep the sticks out of the river. So every day, he’d go down to the
river and diligently pick out stick after stick and pile them on the
riverbank. As he was doing this, the wind would occasionally blow and some of
the sticks would fall back into the river. At other times, his friends would
scamper by, playing around because THEY didn’t have as much work to do. And
their scampering would also send some of the sticks back into the river. It didn’t seem to the otter that he was making
very much progress. Yet this was an important job. Not one he had the option
of dismissing in favor of playtime. It seemed, though, that for every five
sticks he took out of the river, four sticks went back in. And then new sticks
also fell into the river from the overhanging trees. His job was not only
never-ending, it was often overwhelming as he scurried around trying to
retrieve the sticks before they passed by him. Anyway, one day this otter just couldn't take
the frustration anymore. He was overworked, he never got to play, he rarely
got to rest, and he saw very little progress for his efforts. So he stepped
back and decided to consider the source of the issue, rather than the
surface. And when he sits back for a moment and looks
at the whole picture, it comes to his attention that he’s scrambling around
and using much of his time and effort needlessly. He decides to come up with
a solution to stop the sticks BEFORE they get into the river. Within days, he’d trimmed the trees that
overhung the river and he’d built a dam that would allow water to flow
through to the river but would filter out the sticks. Now all he had to do
was go to the dam once a day and remove the build-up
of sticks. How infinitely easier this was than picking all the sticks up from
the river all day long. And yet, that’s precisely what he had been doing, for
years! From then on, any time the otter felt like he
was spinning his wheels, he would step back and look at his situation, figure
out what he hated most about it, and go to the ROOT of the problem rather
than scrambling around on the surface of the problem. And so will I. Sorry it took me over a week to get in here.
It’s been crazy busy. I did a small show yesterday… I consider that
a “dry run” for the larger show I’m doing at the end of April. Saturday, Laura and I met Alex and Patrice (whoohoo! Patrice is back!) at a
bead show in downtown I ended up going twice… once before the kids’
hockey games and again after. Haven’t even really had much
time to go through my purchases. The best deal, by far, was at Anil’s table. I have some new, simple designs to put up.
Also, I’m thinking about changing my way of listing. As some of you know, I
usually list on eBay first, then anything that
doesn’t sell gets put in the eBay store and in here. But if I want more
people to be more inclined to come to this website, maybe I should start
giving first dibs here, rather than on eBay. It behooves both myself and the customers (less fees for me, lower price
for the customer). Maybe I’ll try that this week and see how it
goes… like I said, I have quite a few “minimalist”
type pieces to list. Aside from MAKING jewelry, I guess I can go
ahead and finish my book, maybe market a few articles, then perhaps… PERHAPS
I can look into teaching. EEK! That would entail talking with people. And not
just people… STRANGERS! Well, we’ll see… Hm… This will be another
busy weekend, but it’s all hockey related. I also
get to meet up with Alex… that’s always fun… hopefully Laura can come with. Actually, LOTS of hockey for about the next 4
or so weeks. Then… who knows. I have mostly minimalist jewelry listed at the
moment. Will see what I can come up with this weekend. Maybe I’ll put my pc
pieces up for sale. I have to redo Peacockso,
though, ‘cause the cats chewed on the peacock feathers… d’oh!
Thinking. Yeah, I am always thinking. I probably think So let’s see what’s at the forefront today… Other Laura and I are running our butts off (I
wish!) trying to get ready for: the NorCal playoffs, the Girls’ Nationals,
and our OIC Easter Tournament. Eek! I cleaned half of the kitchen. Not because I
wanted a clean kitchen (I do, but I had an ulterior motive), but because I
want to try torching again. I find it relaxing and at times I do feel
creative. It’s been like 4 or 5 months, now, though… Why do I worry? Worry is a misuse of
imagination. Do you think people who are more imaginative
innately are also more likely to be worriers? Monica won’t work on jewelry this morning
because she has the playoffs, so she’s doing menu planning instead. Mike’s not too happy lately… I hate seeing
that. I hope there’s something that comes along eventually that makes him
happy. I have a lot of friends going through hard
times right now too. CS, best to you and your family, and it’s not even
important that you read my blog… ‘cause I’m merely trying to send out good vibes. It’s like
a GOOD way of talking behind someone’s back. Ha! Okay, I’d better go now. |