Teacher Gifts

It's that time of year again. I've been burning the midnight oil making teacher & graduation gifts. Here are some that have been keeping me up at night! I particularly like the two sided flower/keep calm necklace. Wear it either way, depending on your mood.

Lakeside Night

These pictures are from a historic amusement park outside of Denver. My kids' school district has a Lakeside Night every year. It is such a cool place I couldn't resist taking some pictures. Sort of the land that time forgot. Here's a link to some of it's history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeside_Amusement_Park

Garage Sales

In our part of Colorado, Friday & Saturday mornings in late spring are prime garage sale days. I don't do as much garage sale-ing as I used to. I'm kind of anti-stuff these days. Also, very short on free time. But every once in a while I see a deal I just can't pass up. When I dropped my oldest off at school this morning, I spotted a Little Tykes playhouse at a sale right across the street. My neighbor has been looking for one of these, so I HAD to ask. $40!! A real deal. (You just can't kill Little Tykes stuff. I always say that when the world ends, all that will be left is cockroaches & Little Tykes furniture!)So I bought the house for her and started looking around for myself. Here's what I got:

Desk chair: $10
Kids cash register (perfect condition w/ all the parts!): $5
Dora castle: .50
Diego house: .50
2 storage bins that I'll use for kids art supplies: .50

Not bad for $16.50! I know the cash register will get lots of use this summer. Small price to pay for entertained kids.

Time

Early today I was listening to the Morning Coach on my Ipod. I try to listen to this podcast almost everyday. It's really motivational & a great way to start the day. Anyway, this episode (pod-sode?) was about the relativity of time. He talked about the importance of living each day 100%. It got me thinking to how quickly time passes, especially when you're a parent.

I usually start the day with big goals. I have a to-do list. It has priorities & stars & sometimes even color coding. I'm ready to go! Then, one of my kids wakes up with the stomach flu, & the laundry calls my name, & someone needs a ride to swim practice. Then it's time to make dinner, help with homework, & get 3 kids to bed. Before I know it the day is over, the list is untouched & I just want to lay down & watch Gossip Girl on Tivo. That's OK for a day or two - but sometimes it goes on like this for weeks, dare I admit?, months even.

In my former life, I was a full time marketing manager. I lived & died by calendars & schedules. Deadlines were everything. When I left full-time corporate work to take care of my first child, one of the hardest adjustments was the lack of control of your time. Being home with small children is a lot liking being in a foreign country. You have to adapt to a new way of living - even a new flow of time.

I recently had the revelation that everyone in my house is a lot happier when their priorites are my priorites. Not maliciously, of course, but their lives are just easier when I'm taking care of them. It can feel selfish to put my goals ahead of their immediate demands. I struggle with this everyday. I think most women do. We demand a lot of ourselves & want to appear to have it all under control - even when we don't. Do I have an answer? Not today. I'll keep you posted if I figure out the secret.

I made 3 new necklaces yesterday that are really cool! Lots of bendy twirly wire. I'll try to get a quick shot of them today and post them later.

Guess Who?

Guess who's going to be an jewelry instructor at the community center??? Me that's who!

I'm really excited today because I just came back from a meeting at my local community center. They've asked me to teach a monthly class May - August. So cool!! It's been a tough few weeks & I really need this boost to stay motivated. I stayed up until 1:00 last night getting ready for my presentation, but it was worth it. The class listing should be online in a few weeks. As soon as I have a link I'll post it.

On a less exciting note - now that my computer is fixed I have to stop putting off learning how to use QuickBooks. One of my goals this year is to get my business finances in order - we'll see how that goes.

I'd like to pass on a link today to Sally Evan's website. Sally is a teacher, artist and creativity coach local to my area. I've been following her work for a while & working with her for several months. She's just fabulous!! I highly recommend getting on her newsletter list and checking out her website http://www.embracingcreativity.com/index.html

This & That

Well I wish I had some interesting jewelry news to write about - but no such luck! I finally got my laptop back & it's working pretty well now. Unfortunately, the "ghost files" they put on my system have totally used up my disc space. So I can't load any new photos until I get that fixed. In order to get it cleared up I need to back up all my data. I'm waiting for a new external hard drive to arrive that has enough space to do this. Supposedly this thing is fast as lighting and is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I have my little boy home sick today, poor guy. So I'm waiting for him to finish lunch & watching "word world" so I can put him down to nap. Then I'll have an hour to myself to work before I have to go pick up the big kids.

What else is going on? Well I went to see Twilight last Saturday. It was really good - very true to the book. I have such a sweet husband to sit through that movie with me!! I still have to finish the 3rd book in the series. The movie has got me very motivated to do just that!