I used the plastic lid from my son’s box of trucks as a plate for inking my roller yesterday. It’s been that sort of week.
Two birthdays, one ear infection, Walk To School Week, and around 50 shirts to iron and label for the fair. I’m running on a cocktail of tea and pure adrenaline now.
After taking a few days off to take care of my sick toddler, I jumped back into my work with a fierce urgency yesterday. I have a LOT to do before the fair.
I’ll be totally honest, when I found out that the toddler was sick I felt a sense of dismay about his timing, but my mommy senses kicked in quickly. Work just wasn’t as important as making him feel better.
Funnily enough, instead of feeling frustrated about not getting any work done, I really relished the time snuggling with His Grumpiness, wiping his snotty nose and cuddling him through his tantrums. I guess that is what is meant about finding balance in your life.
I mix business and my home life all the time, I just can’t separate them. That is the only way I can get things done (see my bizarre shopping list below! ).
Life makes so much more sense when you can find your own sense of balance through all the chaos. This can mean different things to different people. To me it means shifting tasks around so that I can stop to smell the roses with my loved ones when I need to, and keep (almost) sane.
Yesterday, I managed to mono-print tags for all of the shirts, frame all of my recent prints, and screen print onto some cute fabric that I found. I also picked up supplies at a couple of craft stores, foraged through my closet for hangers for the t-shirts ( now all my clothes are stuffed onto a shelf), and write part of this blog post.
But… I also managed to go for a bike ride, pick up new pyjamas for the kids, and take them to the park.
Now it is the weekend, I plan to try putting up my tent for the fair, and take photos of my shirts. But you can be sure that there will also be dance classes, grocery shopping and a birthday play-date. Now for that shopping list…
Fabric pens
burlap
squeegee
Black ink
Pyjamas for kids
Eggs,
sugar
cream
Milk
vinyl printing sheet
Diaper rash cream
🙂
A good and positive thinking and I wish you all the best for the future. You are like a diamond shining and dazzling as you polish your work.We are proud of you.
Wish you all success at the fair and in future.
Dad
Your list says it all – it’s rare that we get to do one thing at a time. Your art is lovely.
Thank you! Yes, I think that most people get creative and mash together their different roles, in order to get things done.
Awww. Thank you for such a sweet comment, dad.
You’re brilliant. Look forward to hearing about the fair.
Thank you!
I agree working at home has it’s ups and downs. Often people think it’s always wonderful. Yes, the flexibility is great but I really hear you on the lack of opportunities to get energized from other professionals in your field.
And your “home office” seems a lot more vibrant than mine, where I do a lot of computer-based work. Would love to see where you work sometime!
🙂 Sure!