Follow the Signs!!!

Follow the signs!! Read the signs!! ...make the signs...

Thus we have my dilemma of the week(s). I need to make some signs. Not super fancy signs, but just some signs. What do I need these for? My Farmer's Market!!

Holy Moly!! I started to plan out all of the small details this past week and never realized that I would need signs for:
-The Business (Me:P)
-Prices
-Cash Only

Then I need a cash float for change, a table (DONE!!), lawn chairs (DONE!!), table cloth (Dollarama), and the list goes on... And it's REALLY starting to keep me up...

Well... It was... As with many of my posts I started on one day and am finishing on another. I started this one on a stressy Friday, and am ending it on an exhausted Monday... Zzz...

I didn't actuallt have to play slow pitch this weekend (Saturday I was a spare so they let me take off because it was my 5 year wedding anniversary, and Sunday we were rained out), so I actually got a lot accomplished! ...or it feels like I did... Only time will tell... 

I have effectively not only moved ALL my clothes from the inlaws to our house, but I have sorted through them and now have 2 LARGE bins to donate to the Salvation Army, with 1 more small pile of shirts to go through! I'm so excited!! 

Plus, most of my old tshirts that I couldn't bear to part with, O'm going to turn into a "Tshirt Quilt" by cutting out all the logos (mostly band shirts and my cheeky old ones), sewing them together, and adding a backing. SUPER excited for that!! You know, in all the spare time I have:P

On top of wading through my closet, I also managed to finish up all the write-ups for the MAHTA newsletter, and, since we have such an amazing Office Assistant, was able to just pass off the word document for her to make all pretty and format and junk. I do enjoy doing all that, but at the moment I have neither the time nor the resources to get into that cat fight! So, I typed and articled my lil heart out and VOILA!! We have content!!

I then, right before bed, started to work out a price chart for my products for the summer... It's a LOT harder then you would think!! My Inner Critic was not being very nice. Kept telling me that people won't pay for my crap... But you know what? I think that if I tough it out enough, I think people will like what I have to say!! ...maybe... We'll see!!

Anyways, I've been telling people left, right, and center about the Farmer's Market, and a lot of them are family, so hopefully I get a few pity buys at the most:)

I haven't really done much in the way of production of content this weekend, but this week will for sure be crunch time! EEP!! 

I've also come to a decision on how often I'm going to he doing these blog posts! Even if it's just a short post with a couple pics, you can expect something from me every two days!! I've decided that if I can't make time for something I love every other day, then what kind of life am I living right?!? 

Ciao for now!!!!

Zzz...

Yes, my title is a snore. That is the approximate energy level I am operating on today... Maybe I'm getting sick? I'm also kinda bummed out that this time last year (even though I'm pretty sure I was near death) I was packing it up to go to the Rocky Mountains... This year I plan on sleeping. Such is my life :P

So, I just posted yesterday. What the heck could I have done since then?? Anything super interesting? Did I just post to complain about how tired I am? No and no:P I didn't do anything amazing last night. I mean, I planned out some merchandise stuff for MAHTA, and some of the things that I'd like to cover in the next newsletter (to be decided tomorrow night, another meeting... Ugh...). No, that's not really what I think is interesting right now.

This morning, after checking my email box, facebook, etc., I decided to check my spam box. There I found an email from Tara Swiger (I had signed up for her newsletter a while ago and had forgotten about it), with a little gem in it. Craft Sale's for Introverts. It's like it was meant for me!

Back story, I am a ridiculously introverted person, and being around people for any amount of time completely drains my energy. I'm also incredibly outgoing (or try to be), but I get no energy whatsoever from being around people, and I HATE reasoning things out out loud. HATE it. I'd rather talk to people through email or text message than actually call them or seek them out. This has been problematic in the past, but I've kind of come to accept it as just me.

Apparently there are other people out there who are introverts who are trying to somewhat do the same thing as me. Who knew!! In her podcast she has multiple tips for introverts stuck in an extrovert world of business. HALLELUJAH!! I was so drawn in to what she was saying I even took notes on it for this summer.

It's not easy being an introvert in an extroverts world.

PS. This was supposed to be published on the 19th, but apparently I hit save instead of publish:P OOPS!!!!

Garfield had the Right Idea

Ugh... Monday... First Monday back at work...

First off, I feel the need to apologize for my lack of internet presence over the last week. I've been having a blast on a staycation, and today is my first day back at work.

So, how did my first Monday start? It started with me forgetting to turn my alarm back on, so I woke up at the time I was supposed to catch the bus... Yay me!! Anyways, stole my hubby's truck and made it to work on time, only to fight through a mountain of emails and tasks that have been compiling.

Anyways, enough negative! I had a fantastic week off!! I got some weaving done, got some painting done, sent off my application for a Farmer's Market, and overall just recharged a lil bit. It was fantastic (minus the previously mentioned spaz attack with the sewing machine).

I also played Slow Pitch for the first time in... The better part of a decade I would have to say... It was SUPER fun, and I'm playing with a great group of peeps. However, and I don't know if I've mentioned this yet or not, I have a REALLY hard time going back to something that I used to be good at when I was younger and finding that I now suck. Harsh right? I would never in a million years think that way about anyone else. I would applaud them for trying and being brave enough to get back into it. Me though? NOPE! In my perfectionists mind I have to be equally good, or better than, I used to be. No matter how long it's been since I last did it.

Horse riding is another example of this. When I was in high school I was pretty darn good at it. I was winning ribbons and taking names. But I was also riding multiple times a week, and the Bank of Parents was still open for business. Now that I'm an adult with actual bills, priorities, and family (fur family counts too!), I actually have financial constraints. So, I rode less and less, and eventually stopped. Last summer I decided that I would try a new type of riding (I used to show in hunter/jumper), endurance riding, with a friend of mine. She even let me borrow her horse in exchange for helping out around the barn.

The result? Disaster. For some reason, my brain was expecting me to hop right back in the saddle and be able to ride for hours on end, after not riding at all for a couple of years. The horse I was riding was also a spooky Arabian, and though very sweet, she seemed to think that the world was conspiring against her. Now, back in the day this was no issue. Hell, I learned how to ride on a VERY SIMILAR spooky Arabian who's greatest ambition in the world was to buck me off (sometimes rodeo style). I had developed quite a deep seat, and horses were very hard-pressed getting me off. This was what my brain was expecting; something my poor body could no longer deliver.

The first time I fell off, I had a complete meltdown (the fact that I was changing anti-depressants at the time did NOT help matters). The second time, I hadn't quite recovered from my first meltdown and dissolved into tears of frustration again. The third time, I gave up and walked my horse the remaining 10km of the event. I was done. My mind couldn't wrap my head around the fact that my body could no longer deliver to the impossible standards of a cocky 18 year old.

The same thing (minus the multiple melt-downs) happened at Slow Pitch. I was writing cheques my body couldn't cash. Growing up I played quite often (my Mom was super into it so I naturally practiced lots), so I wasn't half bad. I had never really played competitively before, but this is a beer league, so no biggie. Right?

Well, after being unable to manage nothing better then a bunt, and being totally winded after running the bases (with a break at each one), something dawned on me. I'M NOT 18 ANYMORE!! Not to mention the fact that the most physical thing I've done all winter is climbing stairs and walking 2 blocks twice a day. The hardest thing about all of this? Letting myself be ok with it! Letting myself know that I'll get better as the summer goes on and not to worry about it. This isn't the Olympics, and as long as I'm having fun who gives a bibble?

I mean, yeah, my legs were killing me by the end of the night, and the day after I was given a cruel reminder that I do in fact have abdominal muscles. And thigh muscles. And calf muscles. And muscles in my arms. OWWWW!!! Moving for the next couple days was not that much fun. But I did it. And I'll do it again this week (and this weekend, we have a tournament...).

The moral of my random rantings (that isn't entirely creative, but for sure applies to it), it's OK to suck at something that you used to be good at! The skills will come back if you give them time, and NO ONE is holding you to anywhere near the standards you're holding yourself to. Not-a-one!! Give yourself room to grow and you will, and you'll probably come out better then you were before!

Anyways, enough preaching for one day!! :P Hopefully my next post will be a lil more creative-based, but the moral applies to creativity as well, so close enough. :)

My pretty new glove :)