Picnic & Fireworks

Tomorrow I will be going to a big picnic and fireworks show. It has been a tradition for the past 15 years and I really look forward to it. We only see the people that attend the picnic when we are at the picnic so it is a great time to catch up on what's been going on in the past year.

My youngest daughter (who is 26) used to enjoy going to the picnic and fireworks show but now has a very hard time. She is in the army and has gone to Iraq twice. The picnic is fine for her except that she has high anxiety from being in a crowd of people. The thing she has the most trouble with is the fireworks. To her they sound like bombs going off because she was bombed so many times while in Iraq. It saddens me that this wonderful display of celebration causes her so much pain. I am hoping that as the years go by she will once again be able to enjoy fireworks.

So please when you gather in celebration of our 4th of July please think of our service men and women. They are the reason we can still have our celebration.

Kudos to SAHM Crafters

I watch my 4 year old grandson quite often. And while he is a joy most of the time I can never seem to get anything accomplished when he is here. He is always interrupting when I try to work on things. I can't get any cleaning done or even any projects for my shop. It takes 3 times as long to get one task done. I have tried giving him his own projects to do but he will barely work on them before he's back interrupting me again.

I love him dearly and he has been under my care since he was a baby. I don't know how all of you SAHM get anything done. I'm sure that you must schedule your time around the children's naps and bedtime to make it work. My grandson doesn't take naps anymore so I have no down time during the day to work around. So I find myself trying to get as much done as possible while he is not here.

So big Kudos to all you SAHM who have got this all figured out! You are my crafting heros!

Back From Vacation

I am back from a ten day vacation to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is one of my favorite areas in the country. I truly wish I could move up there, but for now I settle for one or two trips up there a year.

I brought no projects to work on for the first time ever. I wanted it to truly be a vacation and not a time to do more work in a better location. It was hard not having a project to work on especially on rainy days when I couldn't do outdoor activities. Instead of working I watched movies which I hadn't taken the time to do in a long time. It was nice but the little voice in the back of my head said yes but you really should be working on something. That is when it dawned on me how much time I really devote to my craft and how little time I took out for myself doing other things I enjoy. After that realization I gave myself permission to just relax and enjoy my vacation.

I did a lot of hiking (beware the trail info gives you the miles to a particular point and not the round trip - learned that the hard way) and a lot of thinking and pondering. I came up with a couple of new ideas to try and took a lot of great pictures. I do love being out in nature and away from the busy everyday things.

Of course as with all vacations it ended way too soon and I am back to the ordinary everyday grind. I will take a little more me time each week and see how that goes. It will be hard at first but I am sure it will be second nature in no time. And on my next vacation in the fall I will probably not bring any projects again because a vacation truly should be a vacation.