A Confession.

Most of the time I trundle through life checking things off the never-ending list, moving from one job to another without difficulty and putting fires out with seeming aplomb. From appearances I seem to be in complete control and utterly confident and calm.
My mother tells me I'm the child she never has to worry about.
But somewhere, buried deep under all that togetherness lurks 'Anxiety Girl'.





From Pinterest.




I fight her superpowers with all that I have but sometimes she comes out on top.
Apparently, I am stressed today and completely unaware of that fact.
I have not vanquished my silent foe.

Until I see that I've done this to myself...









A few years back I finally managed to stop biting my nails, but I can't seem to shake the habit of picking the skin surrounding them. My hands just need to be busy busy busy!
I have found myself virtually inhaling 'snacks' at the rate of knots this week which also makes me (and my waistline) very grumpy with myself!
I shall now go make a cup of tea and pull out the crochet before I have to track down another bandaid.

Good grief!


J.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

It's been a trying few weeks, while we twiddle our thumbs and wait for our Canadian visa to go through various hoops.

We've done quite a lot of packing, but are having a hiatus for week or so because we are frankly exhausted, stressed and generally bewildered and befuddled. At any given moment we could be told to hit the airport and swap countries. All the planning and preparation doesn't help us with this one final hurdle.

And we are control freaks. Quite the challenge.

The solution to this (as we have learned on our previous expat adventures) is to live one week at a time.

It is important to seek frivolity, hilarity and satisfaction within the maelstrom.

Poppet and I found some of that after school today. We picked lemons.

LOTS OF THEM!

We have a lovely old lemon tree in our yard which is perfect for climbing, but Poppet won't as she has developed a weird fear of ants. She's never been bitten, but there you have it.

So I climbed the tree and threw the lemons down for her to catch. Generally I threw badly and Poppet missed her catches. We were in hysterics. There were aphids slipping down our sleeves and getting in our hair. We freaked out a bunch of ladybugs who evacuated the tree all at once.

It was a lovely spontaneous hour together. No doubt it will be the highlight of my week.

And seeing as I have a pretty decent sore throat at the moment, I'll make some lemon tea and try to figure out what to do with the rest of the harvest.

Do you have a favourite lemon recipe? Feel free to share! Pretty Please!

J.

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Crafty Q&A Part 3.

What made you decide to take the big leap into business? And what piece of advice would you share for anyone considering turning their hobby into a business? (Tamara Sirl)

When my poppet started full-time school I just dusted off my lovely old bernina (mum's from when she was young) and started to play with a basic softie pattern i had drawn up. After a couple of re-drafts I came up with a shape I was happy with and gave it to a friend for her baby. I made one for another friend, who showed a friend, who showed a friend. Suddenly I was receiving orders!

I started sharing photos of my 'work' on Facebook and more friends became interested. From there I decided to start a separate business page, came up with the brand name and registered the business. My liker numbers leapt quickly from 50 to many hundreds and took me completely by surprise. I wasn't expecting people who didn't know me to be joining in my page. It just took off.

As for advice?

Don't dawdle. Develop a strong product (not too many items to start with) and be confident in the quality and uniqueness of it. Take some good photos, grab a business name and get on with it! Consider doing a market, but don't look at is as a source of income, it is a form of marketing. Facebook is a great place to start online. Social networking IS my marketing. To date, I have never paid for advertising. Like-minded people have supported and promoted me and I try to return the favour. It's that simple.

Don't splash yourself all over town looking for a quick sale. Build relationships with customers and business associates, one person at a time. That is the path to success in my opinion.

Really. Just do it.

Image from here.

If you don't have a go you will never know what you could have achieved. You may just surprise yourself. I certainly did!

J.

Warning! Some scenes may be disturbing to poppet lovers.

Meet Vania....




"Isn't she cute?" you say. Well....


Vania lives in a house with this little poppet.






And this is what she did to her...





And this....




Oh yes. One cute l'il doggy managed all of this....





Fortunately, poppet's owner has an Aunty who lives on my street. She brought her to me and I made her all over again. With a new haircut. She has gone back to her small person, who was very sad without her.





If you have a Vania in your home, it might be worth considering keeping her away from your poppets ;)
Poor puppy, I can imagine how much fun she had. I picture her with the poppet in her mouth, madly shaking her head from side to side and emitting a low growl.
Fingers crossed she doesn't get her mitts on this one.

J.

And so it begins...

It seems like only a week ago that I was sharing photos of my lovely workshop with you. Already, it looks like the proverbial bomb has hit it!

Some friends have been through it in the last week, grabbed some fabric bargains and helped me to get rid of the scraps. The workshop will soon morph into a storage facility, ready to swallow all our wordly possessions. This is what I'm left with, and today it will be packed up for the move.

Most people are very attached to their bits and pieces. Once we were the same, but the traveling we have already done has cured us of that. Here are our faithful suitcases preparing to carry our lives to Canada.

We will only take what will fit in them; clothing, some toys, a couple of books. The rest of import is stored in our trusty laptops (and hard-drives), we certainly remain firmly attached to them!

But here is someone I am struggling to part with.

Our cats came with us on our last journey to the other side of the world, but they are older now and we just don't think the trip is fair on them. They will remain behind and continue along their own languid path without us.

And what does Poppet think about the move? Today it only matters whether the jump rope can come too.

She said she'd be happy enough with that.

J.