Living for Beads, Beading for Life

My sister and I recently decided to set a limit on the cost of gifts our families buy for one another. We're both having some, um, interesting financial times and it seemed only prudent. It got me thinking (well that and LauraJ's posts on being frugal!). Granted this can be a dangerous thing as I've only a few untainted braincells available for such a purpose but thinking I was. Then I read about this group today in a fellow jewelry designer's blog: http://www.beadforlife.org/beaders/beaders.html

It's so easy to forget, as we struggle to pay our mortgages or take our family on vacation or even grab a bite at a McDonald's, that in many parts of the world, a vacation would be anytime they have enough to eat and aren't falling down from exhaustion. As the holiday season is coming up, if you know any crafty people (they sell loose beads), people that like world music (their group cut a CD), people that would love a little handmade jewelry pouch, or people that like unusual jewelry, please consider a purchase from the Bead for Life store: http://www.beadforlifestore.com/servlet/.3fbe5b94/StoreFront

Yes, I know I make and sell jewelry and, obviously, I love every purchase anyone makes from me, but I can (usually) pay my mortgage. These people often can't put more than one meal on the table a day - and that's exaggerating as they don't have tables. Sometimes, they don't even have cooking pots, mattresses or cots, or a cupboard to store what little they do have.

I've bought a couple CDs and a bunch of loose beads, which you'll see start turning up in my work soon, no doubt.

Other ideas for holiday gifts with added meaning?
http://shop.thehungersite.com/store/category.do?siteId=220&categoryId=284&origin=101171
(if you order the recycled silk yarn, be aware that it is NOT for beginners!)
http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=258522
http://www.alternativegifts.org/
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/

A Day Like All The Others

Just a day, no reason to feel particularly good or particularly bad. Just a day. Nothing strikingly unusual - nothing even striking.

And I think that's why I'm blue. I got little done today (other than putting the maternity clothes in my dresser and packing the "regular" clothes away). (My husband, meanwhile, cleaned Katie's room and scrubbed the bathroom after cleaning the family room yesterday - I don't deserve this man.) I took a nap, my husband let Katie and me sleep instead of waking us for church, we had dinner, and now I'm here - instead of doing the work I ought to be doing. It was just a blobby, lazy, nothing kind of day. And I'm still wiped out.

I haven't finished the bracelet that I'm working on for class. I haven't really done any jewelry work in two weeks now (since I got back from the last show). I don't feel like doing the work I need to do for "work-work". Time just stretches forward in one long gray stretch of treadmill.

I wasn't always this way - I was a highly motivated, kick-work's-ass, do 8 things at once and have it work, kind of person. That was pre-Katie. I was just getting back to normal when it was time to start the Clomid again and then, of course, Thank God, we got pregnant. Ironically, I am grateful for the fatigue (and the nausea for that matter) as it generally means that intrauterine things are going well. But I am listless as well. (Well, semantically at least because, trust me, I am NOT list-less - I have lists coming out the wazoo.)

I think I'm also feeling more than a bit overwhelmed. Full-time childcare, half-time contract adminstration, two businesses that would flourish so much more if I could put the time and energy into them they deserve, and an independent studies class. And then, of course, there's the "Oh, I can do that for you!" sort of thing - like volunteering to transcribe a multi-part piece of music from a recording for choir. For the first time in my life, I am not keeping up. Sometimes, I wonder if this is an early stage of dementia. I just can't seem to keep my head on straight at times. Or is this just being a mom to a toddler and flooded with hormones?

And then there's the lack of anything interesting going on - no escapism. I've relied heavily on escapism for virtually all my life to get me through the drudgery of existence. And, at the moment, not only do I not have any time for escapism, there is really none on the horizon for quite a while.

Eh, don't mind me. I think I'll just say that "the baby ate my brain" and call it a day.

Bite-Sized Books

or, rather, bite-sized pieces of books. I recently discovered that our public library is plugged into a service that will deliver 5 minute sections of various books directly into my emailbox. Thrilled with this discovery, I delightedly signed up for 4 or 5 categories. Now, except for textbooks, I have never tried to read 4 or 5 books at the same time. I pick up one book and, generally, devour it whole before starting the next. (If I find I keep putting it down, I used to feel obliged to force myself through it thinking it might improve by the end. It rarely did. These days, I stop reading it altogether - I don't have enough time to read to waste it on books I am not enjoying or characters I don't give a rat's bahooty about.)

Somehow, when I signed up for these 4 - 5 little daily book bites, it didn't occur to me that I would, essentially, be reading 4-5 books at a time. I have news for me: it's not working! I just don't have enough RAM left in my head to keep track of that many plots.

Also, what I didn't realize, is that you only get a week's worth of book before they switch to another one - a mere tease!! This makes sense, of course, as it's a library marketing ploy. It is, however, frustrating. And effective in its purpose. I'll be heading to the library tomorrow to check out a copy of Monica Pradhan's The Hindi-Bindi Club.

Go figure.