The Value Of Sleep

One thing that happens at the lakehouse is that we have long days. This is generally a good and wonderful thing -- unless you are four and a half. Then, when the sun does not set until 9:40, and you get to stay up and watch the fireworks, you have a hard time making good decisions. Actually, you have difficulty making any decisions at all. And then the people with you have difficulty maintaining their sanity, which is fabulous, because their parenting skills are on display for all the family (and I do mean ALL the family) to see -- and evaluate -- and to discuss at length once you leave the area. It is also unfortunate that those same people have stayed up late playing games and laughing and leaving you completely out of things so that their fuses are shorter too. It makes for fabulous family time. Sleep is golden, this is the new rule at the lake. Let there be sleep.

Growth

I have outgrown one of my longtime shows. I've done this same show now for 3 years and just this year my product has become too high-end for the event. This is the classic good news/bad news scenario. I love working with the people here. I have some long-standing customers who I adore. But they were practically the only buyers. Not to mention how I HATE the black sand that gets all over my product and I hate missing time with my family -- the show is always the weekend closest to the fourth. So, so long to Manistee and the good people who run the show; and hello to new events and venues with an art-buying clientele. A bittersweet moment.

My Love My MacBook Pro

So I did it -- I finally purchased a laptop for my business. Not just any laptop either; no, no. I went back to the land of Apple. I love it!! It is exactly what I have been wanting. And they threw in an ipod just for the heck of it! So now I am the most tech savvy person in the house. At least for the next 5 minutes. You know how these things go. But I love it. I couldn't stop raving about it last night. So now I have all the design functionality and all the speed I could possibly want and my Wonderfalls episodes are on the ipod. Does it get any better than this? I am one happy girl. Thanks Mon Ami!

Easy to Forget

It's so easy to forget how lucky we are, simply to be born without any disability. Check out this story from NPR.

I Confess...

We have been 4 days without Hayes and I do miss him; and at the same time, I am SO happy for the time without him. He is so much a part of life here -- and I realize just how much energy and focus it take to raise a child, in particular MY child. It's incredible that so much goes into being a parent and I can't really see it until he's away for a bit. He's up at the lake with Mimi and Papa. What kid wouldn't absolutely love that? I know I did when it was me. But I also remember being so ready to see my mom and dad when they got there. We will be arriving late Friday; I truly can't wait to see him. It will be so welcome. It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I Am A Genius

We went to the library today to settle up on last year's overdue fines and start the summer reading program, albeit two weeks behind schedule. While there, I discovered that there are children's books on tape. Now, I am a huge fan of books on tape, as I LOVE to be read to. I love to read to Hayes too, but when he is working toward a reading goal, I just don't have the time -- you have to know that he is a voratious knowledge hound and will have me reading all day if he could get away with it. So now he is blissfully reading his chapter book, while listening to it also in tape and I am blissfully at peace, working in the studio! What will we do when, in three weeks, we have gone through all the tapes at the library? Life with a genius...

Powerless

Nine hours without power is a long time. Yesterday a huge storm rolled in about 1:00 pm and all power was knocked out. It was a huge outage, not like our neighborhood was the only one affected. Nevertheless, Hayes was in quite a way without TV or computer to occupy his afternoon. I thought I might go mad without access to the e-mail. Odd, isn't it, how the only things I could think of doing involved electricity? When I can't have it, I want it most. This morning we are back in the 21st century. Ahh, fresh coffee and the Today show. Praise the lord.

Roller Coaster

There are so many times I find myself doubting the decisions I have made. This happens in all the arenas of my life with regularity. The last few weeks have been the roller coaster of uncertainty regarding my art business. I have to say, I love and hate being an artist and I find it incredibly difficult to separate myself from my art. I am emotionally attached for better or worse.

The problem, naturally, comes when I need to have a business head for matters and all I want to do is follow my heart. It is then that I find myself shouting at my husband, "I just HATE doing this! I'll just stay at home and be a mom!" This is, of course, my idea of a sentence worse than death (many apologies to my beautiful friends who stay at home and do an incredible job of raising their children).

I keep trying to remind myself that I am, in fact, a successful artistic business woman and I have scored a major job that is the equivalent to any show. It's hard. I try, but I am convinced down deep in the heart of me, that I am an imposter and one day I will be found out. I feel this slowly changing, but it is still mostly true on any given day. May the future be kind.