A naked blond walks into a bar with a poodle under one arm...

Did you ever have one of those weeks where the starter on your car goes out, your baby gets 3 teeth all at the same time, you have to go to the IRS office, talk to the Financial Aid & Registration people at your school, take your cat to the Veterinarian and complete a craft project for your blog? Really? Oh good, for a minute I thought it was just me.

It's been a really hectic, not always productive week. And I'm fighting a summer cold, so you'll have to excuse me. Not to say I wasn't working on craft projects, I did. I even have the photo to prove it, I just wasn't successful in completing them. I'm still getting the hang of time management with a toddler and I endeavor to improve this issue for next week.

With that said, here is an Update, a Progress report and a Thought for the week.

Project Update -
Last week I showed you the cute box with my friend's birthday present inside. This week I'll show you what I made for her.

She was really happy & reportedly wore it the very next day.

It's a happy little dinosaur necklace!

It took me forever to find the tiny eye screw. I've seen necklaces similar to this at Claire's and Hot Topic, but there is no reason to buy them if you can make one for yourself in just a few minutes. Check coin machines, toy stores and garage sales for mini (hard) plastic animals. If it's not in a color you like you can always paint them, yes, even if it's plastic. Then visit your local hardware store for the smallest eye screws you can find, hit it with a little superglue & voila! You have a nerdy, whimsical necklace. *happy dance*


Progress Report -
I'm working on a loom knitting project. (Loom knitting is fun and easy to learn. And for me, less intimidating the traditional knitting or crocheting.) Like many of my projects for this blog, I am way past the original due date. This one was supposed to be finished and mailed last year before the holidays. I'm only like a half a year late. Sadly, that's a lot better then a couple of the projects out in the craft bin jungle.

It's a scarf. A warm fuzzy soft scarf. Seems a bit silly now in the 105 degree temperatures, but it will be a really lovely thing to have in a few months, I promise. Honestly, I'd be finished with it if I had remembered to bring my knitting with me to the IRS office. (Instead I sat and listened to a very disagreeable old man argue politics with his wife/girlfriend. It was delightful.) I am confident that I'll be able to finish it and have it mailed by Wednesday of this coming week.

Please ignore the mess around my kitchen table, thanks.

I'm just a little shy of half way done. When I finish all the rows, I'll tuck in the loose ends, give it a quick wash and send it to it's intended recipient. Who will more then likely be very surprised to receive it as I'm fairly certain she's forgotten all about it by now. It's the principle of the thing.


Thought for the Week -

I read an article this week about busy-ness. How most people dread 3pm because they only have a few hours left to knock out projects, To Do's, emails and what not before the end of their day. Lately, I have accumulated a large quantity of responsibilities and projects. It feels like as soon as I cross two items off, four pop into their place. The person who wrote the article sited a study that suggests that this busy-ness is mostly self created. That people pack their To Do lists with stuff, so they can feel like they are important. And the point the article was trying to impart is that we, as humans, need down time. Real down time, not TV or Internet time. Time to just clear our heads and make room for creative thoughts, solutions, etc. We need to leave room in our schedules to interact with people as people, not as part of our To Do list.

With everything that I honestly HAVE to do: take care of Bean, care for my cat, maintain the house, produce meals, am I adding things to my To Do list to feel needed or valued? You see, there seems to be an idea that if you stay home with your children, you aren't doing anything of importance. Which, when you think about it, is completely ridiculous. Raising a healthy little human is probably the only true thing of value most people will do in their lives. (And based on recent news reports, it doesn't seem like many people are capable of doing it well.) But because it's not a job attached to a pay stub it's easy for people to belittle and devalue it.

Am I devaluing my own contribution to my family? I don't think I've come up with a complete answer, yet. Like the rest of the things attached to my blog, it's a work in progress. I will say that I made more of an effort to appreciate the time I shared with my daughter today. She was being a bit of a pill, and I had to remind myself that she's growing so fast. In a blink of an eye she'll be headed out the door to school with her own To Do list and I will sorely miss the time I share with her now.

As for school, that is a necessity. We can't make one income work for much longer and in the current job market, I have to have more to offer then what I bring to the table now. I'll do what needs to be done for my family's well being.

What about the blog? I thought about this for a while. Is it really a good use of my limited free time? Here's what I think. A good portion of the Craft Adventure Ventures are gifts for people in my life. In that way each one is a way to connect with someone I care about. I was giddy waiting to see if my friend liked her present and couldn't wait to talk to her when she finally received it. Does that make me feel important? No, it makes me feel loved. And this blog is my way of sharing that love, reminding myself that it's out there and that in my own little way I made someone happy. If you ask me that's better then feeling important. So if the point of the article was to value your connections with people and make time for yourself to just be, I think I'm more successful than I first suspected.