Sunsets, Flowers and Friends

Sunset by FoxChild 2009

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Sale and New Products

I have launched a couple of new product lines over at Shades of Midnight.  I now have some fun bookmarks as well as some beaded dangles that can be attached to purse straps, bags, car mirrors and much more.

I am also having another sale.  It begins Saturday, June 20th and runs through Saturday July 4th.  Grandma Blankets will be 10% off.   All other products are 20% off.

I hope you drop by to have a look!

 

A Little Nature Love

Coming Storm by FoxChild 2009

Blooming Sage by FoxChild 2009

Peony by FoxChild 2009

Lily by FoxChild 2009

 

Sharing Some Wisdom

A wonderful friend of mine posted this on a forum the other day.  He has graciously given me permission to share it.

For many people, forgiving yourself is much more difficult than forgiving others. The problem here is that we know ourselves too well- we know what we were really thinking when we said the right things aloud, what our real motivations were, how petty our emotions can be. We see the correct behavior around us, and we know how bad we can be at heart. How can we forgive ourselves, when we know how good it felt inside when we hurt that jerk?

It is said that no one who likes sausage should ever watch it being made- it’s not an appetizing process. People are like sausages… when we look at a person, we don’t see all the disturbing things that shaped their souls. We don’t see the moments of shame and triumph, the instructional pains layered one upon the other since childhood that forged the soul we see. We see the finished sausage, and somehow imagine they were born that way.

But when we look at ourselves, we don’t see the sausage; we see all the horrible things that went into it, never dreaming that the sausages around us contain equally unsavory bits of meat and filler. What a gift it would be, the Scottish poet Burns tells us, to see ourselves as others see us. Try it once if you can: Block out all the secret knowledge of self, and look only at what the world can see… a talented, valued member of society. Accept that judgment now and then.

 

Summer and Work

It seems as if I’ve dropped of the face of the Earth here.  Well, almost.  My kids are now on summer vacation and are home all day.  Between that, my middle son starting baseball again and trying to actually get some work done, I haven’t had time for much else lately.

Added into a mix that is already keeping me incredibly busy is what seems like an endless round of doctors visits and test.  It would be one thing if I were having to go through all of that for something even kind of serious, but it is for something that is more of an annoyance and inconvenience than anything.  All that and still no real solution yet.  I have more to look forward to.  I’m beginning to really dislike doctors as a whole.  Most have a pretty crappy bedside manner and some even seem to have a desire to do their jobs only because it is their job, not because it is what is the best thing.

At least baseball season this year isn’t a stressful one.  My son is actually getting to play with friends and is having a blast.  It makes it more fun for everyone.  I don’t have to go to games dreading the crazy competitiveness and attitudes that we were confronted with last year.  It is after all supposed to be fun.

I have been getting lots of work done lately.  I’m working on a couple of new little product lines to add to the shop as well as adding more to some of the already existing lines.  I have been pleasantly surprised by a brief glut of sales recently and have had the need to restock.  After the dry spell that was winter, it is nice to see that the slow down didn’t mean an end.  I am enjoying this way too much to be ready for it to be over with.

It is also been really nice to actually be able to enjoy the weather.  We have finally gotten some seasonally appropriate weather.  It may still be on the cool side for this time of year, but it is allowing me to keep my windows open and spend time outside.  Now that the kids are home, I’m sure there will be lots of that going on.

All in all, health issues not counting, life is good.  Life is very good.

 

Beautiful Nastiness

It is one of those days that is nasty and dreary and stormy.  The kind of day where you just want to curl up with a book or take a nap.  It isn’t quite conducive to that though as we are also getting some really awesome thunderstorms.  Thankfully nothing severe this go round, but they are just incredible.

I love storms.  The severe stuff that produces high winds and tornadoes, I’m not particularly fond of being in the middle of, but I love to watch them.  My favorite is a good thunderstorm that has lots of energy in it.  The kind that is full of lightning.  Both cloud to cloud and cloud to ground.  I especially love the really dramatic and spiky kinds that leave an imprint on your eyelids long after they are over.  I love it when the huge clap of thunder follows in its wake and shakes the house so you feel it roll through you all the way up from your feet.

If you are lucky enough to get to watch one come in during the day, you get such an awesome display of whirling, riotous clouds.  The contrast between the sky where the storm is dark and the areas where it hasn’t touched yet can be breath taking.  I once had the chance to see a glorious storm on one side of me, filled with bolts of lightening and earth shaking thunder while on the other side was a beautiful, deep, clear blue sky.

I think I’d be a storm chaser if it weren’t for having kids.  Maybe that is what I’ll do when I’m older and retired.  I can see me now.  Gray haired and surrounded by bins full of beads with a weather radio going in the background.  Jumping as fast as my lazy old body can go when there is an alert.  Hubby hobbling alongside me.  Camera in hand and super cell in sight.  What better way to be in the middle of all that is Nature’s glory?

Ah, well.  Maybe one day.  I’m not quite ready to be gray haired and hobble-y.

 

Taming the Fear

In less than 24 hours I will take steps to walk head on into one of my bigger fears.  Flying.

It is really very interesting to look at all that has happened in the last several weeks.  Most have been great opportunities for me to grab on to that fear and hold it for dear life.  All could have been used as legitimate excuses for canceling this trip.

First are the couple of tests I’ve had to undergo for health reasons, one as recent as Tuesday.  The reason behind needing those tests are enough to make me question my resolve.  Then there are the endless rounds of colds and ickies that we just keep passing around and around here at the Fox house.  Now this scare going around with the Swine flu.  Yes there are cases in the area I’m going, but there are now cases here.

All of these things I could have clung to and said, “No, I really don’t think now is a good time” and bowed out of this trip, choosing to stay in my safe little cocoon.  All presenting me with the choice to once again walk away from what I want allowing fear to rule or to step into it and embrace it.  I have chosen to embrace it every time.

Am I still afraid?  Hell yes!  I’m just not going to let it chain me to a life of living inside my house and missing out on so much.

Now, I only hope that my Dramamine works as well as my determination.

 

Shades of Midnight Sale

Shades of Midnight will be having a Mother’s Day sale starting May 1st and running until May 10th.

Grandma Blankets will be 10% off and everything else will be 20% off.

 

Absent

I feel as though I have been a bit absent lately.  Here, obviously.  I haven’t posted since the beginning of the month.  Not just here, but in other areas as well.

Part of that, I’m sure, is because I’ve been busy with other things, but if I look back I have to wonder what things have been so big and important as to take up all of my time.  Not much really.  Oh, I’ve been busy with the Lodge and messing with FB.  All the typical things that tend to eat away at my time (not that I complain too much).

I’ve also been busy taking care of daily life.  Kids, home, self.  All of that made even more time consuming by the fact that it seems that everyone keeps passing the same thing around and there is always someone sick.  Including me.  I did manage to finally kick that stupid cough that  had been hanging around since early February.

There have also been a few other health issues crop up for me.  Nothing life threatening, just inconvenient and difficult to live with.  I’m actually going in for some testing tomorrow.  Really not looking forward to that, but I know it needs to be done.  It doesn’t help that I’m a giant wuss when it comes to anything like that, so I’m sure I’m stressing and acting somewhat like a baby in all of this.

I’m also down to just a few days before I get to head out of town and spend the weekend with one of my favorite ladies ever.  Between now and then I have to find the nerve to step on to the plane that will take me there.  Maybe I can talk to the doc tomorrow and see if they can sedate me for the trip as well as the tests.  No?  Ah, well.  Dramamine will have to do.  I WILL be getting on that plane.

 

Excitement and Fears

In a few short weeks, I will be confronting one of my biggest fears.  Flying.  I know it may seem a bit silly to some, but it really is something that freaks me out a bit.  Not only does the entire concept weird me out, but it makes me physically ill.  I get terrible motion sickness, something that has gotten worse the older I get.

So why, if I despise flying so much, would I voluntarily get on a plane?  What brand of insanity has taken over the basic functions of my brain?  I get the chance to spend the weekend with one of my best friends.  Funny how I can say that and know that I’ve never met her in person before, yet it still be so completely true.  My husband and I will be flying out for a short weekend visit.  It isn’t nearly as long of a visit as I’d like, but that is all the time we have available right now.

I am incredibly excited about this trip.  It is something I have wanted to do for a long time now, but I just haven’t been able to convince myself to actually do it.  It hasn’t helped that my husband, being the total shit that he is, tends to like to tease me about it with comments like “You know that if the plane crashes, our kids will lose both their parents at once, don’t you?”  I know he isn’t being mean and it is his way of trying to laugh off his own dislike for flying, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

This fear is something I no longer care to live with.  It prevents me from doing many of the things that I’d really enjoy.  Taking this trip is one step in overcoming that fear.  Plus, I get to meet a fantastic and amazing lady in person!  What is not to love about that?