Last night after baseball practice, I made the boys take a shower. Brendan had no soap, and the nearest bar of soap was in the other bathroom. Fortunately, I happened to have a bottle of liquid soap sitting on the countertop. Does allowing my son to bathe in Dawn dish soap make me a bad mother?

I’ve been sooooo busy! Excuses, excuses. I know. And I’ve been putting a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the biz these past few weeks.

The collaboration project I wrote about last time has turned out better than I ever imagined. Talking about money seems to be taboo, so I won’t mention my numbers here. I will just say I had a few days where I felt more like a sweat shop than an entrepreneur, but it has been well worth it. Plus, it has given me a much needed shot of confidence to pursue other wholesale accounts. Now that I’ve had a taste of what wholesaling can do for my business, I’m hungry for more.

The one part I am not enjoying about having some success is tracking money. Blah. There are so many accounting programs to choose from, but they’re all so confusing. Nothing seems to meet my needs well. I’m very tempted to handwrite my records in a notebook, but I can already imagine the headaches that would follow.

I have lots of projects and ideas I’m working on right now because of this recent growth spurt. Top of my list is getting some more wholesale accounts. (Told you I was hungry!) I need to make some decisions about changes to my printed materials. I would like revise some of the writing on the site and I need to add some more photos. I’m going to integrate a newsletter and proper blog onto the site. Marketing and advertising is, of course, always in progress. And then at some point, I would like to work on building my existing collections and introducing a new one.

I like being busy, but I’m out of practice. I need to re-learn time management, and fast!

It’s been a lovely day. The weather isn’t pretty, but all sorts of nice things are coming my way. How could I complain?

First, I’ve been getting some very nice compliments on my new site and my jewelry. I can’t take credit for the site, but I’m happy my jewelry is receiving so much praise.

Then, I was contacted by a fellow indie designer to collaborate on a project. We’re still working out the details, but needless to say, I’m pretty excited. It’s a PERFECT collaboration for us both. My head is spinning at the thought of it.

And then, if all that wasn’t enough, my site relaunch was written up on Purple Pink and Orange.

I feel warm and fuzzy.

It’s finally ready! Okay, so there are a few minor things I’m still working on, but it’s ready enough to be seen by the public.

What’s ready?

My new website, of course! I’m proud of it, and I’m relieved it’s ready to be unveiled. But now the really hard scary part begins.

Poppy Fish

(Yeah, yeah, I know I’m supposed to write something more to make the link more valuable or something.)

I know. It’s been so long since I’ve written that there’s no point explaining. By now, I’ve blogged long enough to leave a record of my habits of unexpectedly disappearing once in a while.

So what’s new? Lots. Nothing in particular has me writing today though. I’m taking a yoga class. It’s fun. The boys are taking swimming lessons and yoga. They’re staring the baseball season soon. 

We remodeled our basement and we’re enjoying it. At the beginning of the year, we had a water softener and filter installed. I regret not having done it sooner. 

I’ve been very confrontational lately. Can’t quite figure that one out, since I normally avoid confrontation at any cost. It’s working out well though because there have been so many issues I’ve had to deal with these past few months. My phone service was all messed up, and I had to call about that. After the fourth time, I cancelled. NFLshop.com owes me $14, and I’m still working on getting that back. My carpet installers arrived 4 hours late. The furniture delivery guys damaged my kitchen wall (and didn’t even manage to get the sofa in the room.)  My neighbor’s aggressive dog keeps coming to my house. And so on, and so forth.

I’m feeling disappointment about the boys being back in school. There’s so much nonsense in school. The school fundraiser is on Saturday. I have a new dress. I’ll probably freeze my ass off like last time. I didn’t donate a piece of jewelry to the fundraiser this year. I considered it, but decided against it for some reason. 

Re-branding is going well. I’m almost on schedule. I’ve always struggled with getting the photos the way I want them, so I invested in some new lights which should be delivered today. Then, I just have a little more writing to do, and I’ll be ready to launch the new site. So, I’m somewhere between 1-3 days away from the launch. All the really hard scary stuff comes after that.

My mom is retiring tomorrow. Well, her last day is tomorrow.  It’s… weird.

That’s all I have for now.

I don’t need this advice from Naomi today, but I’ve needed it before and I know I’ll need it again when I feel like a raging failure.

I’ve been working with an illustrator these past few weeks, and I’m thrilled with my new logo and I can hardly wait to unveil it! The new website and business card design are starting in three weeks. Unfortunately, the product is progressing slower than I’d hoped, but slow and steady worked for the tortoise, right? (Hmm, I’ve been down this road before… )

My thoughts have been directed inward so much lately that I find it difficult to craft words to fill my blog entries. Things are tumbling in my head. Up, down. Hot, cold. Inside, outside. Yes, no.

This is the year of Me. That statement isn’t as selfish as it seems. For me, it simply means it’s time for me to let go of some control. Life will happen without my permission. I am learning to accept that good enough IS good enough. I’m tired of letting self-doubt paralyze me, and I’m not going to be a victim to it anymore. I don’t know how being controlling and being afraid of failure are related, but somehow they’re mixed up together in my thoughts.

I’m re-branding my business. Branding has always been my favorite part of the process, so much so that I often choose it over inventing and building my product. This year, I refocus. I’m relaxing my grip on some things.

I feel less and less the need to define myself. I don’t need to be this thing or that thing. My goal for this phase (year, month, day… however long it lasts) is to Just Be.

Happy New Year! Okay, so I’m a bit late.

We decided to move my office/studio back up to the spare bedroom this week. Being in the basement during winter in Michigan was unpleasant. I think my blogging history these past two months is proof enough of that.

December was filled with all sorts of wonderfulness. I celebrated a birthday that wouldn’t be considered a milestone year by most people. Regardless, it felt significant to me. I’ve been very introspective these past few months. Perhaps I’ll speak more about that in a later entry. Perhaps not.

The boys were supposed to return to school today, but Brendan foiled our plans. He’s been complaining about a sore throat for the past 2-3 days. Yesterday, I made an appointment with his pediatrician. It turned out to be a non-routine sore throat. It wasn’t serious, but it did require a trip to the ER and antibiotics administered intravenously. We had a follow-up at the ER for more IV antibiotics this morning. The last time the boys were supposed to go back to school, Brendan had his run-in with the SUV. I dare say the ER is becoming part of our back to school routine.

I’m in the process of rebranding my business and it’s consuming a large portion of my brain function lately. That’s all I have to say about that for now.

Today, I made the decision to send the boys back to their charter school. It’s a decision I’ve been weighing since before Halloween. My philosophies haven’t changed, and I still believe homeschooling may be the best option for them. However, I’ve started to question whether or not homeschooling is the best option for me or for our family.

Being employed at their school was one of the few social activities I had. I feel like being at home all the time is sapping my brain. Plus, I really enjoyed being around like-minded people.

I already know what I’ll miss about homeschooling, but right now this school will provide a good balance for us all. I don’t quit. I simply change my mind a lot. A LOT. For now, this is the best option for us.