Every Time I Go Away...

there is so much that happens while I am gone. I guess this means I am busier than I think I am while I am here. But I get back and there are order, and e-mails, and phone calls, and inventory, and possible new wholesale accounts, and other wholesale accounts that close. Not to mention the pile of personal mail, laundry, and gardening to get through.

I need a vacation from my time away. I swear, I take a week preparing to leave, and a week to make up for it when I get back. I mean, I was only gone five business days!

I start with a list. when I get back I just start a list of things I need to do. Personal goes on one side, business on the other. Then I start from the top down and get as much done as I can as quickly as I can.

I also never thought how bad my garden would be looking right now. Just awful. Not to mention the skunk that likes my tomatoes and to dig up my yard looking for grubs as well.

I have gotten a lot of knitting done but that means I have a lot of blocking and assembly to take care of now too. As well as Ravelry updates and swap packages to be sent out.

Oh, and have I mentioned my cats are like Velcro since I have been gone??

Sometimes my idea of making a list and then just going top to bottom doesn't make much sense, sometimes it means I shine my shoes before sending out an order, but when I am really really overwhelmed I haven't come up with a better solution yet. It is too hard to list, then prioritize, and then do things. It takes too much time, and how do you judge if laundry (personal) is more or less important than laundry (shop towels)??

OK, I guess I can cross off "update blog" and go on to the next thing.. lets see here... clean soap molds and then brush the cat....

Now It IS War!!!

I have a mouse, ok... mouses.. mices... mice.. They are cute, big ears and they sort of hop rather than run. And I feel bad when they die..

Usually we get one once in a while. Pimienta used to be the mouser so they didn't hang out for long. They either got trapped by a trap or by the cat. But typically we are in the house and in the workshop and garage enough that they don't hang around. They don't like the light and the noise, and the total lack of food.

But we have been traveling lately. And I haven't been keeping everything buttoned up tight because it is summer. And I like to have to doors open and the windows open. So combine the two and my home has become the perfect hide away for a series of mice. I like to think that I am a serial monogamist when it comes to my relationships with mice. I would rather think that one comes in, dies, and then another comes in, than the alternative- that I have more than one mouse in my house at any time- that skives me out.

Fuchsia has proven to be a great mouser. She chases them till they have little mouse heart attacks and fall over dead. Then they are no more fun, so she moves on to the next interesting thing, leaving them wherever they lay, hopefully for me to find them before I can smell them.

But there has been a rash of the little critters lately. I think they are adorable, except they are uninvited guests. So after another one was discovered today I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until the shivers stopped running down my spine. Dad bought traps, and even then I was reluctant to set them right away.. until...

I found my size 17 circular needles chewed into and unusable!!!

THIS IS WAR!!

So six peanut butter slathered traps went out into all the places I have seen them or traces of them before. By the water heater, the oil tank, and the heater are on the list, as well as under the freezer. Traps deployed and they are all mine. I take no prisoners and release no POW's, and I no longer feel remorse. They have chewed their last set of needles in this house!!

Why can't I sleep???

I just can't sleep lately. I wake up every hour or so and stare at the clock, get comfortable, and fall back to sleep. It is not insomnia in the way that I can't fall asleep, or that I wake up during the night and stay awake, I sleep 8 or more hours a night, but in short bursts.

I have tried sleep aids. But then I wake up groggy and am sleepy the whole next day. I have tried herbs, and gotten some odd results including weird dreams and bad acid reflux.

Sometimes I think its is the cats that bug me. Sometimes I think it is C because he travels so much, when he is home it is his moving around that bothers me, maybe...Sometimes I think I am not tired enough when I go to sleep in the first place, that I should try to exercise before bed, or maybe take a hot bath, or have a glass of wine.

I know that setting the alarm is the worst for me. I have gotten so used to sleeping on my personal schedule that getting up for an alarm fills me with anxiety. What if I don't hear it, what if I set it wrong, what if the power goes out, and what if the thing just doesn't go off?? Every time I have a craft show, a flight to catch, or C needs to get up at a certain time for work, I go through this dance in my brain and wake up every hour, just to look at the clock, tell myself how many more hours I have to sleep, and then roll back over and go back to bed.

I am at a loss, I don't know what to do, and I am tired of being tired. Fighting my way through not taking an afternoon nap so I am tired at night, or waking up early just to fall back asleep on the sofa at 7 am. I am sure all the travel doesn't help.. the strange beds, the odd noises, and all the stuff going on in my head.

Ugh!!! Maybe tonight I'll sleep well.... I wonder..

What has been going on here....

Well the last month has just been a blur on the radar. With everything going on I have been in a major tailspin and just hanging on trying to get some things done and not loose my cool in the process.

Around the time of my last show my dad made the really intelligent decision of leaving his job. It was the best thing he could have done for himself. The job was physically and mentally tearing him apart and draining him beyond belief. But this added to my stress- what about money? How about a new job? And what is up with benefits?? UGH!!

I got into the workshop for a few days to clean up and make some basic soap. Then I left to go to PR with Ca and K. It was a fun time and I enjoyed the sights and just chilaxing by the pool. But with so many things going on in my head!!

Back for a week. More soap. More catching up on paperwork. More to do. But they were productive days. Long, but productive.

Then back to PR. This time more work than fun. Needed to help SIL to move. My legs are still sore. But the family time was wonderful. I love C's family and all that comes with it. I really felt more included, more a part of it than I ever had before this trip. I think a lot of it was because I could do for them, not just have them do things for me. I was family, not company and it was great.

So now I am back. I have things to order, to make, to drop off, to do. I have a show this weekend- Chester, NJ. So I have to pack the van- probably in between rain drops. I have soap to make, special orders, new products I am trying out, and a bunch of cleaning the house to do as well.

And next Friday I leave again- this time for my Mom's and a show there. 9 days home. And I need to make them count.