A lot can happen in a year... (or not quite a year in this case!)

Well, look at that… it’s been a whole 9 months since I last wrote a blog post… to put that into perspective, I could have had a baby in that time!  But I haven’t!!!   No, life just got busy. 

March started with a rush of shows and jewellery making and didn’t stop till later in May.  My son had his first year away at school and I spent quite a bit of the year going back and forth between home and his school to see him.   Winter was very mild and I spent more time out and about that I normally do, then of course it was back to the bench making jewels for spring and summer.   

Husband travelled to the US for almost a month in spring, which meant I was wearing the Farmer Piper hat for far longer than was comfortable and it took more time to do everything being a single parent.   I did far more spring shows than I have in the past testing new markets… then summer arrived.  Orders kept flowing til a couple of days before Christmas when I had to call it quits for sanity’s sake.   And now it’s January! 

In hindsight there were lots of things about 2013 that I'd prefer to just block out, it was one of those years when everything went wrong ... repeatedly and of course everything cost way more than expected.   On the positive side at least we were all healthy and as happy as everything going wrong allowed.  

So what’s in store this year?  Well, I’ve had some time for reflection over the last couple of weeks and there are some things that need refining both on the home and jewel fronts.

Home 

• Take more time out to cook.  Healthy meals.  I was doing quite well till around hubby’s trip O/S … and  I think that stress took its toll in poor food choices, getting on that awful roundabout of being good for a few days then bad for a few days.  

• Garden more.   I’ve had a wonderful friend helping me the last year and the house paddock is finally starting to look a little bit more like a garden (albeit a park like garden) - but ONLY if I spend time maintaining her work!  So, I need to water more.  (HINT: for all you other non-gardeners out there, water is the KEY, even I can make things grow with enough water!).   Admittedly, this is hard when it appears we’re in the midst of another drought on the farm, but I can see the need for at least a small portion of an oasis for Farmer Piper to chill out in/around.   

• Continue to visit son regularly at school – he enjoys it and I need it!    And continue doing things with the girls, they’re growing up so fast! If this means more time away from home, that's a small price to pay.

• Schedule more regular times for farm bookwork so I don’t get buried in it every 3 months when the GST is due.

• Start playing the piano again… it’s been months and although I’m certainly no “artiste”,  I do enjoy it.

• Exercise more, the shoulder muscle I tore over a year ago still isn’t quite right, but I’ll have to make time for some version of activity.

(We had a blackout last night and I got so much done, albeit by candlelight… I think I need to pretend there is a blackout once a week for a few hours, it might help me do some of these resolutions!)

Jewels

• Be more selective with shows and find more indoor ones.  I have been at the mercy of the weather more times than I care to think about this year and it hasn’t been enjoyable for anyone involved.   

• Ask my clients to recommend events/shows – they know me and have a good idea where I would be a good fit!   I tend not to want to put myself forward, but doing a host of shows that were less than average in 2013 made me see my folly in this regard.  It won’t be easy but I’m on the upper side of 40 (a tad too close to 59 actually!) and need to have more confidence to ask.

•  Keep my website up to date and blog regularly.  I did very badly in both areas in 2013.  Facebook & Pinterest took its toll – it’s so easy to get caught up and lose time there.  So, a regular session of website work, adding new stock before I become overwhelmed at the amount and more blogging… I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove!

• Make more jewels (I should do OK with this one!)

So, what’s your year looking like…  are there lots of  achievable resolutions or are there some high level wish lists there?

I like this view… although I think I’ll change the  muck about “on boats” to “in planes” since there certainly aren’t any boats around here… or water to float them in -  but aeroplanes we have in comparable abundance ^_^

Till next

Annette :)

Photos 'pinched' from The Bottom of the Ironing Basket blog... as she always has such good pictures there!