Monday, October 27, 2008

Tuesday.....And Wednesday.... Spend your money on fried chicken or hiring me a life coach...

What does it mean when I feel like I should explain myself for not having a bag online for Tuesday,(or wednesday) October the something-or-other?! I've already decided that I don't need to explain, but now I want to.

My foot hurts.
My arm hurts.
My back hurts.

My head feels tired.

Besides, the kids have appointments of various categories this week, and its distracting me.
And I've been working on some bags that I promised to make many, many months ago.
Back in the day when I had a little time, and my foot didn't hurt. Or my arm, or my back.

Or maybe they did hurt, and I just can't remember because my head feels so tired....

ps... a little editing for Wednesday, just to keep you coming back! (actually, I am liking the direction that this comment box is going, and I don't want to lose it by doing a separate post...)
So..... here's the thing.
er.... um..... The dog ate my pattern.....
The kids peed on my fabric.... (nope, its not Friday)...

Okay, the truth now. It's appointment and phone call and daycare maintenance week. Three appointments this week, all of which require driving to the city; one which requires phone calls to cancel daycare for a whole day. (more of that to follow on blunderview).

The exit of a few of my daycare kids, and the entry of a few newbies. Which requires phone calls, vacuuming, dish-washing, and other frenzied activities to make this place look more like a child-nurturing environment and less like the drop-off bin of your local Salvation Army store. (mmmmmmmmmmm...... thrift stores......) It requires some paperwork (yuck), some follow up phone calls, some interviews, some parting of the seas, and some slaying of giants. After that part, it will require some energy to make the kids feel welcome, safe, satiated, loved, nurtured... And all that other good stuff. Which usually makes me feel tired by the end of the day. Well, tired-er than usual.

And those are my excuses for Wednesday.
But I AM NOT QUITTING!

I AM SO NOT QUITTING!!

Just working out some kinks, is all.
Carry on, speak amongst yourselves. I am all ears.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Suggestion,
This is a very busy time of year for many people; the next 8wks are packed with things to do. How about you consider rewarding yourself for all your months of dedicated effort & take a break until Jan/09. You will then have some extra time for all the other important things in your life & possibly heal the worn body parts you listed as ailing. We can still check out Blunderview when we crave a re:Joyce update. You may even find time to actually meet your Mayor at last.
J.A.

Anonymous said...

Joyce, it sounds like you need a break! You should listen to your body and let it have one. I agree with J.A. to start back up in January 2009. Or I know someone else suggested one bag a week. What you have done already is an amazing feat. You should be very proud of yourself and take a rest now and just enjoy the upcoming holiday season.
Take care of yourself.
Corrine

Anonymous said...

Ditto - take a break!! You and your family deserve it. Clear your head, rest your body, heal your mind, love yourself. We and your cause can take a break. See you in '09!! And will keep in touch in Blunderview. Always interesting and enlightening.

The Naked Chef

joyce said...

hmmmm..... points well taken. I have a few thoughts of my own, and a few reactions. Not that I'm proud to admit it, but I am addicted to this blog as well. it feeds something inside me, and I need to take a risk that I can let that all go. Sort of feels like giving up on training for a race just because I'm getting tired. Or is it more like needing to learn to live with less affirmation? These aren't thoughts that I just throw out there. Sort of personal, so don't tell anyone :)

Plus, I think of people in refugee camps who don't have the option of taking weekends off of being hungry and raped. Or taking a week off. Or having a crowd cheering them on for their courage. Its insanely unfair.

But I would love some time to explore some other creative ideas that I want to do. Without time hemming me in.

Keep giving me feedback, I like the perspectives.

Now I'm not making this up: My verification word is: scarie

Anonymous said...

I knew I should have bid on the yesturdays bag :( Joyce, I remember you telling me that this all started out as a "God thing". So now I will pray the God will reveal to you what the next step is. But for now it sounds like you need a break. Sometimes we know it but only listen once our bodies "talk" loud enough. Take care!
Denise

joyce said...

Well, you all likely know me well enough to know that I will not quit sewing, or quit posting bags "cold turkey". cutting back is going to have to happen. Taking some time off is going to have to happen. but when and how and how much are all questions yet to be answered. Besides, i still have flaps laying around, bags half cut out.... fabric coming out of my bum. QUITTING is out of the question. What we're wondering about is balance and sensibility.

Anonymous said...

You deserve a break today, and tomorrow if you like, and even the next day. I pray for theee and I love theeeeee. Schwester Mary

Anonymous said...

It pained my heart just a little (and my Christmas shopping list) to think that I should have been bidding on bags much sooner (although I did snap up one on my first try a week or so ago - cheque's in the mail, by the way) and that I may have missed out by lurking for so long.

On the other hand, had I known you were making the bags with fabric that came out of your bum ....

But it would appear that all signs are pointing to a much-needed and deserved break (not that you need me to tell you that you deserve a break!!).

Thanks so much for such a great project. You should feel so, so proud of your generosity and accomplishments.

Karen

bygeorge! said...

Okay Joyce, Maybe it is only my 'vision board' for you,
and parents of kids in your care may not like my 'vision', BUT
I just see you as an amazing, talented, creative artist. Your darfur project only one aspect...
I would like to pose a question to all your site visitors?
Wouldn't you shop at a ~commercial Joyce site... and gladly be a consumer of a business venture, as well as continuing to shop the Darfur project. ??
I just feel there is room for it all. So the area I see receding is, perhaps the friday pee days???
do the 'vision board' google... a restful and creative activity, that just might give you clarity/direction.
ps. is it your treddle foot???
cause then we'd all be sending physio vouchers, heat pads, orthopedic slippers etc (heh, saw massaging slippers the other day..)
take care, boler babe

joyce said...

more thoughts- it is a busy time for people with christmas coming up. But a great time to raise money with bags, for the very same reason. I will have more bags up before Christmas, of this I am sure.

Naked Chef. How do you cope with grease spatters whilst deep frying?! Can we watch?

God thing. Kind of waiting on that right now. Feel a certain quiet confidence in that regard.

Bum fabrics. Indeed. I have a friend who is horrified at the things I say aloud on the blog. She can never seem to make it to our house for snack and drink nights on the weeks that I mention the dog might be menstruating.... hmmmm... coincidence?
Maybe I could just shut down this whole operation with my big, foul mouth?!

massaging slippers? no kidding.
I had a weird pain in my right foot yesterday. Not the sewing foot at all- I wonder if it was a virus because I had random pains in random joints at random times. I am developing a tendonitis in my right arm from cutting and typing... That really surprised me.

vision board. Must do that. Keep bugging me.

Feel more rested and less pained today, but preoccupied because of the kids appointments and new daycare kids starting up. Always takes energy for the first few weeks until we learn each others grooves. (so much for your idea of a decrease in pee pee fridays. Maybe in the future, but not for a while.)

Not until we find that money that I just know is stuffed into a wall around here.... pay off all our debts..... and then create to my hearts content. I'd miss the peeing children though. I do love them...

tanya said...

$10,000 is no small feat. No one can say that you haven't "done your part" and no one could blame you for walking away right now for good. That being said, I'm sure we'd all love it if you'd keep it up, but keep your sanity. Whether that means a break until next year, or posting a bag a week, or whatever works for your life...I still have a stack of jeans to be hemmed if you really need to sew...

Anonymous said...

What a great site and all for such a good cause. But no where are your site does it say how to make a bid for a purse and do you take orders?? to make the same purse again.
Also you need a to take a well deserved rest!!!
Will be watching for an answer to above. God Bless
Sharon

joyce said...

Well, you know that I DO hem jeans... at a competitive rate too- five bucks a go.

I will not walk away. Just being contempative and intentional.

Sharon- some excellent points. I want to do some FAQ links for that very reason. but for now- no, I donèt do orders. Just whip up something, post it in the morning, and its a true gamble.
As far as bids? you click on "comments", leave your number, and some form of identification (only you have to know that it is you). By 8 pm, the highest bidder e-mails me and we arrange for shipping.

bygeorge! said...

Okay
sorta random... did you say your left! foot is your sewing foot.
?
my 'sewing foot' is my right foot.
do most gas with their right or left... does it correlate with being right handed or left handed?
enquiring minds want to know.
(the last time I sewed something, I blew on it - thinking I was using my scroll saw - sawdusting!)
while we, (ok me), are on a statistics thread... (ha, ha, thread is sort of sewing..)
you have a unique opportunity with the time lines you spend with wee ones.
I am wondering if thumbsucking is a predictor of what hand they write with. (ie. right thumb suckers becoming left hand writers and vice versa)
on top of all you do... could you follow outcomes of a few thumb suckers for me???
BB.

bygeorge! said...

ok.. more wondering...
as a left footed sewer... perhaps that is why you are sooo completely creative sewing...
it is your pen driving your right brain...
?
ok. time for me to go 'stumble' and learn hardly anything about all sorts of things...
BB

bygeorge! said...

did I just call you a sewer. sorry
sew'er!
er.. sewie
.
BB

joyce said...

okay, this comes with my habit/gift/downfall of multi-tasking. When i said "not my sewing foot at all", I wasn't thinking about the fact that you can't read my mind. what I meant to say was "random pain in my left foot- not my sewing foot at all" but must have already been thinking about my right foot.... (oh geez, Lory. you know that if anyone is even reading this, ONLY you and I can begin to understand what we are actually trying to talk about....)

hmmm... does a left handed person feel awkward driving with their right foot on the gas? Come on lefties- we know you're lurking...

thumb suckers... don't think that I have any at the moment. Had one last year, but I think his mother talked/threatened him out of it.

Anyway, now that you figured out an entire theory about creativity based on the faulty info that I am driven by my left foot... it now turns out that I am merely confused and assume that people can read my mind.

Confused? Me too.

Do you notice how many people rushed to the site today to agree with you that I could be a full-time artist?! hardy, bah, ha, ha.

I have a bag for tomorrow, but don't tell anyone. It'll be our little secret.

Thanks for the idea. I think I'll stumble. I have to stay up with sam for his sleep deprived EEG tomorrow morning...

bygeorge! said...

Oh Joyce... alllll night??
I think I would fail that test!
hope test goes well.
I think my full time artist comment simply gets missed...
people read the joyce comments.. but probably skim the others.. and I am too long winded/babbly.
never fear.. i am still strategizing.
okay this is important, and I need your answer before I would do it.
I was going to list you under CBC's million acts of green.. that I purchased your bag.
But if you are winding down.. I didn't want to start more..
and I was waiting until purse came - and I would try, (not good at) to post picture with it.
they are a perfect celebration of re using...
let me know. email. here.
BB

joyce said...

go for it Lory! I would be honoured. I am not quitting, just seeking direction.

And no, not all night. Besides, Brian did it for us.

bygeorge! said...

Okay... now I will worry until I do it.. did you mail the bag yet?
...checking with excitement.. but if not maybe I can figure out how to copy paste from you.. I will copy paste your site address..
and will let you know when I have done it..

joyce said...

ok, this bothers me a great deal. I sent that bag ages ago, on the same day as fancy. You should have gotten it the same day she did!

I guess I'll have to try and get to the post office so they can track it.

dangit.

bygeorge! said...

Heh Joyce..
running crazy..
BUT.. the bag came today!
just part of the address was missing, so someone finally tracked it to our address.
(site 520)
breath easy.
BB