In a time of contemplation

There is a lot going on here. So this post will be a bit on the rambling side. 

In March my aunt passed away. It was a blow to most of the family. My mother lost her best friend. I lost a mentor (no one taught me disco like that woman). Her son lost his family. 

It sent me down a road of contemplation. Because when we rallied around family, we paid a price. My son lost his job because his boss felt he was lying. There were other things that were "repercussions" of our choice to be with family in a time of need. And ever since we got back I've been thinking a great deal on the word community. 

I don't have one. Not really. I don't belong to a church, I don't have clubs, I can't do the soccer mom thing. It used to be that we would gather at a friends house and whoever showed up showed up. We had a sort of revolving door of people who would come and share as was comfortable for them. 

I did some research yesterday. There are no community centers in my neighborhood. (7 churches on a two mile stretch of road, but that was just incidental). None. They are across town. Just down the street from me is a low income house/apartment complex, and just down the street from that a retirement center. Two groups that would benefit deeply from a community center. Just a place where we can meet out of the rain. And NOT pay a fortune for coffee. A place where Joe Public can have an idea and share it. A place where he can pay a small fee for classroom space and teach it. 

I just feel lost, adrift. 

There is a part of me that really wants to get back to what this blog was... all about my adventures crafting. I am finding that when I let myself I am pretty clever. But that negative voice that lives in my head, says if I focus on one thing (crafting) I will need to give up the tea business. Only it isn't giving up a business. A business does something. The tea business has done nothing. (Except give a whole lot of free samples). It may be time to put it away for awhile. That feels crushing somehow. 

I don't have answers today. I won't have them tomorrow. I hope to have them in the next 6 weeks.

Preparing for Autumn

It is the second day of grey skies here. It certainly brings to mind my favorite time of year...AUTUMN. When the days are still warm and lovely, but the nights are cold. When the first rain brings me petrichor. When the leaves change and light up the world around me in oranges and yellows.

I love autumn. And I love to decorate for it. So I make banners (those will be later) and pumpkins.
Because of who I am I also stuff those things with pouches of scent (pumpkin pie of course).

There will be more of these and they are all for sale. So feel free to message me if you want one.

Friendly reminder that I do commission work.

Check out www.urbantaoherbals.etsy.com

It must be safe to come out now

I was very excited to start working on my business plan this morning. I sent the kids of to school and spent my morning taking photos of some of my work. I had taken my memory card out of my camera and was working on those photos, when I happened to glance out my livingroom window. Walking up the sidewalk were six wild turkeys. Just walking along like they do it everyday. I, of course, grab the camera and run to the window, snapping away. But my memory card is in my laptop. By the time I got the card into the camera and outside, the turkeys were up at the neighbors, several them staring at a cat like it was food. It must be after Thanksgiving!

After the turkey excitement, I got down to work. I took a ton of photos of the stuff I plan on posting on etsy.com, and I actually made a couple of bracelets. And I went shopping for stuff that I would need to get this thing rolling. I went to the dollar store and was taking my time wandering the isle. I found this really neat looking book. "You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-up Girls" by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. Now, I haven't had a lot of time to look at it but it looks like a really fun read. A how to for getting out of your safety zone.

I am excited about finding the book, because I have felt that I have been being nudge in this direction for a couple of weeks. My standard job hunting methods were turning up nothing but odd results. And I was becoming beyond frustrated. I have been creating a lot of stuff since we moved into this house in May. And I have been educating myself in all sorts of different arts. Then last week I had a meeting with a friend and I flipped open my organizer. My handy- dandy organizer with the inspirational quote of the day. The quote that day was "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door" Milton Berle. I realized that I was knocking on doors that maybe weren't ready for this opportunity. So, now I am building doors. And right now they are made of felt.

I think I will start posting my work tomorrow.