The crush of everyday life

I've been working extra hard for the last six months. I've started a website, started advertising online, and I've kicked up my jewelry production. I've changed both the text portion of my eBay listings and the pictures; I went from scanned images, which are faster but not as nice, to taking camera photographs. I've had to create a settings formula and a light positioning system to make it work. I've started moving my Etsy listings toward the same thing and have been revising them slowly but surely.

I've also auctioned nearly my entire backlog of industry magazines. I've inventoried beads, processed beads, and changed the way I store them. I've changed to a labeling system for my outgoing packages instead of hand-addressing the boxes.

For me, there are two "poles" in the year; January-February and May-June. During both of these times, I'm gone for an entire month on business trips. So they serve as markers for me, two lines of demarcation that separate portions of the year. There's the first half of the year, which is a little shorter and has spring shows and the last of the winter eBay sales, and then there's the second half of the year, which slowly builds into the holiday season.

I'm quickly heading toward the Jan-Feb trip. In fact, I leave a week from tomorrow. I always have high hopes for accomplishing a lot during the second half of the year, and this time I feel fairly good about what I've managed to get done.

This week I was hoping to get more magazines auctioned (non-beading this time) and finish some other nagging details, as well as clean things up and pack and do the usual things I need to do before I leave for a month. Unexpected things have come up, and we have unexpected houseguests, which would normally be a nice thing, but because it is due to the passing of a relative it is a sad thing. My optimism about this week has been sunk. At least I am home so that I can show my support; it feels so much worse when I'm out of town and things happen, and it all feels scary.

The thing about a long trip is that it really forces you to pause and change directions. I just wish that I could have spent a little more energy in this direction before switching, but honestly, overall it's been a good second half of the year. I look forward to the spring half of my year when I get back.