Life and Goals and asking more of ourselves

Life has taken a bit of a turn of late .. sigh..which is good and bad.

I will start my explaining my pic, this is our dog UhOh he is a lovely dog but an absolute nutter. Last night we let him inside he isnt usually inside cause he goes completely nuts. But the kids love him so here is a pic in a rareity of sitting down.

It was my birthday last friday, i had a relatively good day, but i had two sick boys to look after so there was a limit on what you could say i did to celebrate.

I had no internet connection from the storms we had here last week and our modem etc but seems to be working ok now. (it was hard with no internet i was lost).

Birthdays for me are always about reflection, i wonder how my life was last year or the year before or 10years ago and what it will be in the future. In addition to this i received a happy birthday phone call from some old neighbours who lets just say for all intensive purposes are my grandparents (i didnt have any growing up as mine were overseas / already passed) the lady is really sick in hospital and close to passing herself which saddens me a great deal. They are now living quite a while away so in order for me to see her it involves a major production in trying to organise my two kids as i wont be able to take them. But obviously i wont get much more of a chance to see her again so its something i have to do but that is just one thing going on right now. SIGH....

I have my second bub's 1st birthday next week also, which will be having a family gathering for. (but if i am away visiting away earlier in the week this is going to be a challenge) but i really have to get on with organising something soon.

SIGH...

We also have recently had a MAJOR review of our budget / business of late. Or if you want to call it what it is a 3hour discussion/argument about money on Saturday morning ... LOL .... With the production of our kids i have had not much chance for "work" but i have come to realise that this is something now the kids are a little older i need to concentrate on. Just so we can afford those little extras like food and holidays and clothes and stuff !!!lol

So with that in mind i am determined to make myself think of my art as a business. and making a living from my art is going to become a priority rather than something i just hope will happen. I have been reading alot of various information and i feel like getting this mentality in my head and in those around me is the first step i have to overcome. I have also decided i am going to also add to my business the production of "handmade gifts" to sell. You may have seen my kids mirrors in some of my earlier posts. I have another one in production right now for bubs 1st birthday, these i have had some interest in so i figure why not try and sell some...i have a few other ideas as well but these will realistically be my starting point.

So in saying all of that i have decided to "try it" and see what happens. Part of this decision has been sealed by an inspiring post by Maggie Stiefvater last week where she talks about juggling life and art and business. The thing that does it for me is where she says

....I'm making my living from my art. I'm not the best artist in the world and
I've seen other artists far better making far less. The only thing that
makes me any different from anybody else is that I tried and believed I
could do it....

so i guess the thing for me is that i need to believe in myself and try it thats the only way i will know and get somewhere.
SIGH...

As well as all this going on i have picked up a bit of design work as well. Which comes at a great time and will help pay the bills and takes me back to my days BK (before kids). But i have to say is tough to find the time to fit all this in especially now when i now have developed this cold.

So in closing after this long (hopefully not too boring )post.... i feel much better and calmer after writing this btw.... Life is just funny how it all works.... in the scheme of things i have an absolutely fabulous life but there are times we need to push forward and ask more of ourselves this is one of them.