Happy Holidays fellow
craft lovers. I’ve been busy dreaming up Christmas Crafts and working on
Christmas orders only to realize that Christmas is only a few weeks away which
means I need to increase my speed to get things done in time. I am working
diligently to come up with that one Brilliant idea that will make it possible
for me to spend my days crafting instead of sitting in front of a computer working
with numbers, but until then its nights and weekends of creative endeavors for
this girl along with tackling my Christmas list like the rest of you. On a side note one of my favorite crafters Lia Griffith just created a super cute and free Christmas list printable, so check it out.
Mason Jar gift set that I am working on with my crafting partner Evelyn.
Over a month ago I went
to a Blogger event where a fellow Blogger was surprised to hear that I sew and
said that she thought it was a dying art. It kinda stung a little and was
unexpected so my response was something bordering fashion designers or
something. I can’t fully recall what I said, but I can tell you it was not a
compelling argument since I was so caught off guard. I was going to tell you
guys that I’ve come up with a good comeback if someone else says it but I
haven’t even thought of something other than “Etsy begs to differ!” lol.
Outside of craft life I
will be speaking at a “work” event about MSNBC sponsored “Know your value”
conference that I attended sometime in October in Boston, MA. One reoccurring,
underlying theme that I took from the conference was that women have so many
responsibilities, way more than men do, and are stressed out. As we are unable
to get rid of most of our responsibilities or outsource due to finances, it is
important for women to come up with a method that works for them in order to
help them feel less stressed. One of the speakers in the conference spoke about
her priorities and how she accomplishes things. She created a list of sorts
with a line with responsibilities placed above the line and below the line to
differentiate things that she will and will not do or make a priority. One item
on the low priority scale is attending her kids’ PTA. Instead, her spouse
attends because the cost of her attending outweighed the benefits of her
attending. The other items that would have to be sacrificed just to say that
she was there outweighed the benefits. She was fully confident that her spouse
would be able to ask the questions that she would and that he would represent
their child’s best interest. Some of you might be outraged about a mom deciding
not to attend a PTA, but we women tend to judge each other on so many levels
that just don’t make any darn sense. We have emotional thoughts about a mom consciously
not attending a PTA meeting but at the same time are exhausted and can barely function
and wish we could make conscious decisions that are against the norm which
would greatly benefit our lives….. Would it make a difference if I said that
the speaker who said she wouldn’t attend the meetings was a scientist and
worked many hours similar to a highly compensated male executive who would
probably never be at a PTA or make it to any family dinners? Probably. But hey,
who am I to judge. .
Unless you are
independently wealthy and feel like you’ve got it all under control all of the
time then it may not be that important to be open minded. For the rest of us
what I took from the conference is that it sometimes pays to think differently
and look at other alternatives to solving life’s complexities. Many women are
doing things the same way and getting the same results. The term Work-life
Balance which was adopted by so many employers has been thrown to the wayside
as it is almost impossible in 99.99 percent of workplaces, and replaced with
words about prioritizing your work day to make it the most productive. All of
the responsibilities at home do not go away. Neither does dinner, soccer
practice, tutoring, or anything else that has to get completed in the day. So
what do you do to keep on top of things other than using Pinterest and
Instagram to help reduce your stress level and momentarily bring you to your
happy place? I know it’s not just me. LOL I don’t have the answer either but I
will say that you should be open minded. When you come into contact with other
women who are doing things differently than you are it is to your benefit to at
least listen. You may get something out of it, you may not but don’t just
immediately judge. Frowning isn’t good for your face and negative thoughts
aren’t good for your brain or health.
What are your thoughts?
Do you have any tips to share?
Disclaimer. No one is paying me for any of this. Just sharing with you.
If you are looking for more pics of my projects follow me on Instagram @hartfordcraft
Thanks for stopping by.
~Darley
