Friday, October 11, 2013

Starting New Year's Resolutions Early

Now, I haven't participated in setting New Year's Resolutions for quite some time. In my experience they are often vague ideas that usually don't have a plan for implementation and never amount to much. This isn't just a 'New Year' problem for me though, I am pretty bad about setting up new goals throughout the year that don't get implemented. I plan them all out but have a hard time following through and need some accountability. Obviously I am failing at my goal of staying off the computer in the mornings (I started writing this around 9:30 am). But I am succeeding at blogging more often! So today is a bit of a win-lose situation.


About a week or so ago, my mother was giving me some advice on selling my projects in different avenues. She encouraged me to consider getting a booth at a local art festival or at the Nashville Flea Market that is held one weekend a month. I told her that if she would sit with me at a booth next year, then I would 'make pretty things to sell'. I meant it as a bit of a joke, and it was one of those vague ideas mentioned above that sounds nice but has no real plan. However, this morning when I was reading through the list of blog topic ideas that I linked in my last post, I found this:

61. A list of steps you’ll need to cover before you move (or publish a book, or start a blog, or open a restaurant).


Well then.

I have a desire to be able to sell more of my work, and Mom did have a pretty awesome idea. It will need a lot of work and dedication, and setting some smaller goals would be a great place to start. Since I am attempting to find activities to work on in the mornings that will hopefully keep me off the computer, I can work on reaching my smaller goals during that time period. Now that I have a time set up for working, I should be more likely to succeed. I will still need accountability however, which is where you guys come in. I will be telling my mom about this post and this is my written permission to her: Please help me stay on track. You shouldn't need to nag (because I am determined to work on this), but I will need someone to talk to about my progress and remind me of my goal when I start to lose focus. So here goes:

Steps for getting a booth

  1. Work on projects to sell during my designated time of 8 am - 12 pm on MWF. (A side note to this step is to start waking up by 8 am on these days. It is fall break this week, so I've been off my sleep schedule but this shouldn't be a problem to implement starting Monday.)
    • Baby items, hat & scarf sets, and some more artistic items should be included in my projects to provide a variety of price range and increase chances that people will stop.
    • Make an Excel worksheet to keep inventory.
  2. Price items.
    • Decide on set prices for each item 
    • Make labels for the table or for each item as necessary.
  3. Decide where.
    • My current ideas are: the Nashville flea market in October or November, a Christmas show in Murfreesboro, or an art festival in Nashville/Murfreesboro.
    • Once I decide where, I need to pick a booth location of the ones available.
  4. ?

I'm not sure what else I will need to do, so this list will have to be altered as we go. My first goal is to start working on items to sell, so that's what I will go do now. :)

Saturday, October 5, 2013

To Become a Better Blogger

Well guys, once again I find myself back here and ashamed of my lack of consistency with blogging. So, I have challenged myself to be better and become more responsible with my time. This has been a constant thread in my life recently and I have decided that I will also use it to become better blogger as well as the other goals I am currently working on. I searched the web for ideas for becoming a better blogger and found this wonderful post written by Molly Greene

I have started limiting my electronics usage because I am addicted to mindless entertainment that I find on the internet and have little to no self-control once I turn on the computer. I have been leaving the computer off in the morning before I go to work (I work the afternoon shift at my one job and don't go to work until 2 pm on MWF). So far I have succeeded at completely cleaning and organizing my master closet/laundry room and have almost finished the process of warping my loom. *happy dance* Soon I will be able to make honeycomb patterned shawls on my loom. This will be my first project of a larger scale on my loom and I'm finally going to be using it to its full potential! Photographs will be posted on here soon, I hope. 

In addition to taking care of my own things better and blogging more, I have challenged both Luke and myself to cook more at home. We have a nasty habit of eating fast food every meal due to our work schedules. I don't get off work until 6 pm or so every weekday and the husband has no consistency in his work schedule. So, last weekend we boiled 10 chicken breasts and made several meals. I made a chicken and rice casserole Sunday night and Luke made some awesome stir-fry Monday. We still have a fair amount of chicken leftover, so I am planning on making this Crock Pot Chicken Recipe this weekend. I plan on making a separate page on here for the recipes I use and our opinions on them. I don't know that anyone else will care about it, but this page will help me keep my thoughts and favored recipes organized. 

Anyways, if at all possible, please attempt to hold me accountable to these goals. Thanks!