Bucket List

I've wanted to make a bucket list for a while, so I was excited when I saw that one of the other 'Hustlers' has a blog about bucket list and a really easy to follow way to make one. I am using this post to build my list. 

I have a more goals than this, but I haven't found a way to word them yet so this list is a work-in-progress.

Travel

• Visit family/friends in California
• Visit Germany
• Visit Austria
• Take a daughter to The Cabbage Patch Factory
• Take children to Lego Land

Adventure

• Adopt a child (or children)
• Sleep in a castle
• Get a tattoo

Educational

• Learn how to spin yarn
• Learn how to bake Apple Pie (with the crumbles on top)
• Learn how to properly fold a fitted sheet (those things are intense)
• Learn how to build a bookcase from 'scratch' (not just assemble from a box)

Family

• Get married to an amazing God-loving husband
• Play through a Co-op Game with my husband (in addition to our MMO's)
• Be a Stay-at-Home Mom (at least until my children are preschoolers)

Volunteer

• Go on a mission trip in the United States
• Go on a mission trip overseas
• Design an item to sell solely for charity

Financial

• Pay off Student Loans
• Buy a House
• Have an Emergency Fund of at least $10,000

Life Goals

• Have a clean and organized home (and keep it that way!)
• Have an art show of solely my work (at least 15 pieces)

Physical

• Give birth to a child (or children)
• Unlock all of the items in Walk It Out (I know this doesn't sound physical, but it's a game about walking to the beat of music. Your 'currency' is steps made on beat....and the higher level items take thousands of steps.)
• Swim a mile...again (Did in high school, wish to work my way back up to that level.)

Lucky Items

• Get a hole in one
• Meet and play card games with Emma Stone
• Meet and play a table top game with Wil Wheaton

Random

• Read all of the books we own (at least once)
• Watch all of the movies we own (at least once)
• Finish all of my yarn WIP (or frog them)
• Teach someone how to weave
• Teach someone how to crochet
• Teach someone how to knit
• Write out my Bucket List :P

Mike Wazowski Hat

So, I don't really have a big long post for today, but I wanted to show you my finished product for the last baby shower I went to:

This is what happens when I ask you what colors you like for baby items and you tell me "We are decorating the nursery 'Monster's Inc.' themed."

Also, I've joined a email group..thing called '30 Days of Hustle'. So you should see me making more progress toward that booth goal I mentioned back in October. Hopefully.

Coasters

I don't really have time for a full update on what I've been working on recently, but I wanted to show you these cool coasters I made today. What do you think?

The Empty Shelf Challenge

Disclaimer: I know this doesn't have anything to do with my artwork, but I only have one blog and don't write enough to warrant a separate blog for this activity.

Today when checking my Facebook Newsfeed I noticed one of my friends posted an interesting link. It was a challenge by someone named Jon Acuff. The challenge is to empty a shelf on your bookcase and fill it up with books that you read between now and the end of next year. (Click here to see the original post.) Seeing as how I utterly failed at my Goodreads challenge this year, and I had recently organized our bookshelves, I decided this might be a good place to start. Here is a picture of my empty shelf: 

Notice the overflowing shelves around it. This was the shelf with the least books to take off.

The husband has suggested that we just buy a new bookcase and fill it up with books we read this year...but that seems a little more daunting. Maybe when I finish this one I will get started on a whole bookcase. We need another one anyways.

He also wants to do this with our video games. I may have just created a monster. :P

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.
• Set aside money for booth and applicable taxes. Nashville Flea Market rules
• Fill out vendor application. Nashville FM
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. :)

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!

Twitter

So, I finally broke down and created a Twitter account. So far I'm attempting to keep my tweets related to my artwork. This way when I don't blog as frequently, there is still documentation of what I'm working on.

I've added a live feed on the side of this blog over there ---->

Oh, if you wish to follow me on Twitter the link is on the live feed...or you can type @andromedafibers in the twitter search bar. I've been using my phone to take pictures of recently finished projects and current WIPs, so Twitter stays more up-to-date than here.

Also, I've started making toddler hats for the children at work and have been writing down the pattern as I design each hat. If you see a picture on my twitter of a hat you like, let me know and I'll post the pattern on here for you. So far all of the hats are of my design. If that changes, I will link the original pattern on the picture.