All In One Place - Almost

I've had a Eureka moment...

It seems like one of those fleeting thoughts over the years has finally knocked hard enough to penetrate my often thick skull...

Here is the background:

4 years ago:

Move into larger house because business is really growing & taking over the townhouse.

And we are planning on starting a family at some point anyway... so why not?

3 years ago:

Production really going, have 3-5 fellow artists helping me out with making pendants.

Main clay studio located in basement, glazing area & office in extra bedroom upstairs.

2 years ago:

Major production slows down, plenty of stock built up.

Stop doing as many shows myself.

Mom gets diagnosed with Leukemia in Jan, passes in Sept.

Pregnant with Chloe late March, born in Dec.

1 year ago:

Spend most of my time figuring out this mom thing...

Decided to put Chloe into school around Sept because she seemed to be getting bored with me after a few hours, and I was getting frustrated because I had no time to get anything done with the studio or business.

Needless to say, she LOVES school and goes 5 days a week now...

I would feel guilty for not having her go to school to socialize and experience all that she is right now...

Present Time:

My Eureka Moment... Get it all into ONE PLACE!

Simplify things...

Organize things...

Everything has it's place - it is time to help find that place and get it there...

And I mean NOW!!!

Here is my bisque stock that is now in one place - one set of shelves in the basement studio:

(THANK YOU DAVE!!! My late night elf that moved this all to the basement for me when I fell asleep last night... What a great husband!!!)

This bisque stock had been in the following places at any given time

(no wonder why I was wasting brain power trying to think about where stuff was!):

1. Glaze room (in bathroom: waiting for rinsing, in bathroom: being dried, on shelf, on floor, on table, in bin, in small to be glazed cup, in baggie, and many more places...).

2. Main House (which room? sorted or not sorted yet? still in bin or in baggies?)

3. Basement (in kiln, in bin, on table, in baggie)

Now it is all in one place. I get the pieces out of the kiln and can put them into their bin.

No more lugging stuff upstairs into the house to get lost in the "to-do dimension".

This next picture is all of my glazes on a new set of shelves that I picked up from Lowes a few weeks ago, and finally got to putting up.

It took me 2 days of many trips down 2 flights of stairs to move all those pints of glaze into the basement studio.

It feels good though - all in one place!

I really wanted to paint the walls and possibly floor before doing this move.

But when I was at Lowes looking at all the paint colors, nothing moved me.

I was about 9 weeks pregnant though - and was having major issues with morning sickness (the all day kind) and being SO tired all the time.

I was overwhelmed by the colors, unsure of what I wanted to be surrounded by every day to feel energized and not irked by the color scheme. Painting to me is such an expression of emotion, I did not want to paint just to paint because I know I'd want to change it when I was feeling better...

So I will hopefully find inspiration sometime next summer when baby #2 is about 6 months old and is joining his/her sister Chloe in school...

So I've got a bunch of other stuff to move into the basement studio, but it takes time. And I told Dave I would take it easy today because I shouldn't be doing heavy lifting being pregnant and all. So I am finally able to catch up on some of my blogs...

Hope all is well!

I'm feeling a bit more energized and more like myself these days - let's hope it lasts!

All In One Place - Almost

I've had a Eureka moment...

It seems like one of those fleeting thoughts over the years has finally knocked hard enough to penetrate my often thick skull...

Here is the background:

4 years ago:

Move into larger house because business is really growing & taking over the townhouse.

And we are planning on starting a family at some point anyway... so why not?

3 years ago:

Production really going, have 3-5 fellow artists helping me out with making pendants.

Main clay studio located in basement, glazing area & office in extra bedroom upstairs.

2 years ago:

Major production slows down, plenty of stock built up.

Stop doing as many shows myself.

Mom gets diagnosed with Leukemia in Jan, passes in Sept.

Pregnant with Chloe late March, born in Dec.

1 year ago:

Spend most of my time figuring out this mom thing...

Decided to put Chloe into school around Sept because she seemed to be getting bored with me after a few hours, and I was getting frustrated because I had no time to get anything done with the studio or business.

Needless to say, she LOVES school and goes 5 days a week now...

I would feel guilty for not having her go to school to socialize and experience all that she is right now...

Present Time:

My Eureka Moment... Get it all into ONE PLACE!

Simplify things...

Organize things...

Everything has it's place - it is time to help find that place and get it there...

And I mean NOW!!!

Here is my bisque stock that is now in one place - one set of shelves in the basement studio:

(THANK YOU DAVE!!! My late night elf that moved this all to the basement for me when I fell asleep last night... What a great husband!!!)

This bisque stock had been in the following places at any given time

(no wonder why I was wasting brain power trying to think about where stuff was!):

1. Glaze room (in bathroom: waiting for rinsing, in bathroom: being dried, on shelf, on floor, on table, in bin, in small to be glazed cup, in baggie, and many more places...).

2. Main House (which room? sorted or not sorted yet? still in bin or in baggies?)

3. Basement (in kiln, in bin, on table, in baggie)

Now it is all in one place. I get the pieces out of the kiln and can put them into their bin.

No more lugging stuff upstairs into the house to get lost in the "to-do dimension".

This next picture is all of my glazes on a new set of shelves that I picked up from Lowes a few weeks ago, and finally got to putting up.

It took me 2 days of many trips down 2 flights of stairs to move all those pints of glaze into the basement studio.

It feels good though - all in one place!

I really wanted to paint the walls and possibly floor before doing this move.

But when I was at Lowes looking at all the paint colors, nothing moved me.

I was about 9 weeks pregnant though - and was having major issues with morning sickness (the all day kind) and being SO tired all the time.

I was overwhelmed by the colors, unsure of what I wanted to be surrounded by every day to feel energized and not irked by the color scheme. Painting to me is such an expression of emotion, I did not want to paint just to paint because I know I'd want to change it when I was feeling better...

So I will hopefully find inspiration sometime next summer when baby #2 is about 6 months old and is joining his/her sister Chloe in school...

So I've got a bunch of other stuff to move into the basement studio, but it takes time. And I told Dave I would take it easy today because I shouldn't be doing heavy lifting being pregnant and all. So I am finally able to catch up on some of my blogs...

Hope all is well!

I'm feeling a bit more energized and more like myself these days - let's hope it lasts!

Classic Blogging & Micro Blogging

Hmmm.. how do I start..

Let us consider the fact that every day is a battle. We battle the morning rush hours to reach office, battle with colleagues, and clients to seek victory either in form of pushing through your ideas/thoughts or selling to a client…. Along with in this battle is a battle of communication… how do we get our views and thoughts effectively and efficiently to others…

Consider Internet as the battlefield, then micro-blogging is small arms; while classic blogging would be all about artillery.

Small arms is all about ease to carry, close quarters, and limited ammunition. Very similar to your micro blogging… ease to carry – can be accessed from mobile and computers; close quarters – reaching to your friends in the network, fast and effectively; and limited ammunition – 140 characters? 

Artillery is all about heavy equipment, ability of reaching further, planning, targeting, etc… Most of blog dashboards are heavy and best accessed through computers… blogs have a tendency of reaching out to more number of people and not just limited to your friends circle/ network. You need planning before you start typing down your thoughts, what you need to write, how to phase it in case the matter is long, and of targeting how you need to promote it through bookmarks so that it might reach out to the right audience..

So what do you do to win the battle?

You would need both the small arms and tactical support of the artillery to be able to effectively push your thoughts/views to the other side…

Ideally, I would see it this way… start with the artillery and ‘soften’ the enemy side…. And then move in with your small arms for the final push…
This could be strategy that would make a military strategist proud? Maybe, Maybe not. But I am sure using both of these could make you a victor

As Sun Tzu says in his treatise - Art of War, knowledge of the battlefield is most important

Cheers

Santosh

Classic Blogging & Micro Blogging

Hmmm.. how do I start..

Let us consider the fact that every day is a battle. We battle the morning rush hours to reach office, battle with colleagues, and clients to seek victory either in form of pushing through your ideas/thoughts or selling to a client…. Along with in this battle is a battle of communication… how do we get our views and thoughts effectively and efficiently to others…

Consider Internet as the battlefield, then micro-blogging is small arms; while classic blogging would be all about artillery.

Small arms is all about ease to carry, close quarters, and limited ammunition. Very similar to your micro blogging… ease to carry – can be accessed from mobile and computers; close quarters – reaching to your friends in the network, fast and effectively; and limited ammunition – 140 characters? 

Artillery is all about heavy equipment, ability of reaching further, planning, targeting, etc… Most of blog dashboards are heavy and best accessed through computers… blogs have a tendency of reaching out to more number of people and not just limited to your friends circle/ network. You need planning before you start typing down your thoughts, what you need to write, how to phase it in case the matter is long, and of targeting how you need to promote it through bookmarks so that it might reach out to the right audience..

So what do you do to win the battle?

You would need both the small arms and tactical support of the artillery to be able to effectively push your thoughts/views to the other side…

Ideally, I would see it this way… start with the artillery and ‘soften’ the enemy side…. And then move in with your small arms for the final push…
This could be strategy that would make a military strategist proud? Maybe, Maybe not. But I am sure using both of these could make you a victor

As Sun Tzu says in his treatise - Art of War, knowledge of the battlefield is most important

Cheers

Santosh

Classic Blogging & Micro Blogging

Hmmm.. how do I start..

Let us consider the fact that every day is a battle. We battle the morning rush hours to reach office, battle with colleagues, and clients to seek victory either in form of pushing through your ideas/thoughts or selling to a client…. Along with in this battle is a battle of communication… how do we get our views and thoughts effectively and efficiently to others…

Consider Internet as the battlefield, then micro-blogging is small arms; while classic blogging would be all about artillery.

Small arms is all about ease to carry, close quarters, and limited ammunition. Very similar to your micro blogging… ease to carry – can be accessed from mobile and computers; close quarters – reaching to your friends in the network, fast and effectively; and limited ammunition – 140 characters? 

Artillery is all about heavy equipment, ability of reaching further, planning, targeting, etc… Most of blog dashboards are heavy and best accessed through computers… blogs have a tendency of reaching out to more number of people and not just limited to your friends circle/ network. You need planning before you start typing down your thoughts, what you need to write, how to phase it in case the matter is long, and of targeting how you need to promote it through bookmarks so that it might reach out to the right audience..

So what do you do to win the battle?

You would need both the small arms and tactical support of the artillery to be able to effectively push your thoughts/views to the other side…

Ideally, I would see it this way… start with the artillery and ‘soften’ the enemy side…. And then move in with your small arms for the final push…
This could be strategy that would make a military strategist proud? Maybe, Maybe not. But I am sure using both of these could make you a victor

As Sun Tzu says in his treatise - Art of War, knowledge of the battlefield is most important

Cheers

Santosh

Feeling a little topsy turvy - and a bit angry...

Some days are better than others...

And sometimes...

The not so good ones last for a bit longer than expected or wanted...

I feel like I've been in a bit of a slump for a while...

It comes and goes...

But feeling a bit - dare I say it - depressed - in recent months has become something I've been dealing with on a daily basis.

And I hate it - it sucks!!!

It would be easy to say that there are exterior things piling up that are making me feel down,

But I know that it is mainly an internal thing...

Stemming from the loss of my mom...

Not just the loss, but the watching her through her suffering with Leukemia...

And trying to accept my life as it is now - as a mom without her mom.

It's like I've mentally checked out for a while now...

Burnt out on many levels.

So right now I'm at a point where I feel that I should try to snap out of it.

To become a more active participant in my life every day...

To become a better wife and mother first and foremost...

I mean come on Marsha...

Look how cute they are...

How could one not want to be a better person to feel included in a life with these two goofballs...

To help take care of my Dave and Chloe...

They have helped me through this troubling time...

And to take care of myself and our new little Peanut on the way...

Due to join our family sometime around January 13, 2010!

I'm feeling angry now...

And although I've heard that anger leads to the dark side...

Not to worry here...

This kind of anger leads to the dark side of de-cluttering and getting rid of crap that has been weighing me down...

Not to mention eating a bit more chocolate to help ease the stress...

I want a clean slate!

I want to feel motivation!

I want to feel inspired!

I want to walk into a room and not feel that I have to turn around and walk out because I have so much piling up to deal with before I can get to what I wanted to do.

My procrastination is my torturer...

I'm ready to put on the gloves and get a shovel to dig myself out...

So if you are an object sitting in a pile in the house or studio...

If you are a piece of paper waiting to be "dealt with"...

If you are something I'm looking at every day, not doing anything except blocking my eyesight to creativity and freedom...

Watch out - you're on your way out the door...

You're on my bad side, and that is not a place to be...

And I apologize for not blogging for a bit...

It will come and go while I'm working on my spaces...

I'm planning a big move of my glazing area down into the studio where it should be.

Must get a few orders done first - but then off to that overhaul...

If you are in the general area or know someone that is, and work with Cone 6 glazes...

I will most likely be getting rid of a lot of "test glaze" pints that I've collected over the years for pretty cheap (I don't want to deal with shipping liquids - sorry).

Keep an eye out here for more info - lots of stuff will be practically "given away".

Think I may set up an Etsy shop for all kinds of "supplies" I'm going to unload...

Hmmm...

Feeling a little topsy turvy - and a bit angry...

Some days are better than others...

And sometimes...

The not so good ones last for a bit longer than expected or wanted...

I feel like I've been in a bit of a slump for a while...

It comes and goes...

But feeling a bit - dare I say it - depressed - in recent months has become something I've been dealing with on a daily basis.

And I hate it - it sucks!!!

It would be easy to say that there are exterior things piling up that are making me feel down,

But I know that it is mainly an internal thing...

Stemming from the loss of my mom...

Not just the loss, but the watching her through her suffering with Leukemia...

And trying to accept my life as it is now - as a mom without her mom.

It's like I've mentally checked out for a while now...

Burnt out on many levels.

So right now I'm at a point where I feel that I should try to snap out of it.

To become a more active participant in my life every day...

To become a better wife and mother first and foremost...

I mean come on Marsha...

Look how cute they are...

How could one not want to be a better person to feel included in a life with these two goofballs...

To help take care of my Dave and Chloe...

They have helped me through this troubling time...

And to take care of myself and our new little Peanut on the way...

Due to join our family sometime around January 13, 2010!

I'm feeling angry now...

And although I've heard that anger leads to the dark side...

Not to worry here...

This kind of anger leads to the dark side of de-cluttering and getting rid of crap that has been weighing me down...

Not to mention eating a bit more chocolate to help ease the stress...

I want a clean slate!

I want to feel motivation!

I want to feel inspired!

I want to walk into a room and not feel that I have to turn around and walk out because I have so much piling up to deal with before I can get to what I wanted to do.

My procrastination is my torturer...

I'm ready to put on the gloves and get a shovel to dig myself out...

So if you are an object sitting in a pile in the house or studio...

If you are a piece of paper waiting to be "dealt with"...

If you are something I'm looking at every day, not doing anything except blocking my eyesight to creativity and freedom...

Watch out - you're on your way out the door...

You're on my bad side, and that is not a place to be...

And I apologize for not blogging for a bit...

It will come and go while I'm working on my spaces...

I'm planning a big move of my glazing area down into the studio where it should be.

Must get a few orders done first - but then off to that overhaul...

If you are in the general area or know someone that is, and work with Cone 6 glazes...

I will most likely be getting rid of a lot of "test glaze" pints that I've collected over the years for pretty cheap (I don't want to deal with shipping liquids - sorry).

Keep an eye out here for more info - lots of stuff will be practically "given away".

Think I may set up an Etsy shop for all kinds of "supplies" I'm going to unload...

Hmmm...