I have so many things on my to do list. Update the webpages at Far Flung Crafts, do my 9-5 job, work on Bonnie's heritage album, scrapbook pages for my children, play with my kids. Oh, yeah, not to mention, cook, clean, shop for food...and get some sleep. How do we do all of our daily living activities and still get the peace and quiet? How do we simplify and get in touch with what is important while dealing with life? I re-read part of Anne Morrow's Gift From The Sea today. I laughingly think of her life, so much more hectic, yet so much more simple than mine. After all she took the part summer off, away from her kids to write the book! But, anyway, the part of the book I am reading talks about finding a balance. Sometime we need to find a balance, sometimes it is not possible (like now for me) but I will strive to get back to the middle again. Here is Anne's quote "I must find a balance somewhere, or an alternating rhythm between solitude and communion, between retreat and return."
Anne also talks about living at the beach as a way of living more simply. She talks about living at the beach more simply but these steps are still good to think about.
1. Shedding, how little one can get along with. Which flows down through the other steps and ultimately one sheds their pride as well.
2. Shelter. What level does one need and to what level do you need to maintain it? Does your house have to be spotless? Does it have to be a mansion?
3. Shed those "useless" friends. Or in my own terms, get down to those few friends that are really your friends, not just some others you see for the sake of seeing someone.
How little can one get along with and still live a full life? Perhaps, at this point and time, it is not possible, but I can still dream.
Simply,
K
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Super Mommy
A back lash if you will, Women can't do it all. We can't be the best mom in the world, the number one producer at work, the super wife to our husband’s every need... A new article in Newsweek, which I have linked here, is pretty clear.
Those of us girls raised between the 70s and 80s never thought we couldn't do anything the boys could do. I was in shop, agriculture, and drama and humanities class. Not to mention German, English, Newspaper. I could and did do anything I wanted. In college, the same, I had tons of interests and was able to pursue them all. I went to law school. I became a lawyer; I am now an "international lawyer" with a fortune 500 company.
"We saw ourselves as winners. We'd been bred, from the earliest age, for competition. Our schools had given us co-ed gym and wood-working shop, and had told us never to let the boys drown out our voices in class. Often enough, we'd done better than they had in school. Even in science and math. And our passage into adulthood was marked by growing numbers of women in the professions. We believed that we could climb as high as we wanted to go, and would grow into the adults we dreamed we could be. Other outcomes—like the chance that children wouldn't quite fit into this picture—never even entered our minds." Mommy Madness What went wrong? Why does this article resonate with me?
"Life happened. We became mothers. And found, when we set out to "balance" our lives—and in particular to balance some semblance of the girls and women we had been against the mothers we'd become—that there was no way to make this most basic of "balancing acts" work. Life was hard. It was stressful. It was expensive. Jobs—and children—were demanding. And the ambitious form of motherhood most of us wanted to practice was utterly incompatible with any kind of outside work, or friendship, or life, generally."
Living in Singapore has given me much more support for the rearing of my children. I have full time care provided in my home for less than 250 a month. I have a daycare/preschool that my son goes to 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. Gives him great opportunities to play and socialize, again, less than 200 a month. Moving home to the States seems scary. The thought of paying 1000 a month or more for less than half of the support I have now.
Great set of articles on the Newsweek site. I will go down and purchase the magazine, and the book. I urge you all to read them.
Those of us girls raised between the 70s and 80s never thought we couldn't do anything the boys could do. I was in shop, agriculture, and drama and humanities class. Not to mention German, English, Newspaper. I could and did do anything I wanted. In college, the same, I had tons of interests and was able to pursue them all. I went to law school. I became a lawyer; I am now an "international lawyer" with a fortune 500 company.
"We saw ourselves as winners. We'd been bred, from the earliest age, for competition. Our schools had given us co-ed gym and wood-working shop, and had told us never to let the boys drown out our voices in class. Often enough, we'd done better than they had in school. Even in science and math. And our passage into adulthood was marked by growing numbers of women in the professions. We believed that we could climb as high as we wanted to go, and would grow into the adults we dreamed we could be. Other outcomes—like the chance that children wouldn't quite fit into this picture—never even entered our minds." Mommy Madness What went wrong? Why does this article resonate with me?
"Life happened. We became mothers. And found, when we set out to "balance" our lives—and in particular to balance some semblance of the girls and women we had been against the mothers we'd become—that there was no way to make this most basic of "balancing acts" work. Life was hard. It was stressful. It was expensive. Jobs—and children—were demanding. And the ambitious form of motherhood most of us wanted to practice was utterly incompatible with any kind of outside work, or friendship, or life, generally."
Living in Singapore has given me much more support for the rearing of my children. I have full time care provided in my home for less than 250 a month. I have a daycare/preschool that my son goes to 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. Gives him great opportunities to play and socialize, again, less than 200 a month. Moving home to the States seems scary. The thought of paying 1000 a month or more for less than half of the support I have now.
Great set of articles on the Newsweek site. I will go down and purchase the magazine, and the book. I urge you all to read them.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Far Flung Crafts Blog
Well, I bit the bullet, I am now starting a separate blog for Far Flung Crafts. I hope this blog will be a good way for me to keep people informed about the business, the current and happin' things in the Scrapbooking, Altered, PaperCrafts etc.... I just hope I can keep at it!
Here is the link to the new blog (which will also be syndicated for those who care...)http://farflungcraft.blogspot.com
Here is the link to the new blog (which will also be syndicated for those who care...)http://farflungcraft.blogspot.com
Monday, February 14, 2005
Chinese New Year-Again
It is the year of the rooster. Hum, well lets see, I did not do a very good job of keeping up the site. SO, for the year 4703 (or 2005) for those of us Western Folk.. I promise to do better.
Want to see what I have been doing? Well, I have been working like mad on my new website. The new site will be a sister to Fibers From Afar. The sister site, Far Flung Craft will be awesome. It is going to have an art gallery, project ideas, a message board and my new products.
Now, while I am doing the web building, you can go look at the new products over on my old site. The new products, I am calling them Googaw charms and Frou-Frou embellishment kits are pretty nifty. You can see those pages here:Googaw Charms and Frou-Frou
Anyway, how am I doing on simple living in Singapore? Hum, lets see, I work full time from home at a real 9-5 job, then I am trying to raise two nutty crazy beautiful kids, I am trying to run a web based craft business, and I am trying to stay current on the world. Simple living is what I crave! More next time.
Want to see what I have been doing? Well, I have been working like mad on my new website. The new site will be a sister to Fibers From Afar. The sister site, Far Flung Craft will be awesome. It is going to have an art gallery, project ideas, a message board and my new products.
Now, while I am doing the web building, you can go look at the new products over on my old site. The new products, I am calling them Googaw charms and Frou-Frou embellishment kits are pretty nifty. You can see those pages here:Googaw Charms and Frou-Frou
Anyway, how am I doing on simple living in Singapore? Hum, lets see, I work full time from home at a real 9-5 job, then I am trying to raise two nutty crazy beautiful kids, I am trying to run a web based craft business, and I am trying to stay current on the world. Simple living is what I crave! More next time.
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