Someone said to me today, "you're so lucky you have talent. It must be nice to have the time to make jewellery and carve". Then she smiled and walked away. Do you think I should have told her that on Sunday I spent about 12 hours in my workshop, and the most creative thing I accomplished was the pile of broken sawblades on my desk? Seriously, how many sawblades can you break in one day? Apparently my limit was 24, but that's probably only because I stopped trying. It went something like this - insert sawblade, tighten, run the thumb along it to make sure it was facing the right way, gently lay it against the piece to be sawn, and SNAP! Okay, I wasn't paying enough attention. Insert another sawblade, go through all the motions again, and SNAP. I think you get the general idea. Somewhere in all of that I did manage to get a ring ready for soldering. Perfectly balanced bezel, heavy gauge half round silver with 14k half round gold accents, spark up the torch, heat gently, and then, just as the solder was about to flow, got too close with the torch, knocked the damn thing over, just in time for the solder to actually flow in such a way that the bezel was now sitting sideways in the ring, and of course when I knocked it over I yanked the torch back, so it cooled quickly, just to make sure that the bezel was now completely useless and would have to be cut away so I could start again. No problem, I still had 120 size 3 blades just waiting to be broken. I gave up on Sunday, but eventually I did finish the ring yesterday. It's for my son, as a congratulations for starting a Millwright course at BCIT. When I gave it to him he was really happy, because it was a ring we designed together. He smiled at me and said "Cool.Thanks mom", and gave me a kiss. So I guess I'm lucky after all. I have a workshop. I have a creative streak. And, I still have 120 sawblades.

It's Sunday. Used to be a day of rest, now it's a day of run as fast as you can to get everything done before Monday rolls around again. This morning I cut a bunch of silver jump rings for a bracelet I've been commissioned to do, wasn't paying attention, and was almost late for the casting class I have recently signed up for. Ran out the door, jumped in the car, got on the cell phone to one of the galleries I work with to let them know that the custom ring I've been working on is ready, and I would drop it off after my class. After 4 hours in class, I was dying for a coffee so I quickly raced home, made myself a coffee to go, jumped back in the car and off to the gallery I went. Driving maybe a little faster than I should, cursing the Sunday drivers who obviously don't have anything better to do than go too slow on the highway, it suddenly occurred to me, maybe it wouldn't hurt if I went a bit slower too. Not just on the road, but through life in general. When I first sold a piece the experience was amazing. To think that I created something, and someone else was willing to spend their hard-earned cash on it, was mindblowing and flattering, and I relived the experience many times, remembering how exciting it was. But today, instead of thinking about how flattering it is and how lucky I am to be able to do what I do, I was busy thinking about what I need to do next, how much time to I have, why do I have to go back to my dayjob tomorrow. So, I'm turning it around. I'm thrilled that another person admires and desires my work. I'm happy that I have a dayjob, which means I can afford to continue to pay my bills until the time comes (please, universe) when more of the bills are paid by the creative things I do. I'm glad the Sunday drivers slowed me down enough to make me remember that life is good, and that when you're driving down a winding highway, it doesn't hurt to glance at the trees and the ocean peeking through them, and even for just a minute, forget about what needs to be done next. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We just got back from a great dinner, and I am thankful I didn't have to cook, because as my son would say, "Betty Crocker I'm not". So I'm thankful that someone else did the cooking, and that with the leftovers that were sent home with us, I don't have to cook tomorrow either. It reminds me to be thankful for the simple things that we tend to overlook in our daily lives. It's so easy to focus on what goes wrong in your day, while looking past the thousand things that go right. So I'm going to try to be better about seeing the positives, no matter how small they may be. I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving, and may someone else cook for you too.