Fibre Week 2014 - Day 1

I arrived at Olds College last night.  It was a very long drive, with the first half of the time raining cats and dogs.   I had a stop in at The Fat Ewe Bed and Breakfast farm, and picked up a few raw fleeces.  Eileen and I had a coffee and a cookie (or two ;) ) and a good visit.  This is one of my favourite stops on my way to Olds every year. This year was a bit sad, because of the rain, as she generally gives me a tour of the farm, giving me a chance to see all the animals. I enjoyed it none the less.  Once I got closer to Edmonton the clouds broke up and I could see the sky.  It really is blue!! (side note, It's been raining back home for the better portion of the past two weeks, and it's been a while since I've seen the sun.)

Once I got here, I found my way to my town house.  I really enjoy staying in these housing units.  They are a shared home so I'll have roomies, but they've not arrived yet. It was very quiet, but oh so nice to just unwind.

This morning I got a sleep in, and it was a rather lazy morning as well.  I didn't leave the condo until 10!  There's not much going on today, other then the Merchant Mall, so I'm finding this extremely slow pace odd but wonderful.  I'm definitely not used to silence and down time.  Once I did get rolling however, I went for an invigorating walk.  The sky is still blue!  Because the college has a horticulture program the grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing and it couldn't be a more gorgeous day.

The Merchant Mall opens up in about 10 minutes, so I'm going to wrap this up, and spend some money! This year is full of new fibres like bison, camel, cashmere, and linen, and I know I'll be needing those. I definitely don't have those to hand!

Hope your day is as wonderful as mine is shaping up!

~Kara

She who takes on to much.

Does anyone else do this?  Take on a responsibility, thinking it won't take up much of your time, but then, even that extra 2-3 hours a week seems to be a whole lot more then you expected? Even the things that should only take up an extra 30 minutes to an hour every week, it's like it takes up so much more of your time leaving you with no time for the things you really don't have a choice but to do.

These seemingly little -but obviously not- tasks/jobs have lead me where I am currently: feeling overstretched, over stressed and just a bit more then frazzled.  My children have even been showing signs of feeling that Momma's just.to.busy.  I was supposed to be at a knitting retreat this weekend.  I canceled last minute to spend some quality time with my middle boy, who get's the least of my time. I've gone and taken the dreaded extension to get my level 3 homework done. I don't have a choice. My blogging has been seriously lacking.  I like to do it, I enjoy sharing with everyone.  I feel it's one of the necessary things that is being neglected.  Same goes for my Etsy shop.  I've not had much time to keep it stocked up and advertised.  But, what's there is there. And hopefully someone stumbles on something and buys it.  And The Journey, let's not forget that.  Module 4 has come and gone, and is not complete.  I know it's not a hard and fast dead line, but again, I'm behind.  I know that while my summer schedule is pretty jam packed, I'll have more time once Fibre week is over.  The end of June brings to an end (albeit a temporary one) to two of the responsibilities that are eating up most of my time right now.

I try not to be bitter about these tasks, I did this to myself, and the people I'm doing these things for matter. They don't deserve a bitter me. So I drop my cranky overstretch self at the door, complete my weekly responsibilities with love and joy, and I notice that baggage is just a bit smaller for it when I leave. Maybe it's that I know that it won't continue on for much longer, or maybe it's the joy the little faces bring me when they get excited about something we are doing.

It's the last day of May. 21 days until I leave for Fibre Week and Level 4. The plan is to have the body of my workbook done and have only my final project to do in July.  It will all work out. And one day, I'll learn to be a bit better organized, and all the responsibilities won't seem so daunting.

~Kara