The Seventh Night

Do you ever get so tired that you don't even have any idea you're so tired? I'm not talking about sleepy. I'm not talking about feeling worn out. I'm talking being so tired that on a conscious level you don't even know you're tired.

I could go on with psychobabble that would bore you to tears, but I don't like to leave my readers bored or teary-eyed. Let's just say last night I had the most glorious of nights.

My day job has been one challenge after another these past couple of weeks. I've also been scrambling to get inventory to The Chickadee Boutique, taking care of the usual day-to-day chores and responsibilities, setting up a new bank account, and fidgeting with my online shop while constantly thinking of ways to spruce up my products and increase sales. Doesn't seem so bad when I put it black on white, but it all took its toll.

My body began to rebel, and for two straight days my upper body ached with tension and what I could identify only as adrenaline overload. With Husby picking up take-out Chinese for dinner I had an entire evening ahead of me, in which I chose to do absolutely nothing.

I took the mental vacation of a lifetime, or so it seemed to me. Parked on the couch with a heating pad I let go of everything in my brain. I casually paged through a couple of the magazines I'm about six months behind in reading, watched Jean Michel Cousteau explore the Amazon, and basically just sat back in the luxury of doing nothing substantial. The warmth of the heating pad relaxed me and the pictures in the magazines diverted my thoughts away from production-sales-housework-cooking-product ideas...

It was definitely a much needed and well deserved evening of rest. The best part about it? I didn't feel a lick of guilt, because even God allowed himself a day off. I've taken a vow to give myself one evening a week and devote it to absolutely nothing. At least until the next deadline creeps up on me.

Winter's Last Hurrah

It was the last weekend in March. The Easter snow was nearly melted, the sun was feeling just a little warm. After a morning of doing chores and running errands, Husby and I went out for a seafood lunch, then headed to the video store for a couple of movies to enjoy by the last fire of the winter season.

This is what my fireplace looks like when I'm not wearing my glasses.

Little did we know on Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. the snow would come again, falling from the sky in the form of heavy, wet snowballs for a full twenty-four hours. Of course I had the car washed the day before.

In addition to the frustrations I feel over the weather, my patience is being tried by a small custom order of votive candles. They just aren't cooperating and I'm on a serious deadline.

Good thing about candles - if they don't turn out just so I can melt them and start all over with new hopes for the perfect outcome. I wish Mother Nature would follow my lead and melt these eight inches of snow with hopes for the perfect outcome of Spring.

Sugar Blobs

I wonder, now that Easter has passed does it mean Spring is here? We're in for some more snow later this week. Oh yeah, I forgot, Easter was very early this year.

It was a good Easter despite the small number we had in celebration at our family gathering. I'm sorry to report I didn't attempt the homemade marshmallow candies; I think it would have made for a fun project. Perhaps Christmastime will bring cause to make some chocolate-dipped homemade marshmallow treats. I've made marshmallows from scratch once before, and they're suprisingly easy to make. Try it some time. I use Martha Stewart's recipe. The "Peeps" recipe can also be found on Martha Stewart's website. I think what deterred me was the fact that there was piping involved. I anticipated being disappointed in the certain blobs I would create.

But being a crafter or artist, what are attempts without the blobs? How many errors occur before we get it just right? Where's the fun in creating something perfectly the first time? If I had made the marshmallow piping attempt late last week I'd be chewing on leftovers of those sugary little blobs right now. Dang!

March Is...

...going out like a lion.

The Bunny Man Cometh

This little beeswax candle is one of my favorites. It's especially nice this time of year with Easter and Spring at our doorsteps. It just so happens it's available at my etsy shop. Don't be shy if you see only one is available. If you want more you can contact me either through an Etsy conversation, comment on this blog, or standard e-mail.

In other Easter news, I'm mulling over the possibility of making my very own marshmallow candies. You know, those chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs or, dare I say, Peeps. If I get up enough gumption to make the attempt, I'll try to compose a photo chronical of the adventure. I'm sure it would prove to be very amusing.

Charlotte and her boy will be returning from Germany on Easter Sunday. We're all eager to hear about their travels. I believed most certainly they would encounter ghosts in the many ancient castles they toured, but they were skeptical. We shall see.

I'm also on a bend where I listen to old radio shows while I work on my crafts. I mostly like the suspense/mystery/horror stories. Most recently I listened to a trio of stories from the series Murder At Midnight. The thrills are quite tame, but I remain rivited and they make the time fly by.

That brings us to the conclusion of today's installment of Auntie B's Wax. This is your host, Auntie B, signing off. So long. *dramatic organ music plays loudly, then fades to silence*

The Long Weekend, Part 3

March 17 brought a blizzard to Minnesota. Okay, it wasn't really a blizzard; I refer to any snow as a blizzard. Anyway, it was snowing cats and dogs yesterday, the 17th of March. Snowing. A lot. Well, in the spirit of my rediscovered nesting practices I decided to prepare a dinner of the ultimate comfort food - meatloaf. It turned out to be a lovely evening with the snow falling, the smell of home cooking filling the house...a wonderful conclusion to a long weekend, a mini vacation from the usual day-to-day.

So ends my long weekend. I'm back to work with a certain heaviness, but also with a refreshed feeling. The 3-4" of snow that fell last night is quickly melting, the streets are wet, the air is damp. My boss at work was relieved to see me today, as things were starting to pile up on my desk. Returning to the routine. *sigh* In a way it's good to be back. In a bigger way I'm grateful for the time I spent outside of the routine. Gotta get wild once in a while and roast a turkey in March. Speed up, slow down, just be different from the routine. And when the routine becomes a drudgery again, take another detour.

I just love those spontaneous, long weekends.

The Long Weekend, Part 2

Martha Stewart saves the day!

I have a pretty good-sized pile of Martha magazines stashed away, and I decided it would be a good thing if I went through the magazines, cut out what I like, and throw the rest to the recyclers. As I was paging through it dawned on me that my life has become uncomfortably unbalanced. I read about cooking, baking, cleaning, and decorating. I realized the homemaking part of my life has fallen by the wayside, and that I miss it terribly.

Growing a cottage industry is very important to me, but not at the expense of all other aspects of my life. I also realized that the more I neglect other parts of my life, the more my work in the studio suffers.

Today I tackled some homemaking tasks and have decided to revisit my homemaking daily. I washed windows and did some other pre-Spring-Cleaning chores. To top it all off I'm roasting a turkey as I write this!

Nesting and homemaking have always been a big part of me. Lately I've neglected it. Thanks to Martha I've been reminded of how rewarding and mentally liberating homemaking tasks can be.
Business production wasn't at the top of my list today, but in honor of the turkey in the oven I've listed a Sweet Pumpkin Pie scented candle to my Etsy shop. I feel more empowered than ever, realizing a balanced life is the key to success in every area of it.

Thanks for the gentle reminder, Martha!