Do what you love!

I have to be honest, the blog has been one of the furthest things from my mind the past few weeks. It started with the flood in our basement, but that was cleaned up within a few days. Though we're still dealing with the aftermath of the insurance and cleaning company (and trying to figure out what happens now with everything that was destroyed), it is no longer the urgent disaster that it was.

But what has been all-consuming for me has been a new venture that I (and by exstention; our family) am starting. I'll admit it, I get distracted easily. As soon as something new and shiny comes along, I have difficulty not becoming all-consumed to the exclusion of everything else. It's something I'm working on!

The new venture is something I have been dreaming of for a few years now. I've talked of it often to family and friends, but it was always along the lines of "what if...?" or "if we ever won the lottery..." Chris a few weeks ago began to encourage me to look at the numbers and begin research to see if it would be viable, and the result is:

I am opening up my own yarn store!

Now, my research is not complete. One of the largest unknowns is on the market research end of things; at the moment I do not know just how much of a demand and interest there is to support such a store. I know our community has many knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists, but not if there is enough to support a full-fledged store.

There are several considerations, the first being that the store must be successful enough to allow me to hire a full time manager. I will not work in the store, for several reasons. For one; it will allow me to focus on being an entrepreneur, and not on the day-to-day operations, and second; it will allow me to continue to work at my day job without wearing myself out (or taking too much away from family time). Especially for the first few years I believe it's important to not throw all my eggs in one basket, and if the store turns out to not be financially successful, I will still have been working throughout it all.

So to test out the market I will operate the store at first on a smaller scale. Starting this June, the pilot project, operated out of our home, will open. It will be a part-time venture that will run for 12 months, at the end of which I will have a much better idea of what kind of market there is in the area. I am so excited!

Many people will tell you to find what you love or where your passion lies, and use that to make your living. So in my own way, that's what I am trying to do!

So I must ask for the pardon of my readers. Things are not the planning frenzy they once were, so I can now focus once more on this blog, and the home and garden aspects of my writing.

I am also working on a website for the store. Once it is complete, I will be moving any of the knitting and crafting patterns/tutorials over there (of course links will be posted!), and this site will once more focus on the "homesteading" parts of our lives.

Oh, and for anyone following the news, I refuse to omit the words "urban homestead" from the blog. I will continue to use, and encourage others to do so as well and not back down. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check it out here.

Swimming, anyone?

In the works are posts about:

• Ordering seeds
• Two Bakes of the Week
• Lunar New Year

However, since our basement decided to become a swimming pool this week, things are going to be on hiatus for a while. 25 cubic metres of water will do that to you!

So please be patient while we work with the cleanup crews/insurance company, and I'll start posting again as soon as I can!

Mornings

I am not a morning person.

Or at least, I am not right now. I find that I go through phases in my life when I do enjoy waking early, and others when I most decidedly do not.

There was a time, just before the boys were born (particularly the summer before I had Lucien) when I would get up early with Chris, see him off to work, and be outside in our little apartment patio to enjoy the view, fresh air, and my tea. All this before a quarter to eight. It was so peaceful, so beautiful; I would spend the first few hours of my day puttering in our little garden before the sun became too hot, and just relish in the silence and beauty that is early morning in this town.

Even when we still lived in Toronto there were times when I was able to enjoy and appreciate mornings for what they are. This time however, I was up early due to necessity. I worked at a local cafe which had to be open on Saturdays before seven o 'clock. It was the most amazing thing to witness; the city as I'd never seen before. It was winter; and before the sun had even begun to rise above the horizon, everything had a pale blue cast to it. The snow sparked, there was silence (at least as silent as a large city can be!), and not a soul to be seen. It was not eerie as it is late at night, when even though no one is in sight you half expect them to be there, hiding in some unseen shadows. Instead, there was a calmness in the air, a quiet breathe before the city began its day.

But as I said, I am not a morning person. Right now. I get up as early as I need to, or after as many times as I can hit the snooze button. I stumble down the stairs; trying to keep up with the dogs anxious to be let outside, but not so fast as to risk my still-asleep body falling down them.

Water is put on for tea and coffee, dogs are let outside, breakfast is made. Breakfast is eaten, Chris' lunch prepared, and somewhere in between babies are collected from beds. It is the same routine, with only minor variables, but I just don't enjoy it the way I have in the past.

There have been a couple mornings, here and there, when I did feel rested enough to get up a little early. I was able to get in a few minutes of reading or knitting before the morning started, and that was special. But on the whole; mornings and I do not agree.

Perhaps it is the fact that I am still waking up twice a night to feed or settle Marcus. I am only ever up for perhaps 20 minutes at a time, yet it is amazing how much that disturbs your sleep. It is easy to forget what it was like to get a full, uninterrupted night's sleep, and I fear it will be years before I am able to experience that again!

I know that is not true. By the time Lucien was a year and a half, he was sleeping through the night, almost 10 hours straight. So there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is just hard to see...

So for days like today, when every cell in my body cries out for me to curl back into bed, I need to keep my head up, my eyes open, and drink another tea.

I suppose I better go put on more water.