Odds and Ends

Wow, this week has been crazy! Anyone else having one of those weeks? OR is it months?

My TODO list seems to be growing exponentially while the check marks are scarce. Every time I mark  one thing off of the list, it seems three more are added.  I’m beginning to wonder if there is a light at the end of the tunnel or if I have entered a one-way cavern that leads to the pit of hell. Currently, my vote goes for the latter.

How do you dig out from under a mountain of work when it seems to grow daily?  It’s not like I was slacking, I’ve been diligently working on several tasks. For one project, I was greatly relieved that  my supervisor decided that I didn’t have to import everything from Word to InDesign.  InDesign is an awesome software system, but this particular manual has numerous graphs and charts in it.  When importing files,   it doesn’t hold formatting and when you add images to the mix – graphs charts, diagrams – it has ten kinds of fits. (Fits as in temper tantrum fits via digital means.)

However, my relief was short-lived when I found out the conditions of not having to  re-invent the wheel. *headdesk* Thus we come to the point of the story  of where the mountain of work came from.

I am behind  on an editing deadline,  I have an author chomping at the bits to get her book back. I must say, so far this one is the best one yet. I’ve edited the previous books in the series and   there is a marked improvement from the first to this one!

Sales in our resale shop have doubled this past month, which means  more work for me to stock inventory. That is a good problem to have aside from the additional demand on my time.

I don’t know whether to scream “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!” or double up on the coffee and ignore the caffeine addiction. At some point, I have to come up for air to catch my breath but in the mean time, I’m  going as fast as I can.

The only saving grace  for even halfway getting these irons attended to is my bullet journal.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about  it. My friend Dana has  tagged me in her blog a couple of times  pertaining to  bullet journaling – hey girl!

At the beginning of April I started a new bullet journal in a Leuchterm1917.

SAy hello to my new BUJO! and it’s red! Also, this fountain pen is amazing.

Isn’t it gorgeous? I set up my monthly spread as I had done for March, then quickly realized I  should have made some changes.

April

The calendar is ok,  but I put it on the wrong side of the page.  Oh well,  no biggie I just put my tracker on the left.  The next page spread is the month at a glance, and my Photo a day challenge for the month of April which was totally freaking awesome!  I don’t know if you guys enjoyed it but I sure did.  I’ve used dailies since I first starting using this system in January.  I added a monthly todo and monthly goals on the next page, which left a blank page on the facing page. It was blank until I saw a cool thing on Pinterest, so I made this.

I’ll  color it in with red when I get a free moment or two.

HAHAHA! That’s funny, that’s real funny.

Anyway,  between writing, editing, administrative job, and  room shuffling my entries have been repeated todo lists. A little journaling,  a little artsy stuff,  some washi tape here and there, but most of all the daily reminder of what needs to be addressed.  Here are a few that I liked.

In cleaning up downstairs I found  some of my rubber stamps that I had been missing. They were stuffed into a box and carried downstairs to be put away later. *hangs head*.  The roses in the corners are stamped, the background script is a large stamp.  What can I say? I’m a big kid at heart. I find a misplaced toy and I have to play with it.  The numbered  items (11,12,13) are from a challenge from a bullet journal group, and as you can see, I have way too many arrows to forward items. I got tired of putting a P for partial completion and just left it  open.  If I had an arrow from the day before, it was the first thing I addressed the next day. Well, with the exception of reading that book. I still haven’t read it. It’s still on the to be read pile.  It’s not fiction so it keeps getting shuffled to a lower place in my stack.

Of course, while I had the stamps out, I used them for another craft project – coasters.  These are stamped then handpainted on tumbled quarry tiles. I’ve made several, sold just as many, and have a backlog of orders! Which is a good thing, right? I’m trying to be positive, hence the quotes and bolded expressions. The next spread, which is the next page after this one is this:

A couple of things I like about this page:

1. The blue banners that I use for date are  from paint chips. I really loved this color blue –  and I had apparently picked up a paint chip in this color every time I went into Lowe’s or Walmart. I had a bunch! Anyway, I cut them into pieces then made banners. 🙂
2. My happy little cup!  I really like him!!
3. My fleur de lies stamp –  found treasures.
4. The beauty of scrapbook paper –  you can hide your mistakes!  I tried to do some fancy calligraphy writing and  botched it.

Things I don’t like – you see those blank squares? I thought I’d do a doodle a day challenge. It didn’t happen. I got to day `10.  Forwarded arrows. Hate them!

In May, I used pink ink and it was waaaayyyyyy too much pink. I’m talking  hurt your eyes pink.  I did like this page however – I got to play some while waiting for a phone call.  It was a matter of not starting anything because I knew any minute I could get the call and have to rush out the door. BTW-  got to drive a big honking truck which was COOL!

 

OH, and  on the 13th I made a drastic change.  I went from long thick hair –  to a new style!

 

 

No makeup here, sorry. I guess there should have been a warning.  No that’s not pulled back, it’s gone.  It’s all gone. 12 inches of hair – gone. Plus the amount that she cut after that!

While I’m changing things, I’ve made a  plan for June that is different. I’m going with a weekly spread. We’ll see if I like it or not.  I can always change it back, I’m only doing one week at a time.  I am excited though for one nifty little feature I added –

You see that box in the middle of the right side? the one that isn’t labeled? I decided to put a word counter there.  I made myself a little chart to track my progress and hopefully keep me on track.

I’ll send updated photos later, and admit my true word count – eep!  I realize this seems utilitarian, but it’s the start. Who knows what doodles or whatnot may find it’s way onto  the pages.

Write on my friends, write on!

Til next time,

Ellie