Making time for lace, my goodness have I tried over the years to do that. We all have our own way of coping with our lives. Yes I mean coping, you can just have yourself to think of. Or you have family that you have to take care of. I had not long started making lace, when suddenly my DH was ill, on a life support machine in Oxford, mother ill in Newbury hospital, I found myself having to work nights five days a week 12 hour shifts, day shifts at the weekend. I was driving 110 miles a day often sleeping in my car as that was the only way I would get any sleep. Yes I did have embroidery that I would take with me whilst sitting by my DH or my mothers bed as at the time I did not do needlelace. I would sometimes take a day off work to do a lace workshop, coming straight off nights, no sleep. When things got easier I decided that I needed a holiday, so would go on lace trips making arrangements for someone to keep an eye on my mother and husband. Eventually mother died so that made life a little easier. Why I am saying this, we all assume a lot about other people and what they can do with there time and money. Can you imagine, we had a mortgage counting two wages, suddenly there was just one, so I worked all the hours I could. I can recall a neighbour making comments as to where I got the money for new windows, with tongue in cheek I asked if they had seen the red light that comes on at 7 pm every night, not a word was ever said to me on that matter again. Years later this neighbour said she thought at the time she made the comment I did not work.
Only once is the last year have I been able to get to a lace event, due to health problems I have, seems I should not have made that long journey to Havant on my own, I caused myself more problems. I am now the one who has been relying on my husband who is not in the best of health. I have not written this because I am sorry for myself, I have been grateful that over the last few years lace helped me to cope. Many lacemakers have been very kind to me, something I will not forget. Jean -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 18 January 2004 19:14 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [lace] Making Time for Lace Dear Lacemakers, My lifestyle is flawed in the eyes of quite a few. So take from this what appeals, if anything. Years ago, I developed a plan for the years ahead (much like a business plan). It was laid out by decade and took into consideration where and how I wished to live in the future: What I wanted to achieve by age 40, 50, 60, etc. Part of that plan is simply explained below. It is not worthy of additional comments or criticism from those who could not do it, but may help some people on this list to develop their own strategy. This is how I "made time" for my textile addictions when I was a stressed-out 37-year-old and had a difficult relationship (since dissolved), daily 4-hour commute (2 hours each way), and demanding career. The solution, for this phase of my life, was to rise at 3 a.m. and "play" for two hours when no one else had demands on my time. Then, I prepared for the long commute and work. Yes, I became tired after lunch each day, but it was on someone else's clock. I scheduled work-related errands for after lunch and tried to avoid boring meetings at that time of day. Payoff: The gift of creativity first. This is somewhat like the financial advice given to working people -- pay yourself first (that theory is to deduct savings and invest before you even see your paycheck - if you save the first hour's earnings each day before you get your hands on it, in time it will add up to a lot for your retirement). Even though it was difficult to make financial and creativity ends meet, it worked for me. I retired at age 56, and have been concentrating on lace and embroidery ever since. It helps if you have lots of energy and can train yourself to get by on less hours of sleep a night. Many years later, I am automatically on short sleeping hours. It is "found time". Not for everyone, and not worthy of comments one way or the other. It might work for a fraction of our 1,000+ Arachnes. It is to that busy (mostly-lurking) fraction that I am writing. Adding a weekend afternoon "beauty" nap is helpful, if family and commitments will permit. It acts like a powerful vitamin - boosts your Monday morning energy level. Ideally, everyone would have some control over a few hours of life each day. It's worth retraining people around you so everyone has a win-win situation. While you are having your special time, they have theirs. Your lacing time will increase, if this is something you can do. You might start retraining your body to accept less sleep in 1/2 hour increments. Even in that short time-span you can spangle bobbins, wind bobbins with thread, prick a pattern, read a portion of a new lace book, etc. I let breakfast and a shower wait until their normal times in my schedule, since the odor of brewing coffee and the sound of the shower water running could disrupt the household. Another thing I did was to banish TV from the house until about the time I retired. Read into this what you will; it was a good decision for me in years when there were not enough hours in a day. No regrets on personal time management, Jeri Ames in Maine USA Lace and Embroidery Resource Center - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
