\nThe answer should be simple BUT I have had much difficulty answering each time.
\nI dither.
\nWhy?????
\nIt find it increasingly difficult to quantify my time in a way that could be answered succinctly. Where do my days, weeks and months disappear to?
\nAm I wasting<\/em> my time?
\nDo I have to be accountable for its use to anyone other than myself?<\/p>\n
Am I getting frustrated by not being able to quantify my time? (YEP.)<\/p>\n
I want to be able to answer the question with credibility – to show how productively\/ legitimately I allot my time. It used to be easy to answer this question…well, easier<\/em>…. That I have been flummoxed a few times lately and that I now rely on past roles and past projects to illustrate my validity is worrying. So I’ll look at WHAT I DID this week, with help from my Day One App. So this is some<\/em> of the ‘stuff’ that I did this week…<\/p>\n My Blog<\/span>. It takes time – too much time – but I love writing. It is a wonderful way to think and gain clarity and self-worth.<\/p>\n Babysat.<\/span> Three times.<\/p>\n Went shopping<\/span> with my daughter and held the baby whilst she bought some new clothes. We both did – it has been ages and we shop very well together so it is worthwhile for both of us.\u00a0 Also bought some birthday and Xmas presents – a shopping blitz that took only a couple of hours.<\/p>\n Shopped for food. Various places. In opposite directions.<\/p>\n Art Worked on a couple of bearded blokes but I think I may need to put them away for a while – they distract me but I can’t settle with them.<\/p>\n Planned, initial but clear thoughts, for coming exhibition entries. Corralled and expanded these thoughts over a couple of sessions. Hopefully one or some will fly.<\/p>\n Took photos of a friends works, processed the photos and emailed them. I packed up three artworks that will be exhibited elsewhere. I then replaced the gaps on the shelves with other works from the wall. Then I replaced those also. Work. I finally set up a Craftsy account and have uploaded the first pattern of close to eighty??? I also checked out Etsy, Ebay and Craftsy, to see which is best to sell some copies of my third book. I have a good stack of them, I have buyers waiting, but I would also like this process to be more streamlined. Hmmmm.<\/p>\n On the home front.<\/span> Vacuumed and mopped the (downstairs) floors repeatedly – mostly because of the amazingly hairy dog. Visitors due for morning tea and a few sessions of crawling babes means a minimum of three times this week and the bloke did it again on Sunday.<\/p>\n Did the usual washing\/drying\/sorting….4 to 6 loads? In odd moments I grabbed some fresh air and sunshine whilst I did a little bit of weeding, watering and herb planting outside our units. I really need to be at home for a weekend to do this sort of thing.<\/p>\n I buy the ‘Mullen family birth-gift’ for a nephew’s new babe – a selection of our fave books – Peepo, Each Peach Pear Plum, Hairy McClary, Dear Zoo, and I Want My Hat Back. They are then inscribed and wrapped ready to send. I buy them locally to support our local retailers.<\/p>\n Past projects.<\/span> Morning tea in the studio on Wednesday for ‘Auntie Di’ and the some of the SalvageSelvedge<\/a> crew, where I handed over money I raised from my Studio Sale ($459) for Di’s Ethiopian Fund. It was great to catch up with the gals, those that could make it, about sixteen of us. Worthwhile.<\/p>\n Other involvements.<\/span> Personal.<\/span> An early morning swim. 1 km….but only one….a bad sleep week will do that to me.<\/p>\n My inspiring non fiction read is Hand Stitch Perspectives <\/a>– I consume a chapter a day – usually at breakfast.<\/p>\n I also watched two podcasts over lunches – Trusting strangers<\/a> and Beauty in Imperfection<\/a> Weekend.<\/span> The bloke gets the fire pit going to clear some ‘fuel’ ready for summer.<\/p>\n I fiddle around constructively in the kitchen and make some Preserved Lemons. In the driveway I rake through the newly placed gravel looking for old nails and metal. The bloke is digging in the girls shed readying the ground for a new floor. My search will hopefully stop punctures but also my mind is brimming with a new but simple rusty artwork idea….I have a collection….<\/p>\n
\nThat I know<\/strong> that I am not sitting on my derri\u00e8re reading the paper all day is irrelevant. What I feel the question targets, and my bewilderment in finding a succinct answer, concerns my current ROLE in life.
\nCan I pigeonhole myself? Can I label myself?
\nCan I promote my worth and the validity of how I spend my time?
\nAnd my deep down fear<\/span> ….am I wasting<\/span> time?<\/p>\n
\nMost questioners, years ago, only understood what I did if I broke my various roles down into labels – author, teacher, fabric designer.
\nSaying that I worked in the Quilt Industry was like I was talking a foreign language. Sometimes I assessed the questioner and answered very simply….designer…..I rarely had the conversation go further then:)
\nI didn’t even think about mentioning family & home & other very important<\/strong> parts of my life.<\/p>\n
\nWhat am<\/em> I doing????? Who am I?
\nIn clearest way that I know to work out answers, I\u00a0 write it all down.<\/p>\n
\nThere is a reason that I love this app. It is here to help my recall. It helps to quantify my time. It records fleeting thoughts.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Rearranged my recently completed and in-progress artwork….yep, yet again.
\nArranged for a new frame\/support to be cut for one waiting in line.
\nMade progress on my sulphur crested feathers…now on boards? With fabric base? Or printed base? New look? Lots more ideas bubbling…<\/p>\n![\"another](\"http:\/\/janmullen.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/week-43-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\nTook photos of my recent artworks. Named, labelled and documented these. (All the while bemoaning my clumsy documenting system. I need to change to a professional system asap).<\/p>\n
\nI need to complete more art – I have most of my decent work is on view in the studio at the moment.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Emails….. heavy on Monday but eased up during the week.<\/p>\n
\nWhy back track like this?
\nI’ve had a few customers lately in Australia that will not use foreign sites.
\nWith emails backwards and forwards each transaction takes a good bit of time.
\nI still hold copyright and I still enjoy my scant earnings.
\nI will streamline this process in time<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\nWalked the dog- 2\/3 times each day. Not long in distance but slow by the clock.<\/p>\n
\nCooked dinner every night.<\/p>\n
\nThe studio is cleared of my works-in-progress, machines etc. for a Wednesday morning tea.
\nI hung my Mongolian textile purchases for all to see.
\n<\/a>
\nBaked for the morning tea.
\nLater, everything is then replaced – the slowly progressing works and machines.<\/p>\n
\nI welcomed a couple of strata visitors in for a natter. We’re getting sorted for a meeting in a week or two. I am secretary. The meeting will bring more work….<\/p>\n
\nMonday night movie was a long one this week. The Handmaiden.<\/p>\n
\nOn the weekend I dip in and out of a friends beautiful magazine ‘Obscura’<\/a>.
\nI read The Australian and the West.
\nSexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson helps to ease me to nigh-nigh land.<\/p>\n
\nOn Saturday morn we headed down south.
\nI weed, finish cleaning the newly commissioned fourth bedroom, construct the bed, store\/arrange more things. I construct a dog deterrent around the blueberries.
\nRugs that came with the house are washed and hung out to dry.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nI make a batch of muffins….blueberry and lemon curd if you need to know?<\/a><\/p>\n