The Zen of Pigglewiggins

The Doldrums

2011-02-26T14:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going through a period where I'm kinda motivated to do 1000 different things, but I'm not really getting much satisfaction from any of them. I don't know what to do with myself lately. Sure, I have plenty to do, but it all feels so empty lately. I'm just not getting the same thrill from it that I used to. I might even get excited about getting the parts to make something, but once I have it in hand, I don't feel like making it anymore. I have abandoned projects laying around everywhere. I've already raised 2 kids, been through college, lived in various cities and states. Other things I'd like to do like going to Europe are out of my financial reach. I'd like to move but I can't do that either. I'd like a safe car to drive but I don't earn enough to even begin to save for something like that. I feel like I'm going nowhere fast. Everywhere I turn I'm up against a wall.

The Carrot and the Stick Revisited

2011-01-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

When you set goals, it helps to have rewards and punishments. For example, say you want to give up soda for one week. If you succeed, you treat yourself to getting your ears pierced and you get a sparkly new pair of earrings. If you fail, you have to weed the garden every day for a week. For this to work it helps to have a friend you are accountable to. A goal buddy, if you will. Otherwise you might just rationalize the stick away. My daughter used this system with weight loss and the reward was a diamond ring. She must have really wanted it because it worked great for her.

The caveat is that you can't have your reward for one thing screw up your goal in another area. If you goal was to stay out of debt, you probably can't reward yourself for losing weight with buying a diamond ring. So that gets a bit tricky. You don't want to reward your child for cleaning their bedroom with a box of chocolate chip cookies.

This technique of rewards and punishments is also used in hypnosis. For example the hypnotherapist might say, "If you get through 24 hours without a cigarette, you get to reward yourself with a wonderful feeling of well being. If you fail, your feet will itch terribly every time you light up."

I need to come up with some good carrots and sticks for the goals that have eluded me, like weight loss.

No Blog Left Behind

2010-12-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Every blog I've started represents a part of me and a special time in my life. Some of them fall by the wayside as my interests change. But I rarely lose interest in my passions completely. For example I don't juggle much anymore, but every now and then I get re-inspired and juggle up a storm. So I'm happy that I keep my juggling blog.

Sometimes one thing would fit in many blogs and I don't have time to add them to all the blogs. Like if I knit a hat, it could go in my knitting blog, my fiber arts blog, my hatitude blog, or my craft blog. Usually I put it in the blog with the most readers because it's most likely to get seen there, but then the more specialized blogs don't get updated.

Today I just updated my rubber stamping blog for the first time in a year. I haven't been stamping much, but suddenly I'm interested all over again and hope to post all my new stamps there. I just bought 4 packages of erasers that all need to be carved.

So every now and then I sort through all my blogs and try to give each one a post or two. I want to keep them alive even if some of them are barely breathing.
Some of them, like my Second Life blog is dead because I can't get onto Second Life with this computer. So I have nothing new to add.

The same with my Steampunk blog. I mean well but haven't had the time or the space to make my Steampunk projects yet, so I have nothing new to add. My new 'job' making videos is sucking a great deal of my time. I'm just making hay while the sun shines because who knows how long those people will have a budget to pay me to make videos.

To a degree blogging is driven by comments. If no one comments on existing posts I don't have much incentive to make new posts. In short, if everyone comments on my knitting blog, I'll post a lot more to it. If no one is interested, I don't really feel like talking to myself. I have a real life longhand journal to write in if I'm just writing to myself.

I've seen blogs which literally have three posts about their topic, and fifty comments. And the blog hasn't been updated in two years. I'm always amazed when people draw so many comments. I'm lucky to get one or two per post ever.

I know Google will crawl blogs and they seem to like two things; fresh content, and longevity. It works in your favor to keep updating your old blogs. The spiders look at that and say, "Oooh, that person has been blogging for five years and they also have new posts". That's my goal..to always have a reason to give people to drop by my blogs.

Snoods

2010-12-05T16:53:00.000-08:00

Every time I'm in the Etsy chatroom someone says to me, "I love your shop name." Which is Pigglewiggins. It seems to have a universal appeal.

Here I am in the photo with a snood I just finished. I love the word snood. I think it's so funny and it always makes people ask, "What's a snood?" Snoods were popular in various times of history including the Renaissance, and the Civil War era.
I used to make snoods for an opera singer with long hair. They were part of her signature look. She was very picky though, so after the last order I said no more. She kept wanting me to remake everything, for no extra pay of course. I'd much rather just put a stack of them on my vending table and let the customer try them on and decide which one they want. They are fun to make and many types of thread or yarn can be used. I think now that it's winter I'll start wearing one. They are great for bad hair days too.

Saturday Morning

2009-04-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 6 AM with a migraine. I really need to get more sleep. I'm going to sit up a few minutes to let my sinuses drain, and then try to go back to sleep. But my daughter has a gig in San Luis Obispo in the morning and if I want a ride to town with her I'll have to get up in an hour anyway. I need a good neck and shoulder massage. I'm going home on Monday so I want to make the most of my weekend here.

Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling

2009-04-16T08:58:00.001-07:00

Today I grabbed a quick shower because the contractors were coming at 8 AM to work on my daughter's kitchen. She had a burst pipe that pretty much wiped out her kitchen so the insurance helped to buy a complete kitchen makeover. So right now they are doing mud over the drywall they installed a few days ago. Meantime they were already remodeling their bathroom with tiles, so my daughter is working on the bathroom at the same time. As you can imagine it's noisy in here with the hammering, sanding and power tools.

And Then There Was Blogging

2009-04-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

I never knew how important all those creative writing classes I took in high school and college would turn out to be. Back in the '70's the idea of blogging wasn't even a twinkle in a computer tech's eyes.

And now it seems I do some creative writing every day, whether in a blog, a long hand journal, an ad brochure, or on Twitter.com. The written word can also be incorporated into collage and mixed media art.

Lettering in itself is an artform, and now there are a plethora of fonts to choose from as well as calligraphing your own letters. I think we take letters and words for granted in a ubiquitous sort of a way. But yet many in the world are illiterate and we take our own skills for granted.

So many find that while they can start a blog, they run out of juice after a few posts. It helps to have a topic for your blog. I have over 60 blogs. Feel free to surf some of them via my profile for topic ideas. Life changes moment by moment, so there is always something new to blog about.

Aquarium Humor

2009-02-28T20:29:00.001-08:00

Today I got some frozen bloodworms for my new fish. I was looking forward to seeing their reaction. It comes in a cube about 1/2" around. So I plonk it in there and the smaller fish on top (zebras, cherry barbs, neons) hit on it right away, but after the first burst they lose interest. It floats over by the heater where it blends in and they ignore it. So I watch for a bit. Then one of the African frogs on the bottom spots it, and ever so slowing makes his way towards it. Suddenly, he grabs the whole cube and starts barrel rolling down. The cube is flying apart, and he swallowed from 1/3 to 1/2 of it all by himself. He's going to have one heck of a belly ache. Then when he sat on the bottom, the other frogs start gulping down what he missed. So I think it's safe to say that African frogs like blood worms. The fat frog went up to the surface to get some air, then dove towards the red lava. He lost his balance with his full tummy and made a crazy landing.

An Off Kind of Day

2009-02-26T20:58:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling kind of spazzed out today. First off I was on line until 4 AM last night trying to get an Etsy treasury, which can lead to Etsy sales, but usually doesn't. But by 8:15 I was wide awake again. So I started out the day with 4 hours of sleep. It started out okay. I started making some amigurumi mice, but then I got distracted. By mid afternoon I was coughing and my nose was running so I went back to bed. After two hours of sleep I felt human again but now half the day was gone. So I worked on Internet marketing, blogging, the usual. I just don't feel like I'm really getting ahead. If I don't stay on top of it every minute it goes away. I was reading about long tailed tags so I figure I'll start using some to see how that goes. Also blogger has a new button called 'Monetize' so you can put your Google Adsense ads underneath your post and/or in the sidebar, instead of with the original widget. Check it out under your 'customize' tab. You have to delete your exist ads first and then click on the new option. Takes a few seconds.

I'm also trying to get familiar with Entrecard, which means logging into their site to see if I have any new card drops. Each new technology has it's own complexities and they are eating more and more of my time. I could see it if I was getting an hourly wage to do all this research. And maybe it will pay off sometime but it's getting old quick.

Yesterday I felt really productive but today I just really didn't have it in me.

A Little Visitor

2009-02-22T13:22:00.000-08:00

I just found out my daughters and my grandson are coming to visit in March. That is great news. Babies grow up so fast and I'm missing so much of his first year.

My apt. however is not baby safe at all, so they'll have to stay in a motel. But I can always go over there and hang out with them. At least there are tons of nearby motels here. This will be the first time the baby has come down here. They visited other relatives during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Being pagan, I try to stay out of the 'you must visit me for the holidays or else' syndrome. As long as I get to see them sometime, it doesn't have to be on a holiday.

I wonder how my cats will be around a baby. This will be a first.

Weekend in Quartzsite

2009-02-05T06:12:00.000-08:00

I had a great time out in Quartzsite last weekend. I'm so glad I took my camera. The weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky. And we ran into two of our friends there who live in Torrance CA.
I bought a bunch of things for knapping and jewelry making. I aleady used some of the green beads to make earrings. I wish I'd gotten more of the polished stones for wire wrapped pendants, but it just didn't occur to me at the time.

Random Thoughts

2009-01-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

It will be a shame if all the toymakers and makers of things for children on Etsy and other art store internet sites were suddenly out of business because of the over zealous laws to test for lead content in toys. As if a knitted teddy bear or a wooden toy soldier were going to have lead in them. That law needs some serious revamping.

It's been 2 months since my faster computer died. A friend put in a new motherboard and it still didn't work. Now he's supposed to be finding and installing a power supply but I haven't heard from him in weeks. So no Second Life for me. This computer can't handle it. I already tried.

I'm in a hypnosis chatroom looking for friends I know but no luck so far. The room is pretty dead and I'm tired of trying to keep the flow of conversation going. I was never much for small talk. I'd rather draw or knit.

Computer Woes

2008-11-29T09:13:00.001-08:00

I've had 2 days of frustration as my hard drive is faltering at an alarming rate. After many attempts to start it today, it finally connected. Not sure how long I have before it crashes again so I'm typing like mad.
I feel like I need an IT guy living with me just to keep my machines running.

But it is a beautiful four day weekend so perhaps I should go out and explore the real world. We need to go back to the bike shop today to pick up nipples and spokes. I need to go to Walgreen's to pick up photos. And I want to work on archery, or at least on my new arrows. I got up early and already did some laundry and dishes so I want to go do something fun now.

Second Life Game

2008-09-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

Two days ago a friend told me about an interactive online game for social networking called Second Life. Let's just say I've never seen so much lingerie in my life. He warned it was addicting and a alas I believe he could be right. It totally took over my day yesterday.

Soapmaking, knitting, and life

2008-09-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning and decided to stay up and work on my blogs.
This weekend we are making salsa. And we are also going to make soap for Christmas gifts so I need to find the soapmaking books, which I think I packed into boxes to make room for my craft supplies. But we need to figure out what we are making and order the supplies so the soap will have time to cure before Christmas.

Even though knitting is so labor intensive it's almost insane to try to sell it on Etsy, I still persist with knitting. I'm making a new headwrap out of yarn that is a mix of purples silver and cream. It's lovely so far.

I think my wire work will sell better on Etsy. At least it gets more comments. I'm going to be in the Etsy Spotlight soon. It's an independent blog and radio show by another Etsy artist named Rod. I'm looking forward to that.

2008-09-08T11:56:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for Tagfoot. http://ping.fm/lfV6m Come see all my links and comments and my wishlist.

2008-08-31T22:36:00.001-07:00

Want to join ping.fm too? Go to http://www.ping.fm.Use the code 'legendofping' and you could have the luxury of posting to all your blogs in one fell swoop like I do. Way more efficient than doing it one by one.

2008-08-31T22:34:00.001-07:00

I'm not sure what 'ping my default' means but I guess I'll find out when I hit send.

2008-08-28T13:40:00.001-07:00

The week sure went by quick. I had a lot more planned but didn't have the energy to do it. My hands are still sore from woodcarving, and so I've had to lay off the knitting and crocheting. I'm looking forward to the weekend. My daughter may visit. We'll see.

2008-08-27T10:09:00.001-07:00

Come view my Flickr photo stream. Over 3000 photos I've taken are waiting there for your pleasure. http://ping.fm/3TTAi

2008-08-27T09:54:00.001-07:00

I just signed up for Ping.fm to make social networking more effiecient.

Left Hand Dominant Day

2008-02-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

Last night I was watching a show on keeping your brain fit. On it was a vet who had lost the use of some of his brain functions in Iraq, so they covered his right hand and he spent 8 hours a day doing things with his left hand, which built new pathways in his brain. Sorry I'm a layman, not a Dr. so I don't know how to explain it better. Anyway, the piece reminded me how critical it is to use both hands to keep your brain fit as well as saving wear and tear on your joints.

As a juggler, I know how important being ambidextrous is. In a juggling pattern, it is mainly your non-dominant hand that makes the most errors. And if I make a bad right hand throw, it's the left hand's job to fix the problem and return the throw correctly. So I've declared today my personal non-dominant hand day, and in my case that's my left hand. So I put a bracelet on my left wrist as a constant reminder. Like a dance partner in a waltz, my left hand gets to be the leader today. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I also want to try wearing a blindfold an hour a day, to force my other senses to work harder. It should improve both my sense of touch and my hearing.

Counters and Salads

2008-02-20T19:21:00.001-08:00

Hey look, my new counter is working. It says 6 people have been to this blog. They are a quiet bunch because none of them left any comments. Still, all are welcome and it's good to know someone dropped by. My Flickr has also been very busy with people favoriting things and commenting on photos. It's beginning to feel like party time wherever I go!
I am really hungry right now. My boyfriend said he's bringing me left over Chinese food so YUM! I don't have to cook tonight. He'll probably make a salad for himself. He loves to make these giant deluxe salads. It took me five years to convince him I was happy with a salad 1/3 that size. I admit I'm not much of a salad monster. I prefer a little salad to go with my meat.

Play with a kaleidoscope.

2008-02-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

Today I found a kaleidoscope making tool here: http://krazydad.com/kaleido/
I had the best time making kaleidoscopes. I saved my favorites and added them to Flickr. You just find the url of the photo you want to use and load it to the program. It was so much fun I couldn't stop!

Hello Sunshine

2008-02-05T18:10:00.001-08:00

Have you been in the sun today? Dr. Oz (on Oprah) said we need 10 minutes of sun on our skin per day to get enough Vitamin D. Just don't get it on your face and hands! If you aren't out in the sun (or there hasn't been sun shining where you live in days, you need to be taking a vit. D supplement. I suppose one of the day therapy lamps would help as well. But the sunlight needs to shine directly on your skin for 10 minutes. And if you are bundled head to toe in jackets and scarves and boots that's not going to happen, now is it?
I'm glad I live in S. Calif. I make an effort to get some sun daily, esp. since hearing that the sun for 30 minutes a day increases the mood enhancing seratonin that our body makes. So get out there and get some sun!

Busy Tuesday

2008-01-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

I have been super busy. I just ordered 3 domain names, and I'm busy building those websites. One if for hypnosis, one is for psychic stuff and one is for my new line of t-shirt art. I'm a complex person and can't fit all of myself onto one website. I've tried and soon it was just a sea of confusion. It can be challenging to be multitalented. Take today for example. I went out to breakfast and wrote the lyrics for two new songs. I've never written a waltz before so that was a real challenge.
Then I rushed home to record the new melody before I forgot it.
I grabbed some lunch and started doing a new concentrics painting in shades of green and brown. But reminding myself that life is about balance, I set that aside to dry and went to work on other things.
The hypnosis chatroom has been a challenge because the moderators took away the chatroom link from the menu bar. So now people are playing 'hunt down the link' which had kind of killed chat for the time being.

Then I had dinner and came back online to work on getting the new websites up and functioning. Why pay money for them if they aren't available to earn me some money?
Tomorrow will no doubt be nothing like today. It will be a new mad rush all over again.

Update

2007-07-27T11:04:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy summer. My blogs are making me money, more so than my art. How did that happen? Life can be unexpected. I've made some great creative friends in the Etsy chatrooms. I also blog on vox and livejournal and deadjournal and tribe net. So if you are interesting in those formats instead let me know so I can add you to my friend's list.
Why doesn't blogger have a friend's list? Or if they do, where is it?
Anyway, enjoy your summer.

I have a better idea.

2007-05-18T13:37:00.001-07:00

I decided to design my own line of knitted dolls instead.

See more progress on: Knit a knitted babe with a small wardrobe

Cambria

2007-05-13T17:27:00.001-07:00

This is Wallace the sock monkey. Some of my sock monkey friends have traveled all over the world. I want to travel all over the world too but my keeper keeps forgetting to take me along. I just missed out on a big trip to Central California. I better be getting some banana pudding out of the deal.

See more progress on: Write about my great adventures.

Chatrooms on Etsy

2006-08-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Etsy has a chatroom. Just go to about any page and on the top menu bar it says FORUMS. Click on that and on that page, in the upper right hand corner it has the chatroom button. I've met some other Etsy artists there and it feels good to cheer each other on and share tips.

The Doll With the Red Button Eyes

2006-07-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

I'm putting both these paintings up for sale on ETSY today before I get too attached to them and decide to keep them forever.

sundancer beaded spirit art doll

2006-07-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

sundancer beaded spirit art doll
Originally uploaded by fyrefantasy.

The photography really doesn't do it justice. I'm about halfway done with the beadwork, then I'll sew the edges closed, add a bit of stuffing and then add the fringe.

Sundancer doll

2006-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm working on a beaded leather spirit doll called Sundancer. The face is a little sun made of carved bone that I purchased at a Gem and Mineral show. Photos coming soon. More details here: http://hypnokittyartstudios.blogspot.com/

What's it all about?

2006-06-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

I've noticed as I list things on Etsy, I also want to talk about the projects more than the room on Etsy allows. So I thought I'd make a blog so I could be more available to the public and my fans and my customers. So far I haven't sold anything on Etsy but hope springs eternal. I've already added some artists to my favorites list and I see that some people have added me as well. I like having the moral support.