Sunday is a day of rest.

I've always heard that Sunday is a day of rest and today I took that literally. I put a roast in the oven for dinner, checked facebook and e-mail and spent the rest of my day RESTING. It was wonderful. Why is it that we get so busy being busy and trying to accomplish things that we forget to take time for ourselves? I watched 2 football games and one baseball game and yes, it was by choice. I watched my Indianapolis Colts WIN!! and My Man, Peyton Manning with his new team the Broncos (who used to be my team when I lived in Wyoming). Then I watched the St Louis Cardinals lose their first play-off game. :( I made three necklaces and talked on the phone to my daughter and my sister. What did I accomplish? you ask. Well, I did cook that roast. Other than that not much unless you think there is value in jewelry making. I didn't, clean, work on the yard, decorate for Halloween or get things ready for work. It isn't that I don't like working in the yard or decorating, okay you got me, I DON'T like cleaning, I just needed sometime with no expectations and no busy-ness. And I must say it was wonderful. I will still have to harvest the peppers and tomatoes and cut back the morning glories for fall but not today. I will decorate the porch with spiders and spooky Halloween creatures but that will also have to wait. Tomorrow I will be back at work (No, you don't get Columbus Day off in the Mental Health field!)and that is okay because I will be rested, refreshed and ready to spend time with my clients.

But for the rest of today I plan to continue with my self-indulgent pleasure of doing what I want to do and not what I need to do for just a few more hours.

Recycled Jewels for mental health

I am a client representative in mental health. I spend my days providing skills training to people that live with mental illness. They are challenged in varying degrees by symptoms of serious illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder or personality disorders. I am privileged to share their walk through life in a very intimate way and I know that I have learned far more from their determination, strength and courage then they will ever learn from me. That being said my work can be very challenging at times and many days I come home exhausted and too tired to take on any other major projects. Yet, I am the type of person that needs to spend time in some type of creative endeavor. Recently a client introduced me to a project that I find feeds not only my creativity but also calms my nerves at the end of a busy day. It is a simple craft that will probably never make me rich or bring me fame but it brings me joy and the quiet repetition brings me peace after a very busy day. I have started making jewelry. Placing beads in an order that pleases me and then carefully stringing them onto wire or stretchy cord and finishing them off with a clasp or a crimp bead. I played with this for awhile and soon realized that beads can be expensive, especially if you complete a necklace every night so I decided I had to get creative or my new found hobby would soon bankrupt me. The solution came in stages, first I saw a necklace I'd bought a while back and never wore any more. I decided to take it apart and use the beads for something else. Then I started to look through all my old jewelry that I no longer wore. Finally it dawned on me that many women buy jewelry and then tire of it and donate it at The Salvation Army, Good Will or St. Vincent De Paul's Stores. I started to make regular stops at these stores and buy necklaces and bracelets for $.50 or $1.00 and cut them apart and use the beads. As friends and relatives started to hear of my hobby they would donate old jewelry to me and thus my new production, Recycled Jewels for Mental Health began. I don't have any type of business plan or goals statement, for now I am just happily making jewelry that hangs on a hanger in my spare room. I will eventually have to decide what to do with the jewelry or my house will be over run. I have given three necklaces away but the rest hang in my spare room decorating the space, calming my nerves and making me smile.