False Serenity.

Okay, so remember when I posted a few weeks ago about the Redcurrant Jelly, and I was all serene about how it didn't turn out the way I wanted but I was still happy with it? 

I might have gone back on that position a bit. 

In fact, while I was making the Blackcurrant Jam, (which I boiled the heck out of and thus turned into an awful gummy mess,) I thought I might try and give my redcurrant syrup another wee boil, to get it to set. 

Big Mistake. 

I got it to setting point and as I was pouring it into the jar it burnt. It tasted like sugary death. I was SO disappointed, and maybe a little bit angry with myself - all that delicious fruit wasted! (which is why I didn't Blog it right away - time has lessened the sting.)

So, since I won't be using them, I thought I would share these labels I made for my preserves. 

****Click here to Download the .pdf of the Labels!****

They're nice labels - They deserve to be on better preserves!

Positive Procrastination

Everybody procrastinates, right? Well, there must be some people out there who don't, otherwise nobody would get anything done, and we wouldn't have cool stuff like Robots and Video Phones. (We're living in the future baby!)

But I digress. The point is that sometimes, those things we do to procrastinate aren't all bad. For example, I was all fired up about getting a new project underway. I had allotted myself an hour* to sit down and do some sketches. But did I do that which I set out to do? No. I cleaned my desk.

In fact, I sorted the entire workroom, but I only have photographic evidence of the desk. This took about 45 minutes, which left me 15 minutes for sketching before I had to stop and take care of boring stuff like laundry and cleaning.** I could have just shoved all the crap out of the way and got on with what I was supposed to do but I'm glad I didn't, because now I have a well sorted workroom, and when I allocate an hour to work on things I know that I can just sit down and start working.

So tell me, dear readers, how does procrastination manifest itself in your day to day doings, and what do you do with it! Or are you proof of my theory that there are, in fact, people who don't have this problem? (In which case, TEACH ME YOUR SECRETS!!)

*Time management: that's a whole blog post in itself...
** don't worry, the irony is not lost on me.

Getting Stuff Done

Well that is the plan, at any rate. I hit a bit of a slump in the old productivity over the past few months, but with a few changes in place (the elder child starting school, the younger child having daycare for a couple of days a week and Himself going to college) I should have some time aaall to myself. And it is in this time that I shall Get Stuff Done.*

The first thing that is getting done, house work and other pressing matters aside, are paper dolls. When I was a smaller person I loved paper dolls, we had several sets and there was something special about them that you just couldn't get with an actual doll... who knows, maybe it was an early sign of my future "pretty things on paper" fetish which has manifested itself over the past few years! So it's something that I wanted to share with my kids. I have the base doll drawn up, and all I have to do now is give her some clothes...

Second on the list is to make a Rug. I have two collections on the go at the moment, one of old t-shirts and one of old jeans. Both are destined to become rugs. We shall see if they are worthy of being shown to the world.

So now that I've blogged about doing these things, I am obliged to keep my promise to the internet (and you, dear readers) and, you know, actually DO them. Wish me luck!

*I know that serial capitalisation bothers some people, but I truly believe that some things have transcended mere noun-ness and deserve the hallmark of a Proper Noun. I beg your forgiveness for my little follies, they make me happy :)