Monday, August 3, 2009

Flintknapper Schedules Work, Not So Good at Play

The order for Java Jack's is in the mail. I worked full days on Saturday and Sunday to get it finished and shipped before Monday morning. I need to spend today working on the Parks contract so that I have some progress to check on my next visit to The Rooms on Tuesday.

I work at home, so it feels like I'm always at work. Over the past couple of years I've tried to stick to a regular work routine, 9-5, Monday to Friday, just to keep from working all the time and to try to be on the same schedule as friends and family. From time to time, everybody has to work extra hours, but when you work at home your job is always around you so its really easy to work too much. After a few years of doing this, its became obvious that I'm in this for the long haul. A person can't work around the clock for the rest of their life, just because the work is always there. Its a marathon, not a sprint. If I don't schedule my evenings and weekends off, no one else will give them to me.

I guess I'm just trying to say that I don't normally work weekends and that since I did to get this one order out the door I'll give myself some time off later this week when my family comes to visit from Saskatchewan. My uncle Gary and aunt Marlene are going to be visiting for a few days from Regina. Gary and Janet (who was here last week) are my mom's siblings and this is the first time they've come to visit Newfoundland since I moved here in 1996, so its been a great excuse to get out and enjoy the summer a bit myself.

Photo Credits:
Top, screen grab from Java Jacks website
Middle & Bottom, Tim Rast

Photo Captions:
Top: Java Jacks, Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland and Labrador
Middle: A pair of Fibre Optic earrings - there are lots of blues and green fibre optic jewellry en route to Java Jacks.
Bottom: The wall calendar I schedule my work and my life on.

2 comments:

  1. i've spent the summer trying to get that balance. and it's been wonderful and i feel more "whole" than i have in years. unfortunately august brings with it the anxiety that summer is almost over and that the busiest time for craftspeople is looming and we're probably all facing those 16 hour days for the next few months... it will make it easier carrying all those wonderful summer memories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like you've been having some great family time this summer!

    ReplyDelete