Well, it’s almost over. 2010 – has been crazy, full of change, but I do feel pretty good about my 2010 word of the year, “Focus”.
Ironically, instead of JUST my fiber art and business it also became about Focusing on our family (don’t get that mixed up with the religious/political group please!). This year, the issues at our kid’s school came to a head – and while both kids weren’t happy, our son was NOT doing well. We had his hearing tested, we had the speech therapist check him over. Oddly, this last step is what led us to the conclusion, that our son might have Aspergers . For those of you not familiar with this, Aspergers is on the Autistic scale with or similar to High Functioning Autism. The speech therapist at the school suggested we have him evaluated and we did – but that took several months.
In the meantime, the situation at their school was deteriorating and we started hunting for new school options for the kids. Our search took us to a wonderful elementary school 10 miles north of our house, where we were going to commute and just drive the kids to school.
However, life took another turn and we began to think about selling our house. We did – in fact – put it on the market for a month, but got frustrated and ended up renting it out. (Picture here, working at home and having people come through once a day to ogle and criticize your house – yuck!) We’ve rented a great house in a suburban neighborhood, very close to the kids school.
Matey Moo was evaluated over the summer and diagnosed with Aspergers – it’s been the best thing to ever happen to us! He’s getting TONS of help at school and we’re coming to a better understanding of how his mind works and how we can better help him be the best he can be – we can FOCUS on him! (funny how that worked). Our daughter is also happier, and is making new friends and LOVES her new room and the new house.
In the middle of all this chaos, our business has grown and developed and changed – and yes, it’s “focused”! We’ve moved away from some things we were doing that didn’t make money and toward things that do.
As for my art – all you have to do is check out my sidebar to see the HUGE list of things I’ve finished this year! Hooray! Probably the most notable is the Bead Journal Project which was a massive undertaking…I had to finish one piece a month. I was late only 2 times! Once is this month – I have two dolls to finish in the next couple of days to wrap up the year, but I’m going to do it! It was SO gratifying to finish up all my projects and put them together and the list (and this blog) really kept me going. I’m not sure I really focused my art and found a path yet, but I figure that’s a work in progress. This year, I hope to finish up my really large projects, so it may be slower, but no less gratifying.
I’ve also been “focusing” my blogs and writing. This year will bring more changes, but I did enjoy several articles in my “in the artists studio” series and I hope to do more of those here. I also loved writing “Perfect Moment Mondays” which I will continue. Along with keeping track of all my projects here.
I’m also focusing my “Mid-Century Style” blog where I’ve recently become the national Mid-Century Style Examiner – and will be working on a wonderful new section highlighting Mid-Century Motels. AND for those of you who live in Denver, I’ve been working on Denver Parent, which is a place to find a local or special interest parent group.
So, as the year wraps up, it was chaotic, NO, I wouldn’t do it over again, but I’m glad we’re through it and here’s to 2011! May it be quieter and may our family “Bloom”!
