Work/life balance

The title is sort of a joke, because let's face it, anyone striking out on their own with a business doesn't have much balance of any kind. I'm writing this to postpone cleaning up my disaster of a house. I have boxes of supplies and soap stuff taking over 3 rooms that needs to be straightened and put away.


That's about the extent of the life part of my balance equation. Cleaning up the overflowing messes from my rapidly growing business. I've moved soap making operations into my house because it takes up so much room and I'm already tapped out of space at the shop.

I did, however, carve out a little me time this week and went to 2 shows. In one week. That is a rarity for me, especially since they were both on school nights. We went to the Decemberists on Wednesday, and I have been in a perpetual state of blown away-ness since. They are one of my very favorite bands, and their live shows never disappoint. I haven't seen them since their last incredible tour in 2007, and we got a two-fer this time around - they played their entire new album in song order for the first hour, and then came back out and did another hour of their older stuff. It was the best night out I've had in a long time, and the new album has been perpetually on repeat since.

And then last night we went to see Bon Iver. A very different show from the Decemberists, but equally impactful. His pitch-perfect falsetto and gorgeous harmonies were exactly what I needed to end the week. I love this video.

The other non-work item I have to report on is my vegetable garden. I planted it from seed and it has absolutely exploded, which excites me beyond words.

We are going to have cucumbers, beans, squash and hopefully peppers. Enough to feed a small country. Despite the repeated warnings I've read, I planted everything too close together. When you're planting teeny little seeds, it really is hard to comprehend how big the plants will get. The fence was put up to keep predators out and it isn't doing a very good job. Someone's been nibbling on the leaves. I believe this is the culprit:


Meet my dog Lucy. Part canine, part goat.