Altered F/Altered Attitude

Found myself feeling discouraged last night. Self-doubt, self loathing. Pretty pathetic. I couldn't deal with any more LO work so I decided to start working on my "Altered F". (I had been looking for a large letter "F" to hang with my picture collage in the stairway. I gave up looking in home dec stores and decided--even though altering things isn't really my thing--to buy one at the scrapbook store and see if I could make it work.)

Somehow, while altering the letter F I had a bit of clarity and managed to alter my attitude at the same time. I realized that I had become way too self-absorbed and decided that in the morning I'd devote myself and my time to other people. Like my friends, my family. Not by doing anything heroic, but just keeping up my end of the social/family contract. And, at the end of this day, I 'm feeling pretty good about it. My list of deeds isn't super-impressive but you know what--it doesn't have to be. I did my part...maybe even a little extra.

Flashback! Remember when beaded pens were the rage? Well, I made a bunch of them for the Peacock ASCAN class (2004??). My friend Amy wanted one too and I promised to make one for her. Infertility treatments, miscarriage, and a cross-country move sort of monopolized my time and attention for a while but I decided that on my day for others I should take the time to honor my promise. So, here they are, the beaded peacock pens:

As it turns out the original pens suffered from a design flaw (they began to separate at the seams). I think I corrected it so, in theory, Amy's getting the better end of the deal. I just hope she subcribes to the "better late than never" philosophy.