Sea Monkey Worship Page!

Wow, it's been quite a while since I wrote, but things have been so crazy lately that I haven't had time to think. To alleviate my financial woes, I started a new business, You-Nique Books making handmade books, journals, albums, and everything else. It was great fun, but a lot of work selling at craft fairs and farmers' markets. (As a note, when someone tells you they would happily pay $25 for something, it means they will pay $5.00, which doesn't even cover your costs, or they will steal your idea and try to do it at home...fellow crafters, you have been warned!) I was also offering classes at the giant craft store Michael's -- I say offering because I didn't actually teach one, but I did take time to promote them in store at $9.00 per hour! Eeek!

I've stopped doing all this now to take on a full time (EEEEK) job with my local community services agency as a family support worker. It is an amazing job, which allows me to use all my creativity. We've started a once monthly games group for youth at the library, which is going really well, and I get to be super creative in the ways in which I work with adults and kids, doing crafts, going for walks, and the like. (I'm not really a sitting behind the desk asking about someone's childhood kind of person!) And although this is all great, it means I haven't got much time for the site any more. Heck I don't have much time to think any more.

Okay, I must sound like such a wuss, whining about full time work leaving me no time for a life, especially considering that my commute is maybe 10 minutes (15 if the school buses are out picking up kids on the main roads), but it's the illness. If you've read this site before you'll know that I have chronic fatigue syndrome (and for those who mock me, the University of Glasgow have discovered genetic markers, so it's not all psychosomatic as some crooked doctors would have you believe...yeah, I know, I have issues), thus I'm exhausted by even a little work, let alone a full day's graft. So here's the thing...something has to give. My brain is slightly fried at the end of the day, and my body is wiped out. I'm trying to my hardest to do the best job I can at work, but my after life is going to suffer. My social life is going to suffer, and my ability to run this page is going to suffer.

Sorry about that, but I am sure you understand.

So please keep in mind that if you have written to me recently to ask a question, I might never get to it. I currently have 863 e-mails to respond to and I will be lucky if I get to five of them. Seriously. If I have to make a choice between spending time with my family or friends or puppy (who is the cutest dog in the world...) or reading a good book or going to the park or eating sushi, I'm choosing the not answering e-mails every time. It's not that I don't care about the site -- on the contrary -- it's just that I have to make choices. Having chronic fatigue syndrome (or ME as they call it in England) is like having the flu. Now imagine that you have the flu -- sometimes you feel a little better, sometimes worse -- every single day of your life. You'll appreciate that doing even tiny things like sitting at the computer can be hard.

I'm not justifying myself out of guilt or anything like that, just giving you a heads up. As much as I would love to be more active on this site, I can't. I hope the FAQ's help out, or the Yahoo community linked on the index page of this site (click home to find the link), or the basics section that offers a little help, because I won't be able to guarantee that your e-mail will be answered. I am sure you all understand...