True Value

This picture is a Mother-Daughter bracelet set I made.

I like to do crafty things. I like having extra money. I like being staying at home with my daughter. So to combine all these things I like, I thought I would sell some crafts I made. I did two craft fairs, and started an Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jepcreations.

I also like to read, so I checked out about ten different books on starting a business and selling crafts. Most of the books were very similar, and one thing that was in each book was pricing. They said that you need to price your craft appropriately so you are compensated fairly for your time, effort, and materials. You also need to factor in how much of a profit you want. Another factor is your overall financial goal. Decide how much you want to profit in a year, how much you can produce in a year, then do some simple math to see how much you should price items.

One book took some time to go a little deeper and focus on not devaluing your handmade crafts, which leads to the devaluing of other people's crafts.

We live in a world where everyone wants the lowest possible price on clearance with a coupon. Big box stores can give a lower price because everything is mass produced in a factory by machines or child labor. The non-monetary value of these items is low, where as a handmade item (meaning made with lots of love and effort) has a lot of non-monetary value, which requires a higher monetary price.

If I price my items too low in the hopes that I will just hopefully sell something, then I have devalued myself and my craft. There is something special about a homemade item because of the time, attention, care, and love put into the making of each item. It has an intrinsic value that can't be mass produced. When you devalue your items, it devalues the items of others because you aren't owning up to the time and effort it takes to make a homemade item special.

If you make a craft, be proud of it, take ownership, don't downplay your work. If someone compliments you, tell them "Thank you!" not "It was nothing..." because it was something! If you show others the value of homemade crafts, they will understand and apply that value to the crafts of others.

You are making a homemade craft every day- that craft is you! Don't devalue yourself. If someone thanks you for what you have done, say "You're welcome!" Don't tell them it was nothing, because it was something, it is something.

You tell people your value in the way you dress, the way you stand, the way you talk, the way you interact with others. If you don't value yourself, other people won't value you either. Be a unique homemade craft of great value, not a mass produced item.

In valuing yourself highly, you set a standard for valuing others. You show others what you are worth and that others are worth the same. Keep your value high!

It's a Free Country, Isn't It?

 

I worked in a Jr. High school for almost a year. It's a hard time for those young teens. They are transitioning between being children and teenagers. Wanting respect and freedom.

 

One girl in particular was having trouble finding the line between right and wrong. She hit another student in the class. I had a little talk with her about what she could and couldn't do.

 

I told her she couldn't hit people. Her response was, "It's a free country, isn't it? I can do whatever I want!" There wasn't the time, nor was her brain ready for what I wish I could have told her then. So instead I'll tell you now.

 

Primitive man lived in a tough but simple time. You kill the saber-tooth tiger or it kills you. You find shelter, warmth, food, and water or you die. You procreate or your species goes extinct.

 

As time went on, brain's developed, skills developed, more inventions were made. Man decided that survival would be easier if it wasn't each man for himself, but that life would be easier and better if they worked together. It started out with men going out in hunting groups, women gathering plants and child rearing.

 

This worked until man had fights about who was in charge. Who owned what property. Who would get the best meat. Who gets to mate with whom. There was a need for leadership and rules or chaos would break out.

 

As man organized and refined themselves and their society more, there was the ability for unique skills and a trade based economy. One person farmed, one person hunted, one person made clothes and shoes, etc.... They bartered goods and services, and this went on until the time we have now where the are very specialized jobs because we have a system of money and value.

 

None of this could exist without rules and laws. For man to work together, live together, exist together, there has to be definite rights and wrongs that are decided as a society and culture. When man started working together they had to lay down some ground rules.

 

Man said you can't kill someone and stay in our group, it leads to anger and revenge. Man said you can't take other people's property and stay in our group. Man said we need to decide on these rules together, not everyone will be happy with all the rules, but we'll find a compromise where we can all live together in safety and peace. Man said there needs to be consequences for breaking the rules so people will follow them. Man said there needs to be someone to decide the rules and enforce the laws. Man decided a communal vote would be the best way, let the group decide.

 

Man said you are free to live in our group if you follow these rules and laws. If everyone does what's right then we can all live together peacefully enough. If you break the rules, you can't be part of this group anymore.

 

This is a basic version of how our society works. Each country, culture, religion, society, and village has their own group with their own rules and laws. If you break the law, then you have to recieve the consequences of your actions. If we didn't have this order, there would be chaos, and we would return to primitive times.

 

The United States of America has rules and laws, but they aren't as severe in certain areas as other countries. We elect our local leaders, and they help the national government rule the states to maintain peace in our country.

 

Yes, it is a free country in the respect that we have many liberties that other country's citizens do not have. We can make our lives what we want them to be as long as we do not infringe on other's rights. Yes, you are free to hit the boy next to you, but since that breaks one of society's rules, there are negative consequences. If you want to be part of the group, you have to follow the rules.

50% Mom, 50% Dad, 100% Cute

Looking Good

A couple days ago I got a decent amount of sleep, ate a good breakfast, and exercised in the sun and fresh air. This picture describes how I felt afterwards. It feels good to make healthy choices!

I read a quote that said, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!" I'm changing it to, "Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!"

I also read, "If it took more than a day to put it on, it will take more than a day to take it off." It's hard not to want the weight to just fall off, but I need to be realistic and realize it will take a long time. But the good thing is, I don't have to be skinny to feel I am healthy. Healthy eating and exercising is what feels good, even if I haven't reached my weight goal.

Something that I try to remember to do is engage my abs. I'm not talking about sucking in my stomach for a picture, but engaging the stomach muscles so they are proactive not loose and flabby.

If you raise your arms a little, you can feel the arm muscles are engaged, but it's not too tiring to hold for a while. If you raise your arms over your head, you can feel your stomach muscles engaging. Engage them while sitting or standing, but make sure you can still breathe normally. Breathe through your nose, so that you stomach expands, not your chest. It takes some practice to get it down, but once you do, your stomach will feel better and look better. It's not something you can do constantly, but if you do it occasionally, your body will appreciate the effort.

Another quick 'weight loss' tip is to stand and sit with good posture. Slumping pushes the stomach out and rounds the shoulders making you look bigger and awkward. Stand up straight and you'll look taller and leaner immediately, you will also feel better about yourself.

Live long and prosper!

Unwritten

Hilary Weeks sings a song with the lyrics, "For the roads I've never traveled, for the pain I never knew, for the places that ... [I was] kept ... from, ... for the days that were not wasted, for the years not spent in vain, I'm grateful for the stories that remain unwritten."

My husband and I had both been engaged for a short time and broken it off before we met each other. We've talked about how life would have been different if we had married the other people, and we both agree it would not have been good.

When my husband was deciding where to go for college, his mom encouraged him to go UVSC, now UVU. He decided to go to another school instead, but looking back, it is interesting she suggested that because that is where I went, and we would have been there at the same time for a couple years. We probably would have never met though, being in completely different degrees, and with him being a little ahead of me. Also, he wouldn't have wanted to date me because I would have been too young for him, just graduated from high school. The older people get, the less difference a few years makes.

Growing up where I did, every once excepted me to go to BYU because it's just what you do. My parents met at BYU and both graduated from there. I also expected I would go to BYU up through part of my senior year of high school. Someone suggested I should apply to UVSC as a back up. I wasn't worried about getting into BYU because I had good qualifications. I started my application to BYU, then halfway through I took a break and decided to look at UVSC's website. I filled out the application and at the end it said I'd been accepted to UVSC. I thought that was awesome, so I filled out the scholarship application and ended up getting one. I never finished my application to BYU, and I never regretted it. All my friends went to BYU, and several with similar qualifications got scholarships, so I probably could have too, but I didn't want to. Attending UVSC was a great experience for me. I learned more things, and different things than I would have at BYU.

These were major life change for me, and I am very glad I went down the paths I did, and very glad that I did not choose the other options.

There are many other things I'm glad have not happened to me, more serious things, like rape, abuse, war, loss of limbs, death, disease, serious sickness and pain, poverty, etc....

We all have our own personal demons from our own personal hells. I will always have to deal with my troubles, as will everyone else. I'm just grateful that I don't have the hells that others do. My life could be so much worse, and I'm grateful that it's not.

I know many people that can hardly think about what it would be like to have my personal hell. I think the same of others too. We deal with what we are given. Some days we deal better than others, but life moves on and so we have to also.


Many people say, count your blessings when you are feeling sad. Here's another suggestion- think of the places you were kept from. The paths you did not take. The days that were not wasted. The pain you never felt.

This is not to make your burden less real, less painful, or less important. It is to give you a perspective of what your life could be like. To help you realize that everyone is hurting, and in ways you would never want. To help you realize that you're not alone when you lie awake at two in the morning. Be grateful for the stories in your life that remain unwritten.