Saturday, March 18, 2017

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1819: Over the Hump

I think I finally made it to the ‘other side.’  By that, I mean that I feel as if I finally made it to the 'healthy’ side of life. After weeks (and I mean WEEKS) of fighting various symptoms a cold/flu virus, I woke up this morning with the feeling that I am getting better. I still have a few of the symptoms. But I definitely feel that something has changed for the better. There is much less tickling in my throat and little congestion and no more body aches. I am on the mend. 



I am not usually one to complain. We all get our bouts of illness from time to time. Usually, I just ride them out without mentioning them. But this one held on for so long that it was hard to ignore it. It really took a lot out of me. While there were only a couple of days that I really felt achy and 'sick’ it has been nagging me and sucking the energy right out of me. I am glad it is behind me. 



I spent most of the last week or so of my life either sleeping or working. (By “working” I mean cutting wood orders). For some reason, we had a fabulously busy January and started off February busy as well. Lots of orders came in for wood pieces and even though I had a cold, I knew I had to keep the production line moving in order to keep up. 



Thank goodness I love what I do.  



Even though I slept a bit later than normal, once I got up and moving (and the cold meds began kicking in) I headed to my upstairs shop. I know some of you probably think I was foolish to keep working when I wasn’t feeling 100% but I want you all to know that I did respect the signals my body sent me and when I got tired out, I stopped. But I wanted to use those moments when I felt OK to do something productive. Fortunately, I would get some bursts of energy where I could accomplish things. It kept everything moving. 



I am going to spend some time again here on my blog singing my praises to having my new Elipse Low Profile Dust mask. 



I think it was by far the best investment that I made in myself and my business in years. I seriously don’t know how I got along without one for these 20+ years of me doing wood cutting. After having one for the past two weeks, I noticed a huge difference in how I felt when working in the shop.  



For those of you who missed that blog post, I am again sharing the links here. I purchased my mask from Lee Valley Tools , but you can also get them at many hardware places such as Home Depot and even Amazon.  It is inexpensive, highly effective and very comfortable to wear.  While I may look like an alien when up in the shop … 





I truly forget that my equipment is on and I find that I can work for many hours using this mask. I smell absolutely nothing. I used to smell the MDF  dust immediately when I cut it. I also had no trouble keeping my lungs clear and gunk-free – even with my cold. I do admit when my nose would run from time to time I would forget that I had the mask on and try to wipe it with a kleenex, but that didn’t happen much. If it were troublesome, I then stopped for the day. 



I am very happy that I decided to try this mask out for the new year and recommend it to anyone who does woodworking. I got the 'regular’ sized mask, but my friend Leldon found he needed the larger one. 



It has removable filters that can be replaced and are rated for 60 days of “industrial use”. 



For me, that means that each set of filters will last a couple of months. They are well worth the expense. I can’t stress enough how important this change is for me. My friend  John from the Lumberjocks site shared an article on the toxicity of different wood dust. You can read the article here: (http://lumberjocks.com/Druid/blog/100962)  (Again – what took me so long?)  So all in all, I had a pretty productive weekend. I am pretty much caught up on orders and will be packing them and shipping them out today and tomorrow. Then on to new things. 



Kieth also has been sick, but he has been working on a new design as well. He has a new Bible Verse plaque for the scrollers to cut (SLDK411 Ephesians 2:8)



The pattern is now available on our site. 



We also have some nice projects that you may like to cut for Valentine’s Day.  My SLD334 Sweetheart Candle Tray and Charms always makes a nice gift:



And Keith’s matching SLDK147 Heart Votive & Tealight Holder Tray pattern do as well. 



There is still plenty of time to make something nice for your loved ones. 



Hopefully, I will soon be putting this sickness behind us. Richard (our cat) is feeling better. So is Keith. I am going to see if I can get by without any cold medicine today which should help my productivity and get me back on track. It seems like for the past few weeks we have had one thing after another. But then, as I read on my social media page, most of you all have had some of this as well. It is just part of life. 



I hope to continue to recover from this cold and really get to work on some new and interesting things to blog about to you. I thank my many friends who have sent messages and who have kept me 'company’ during these times when I wasn’t 100%. I hope to do many inspiring things beginning very soon. 



So it is a good way to kick off the new week. I hope you all have a great week ahead of you as well. I see that “pink cloud” not too far away! 



Happy Monday to you all!



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