Juggling Many Balls

I started my costuming business about six months ago and have been learning many lessons about prioritizing and keeping myself sane.  It's not always easy!

First and foremost I'm a mother and a wife.  We home school our two children and my husband works full-time, so I have many daily responsibilities around the house.  Besides trying to keep things relatively clean and getting dinner on the table, I have to supervise the kids and help teach them when they're stuck on their lessons.  Among these things I try to sew at least four hours most days, and sometimes eight or more.  Really, I'm doing three jobs.  I'm a full-time mother, full-time wife, and lately have been putting enough hours in each week in costuming to make that a full-time job also.  And some people in politics have criticized stay-home moms for not "working"?  Let them come and try my job for a week!

Anyway....back to safer subjects than politics.

Currently I am helping a drama teacher at a local private school, making myself available to the parents who want to commission me to make costumes for their children.  So far I have completed four costumes and have six more to finish within the next seven days.

So far I have six commissions to finish by Dragon*Con (Labor Day weekend), two others by October, and a grand total of 12 for my own family.  Yes, the latter is really my own fault since we decided on all-new costume sets for this year's Dragon*Con, as well as clothing for me and my husband by next month for a Gone With The Wind themed barbecue.  That's a lot of personal costumes, but going to these events in outfits I made is some of my best advertising.

So that's six costumes in the next week, two more in the next month, then a whopping 18 over the next four months!  Considering that a simple outfit can be done in four hours but a complex one takes 10-20 hours, I'm looking at somewhere around 250+ hours of sewing between now and October.  This means I'm going to be putting in at least 15-20 hours every week.  While that may not seem like a lot, and is really a part-time job, remember that I also have jobs as a wife, mother, and home-school teacher, as well as being involved with church and local theater.  And somewhere among all of that I would like to have the chances to spend time with my family, go on vacation, and sleep.

Still, I love all of it and wouldn't give it up.  God has given me the chance to take a fun interest and turn it into a business that is quickly growing.  Sewing is actually relaxing and therapeutic to me, and is a nice change of pace from the rest of my duties.

Even so, I often feel like a juggler with too many balls in the air.