Ch-ch-changes

Life changes. We know that.

My life seems to change more than most. I guess that's down to my attitude that "life's to short to do anything all of the time".

I've been struggling with what to do with this blog as a result of these changes. My whole life has turned upside down not once but twice (maybe even 3 times) since I started it, I've changed as a person, learned a vast amount and had a terrific amount of personal growth to enable me to deal with things as they've arrived.

I now have my own business, that's in keeping with my original philosophy. But at the time I started I had never mentioned working in the beauty industry or becoming a make up artist. At that time I didn't think I'd ever have the opportunity to do anything like that as a business, despite my lifelong fascination with it and my (limited) artistic abilities.

But as life changed, I realized that there is a place for the "superficial" and that sometimes the "superficial"(I hate that word in this context) can actually impact dramatically on the way people feel in horrendous situations. The voluntary work I now do with Look Good Feel Better demonstrates this beautifully. They are a charity helping ladies to deal with the physical effects of the treatment for cancer. The spring in the step of these ladies at t he end of the session is proof enough for me.

When I started this blog I was "against supermarkets" (an exaggeration for the purposes of illustration),now I work for one of the big four in order to support myself during the infancy of my business. I don't mind telling you that I love working there.

The business I work for employs so many people locally and promotes, trains and develops them to a worldwide standard. That cannot be a bad thing for a tiny valley town. The waste situation is now nothing like what we had been lead to believe and the environmental policies are far superior to the effect on the environment that the multiple smaller businesses that would have to exist to fill the demand, could ever be.

I'm not saying they are the be all and end all, they most certainly are not. But what I've noticed of late is that we now shop for different things in smaller businesses. Of course I've done some Christmas shopping in work, but the majority of my gifts will be bought from small local business, primarily namely the O'Donnell Bakehouse, a variety of non"thing" gifts (experiences and trips out rather than things to dust) and some hand made stuff, which I really need to get on with.

I've been doing some house stuff of late and once again marveling at the amount of money people waste, spend on superficial nonsense and throw into things that aren't broken. Most of the things in my house have bee acquired from somewhere or other, and I love that. Story behind most of it.

Have a little look at this blog post Nigel's Eco Blog I read this morning - it is smashing. Maybe I'll take you through my bedroom overhaul, "Betty style", now I've found my focus again and come clean!

What a BEAUTIFUL autumn day - what's it like where you are?