Mary Louise Eklund

Category: Work

  • Pulling Focus On My Own Life

    Pulling Focus On My Own Life

    Journalist Lucy Morgan With Video Camera and Phone from Florida Memory State Library and Archives of Florida as a member of The Commons on Flickr. No known copyright restrictions.
    Journalist Lucy Morgan With Video Camera and Phone from Florida Memory State Library and Archives of Florida as a member of The Commons on Flickr. No known copyright restrictions.

    Let’s start with defining what pulling focus is:

    Pulling Focus

    The process where the camera operator adjusts the lens to compensate for the movement of the main object of the shot to maintain focus on the subject.

     

    Now hang with me because using this metaphor is how I see life at times.  A big blockbuster with lots of plots and subplots and a camera following each one pulling focus on that aspect’s center image.  Work = writing, Hobbies = Beading, Parent = Aaron, Wife = Mike, Pets = Furry boys and so on.  I’m the producer and director of this mega blockbuster.  I determine who takes the lead in the story right now and how to cut together all the aspects so it’s the story I want my life to tell.  When an area loses focus – well time for me as the director to step in, evaluate what I’m shooting and straighten it out. Life is always in motion and goals are too, if focus isn’t pulled then the subjects own movement and the movement of the objects around it will cause the shot to become unfocused.  It takes work and concentration to pull focus on the main subject of the shot so that they are always sharp.

    That’s what I think of when I periodically evaluate how I’m doing (I don’t go around asking people like Koch did, I just think about it).  Recently I did that in the shower where I do my best thinking.  Something about water on the head helps I think.  Any way I saw my work life was losing the focus I wanted.  For me in my life right now I want to pull focus on my writing.  I want to be a writer, a free lance writer.  That’s where the focus of work life should hold as I move through life.  Some how it got off and was out of focus.   I’d over committed myself in other areas so that the shot was too wide, too general and not sharp.  I had to make some changes, just tweaks really to pull focus to what I wanted to be the star of that camera’s shot – my writing.

    So I realized a few things – one I want to and love blogging regularly.  Doing the five times a week was the most creative time for me recently.  Blog posts warmed me up for a day of work on the novel I pitched at the writer’s convention.  I actually finished it and pitched it and am still waiting to hear from some agents.  Then I lost focus…  So I’ve done some changes – cut back in some areas so they didn’t intrude into the work shot.  I took action to set up a great on-line beta group to give me chapter by chapter feed back as I work on polishing that novel.  I’ve got an alpha reader for my first draft novel in process  and as you can see I’m coming back here more frequently.

    The shot is improving.  All the changes go into effect in September and I hope as the focus sharpens I’ll be back here more often and eventually on a regular basis.   Also hope that I sell a novel in the next year and get the second out on chapter beta rotation as I work on a third.  Yes revealing plot to plan shots – all the while pulling focus on writing in the work life camera.  Life is hard and directing your own life is even harder but well worth the effort to make a great life for yourself.

    Mr. DeMille my worklife is ready for it’s close-up….  at the end of September

     

  • Happy 2014!

    Happy 2014!

    Dusting TV Set with a feather-brush from the National Archif of the Netherlands as a member of the Flickr Commons No known copyright restrictions.
    Dusting TV Set with a feather-brush from the National Archif of the Netherlands as a member of the Flickr Commons No known copyright restrictions.

     

    **Blows the dust away and gets out broom**

    Why hello there!  It’s been awhile since I’ve been here.  Lots has happened and not so much has happened.  I do have a good excuse as to why I’ve been gone.

    First off Miss Mo my female kitty got worse.  It was very sad.  She died and we did discover that the issue was a fast developing spinal cancer.  I still miss her very much.  She was a very special girl.

    Miss Mo at the Vet's. She made a number of visits before the spine cancer took her.
    Miss Mo at the Vet’s. She made a number of visits before the spine cancer took her.

    Next Mike graduated another post-grad program in Norfolk.  It was another trip there for a few days.  I was very proud of him.  While there we went to Colonial Williamsburg.  I made lots of great picture.  Yes I’ll do a very belated post about them.

    Then there’s work.  A few times we’ve had short staff for medical reasons, people moving, etc.  At times I’ve work full time rather than part time to help out.  I love what I do so I don’t mind.  BUT for me it’s a side thing.

    Finally my writer’s block broke.  Yes I furiously wrote 41 chapters of a whole new story, 21 chapters on my Urban-fantasy with a rural setting, and about 12 on my steampunk novel.  The muses were so demanding I’ve been cramming in writing where ever I could.  Now my goal is to go to an event in Madison by their continuing education branch where I can do pitches to publishers and agents.  Oh to get an agent!  My focus will be on the whole new story and getting it prepped as that muse is the most demanding.

    He's a cadet now. He'll be commissioned as an officer upon his graduation. This photo is from his graduation from basic earlier this year.
    He’s a cadet now. He’ll be commissioned as an officer upon his graduation. This photo is from his graduation from basic earlier this year.

    Aaron is doing well in college and in ROTC.   He got a full scholarship in bio-chem from them.  He loves having his own small apartment.  No roommate problems that way.  Being one who has to report to PT at 5:45 am with roommates who think 10:45 am classes are early can be difficult.

    The holidays were nice.  Our big present this year was a new furnace and boiler.  Our 30+ year old one finally gave up the ghost.  Heat is a must in Wisconsin and a new system isn’t free.  So each time the radiators bang with a surge of new heat we wished each other a very Merry Christmas.

    Did craft fairs again this fall and winter.  They went very well.  Now maybe I’ll make time to get an on-line shop up in 2014 along with a book agent and a few novels sold!  Eh?  why not dream big!

    Mike and I took a vacation to Florida in the fall.  Again we enjoyed an airboat tour.  Also we managed to not go to a single amusement park.  Did hit the beach though!

    Wonderful airboat tour to ourselves!
    Wonderful airboat tour to ourselves!

    Health wise 2013 was one of improvement.  My 2012 surgery seems to have helped many issues.  It’s a slow and gradual process getting healed and stabilized but well worth it.  Sadly as you get older bouncing back from such things goes slower than I’d like.

    Finally for Mike – he’s nearing the end of his Navy career and retire looms on the horizon.  I don’t know what we’ll do with ourselves.  We’ve spent all our relationship with our lives accommodating the Needs of the Navy first and foremost.  Now, there will be no monthly drills, no 2 weeks or more of active duty, no call ups – just waiting until we need to collect retirement.  However that might be pushed off another year or two if he can.  Captain Mike loves his Navy.

    Yep Blue is the leader and the cause of frequent screen repair in the summer. As you can see his brother hangs back to ensure all is well.
    Yep Blue is the leader and the cause of frequent screen repair in the summer. As you can see his brother hangs back to ensure all is well.

    Our remaining pets the two Furry Boys – Red and Blue are facing problems of aging cats.  Red has chronic kidney insufficiency.  Blue had hyper thyroid.  They both take medication regularly.  They are healthy and happy  but aging like the rest of us.

    As for comics…  Yes I’m still into them.  Saw Thor The Dark World and enjoyed it.  However I do agree Tom Hiddleston’s Loki got the best lines.  Then again I’ve always enjoyed snark  (sarcastic humor).  As for reading – I am behind.  As in a few short boxes behind not counting those I only get in digital form.  So be patient with me, I’ve been writing more than reading.  However if there’s an issue you really want to chat about – shout out to me and I’ll be sure to move that title to the top of the catch-up list.

    I guess that gets everything caught up about me and mine.  Hope you and yours are doing well, had a great holiday season and are looking forward to 2014.

  • Projects – Jewelry To Call My Own

    Projects – Jewelry To Call My Own

    My display at a craft fair.
    My display at a craft fair.

    Sorry about yesterday but blizzard and house stuff caught me and wouldn’t let me go. I looked up and it was 10PM so no post. **hangs head in shame** I am so sorry.

    However what I was doing for myself led to this post! As you know I make bead jewelry and sell it. Didn’t so much last year with tumor, surgery and all. But that didn’t stop me from making it. Any way, I’ve robbed my stash a bit to make outfits for work. I mean how cool is it to have matching jewelry? Professional and cool then someone says “Phh that’s lovely.” and I can say- “why thank-you I made it.” Then I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

    I have explained that I like organization. I like having meals planned for at least a week at a time. I like knowing my work schedule at least a month at a time. I like being able to find stuff easily. I like knowing what I have and where it is… I like organization.

    Well chronic health issues, having a slob of a teenage boy (don’t all of them come with that feature?) and generally no energy over the last few years. Things haven’t been as organized as I like. Seems when I didn’t work outside the home there was always tomorrow… the Scarlett O’Hare approach to organization.

    I found myself scrambling in the morning for jewelry to go with what I was wearing. I’d find the right necklace but dang couldn’t find earrings or vice versa. Which is really sad for a woman who has literally 100s of each if you count her craft stock. I’d gotten so many necklaces that my jewelry armoire made them a tangled mess. Over the last month or so I’ve been pondering how to address the two problems. I came up with the same method I store my stock – zip lock bags.

    One thing I have a lot of are various sizes of zip lock bags. I use them to store beads, chain, finding, finished product, etc. So I decided that I’d bag the necklace in a necklace bag, earrings (sometimes two pair because I have double pierced ears) in an earring bag then put those with the bracelet if there is one in a set bag. I could then just grab the set match a ring and watch off to work I go.

    Great but I discovered that – well I’d been raiding my stock stash rather inconsistently. Some I’d not worn. Those went right back to stock. Some I didn’t get earrings with which for me that’s a must. I don’t always wear bracelets but I do always wear earrings. Then there were pieces that needed little repairs that had gotten shoved to the back of here or there.

    Which brings me to my new project – aside from this blog, genealogy, doing bead inventory, scanning old pictures, my novel, losing weight, increasing exercise, my reading list, crochet, and solving all the world problems to create harmony among all the creatures of the planet – completing the pieces that aren’t a set and repairing those that need repair. I mean really I might be a sow’s ear and never be a silk purse dang it I can be the best put together sow’s ear you’ve ever seen. Heck you might not want a silk purse woman after seeing that!

    I intend to do some before/after crafty posts on this project. Stay tuned to see what I’m doing for myself! It’ll make mornings easier, my jewelry armoire more organized, my look more put together, and be good advertising for my merchandise. It’s a win, win! So stay tuned – until next time!

  • Back To Work

    Back To Work

    Well that was a rough patch the last few weeks.  Things have returned to their normal level of chaos so I’m back blogging.  I’m sorry that it was interrupted but I’d used my back stock of posts to cover my week in Norfolk.  So there you go the best laid plans…

    Any way I’m back just as I recently returned to the world of the employed.  I quick working when Aaron was in the 2nd grade to be a stay at home mom.  It worked out well for us and I developed a small writing career on the side.  Now it’s been 12 years out of the job market.  Aaron is out of the house.  The publishing industry is in a big turnover with the onset of e-books.  I’ve not had the energy to be aggressive enough to get what few contracts are out there (partly health issues the past year). So I was ready to get a part-time job.  Get out of the house and do something.

    It so happened during my post-surgery recovery I was shopping at a store I enjoyed when I saw that they were looking for permanent part-time workers.  So I applied and got the job.  I now work at store I always made a point to stop & shop when I was over that way.  So I enjoy my work.  I work about 20 hours a week which is perfect for what I was wanting.  Life is good!

    However my life had become casual.  My wardrobe was casual.  I’d even given up wearing make-up for the most part.  When you work alone at a keyboard most of the day, old jeans, sweatshirts, and no make-up are office attire.  Now where I work allows ‘nice’ jeans so that’s good I had some good jeans but had to freshen up my slacks and tops.

    The next step was the face in the mirror – it had aged, looking back was a woman closer to 50 than 30.  Never mind the fashion styles had changed in the past decade my make-up canvas had changed too!  So it was time to do a bit of recent research on what women over 40 were doing for work faces.

    I learned lots.  First off frosts are out – those fine lines we’re developing are highlighted by frost eye shadow or lipstick.  Now I’d given up frosted lipstick years ago but my aged collection of eye shadows had LOTS of frosts.  Chunked them.  Next – I’ve started wearing glasses since I last wore make-up, so that added a twist to my research.  Seems I can play up my eyes more with glasses.  Which is good because they have always been my best feature.  If I left off eyeliner back in the day people thought I was becoming ill – ‘your eyes aren’t as bright are you feel well?’  So after watching several you-tube make over 40 videos I learned how to line my eyes with a dark matte eye shadow. It is not as harsh as the liners I once used but still gives it that widening and brightness.  Heck even the shape of the lining is subtly different, very thin at the edges and slightly thicker in the center.  I had to fine this wonderfully thin, stiff, angled brush to do it but once I masted it I LOVED the effect.  I looked better not so outdated and worn out.   I was pleased with the various matte palettes I’d selected.  They were Nice matte muted colors to give some flair but not scream HERE I AM!  Eyes looking so much better and fresher I  considered it a check off the list. New techniques mastered and appearance improved!  However I did have a moment of silence for my former eyelashes – now it takes two layers of mascara because they’ve aged and faded too.

    Base and cream blush
    Base and cream blush

    Next was foundation, see eyes were always my favorite so I started there.  I’ve always had very extremely oily skin.  To this day I still have oil fields on my face that could be declared national energy deposits.  However I’ve also got arid dry spots that are awful and turn an angry red when aggravated by the cold winter wind.  I’d found that Oil of Olay Pro-X Clear for adult skin helped with keeping things in balance. Also some Vitamin E cream on the really dry spots when they appeared was good. However I’d always used a water based foundation with powder overlay. Except now the powder made the fine lines look like crevasses in my face. So research was needed and I’ve found a great foundation for me that matches my tone and doesn’t need powder as well as doesn’t clog the pores of my oil reserves! I’m very fair, so getting a shade that doesn’t look fake or vampiric white is very hard. CoverGirl TruBlend is great for matching without trying to orange or pink me up or pale me down to talc.  Now I could check off foundation.

    Something I’d always struggled to get right in make-up – BLUSH.  I’d gotten the notion that generally speaking powders were out.  My dry areas are my cheeks so I’d noticed that powder made them look like cracked parched mud. I’d forgone blush for years since they were naturally red from wind irritation during dog walks.  I was scared of cream blush aka rouge in my grandmother’s time. It brought back images of old blue haired women at church with red/pink streaks or circles on their cheeks. So it took lots of watching and reading and peering at images of this cream blush the experts were advocating for over 40 faces.  First off it wasn’t red or pink but followed what were now becoming common guidelines – muted neutral tones.  Sure some leaned toward pink or coral but still fell in the neutral palette. Most were muted by containing more skin tones in the mix.  These creams were swiped on the cheeks when smiling like I was taught.  One great video illustrated why – gravity has done a number on our cheeks ladies.  Smile – draw a dot on the apple then unsmile and watch that dot drop below your cheekbone then curse gravity.  I learned that now the goal wasn’t to rosy up the apple but to contour the face.  The cream was to play down areas like in the neck to hide that V that’s developing, on the sides of the head to make it the grey highlighted temples recede a bit, and under the cheek to make the apple come out more.  Thus the very muted tones were to contour.  This took lots of practice and face washing.  I had to master a contour sponge and shading.  However in the end I was very pleased with the result.

    Lip liners and neutral lip colors
    Lip liners and neutral lip colors

    I moved on to lips.   I’ve not had issues with feathering yet.  I can see that it will be coming in the future years.  I’m not a fan of bright colors.  Which I learned is very good because neutrals are the go to colors for over 40.  Especially if you are going to play up your eyes.  Don’t have bright eyes and bright lips on a mature woman it’s garish.  Also I’ve always found that bright lips on an old woman are bad it highlights a feature that has sunk and aged or one that is unnaturally plump and frozen from injections.  So I accepted the neutral palate willingly.  The hard thing is lip liner.  I’ve struggled with adopting that.  However the experts were right outlining the lips and coloring in the corner to leave the center of them a slightly lighter color does. Lip liner is dryer and keeps the lipstick from fading or bleeding which is great.  Glosses are out,  I bowed my head in another moment of silence and bid them farewell.  It was true I looked better for the liner and dropping the gloss.  We gain new tools and say good-bye to old friends as we age.

    What is the result?  A better me instead of a painted woman.  To me the best make-up is one that isn’t noticed but makes the wearer look like a better version of themselves.  Their eyes are bright, their skin tone is even, their cheeks are perky, their lips are full.  I want people to notice the face not the make-up.  I think I’ve achieved that with my new work face.  Yes I’ll have Mike take a picture as I go to work one day and make it my new photo but generally he’s gone or in bed when I leave (he does get to sleep in on the weekends and I go to work after him on weekdays).

    Now I’m ready to go to work.  I’m all up to date and comfortable in my over 40 (soon to be over 50 in a few years) skin.  Honestly, I feel I’m starting out on the best part of my life.  I’ve got achievements under my belt.  I know who I am  and am comfortable with that.  I’m secure in a relationship and finances.  I’ve got a great adult son – life is good!

    Until next time!