And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for another installment of Getting Through It! (Cue the cheesy game show music)

Okay, alright, a little silliness to start this one off. This week has been a doozie. I work in a busy doctor's office doing pre-certs and referrals. I enjoy what I do, there's a feeling of accomplishment in it, in some small way I am actually involved in the care process for patients. Makes me feel good. Complicated cases abound this week! Some left me wanting to pull my hair out, sometimes I wanted to pull someone else's hair out.

Stress relief has been a big issue for this week inside and outside of work. Aside from munching on M&M's throughout the day, laughter has been the best remedy. Humor really can be a good tool for unwinding, even in the office. Whenever there is an opportunity, we laugh. Say something silly? Laugh about it.

I've needed quite a bit of laughter the last couple days.

This doesn't look so funny. Truth be told, I was closer to crying than laughing when I figured this out last night. Seems my daughter shut the mouse inside the laptop then sat on the laptop. My husband recently sent home the computer monitor he wasn't using at his sister's. So now, my desk looks like this:

Guess it gets the job done. Not quite as portable. 

So I guess mentioning the TV is on the fritz is giggle worthy too? Yeah, not so much. Instead of laughing, my daughter was the one crying this time. Missing out on watching her shows sent her into temper-tantrum. Being ignored, she then covered herself up and "went into hiding" under her blanket where she promptly fell asleep.

I think the point here is, there's still a silver lining, even when things suck. The pendant project I began working on last weekend seems to be working out. Here's a finished product:

And, what's even better, I'm getting a photography lesson from a very dear friend tomorrow! YAY! Now I'll actually be able to take decent pictures of the things I make and, hopefully, be able to post them to sell from my Jewelry Wonder website. Planning to try some pendants from scrapbook paper I picked up on sale. We'll see how that works out. Hopefully the next week will go a little better.

Here's an extra post with a few of my creations from this week!

Bought the kitty pendant last year on vacation. I knew my mom would like it and I've finally gotten around to making the necklace!

This is a ring I put together for my niece. Not sure what the whole "mustache" thing is about, but all her friends dig it.

Swiped this idea from a blog I found on Pintrest. Here's my how-to. Going to put these on pendants for my daughter and nieces.

Ahhh, the feeling of accomplishment! I love it!

A little late night blogging to help unwind after this week...

My goal for this blog was to write and publish weekly. Fell a little short on that one. Oops! An hour or two late never hurt, right?

This week there's been quite a lot to get through. The beginning of the week had an uncontrolable crying, I'm-a-failure-kind of overtone. Maybe I should start from May of last year so you know why I felt that way. The last week of May 2011 found my family having to move out of our apartment and into my mother-in-law's house because I was the only one working and things were not looking up. We are still trying to dig out at this point, but progress is being made. The progress comes at a price.

My husband moved in with his oldest sister in July 2011 because he found work in a plant there. Driving time to visit is right around three hours. My daughter and I still live with my mother-in-law while I still have my same job. I have the help of my husband's family, but I'm essentially a single mommy for weeks on end. Parenting apart is hard. He has all the free time he doesn't want and I hardly do anything on my own.  My mother-in-law is a tremendous help, she keeps our daughter during the day while I work, along with giving us a place to live, but I still feel like I should be doing everything for my daughter when I'm home, like I owe all my time to her. I know most working mommies feel this way, I'm not here to doubt mommy guilt, merely to admit my own.

Some days it feels difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like if I worked harder or did more we wouldn't be where we are- in debt and struggling. I know we didn't get here solely because of me, but it feels that way. Feeling like a failure at being a supportive spouse and nurturing mother are a daily nag for me. Coping with these feelings can be overwhelming; I talk to friends, try to laugh and play as much as I can, often I eat the guilt literally.

There's a few songs out there that help guide me through this. No, not Martina McBride singing " I'm Gonna Love You Through It." Sorry, just not it. Here's a little playlist:

• Mumford & Sons: Roll Away Your Stone
• Blake Shelton: God Gave Me You (I know, he covered it, but I like this one best)
• Anberlin: Impossible
• Incubus: I Wish You Were Here
• Coldplay: Paradise
• Ray Lamontagne: You Are The Best Thing
• Foofighters: Learn To Fly
• Foofighters: Times Like These
• Foofighters: Walk

So there it is for this week. Thanks for getting through it with me.

First post, YAY! This little blog is about getting through it, obviously. What is it we're getting through? Tough economic times? Changes in living situations? Other circumstances out of our control? Face it, we are all getting through something. There's no shame in struggle. Everyone goes through it.  The beauty in the suffering comes in the outlets we use to "hang in there;" creativity, athleticism, work, socially, sex, drugs, and alcohol.

Whoa! Wait a minute, I'm not condoning some of those things, just stating facts. My personal preference for coping is creativity. I like to make things, mostly jewelry, occasionally hair bows. I do like to explore fashion ideas and beauty as well. Alcohol and drugs don't really hit the spot for me, a beer occasionally. Sex sounds like a nice idea, but my other half is working out of state and by the time work is over and my daughter is settled in I'm too tired to think about it!

The point is, this is my space to share those things I am into with people out there, just like me, holding on.

A new source of ideas for me has come in the way of Pintrest. There are so many ideas for projects! I don't know if I will ever get a chance to try all of the ideas I've discovered there, but I plan to try. Along with crafty projects, there are options for other things like health and beauty, fashion, food, etc.

Some of the hair ideas are kind of wild, but I like to try a few here and there. A great one is from The Paper Mama. 

I'm going to try this crafty idea from Sabby In Suburbia soon, hopefully I'll get a little break during this eight day straight work week!