I'll Sleep When I'm Dead - Less than 48 Hours Until It Starts All Over Again

There is still another weekend of Jazz Fest - a longer weekend - and I worry that my shrine activities have exhausted me.  I certainly got what I wanted, and I met many wonderful people who visited the shrine on festival days.  

The pages in the guestbook delight me.

However, I do work from home, and I really did not get enough sleep (I have this broken heart that makes it hard to sleep even when I am trying to), and I worry that the shrine is overwhelming me.  Monday was a non festival day, and I actually made a barricade around my house so I could sit on the porch.

In an attempt to make this weekend's shrine activities more fun and less stressful, I am taking an inventory of where my energy is going regarding the shrine.

Morning Activities

1. Depending on the wind, each morning parts of the shrine need to be secured. This often involves a lot of going in and out of the house because I am just not a morning person, and it is hard for me to do anything without coffee, so I waste a lot of time looking for stuff.
2. Lupe really needs to go for a walk in the morning, so she's a little bit frisky. I imagine playing fetch with her in the back yard will help since walking her is not a good idea (see also: TJ's crowd anxiety when more than 12 people want to pet Lupe within a 5 minute period).
3. Writing about shrine on the neighborhood sidewalks with chalk. I actually love writing about the shrine with sidewalk chalk, and the chalk is more effective than flyers are. However, I have to leave the shrine and Lupe in order to do this. I should write with the chalk at night and hope it does not wash off, or beg anyone to help with this.
4. I absolutely have to eat something before noon. It is a little scary when I think my stomach growling is actually my BlackBerry.
5. Buying ice at Cansenco's can be done at anytime, but if I forget, I will ask somebody.
6. Dealing with the fact that I am not a morning person and that it is hard for me to pose for photographs while parts of the shrine are blowing around in the wind.  Maybe breakfast will help with this?

Afternoon Activities

1. Feeling better because it is not morning.
2. Talking to visitors.
3. Making Bic lighters.
4. Trying to not leave anything valuable on the porch but also trying not to have to repeatedly go into the house.
5. Explaining that I will never scold Lupe for barking at strange men who try to enter the house or go up on the porch or touch me. I have trained my dog to protect me. She barks because I cannot. I should make a sign about Lupe and make it more clear that the porch and the house are off limits.

Evening Activities

This is the fun time when people visit the shrine, and I really love the evening.


The Contests are from 1 - 9 pm, and I can handle that. 

I hope to continue the fun activities at the shrine, but I am worried that I am too tired to cope with guests who don't respect my boundaries.
 


I have been wearing a fox tail on my tool belt for a year, and a woman pulled it off because she loved it so much, so I had to sew my own tail back on. I did not lose my temper. 


The Sacred Shrine will be able to receive guests this weekend, but if anyone has any suggestions about how I can make it less stressful (NOT suggestions about how I can make more decorations), please email me directly at sacredshrinenola@gmail.com.


The Sacred Shrine will be there for you. 


~Tara Jill