Here’s a little project I did for my husband and our home. And, in order to remedy a problem I’ve been noticing with the site, I am going to include not one, but two pictures.

Intended as a birthday present for Hubby last summer, the project didn’t actually get completed and hung up until a few short weeks ago. It was done in stages, mostly because we are both such great procrastinators, but then again, dealing with two tonsillectomies, a wedding and honeymoon, moving, and getting settled as a married couple, maybe we did have legitimate time constraints.

I drew the picture myself, and we bought the wooden frame, glass, and black mat board from Hobby Lobby. We have 5 hooks attached to the front of the frame along the bottom, for holding keys, sunglasses, etc. You can buy as much, premade, from a store, but we found it more fun and unique to do it ourselves. Now we have this hanging near the front door, and my hubby always knows where to find his keys when we’re leaving the house.

The middle ring is holding a small “cup” that I crocheted for our pocket change, as you can see in the close-up below.

I actually made several other pouches for each of our cell phones and his eye IPod (which are not in use because we received a charging station as a Christmas gift).

The hardest part of the project might have been actually hanging it on the wall, as it was heavy enough to require two security hangers on the back of the frame, and two nails in the wall, which, of course, needed to be parallel! I let him see to that, as I seemed to be in the way when I was trying to help.

In the end, the only thing lacking was a place for our guests to hang their keys! But if they had that, they might never leave. They might think it’s their home, too. Hmm…next blog, the secret to curing your loneliness?

For now I just want to share a little bit of how I got where I am now. To me it is evidence of God working in my life!

My writing – I’ve always, always loved to write. I admit that in fourth grade I despised “Writing Wednesdays,” but that was just because I was being forced. The first stories I wrote (that I remember) were in second grade. Our teacher would staple together little booklets, and we would fill them in during class. I swear I filled in almost twice as many as other kids. I’ve also kept some sort of journal almost all my life, starting when I was probably in first or second grade until now.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy grammar and languages. I didn’t learn to enjoy it at school, but in a lot of ways despite school (I did not enjoy my composition or English classes very much). Now, I’m at the point of having participated in NaNoWriMo twice, winning both times, and dreaming about one day publishing a novel. But speaking of writing, this leads right into…

My blog – Blogging is something I wanted to get into because of how much I enjoy writing. It’s a thrill to move my fingers across the keyboard and have words appear, words that mean something. I enjoy trying to make my words flow and have a certain “sound.” In person, I’m quiet. After being so shy throughout my childhood, this quietness is sort of stuck in me, and I don’t really mind it. It just means that I usually won’t speak up unless I’m sure what I’m saying is relevant and important/useful. But it’s a different story here. Here, I can and will say what I want to, when I want to, and I know that only those who are interested will continue to read. And I’m okay with that! It’s a way for me to express my opinions, experiences, and thoughts that I might otherwise hold back, afraid no one is interested.

My art – I come from a very artistic family, on all sides. My father’s mother painted numerous landscapes, one of which is currently hanging in my living room! I have a niece whose drawings get better every time I see them. My mother’s brother, aunt, and grandmother are all very artistic, and even my stepfather brought in some income for a while by selling his art online. My husband is a whiz with a pen, with paint, with almost any medium he’s tried, so our kids may end up artists as well!

As for me, I never saw myself as an artist. I was just another kid who drew people’s faces. Until, one day, I decided to really try, and I impressed myself. I took an art class in grade school, and a tried a tutorial online one time, but other than that, I’ve been completely self-taught, and I’m proud of how far I’ve come.

Avon – I started selling Avon for a number of reasons. One, I had recently quit my job due to getting married, and I wanted to help bring in some extra income for our little family of two.

Second, I wanted the flexibility of a basically self-employed status because, as an army wife, my husband’s schedule can sometimes be unpredictable. I want the freedom to be able to work when my husband is working, so that I can be spending time with him when he’s not working.

Third, I wanted the challenge. I’m an opinionated person. I can be forceful when I need to be, as I demonstrated at my previous job when I had to speak with insurance companies regarding lack of payment on claims. And I’ve taught myself to be less shy than I used to be. But being a salesperson, developing relationships with strangers, and being assertive is another story completely. I didn’t know if I could do it, but I was and am determined to prove that I can. And you know what? I’m really loving it. Also, I get discounts on products that I’m growing to love.

I am beyond excited about this website. I’m thrilled because for me, my day job is now my passion as well. It wasn’t always the case. I’ve spent many years working at things about which I’m not passionate. It’s not a fun place to be, and I hated that time in my life with, dare I say, a passion.

I hate how it seems that we’re forced to work without passion. Yes, we’re told we should find a job we love, but if all else fails, find something that pays well. In the end, that’s what we’re pushed to go for. By society. And we have to, because we have to have that well paying job to live, really.

Not everyone can give up their day job for their passion. I was lucky, in a way. But then again, most things that seem like luck are just God working in my life. He has guided me and opened up the doors, putting me where I now stand: at the threshold of my passion.

One thing I know… Even if I’m doing what I’m passionate about every day, it’s still going to be work. My day job is no less of a job now than when I went to Dr. Chiang’s office five days a week to sit at a desk. Despite people thinking that homemaker and self-employed are the same as has it easy, I’m finding that my passion requires real work. I have to set goals, make lists, put in effort. It’s definitely more enjoyable than my old day job. It’s definitely fruitful. It’s definitely worth the effort. Why? Because I love writing, I love sharing what’s on my mind, and I love meeting similar-minded people and making friends!

I wanted to share some of my goals, or, in other words, my passions. I’m in a new phase of life: a new army wife, new to “homemaking,” newly self-employed, new problogger. How I got here is amazing; where I plan to go is exciting!

I want Ocipura.com to reflect me in more ways than it does now, in ways beyond just being decorated in my favorite colors. I want my thoughts and opinions to be easily understandable when my current and future friends read them. I want the site to mean something. I want to reach other military families who “get” me, other homemakers (be they wives or husbands), other animal- and art-lovers. I want to help people understand why I love my God! I want to share my thoughts on marriage and military and the work I do. I want to see more traffic coming to this site and also to my Avon store as I give my honest opinions about products. I even want to welcome those who disagree with me and want to argue their points.

When you come back, you can expect to find a place where you and your friends can hear about opinions and experiences of some one who may be going through the same things you are going through. I plan to include posts about what I’ve learned about home business, homemaking, art (I enjoy casual scrapbooking, drawing, crochet), being an army wife, marriage, and cooking (including recipes)!

I’m excited about the future of Ocipura.com! What do you do as a day job? Are you passionate about it? What would your dream job be??