Laugh! Smile! We’re still Here!!

Greetings from the CLARITY SHAC-SHACK !

Thanks for popping in. I hope you are safe. We had our daily 9am conference call with some of the Clarity team earlier – the guys and gals who are helping keep the good ship Clarity afloat during this time. I have worked from home for many years, so this is nothing new to me. But for most of the team, working in isolation when you’re used to working across the desk from one another will take a little getting used to. It requires quite a lot of self-discipline and grit actually. So checking in every morning and making a team plan is paramount at many different levels. We need a new routine now, and communication is vital. Lots of goodness came through this morning, plenty of humour and laughter.

Some may say there’s very little to laugh about at this moment in time, and they’re right! We have to look for reasons to laugh and smile. I have seen some hilarious cartoons and stuff on Facebook which curled me up this week. Did you see the one with what we are going to look like after 18 months of cutting our own hair? Hang on….

See, now that made me curl up laughing. My darling smashing friend Carron, who is one of my best friends, who was my bridesmaid, and who also happens to be my hairdresser, texted me to tell me she was going to have to close her banging little hairdressing business; and then as a PS, she sent me this picture. I went from absolutely gutted – not for my hair, but for her – to creased up laughing out loud. Thank you Carron.

Call it gallows humour if you like; I call it healing. I always feel better after a good laugh, don’t you? Which can only be a good thing. It doesn’t mean I’m being flippant; just means I NEED a laugh.

It’s a fact that smiling and laughing is good for our wellbeing. It relieves stress, it elevates our mood, it lowers our blood pressure, it cheers others up, it boosts our immune system, it makes us feel more positive – the list goes on.

So keep smiling. And if you haven’t got anybody to smile at, find a mirror! It works – it really does.

Smile. Go on. Do it right now as you read this. Put a great big, warm smile on your face. Not a fake one, a proper smile. So I’m pretending Carron has just walked through the door (with her scissors!). That has made me grin from ear to ear. While you’re smiling, think of something unhappy, but keep smiling. It is actually hard – very hard – to maintain a negative thought whilst keeping a smile on your face. Try it. You’ll see.

There’s plenty to worry about and be unhappy about right now. Speaking for myself, it would be so easy for me to get miserable. Not even going to justify that comment. What would be the point? Wouldn’t change a damned thing, except make Dave avoid me! And since we’re in it together, and since he’s the only human I am allowed to be with, I really need to keep him happy too!

Or we could be facing this….

Paul made me smile today. He has insisted on going into work every day, to pick and pack orders as they come in, so that we can keep going. I called him, to make sure he’s ok. He answered the phone, and we just both started laughing. Then he started, “Who would you like to speak to? The picker? The packer? The sample scanner? The TV proposal drafter?” Silly sod.

But that’s the good news. Paul is working alone, to ensure his safety. I am working alone here in the SHAC-Shack, getting set to start recording demos for HOCHANDA and Facebook/Youtube Live.

Sam Crowe’s shows are still going ahead on Friday HOCHANDA 8am and 12 noon. She sent in Video demos which will be shown on TV, so she can stay safe at home too. Provided the tiny team at HOCHANDA can keep going, and Paul can keep going, and I can keep going – guess what !!

YOU CAN KEEP GOING TOO !!!!!

Grace has written a super appropriate blog over on the Clarity Matters Blog. It is scheduled to be posted live at 2pm our time, 10am New York time. I’m so glad she remembers that story.

We’re here to keep you company, keep you smiling and keep you crafting!!

I think I want to do a little crafting for an hour, just to calm this old washing machine head down a bit..Did you see this week’s Youtube throwback, using our “The Earth has Music” stencil, illustrated by our Mel? Very fitting just now… In fact, the other stencil in the pair is poignant too…

So let’s have a little bloggy offer ! I KNOW we’ve got these in the cupboard, but I shall just check with our Head picker….

Head Picker Paul had a quick check, and he says we’ve got about 15 of each of both A5 stencils, and the Groovi plates, and the 3-way overlay stamps! and plenty of the Freshcut dies ! So that is brilliant!!! Something for everyone!! And the prices are pretty special too!

Next thing, call Steve Ellen at home, and get him to drop the prices on the website, and load the product photos into this ’ere blog. Done.