And the times, they are a changin'

The past few weeks, I've been spending a lot of time at Southern Pines Animal Shelter...well, more time than usual.  Which is a lot.  We've been delivering food and supplies to the community families and their pets that were most affected by the F-4 tornado that went through town three weeks ago.  You can see Steve and me in this picture in the middle on the left hand side of the picture.

More and more, I feel my heart being tugged by the shelter, its staff, volunteers and of course the animals.  This week, I will be serving at the interim shelter manager, a position that was vacated a few weeks ago when our manager left to run a larger facility in Atlanta.  For the past four or five years, I have devoted more and more of my time and resources to SPAS, and have done everything from pick up poop and bathe flea-infested babies to serve on committees and the board, including assisting with crisis management and offering advice to volunteers, staff members, management and the board.

I will be applying for the shelter manager position in a week, as I want to see how this coming week goes.  What that means for Shakespeare's Peddler is uncertain right now.  I am working on moving more and more of my business to my eBay store, which makes it easier for me to fulfill orders by taking out a lot of the steps.  If I am hired for this position, I will continue to design and use eBay to sell some needlework supplies.

I've been working in the industry for 17 years, and although I dearly love my customers, distributors, designer friends, and all the rest, I see such a need in my community for more help for the animals and community members who support and work for our shelter.  I will let you know more as I know more.

In the meantime, we've had a topsy-turvy foster month.  I lost two kittens to a terrible stomach virus in February.  I took in four from this litter.  They were covered in fleas (and in fact were anemic) when I picked them up at the shelter.  And they were very sick.  Two of them suffered greatly, and the infection was too great for them to battle.  But I have put up pictures of the two that remain: Muffin (above) and Claire (below).  I have never seen two kittens SO close to each other as these two.  They are always within about four feet of each other.  They are funny little girls, and I am hoping I can find them a home together.

I hope you all are doing well and are happy.  I feel very happy about the possible changes in my life, and have even had a hard time sleeping at night.  There is a lot for me to think about, and it may be time for me to re-invent myself.  I hope I have your support!