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Sep 9

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Cathy: Pleasant surprises

 

As I write this, it is Sunday evening. This morning I made another rare go of getting myself, one son and the baby off to church. This will not be a religious blog, I swear. One reason it is tough for me to attend church regularly is my son S’s autism. He’s high-functioning, most likely Asperger’s, but as is often the case, his diagnosis is a general one, and the fight for a specific one is exhausting and expensive. His behavior in public places can be very disruptive, especially when the expectation of quiet and stillness reigns, such as church. So, this morning, I went, I warned, and I will attempt to take him next week. If you didn’t notice, my tone is very dry here, as it often is when discussing S, who brings more spontaneous joy, and more challenges, headaches and avoidance of many social situations than any kid I’ve ever known, and I’ve known a lot more than most people. We have a small circle of friends, it is very small, and mostly where we used to live. If he is not directly responsible for this, he is indirectly, as challenges with him are probably my most visited topic of conversation. I love him dearly. It’s a tough kind of love.

So I came home, and he was still sitting in front of the TV, Honey was bemoaning that he wouldn’t listen when asked to turn it off, S and K almost immediately got into a back and forth, which escalates his voice in pitch and volume to a decimal level unlike any other human utterance. Oh boy. I’m not feeling great about him today. There have been many challenges all week with the transition back to school, and I hate to say it, but I’m kind of ‘over it’ already. K’s friend came over, and I basically forced them to include S, just so I wouldn’t hear another screech and have to deal with it. I will add now, I am incredibly sleep deprived from exclusively nursing Baby C until the six month mark (three weeks from now), when I will jump for joy when she eats her first cereal, because it won’t be me.

The guys wandered out of K’s room a while later quite noisily, and I’d just nursed Baby C to nap. I kicked them out to fresh air. K and friend exited the front door, S the back, left to wander the backyard on his own. I began to dread what would happen next, assuming he would come back in whining that K and friend wouldn’t let him play with them. Instead, he came in announcing I needed to get rid of the caterpillars all over my garden. I was only half-listening, which, I hate to say is often the case because he says everything with such urgency. So he repeated it several times until his message got through and he had my full attention. “They look like monarch caterpillars! I’m throwing dirt on them so they’ll go away. They have these orange things they stick out when I throw it at them.”

“Please leave the caterpillars alone. They aren’t hurting anything, you don’t need to torment them with dirt.”

“But MO-om, they’re eating up your garden! Get some pesticide!”

“Did you say monarchs?! Show me!”

He lead me out to the garden, and there they were: six monarch caterpillars all over my nearly leafless carrot stems.

Now, you may be asking what all this has to do with creativity. One: my son inspired me out of my funk and to love him a little more once again. And two: It’s monarch chrysalis season! Is there anything more inspiring than that?

I really hope they stay to build, transform and emerge with their wet wings flapping right there on my naked little carrot stems. I am so happy to sacrifice those carrots, even if I’ve worked very hard on my little vegetable garden, which has been largely decimated by rabbits through the hole in the fence, squash bug invasions, and other critters this year. If they do stay, I will gladly share more pictures with, hopefully, some spinning, some butterfly brewing stillness, some wet wings flapping and flying away dry, royal, orange and black. I wonder if the storm that turned out to be not much of a storm blew them in?

Sep 8

8 Comments

Kate: On Daily Writing

A couple of weeks ago, in an effort to catapult myself out of a summer-long funk, which I described here, I began getting up and going to the coffee shop to write each weekday morning. My husband’s job had slowed down enough for him to be home until 9 am, and this allowed me two hours (or 1 ½, as is usually the case) to write.

I needed this desperately. My husband’s job, which he began just three weeks after Zoë was born, meant long days (12-14 hours) and a number of road trips this summer. Stella was out of pre-school for the summer, and I spent my days juggling my girls. By the time I got them both to sleep in the evening I was too drained to think, much less write. (And I’ve never been a night writer. Sadly, I get progressively stupider as the day goes on, so I need to write in the morning if I want anything coherent on the page.)

I literally ran out the door the first morning of my new writing ritual, jumped in the car and drove to the nearest coffee shop, where I quickly ordered my coffee and set up shop. This is the same coffee shop where I wrote the bulk of Ready for Air, and I’ve spent countless hours there, glued to my computer. Because of this, I know most of the regulars, something I realized that morning when they all greeted me as if I had returned from a long journey (which, in a way, I had). The problem with all the greeting, though, was that I got very little writing done.

The next day was better because I had explained my 7-9 time slot, and when my coffee shop friends saw me again, we waved, smiled, and I got straight back to work. Let me repeat that: I got to work. I got to work. I can’t tell you how this—a few hours in the morning five days a week—has changed my outlook on life.

When I arrive back at home to a fussy infant (and a ready-to-start-the-day almost five-year-old), I smile. I kiss my husband goodbye as he heads out the door, nurse the baby, and plan what’s next with Stella. Don’t get me wrong, as the day wears on I still get frustrated and Stella still gets time-outs. My arms still ache from carrying my not-so-little Zoë. But I feel lighter. I feel more like myself. And this is because throughout the day, I think about my work, about the essay I’m trudging through, about what I might add to it the next day. It’s near the surface, and I love that, because it makes me think that my mind is working on it all day, even when I’m doing something as mundane as putting toys away. This reminds me of Miranda’s comment on my last post. She claimed that even laundry could be a creative act. Cathy and I scoffed a little. But this is exactly how I’ve felt the last two weeks: all those little, housekeeping, family-tending things I do everyday are now infused with creativity—they are enhanced by my writer’s mind, at work again.

Even when D has had to go on road trips and I’ve had to miss a couple of my writing days, I know I’ll get back to it as soon as he’s home, so I’m not constantly wondering when I’m going have time to write. And this is such a relief. I have a schedule. I know when I’m going to do my work.

There is also something to be said for not writing until I’m exhausted. Each day when I leave the coffee shop to head home, I’m reluctant to go. I feel I could write for another two hours—or four. It’s hard to leave my work, but this means that I’m always excited to get back to it the next day.

I just wanted to let you know that it’s working. I’m working again, and I feel so much better. I’m officially de-funked.

Sep 5

5 Comments

Breakfast with Benita

I am so excited about this week’s Breakfast guest! We’re off to Sweden to meet Benita Larsson, blogger behind the insanely popular Chez Larsson. Of all the dozens of blogs I read regularly (I’m up to 52 in my Google reader), Benita’s is an absolute fave. She blogs about organization, creative hobbies, and domestic life with an inspiring, original flair. I can’t read her blog without itching to go clean out a cabinet. True, I happen to be an organization junkie — but this stuff is so good! Since my birthday arrives in a few days, this interview was a gift to myself. Birthday cake for breakfast? I’ll take a big slice, please.

CC: Please give us an intro to who you are, what you do, and your family parameters.
BL: I’m 43 years old, the visual merchandiser of a chain store in Sweden where I’m in charge of the look of the marketing campaigns. I buy the props, the promotional materials, and the gift wrap for 150 shops. I live in small house in a Stockholm suburb with my husband, 14-year-old son, and two cats.

CC: What prompted you to start blogging? Are you surprised by your blog’s popularity?
BL: I had a Flickr account and people were noticing my photos and commenting on them and blogging them. I got Flickr mail requesting house tours and quite a few questions on whether I would start a blog. I resisted for a while thinking I don’t have that much of interest to share but then thought I might as well give it a go. I’m completely overwhelmed at the popularity! To think that people all over the world are reading what I write and find it interesting amazes to me. I get the sweetest e-mails from readers who say I’ve inspired them to become more organized and I love that!

so many crafts, so little time...

so many crafts, so little time…

CC: You have many creative pursuits, in addition to a talent for organizing (to which you bring much creativity). Can you tell us about your various creative hobbies and interests? What does “creativity” mean in your life? How does your design background figure in?
BL: I always take on way too many creative projects… Most are to do with our house. I love renovating, organizing, decorating, and gardening. I sew pillows for my home and my Etsy shop, screen print fabric, gocco print card for my shop. I wish there were more hours in a day to fit it all in… Creativity to me means seeing possibilities in everyday items and being able to turn nothing into something. I don’t really have much professional training in the design field. I started out as a trainee at Ikea more than 20 years ago and I think that Ikea influenced me in thinking economically about design and decorating and keeping things simple. I worked there for three years and have since worked for many companies but I think the simple Ikea way is probably my biggest influence. Although I don’t think of my home as an Ikea home. There are not that many Ikea pieces in there. I guess I have a sort of love/hate relationship there…

blogging spot

blogging spot

CC: You clearly like to be busy and productive. How do you prioritize among family life, work life, blogging, domestic work, and creative projects? What are your time-management strategies?
BL: All of it at once! I’m very impulsive when it comes to doing things. I think of something and want it done immediately and finish it off quickly. Problem! Like I said there are not enough hours in the day. The way I’d love to prioritize is 1) Family 2) Creative projects 3) Blogging 4) Domestic work 5) Work life. That would be ideal. The truth is more like this 1) Family life, domestic work and work life in a jumble 2) Creative work 3) Blogging. I so wish I didn’t have to got to an office five days a week but at the moment we can’t afford to cut down. I’d love to come up with something which would allow for me to work from home…

craft area

craft area

CC: Where do you do your creative work and blogging?
BL: I blog at a standing desk in the hallway of our house. The creative work is done all over the house, depending on what it is. Carpentry in the garage/workshop, sewing in the living room, papercraft at my craft desk etc. There are usually projects going on in all of these spaces.

CC: Challenges: What do you struggle with most?
BL: Lack of time!

CC: Where do you find inspiration?
BL: I read design blogs and housy blogs. I love foreign interior design magazines and books and I occasionally travel abroad, which is inspiring too.

gocco in the kitchen

gocco in the kitchen

CC: What are your top 5 favorite blogs—the ones you check every day?
BL: That’s a difficult one. Only five huh? I love these, but many, many more too…

CC: What is your greatest indulgence?
BL: Getting somebody to clean my windows twice a year. I hate doing them as I can never get them perfectly clean and this guy arrived and swoosh, they are perfect! I love it!

garage space for building furniture

garage space for building furniture

CC: What are you reading right now?
BL: I just finished reading a nostalgic coffee table book about candy and ice cream. I also love crime novels…

CC: What advice would you offer to other mothers struggling to be more creative and find time for their interests?
BL: Please try to fit it in somehow and skip something that’s less important to you. I skip going out in favor of staying in to do my creative projects. To me a movie and a meal out or a party is of less importance than finishing a project I’m on. That’s me, but you may want to skip doing your ironing and get somebody to do that for you to free up that time for some creative project.

CC: Tack så mycket, Benita!

Sep 4

20 Comments

Cathy: School days, school days, dear old….

Woe is me...first day of fourth grade

Woe is me...first day of fourth grade

I’m going to sound hypocritical here, but I’m humming the old tune as I practically push my boys out the door on their first day of school. I know I bemoaned their being out of the house when they were away at their father’s this summer, but this is different. They will be home by 2:45 and 3:45, respectively. So, I get to hum a little old fashioned tune if I want to.

September through October has always been my favorite time of year. It was even better over a lifetime in New England, because the weather matched the sense of the year for me. The breeze’s coolness crisped the air. It may seem backwards as the leaves are falling — a sense of death and inward withdrawal should be the prevailing sentiment; but for me, this time of year always represented a chance to start anew and the promise of rebirth. This is the beginning of Mother Nature’s gestation. This time last year was when I retreated to bedrest in my gestation of Baby C, who was born this past spring. I have two April babies out of three and it was those two pregnancies that put me to bed for the winter, for similar complications. So I feel a special kinship with Mother Nature as she folds into herself for her cycle of creation.

This is my golden time for creative endeavors. Almost every new project has come at this time of year. My ideas start hopping, and popping like my mother’s old percolator on the counter, and my rice krispies when it was my first day of fourth grade. Now it is my son S’s first day of fourth grade. But his sense is more of a woe is me. Here’s the picture to prove it. But I believe deep down he loves school as much as I did and denied it, as much as his eighth-grade brother K does the same. I know with his social difficulties because of his autism, that a school day is much more difficult for him than for most. The early days are the hardest because of the transition. However, he was outside to meet the bus twenty minutes before it was due to arrive. That says something, don’t you think?

Anyway, I am taking the precious time they are in school and while Baby C naps, to really commit to knocking out this manuscript. I started this project in the fall of 2004, it’s about time. I’ve yet to let it go as so many others, so I really should finish what I started. This one feels like a baby, too. So it’s time I start growing and feeding it well: give it a daily dose of work and play. It’s time for me to get back to the excitement of the first day of school, start fresh while the ideas are hopping. Since I’m in Southeastern Virginia now, I’ll metaphorically kick up a pile of leaves, since I won’t see real ones until a bit closer to Thanksgiving. Wish me luck!

Sep 3

7 Comments

9/3 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt

Sunflowers are blooming everywhere — and there’s quite a harvest right here at Creative Construction. Our winner for this week’s creativity contest is Kelly Warren, who had a sunflower art session with her daughters. Love the initiative, Kelly! She writes: “My girls and I had an art afternoon yesterday around the sunflowers prompt, and we had so much fun! We found the little wooden sunflowers on the clearance aisle at Michael’s, and then just pulled everything together with supplies I had at home. I created mine and taught the girls each step, step by step, as I was creating. We started with some old discarded wood and covered our wood with maps (as inspired by Elizabeth Beck!). Then we painted water colors over our maps: I chose blue, Sarah chose pink, and Livvie chose purple. Then we selected the papers we wanted to use for the grass, stems, and leaves and started cutting and gluing layer upon layer. The toughest part for them was giving the piece time to dry between layers. I’m not sure who’s prouder of their finished products, me or them!”

 

From last week’s Breakfast interviewee, Amy Grennell, a striking digital image:

 

 

From Jen Johnson, a lovely pair of photos. Jen writes: “I’m actually able to submit something this time around — how exciting! We grew sunflowers in our garden this year, and it’s getting to be harvest time, so I have two photographs for you: ‘Sunflower/Son Flower I’ and ‘Sunflower/Son Flower II’.”

 


 

From Juliet Bell, an original piece of wood art: “I happened to be in the midst of making this sunflower puzzle to auction on eBay, so I was delighted to see sunflowers as the new prompt! This is a double-sided, stained, wooden, hanging, jigsaw puzzle with 131 pieces, measuring 10″ by 6’5″.”

 

Cathy Coley sent her photo/double haiku entry in right away, shortly after it was posted last Wednesday, noting: “Inspired now, before my real ones fade completely in this rainless haze.”

Sunflowers
bright hope in the clouds
of August – harvest’s fine
tribute of glory

Sunflowers
Ra brought to earth in
fold of Isis arms – radiant
simple, many central seeds

 

From me (Miranda), a photograph and haiku pairing. I shot the sunflower bouquet that my husband gave me for our anniversary last week. It’s hard to tell, but the lighting is simply an overhead incandescent can light. No playing in Photoshop — I’m pleased with how it came out.

 


Ink Icon
The sunflower on
my shoulder never wilts or
sheds its soft petals

 

This week’s prompt: “My favorite shoes”

Use the prompt however you like — literally, a cue for color, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 8:00 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday, September 9. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) Remember, the point here is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.

Sep 2

3 Comments

Kelly: Life Without Cable

Before the storm REALLY arrived, we were able to provide a little outside entertainment.

Before the storm REALLY arrived, we were able to provide a little outside entertainment.

The family and I were supposed to be on our way to north Georgia today (Friday as I write this) to visit my oldest and dearest friend Becky in Atlanta and my great aunt Olivia just south of Chattanooga, but the gods have turned against us. See, my magic bus (read minivan, but I’m way too cool to drive a minivan) is acting up. Engine’s running like a top, tires are fine, brakes are fine, A/C is cranking out ice-cold air. So what’s not working, you ask? The radio, the CD player, and most important when  taking two five-year-olds on a seven-hour drive, THE DVD PLAYER! Add to that the fact that we haven’t been able to find anyone to watch Isabelle, all the kennels are booked, lovely Gustav and Hanna are churning in the Caribbean and the Atlantic, we decided we just better stay home. Which brings me back to entertaining two five-year-olds…

Creative Mess Making

Creative Mess Making

As Tropical Storm Fay took up residence over North Florida for three days last week, we lost all electronic means of entertaining the girls. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not a big proponent of TV. I don’t really watch much myself at all (except for Antiques Roadshow and TLC’s What Not to Wear, but that’s another story), but when your children are up by 6am, your DH leaves for work at 6:15am, and you are responsible for getting yourself ready for work, your kids fed and ready for school, lunches packed, taking the kids to school and getting yourself to work on time (which remarkably rarely happens), a little Between the Lions and Max and Maya on PBS can be your best friends. But last week, for FIVE DAYS, we had no Between the Lions or Max and Maya. Now grant you, we did get power back after a day but did not get cable or internet back for five days, and there’s just so much Barbie Mariposa on DVD you can take. “Take them outside!” you say. (Did you miss the part about the tropical storm hanging over us for three days?) Oh sure, we’ll take them outside and let them play in the river, which was literally in the backyard.

Barbie and Friends posing for a photography session

Barbie and Friends posing for a photography session

Public schools closed down the Wednesday before the storm hit, so that meant I either had to take the day off or take the girls to work with me. Luckily, I work in Student Life so taking them to work with me was not that big of a deal…..until I had to keep them entertained. No amount of banner paper, markers, or drawer full of kids’ stuff I keep in my desk would do. Nope, the novelty of being at Mommy’s school was just too distracting. Once they got ALL THAT STUFF OUT, they decided they wanted to play hide and seek instead…in my office suite…under my desk, under my assistant’s desk, in the bathroom, in our workroom. The cuteness factor was even wearing off for my 19-year-old college students working in my office, so by 11:30 am, I gave up and we went home, and we were home the duration of the week.

While we were able to enjoy a fairly decent day on Thursday, even with rising waters, the storm started hitting us full force Thursday night, and we lost power from about 3 am Friday morning until about Noon Friday. By then the storm was really on us and the water was rising quickly. We resorted to letting the girls watch jaunts of Barbie Mariposa and Little Mermaid between tearing the house apart with toys everywhere while DH and I sweated out the rising waters. We ended up with about an inch of water in the house on the ground floor on Friday, but thankfully we just have a painted concrete floor down there and were able to get everything up off the ground.

48 hours AFTER the storm

48 hours AFTER the storm

Even after the storm passed late Friday, we still couldn’t let the girls get outside too much because we still had so much water everywhere. We live on a narrow island, essentially a road with houses on both sides of the street…the St. Johns River behind us and Brown’s Creek behind our neighbors across the street, and the two literally met. Our house was an island. So we continued with movie marathons, dress up parties, photo sessions, card games and random art projects throughout the rest of the weekend while trying to clean up the mess outside. It was a momentous moment for me: I did not even attempt to pick up inside the house for four days, and I still haven’t really cleaned up yet five days later. We were so grateful for Monday and back to school and work again! Our tides are still not back to normal; we’re still getting about a foot of water in the backyard with each high tide as Gustav and Hanna are gaining strength. Anybody want to move to Florida? 🙂 You can see all of my storm pictures with comments on what you’re seeing in my Flickr account here. Then while you’re in my Flickr account, go to the set called “Araceli Diaz photo shoot” and you can see what my house looks like on a normal day!

Sep 1

6 Comments

Alana: A new job

Life is all about phases. Once I was the burning-the-candle-at-both-ends-highly-motivated-successful-career-girl, and then I became the sleep-deprived-slobber-covered-breeding-feeding-weary-worn-stay-at-home-mum. And now, as of tomorrow, I will become — wait for it — a PART-TIME WRITER!!

OK, the full title is full-time-mum-and-maker-of-my-husband’s-sandwiches-and-housekeeper-and-part-time-writer, but when I’m asked I might just stick to the last part. A new phase in our lives begins, and although I mourn the loss of what we have, I run full speed ahead to a new life. For three years my toddler has been mine, and we have been free, but this week she begins playschool 5 mornings a week. I have cared for my baby constantly for the precious 15 months of her life, but now I will have a childminder to look after her three mornings a week. I’m scared and I’m a little sad. But, I am going to write. I can hardly contain my joy. I burst little sniggers from my mouth. My mind jumps from list to adoringly written list to decide what shall be my first task. I feel new life breathing into my fuzzy brain. It’s only ten hours a week, but they are MY ten hours. Mine all mine. Ten hours! How many words can I write in ten hours? How many emails can I send? How many blogs can I read? How many blogs can I write? How many articles can I devise, and pitch and write and send? How much money can I earn? OK, the answer to the last question is probably not very much, but who cares? Who cares when I have ten whole glorious, gluttonous, gigantic hours to write? My ‘business plan’ shines out like gold on my pin-board and I check and re-check my breakdown of hours.

I love being a mum. It’s everything I thought and 1,000 times more. But I miss me. And for ten whole hours I get me again. So fellow writers, as you settle down to work tomorrow, feel me in your ranks…. And listen out for the sound of my pencils being sharpened. It’s the first task on my list.

Aug 29

4 Comments

Breakfast with Amy

Amy Grennell is overflowing with creative mojo. Not only does she have a beautiful blog, fabulous art journals, altered photos, and many other creative interests—she’s due to give birth to her second child in a matter of days. We’re so glad she had time to join us for Breakfast before the baby comes, sharing her ideas for getting started with art journalling for the uninitiated. You may want to rush out and get your hands on a journal posthaste. Enjoy!

CC: Please give us an intro to who you are, what you do, and your family headcount.
AG: I am a 33-year-old stay-at-home mom who spends her “free” time doing lots of creative projects, from painting and photography to art journaling. Family: Me, my husband, 3-year-old daughter Melody, and Baby (coming September 3); miniature schnauzer Odin and four hens (Lucy, Glenda, Irma, and Betty).

CC: Tell us about your many creative endeavors and what’s on the offing in your Etsy shop.
AG: I do painting, drawing, collage, journaling, photography, jewelry-making, and sewing. It rotates a lot according to my mood or current interests or even the time of year.

I started off doing some mixed-media type collages using free images a couple of years ago and I have always done photography. I took a quilting class in 2004 and made a quilt before getting into sewing a bit more.

My creativity sort of blossomed from there and I ended up doing altered books and then teaching a class at a local paper store. I also started making jewelry because I could make it very easily and even sell it to make some extra money. Then I got into art journaling last year as a way to do some mixed media with my own images and handwriting as sort of a scrapbooking meets collage-type of expression. I really liked the outlet it gave me to create a little something every day to represent that day (even if I don’t always do it every day).

As my daughter got more into painting and collage herself, she was spending up to 30 minutes doing her own artwork at the dining room table and so I experimented using her supplies too. Now I do mostly art journaling as well as some painting and photography. With the photos I have been doing a lot of altering in Photoshop to make them look a bit more surreal or artistic. I would like to experiment more with combining photography with watercolor too.

In my Etsy shop I sell jewelry as well as a few other items like prints of artwork, photos, and soap.

CC: How did you get started with your beautiful visual journals? Any tips for those of us who may not be “artists” but would like to start an art journal?
AG: First off I don’t consider myself an artist so when I first started one I called it a “visual journal” because I was so worried about using that “a” word. I really didn’t know what I was doing but I liked the idea of incorporating more than just writing into a journal entry. I had been doing altered books with images and text but then was inspired by some art journals I saw by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts, Mary Ann Moss, and Kira Harding.

I had already collected random images from magazines and such for use with collages so I just got a Moleskine journal and started drawing or doing rubber stamping at first along with some other images every day. From there I found that I like using white cardstock and a three-hole punch to make a larger journal that I could keep the pages in or out of while working on them.

To get started, all you need is some paper and a pen and maybe a few things to color with or even a few images you like. The basic things that I use are: white cardstock, black Sharpie or Pitt artist’s pen, cheap acrylic paint, some sort of images, scissors, and a glue stick. Most people have these basic items on hand anyways.

Don’t compare your pages to anyone else’s and don’t share them with anyone if you don’t want to.

See how you feel about journaling this way and then keep at it. When you look back on older pages you will see not only that you are “getting better” at it but are able to fine tune which symbols, colors, and themes you are using.

CC: What prompted you to start a blog? What keeps you going?
AG: I think I just started reading quite a few and then realized that it would be a good way to keep track of my creative goals. If I shared a project on my blog then I would have to share the end result as well. This has really helped me get things finished.

I try to share things that I love and hope to inspire others while I am at it. I think of myself as a positive person and if one reader gets a smile or feels a similar feeling I think it’s very meaningful.

CC: Where do you do your creative work?
AG: The dining room table really. I had set up a space in what will be Baby’s room and then never really did a lot in there. I still don’t do much where my supplies are so I tend to carry them around in a tote bag or keep them on the table or a side table in the family room area.

CC: Do you have a schedule for your creative work?
AG: Not really, just that I usually do things in the late morning because later in the day and the evening I am tired and just feel like reading before bed. My husband usually takes my daughter out for a walk in the morning for a while so I often get a little “me time” then or work on something when my daughter is playing or doing her own painting at the table. I also try to have my camera with me all the time, especially in the backyard so I can take a photo or two every day.

CC: Any planned strategy for keeping your creative fires burning with a new baby at home?
AG: I think my outlook is realistic in that I know everything is going to change and I really won’t have time or energy to do much. The weekends hold some promise but also I have been trying to sketch or write down ideas for things as they come to me right now so that when I do get a little time and I can’t remember something I wanted to make, I can just look at the sketch or the notes. I do a lot of things in short little spurts of 5 to 10 minutes—especially on the couch—so I think I can squeeze some time in here and there.

CC: What do you struggle with most?
AG: Trying to narrow things down in my creative life so that I can just focus on one thing. I know that this isn’t really possible for a lot of people, but I seem to have a hard time with identifying who I have become in the last couple of years. I was a writer; then I pushed some of the creative or artistic limits I had imposed on myself after my daughter was born. I look at the time spent at home raising our children to be partially a time for me to hone my true life’s purpose. I know that sounds a bit cheesy. This is easier said than done because I have so many interests it’s always challenging for me to really narrow myself down even though I would like to a little more.

CC: How much does guilt factor in your life?
AG: It used to, when I would be working on something and really wanted to finish it but my daughter was whining and pulling on me. I realized that creating things makes me feel better so I am a better person and parent overall because of it. Also when I sell something and go to the post office now with my daughter to mail it off she asks “who I am mailing it too?” I explain someone bought that necklace or earrings I made last week. They gave me money for them so I am mailing it to them.

CC: Where do you find inspiration?
AG: Nature and my daughter, as well as children’s books.

CC: What are your top 5 favorite blogs?

CC: What is your greatest indulgence?
AG: Chocolate and naps.

CC: What are you reading right now?
AG: Tao of Watercolor by Jeanne Carbonetti, Painting From the Inside Out by Betsy Dillard Stroud, and All Year Round by Ann Druitt.

CC: What advice would you offer to other mothers struggling to find the time and means to be more creative?
AG: I think being creative is an integral part of everyone’s life whether they think so or not. Doing something creative every day no matter how small is a great outlet for stress and expression so you are doing everyone a favor if you spend some time doing a creative project every day. I don’t think guilt or frustration should factor in. Plus you can always involve your children too in a project if you simply can’t do it alone.

CC: Thank you, Amy!

Aug 28

14 Comments

Cathy: More on multi-tasking moms

Baby C has a new trick. When she is nursing herself to sleep as I type, she now kicks my one typing hand over to where she can hang onto it with a foot and a hand. Now I can’t type at all. But is that really such a bad thing? After all, I should be using this precious time to bond with my little infant, right? But I really want to answer that email/add to the manuscript/compose a blog. So maybe she’ll grow up with an unnatural attachment to PCs. Apparently I have developed one, is that so bad?

Today (Tuesday as I write this to be posted later) is my son S’s tenth birthday. I wrapped his presents, while considering that I am missing half the cake ingredients, our bank accounts are drained from last week’s travels—gas alone was unmentionable—and honey gets paid tomorrow. I had K go out to the van to get the play yard (really, baby holding pen, let’s call a spade a spade). However, two sides refuse to go rigid for us. We tried everything—quite comically. So I put her in it anyway, and just wrapped away, on the floor right next to the pending crisis of collapse, while on the phone with a possible new client; and frantically waving S around to the front door so he can’t see what I’m wrapping by coming in through the slider in the office. Why am I trying so hard to hide these from him now, when he already found them? Because I can, I must. Maybe he didn’t see everything.

My mother-in-law just came back from her morning exercise. She has agreed to go to store for confectioner’s sugar and butter. Phew, one thing down. I don’t have to go to the grocery store and risk overdrawing my humble account. There will be chocolate frosting for the cake. And butter in the cake itself. Now, I just have to make both; switch the laundry from baby C’s pee accident on my bed this a.m., where she thoroughly soaked through every layer from comforter to the mattress pad; make that bed after two rounds each for two loads in the dryer because the sheets and comforter and mattress pad always twist up in knots around themselves and don’t dry on the first round. And there are still the two baskets of yesterday’s clothes unfolded, wrinkling for first week of school.

In the meantime, I’m still thinking about what I’m going to charge this woman for a curriculum consultation for her home-schooled child with special needs; trying to consider lunch and dinner options from what’s in pantry without over–pasta-ing the day, and it’s already 11:49; and I’m pinned nursing again, typing and fending off kicks, while also staring at the box of baby hand-me-downs taking up precious space waiting to be wrapped and sent off to friends expecting a girl any minute now, several states away. K has disappeared behind his locked bedroom door for the fourteenth time today already, completely sealing himself off with his MP3, so I can’t holler up to ask him for help again. S is wandering the house, humming and wanting a little attention and something to do. He wants to ‘sacrifice popcorn’ to the dog, because it’s fun to line up popped kernels on the couch and watch her lick up the row one by one with her long, fast, curly tongue.

I won’t even mention that box of papers that still need to be organized. Oops, too late! Now, baby C is asleep on me, I pray I can put her down without her waking up in the collapsing pen, so I can get started on that cake. Now what’s all that nonsense about scheduling and prioritizing, again?

Aug 27

9 Comments

8/27 Weekly creativity contest winner & new prompt

Such interesting submissions this week for the prompt “wedding”! [To see any image in better detail, simply click on it.] Our winner is Elizabeth Beck, who happened to be last week’s Breakfast interviewee. Elizabeth writes: “What is a wedding but a meeting of two hearts?” You can read more about this image at Elizabeth’s flickr site. Congratulations, Elizabeth — your $10 amazon.com gift certificate is on its way.

 

 

From Charuavi, two fascinating entries describing the weddings of her two daughters. Charuavi writes: “People have a lot of misconceptions about ‘arranged’ marriages. I hope my post will be helpful in clearing up at least a few of them.” Simply due to the considerable length of these two submissions, they are available here as a single PDF. It’s wonderful to have such an intimate slice of life from India! I do hope we’ll see more from Charuavi in future.

 

From Cathy Coley, a photograph. Last Thursday, Cathy sent in her submission with this note: “This morning, I took camera with me for our daily walk, and tried very hard to get a shot of the many pairs of dragonflies I saw, to no avail, the little flitters. So this afternoon, I took the kids to the Virginia Living Museum, and wouldn’t you know, I didn’t have the good camera, but I couldn’t pass up this humorous take on the wedding. So cellphone shot it is. Not great art, but fun.” [If you’re feeling voyeuristic, click on the image for a better view!]

 

 

From Juliet Bell, a photograph. Juliet writes: “I suppose this is a bit of a cheat, but I took this photo last summer at about this time, and just love it. I’ve been wanting to paint it, or do something with it, but haven’t had any idea better than the photo itself. When I saw the prompt for this week, I immediately thought of this photo. Doesn’t ‘The Wedding’ seem the perfect title? (If it is not apparent, it’s the inside of an Hydrangea blossom.)”

 

 

From Kelly Warren, photographs and personal narrative:

My wedding had several memorable events. the first actually happened about a week before the wedding. you see, my grandmother made my dress, yet three weeks before the wedding, my dress was still just a pile of material and lace in her sewing room. i knew she’d get it done, but it would be a last minute scramble. a week before the wedding, she finished it and asked me to come over and model it for a few of her friends. everyone oohed and aahhed, and then i went back to her room to take the dress off. it was at this moment that nana’s dog penny felt nana had spent entirely too much time with that dress and not enough time with her, so she promptly took the opportunity to relieve herself on it. nana hit the roof; i was amazingly calm and told her, “it’s okay, nana! we’ll take it to the cleaners and they will get it out!” as she chased the dog under the bed. and they did get it out…most of it anyway…there’s still a nice reminder of a stain on the unlining of the train.

and then there was the actual wedding itself. my dh called “time out!”, football style, smack dab in the middle of the ceremony. during the rehearsal the night before, the pastor really minimized the amount of verbage she gave him at once, so he told her she could give him a little more. apparently, day of, she gave him a bit more than he could handle. the whole church burst out laughing. all we needed was a whistle and a couple black and white striped shirts.

post wedding, my best friend becky actually spent our honeymoon with us! (too long of story to describe the reasoning behind that! it was a destination wedding!) we were scuba-diving one day, and while dh was taking a break on the boat, bec and i came up on a small nurse shark. small to me anyway, being a veteran diver. becky, on the other hand, freaked. she kept motioning to me and pointing at the shark while flailing around madly. i could literally hear her through her mouthpiece……(abbrevieated to keep it clean, and she rarely cusses)…” g-d-m-f shark! g-d-m-f shark! g-d-m-f shark!” dh said he could even hear her words popping out of the bubbles as they broke the surface. truly, it was a harmless little four-foot nurse shark. really can’t even take nibble out of you! it was a memorable week….

pictures are three of my favorites: me dancing with my dad; my nana and my great aunt livy (who my olivia is named after); and becky telling dh about the g-d-m-f shark:

 

From me (Miranda), a haiku and digital image pairing. My anniversary is this week, so I had some extra inspiration to work with. I played with one of our wedding portraits in Photoshop to create the image.

 

Wedding
The field was our own
universe, full of hope and
life among the grass

 

This week’s prompt: “Sunflowers”

Use the prompt however you like — literally, a cue for color, or a tengential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by 8:00 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday, September 2. The winning entry receives a $10 gift certificate to amazon.com. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly contest, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) Remember, the point here is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.

Aug 26

1 Comment

Don’t forget: Get your veil on!

Reminder: tonight is the deadline for this week’s creativity contest. Entries should arrive by 8:00 p.m. eastern time, but there’s a little latitude if you need another hour or two. The prompt is “wedding.” Take a few minutes and come up with something — even a quickie Vegas-style entry!

Aug 26

9 Comments

Miranda: Multi-tasking my way to a new low

If you’re a mother, you know how to do at least six things at once.

But should you?

Apparently, it depends on just which six things you have in mind.

Yesterday, Lifehacker posted an interesting take on the pitfalls of multitasking in an interview with Dave Crenshaw, author of The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done. “Crenshaw explains the difference between ‘background tasking’ — like watching TV while exercising — and ‘switchtasking,’ juggling two tasks by refocusing your attention back and forth between them, and losing time and progress in the switch.” The Lifehacker blog post centers on how this issue plays out in the business world.

Interestingly, Simple Mom posted the mother’s analysis of the same topic yesterday:

A Mama’s Challenge
Here’s the irony. With children at home, it often feels impossible for us to focus on anything more than two minutes at a time, because we’re constantly interrupted. As soon as I sit down to update our bank accounts, my daughter wants me to sharpen her colored pencils, or my son has dropped his toy for the umpteenth time and needs help retrieving it.

It’s the stage of life, and it is what it is. Small children require a lot of hands-on, interactive parenting, and while it’s a short-lived job, it leaves you utterly exhausted come bedtime, doesn’t it?

Even though I’d love to single-task most of my day jobs, it just isn’t going to happen. What mom doesn’t multi-task all day long? You’ve got to change the diaper and answer the phone. You oftentimes need to read to your older one while you nurse your younger.

For Simple Mom, the bottom line is that “There are more important things in life than getting things done.”

While multi-tasking is often our only shot at snippets of creativity and seeming productivity, each of us has to determine our own threshold here. I happened to find my own personal limit yesterday. I share this publicly only in the hope that my story will serve as a cautionary tale to other mothers attempting the Superwoman thing.

At noon, I was finishing up the week’s menu plan, trying to make the grocery list, fixing an issue with the blog, answering e-mail, greeting my mother who’d just arrived at my house, nursing the baby, and trying to make sure my 3-year-old didn’t run off by himself for an opportunity to poop privately in his Pull-Up (we’re still toilet training). My daughter called from a friend’s house, asking for a ride home. She was in our neighborhood, within walking distance, but the timing was convenient so I said, “Sure — I’m running out to the grocery store with Grandma. We’ll pick you up on the way, in 15 minutes.”

What happened? I forgot to pick her up.

As in, I went to the grocery store without picking her up as planned. When she called me on my cell phone to ask where I was, I slipped into a heart-stopping abyss of guilt. Thankfully, since my own mother was in the car, she helped me strategize how to explain the situation to my daughter (as we drove at top speed to retrieve her) in an attempt to save her from a life on the therapist’s couch. My daughter (12 years old) gave me a good-natured ribbing, but even though she was gracious about the situation, I knew it had to have hurt. What is more painful to a mother than causing her own child pain?

I have never actually “forgotten” any of my children before, and I desperately hope never to do it again. I’d like to use sleep deprivation, an infant, a tally of five kids, pressing client work, and having my house on the market as some kind of defense. But sadly, there is no defense, and I know that. Perhaps, if I slow down just a little — and stop trying to do 34 things at one time — my brain will function a bit more efficiently. Until then, I have a lot of making up to do with my one and only daughter.

[Photo courtesy Foxtongue.]

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