Artist date

Well, I finally made it out of town, and got a bit of thrift store shopping done. I found this irristible elephant which of course I thought should be less than the $1.99 price tag. My artist child prevailed, and I'm so happy because I really like him.

I also found a 100% wool coat from Austria. I had decided I had plenty enough wool to play with, but at $1.50, I couldn't resist. My husband also helped me treat myself to a more expensive new pair of glasses which were part necessity, part luxury.

So rather than waste more time on the computer, which I'm really trying to limit, I'm off to play with my stuff. 

Chapter 6 Check-In

So another week gone! Time to check-in again. This past week, I missed doing morning pages one morning, and that was today. I also slept in past my usual 5 a.m. wake-up. I'm woefully behind on doing all the chapter tasks as well. I'm usually picking up stones, so that wasn't much of a stretch. And I did bake something...more than once. I cleaned my sewing space, and then messed it up again. I'm in the midst of playing with my new passion--felted wool.
Besides lasagne, the extreme cold also sent me baking muffins, potatoes, and a pork roast. The weather finally improved, but only after freezing our laundry room, and a couple of the motel bathrooms. Fortunately it all thawed out without major incident or repair.

I've managed to stay fairly productive, despite the arthritis in my hands rebelling against the cold. No actual artist date this week again. I feel that just taking the time to work with my "stuff" is enough. Tucumcari is rather lean in terms of places for artist dates, even though we have two dollar stores. Perhaps in the coming week, I'll get out of town a bit. I've got to finish some projects for Christmas.

Hope everyone will still keep in touch via their blogs, so we don't lose our newly found momentum. 

Bake something!

Like Pat, I connected with Chapter 6. It seems that up until Chapter 5, I have been going through the motions with the exercises, but haven't really felt like I was accomplishing very much. Now I feel like it has more meaning for me. Funny how differently it goes for each of us. I suspect that we're all in different places in our lives, and perhaps we can only absorb a certain amount of it. It would explain why people seem able to do the work more than once.

Since New Mexico is being gripped by the extreme cold temperatures usually reserved for more northern climates, I thought I'd do Task #4 and bake something. I decided on lasagne, making the noodles out of the fresh spinach I had bought yesterday. I decided it was a very holiday dish...green noodles with red sauce, and white cheese! If that isn't a bit of synchronicity... I don't know but I think a lot of the cooking I do is capital-A art. Cooking has been a creative outlet for me when I didn't have time for other expressions of creativity. We always had to eat! 

Week 5 Check-in

Well, with the previous posting I did, I forgot all about checking in. It was a good week. I did morning pages 7 out of 7 days. I have a rhythm for my morning now. I feel they do help clear the way for positive thinking.

I can't say that I did anything that qualified as an artist date. I didn't schedule anything. Well I did spend a good deal of time researching longarm quilting machines and reading up on them. But then that leads me to my task...

Honestly, my favorite creative block is...the internet. This computer is a powerful tool that has the capacity to suck me in whole. I can lose myself for hours, possibly days. I sit here hour after hour under the guise of research...or just looking for ideas. I think that computer deprivation would have been a much better task (punishment?) for me. But because of this awareness (and public confession) I'm going to limit my time on here. I generally have 3 hours in the early morning when I'm doing all my essential computer stuff. I'm going to really try to limit myself to that time, and then perhaps an hour in the evening. I don't need to sit down and check mail, or anything else periodically throughout the day. The cartoon is my attempt at illustrating indulging.

I did do some sewing and have added a few things out in our lobby for sale, but I know I could have been much more productive. And so in keeping with my new resolve, I'm off to sew more.

My favorite chapter

I must admit that Chapter 5 of the Artist's Way is my favorite chapter thus far. I so identified with its message that I had my husband read it. He is participating in this process with me as I draw him in to discuss a lot of the book. I didn't see it at all like Tracey.

I believe Julia Cameron sums it all up with the first sentence in the chapter: One of the chief barriers to accepting God's generosity is our limited notion of what we are in fact able to accomplish. This hardly implies that we simply pray for whatever material things we want and presto we will get them. In my life this thinking translates to being open, to taking off the blinders and seeing the immense possibility that is available to all of us. We tend to back ourselves into a corner, and then see no other avenues or possibilities for ourselves. If anything I pray for enlightenment, for being able to see a wider range of options. It sounds deceptively easy, but time and again, I have to remind myself that there is not just one option, one correct answer, or only one way to do something.

For whatever reason, whatever events shaped us to be the person we find at this moment of reflection, we have a tendency not to believe that there is abundance, and that we can tap into it. The other thing that happens frequently, or at least it does to me, is that because we have such a narrow vision, we mistakenly pick a course and try obstinately to follow it even though we are given many clues that tell us it isn't the way. I'm sure you've had days where everything just flows...the universe is aligned for you, and you can do no wrong. And then, there are the days where nothing goes right, when you think you should just hide, and wait for a new dawn. Another piece of sage advice from this chapter: We must learn to let the flow manifest itself where it will--not where we will it.

Of course a lot of what I've read applies to where I find myself at this moment in my life. We own a historic motel, and after events earlier this year in which we moved to MN to care for an ill relative, we shut it down and put it up for sale. This wasn't the first time we had it listed, and after almost a year of being on the market, it seems we are no closer to selling it. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bad gig. I have four months in the winter when it is very slow and allows me to pursue my hobbies and passions. We returned late in August and reopened it. We've decided to take it off the market at the end of the year, and make the best of it here. I'm frequently reminded that it isn't an all or nothing life, that I can pursue some of my dreams concurrently with owning and operating this business. I realize that maybe there are better or at least different things in store for me here still, things that with my narrow vision I am incapable of imagining, and I shouldn't see not selling as defeat. And here is my Wish List Exercise:

1. I wish the motel would sell. (I know...but I still would like to sell it.)
2. I wish I could lose 50 pounds. (Of course that would fix everything...NOT!)
3. I wish I would buy the longarm.
4. I wish I would make better use of my time.
5. I wish I lived somewhere more rural.
6. I wish the wind would stop blowing.
7. I wish the decorating was all done for the holidays.
8. I wish I already had the longarm.
9. I wish for good health.
10. I wish I didn't worry about spending money.
11. I wish my mom was still alive.
12. I wish I could dance with abandon. (and that it didn't need to include alcohol)
13. I wish the mailman would bring me something besides ads and bills.
14. I wish the day would freeze at the moment of the most spectacular sunrise.
15. I wish I didn't have to cook some days. (but there is such a lack of alternatives in this town)
16. I wish I was still young in body.
17. I wish I could really embrace abundance.
18. I wish I didn't feel so restless for a change.
19. I most especially wish for inner peace.

Monday, Monday

Well, the winter weather has arrived with a brisk 19 degrees this morning! I'm glued to my chair, surfing without guilt, generally an emotion I don't subscribe to. Hope everyone is happy to be off the reading deprivation, and I haven't even started on Chapter 5. I better get with it. But I ran across this birthday thing, and since it had me so well pegged, I thought I'd post it here. I need to find some maroon clothing and empower myself, at least enough to get up off this chair!

Your Birthdate: February 7

You are an island. You don't need anyone else to make you happy. And though you see yourself as a loner, people are drawn to you. Deep and sensitive, you tend to impress others with your insights. You also tend to be psychic - so listen to that inner voice! Your strength: Your self sufficiency Your weakness: You despise authority Your power color: Maroon Your power symbol: Hammer Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Check-in

I did my morning pages 7 out of 7 days, but I must admit that one of the days was a little more than a page. If I don't do them first thing in the morning when my time is mine, then it's easy for them to go on the back burner.

I had a wonderful week. Pat was here from Tuesday through Saturday. We did a lot...dyed fabric, and I also dyed a bunch of white underwear. (I'm now an artist in hiding!) We took walks every day. My daughters came home on Wednesday night. We cooked and ate and just had a good time. The weather cooperated perfectly. Everyone made their way home before this morning's snow flurry here! Winter is indeed upon us.

I'm particularly antsy, and I want to redo the whole house all at once, and get it all done before Dec. 25th when we'll have family here for the holidays. What's spurring all of this is that it looks like we're going to be doing this for at least a while longer. We had some potential buyers last week, and we found out it's not going to work for them, and so we are here for a while longer. This is the easy time of year to be in this business because it is really slow, and we can concentrate on our house, health, lives. We're going to take the motel off the market at the end of the year, and that makes life a little more settled. At least I know I'm not looking at trying to deal with moving or storing all our "stuff." There is still one more possible potential buyer, but I really don't think it's going to happen, though if it did, I would happily change gears.

I didn't even try to do the reading deprivation. I felt like I had already done that when I was on vacation. So I'll do the first task and describe my ideal environment:

My ideal environment would be away from a city, but close enough to enjoy some of the things that are just not available in a rural setting. I used to have visions of a larger and larger home, but anymore I would be happiest in something manageable. I don't particularly like cleaning, and so I wouldn't want too large a place to manage. I like being at the foothills, with an expansive southwest view. I had my fill of living in the mountains, and don't care for that anymore. My favorite season is fall. I love the colors, the way the light is tempered from the harshness of summer. I would like to have a storm cellar full of my home canned foods, a good supply of firewood, and lots of art supplies to keep me entertained for winter. This passive solar home could be adobe, straw bale, rammed earth...I'm not picky. I no longer want carpeting in a home. I'd like to have in floor heating with painted cement floors.

Something like on this order would do nicely!

The Three-meme & D'Artagnon

Rian's Meme ... Pat's ... Sophie's and mine:

1. Three screen names that you've had: blueswallow, neonquilter, blueswallowmotel.
2. Three things you like about yourself: my sensitivity, my ethnicity, my humor.
3. Three things you don't like about yourself: my weight, my lack of patience, my tear ducts.
4. Three parts of your heritage: Brazilian, Polish, Portuguese
5. Three things that scare you: driving on snow or ice, horror movies, my own imagined horrors.
6. Three of your everyday essentials: the internet, coffee, hot shower at the end of the day.
7. Three things you are wearing right now: jeans, t-shirt, polar fleece jacket.
8. Three of your favorite songs: To Where You Are (Josh Groban), Daughters (John Mayer), God Only Knows (The Beach Boys).
9. Three things you want in a relationship: laughter, tenderness, understanding. (I couldn't do better than Sophie's.)
10. Two truths and a lie: I climbed Pike's Peak, I won a 10K run, I played with Dean Martin's kids.
11. Three things you can't live without: a computer with internet connection, my family, my friends.
12. Three places you want to go on vacation: Brazil, Hawaii, Australia.
13. Three things you just can't do: watch scary movies/tv, understand higher math, tolerate stooopid people.
14. Three kids names: Franny, Zoey, Lindsay Daffodil--what my older wanted to name her sister. (we dropped the Daffodil)
15. Three things you want to do before you die: get back in better shape, better health, make peace with my monsters.
16. Three celeb crushes: Harrison Ford, Orlando Bloom, Bono.
17. Three of your favorite musicians: Joni Mitchell, John Mayer, Paul Simon.
18. Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeal to you: feet, hands, sense of humor.
19. Three of your favorite hobbies: cooking, quilting, making stuff.
20. Three things you really want to do badly right now: get healthy, get organized, get rid of some of my stuff. (again my sentiments exactly, Sophie)
21. Three careers you're considering/you've considered: owning a restaurant, court reporter, retirement.
22. Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy: I prefer driving our big diesel truck, am mechanically inclined, swear.
23. Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: don't channel surf with the remote, can multi-task, and cry much too easily.
24. Now who's next?

No reading!

Okay, I read Chapter 4, and I can tell this is going to be one of the things that I am not going to follow very well. (And if the rest of you are following it rigidly, you won't be reading this!) But, I must say that I did follow it for about a week and a half while on our vacation just recently, so I think that counts for something. For some reason, I wasn't even in the mood to read a book. I had brought a variety with me, but I just wasn't drawn to it. In previous vacations I have devoured books by Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, Alexander McCall Smith. This time I just ignored everything I had brought, and for the most part we had no TV reception. I must confess I'm a television junkie, and have been all my life.

It's funny that this worked out to be during the Thanksgiving week when a lot of people will be getting together and I daresay there won't be a lot of reading involved anyway. Synchronicity. I'll check in next Sunday then.

Week 3 Check-in

As usual time seems to be moving along faster and faster around the holidays. The days themselves are so short, and I'm very much a creature that succumbs to sleeping when it's dark out, except the few hours before it's light.

I did my morning pages 7 out of 7 days, and they really don't reveal much to me. They are very similar to the daily confessionals I've been writing to my friend Rosie for many years now. With few exceptions we write each other daily, so it was a habit already ingrained.

I don't know that I did anything that I could count as an artist date, but my well is so full, it is overflowing. I had so much inspiration and am so filled with ideas after my vacation that I need to carve out some time to start putting them into reality. I tend to put constraints on my creating by making up rules about needing things in order and put away before I can start. It's a long established habit, and when I give it any thought, I know I'm going to make a mess all over again, but I feel like I need to have a handle on it before I start.

In finally getting to the end of this chapter, one of the comments that Sophie made about artist-brain activity made sense to me. My "job" is filled with artist-brain activities, repetitive work that doesn't require concentration. I've always been good at daydreaming and trying on alternate lives. I sort out a lot of issues while I fold sheets. I think it's possible to put good or bad vibes in things such as fabric and food. The only food I know that benefits from anger is breadmaking, which I haven't done in a long time, but I routinely would bake a batch when I wanted to work through some anger; the worse you punish the dough, the greater the reward. Though I thought I wanted one, I quickly returned the bread machine I got. It removed the connection with the dough.

Right now my life is in moderate flux, and that seems to stifle my creativity except in the kitchen, but that's a good thing, since it will soon be Thanksgiving. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Detective Work Exercise

I enjoyed everyone's postings so much I had to do one of my own:

 

1. My favorite childhood toy was a doll, Thumbelina. I bought real newborn clothes for her at thrift stores, and diapered her with cloth diapers.

I took her to Brazil and one of my aunts fell in love with her, and so I let her have it for many years until I had daughters of my own, and then I asked for her back. The quilt she has is my feeble attempt at hand quilting, and I downloaded instructions to crochet her a cap because her stockingnette (from my OR days) is just to hide the condition of her hair. She's also missing the winding key that made her move like a real baby. Working for a year as a medical assistant in a crazy pediatric practice made me lose my fascination with babies.

2. My favorite childhood game was "buraco," which means hole in Portuguese and I'm told it is similar to canasta. I could usually beat my grandparents at it.

3. The best movie I ever saw as a kid was Sleeping Beauty as a young child in Brazil. I also loved the Sound of Music.

4. I don't do it much but I enjoy swimming. It would have to be much warmer water than when I used to swim in Lake Tahoe.

5. If I could lighten up a little, I'd let myself dance more. It usually takes a few glasses of wine.

6. If it weren't too late I would go back to school.

7. My favorite musical instrument is percussion...drums of all kinds, but that was really hard to answer.

8. The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is however much I want to. I don't have a problem treating myself.

9. If I weren't so stingy with my artist, I'd buy her some day of the dead fabric.

10. Taking time out for myself is necessary to survival.

11. I am afraid that if I start dreaming I'll never get anything done.

12. I secretly enjoy reading People magazines, wherever I can. The first time I read this I couldn't think of anything that I secretly enjoyed until I read Gemia's confession. I suppose it's kind of tacky to be interested in the lives of the rich and famous.

13. If I had had a perfect childhood I'd have grown up to be me still, because I think a lot of who I am is the product of nature instead of nurture...and I was well nurtured.

14. If it didn't sound so crazy, I'd write a book about my life.

15. My parents think artists are eccentric.

16. My God thinks artists are...well my god is just energy and I'd rather not tend towards anthropomorphism.

17. What makes me feel weird about this recovery is that I didn't know I was ill.

18. Learning to trust myself is probably easier now than ever before as I draw from previous successful life experiences. Trusting my artist is another matter altogether, as she doesn't have a bank of successes.

19. My most cheer-me-up music is varied and loud. Currently I'm hooked on Keane. My younger daughter turned me on to them. And also Coldplay.

20. My favorite way to dress is jeans. I have a denim skirt and dress for when I need to dress up! 

Week 2 Check-In

Wow, in checking dates, I did morning pages 7 out of 7 days. I had so many artist's dates, that I don't know if I remember them all. One I do remember and consider it such was having my husband haul our spotting scope to the "island" (really a penninsula) at Roper Lake State Park to check out a Great Horned Owl that was roosting in a Palm tree. I haven't used the scope much since I haven't had the opportunity to do a lot of long distance birding, but it was cool to see the owl seem so close, stretching and blinking. I am so good at paying attention, especially to the natural beauty surrounding me.

At this point in my life I don't have poisonous playmates. I've learned to say NO! One crazymaker in my life, my dad, moved back to Brazil after my mom passed away, and so he only makes me crazy during his yearly visit which is brief, and I know how to ignore him. When he lived here, he's a in your face kind of person, and therefore harder to bear.

I haven't been very good about the tasks at the end of the chapter. A lot of them didn't apply since I was on vacation, such as where does your time go. On vacation, my time didn't go anywhere I didn't want it to. I pretty much enjoy the 20 things I listed, frequently. No need to make an effort to do them. Even back at work and the mundane details of running a motel are moderately enjoyable. I like doing laundry, the repetitiveness of folding sheets, making up beds leaves a lot of time for my mind to wander and daydream.

One of the changes on my list of Ten Tiny Changes is to manage my eating and exercise better, and I was able to work on that on vacation. I have dieted most of my adult life. At 18 I weighed 119 lbs. on a 5'4" frame but I bought into the skinny propaganda, and so thought I was fat because I carried my weight in my hips and legs. I approached this weight after my second daughter, without working at it, but wasn't smart enough to stay there. Breast feeding helps overcome the tendency I have to consume more than I expend. Add some years, hypothyroid slowed metabolism, and smoking cessation, and I am overweight to the point that it is affecting my health. Just before I left on vacation, I discovered that my previously low blood pressure had crept up. I stopped the daily NSAID I was taking for arthritis in my hands, and started changing my eating habits. I am not on a diet! The mere mention of that word sets me up to binge, and I'm not doing this to wear smaller sized clothes, which still lurk in my ever optimistic closet. Small changes on vacation had big payoffs. I lost about 5 pounds over two weeks, and my BP is getting better. I didn't suffer at all with my small changes, and haven't felt the need to eat every bad, illegal food in sight since I'm not going to deny myself anything. I also didn't look upon my vacation as a license for over-consumption. Let's hope I can keep it up. I also got a lot more exercise, hiking and biking. Came back to 22 degrees yesterday morning, and I need to buy a stationary bike pretty soon since the Gazelle was just not it for me.

I need to get to work--playing catch up the last few days, but I'll post again soon.

Better late than never...

So here is my week 1 check-in. The morning pages are pretty easy, but I'm not going to get up a half hour earlier. I usually am awake between 4 and 5 a.m., and I have plenty of early morning time to write them. If however I don't get my alone time...then the morning pages bite the dust.

Most of the tasks didn't appeal to me much. I really bristled at the one about imaginary lives, and when I shared this part with my husband, he pinpointed the problem right away. They are all jobs. At this point in my life I'm aware that although some of the jobs seem exciting, they are still jobs. My imaginary life would be to be retired in a wonderful setting in NM, in a wonderful setting in Brasil, in a wonderful setting in AZ. The operative word is "retired." My imaginary life would be a retiree! I can't think of anything more fun. And I guess I've been doing it this week as we travelled in our trailer.

Hope this suffices for week 1. I'm at Pat's now, and I've been hogging her computer as it is.

Free hour

Well, I forgot all about the time change last night and this morning, so happily I was given an extra hour today! I had my coffee and was all ready to sit down with Sunday Morning, which is my favorite news type show, and it wasn't on. Then I remembered daylight savings. It's going to get dark awfully early this afternoon.

I've been doing my morning pages. They don't seem all that therapeutic as I had been in the habit of daily confessionals to my best friend. We don't censor each other, and for years it has been a measure of my life.

I've planned my artist's date. I'm going to collect sage for smudge sticks. We're leaving on vacation tomorrow and I'm sure to find a suitable area. I think my vacation is likely to be one big artist's date. Our first stop is Bosque del Apache NWR just south of Socorro, NM, and it is heaven for this birder. Next we're planning a week in Safford, AZ and then a week in Tucson. Hope to take in the Boyce Thompson Arboretum. And I'm spending a weekend with Pat when I'm sure we'll try to do way more than we have time for...dyeing, thrift store shopping, movies, eating.

Nobody sees a flower--really--it is so small it takes time--we haven't time--and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.
Georgia O'Keeffe

I'm fortunate to be live in a place where the pace is relaxed and I am my own boss. I frequently fritter away my day observing the most (apparently) insignificant things, and I'll get to do even more of that in the coming two weeks.

I may not have internet access...

Brain, what brain?

I took a right vs. left brain test yesterday. I won't post a link. The test was good, lots of questions, which I think it takes to really evaluate something such as this, but to get the full results, etc. they wanted some money. I was satisfied with what I got for free. The results pegged me pretty well:

Balanced-brained

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for your ability to solve problems logically, might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers, the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things, might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left- or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker.

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

I'm hoping that the Artist's Way work will help tip the scale to my right brain a little, at least when it comes to artistic self-expression.

P.S. Found this really good article: Revenge of the Right Brain

20 Things About Me

1. I was born in Brazil of Brazilian parents, and am still a Brazilian citizen, even though I am married to an American, have lived here since I was 7 (45 years--you do the math), and served in the U.S. Army. I keep it as an option in case I/we decide to retire there. My two daughters have a choice of citizenship should they ever decide to exercise it.

2. I don't particularly like the limelight that owning a historic motel has put me in. I prefer anonymity.

3. I'd like to be forced into early retirement. If it doesn't happen soon, it won't be early!

4. My husband and I have birthdays in February 3 days apart, and are both Aquarians, only I'm two years older. I was into younger men way before it was fashionable.

5. I have two daughters different as night and day and it's hard to believe they have the same parents.

6. My mom passed away in 2001, and I can't believe it's been 4 years already. My dad moved back to Brazil, and for a while I felt like an orphan.

7. My mom was an amazing woman coming to this country without speaking English and providing for me as a live-in housekeeper.

8. I am my father's only daughter, my mother's only child, and grew up as an only child. You draw your own conclusions. My daughters' sibling rivalry and fighting about sent me over the edge.

9. I have a best friend that I've known for 20+ years. First I moved away from her in CO to NM, and then she moved to HI! I believe in quality versus quantity.

10. I actually had my 15 minutes of fame early on. My 6th grade Spanish class was featured in a movie made for the president on the status of foreign language study. I had a starring role, but kept having to repeat my lines because every time I said them, a plane flew over, or there was some other noise.

11. I lived in Beverly Hills for a few years, long before everyone in the country knew that zip code.

12. I was also a "Valley Girl" like long before it meant anything.

13. When my best friend said she was taking a quilting class (see #9 above) I told her I had absolutely no interest in learning to quilt. She throws that back at me on a regular basis, and makes me add up how many quilts I've made.

14. I've tried not to say never anymore, since you don't know what paths your life will take. My younger daughter made me eat a lot of my words.

15. I sucked my thumb until I was 28 more or less, and don't know why I stopped. (It runs in my mother's family, and I have an older cousin that I don't know if she ever quit.)

16. I love to cook, and unfortunately for my waistline, to eat as well!

17. I worked for 20+ years as an operating room technician.

18. Always wanted to live on a "farm," and had 5 acres, goats, chickens, and raised a few pigs when we lived in CO and my kids were little. It was a good life. I'd do it again.

19. I'm happy and generally like my life. Success is getting what you want...happiness is liking what you get.

20. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

Okay, I tag someone else on the Artist's Way ring...Pat, Gemia, anyone??

TucumCairo?

 

There is nothing more beautiful than a southwest sunset! We get pretty spectacular sunrises frequently as well. With some creative cropping, it looks like someone riding a camel in the desert...in reality we live on Route 66 and that's part of the darkened sign of the Safari Motel just down the street making the silhouette. 

A Cat's Life

 

I've always envied a cat's ability to relax. After I took the picture I noticed the stuffed (doorstop) cat looked like it wished it could get in the sunshine too. 

Okay, I'm fried. I took a break from my current project and managed to upload a picture for my profile. Then I tried to add things to the sidebar, but it's much too late in the evening for me to work with this. Maybe the blogging wizards on the about.com quilting forum can help when I'm more rested.

Trying to start this

So, here I am trying this out. Just doing this so I can participate in a group study of "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.

I'll keep this short to see if I've got the hang of it yet.

About Me

Where do I start...I updated my blog with a new template and now I have to create a "real" about me page rather than using the fill in the blanks form from blogger.

I'm a happily retired former OR tech, medical transcriptionist, and lastly co-owner of a small historic motel. Got my 15 minutes of fame and am happily living in the geographical center of New Mexico in anonymity.

I enjoy quilting having come to it late in my sewing and needling life. I expected my previous mastery of needlepoint, counted cross-stitch, macrame, and crochet to count for something in learning the finer points of quilting, but had to start from scratch! My friend Rosie reminds me of my famous last words..."I don't want to learn to quilt"...when she signed up for a class and wanted me to accompany her. Years later I decided I did want to learn to quilt--but not by hand. I've been careful about what I say I don't want to or will never do.

My other passion is cooking. My waistline will readily attest to the fact that I also enjoy eating.

My blogging is sporadic, and I post when the mood strikes. Visit me again...who knows, there may be something new.

I hate to have my picture taken, and since I am the boss (owner) of the camera, I seldom appear in any of them. So at the moment I'm going to attempt to take a self-portrait!