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.