Couldn't resist

After seeing Sophie's post, I couldn't resist knowing what inanimate object I am! I'm happy to know that I am malleable and easily adaptable to new situations. It seems there may be lots of new situations coming my way.


Oooh! Look at me! I'm a sock!


Random Object Quiz
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Well, I didn't do my Chapter 9 check-in. I did read through the chapter, but didn't feel that I had any blocks or creative U-turns. I plan to revisit this chapter in the future. I'm still consistently doing my morning pages 7 out of 7 days. And artist dates, well, I can't say that I did anything specific. Right now having time to work on any art is just the medicine I need, and I've managed to squeeze some in. I identified with a number of points Jane Ann brought up in her check-in as well as Suze's comments. I would have to say that having to do this book in a group has made me more accountable. Had I just decided to buy/read it I doubt I would have stuck with it as long or participated as much in the actual doing! I'm going to move on to Chapter 10, but there are likely a number of chapters I will be revisiting sometime in the future.

The computer ate my blogwork!

I posted this all once already! Arrgghhh! Anyway I guess we're on a Monday snow schedule. Last week we also had a bit of a blizzard on Monday. Yesterday it was 70 degrees, today, it snowed. We can sure use the moisture, but I could do without the extremes.

Chapter 8 Check-In

I did my morning pages 7 out of 7. I find them beneficial, though most of the time without tangible evidence of this.

This chapter didn't seem to be so much about time management in concrete terms, but the best advice I took from it is Filling the Form. I have a bad habit of not taking the smallest step, and therefore making the journey, unless I am assured that I can complete it. The journey is reward enough. I need to take the smallest of steps everyday, and before I know it, I will have completed something. Frequently I don't begin a task unless I can work until I finish, and so I'm guilty of putting obstacles in my own way...like I need to clean up, be caught up with everything else before I reward myself with creative work. And I know that without a creative outlet, I'm not the best of company!

I had written so much more, but this will have to do for now. I'm cooking dinner, but I did make time and get some sewing in today. I didn't finish quilting what I was working on, but I'm that much closer to being done!

Fours for me too

Four jobs you've had: medical assistant in a pediatric practice--and I still had kids, operating room technician, private scrub nurse for plastic surgeon, and motel owner/operator.

Four movies you could watch over and over: The Birdcage always cracks me up, Amelie for just the visual, Off the Map, Raiders of the Lost Ark, (only four?), E.T., Close Encounters, Star Wars...

Four places you've lived: Aschaffenburg, Germany; Sao Paulo, Brasil; Dobbs Ferry, NY; Beverly Hills, CA.

Four TV shows you love to watch: Lost, Grey's Anatomy, ER, and I just discovered two new shows, Bones and House

Four Places You've Been on Vacation: LA and TX Gulf coasts, Amsterdam, Paris, Genoa--we covered a lot of Europe the year we lived there.

Four Websites You Visit Every Day: About.com quilting forum, gmail, Route 66 News, bloglines and wherever that leads me.

Four Of Your Favorite Foods: Thai shrimp fried rice, authentic Italian anything, authentic Brazilian rice, beans, and a fried egg, Belgian chocolate

Four Places You'd Rather Be: in my bedroom sewing, in Brazil birdwatching, visiting my friend Rosie in Hawaii where she lives and I've never been, in a cafe in France.

Four Albums you can't live without: I like so many different kinds of music...but let's see right now I'm wearing out Coldplay X&Y if it were an album instead of a CD, Joni Mitchell's Miles of Aisles is always good, Allison Kraus and Union Station Live, and Keane.

Four People you'll pass this on to: Whoever hasn't done this yet in the Journal Quilts Challengers

Chapter 7 Check-in

I felt I needed this chapter, and may return to it when I
forget the lessons in it. (I'm older now, and expect to forget more!) Oh perfectionism...I was taught the other crafts in my life, counted cross-stitch, crochet, etc. by the same dictators that strictly mandate coloring inside the lines. I learned their lessons well, and was probably harsher on my work than they could ever be. I undid countless stitches, because I didn't have it exactly right, and that attitude followed into quilting, where I expected perfection without the learning curve! I'm learning to be kinder to my artist child. And yes, it is much easier not to risk trying than to try and fail or worse yet: "I'll look like an idiot." Aging has helped me be okay with appearing the idiot, as my children will attest to!

Like Sophie, I am more envious of other's situations. I so long to have my own home again, one that is not a public venue. I envy those who are already retired, as that is my goal now, though I know I am the envy of those that have 9-5 lives.

I did morning pages 6 out of 7 days. This is probably a long lasting habit. It was easy on vacation since I didn't have online access, and really needed to fill my early morning time with something.

Socks! A couple of years ago I treated myself when ordering some fabric online to a pair of Laurel Burch socks. I wore them for no reason at all. I still need to write my mantra and place it where I can easily remind myself of it. Treating myself like a precious object will make me strong. I have heretofore subscribed to the notion that being hard on myself was the key--and though it didn't work, it only reinforced my resolve to be harder still. Duh! Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!

I had many artist dates. Walking on the beach picking up treasures has got to be one of my favorite pastimes! I have many trinkets to make into a windchime. Instead of buying a pair of socks, I treated myself to another pair of Crocs, which were on sale at a shop on the Strand in Galveston. Last summer I bought a pair of Airwalks which though they looked similar were a pale, cheaper version of my original Crocs. My feet need all the kindness I can afford to give them. I still want to make a collage!

My Christmas cactus is still going strong and has been blooming since Thanksgiving. Unlike my artist child which still needs coddling, it thrives with neglect. Of course in the summer, I can't get away with not watering my plants for the extended periods I do in the winter. Happy New Year everyone! 

Benign neglect

Boy, it's been a long time since I've blogged. We had company for Christmas and it was just busy, busy. Then as soon as they left we took off in our camper for the TX Gulf Coast. I forgot to water my plants for some time before I left and then was gone 10 days. They survived, as I tend to favor succulents, and this one thrived from the benign neglect by sending up a flower spike.

We came home to balmy weather in the 70s which was great since there was a lot of unloading and laundry to take care of. Then yesterday we had a blizzard! I'm not complaining about the much needed moisture, but wish our weather pendulum didn't have to swing to such extremes. The heat is on this morning, and besides baking a chicken tonight for dinner, I'm already contemplating what else to bake to warm it up in here.

I managed to do morning pages throughout most of our break. I enjoy them, and I feel they really do help me purge things I really don't need to drag around with me all day. Need to still do my Chapter 7 check-in and then get busy on my Journal Quilt. Had soooo many ideas that I didn't commit to paper, and now where have they gone?