In the Christmas swing of things

So, in my house, in October, it's absolutely, totally normal to have Christmas Craftapalooza strewn all around my craft room.  Maybe, even a little bit of Christmas cheer heard on the Internet radio ( I need all the spirit I can get). Sweet sound of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker helps me get into the swing of things.  I know what you're thinking, it's only October, not even Halloween, there's no need to get ahead of ourselves.

 You may recall, I'm a crafter/artist so there is definitely a need to get ahead...for Christmas craft shows!  I'm going to try a bit harder this year to link up my current projects to the blog, which is something I've had a horrible time doing.  However, if everyone else can do it, so can I!



"Holidays are a hoot!"

So, what's on tap for now, is a whole lot of wood cutting, sanding, priming and getting creative.  I like, rather I should say, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to do custom work for the holidays.   That way, you are getting what you want and there's less waste of materials.  Otherwise, I'll just make a ton of unloved ornaments just begging for a home.  You wouldn't want that would you? I know I couldn't have that on my conscience.  Now for you who I know are going to ask, "do you have a website?"... A sad "no" is my response.  I will soon, don't you fret but unfortunately, they just don't appear out of the blue.  I'm just so picky on how I want mine to look...so there, the truth is out.

If you e-mail me (click on my profile e-mail) with the words, "Custom Christmas" in your subject line, I will get back to you ASAP and  be more than happy to work with you to create a unique and custom piece just for you or your loved one.  Many people forget their co-workers, the kids' babysitters, teachers/principals, clergy, besties, godparents, special relatives- whomever they are, they are lacking in dare I say, something special to adorn their tree, refrigerator or wall.  We just can't let that happen.  So, with my last plea for doing right in this world, contact me so we can save ourselves from mass produced junk from China and support a local small business...."The Arts Desire"  BTW, that's me!


"Because Goddaughters are angels."

 

A New Direction...

A new direction is in the works with my blog...more about my current artistic creations or ones that I have seen that I admire and attempt to create on a modest budget.  I love going to craft shows, well, not all of them because I just don't want to see anymore knitted items that my Grandma could have made. I love this one local venue that a young lady introduced me to and very much admire the more hip, urban-like Indie feel to it. No more crocheted kitchen towels for this lady.  Now, now,  I'm not insulting the crocheting community, I love crocheted items, just not the ones that are dated a few generations.

I have found that local businesses who used to carry my work just can't seem to sell handmade anymore. The business often goes bottom up in no time because they either didn't have enough dedication or write a business plan or the poor economy but whatever the reason, I don't think that would happen to me. I just like to interact with people so much on a creative level that I couldn't even imagine not putting a 110% into it.  Blogging is another way to communicate my intentions, come see what I've done, let me know how I'm doing and help me with my addiction to create.

 I'm a sarcastic person by nature...of which the title of my blog evolved "Really, you made that?"  I think about what that must mean when someone asks me that. I must get it at least 2-3 times per craft event I venue. Do I look like I can't do it or is it some kind of backhanded compliment? I think it's become a private joke between my husband and I especially the day of the event and we're taking bets on how many times I'll hear it that day.

O.k., new direction I said. One with less commentary on every day stresses and more on creative therapy. Things that make me happy or insane with creativity or bust.  Mainly, I will be posting on crafting or something nifty like my latest birthday cake experiment  but I do look forward to suggestions and other fun ideas. If you like my blog, please become a follower so that I know I'm doing something right.

Green Me

As the world attempts to go green, I have to admit that it's no easy peasy task. I thought that replacing my incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs was an painless task. I also thought that paying bills online and receiving statements was too but that would be a misnomer.
Organic food, isn't all of nature's bounty organic?... pesticides are not. No matter, even my tree hugger friends don't live in solar powered bio-domes so there's still hope for me yet.

Now I know that I was not the only one growing up noticing the waste we Americans accumulate and discard haphazardly. Now suddenly, after the last few years of using that cute gimmick, "going green" do we do it on a strict conscious regimen? Most likely not. Like any kick, be it new or favorable to our inhabitants and earth, it lasts a couple of weeks and then back to the old routine. I keep a recycling bin and separate but there's a lot that gets overlooked. Laziness and ignorance are often the culprit to not doing our part to clean up our acts. We should have been going green since the dawn of time if we think we are even putting a dent in the earth's rubbish pile.

Compact Fluorescent bulbs are great if you are not on some kind of a budget. I buy them when I feel like splurging on a small treat for the home. I believe that they last for quadruple the time a regular bulb does but the initial cost is killer on the wallet. Organic foods are much of the same nonsense, the price tag. I will do my part and grow my own green thumb and shop at farmers markets for produce. What the retail world won't tell you is that organic foods only matter some of the time: nectarines, pears, celery, peaches, apples, cherries, strawberries, potatoes, raspberries. They have more pesticide residue but tougher skinned produce seems to protect itself like pineapples, kiwi, broccoli, etc. The online banking thing is a great idea but it is not when there are "glitches" in the system, often costing the consumer more debt to someone somewhere.

It seems if we take it a step at a time rather than the all or nothing policy, we will see progress. You often get better results when you don't feel nagged about doing it. The three R's are a great start: reduce, reuse, recycle but not creating the waste in the first place is imperative. Prices need to go down on the better choices for our environment or it won't stick...less green for the green. I have an idea, let's start with the school system's use of paper- my kid is bringing home at least 7-15 sheets of paper home per day! Just makes me want to go hug the nearest tree.

Where Oh Where Is Spring?

For me, cold and blustery days create doldrums of procrastination. I just want to hibernate and snuggle until my heart's content. I've come to the conclusion that I am part hermit and quite enjoy the calm. There's no reason to move except that the house does not clean itself, nor does the food cook itself or the child get off to school herself. Sucking it up is what this kind of day calls for- now there's a word, suckitupivation ...loosely translated as motivation for those who need to get on with it already!

Is there anyone else out there like me? Everyone else I know seems to be plugging away at home projects, hosting parties, setting up play dates despite the weather. I am not lazy because what that entails is a sloth-like, lackadaisical, demeanor that I don't think I deserve. I feel that procrastination stems from despair or apathy from climate change. I felt a rush of energy for a second when I heard the first call of spring birds. I even started my walking program a week ago in answer to our pseudo-spring temps. I was thinking about deep cleaning and organizing like I was an expectant mother in her nesting period. But, alas, spring got snatched away and left me pleading for its return.

I've mapped out a plan to combat my sluggishness and fight back with a vengeance...accept who I am and move down South!!! No, really, massive amounts of caffeine, vitamin D and exercise should do the trick (all at once). Kidding, everything in moderation because suffering from Arrhythmia is not a needed catalyst. I think that we should hold procrastination parties in the cold months to keep the juices flowing. The only problem is that they will be cancelled and rescheduled at a later date...TBD.

If you know of anyone who suffers from lack of suckiupivation, give them a meaningful task to perform that can only be done by that individual. Fib a bit if you have to and declare that it's their talents you need and not anyone else to complete the mission. If someone told me that they needed me to bake them several dozens of cookies because I'm such a great baker, I would do it in a heartbeat because I'm feeling appreciated. Appreciation = Motivation. Oh, and sunshine!

I'm Waiting HGTV...

When did I become such a pack rat? I literally dwell in a cave of clutter. I have many valid reasons...1) I am an artist/crafter, I'll use that someday.; 2) We live in a modest home, small homes just exaggerate the mess; 3) I am just too tired to organize, if only you could do it in your sleep; 4) No help to master this disaster, no one wants to partner up with that. I know I can't live like this forever, when are those home organizing shows gonna come to my neck of the woods?

The hardest part in this discovery of my present situation is that I was never like this before. Even before OCD was a commonly used acronym, I definitely had it or at least a smidge. A wrinkle in the made bed would send shivers down my spine when I was a kid. I loved to go to other people's homes as a guest and clean their dishes and help out around the house. Weird, right? I had folders and containers marked and every photograph titled and placed. I even started on class assignments ahead of time even though they weren't due for weeks. I was the organizing queen and then I got dethroned about four years ago.

The excuse of being an artist is a crafty excuse and I do have boxes of actual inventory and materials. My downfall is that almost everything I see could be of value and used in a creative way. I kicked the habit of collecting, going on a year now and am proud of my accomplishment. However, I have an accomplice who unloads unusual and often not usable chachkis on my doorstep. You know the old cliche, take one step forward, two steps back...it really applies to me. I've confronted this person with an open yet friendly manner with regard to my situation but I keep getting back,"Well I thought you could use it somehow, I don't know how but I'm sure you'll make it work". Thanks for the confidence but giving me more stuff is not going to help with my problem. Uggghhh.

We do live in a small home and when you have some papers here a project over there, things start shaping to look like a construction zone. All the organizing bins in all the world just don't matter because there's no space to put 'em. I do have visions of grandeur though where things are magically put in their proper place and everything is right with the world. By five o'clock p.m., a different scenario presents itself, where there seems to be no trace of that so called fairy dust and the magical doings-not even a hint.

All the advice in the world from home/style magazines has been read and tried but nowhere do they mention where the motivation will be coming from. I have learned after all, that I'm better at using my collections in my work rather than saving them. I do vow everyday to sum up a bit of vigor and strike away at it again. I do admit to setting myself up for failure when I compare myself to others or to my old self. I'll take my lumps, after all, there are no visits from the health department. Also,being too hard on oneself actually backfires. So where did I put that number for the home organizing show again?

Thirtyish

In light of my recent birthday, I feel compelled to share some of my thoughts on the subject of being 30ish. O.k., almost fortyish. My explorations of, you know you're getting older when...




☺ My body can forecast the weather. My back says it's gonna be a grey, dank, cold one today. My sinuses say that rain will accompany it.

☺ I have reminder notes written everywhere but I'll be darned if I can remember where I put them. Note to self: look for that note for that thing.

☺ I went downstairs for something.... Uhhh.

☺ A serious workout is going to the grocery store. And push that cart and bend and stretch for that bread and breathe....



☺ I have no concept of time-isn't it all relative anyway? Sure do have a lot of relatives.

☺ Regularly asking the hubs if he's sure he still wants to live up North. Really?

☺ Constantly getting mail from AARP and Medicare. No kiddin'!

☺ No, seriously, I did walk a mile to elementary school everyday and yes, in the snow!

☺ I've got a pill in my purse for anything that ails me. It's Pepto time!

☺ When twenty years later, you finally get the sexual reference you heard in high school. Ohhh.....definitely can't do that even with all the stretching in the world.

☺ It takes a stick of dynamite, a blowtorch and some gallons of foundation (mixed with spackle) to even look good. Yes, our beauty secret is out.

☺I'm too old to call it baby fat (from my babies) anymore. And I'm not referring to the designer.

☺ I absolutely look forward to nothing to do. Pencil me in.

☺ Getting asked if I'm my daughter's grandma. Ouch. And worse even, if my eldest is her mother. Double ouch.

☺ Will duel anyone who wants to take a picture of me unless of course they are going to Photoshop it. Yeah, that's how I roll.

☺ Any person over the age of 30 saying, "that's how I roll" to keep it hip. Oh yeah, I went there.

☺ When one beer will give me a serious hangover just from opening it. Hiccup.

☺ Buying shoes for comfort. Isn't that an oxymoron?

☺ When my youngest asks me what a cassette player is. Would've felt better if she asked me what a record player was.

☺ Think I'm having flashbacks when I see 80's fashions in the store. One word: Why?

☺ When a couple of hours doing yard work takes a week to recoup. I really think weeds are pretty.

☺ My eye bags have bags and those have luggage! Why can't that baggage get lost at the airport?!

☺ I'm dressed like an Eskimo on a 50 degree day and everyone else is wearing shorts. Wimp.

☺Hoping that next year, the birthday Grinch will steal it. Leave the roast beast.

RATT's

I find that conversations are hard to be had anymore without the other person always correcting you. I use the word, always because it seems that any point, no matter how trivial or obtuse something I'm saying is, it's being challenged. Is being right so important: is it ego, lack of security, manipulation or just bad manners? A recent example: I say, "I can't believe it's 28 degrees out now" and they say back, "Well, actually, it's 28 and a half degrees and it feels more like 29".

I actually think that I attract these "right all the time" people. Maybe it's my more passive nature that makes others feel in control. So, if you are passive aggressive, it's going to widdle away at you for days until you have the perfect comeback and then, whammo, they've got you again! Or....it could be that the person inflicting rightness onto you is not happy: not happy that you could be right or because you are indeed happy? Misery loves company? Hmmm....

I have wondered though that with all this technology at our fingertips, are we becoming info junkies? In that case, my first step is admitting to you that I have a problem with my web surfing addiction and being up to date on Yahoo and Googling the heck out of every topic. You can find an obscene amount of information on the Internet, unfortunately everything you read is not true and maybe that's a good thing. However, there are those who think everything they read is gospel and need to share it with the world like they are born-again webheads.

So, in my journey into discovering the psyche of RATT's (Right All The Timers), I'm leaning toward the belief that there seems to be less social graces. O.k., I've said it, like you didn't think that was a gimme? I see it all the time, especially with children: kids mouthing off to other adults and all the while their parent is right next to them not correcting their impolite manner! Also, I don't doubt that you can throw in a bit of insecurity in there somewhere for good measure. With a pinch of manipulation to top it off but not too much because the RATT may not consciously know they are doing it- how convenient.