Monday's

It's funny how those "Monday" kinds of days so often fall on Monday. For whatever reason, today has been one of those kinds of days for me. It's been a struggle from the moment I woke up. I even went back to bed thinking that might salvage the day but, no. Still a Monday.

How do you deal with these days?

Actually, I feel like I need to clean house. I sort of let everything slide on the weekends thinking that Monday I'll clean it all up and start the week fresh. I've had that attitude toward my life lately too. I let it slide knowing that I have the book to finish. But it seems that if you let life slip just a little, before long it's a landslide and you're trying to figure out what to do with all the rubble.

I know what to do. I need to take care of myself. I need to give myself permission to cook some nice meals instead of just throwing everything together at 5 o'clock. I need to stock some yummy good for me eats in the cupboard instead of raiding the Halloween stash when I hit that 3 o'clock low. I need to get outside and soak up some Vitamin D and I need to exercise daily to keep my serotonin levels up.

I need to do a little self nurturing and spend some time with my husband by the fireplace and cultivate that comfy feeling. Instead of burning the candle at both ends. What is there about work that makes us think that we have to sacrifice everything else for it? I don't know. But I do know that if I take a little time to recharge I'll feel a lot better.

Maybe that's the lesson of Mondays.

Prioritizing With Perspective

Recently I've been gifted with an amazing amount of orders in my Etsy site. Which I love! But I've also been given the gift of a Thursday morning Christian Artist's group, a wonderful family and friends, and most recently....AMAZING new art stamps. OK so the last one doesn't seem to fit with the others but the stamps have just been taunting me. "Come use me- Come play...." To which I respond, "Sooon, after I finish my orders, the chapters I'm supposed to read by tomorrow, the craft project I'm putting together for my mom's group, and life. "

This morning I met with my artist's group and we talked together about focus. It's something I struggle with constantly. I need to be focused on a project in order to finish it. I also need to be able to give my husband and son the attention they need. The orders for the shop- I need to focus on those because this is my beloved business. So how do I do it? How do you do it? How do you give the necessary amount of focus to all the important things in your life?

Currently, I prioritize. But I'm not sure that's the best way to manage it all. I don't know about you, but my priorities get out of whack pretty easily. Right now the orders are getting the most of the time and attention I can spare from my family. Then, other "commitments" I've made are prioritized according to due date. Finally, any reading I have to do. Self-development comes last. It's squeezed into the very beginning or the end of the day and frankly that seems to cut my husband out all together. So I'm not happy with this. But I think we all do it. One thing I've learned over the years though, is the importance of keeping perspective. In the proper perspective my health and development would move to the top. Because we would all agree that it's way more important to give our car an oil change than a car wash. Right? Maintenance is necessary for us as well. If we spend all of our time pushing ourselves and take no time to pause to catch our breath and grab a coffee then we soon find ourselves running on fumes.

This morning in my artist's meeting I was able to look objectively at my week and asked to consider the things I had done. Just taking that brief time to reflect (and drink coffee) was completely inspiring. I spent the rest of the day recharging. I went to the craft store and library with my son. I looked through some craft books I've had waiting for me forever, and I started to play. I used my amazing new art stamps to create a project, I started to work on a birdhouse photo holder that I think will be amazing, and I spent an hour playing "kitty" with my four year old son. Giving him some of the one on one attention he needs during the day. It was a great day! Now, instead of spending the night perusing Etsy and Flickr or working on some orders, I am going to go upstairs and pick out some windows and doors I like with my husband. Of course, I'm going to bend a bit of wire as I look( multi-tasking); but we can't get rid of all our bad habits in one day- right? :)

Staying Connected

Blogs, facebook, e-mail, convo's, the ways I connect with others has really changed in the last few months. It's been nice. I write much more now than I did and I find I really enjoy writing. But it's interesting to me how all this communication has changed my life. To understand how huge a life change this has been for me you need to know that I was one of the very last hold outs on e-mail. People sent it to me but I checked mine once every 3-10 weeks. In the beginning it was once every 3-6 months. Once people figured out they'd have to call me to check my e-mail if they wanted me to read their e-mail- they didn't e-mail again. So I didn't get much that was all that interesting to me. It was just one more chore to deal with. No fun at all. When I decided to go for the shop thing on Etsy one of the considerations my husband made me think about was whether I was willling to commit to checking my e-mails and replying to those that came in. To the average person this would not have been a consideration at all but for me.... I had to actually think about it.

Now I find myself spending a lot more time on the computer. I check my e-mail 2-3 times a day. I started to send e-mails myself and now I love to see my inbox full of new content. I like to know what's going on in people's lives. I like to be in on the joke that's going around. I like the feeling of connection that fosters. I have a friend I chat with almost daily but have never met. That's just cool!

When I jumped on the facebook wagon it was a blast to reconnect with people I haven't' seen or talked to in a good 20+ years. My grandmother is one of those rare people who has a talent for staying in touch with friends. I am horrible at it. She is in her mid-80's and still gets together for coffee with ladies she taught with at her first teaching job after college. She has always taken the time to write, to develop group relationships, to drive completely out of the way to visit an old friend. And she treats her new friends in the same way. Maybe that's the secret. She doesn't seem to prioritize anyone. She sees every relationship as important no matter how old it is and because she stays connected with her friends she stays interested. Maybe that's the key. Maybe someday I'll just ask her instead of trying to guess. I bet she'd like to tell me.

Enough writing for tonight though. My husband just walked in and gave me that headshake that means I'm not using my time wisely. At least that's how I'm interpreting it so I am off to sculpt and sew! I'll post some of my new creations next time. :)

Time Mis-management

Just a quickie post today. I've been swamped with all kinds of little time distractions. Not the little meanderings I talked about last- but life stuff. Things that are important but take time. For instance, super cool that both queries I sent to Sew Somerset were accepted but there is the whole have to write the articles thing now. Tuesday afternoon a reporter from WCCO called and wanted to interview me about Etsy. SUPER COOL but that meant frantic cleaning and prepping the project they wanted me to work on. Tuesday and Wednesday- shot. And there's this book I decided to write on the back burner constantly simmering.Today I realized that I have 20+ wire flowers to make for keychains for my Moms group to stitch tomorrow. It'll be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the teaching experience but....it all takes time and right now all I want to do is play with the beautiful new fabrics I picked up this morning. How to balance the "life" stuff and "fun stuff" is still a mystery to me. If any of you have a clue- I'd love to hear from you!

Studio Tour: A Play-Room of My Own

I was reading a book on creativity the other day and it mentioned Virginia Wolfe's A Room of Her Own and it struck me how often that is quoted to justify a studio space. As an artist we do a lot of things for other people. Often when we begin to create it's for others, and when we try to justify a play space we justify it by all kinds of reasons. Mine was-"I just need a place for everything to be together so the paintbrushes quit ending up in the silverware drawer and my watersoluble crayons quit landing in the bathroom". My canvases were hung up down in the laundry room next to the laundry stuff and my acrylics were in the with the dishes(which was the logical place it being next to the silverware drawer and all). My art was hung up in a completely haphazard way wherever I had wall space and my pastels were in my son's art room. The fabric and wire I kept in big plastic storage bins under the dining room table so that they were somewhat accessible and portable. It felt chaotic. I was always rummaging around trying to locate things. So when my son grew old enough for his big boy bed we moved him into a larger room and I have reclaimed my old art room.

The funny part is that now that I'm back I appreciate that I needed the room. Not because I needed a centralized place for everything but because I needed a place for my thoughts to flit and rest. A room I can enter and know it is the place for me to create, to be adventurous, and to play. Yes, it has all the supplies I need. It also has a place for me to work. But the thing I like best is that it inspires me. I've re-hung my old corkboard and filled it with eye candy-the pieces of paper, or fabric, or photos that I collect that inspire me. Over my desk are more of these postcards, and photos. My sketchbooks have found a home on the bookshelf. Pulling them out of the storage boxes and shelving them was a wonderful homing experience. I have a spot for my rock collection as well. The art hung haphazardly throughout the house is now finding a home in this room and I love being surrounded by it all. This I think, is what a "room of her own" was for. It is a place to inspire us to be the best, most creative us. To nurture our fledgling ideas. To display new visual treats and to help us discover new loves.

Could I create without this room? YES! Do I love having it now? YES! It feels wonderful. The part I love best is how the sun streams into it each morning. The part my husband loves best is that my "stuff" has now been contained and is off the countertops, his desk, the drawers, the closets, the living room floor, the kitchen wall.... You get the idea!