Observing

Observing ourselves and our environment was our charge for this week's Explore class at shimelle.com.

We took a look at where we sit, stand and lie down.  I have many sitting spots and I use them a lot!  It makes my resolution to Get Moving more important.  I've kind of let myself off the hook the last few months as I've been walking several times a week for exercise.  But there is still a lot of the day where I am sitting particularly when business is slow.  So the last few days I've made more of an effort to get up and move.

I've become much more aware of how I sit in the last year.  Last summer when I suddenly developed shoulder pain, I had to make some changes.  I soon figured out that typing with my computer on my lap wasn't going to work - either the laptop had to go up and I had to get an external keyboard or the laptop could be in my lap and I would have to have a monitor at eye level.  I did the latter for a couple of weeks until my cordless keyboard came.  It has been a big help.

During the last year, I've fixed myself a 'station' for my laptop and my most comfortable and ergonomic chair.  Also I got another chair for the living room after figuring out how few chairs I had in my house that really supported my back and neck. Now I can see how much I've learned that helped me and also helps me with design clients.

I also did the activity for class where I recorded everything I did for a day and when I did it.  The biggest thing I noticed was that I multi-task. I knew this;  I think all women do this. I just didn't realize how much.  Some of it was the day I picked was particularly busy but I know I do some of these things - like getting up during television commercial breaks to put clothes in the dryer or feed the cat - on regular days.  So there is a little of that 'get moving' going on :-)

There are things though that I just can't do together.  For example, I can't type and have the television on at the same time. I don't like background noise unless it is music and then only when I'm not trying to figure something out.  I tried to have a program on while I typed this blog post and had to switch off the TV so I'm not that kind of multitasker.  No, I'm the kind who will go back and forth between the dinner table and the sink to do dishes while my husband and I are finishing a game of Scrabble.  I just can't sit still and wait on him to take his turn.

I had another observation that will be showing up in my layout for the week, hopefully later today or tomorrow.

For this Play book page, I did a couple of things I don't normally so as we were encouraged to stretch ourselves.  I handwrote on my photos.  It was surprising how many pens worked on the photos.  Also, I took a bunch of sticker sheets and just pulled one sticker off each sheet for the title.  That is a little thing but it is unusual for me as I have to have a whole word from one type of sticker or chipboard.

It has been an interesting class.  I'm already observing a little more of my every day life.

Today's Adventure

Today we had an adventure.  In our Explore class, we are supposed to reflect on our past adventures and I haven't had time because I've been helping Lenny install a bat box and take 3 showers in one day!

It is ironic because one of the reasons I'm taking this class is I feel my life has become so hum drum, spending too much time dwelling on a lack of work and the aches and pains that ironically started 1 year ago tomorrow.  For that was the day I got out of bed and didn't feel quite right and I haven't been able to fully turn back the clock yet.  Anyway, today I had little time to fuss over aches and pains and fortunately they left me alone.

We have bats.  They are in our chimney.  We don't want bats in our chimney; however we love, love having the bats around.  Why?  They eat mosquitos - apparently they feast on them as this is the first summer ever that I can pick flowers or even water my plants on the front porch without covering myself from head to toe. Last summer I couldn't even walk onto the porch barefoot without getting a bite on my foot.  So I'm delighted the little chirpy critters are gobbling up the mosquitos. Still I don't want them in my chimney forever.

The process as we understand it for evicting them is to make them a new home, put the home up in July so they can get used to it as they fly around and then run them out of the chimney come November when their young are ready to leave the nest.  Promptly we should cover the top of the chimney so they won't return.

So Saturday we began Phase 1 of this project by constructing the bat house - or Bat Palace as Lenny proclaimed it.  It was really simple, taking only about an hour to put together.  I then painted it black - black so it will keep the bats warm.  With the paint dry, we set out today to put up the house.  Lenny wanted to put it in this particular tree that he plans to kill and use as basically a pole for the bat house, ah Palace.  So he mowed around the tree and then cut off limbs.  My job was mostly to fetch and carry and to hold the ladder.  After a few sways and screams, he fussed that no one ever taught me how to hold a ladder.  Well, duh?  Why doesn't he teach me?  And really, is all that shaky ladder coming from my improperly anchoring it or that he outweighs me by nearly double?

Anyway, we went through two ladders, utilized a pulley system and a variety of screws but the bat house is up.  Oh and if you were wondering about the showers, I had dressed myself in my traditional working outdoor in summer gear of pants, long sleeve shirt and socks over the top of my pants to keep from being bitten - I figure even the bats can't eat everything.  It was miserably hot and when we were almost done I spotted it - poison ivy! I'd scanned the area earlier and didn't see a spot right under the tree!  Fortunately, it is my only allergy but the stuff just loves me.  So I've showered with dish detergent, put the clothes in a garbage bag and set my shoes aside not to be worn for a few days until I see whether today was a lucky as well as adventuresome day.

Now I'm not sure if figuring out how to lift a heavy handmade box up about 14 feet onto a tree and anchor it there constitutes an adventure for most people but it was definitely not an every day thing.  Thank goodness.

TIPsy Tuesday - Favorite Embellishment Storage

Today's tip is to shop the tool section of a discount store for storage.  This is my absolute favorite small item storage system.

I believe this came from the home tool section at Walmart.  I have another one I use in my workroom that came from Sears tool department long before I started my business.  It hold buttons, needles and stuff.  These little drawers are ideal for holding papercrafting embellishments.

Embellishments that go with a collection are typically stored with that collection.  All the others go here:  buttons by color, grommets and most of my Stampin' Up! embellishments, binder clips, etc.  I keep it right over my worktable so they are handy.  The drawers are removable.

Sitting on top is this little cat.  He/she has it's own story.

When my husband and I first started dating over 20 years ago, he had to go on a business trip and came home with this little cat to perch above my desk at home and watch over me.  Lenny said he had seen these before but could never find one when he wanted to buy a special gift for a cat lover. But on this trip, right after dating me, he easily found the cat in a small town gift shop.  (I think he saw it as a sign.)  The little kitty has watched over one desk or another of mine for 20 years now.

If only the little kitty could talk... she could tell me where my glue dots got off to this time :-)

Thanks for visiting today!

Early Inspiration

Who inspired you toward a crafty hobby?  Or did you pick it up on your own?  Have you always been surrounded by family and friends who create things with their hands?  Perhaps one or two people influenced you.

That question is the first phase of Two Peas in a Bucket’s latest event called Connecting with Creativity.

When I think of that question the first people that come to mind are my mother’s sisters and two very good friends.  And while I started creating at a very young age with the help of these wonderful people, my exposure to handmade items goes back to before I could even walk and talk much less hold a crochet hook or a needle.

When I was very young, I can remember my mother cross stitching the designs on what became her bedspread.  I remember going with her to take the completed cross stitch top to an older lady’s home where it would be intricately hand quilted.

There were other projects mother did including some decoupage plaques where she put dozens and dozens of coats of polyurethane over the surface standing between each one.  I don’t recall seeing her make the crewel embroidery picture shown above but I do know that she made it and it was in our house when I was growing up.  About four years ago mother and I were going through some things in storage and I came across this as well as a needlepoint picture that she did.  This one now hangs over the desk in my living room.  The decoupage Four Seasons pictures are displayed in her hallway.

My mother’s creativity was redirected towards the business that she and my father started when I was four.  My father started by framing pictures –he framed the embroidery that she did and later my early efforts at embroidering.  They soon expanded into offering draperies, wallpaper, and carpet.  Mother helped customers select the furnishings for their home.  She also had a young child, my mother in law, and parents who all needed her time.  So the time for embroidery and other projects just disappeared.

Now that my mother has retired she has taken up gardening.  She uses her creative energy to arrange her plants and create a beautiful, inspiring yard.  I wish I had her energy as well as her green thumb!

Now that I think about it I’m sure my mother’s creativity was influenced by projects that were done in her home.  My grandfather was a cabinetmaker.  He delighted in working out how he was going to make something.  She’s fond of telling me how he could do anything.  He and my Dad's father built my parents home they still live in today.  My grandmother quilted and was a wonderful cook and gardener herself.

So when I first think about it, it’s a little harder to connect the dots because we all do different kinds of crafts.  Yet the desire and the ability to create beautiful surroundings is a thread woven through my family for generations.

Follow this link to read stories from other bloggers on who inspired them.  Connecting with Creativity


Thanks for visiting!