A quote

"A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectability) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she "should" be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only".

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

my creative process

I'm a good organizer. I'm a good planner. I'm not very good at doing projects well ahead of schedule. I always work best under pressure.

Emily's carnival birthday party is this Saturday. It's the one that I started planning for 2 months ago. I made the invitations. I made the list of carnival games. I made a list of supplies I needed to create the games at home. I made a list of things I needed to buy. I have pretty much all of the things I need, but not one game has been fully completed. I have 4 things to paint. I have about a dozen or so signs to make. I have homemade beanbag balls to make (why I can't just buy them is the question that everyone is asking). I have 4 days.

My mom asked tonight how she could help. She offered to make the balls. I told her that it would be hard to do because I don't have a pattern. I just have an idea and everything is laid out perfectly in my head, but it's not stuff I can delagate unless someone is just going to figure out there own way of doing it. Which would be fine in most cases, but this is my kid's party, so in this case, my way is probably the better option and thankfully most people know this.

I've never really thought about my process before. I mean, I've acknowledged freely that I wait and work better under pressure. It's not laziness or procrastination. It's just that everything is jelling together in my crazy little brain and then in those final hours, it pops out in sometimes unexpected ways that are even better than what my brain had been dreaming about for the two months prior.

So tomorrow I have jury duty. With a little luck I'll get to come home early. Tomorrow I start the race against the clock. It will be fun. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

Silly girl, just like her mama

I left the house a grumpy mom this morning, but the following conversation turned around my whole day:

Emily: What was that on Nanaw's car (my mom's car in the driveway)?
Me: I don't know. I didn't see anything. What was it?
Emily: A rabbit.
Me: A rabbit? What color was the rabbit?
Emily: Orange.
Me: What was the orange rabbit doing?
Emily: It was saying "ribbet-ribbet" [laughter ensues]

She's a dork. Just like me. I love it.