In 2009 I read many more books than one might expect a stay-at-home mother of a toddler to read. However, this came at the expense of physical fitness. Ah well, maybe 2010 will be more active. Then again, here’s my current stack. Only two books are holdovers from 2009: Raising Freethinkers and The Last Child in the Woods. The rest are all holiday gifts, and I am looking forward to delving into them. The lower half is nonfiction and the upper is fiction.
Happy New Year!
Bean chose snack for Santa, and even a snack for the reindeer (particularly Rudolph). Next is a bath, and then bedtime. Tomorrow is a big day! Happy Christmas Eve to all.
This lap robe is about 2000 yards of wool yarn. Very cozy. I just finished it this morning.
On this gray, rainy day, I decided to play a little with the camera. The Christmas tree is an important feature in my holiday traditions. It’s the centerpiece of our celebration. I have more ornaments than I can put on our tree, so each year I get to choose which ones I’d like to enjoy. This straw maiden ornament was given me by my mother many years ago.
I made the peanut elf ornament (below) when I was a Brownie scout, so that means I’ve carried this with me for 40 years!! I even have a construction paper stocking I made in kindergarten, and a construction paper flame ornament from first grade, but this year I didn’t put them on the tree.
I’m looking forward to Bean’s accrual of ornaments over the years, especially the ones she makes. Someday, I hope, she’ll have her own special tree.
In the spirit of incorporating my Husband’s family traditions as well as mine, I tried a new recipe. He grew up making thumbprint cookies with apricot jam, orange marmalade, and mint jelly. Not having those on hand, I used grape jam. Bean didn’t actually help this year, but when she’s older I’ll have her do the thumbprint part (and more, if she wants).
The recipe is here. It’s a fine, fine confection!
We arrived home last night at 11:00 p.m., exhausted and happy. Much unpacking and settling in to do. It was a great trip. Bean is a flexible and patient little traveler (inasmuch as a two-year old can be). We loved seeing family and friends and hope to do it again soon.
Each year, in the last days of Art Every Day Month, my thoughts turn toward Christmas. If I had time and was inclined to make Christmas cards, I think this would make a sweet design. Alas, this one will have to do. I’ve had great fun this month with the process, and I really like most of what I created. I especially like this small format, because I can actually squeeze a little creativity into the nooks and crannies of time I have.
Happy Advent!
I experimented with polymer clay. The chocolate brown was deeper than I had in mind, so I added transparent gold paint and some green puff paint. It’s not as lightweight as a regular Art Card, but I like it nonetheless. It was a piece I could do while standing in the kitchen as Bean played nearby.
In this piece I experimented with image transfer, paper, paint, a piece from a magazine bead necklace, a crushed bean shell, and seed beads.
The base of this card is card stock with a texture stamp in mustard and olive colored ink. I didn’t really like it and thought about tossing it. But I happened to come across some scraps of other paper I used in other cards and got to playing with the arrangement. It absorbed me, and I finally found a use for the random, stray puzzle piece that’s been sitting on my desk for months.
I wanted to subdue the brightness of the yellow card stock, so I used a texture stamp (made of rubber) and mustard yellow ink. Then I used a sunflower stencil. Simple and fun!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I wanted contrast and intensity. I had random scraps. This is what came together!
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped hill or mountain with steep sides that is smaller in area than a plateau. A butte is also a flat-topped hill with steep sides, though smaller in area than a mesa. Definitions of the surface areas of mesas and buttes vary. One source states that a mesa has a surface area of less than 4 square miles (10 square kilometers), while a butte has a surface area less than 11,250 square feet (1,000 square meters). Another source states that the surface area of a mesa is larger than 1 square mile (2.59 square kilometers); the surface area of a butte is smaller than that dimension. Some simply define a mesa as a landform that is wider than it is high and a butte as one that is higher than it is wide.
There’s your science factoid for the day.
I often like what results when I sit down without intention or agenda and play.
When at a loss for inspiration, reach for Crayolas. I still like to color in coloring books too!
So tomorrow begins an adventure! We are all getting on a plane to fly to Texas. Other than one overnight in Monterey, we’ve never gone anywhere with Bean. We’re all set!
I won’t have access very much to a computer until after December 1. I’ve created blog posts for the remaining days of Art Every Day Month, but those will automatically publish. I may log onto email a couple times if you want to contact me; just don’t anticipate a prompt reply.
Happy end of November, everyone!
Poor little peacock. This format was too small for him to have a full array of tail feathers.
I’m having an ego moment. Cruising the Internet, I find so many sites by people — especially women — who are creative and generating a living (or at least some income) from it. Friends are making and selling their art. Friends are designing clothing and selling the patterns, and knitting up gorgeous garments. A friend is starting fitness accessory business. Friends write books and hold retreats. Acquaintances are life coaches, writers, have award-winning blogs, make and sell jewelry, and so on.
And I’m here in my little corner of the world, dabbling away. I suspect I’ve always been a dilettante. I walked away from a fledgling career as a professional counselor with her own practice to move here with Husband. (To get licensed here would require almost going through the whole process again — at a cost in money and time that I just won’t spare.) Sometimes I think about setting up a life coaching practice, but what is that, anyway? Everyone seems to be doing it; Google produced 42 million hits for the term. Plus, I’ve been out of the work world long enough that I feel rough and rusty.
One reason I go through sporadic periods of creating is that once I’ve got something made, the question arises of what to do with it. I’ve got knitted stuff stored in my drawers. Art I’ve made sits in a portfolio. Space is limited, so I create less often, and it depresses me to create only to have it sit in the dark. Yes, I could knit for charity — and I do. But there is something satisfying in being compensated monetarily for one’s efforts, and it is validating and heartening to be recognized for one’s work.
I’m not complaining so much as I am musing aloud whether I could be doing more, if I am wasting precious skill and talent by not generating income in some way with all this creativity.
And I’m wondering where these women get the energy. Some of them, in addition to being mothers, work outside jobs, and yet still find a way to create, often at the expense of their sleep and perhaps health. Maybe they can actually function this way. I did it for years in my 20s and 30s, but I’ve found that I’m a crappy mother if I’m exhausted and sick, and I want to be a good mother. I don’t enjoy life when I’m barely able to move or think. There are no sick days available.
So I struggle a bit with… envy? Or maybe it’s worry… a fear that I have retreated into a passive state, almost infantile, in that I don’t generate income, especially from all the dabbling I do. I’m getting to play, while Husband is out there bringing home cash. I don’t have currency in a world where the question, “What do you do for a living?” is unanswerable because I don’t make an income. There was no place on the U.S. Census form that I filled out for our household for me to write that my current job is Homemaker and Mother and that no, I wasn’t laid off and seeking work. It — I — just didn’t count.
I know, wah wah wah. But I do wonder.
Making art every day has taken a lot of my energy, so much that I have virtually nothing to say otherwise. The days are full with Bean. We were all able to get seasonal flu shots last week, and I feel much relief as we are about to embark on our Big Trip next Monday. I realize other bugs might come up, but at least — I hope — not The Flu.
I am knitting. I’m still working my way through The Last Child in the Woods and am steadily reading Home, Marilynne Robinson’s second novel. I’m also gathering supplies needed for our trip. Despite the fact we aren’t lugging a lot of big items, thanks to my sister-in-law’s efforts, there still feels like a lot to remember.
Stayed up too late last night, and Bean woke at 5:30 a.m. today, so I’m headed to bed.
As Tigger would say, TTFN!
Here’s a craft we did tonight. After dinner Bean said, “I want to do a craft project,” and I happened to have the supplies handy. I love the site No Time For Flashcards; it offers great and simple ideas. Here is Bean’s Indian corn.
