A leap of faith

Today I started writing a story. What?! Don't tell a soul. It's just our little secret, dear reader, because I can trust you with this information, but I am afraid to tell anyone else. How dare I, me just little old me (emphasis on the "old") have the audacity to actually attempt to create something?

I have been pretty much sitting on my ass for a year, since I retired, and I don't have much to show for it. Oh sure, I knitted a couple of sweaters, one of which was a great success, shown here, modeled by the recipient, my darling daughter: 

And sure, I have sewn a few things, curtains, a robe for my little Riley for Giftmas last year. I made some PJs for me, which would be great but the fabric is crap- how can 100% cotton jersey feel like sandpaper- but I digress.

The point here is I haven't made 1 painting. Well, I did, but I hated it. I haven't written one word of value. What the F have I been doing all this time?

Going for hikes, going on boat rides, a medicinal walk every day, reading some, knitting lots, and I got hooked on sugar and Facebook. What the hell? I retire to start doing good productive things and I end up addicted to 2 things which were not good for me. The Internet was sucking my brain out through my Facebook page, and the sugar was stacking on the inches around my midriff. I finally figured out the biggest culprit on the inches was the damned homemade iced tea I was drinking, about 2 quarts a day. Sugary. Not quite to the level of "sweet tea" but still too sweet. Too many teaspoons of sugar. So that went by the wayside 2 weeks ago and I feel better already. I still eat sugar but in short controlled bursts, and only a tiny bit a day. 1 teaspoon allowed in my coffee in the morning and no more than 2 cups of tea a day. With only 1 teaspoon (very hard but I am sticking to this).

So all this time on my hands and I haven't done anything very creative at all. I made one tiny little mixed media thing. I made a bulletin board out of corks. It weighs a ton because I just did it on plywood purchased at Home Depot. It has a crappy, not very well mitered frame I roughed in using molding from Home Depot and then hand painted.

But in the department of never started art: empty computer screens, blank canvases, empty notebooks, these things are still sitting just like that. Empty, blank, never started.

Today all that has changed. Looking through my photos on my computer, I have accomplished something. I have mastered homemade bread. 

I have hosted my kids and grand kids (here they are in my great room having cocoa on Thanksgiving weekend).  

I have traveled to Tacoma to see Erin several times. I traveled to PDX once to see my dear friend Tina. And I have knitted a bunch of stuff. I even finished a BLANKET that I then turned into the top of a quilt for our friend's wedding present. 

Pep talk to self: "So, see? Me, are you listening? You have done something. You have learned some new things. Your mind is not gone and your brain has not changed to grape jelly." So there.

And now I have faced down the scariest thing of all. The blank computer screen, with a fresh new Word document open and waiting for my story. Not my story of me, but a story I am writing. I have taken the leap. And the net may or may not appear. It may never get published. It may never get read by anyone but me. But it is mine and I aim to finish it. And I probably won't spontaneously combust or be laughed out of existence.

National Sewing Month Great Contest

I figure I might as well enter this contest, and posting about it here on my blog will increase chances I might win.

I do love to sew now. When I was young I hated it! My Mama tried and tried to teach me how to sew and I was not good at it. Amazingly my sewing skills have improved greatly since I began knitting a couple of years ago, in part because I understand the construction of garments better now.

If you are looking for a new sewing machine this contest may be for you. Good LUCK!


Here is the link to the contest:

National Sewing Month Giveway

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day, but suddenly I'm too tired...

     Today was busy and crazy, but in a self-imposed way. I started by running back and forth through the house, beginning bread by setting things out and leaving the yeast to proof; tearing into my craft room and getting caught up on Facebook and by that I mean caught, not up-to-date; running back and discovering the poofy yeast mixture had been sitting for 20 minutes.
     I dropped everything else and actually finished making the dough and set it to raise. And good for me, this time I remembered to put the salt in. Then I cleaned the kitchen , scrubbing, putting away, organizing, throwing out. Ran back to the craft room, tried to find something to listen to on the computer while sewing and darnit I ended up on Facebook again, then noticed my computer was running strangely slow. So then I wasted spent 2 hours troubleshooting and finally said "To Hell With This". So then I switched over to Google from Firefox again. Running much faster now, but had to log into everything again, reset my Google password, found out the email address wasn't right, struggled to get that corrected and meantime verifying and re-verifying I am me etc...
      Now the bread is finished, the first loaf 1/3 consumed, I have had enough iced tea to drown a horse, and I still do not have my craft room straightened. But I did pick up all the fabric scraps that were on the floor so it looks a little better.      What is my point? I don't know that I have one. Oh wait, Yes I do, and it is simply that my addiction to electronics is causing me to lose focus. I feel strange and excited and breathless: time is wasting, and I realized there are still so many little things I want to do with my time, just tiny things like finish a short story and make a new painting and maybe go to the beach again. And start doing something for other people. More on that last, later. But you can't do any of that if you are wasting time on Facebook, or your cell phone texting, or playing games. If I want to craft, or create I have to do it. I have to face the blank canvas, the empty page, the uncut fabric. To this end, I am going on a Facebook diet. People may miss me, they can get over it.
   

I have to discipline myself if I really want to seriously create, such as writing and painting. I need to come in this little room here, which I am very lucky to have, and actually get to work. I have done a few good things today. I did make bread, I did write in my journal for 3 pages! I did catch up on Pinterest and fix my Google setup. I am making dinner, even as we speak, and I cleaned the kitchen. Now I need to follow my heart and get on with my real business. Creating. Crafting. Making things for charity. Maybe selling some stuff. The ideas are all in there, they just need to be teased out. Eliminating unnecessary distractions and time-wasters will make it possible to get something worthwhile accomplished.