Thursday, December 25, 2008

THE PAPER PLACE GIVE AWAY

Just stumbled across this treat and potential opportunity to all paper artists today:




















Gotta love a give away of that much sexy paper!
Hit the photo above for a link to what I am jabbering about.

Friday, December 5, 2008

SLOW DOWN

Today I was forced to slow down and chill out due to a cold/flu thing coming on...well, it's already here. I fought it hard because my proverbial "to-do" list is always 10 times as long as it ever is this time of year.

In the end it has been a good day of kicking it on the couch with plenty of OJ, green tea & honey, my big bottle of Wellness Formula, cat sitting at my feet keeping them warm, lap top on lap keeping it warm, Pandora.com streaming my favorite music and all sorts of good reading. I received an order from Amazon several weeks ago that I've had no time to even crack. Now I am getting down and dirty burying my head in some crafting books gleaning ideas for holiday gifts. It's going to be a crafty Christmas with the current state of the economy kicking my pocket book's butt. And "makin' stuff" is my therapy from my crazy life. Cheaper than Prozac or Xanax...hee.

I am usually quite anxious when I am "forced" to slow down due to unforeseen causes because getting sick is never something I am very good at working into my schedule. I gave in today and decided to go with the flow, listen to my body and take care of myself first instead of driving myself to a place of potentially more discomfort by go-go-going.....

....and I survived with little to no anxiety attacks today. I feel better already and I have even done some writing which I have been neglecting or simply NOT prioritizing.

As Martha would say, "It's a good thing." And it has been.

Getting quiet and hanging out with my own thoughts and the cat (super good example of the zen of chillin') has helped clear my head of so much clutter that builds up this time of year. Over the past 10 years, this time of year has been extraordinarily frantic for me and rarely a joy until December 25th when I can hide from my regular work world which often expects more of me than I can give. It is that part of my life that is "closed for business" on the 25th and I can just breath if only for a day.

I remember when I was a kid, living with my father, how holidays such as Christmas often ended up being a day we did a top-to-bottom cleaning of the house. Odd, I know, but his life as a single father working full time as an attorney left him little free time so we would hunker down together, bleach out the toilets, fill the dishwasher, vacuum the carpets and then head over to someone's house for holiday dinner that evening. Can you believe I actually enjoyed this? Could be because I was hanging out with my father and even though I was not a kid who enjoyed house work, I obliged him on the 25th (and Easter) maybe as a small gift to him. I now have a Pavlovian desire to clean house on major religious holidays.

So, here I am chilling, writing a blog entry which I have not done in ages but crave to do so every day but there just are never enough hours in the regular work day. I may be physically sick today but I feel so good right now.

BIG PICTURE STUFF: I am at a crossroads in my life where my priorities are shifting away from that which creates chaos in my life and I want...NEED... to take the road where I can glean more joy from what I spend my time doing. And have faith that I am doing right by those that I share space with on this Earth. Critters and people alike.

It's a risky time to take a leap of faith with the economy in the crapper but I have faith that as soon as I commit to the major life change I have been contemplating for a long while that good things will come. As Mahatma Ghandi said,
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." It starts right here, right now, with lil' ole' me.

I am a creative person by nature and I have stifled that for so many years just to keep putting food in my mouth and have health insurance but if there is no joy, no passion, no growth...then, what? I may as well forgo the insurance and lay down and die. SO, for me, it is time to turn a corner, breathe deep and LEAP!


Wish me luck...