Friday, February 1, 2008
"Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize
in your humdrum routine,
as perhaps it may be thought,
the true poetry of life."
-- Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian Physician
Monday, December 17, 2007
To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one [wo]man's life.
-- T.S. Eliot
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it.
- William Durant
Thursday, November 8, 2007
I really don't feel like posting much tonight, but here I am, trying to stick with National Blog Posting Month- a post for every day in the month of November. I think it's good practice because I have REALLY gotten out of the habit of writing online. And since I don't keep much of a journal offline, I sort of need to be doing this more.
Another quote:
"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh
try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere
behind the morning."
-- J.B. Priestly (1894-1984) English Author
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Tonight we had pasta for dinner, with tomato sauce. When Gracie is done eating, sometimes she sort of messes with her food until we can get her down from the highchair. Usually she just separates it into piles or moves it into another section of her plate. I guess tonight her nose was itching, and she rubbed her hand (which had tomato sauce on it) across her face to scratch the itch.
I guess the sauce got in her nose and stung a little, so she started to blow air out of her nose- hard. Before we could get to her and wipe the sauce away from her nose, she exhaled and...
a six inch piece of fettucine just flew out of her tiny nose!I knew milk and liquids could be ejected from the nose- she's even managed to get soap in her nose during baths and blow a ton of bubbles (which fascinated her to no end...)- but not large noodles. Wow!
It must have hurt- the noodle was wide and tomato sauce is acidic and spicy. But she laughed and laughed. Wow.
I guess her sinuses are going to be clear for a while.
-----
"As free human beings we can use our unique intelligence to try to understand ourselves and our world. But if we are prevented from using our creative potential, we are deprived of one of the basic characteristics of a human being."
---His Holiness the Dalai Lama
------
I did a little more re-org in the studio today, but I think I finally got to where I need to be. I got most of the crap off my workspace, which is really important to me. I get easily distracted, and since I tend to really spread out when I work, I need all the space I can get. So I finally started to stash things away. I always resisted that because "out of sight, out of mind..." but sometimes you just have to store things away.
After I cleaned and organized, I made a bunch of necklaces and bracelets. I'm getting into the jewelry making groove, which is good, especially with the holidays coming up and the thousands of beads I have made in the last year waiting around in clear storage boxes.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.
---Pablo Picasso
The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
---Sally Berger
We must have the courage to allow a little disorder in our lives.
---Ben Weininger
Today was busy- the cat shelter I volunteer at had its annual fundraising gala called "The Hairball". It was busy and crazy and I truly hope we raised a ton of money for the shelter and the kitties who we take care of.
There was a psychic at the gala and the cost of a psychic reading went to the shelter, so in between running around I had a reading done. Very interesting (and confusing). She told me a lot about the people in my life, but I was hoping to hear more about the creative process since that's sort of been my focus in the past few weeks.
I'm sort of in the middle of a creativity crisis. I am desperate to create and get into my studio, but I have no time, and when I get a little time, I have no energy, and when I have the energy, I just sit there, completely uninspired. I am gobbling up all the books on creativity, the creative process, and art that I can find, in hopes it will help me find energy to be more creative and get my life a little bit more in balance.
Maybe I was hoping the psychic might point me in a good direction, but I guess the ultimate lesson I learned was that I am the only one in control of my creative detsiny.
And I think the answer lies in getting up much earlier (love daylight savings for this!), forcing myself to get more alone time, and also forcing myself to just do ANYTHING when I sit down with my art supplies. Even if I just make a quick card, or stamp something a few times, it's something. Better than me organizing my studio for the 40th time.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
-- Lao Tzu
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to
do.
-- Epictetus (55-135 AD) Greek Philosopher
The self is not something that one finds. It is something that one
creates.
-- Thomas Szasz (1920-) American Psychiatrist
Saturday, September 16, 2006
These are some funny/honest quotes about being a first time parent by Anne Lamott. I just finished re-reading her book "Operating Instructions" and although I loved it the first time, I now *really* loved it. Anyone who is a parent (and has a sense of humor about it) should read it.
If you are sensitive about the subject of parenting, I would probably skip this post...
I'll post a few now, a few later. There's too many of them for one post...
"I am so tired. I feel like I'm breaking my motherly balls trying to keep Sam safe. Sometimes he's the Dalai Lama, and sometimes he's like a cross between a bad boyfriend and a high-strung puppy. And it never matters what my needs are. He never says, 'Hey, babe, you've been working too hard- why don't you take a couple of hours off? I'll just lie here and read.'"
"Sam's a good sleeper for the most part. I put him facedown in his crib, and he turns to look joyfully at me, like it's great that we've simply moved the party from the living room to the bedroom, but then he understands that I am going to turn off the light and leave him, and this look of terror and total betrayal crosses his face. TOTAL betrayal; basset hound death. His lips tremble, and he weeps for a moment in this pitiful little guy way. Then he goes to sleep, just like that."
"I just can't get over how much babies cry. I really had no idea what I was getting into. To tell you the truth, I thought it would be more like getting a cat."
"Sam's heavily into flinging things. He dismantles everything he can get his hands on, pulling every possible book and chotchke off every possible table and shelf and flinging them over his shoulder. It's like living with a Hun, or the Hell's Angels. It's gratuitous looting. He almost never actually takes anything and crawls away with it, but he'll get to the coffee table and systematically, often without any expression, lift and then drop of fling every single magazine, book, cup, or whatever to the ground. His grim expression suggests he's got a lot to do and just really doesn't want to be bothered until he's done."
and, my current favorite...
"Feeding a baby is like filling a hole with putty -- you get it in and then you sort of shave off all the excess around the hole and get it back in, like you're spackling."
