Craft Alert!

Hee hee! I like to say that, even though I am not all that crafty!

About a week (maybe two!) ago I bought this great placemat and napkin adn I want to make a purse out of it. I've been saying this for a while now. So please bug me if I don't have pictures of the final project by thursday!! I will post pictures of mat and nappy when my husband gets off my computer- I can't complain because he's loggin his time for work-

In the mean time please check out this website. I have decided to share a somewhat disturbing experience- whichI am sure not all of youw ill find disturbing, but I do. Last weekend my sister's and I were going to have a slumber party (which consequently ended around 10:30 or 11:00, so I ended up going home to my husband- when did we get so old?) so the four of us, plus the little queen, went out to dinner at a fairly nice restaurant in Cool Springs. The waitress (who never used dowward inflections in her voice) told us about the special, which was this fish that was apparently happily swimming in the waters of Hawaii only about 20 hours before. They flew it overnight to Nashville for a tasty $24. I was a bit apalled. What a serious waste of jet fuel! What if no one was in the mood for fish? Why couldn't they kill fish that lived in Nashville?

I know- I KNOW!- this story is seriously anticlimactic, but I can't seem to stop thinking about the stupid fish swimming in Hawaii and it's unexpected trip. I'VE never been to Hawaii, why should my fish? I am seriously thinking about checking out some of the places ont he aforementioned website, so I can stop buying veggies from Florida and Christmas trees (I"m embarassed to say this since we lived within an hours drive of a million Christmas tree farms last year!) from Oregon.

Chara

You're Aging Well
Words and music by Dar Williams

Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
Oh I don't like the signs that the signmakers made.

So I'm going to steal out with my paint and brushes
I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
She goes out and steals the King's English
And in the morning you wake up and the signs point to you

They say
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, "You're aging well."

Well I know a woman with a collection of sticks
She could fight back the hundreds of voices she heard
And she could poke at the greed, she could fend off her need
And with anger she found she could pound every word.
But one voice got through, caught her up by surprise
It said, "Don't hold us back we're the story you tell,"
And no sooner than spoken, a spell had been broken
And the voices before her were trumpets and tympani
Violins, basses and woodwinds and cellos, singing

"We're so glad that you finally made it here
You thought nobody cared, but we did, we could tell
And now you'll dance through the days while the orchestra plays
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging well."

Now when I was fifteen, oh I knew it was over
The road to enchantment was not mine to take
Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are
I was breaking the laws that the signmakers made.

And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
And that's not a story I was meant to survive
I was all out of choices, but the woman of voices

She turned round the corner with music around her,
She gave me the language that keeps me alive, she said:

"I'm so glad that you finally made it here
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
And oh, you're aging, oh and I am aging,
oh, aren't we aging well?"

No time like the present

Chapter One:

Feeling a sense of safety in your creativity: Well, I have to say that I have felt very supported in my creative endeavors, for the most part. When I did this chapter the first time (I've never made it past Chapter four) I could identify a couple people who made me feel stupid for even attempting to be creative. Those people are no longer in my life, and no one has really replaced those people. Basically I don't feel inhibited by anything but myself. I am so used to holding back my inner brat
that i never let her out to play. I have to disciplene myself to do everything- why not set aside a time when i let her out? Cause it's hard to be disciplened when it's that part of myself. It's all just too adult.
So I am making my "Monsters Hall of Fame" to share with you all- no names will be shared of course- and it will probably include part of me. I'll post it when i get done.

Anybody out there want to share the description of a person you know who sucked hte creativity out of you?

Chara

New Habits

So, many posts ago I mentioned my displeasure over the fact that I had not been writing as much in the last few years. I vowed to do better, but we all know how that goes... Then today I was perusing Loobylu- a great craft blog that I am enjoying of late- and I found an old picture that she had done:


Check out what's in her hand!!!!! That is the Artist's Way- a book I have owned for many years and have never read- an anomaly in my Library- and the reason is because it is a book on creativity and how to induce the creative process. I am suddenly geting a crazy gleam in my eye!!!!

I am not delusional! I know I won't follw the book unless I am kept accountable, so i am going to make a daily post on the chapter I am on- or at least some small mention of it. Which shoud cure some of you who have been whining that I don't post enough! Soon you will be ill of my creativity! (insert evil laugh!)

Chara

What's new with you?

Welcome to my blog!

hee hee! I couldn't resist!

Chara

Thinking

I have been thinking alot lately about where I am going in my life. I feel comfortable with who I am and where I am going (wherever that may be) but I also wonder about myself as well. I wonder if I am really living intentionally (thanks Ms. Dekraii, for planting that seed) or if I am living a reactionary life. I don't want to look back in twenty years and wonder why I didn't take more control over my own direction. I tend to be very passive and very accomodating- which has it's place- but I think sometimes the things I really want in life seem just beyond my reach- and I am too afraid to stretch myself. If i am completely honest, I decided not to finish my degree as an educator because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to deal with the paperwork and the extra requirements that being a teacher requires. I have no fear of being able to teach or guide- I know how to do that- what I am afraid of is not being capable of the politics and paperwork.

How rediculous. I have worked at NSN for almost a year and there is so much paper and politics that i get ill sometimes. I am perfectly capable of dealing with it.

So I talked to my husband and my mom and myself and to God and I think that I'm going to stretch myself a little bit. It's sort of like Yoga- you stretch and find your balance.

Chara

**UPDATE**

The ear draining didn't happen. Apparently Christa doesn't have an ear infection, she has TMJ, and the pressure was caused by swollen cartiledge in her jaw. At least they didn't have to stick a needle in her eardrum.

Also, I would just like to say that, while my reading choices are mine to make- they even seem a little dumb to me. Dean Koontz can sometimes be insightful, but more often than not he is just a fantasy writer. As C.S. Lewis said, there are two kinds of books- the kind that you use to escape into and the kind that allows you to learn and stretch. i think the reason my choices have been somewhat disappointing to me is because i realize that Dean Koontz is more of the escapist type, not the "learn and stretch" type.

Stephen King does not (I think) fall into the escapism category because, while I do often feel myself drawn into the story in an escapist way, there is a strong connection to theme and (though I cringe saying this) a "moral." King is an excellent author because he understands story structure and the archetypal "Heroes Journey" that allows a person to "learn and stretch" while they truly enjoy themselves.

Enough of me yakking- I'm going to go read more of The Stand- I'm on page 244 of 1153. Frannie just realized that she is about the only person left in town except for the freaky brother of her childhood friend. It's getting good...

Chara

Okay- an addendum to my assertion that Dean Koontz is only an "escapist writer":
I may be wrong about this (gasp! wrong???) I was looking through my small collection and LIfe Expectancy caught my eye. This was definately not an escapist book- definite theme etc. I would reccommend it to anyone. Perhaps I only feel guilty about enjoying such strange fiction? I wil have to reconsider...

Negligent Blogger

(By the way- I spellchecked negligent!)

I haven't been posting much of late. It's been a busy week, and yet I feel like I have been very unproductive. In our staff meeting Karen asked for accomplishments from last week and I didn't have any to add. NONE. Not office-wise anyway.

So I have decided to post them here, to make me feel more like a normal, producive person.

1. I read another book. It was another Dean Koontz book- Servants of Twighlight- but it was a book. I've got to start reading more intellectual stuff, since i don't think this is the kind of stuff John was thinking of when he made his resolution for new years to read a book a week this year.

2. I am re-reading The Stand (Stephen King) and not feeling guilty about it. It is sparking my interest in writing a book that has been in my head for some time. However, one never knows f th ebook in one's head is going to come out badly or not, and I would hate to find that my book actually sucks.

3. I made pie. Happy easter- have some limeade icebox pie!

4. We bought a suit for Josh- he is so handsome!

5. I have been keeping my house cleaner- working toward balance in my mind as well as my home requires that I not be constantly be feeling overwhelmed by the clutter and mess in my ouse- particularly when I don't get out much anymore. Please don't laugh but I have been working on this system.

For this week, I plan on making my bed every morning and being dressed and pretty all day long (not just right before Josh gets home). i will also be having lunch with Karen Morgan on wednesday. She is the chair of the board of directors for NSN. Basically she's my boss' boss. This should be interesting.

More interesting- I am taking my sister to get the fluid (probably puss) drained from her ear this afternoon. I have heard that this is terribly painful, but I am not going to mention this to her.

Also, Dewayne, my brother-in-law, is coming home from Egypt this sunday night and and we are all looking forward to seeing him. He's had an interesting time digging in the sand.

Anyway- I'll let you know how everything goes.

Chara

How things change

Well, I got back this afternoon from Long Island, New York- I think I should mention here that Long Island is actually huge- not one big city for those other Southerners whov've no idea how New York works in a variety of ways.

I had a ladies day on Saturday and it went rather well. My flight back was truly awful- lots of wind and bumpiness, a boy spilled ginger ale on my leg, and there was that persistent urge to vomit- but I am home now- back in the South where we sweeten our tea. Saturday went well. They video taped me- something I am not necessarily looking forward to receiving as I have a hard enough time listening to myself, much less looking at myself.

I didn't post much last week- It was a stressful time to say the least. I went to J'boro last Monday night and came back tuesday afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of sleep to be had.

Then there was the other thing.

Karen Dietz (my boss) has resigned as executive director of NSN and there have been other staff changes and issues. What is sad is that Karen has really pushed to make sure some truly good changes and she just didn't last very long as ED. The job is intensely stressful (as evidenced by her hair starting to fall out). It worries me about my own job as well.

Ah well, things are always changing.

On the up side- Easter is next week and I heard a rumor that my sweet friend Stefanie might be coming for a visit. I might have to clean the house, but it will be worth it! ;)

Chara