Tag: cold weather

Been Bitten by the Creative Bug Yet?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments
After
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Yesterday in Wisconsin it was 46 degrees. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 2.

Welcome to Wisconsin.

Christmas was hectic and stressful. I figured this winter weather would flatten any Creative balloon I was riding for some time to come. I cleaned out my library/art room/craft room, (↑) since it had stayed dormant since my last craft show. I finished my Art Series …. (more to come!) I thought about what was next — diamond paintings or more circle of life (?) sketches or sewing sparkles on a few T-shirts or coloring mandalas in coloring books.  

Nothing sparked any interest. Cold weather makes me lethargic. Very cold weather makes me a zombie. I hoped I was merely between projects. Not done with them.

Who thinks of arts and crafts when it’s two below outside? Who cares about crafting sparkles when your car won’t start because of the weather or the pipes crack? It’s so much easier to cover up with a blanket and watch stupid TV shows from the past or catch up with Game of Thrones reruns.

Yesterday I thought about with two more products I could add to my Angel Tears inventory. And suddenly my energy is returning. I found myself going through my inventory and sketching new ideas and running through Amazon or Allstarco for gemstone ideas.

I believe that once you open your Creative portal you’ll never be able to close it again. That is, unless you really want to.

I don’t want to. And I hope you don’t want to, either.

Life often sucks around us. I’m dealing with some pretty serious “situations” around me these days, lives and futures in the balance, tomorrow never a given. I never underplay the importance of someone doing what needs to be done to take care of themselves or their friends and family. 

Sometimes being creative is a release from all of that. A dance up in the ether, a bit of sunshine and wind and glorious sunsets. It’s reaching out and doing something no one else can do — not the way you do it. Understand it like you understand it.

Refusing to go quietly into the night, I have set a few “real” goals for this year.  I am going to open a website for my wares. I am also going to expand my business to include windchimes and bookmarks. At least I’m thinking about on doing it all.

Maybe it’s only January, but I hope it’s not too early for you to toss around ideas of starting something new (and creative) or expanding what you’re doing.

Let me know what you’re up to. We can always toss off ideas off one another — even while sitting comfortably on the sofa under a blanket — 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Crabs

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 10 Comments

Im-CrabbyI have a question for all of you, young and old, hot and cold, here, there, and everywhere.

But first, my turn.

I often think the older I get the crabbier I get. I find I have less tolerance, less worldliness, than I did years ago.  This lioness of emotions seems to rear its head during the cold, dark, snowy days of winter.

Does anyone out there find themselves turning into sulking, bulking creatures this time of the year?

I feel bad about this. I really do. I have a job that I can tolerate for another 7 or 8 years, great co-workers, and a short commute to and from work. I have a family that’s fun and loving, I’ve got great friends that ride the roller coaster of life with me all the time, and right now I have a chocolate chip cookie and glass of milk to keep me happy. I’m cancer free (as far as I know), I walked away from a rollover, and my sick cat has turned the corner and is getting better.

Yet still I walk outside and hate the weather, hate the freeze and the snow and the gray. And I find myself saying the “hate” work more often than not. I personally believe hate is a strong word and should be reserved for truly evil people and things, but it seems to slip out on a frequent basis these days. I have little energy to do the things I love, and have insomnia to the max. I feel fat and dumpy and don’t want to deal with either.

This isn’t me — is it?

I am a lover of life, lover of friends and chocolate and watching movies with my grandbaby.  Yet a lot of the time I feel I’m wandering aimlessly through the cold, not caring if I’m entertained or not. What a contrast of emotions. Which, in turn, messes me up even more.

I really think the older I get the more the weather affects me. I don’t remember feeling this cranky when I was younger. Maybe I was, yet I was too busy with kids and soccer games to pay attention to it. I mean well — I am still nice to people, and I do find my way to the computer now and then.  I know this mindset isn’t set in stone, but I do feel it’s stuck in a snowbank somewhere.

So let me know — are you affected by the depths of winter? Are you a Dr. Jeckyll waiting to turn into a Mr. Hyde? Or are you a fluffy snowflake having a wonderful time turning into a diamond?

I’d love to hear your side of the weather. And, if not, you can always growl…

It’s such a Trifling Experience

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

Raspberry-AmarettoTrifleBeing stuck inside a Wisconsin winter, even the easiest-going person can find themselves absorbed in the business of escape. Some plan summer vacations. Some make ice sculptures. Some bury themselves under layers of blankets and wait for the first ray of sun to melt a snow mound or ten.  Me? I watch cooking shows. Now, I watch the Food Network year-round. No biggie. But the it becomes a problem when I think I can actually COOK like the Iron Chef or the Master Chef.  Like, if I only took a few hours and paid attention and bought all the right food and wrote down every little detail, that my dish might look (and taste) like Iron Chef Michael Simon’s or Gordon Ramsey’s.

I imagine I could just as well try to paint like Monet or sing like Beyoncé.

I watched Master Chef Junior recently and was humbled by what 9- and 10- and 12-year-olds could do with a basket or a piece of fish.  I have seen what Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri’s kids did during a cook off. Then there’s always what the contestants on Chopped make out of pickled pigs feet and reindeer pate. Amazing. And, of course, there’s always Rachel and Robert and Guy and Alton who make gourmet out of kitchen scraps. I look at my jar of garlic powder and pound of lean ground beef and feel overwhelmed.

Don’t get me wrong. I love cooking. I have whipped up many a gourmet dish in my time. My homemade spaghetti sauce is to die for (or at least good enough to have third helpings). I have tried trifles, coq au vin, and shrimp scampi. But with working full time and a few personal bumps and my anti-cancer meds making me tired and sunset before I get home and below zero temperatures — let’s just say my cooking aspirations have turned into mounds of grey slush. Kinda flat and uninspiring.

I know it will come full circle — that with spring flinging in a few months I will whip out the cookbooks or surf the Food Network website and I’ll be wowing my dinner guests and myself.

Until then, I think I’ll let my husband cook.

How bout you? Are you cooking away a storm these freezy days?