When The Cat's Away...

On Sunday I started a new course, it's about business plans for self employed artists, which is a bit of a revelation- as I'm sure most of us don't even have business plans. I had to come up with a vision statement- for myself and my art- which is something that I would never have done otherwise. It's amazing to clarify your purpose, dreams or goals in that way, for anyone, but I think we hold an aura around art making that makes it seem as though it should happen without goals, or in spite of them maybe.

At any rate, thinking about what I want to accomplish with my art in a broader sense- beyond just 'make the next piece of work- and hopefully make it good' is something I've never really done. I feel as though when it comes to art making I'm always plodding along staring at my feet trying so hard to just put one foot in front of the other, without really looking at a map. But now this course is making me chart the way, and I feel as though I'm looking up- stretching my back and shading my eyes to see where I'm actually going.

It's a revelation, but not an easy one, so much introspection takes work, and doing that much introspection with a room full of strangers is even tougher. Sunday I felt elated- Monday I felt drained, made worse by the stress of leaving N and K alone together for the longest time yet- 7:30 am to 6:00 pm with- no breast milk !!! I was super wound up about this- even though K assured me it would be fine, I was worried, and yet it was fine- despite the bout of tears and the tiny snow boots held up to me while I was leaving they were fine- great actually- I was greeted by a clean kitchen and supper on the stove, and while N was having a good long milk session, I was even brought a beer by my handsome husband.

The next morning I picked up the camera to take a few pictures, and I found these photos of N, taken by her Dada, and was struck by the extremes it is possible to experience in one day, and how lucky we are to have them.

40 Bags in 40 days- week 4

Alas no photos this week- I went into the scary parts of the house- the basement- the furnace room, the freezer, even the after photos would be of rooms I'd rather not let others see. But they needed to be done- and so far my bag count is up to 21, so yay! Some of that is garbage- but mostly it's things that I will not miss, but that hopefully someone else will be able to use. I'm going to have to tackle my upstairs verandah one of these weeks- and I'm scared to start it. It's just storage, and has been storage for a long time- since before I moved in here- I'm putting it off because, man, it's going to be scary, there's fabric, there's a desk, there's old yarn and toys, there's even some junk boxes that I plunked down there when we moved and have steadily tiptoed around since. It's time to clear it out- we have plans for that space- it's going to be a bathroom extension someday- and it's going to be gorgeous, but we need to empty it out or at least organize it first, so that's on my radar for this week, and possibly the next. How is your spring cleaning going?

The Scent of Spring

I started 'colding' these bulbs on December 21 and it has been really hard to wait the 11 weeks that was recommended, but finally it was time to take them out and now here they are blooming in time to usher forth spring. They smell fantastic, a little like lilacs actually, and they're certainly a nice reminder that spring will indeed penetrate the frozen north- at some point in the next couple of months.

The devotee

trying to get a handle on those toddler mood swings I suppose!

Spring table runner

Well my quest for spring colours has culminated in a table runner- I've been lusting after them for a while, and had the strips cut out for this one for a long while too- but it's finished now- my first attempt at quilting- and probably it looks a mess to an experienced quilter- but I'm happy with it, and it certainly brightens up the room, with it's orange and pink and blue and green pastel colours.

40 bags in 40 days- week 3

This week we tackled the front hall closet, which was the scary mess that I am bravely showing 'before' photos of. We promptly turned it into this:

even the scarves got folded

Along the way we found a whole lot of treasures, some of which went upstairs to the 'dress up' bin, and some of which we figure we can sell or give away- I ended up with two bags from here.

I also got my bedroom closet cleaned out, and found out that I actually am back at my target weight- so yay! no need to get rid of my awesome white dress pants that were obscenely tight last time I tried them on (though it's debatable that I'll ever white pants again, with a toddler).

I also cleaned out the bathroom vanity, and I think this time it may stay clear because I bit more realistic about it all- that box of hair dye- I'm not going to use, the lotion I don't really like the smell of- but was given as a gift- the makeup I don't really wear- all to be given away. It's a lot better than sitting and rotting under the sink. So another week another seven bags in total.

We found some great treasures in that closet- lots of things went up to the 'dress up' bins, and were duly modeled by N, we also found a couple of framed posters that we can sell- so bonus.

Spring!

Spring is finally here- though you wouldn't know it to look outside and more snow is on the way here tomorrow, we've had the official first day of spring, so it's got to be coming right?