Today’s writer’s workshop fits right in with what I’ve been thinking about lately.

The Prompt:

Share with us something you made by hand.

Creating something out of nothing is the name of my game.  As I work to simplify, the natural “green” way is to reuse, recycle, and reinvent.   I am excited to find thrift store knitting needles, yard sale fabric remnants, and outgrown kids clothes in my basement that can all be remade into wonderful things.

With these things come so many more ideas for things that are useful and new.

Dance Skirt made from the over-layer of an outgrown dress.

Giant Wash Rag knitted from leftover cotton yarn into a huge square for Hubby’s face.

Rug for the laundry room floor.  My first completed knitting project made entirely from yarn in the craft box.

Apron made from a towel found at the thrift store and a scrap of cotton in my stash!

Napkins to match my dishes/ kitchen made from scraps from the curtains over my kitchen sink.

Produce Bags made from a remnant found at the thrift store and some string already on hand.

With less than 5 months until Christmas, I am not sure I can make handmade gifts for everyone on my list, but I am thinking I can try!  The ideas are endless.  The cost is much more realistic.  The love…priceless!

The Prompts:

1.) Grab your current read. Let the book fall open to a random page and share two “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.

The book:

This is actually line 14–but it starts a paragraph…

“To help maintain a sense of order at a time of dizzying change, the Victorians developed a zeal for categorizing everything from ferns and butterflies to social groups: males and females, adults and children, servants and masters, strangers and friends.  When they applied this passion for sorting and separating to the plan of the home, they turned the house into what Heinly calls a honeycomb.”

I began this book as a way to think of our home in a more organized fashion.  I know, that’s impossible!  We are not an organized family.  But we can change right?!

I am honestly not reading every line of this verbose book.  But I am enjoying some of the principles that it encompasses.  It’s not all about organization like the above quote might suggest.  It is also about the feeling and flavor of a room.  Color, furnishings, and even personal memories and how they influence us and reflect who we are to those who visit.  It’s thought provoking.

As a related note;  the kids said today their friends prefer to play at our house.  When I asked why, they said it’s because it’s more fun and we have lots to do.  It reminds me of one more reason a welcoming home is so critical: so we all feel safe and loved in these walls.

This week for Writer’s Workshop I am picking a short one since there are so many activities going on around here. 

The Prompt:

5.) Kim’s email:
In the St. Louis News-Dispatch paper, they had an article of a man who wrote his own obituary before his death, and gave it to his sister to post when he died. He summed life up in 45 words:
(Click here to read his words).
I know it’s a morbid subject, but what about a prompt about what would one’s obit say, with a word limit. You could stipulate that everyone died at 100, so we’d all be predicting what our future would be like.
So there you have it. Sum up life in 45 words. Happy happy.

Mine reads:

She loved God and tried to please him.

She loved her family and tried to please them.

She loved her friends and tried to please them.

With all this people pleasing did she make it to Heaven or what?

Please pray for her soul!

As I finished my last Writer’s Workshop with the complaint that I was complaining… Mama Kat heard me (and some others) agree.

So this week:

List ten things that make you HAPPY.

1. The Ocean.  I love the sound of waves crashing.  It’s comfort food for the soul.
2. My Garden.  Even though I don’t work at a garden with constant dedication, I do love that what I do turns into the best tasting gems!  I pray this year will be great.
   
3. Hubby.  He makes me laugh every day.  He puts up with me and he loves me.  It’s that the best?!
4. Shadow.  She is always glad to be with me.  She follows me everywhere.  She never complains.  She’s happy; so am I.
5. Dark Chocolate.  Everyday.  Followed by a glass of red wine.
   
6. Silence and being alone.  As much as I am a people person, I can’t wait to have time alone.  Ahhh the dichotomy!
7. My kids.  They are a pain, but they also are the best.  I can’t imagine how boring my life would be without them!
8. Bargains.  Coming out of the thrift store with a big bag that cost me less than 40 bucks for things that I could never justify otherwise.
   
9. Friends.  No matter what kind of friends.  Thick and thin, nothing’s taboo friends.  Haven’t seen you for ages but it feels like yesterday friends.  Love that!
10. Creating. I have longed to create ever since I can remember.  I have dabbled in many outlets.  Painting and Drawing.  Sewing and Needlecrafts.  Theatre.  Music.   Photography.  Writing.  They all make time fly.  They also all make me very happy!
    

It’s another installment of Writer’s Workshop over at Mama’s Losin’ It.  Click the button below to see what prompts other people picked.

So the prompt I chose is:

10 things I am currently sick of:

1. The kids being sick. I can handle, even expect it in the winter, but now?!  The weather is beautiful!  No one wants to be stuck inside with a feverish child.  I’ve had two of the three suffer through week long fever…

2.  My dog barking.  I mean, I love my dog.  She’s the sure thing that makes me smile every day.  But she barks a lot lately.  Guess it’s the warm weather… or maybe ‘cause the windows are open and she can hear every noise.

3.  My living room carpet.  When it was new ( 8 yrs ago) it was a light beige.  I would not have picked it, but to sell the house, that was what was installed.  Now.  It.  Is.  Not.  Beige.  It’s old and stained.  I dream of ripping it out and exposing the original hard wood floors underneath.

4.  Pollen.  It makes everyone sneeze.  And wheeze.  And snort.  And cough…

5.  Little Man.  The fits he throws over nothing.  His mental deficiencies.  Having to repeat simple instructions.  Trying to keep routines.  Always considering him.  Always keeping my ears and eyes aware of him…  the life of a parent of a special needs kid…

6.  That saying #5 is “politically incorrect” when it’s real.

7.  My hair. I really need a haircut.  A new style.  Something!

8.  Weeds. And grass growing where it’s not needed and NOT growing where it is!  Who made THAT up?!

9.  There’s no wine in the house.  That’s just not right!

10.  Complaining. Sorry!  This list is exactly that…  Guess I should have made a switch to Mamma Kat’s prompt and made a list of ten things I am currently happy about!  Maybe tomorrow…

Here’s another installment of Writer’s Workshop.  If you want to see the other prompts and links to many responses, click here:

The prompt:

2.) Tomorrow I will do it differently. Here’s how…

I will turn off my computer.  Here’s why!  …

I keep hearing my kids say that mom is always on the computer.  This is discouraging to me.

I have memories of my mom in the kitchen.  Me on the counter helping or chatting.  Cookies, apple slices with peanut butter or celery, homemade pizza…  I remember her sewing, and hanging clothes out on the line.  I don’t want my kids’ memories of me to be sitting with this laptop!

In keeping with my simplifying, I have a friend who told me she was limiting computer time.  I have been reading of ways people are simplifying and trying to take baby steps to incorporate some of these ways.  I have especially enjoyed hanging the clothes out on the line.  I wrote before about the smell of the sheets–that’s soooo goood… but I also think it’s about remembering my mom and all the women before me who hung their clothes out.  The use of the sun, not electricity.  The air as a freshener, not an air freshener!

My hubby tells me that home is a peaceful place and that he likes to come home to after work.  I know I am not completely shirking the tasks that make my home a welcoming and warm place to be.  I  want it to be a place for making good memories.  I want my kids to remember me sewing and baking chocolate chip cookies.  I want to knit them sweaters and blankets.  I want to play games and read and listen with them.

That means turn this thing off.  It starts tomorrow…

Check out the other choices and responses here:

The Prompt:

3.) Why won’t you forget? List six true sentences that begin with the words ‘I’ll never forget…’ Then use all six of your sentences in a paragraph, poem, or longer descriptive piece.
(writingfix.com)

Moments of Love

I’ll never forget our first kiss in the rain.  The excuse you made just to come back.  How I had no idea it was a scheme, but I was so glad you felt it too.

I’ll never forget the daily letters when we were apart.  Ramblings of “can’t live without you” and “can’t wait to see you”.  Posted with creative return addresses.

I’ll never forget the late night gigs.   Filled with 80’s music, smoke, shlepping equipment and even the occasional paycheck at the end of the night.

I’ll never forget the bee who joined our wedding day.  Who crawled across my shoulders to his swift death by the pastors hand.

I’ll never forget our baptisms in the fountain.  Surrounded by people who helped us change.  I had no idea of the beginning it really was.  Our life is so much better now.

I’ll never forget your compassion and joy at fatherhood.  How deeply you love your children.  How much you support me in parenting them.  This life with you and with them is amazing.

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Again, I participate in Mama Kat’s…

Writers Workshop

The Prompt:
2.) What are your kids talking about?

My kids are talking about the opposite sex. This is new territory for our family.  All three kids are in elementary school; the oldest is in 5th grade.  He has set the tone for so many things since the younger two look up to him.  This time, it’s girls! He talks of having a girlfriend (a girl he’s had a crush on since Kindergarten)!  He and his friends seem to be in new territory.  He isn’t calling her, or going out(over my dead body).  I’m not even sure if she cares. Being the example, the others have followed suit.  Not sure what it all means, they get easily flustered when they talk about it.  He chastises the others to no end, but gets upset when they fight back in the same way.    It’s quite amusing to listen to them talk to each other.

A genuine laugh!

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We spent the afternoon visiting grandparents.  First, we had lunch with Keemaw at Ruby’s.  Then off to the toy store for some shopping.  Pappy met us there. We went to visit Great Grandma next.  She was surprised and happy to see us.  It was such a beautiful day that we went outside to the garden to visit.  We all had a fun time.

What is your role in the household?

My role as Zookeeper is to keep the animals in the zoo clean and well fed.  The job is obviously more involved than it may seem on the surface.  Salary.com says I would make: $232,454 per year!
Jobs include:
Housekeeper
Day Care Center Teacher
Cook
Computer Operator
Laundry Machine Operator
Janitor
Facilities Manager
Chief Executive Officer
Van Driver
Psychologist
Interior Designer
Administrative Assistant
Event Planner
Bookkeeper
General Maintenance Worker
Groundskeeper
Nutritionist
Staff Nurse-RN
Plumber
Logistics Analyst

I don’t do the Bookkeeping or Plumbing…instead I do some Refereeing!

The list reminds me of Proverbs 31–the perfect wife and mother.  Certainly someone I am NOT, but a great example to think about during all those loads of laundry I face.