I Took One of Mollye and Dan's Problems

Dan Adam and Mollye bought a house in 2009 and along with the house they recieved a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of ciche stuff for the yard. They recieved gnomes, rabbits, a slew of Christmas stuff and a ton of other items that sit in the yard. Now try as I might the only creative solution I could come up with to get rid of this stuff would be to stop by random houses and place one or two of these items in the gardens or back yards... This solution is not one of the recommended solutions to this kind of problem. It was decided that the items that were salvageable be sent to the thrift store and the rest deposited to the dump.

The item in our picture on this post is a plastic piece that they found. I do not like the colors or the way it looks but after some examination, I decided it could be painted and used on our home. So, this is my creative solution... and when it is done I will gladly show you the finished piece. Give me a week or two!

Painting on Whidbey Island.

My Creative Christmas Solution

So it is only four days into my resolution and already I have fallen behind! I do have an excuse (sorta). I had my grandson yesterday and well a four year old does not take "just a minute, grandma needs to do her blog!" as an excuse to ignore him. And I have to apologize, I have not come up with a creative way to have him help with my blog yet.... Give me time! Jeez!

On my last blog I told you that I had a Christmas problem. The problem is not big but typical of the reason I tend to think a little creatively. My grandparents died many years ago and I inherited alot of china and glassware from them. Among the pieces I inherited were pieces of two separate Nativity scenes. Both of these sets were from the 40's or 50's and you can find sets somewhat like them in antique stores or thrift stores all over. I am relatively certain it is grandchildren getting rid of grandparents glassware that they inherited. I however value these pieces even though they are mismatched and even though they are flaking off some of their paint. I looked for replacements and could not find any I liked as much or that would mean as much to me so after some contemplation I decided to paint them over myself.

One of the problems with living creatively is that everything you think of seems to be a piece of cake! In other words... most things look to you like they will only take a day at the most and they end up taking many..many...many days and at times costing you a huge amount of money! Remind me of my bathroom wall some day!

Well I have been working on these pieces for two weeks prior to Christmas and am spending the rest of this afternoon working on them again. Actually it is Joseph that will get my attention this afternoon. As you can see, Mary, the shepherd, the sheep, a dog and one other king all need worked on. I should be done sometime before Christmas of 2010. Anyway, I promised pics and here they are. Keep in mind that the pieces I have worked on do not have glazes yet so technically they are not finished yet and the mattes on them look rather flat. I will post final pics when I am done or next Christmas whichever comes first!

Creative Solutions on Whidbey Island.

Comic Tuesday

Off the Mark is a syndicated daily strip that has a very professional commercial website. It's a pretty good comic, too. Enjoy!

Comics on Whidbey Island.

Stunning Timelapse Video

This great timelapse video showcases Yosemite park, and the people visiting the park. The music is hypnotic, and the photography is simply stunning. Invest 4 minutes in watching this, and pop it up to full screen. You won't regret it!

Found at Neatorama

Parks on Whidbey Island.

Living today Creatively

Okay so this is my second post with the topic of living creatively. Hmmm... The thing is I was asked to teach a class on this once.. and the truth is I wasnt sure how to do that so I declined. Now after several years of thinking about it I find I do want to teach it and I have several ideas but am still not sure how to go about it. How do you teach what you instinctively do? I will try and then we will see how it goes.

Today, I will start with creative planning. I could do creative banking but there is way to many people doing that and well... I am not real good at that so we will do creative planning. First, plan for things to get in the way... Why not? They always do and to deny opportunities is to deny life. I enjoy the unexpected. It is part of living. So plan for it and then plan for the necessary.

My day today is planned as follows: Go to bank, post office, library, grocery store. I have to walk there so that is excercise well needed. Then I need to clean the kitchen from a weekend of belated Christmas activities with family and then blog! I need to do this blog and work on Blog Whidbey. At some point tonight I want to sit down and work some more on painting my nativity set.

So far today I went to the bank, post office, library, and grocery store then I spent 2 hours with some dear friends discussing a project we are trying to establish in Clinton and I came home and am blogging. My son is picking me up for dinner in about an hour but in the meantime I am cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. So I am getting things done and I will be home early enough this evening to finish the rest. So it will be a good day. To me most days are good days it is just how I use them that can suck!

I will be posting again later this evening or tomorrow as I am able with a creative solution to a problem I had at Christmas. For now, talk with ya again this evening or later tomorrow.

Creativity? Think Whidbey Island.

New Year, New Resolve

Tonight we went to Mary and Randy's and we watched Julie/Julia. I thought it was a delightful movie but would not have paid $10 per person to go see it.. still it did get me thinking.

It is a new year and this year I have set some pretty high goals. First and foremost is get the house cleaned up, organized and looking really nice inside. I want the library organized and my studio organized. Then I want to begin having once a week dinner parties. The idea is to invite 4 to 6 people over for a dinner and conversation. Each week will be different people and the goal is to invite people to get to know one another and make friends. I want to host a once a week gathering of like spirits who want to discuss current events and then once a week (initially) I want to do a gal pal crafting time. So I really need to get the house in order!

Come this summer I want to prep and paint our house and garage, get our shed cleaned out and the vehicles we no longer use off to wherever! I want to put down new sawdust on the floor of the shed and figure out how to seat people and make them comfortable and put down our stage and host some local shows!

Come next fall I want to do some special events for the fall and the holidays. They arent planned yet but as soon as they are I will let you know.

Add to that, I want to start blogging daily! I promised I would work on Blog Whidbey and get it up and going and my daily blog will comprise of ways to live creatively! I will include recipes, designs, poetry ect. As part of my blog Whidbey and Rockhoppers Daily Grind posts I want to start doing a radio show or a podcast that would be weekly. So I have set some pretty high goals for myself!

On top of all this I promised myself that I would finally enter two well known craft shows this year! That means I need to do inventory! OH MY!

So for this year I promise to post daily and the purpose will be to show how I live creatively and hopefully show you how you can to.

For my first post on creative living I will post my poem that I created for my mother this Christmas. I put it on the back of a painting and the goal was to remind my mom of a special night walk we shared the first week we moved up on Mount Spokane many many years ago.

I remember…

The cold icy snow

As it covered the ground and

Left tree branches

to full to hold

The white glittery load.

The trees shaking

leaving

Veils of small diamond dust

And the moon looked down on

A land of lace

and crystals

in silence.

Rene Schlangen, copyright December 21, 2009

Living Creatively on Whidbey Island.

Thought for the Week

There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them.
— Greta Garbo

Joy and Sorrow on Whidbey Island.

Worse Score

Last time I did better, and so did Rene, but it's still a pretty fun ride.

Astro Blasting on Whidbey Island.

Photoblog Friday

Featuring mainly classic art, La Muse Verte is technically not much of a 'photo' blog, but I really like it. Enjoy!

Art on Whidbey Island.