The Creativity of Jen

Today is my last free day before school starts up for me again.  I have a training I have to attend tomorrow so it will be all over and my time eaten up.  But I managed to get a few projects done this week.  First can I say how dissapointed I am that my youngest has not brought home one single piece of artwork to put up on my new wall?  I've been waiting for this week to be able to start using my Wall-O-Frames.

Anyhow...so a long time ago when I had less children and more time I made a scrapbook of every year the kids went to school.  It was simply a book filled with some schoolwork throughout the year and the class pictures and awards and such.  My poor youngest child just started 3rd grade and has yet to get a book.  She will pour over the other kids books for hours.  Finally yesterday I made her a 2nd grade book.  I showed it to her this afternoon and she got the biggest smile on her face and rushed downstairs to look at every page.  Then to top it off when her friend came over to play she spent at least a half hour showing her the scrapbook!!  Mom just got some bonus points!!

On to the next project.  I found this on Pinterest:

And so I made this:

I absolutely love it.  As you can tell my jewelery collection is pretty small and not that great...but now it has a much better place to be rather than the ziploc baggie it has been in for the last year.

Finally I saw this on Pinterest:

And thought...how cute...I can do that quickly and it's a project I have everything I need already around the house.  And made it look like this:

And I'm feeling pretty crafty today.  Now what to do with the whole roll of wire I had to buy to make the jewelery holder...anyone want to pay me to make them one?

Sharing

I'll admit it...I'm not great at sharing.  Some things I will share no problem...like if you want some old piece of junk that is taking up room in my garage I'll happily share that with you.  Or if you want to help pay for my groceries...I would gladly share my bill with you.  I will also share my amazing recipes with you (I have two).  But when it comes to most things I'm not very good about it.

For example, if you want my last bite of chocolate cake and I was really loving it...I probably wouldn't share it with you.  Or if you ask to borrow my sewing machine...hmmmm...I'd really have to think about that one...probably wouldn't share it either.  My husband is fantastic at sharing.  He always offers me the last piece of dessert.  He always makes sure I am comfortable and happy before he is.  I think anything I asked for he would share with me.

I remember growing up I didn't have to share much.  I was the oldest of three children and my two brothers were 5 and 7 years younger than me.  So I never had to share a bedroom.  After 7th grade I didn't even have to share a bathroom.  I didn't have to share my toys. I got my own phone line in high school (before cell phones...it was a big deal back then.)  I even had my own truck to drive that I didn't have to share.  And I don't recall it being taught to us to even share our food.  I remember snacks being pretty much a free for all, if you were too slow you missed out.  So I guess I can "blame" my childhood for my lack of wanting to share :-)

I have the hardest time sharing my kids.  I know it's part of being divorced...having to share the kids.  I will come out and say it...I hate it.  I don't like not being able to hear about their school day every Thursday.  I don't like missing out on a month of summer with them.  I don't like having to move Christmas every other year.  It's better than being married to their father and I do understand why I have to share them.  I know they need to see their father and their father needs time with them.  But even though I understand I can still dislike it.

It is really hard on Thursday mornings when I say goodbye to them on their way to school to know I won't get to see them again until Friday after school or every other weekend it is until Monday after school.  That part just doesn't get any easier.  I was hoping it would get easier...I try to think of the benefits...I get to sleep in on Friday mornings.  I get a date weekend with my husband every other weekend.  And yes I do enjoy those benefits, but they are not worth having to share my children.

I do my best to fill up the time they are away from me with stuff that I don't want to have to do while they are around.  For example this summer while they were gone I took an extra class.  During the school year I make sure I do all my homework during the day so I have plenty of time for them when they are here.  I don't sit and brood all day or anything.  But that pang of heartache that hits me each Thursday morning catches me every time.

 

The one great thing about sharing my children is every time they come back home I am so glad to see them.  I get a chance to appreciate them and not take them for granted each and every week. This is how I get through the times they are away.  I think about how excited I will be when they come home and I make sure my own batteries are recharged so I can be the best mom ever when they walk back in that door.  The first hour or so after they get home is always a magical one for me.  They catch me up on everything that happened while they were gone and they ask what I did.  For a small moment in time everything is perfect, they don't fight and everyone is so happy to be back together again.  It's that moment that makes having to share worth it.

My attempt at home decorating

I love to create things, but home decorating has never been a forte of mine.  I have great ideas in my head, but they don't usually work out or I never have the guts to try them.  So recently I have been inspired to try a project.  First I saw this great idea of a gallery wall on my friend Kristen's blog.

Then I was playing around on pinterest and found this:

I've been wanting a way to show off the kids artwork rather than on the fridge and here was the perfect idea.  So I took my boring wall in the dining room...

...then I went garage sale hunting for picture frames and ended up with these...

...after taking out the artwork (yes, I felt a little bad about it, but it was being sold at a garage sale) I slapped some paint on the frames...

...I love how I can make it sound like it took me a few minutes to paint the frames...it actually took me a few days, but the process was still fun.  I also outlined each frame on newspaper and messed around with the design I wanted for a while.  Then I hung everything up and I ended up with this.

 Each of the empty frames has a clip to hang artwork from.  I wish I had a great camera to get an amazing shot of the wall, but you will have to imagine how it actually looks.  I can't wait to get some artwork home from school to start filling up the frames.

I will probably add some design elements to the wall as I find them.  Once I get some curtains my dining room should be decorated...at least decorated enough for me.

Time Part 2

So I have been working on my little experiment...trying to do something for someone else real quick before I sit down to "take a break".  I'll be honest, it isn't easy.  But I am getting some things accomplished that just need to be done.  I haven't done a whole lot, but in the last 48 hours I have sent my parents a thank you for visiting us last weekend, sent a quick note to someone I had been thinking about but never bothered to tell her that before, apologized to my daughter for not being available right when she needed me, wrote in the journal I keep for my daughter (the last entry was 3 years ago), called a friend instead of just emailing her and probably a couple other small things.  Nothing was huge, but it was all stuff sitting at the back of my mind waiting to be done. 

 What I am finding most though is how often I sit down and play for a few minutes.  Wow, those minutes must add up.  When I can't come up with something to do for someone else off the top of my head, I do a chore instead.  I do something that needs to be done and is more important that playing my next word in Hanging with Friends.  And guess what, the chore gets done and I still get the word played.  I'm still wasting time, but I'm getting those little things done as well.  It literally feels like I have somehow bought a couple extra minutes each day.  Now granted the last 48 hours have not exactly been really busy or stressful.  The real test will be when school starts back and I'm actually busy instead of trying to fit in swimming and date night into the same day.

So I consider this little experiment a success and will continue to try and condition myself that before I sit down for a break I be sure to do something for someone else however small it may be.  I'm hoping all those little deeds will add up like my down time has certainly added up.  And maybe someday I will be spending more time on those little deeds than I am wasting time.

Now I am getting off the computer so I can paint my little girls nails :-)  Much better use of my time I would say!!

Time

It's amazing how time gets away from us.  We constantly have good intentions and suddenly a few days, months or years get away from us.  Prime example, this blog.  I started out with so many great ideas and holding myself back from writing three posts a day.  Suddenly I look and it's been four months since I posted.  I've had great ideas to post about in the mean time, just not the time.  Wait this is about being honest...I had the time...bits and pieces here and there...I just didn't take the time to sit down and write.  Isn't that how it goes too often.  We say "I don't have the time" and yet we take the time to play a silly game on our phone or we watch a tv show we don't even really like. 

Now while taking the time to write this blog isn't very important...but how many times have I spent time foolishly when I could have been spending it with my children, husband, friends, or even in service to someone I don't know.  I always have the excuse of needing to relax, or take a minute for myself.  I know there are many people out there, especially women that need to do just that.  They have small kids at home or a demanding job, or both and definitely need to take time to themselves.  I am not in that position.  When the kids are in school I have all day to myself.  I usually spend it doing school work, but I certainly do not need time away to myself after everyone gets home.  I have found that I miss everyone during the day and I cannot wait for school and work to end so everyone can be home with me.  And yet still sometime during the evening we all find ourselves on our electronics, together, but not interacting.  I really cherish the evenings where we get a lively discussion going at dinner and no one wants to leave the table.  Unfortunately, more often, as soon as everyone is done we all go our separate ways.

What would happen if every time I wanted to play a game on my phone I did something for someone else instead.  Would I get all stressed out never getting some down time?  Or would I be uplifted and be a better person?  I'll be honest, the thought is very overwhelming.  I really like my phone.  I like playing scrabble with my husband and friends.  I especially like checking Facebook.  I really want to try this, but I think I need to do baby steps.  Maybe when I want to play on my phone, I first do something small for someone and then go play.  It wouldn't take long to send a quick message to tell someone I was thinking about them.  Or go fold some clothes for my husband.  Maybe after a while it would get easier.

I had no idea this was what I was going to write about when I sat down this morning.  This must have been brewing around in the back of my mind somewhere.  But I am going to try it.  I'm not going to give up my silly phone games, but I am going to try for 24 hours to do something for someone else before I check Facebook or play that Scrabble word.  Just 24 hours.  I can do it.  I'll let you know how it goes and see if I want to try it for a longer period of time.


I'm tired of time getting away from me.  I hope this is a way to recapture it...even just a little bit of it.