creative block lifting

i'm finally meandering my way out of the "no scrapbooking for months" rut...actually working on my honeymoon photos. i made this cool cigar box/memory box thing with ephemera all over it and am working on the mini-scrapbook that goes inside. i started it months ago, but felt like i was going nowhere with it. so i sighed and felt sorry for myself and my lack of ideas and put it away. but now...now that i'm freshly organized and moved into my new "studio" in my bedroom, i find myself enjoying it again.

so the bedroom studio is interesting, but since i love the coziness of my room and it's rounded ceiling and surprising spaciousness, i think it's going to work. i actually have a closet big enough for my supplies, and i even cleared out half my dresser to make room for the essentials. it's kind of fun. i use the top of my dresser and ian's dresser as my workspace, lay out stuff on the bed, get the stereo going and sing to myself ...totally relaxing and rejuvenating. ian watches the little ones a lot so that i can have this time to myself.

looking forward to tomorrow, though, because i'm only working eight hours and then i'm off on a special birthday date with sweet husband. he took the kids out to get a cake today and when i asked nemo what kind of cake he said, "it's a surprise mom. i'm not going to tell you anything about the cake." since when was he in on surprises?

sunshine....what?

a surprisingly sunshiney, clear, mild winter day today. after organizing my photos and scrapbook supplies for the millionth time-actually using the photos and supplies is the next task-, i decided that we should not sit the day away inside, but immerse ourselves in it.

so we did. our weekly treasure hunt at the thrift store turned up some cute little things for mia, a very cool retro metal tray for me, and more books for nemo's huge collection. then, a relaxing meal at "no fish go fish" where we enjoyed the ultimate comfort food. homemade soup-i had mushroom barley today, ian had creamy roasted garlic-and two fish-shaped sandwiches fresh from the sandwich press. all for 5 bucks a piece, i might add. love this place. next stop, the park. where else on a sunny 50-ish degree day? nemo excitedly gathered acorns and bark and sticks so we could concoct a tasty acorn stew and mia enjoyed crawling around on the grass and getting really muddy. this was a tough one to let go of because i don't want my baby to have dirt in her fingernails and soil stained knees, but what the heck? the sun was shining, sky was blue, letting her scurry around and explore just felt like the thing to do.

must be trying to soak it all in during my last few days before i hit 29. and you know what comes after 29.

it's been awhile

as a way to distract myself from the "creative block" i'm experiencing as of late, i've rediscovered reading a good old fashioned book. from the library, even. my nose has been buried in two books in a series recently, and i'm not at all embarrassed to say they are in the "inspirational romance" genre. feel-good fiction, i like to think of it as. while the enjoyment is mostly effortless, it sufficiently does the job of stimulating my brain without clamboring for my constant attention like my children do...i use the term "clamboring" with utmost affection!
anyway, i plan to revisit oprah's book club list and pick up where i left off with william faulkner's classics. these were tough reads as i remember, and so will be more than enough to satisfy my need for brain stimulation.

nemo said something thought-provoking today. "the world, according to nemo" is daily discussion around here, half question/answer, half monologue, actually. questions like "why is mr. potato head a potato?" exclamations such as, "baby mia is bestroying my book!!" all day long, reasons why he shouldn't have to eat "regular food" before dessert, negotiating to use the computer or watch a movie, objecting to playing in his room by himself or taking a bath or going to bed or turning off the tv. all normal stuff. but today was a little different. he quietly sat at the desk, drawing his latest creation, and then proudly presented it to me and ian. this is how it went:
nemo: this is a sho-sho-sho
mom: what's a sho-sho-sho?
nemo: it's all things around you. like when i jump on the bed, there's a sho-sho-sho. all things around you comes.
mom: where did you learn about a sho-sho-sho?
nemo: i learned about it from me.
mom: what does it look like?
nemo: it looks like this. (he points to the picture he drew). it doesn't look black anymore. it looks like colors.
mom: is it around mia? and mama? and daddy?
nemo: yes.

very interesting. this post begins with the drawing that inspired this conversation.