Going in Circles

I can't seem to settle in and get stuff done today. I have been puttering around most or the day. My big accomplishment will be my laundry when I get it done. How exciting!? 

I did finish sorting out some things from my closet that don't fit now and probably never will again. The bag for donation is pretty big and heavy now and I am left with what I will and can actually wear. That feels good.

I even puttered around and let Bing Image Creator make a circles image for me. My circles today haven't been as pretty as this image. I like it! 

Back with more again soon.

Take care and stay cozy!

On a Monday

Created with Bing Image Creator

Building habits can seem like such a simple thing, but sometimes it can be hard to keep routines going. This year all that I built into my day to get things done and stay healthy was tossed aside because of the needs of my mother. I was with her and at her house from mid February to mid June. 

One chore that was easy to keep going, even while caring for mom, was doing my personal laundry on Mondays and since today is Monday that is what I will do once I finish this post. While things are in the washer and dryer I will be catching up on retweets or is it reXing now? Does that make me a multitasker?

Since I've been home, I decided to blog daily. I don't always have grand ideas about what to write and I find myself going between random bits of life like books, making, or what I am watching or like today laundry and the occasional affiliate post. I just wanted this to work as an exercise in finding my own voice now that I am not constrained by the judgments from a very different and opinionated lady and using this blog to make note of my days.  I have been posting daily since June 16th and feeling pretty good about that.

I have also finished 2 weeks of daily yoga. Boy am I out of practice! I do feel better after doing something physical though and so I added this to my morning routine after I spend time on the computer each morning. So, laundry on Monday, blogging, reXing, and yoga fill my mornings and help me feel ready for whatever comes next.

Today I am asking you, do you have morning or evening routines that help frame the passage of time? I have found that without the necessities of kids and school schedules, they are all grown up, or Jim and his jobs, he has retired, I need to create my own systems to keep me from spending all day on the couch reading a book and letting everything else go.

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

Everyday Companion

This guy is always a big part of my day. His name is Patches and he follows me through the house and lays down whenever I stop to do something. Even as I am writing this he is in the doorway of the room ready to go for whatever we do next. Maybe you can tell he is a great listener. With his one up one down ears and a tilt of his head I get positive reinforcement from him every time.

More seriously I think, like a lot of crafters and artists, that the inspirations come from all of our environment. Color and texture impressions come from all directions. I think we take a lot of this in without actually realizing it. It can be as simple for me as seeing the clothes for a new season on display in a store or the piles of fabrics or yarns in your favorite store.

One of my favorite things to do is spend an afternoon or evening going through my collection of knitting, crocheting and quilting books and magazines. I really don't do it very often because I would go into idea overload. They are great however for planting the seeds for new projects with colors, shapes or stitch patterns. I keep notebooks around for jotting down ideas as they come to me. Flipping through these notebooks can help me make new lists of ideas.

On a final somewhat silly note, one of my biggest pushes to create comes from housework avoidance. After all if I am spending an afternoon on an idea or project that may eventually be for sale online or at a craft show that is work right? To me it is and that certainly beats dusting or folding laundry in my book.