Summer is here!

27 days 'til Cracked Pots!

I was out of the loop and just realized today is the Summer Solstice! We're mid-way through Beltane and the glorious sun is shining!

The boys are out of school of course. Bailey Little Bear is off to his big New York/Wash DC trip tonight. Amazing how much effort and energy it takes to get one teenager packed and out the door. Gavin Little Bird goes to grandma and grandpa's this weekend and stays for a whole week. Meanwhile Relay for Life is this weekend and I have to get the giant red cardboard barn front out of my garage. Crazy week!

The lovely parts: First ballroom dance class is this Friday! Relay for Life is Saturday and after recovering on Sunday, there will be overlap in the boys trips and this house will be kid-less for almost 3 whole days! Whoot whoot!

I made my big organized flowchart for the day (like I talked about last time) and it has actually helped me stay on track most of the time. I learned another lesson this week that's even better: Relax, chill, make it fun, breathe, do it because you love it, not because you have to have 30 more signs done by 3 weeks from today.

A little bit ago I was in the studio adding hangers to some finished signs and I looked around for what to paint next. Everything that I'd been working on was done! I'd been having so much fun just having fun that I hadn't realized how much progress I was making. So I got out some more pre-cut boards, got out the sander and the primer and started 5 more stations from the beginning.

Ooh! I also talked a lovely young man in Boston named Lee today.  He's with Merchant Warehouse and I, Graceful Deva, can now officially process Visa & MC payments without going through Etsy or PayPal. I will be utilizing their very cheapest program which involves the use of one of those old-school cha-ching, cha-chunk card swiping imprint machines. Ha! The thought of this makes me laugh. It feels a little ridiculous. But hey, being ridiculous lets me know I'm alive.

So, now custom orders don't have to go through Etsy or pay by snail mail.

Have you liked Graceful Deva on Facebook? Please do! I update it separately from my personal page with just stuff that's happening in the studio. Plus, it will make me feel good!

Breathe! Enjoy! Don't beg for Grace, be Grace!

It's All Red.

Kell

Super Nanny to the rescue!

So, I've had a life epiphany. Just now, this morning as I sat in my sweaty gym clothes watching 3 back to back rerun episodes of Super Nanny. (Besides the fact that actually watching tv-as-it-happens instead of a DVR'd version brought home the fact that tv is a giant cluster-f@#$ing waste of time because of all the commercials.)

The other day on a sunny evening walk with my husband, I admitted to him that  I get frustrated with my Self for not knowing how to be organized. I have so many hats, so many roles to juggle that, while I manage to keep the balls in the air, I don't necessarily do any of them very well. There is just seemingly not enough time in the day to get some of everything in to the point that any of it feels like its being adequately taken care of - so I end up feeling fairly mediocre at everything. I have traditionally been a list maker - but my to-do lists always end being these impossible gigantic tools of frustration. I have tried day planners and calendars but I always end up scheduling everything down to the minute and things get messed up in the transitions. So, lately it seems like I have this giant cloud around my head filled with all the different things that need doing, with no specific time set for when I will do them.

This is the reason I found myself in front of the tv this morning even though there were a million better options to be, do, or have.

Enter JoJo the Super Nanny. She took 3 completely out of control, dysfunctional, chaotic families and gave them the tools to fix themselves. The number one thing she said to all of them....establish a routine. She made big bright colorful charts of the step by step process the children needed to do to calmly get out the door in the morning. She had parents fill in the blanks on poster sized hourly schedules regarding when meals were served, babies were fed, naps were taken, toys were picked up, etc.

That's my epiphany.That's what I need. Not a blackberry with microscopic fields you can hardly see. Not a day planner with detailed spaces for minute by minute scheduling. I need a gigantic, poster sized, colorful wall chart with stickers and movable happy faces! I need a "first you do this, then you do this" lesson plan and I need it staring me in the face every morning. I want a routine. I long for order. I want to get up in the morning and know exactly what I will do when because it is exactly what I did yesterday.

You steadfast 9 to 5-ers probably think I'm crazy or lazy or both. I get it. I also get that spontaneity is a beautiful thing and that I need to allow it. But lack of structure is not working and I need to get me some.  Complete with Magic Markers, glitter pens and glow in the dark stickers.On a Red poster board, of course.

Join me at Office Depot anyone?

In Grace,

Kell

I was made for sunny days!

It's amazing how much easier everything is when the sun is shining. I mean, perfectly lovely blue skies without a cloud in sight for hours and hours is just about the most amazing thing in the whole world. Especially after this dreary spring we've had. Everyone has said the sun was just gonna appear and boom it would be summer. That is so okay with me.

Well, the other day I realized it was not okay to be mopey. I know how to feel better, how to inspire myself and how to feel good. So, it was back to square one, starting over at the beginning with Pleasure as the number one principle and priority. Well, duh. I had gotten wrapped up in life again and had forgotten to schedule, plan and implement pleasure every day. And the natural consequence of that is that I found myself not having any fun. Once again, duh!

So I decided to schedule in some fun stuff but also to just decide to have fun no matter what was going on. To celebrate everything. So far, so good. Today was lovely. (I know the sunshine helped, but I was purposefully being happy as well!) We were at the baseball field at 7:00 - then took Bay to finish up his soccer ref training. Then went to the Saturday Market and bought raw honey and bee pollen. (Honey is a super food, eat more of it!) Then we picked up Gav from a birthday party sleep over. All of this momminess was done by 10:30, so I got to open up the garage studio to the sun and spend the day sanding and priming.

I love the feeling of numb hands and arms from using my power sander for so long.  I primed boards and let them dry in the sun. Even the thick coat of goopy white latex I put on after the primer dried fast it was so warm.

In the evening when it cooled off a little I played in the garden. I finally planted the tomatoes the boys had bought me for mother's day. I dug up a diseased peony and planted a rose in it's place. I transplanted the hydrangea my mom gave me for my 39th birthday into a shady spot in the back yard. I cut back rhododendron that had gone all viney and pulled a million weeds. The raspberries had grown over Spanky's grave so I tied them up and pulled some rogue canes. I worked in the yard until it was too dark to see. OMG it felt good!

I love that there are so many different kinds of perfect days.  It's true that the fastest way to attain Happiness is to just be happy where you are. And celebrate the hell out of it.

Having the Reddest Day Ever!

In Grace,

Kell