Burning the Candle At Both Ends…

I don’t even think my candle has ends anymore.  It’s more like a molten lump of wax that’s totally used up!

Between my daughter’s doctor visits, work, schoolwork, kids obligations, housework, etc. etc. etc. there has been little time for me, and even less time for creativity.  I have had ideas – tons of ideas – but no time to do anything about them.  The time well is dry.

What can I do?  Well, for now I am writing down lots of notes.  I don’t want to forget some of the inspirations that come to me at off times.  I keep a small notebook with me at all times for this purpose.  It doesn’t matter how random, I write it down.  I have folders at home I stick stuff in like “blog,” “website,” and “inspirations.”  It’s simple enough to slide the notebook sheets in when I get home.  Of course my purse usually looks like a spot hurricane hit it, but I can live with that!  It’s a small price to pay not to miss a good inspiring thought.

Another thing I did while spending some time with my kids watching “our” show, American Idol.  This is something we carve out time for.  We record it to watch when we are all together.  Anyway, I struggle with sitting still without something in my hands, so I started shredding yarn scraps from a knitting project.  It was fun!  And best of all, it didn’t require brain cells.  I kept going (because I never through away those gorgeous yarn scraps) and now I have this big pile of yarn fluff and threads, perfect for some collage/multimedia project down the line.  It really helped me unwind, too, so I think I’ll keep this one as a down-time ritual.  It can all be randomly shoved into a Ziploc bag for later use.

So, even though my wick is  burnt out and my well is dry, I am like a squirrel before hibernation – storing up the things I will need when the time comes.