Settled Or Settling?

When I was growing up, my family moved a whole lot.   Sometimes four to five times a year.  It felt like we were always on the move.  I'd watch the T.V. show Wagon Train and knew what those folks were going through...moving all the time.  My mom hated it, even though she was the instigator of most of the moving.  Her one wish was to be settled or to just get settled.   Coming from all that movement, I'm grew into a fairly "settled" adult.   I've been married close to 24 years.  We lived in the same house for 17 years and in the same city for close to 30 years.  I like it. It suits me.  It has given me a base to grow and evolve as a person. I've been thinking a lot about the word settle.  I think we can be settled any where we are.  We can have calm, focus and peace of mind any where at any time we allow it.  

Then there is settling. I think some times in my life I've settled for good enough or second best because I didn't want to be uncomfortable.  My Grandma has a friend she use to say was in love with second best.  The friend was happy with life's scraps.  I think that is sad.

I think there is a real fine line between being settled and settling. Sometimes either one can cause unhappiness or great joy.  So odd.
Again it goes back to what are we creating in our lives?

Is it time to break up with being in love with second best in order to create something first rate?  I think being in the groove of creating something first rate is the best form of being settled.

Until next week create to feel great!

48 projects complete! 4 to go! (I can not believe it!)  I hear cowbells ringing!
This week's project is an stuffed owl.  To remind me to make wise decisions and he's fun!

Fruits Of My Labors

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and work and to play and to look up at the stars."
~Henry Van Dyke 


This is the last post of summer 2012. Probably, you are reading this on the first day of fall.  So, how was summer 2012 for you?  Mine was amazing, if I might brag a bit. Why you ask?  Well, because I lived it fully.
All the crazy ups and downs.  All the good times and bad times.  All the excitement and fears.  I live it all fully.  Summer 2012 is one for my books, and I'm glad of it.  I created every minute of it.  (Yes, even the junk, and crap and stuff of it all.)  I pushed and relaxed.  I challenged myself.  I discovered parts of me and my creativity I didn't know were there.  I read, walked, cleaned, reorganized and I planted.  I planted a raised bed garden.  I planted seeds in myself.  My gardens are doing great.

I'm raising a glass to summer 2012 and all it's glories.  But most of all to me for living it fully, and to creating a great autumn!

How was your summer 2012?  Is it time to create a great autumn?  What would that look like for you?

Until next week create to feel great!
47 projects complete! 5 to go!

This week's project are the fruits of my labors in my garden.  Tomatoes!  Lovely abundant tomatoes!

I have an heirloom variety- Abe Lincoln. Cherry tomatoes and Roma/Plum tomatoes.   All going into a sauce to be canned.   So, far I've "put up" 7 pints of sauce.  Canning has been my project this week to stay up with all my tomatoes!  I've loved having my garden and next year I will expand the "lower 40". But for now canned tomatoes.   As my Grandma would say..."We eat what we can.  What we can't we can."

To The Core

I have often heard that "the Core" is the base of everything.  I recently discovered the value of having a strong core.  In our bodies it means having strong back and ab muscles.   Without that strength we have all sorts of aches and pains.  We can't move as well or as fast.  I do think that is important, because on an emotional and spiritual level it connects us to the flow of life.  Our intuition. Our peace of mind.  Our sense of purpose and who we are.  When we are weak at our core, life is difficult. It is more than a challenge to pull our selves up and out of a funk. It is almost like we are rotting from the inside out.  No fun.  No joy.
How do we get a strong core.  Physically, it is working those muscles out.  Emotionally and spiritually it is also a work out.  Learning to shift our mind set from negative to positive.  Setting boundaries that honor who we are, and sticking to those boundaries. Standing up for who we are.  Eliminating worries (because worry takes us out of the moment and 90% of what we worry about never happens.  The other 10% we can deal with).  Stop trying to control everyone and everything and stay in the moment.  Whew!  That's a work out!  And like a work out, at first it might be a struggle to see the value in doing the work out.  Yet if we keep at it consistently, we begin to see, feel and know the value.  Soon we are strong at our core.  Nothing can shake us.  Creating and living a great life is really possible.

Are you ready to do a Core work out?   Get yourself strong to the core?

Until next week...create to feel great.

46 projects complete!  6 to go (I can see the finish line in my sights!)

This week's project is a little crocheted lady bug.  A Swap-Bot friends' grand daughter was in ill and in the hospital.  I heard she loves lady bugs.  So, I hope this brings her some cheer.  It made me smile to make it.

Yeah But...

As summer begins to wane and we head into fall, I'm doing my annual home improvement dash to get 'er done.  The pattern is the same, in the winter I dream of all the stuff I want to get done.  June rolls around and that is still rainy and cold to do anything, but I gather supplies.  July and August, something always comes up and gets in my way of starting.  This year, I was focusing on Portland to Coast and nursing my back, which I had sprained my sacrum.  So, September, my dear friend, here we are again.  The list is still long and growing.  The supplies sit waiting.  The motivation is gone, baby gone.  Yet, I love the completion and the feel of re-doing a room or taking care of my house.  And frankly between you and me, it really is the only way I'll do a deep cleaning or any cleaning for that matter.  With such a long list, where to start?  I thought if I could get only one room done in the house which one?  Two are on the A list.  My dining room and the creation of my writing room.  Broadside pointed out, I'd be happier if I worked on my writing room.  I went into "yeah, buts..."  If I do the dining room, we'll have it for the holidays.  We can have people over to enjoy it.  I'll do that room first then the writing room will be my treat for completing the dining room.  Yeah but...
Broadside was quick to point out that if I did the writing room first and has a place to write, I would maybe get the writing done I've been wanting to focus on all year.  Yeah but.  He got tired of the yeah buts and walked out of the room, saying something like...you can yeah but all you want.  Is that getting where you want to be?   When did he a) get so smart and insightful? b) start listening to me when I coach?  He asked a good question.  Writing room it is!
It was my project of the week. It took me a week to pull this small little space together.  And well worth it.
The room has always had good energy. It was once a kitchen, before we moved in to the house 17 years ago.  A family of four once live in the upstairs, where Broadside, Gus, MickeyGrrrl and myself sprawl out. (the upstairs isn't that big.  I don't know how those folks did it.)  This room was a junk room for years.  Now that it is re-done...I'm doing a different kind of cooking in it.  I'm also now inspired to do the dining room...after some more writing! Sidebar...it is tough to admit it, but Broadside was right.  The room makes me happy and I'm writing more and feeling good about it.  Again, another simple shift.  I love my house. I love my life and the people who are apart of my life.  I'm also discovering that taking care of what I love is another source of joy.  Whew.  I think the re-do of this room was my final exam on that lesson.  I'm feeling like I aced it.

Before....Yuck.

Until next week...create to feel great.
45 projects complete 7 to go!   Home stretch is coming into my sites!

Much Better!  My Purple Haze Heaven.
Complete with floor cushion
for MickeyGrrrl!

Hitting A Wall And Seeing A Million Stars

"To accomplish a great thing, we must not only act, but also dream:not only plan, but also believe."
~Anatole France 

I can now say I walked to the Oregon Coast.  I competed in The Mother Of All Relays.  I knew it was going to challenge me.  I had NO idea in what ways. More on that in a bit.  I want to talk about my stats. I'm so proud of the fact that I took 4 minutes off my walking time.  Averaging a 16.5 minute mile. Our team finished in 35 hours. I didn't know I had a competitive streak that ran so deep in me. It came out. Because I had injured my lower back in July, I didn't compete against others, I competed against myself.  I really had to find that source in me that believed I could do this thing.  And I did this thing.

I have a million stories etched in my mind and heart.  I have thousands of lessons, I want to share the most important ones I took away, as they apply to life, at least my life.  So, not in any order...

1) There are Guardian Angels.  I met one from Australia who helped me pace myself, work out a shin splint and told me I could do this thing. All within the first two miles of my walking adventure.

2) Have a plan for the end.  I had no idea the physical and emotional tole this event and prep of the event takes.  Couple that with sitting in the hot sun for two hours and team mates wanting me to take care of their questions and concerns.  I hit a wall.  Not pretty, but we all survived.  Having a plan for the end before leaving town would have helped.

3) When going after a great thing...have a good friend with you.  One is the minimum.  I was lucky to have one of my best friends with me.  Made the world of difference.

4) I need more cowbell in my life.  Every time a van with a cheering cowbell ringing team passed me, I knew I had to keep going.  So, more cowbell.

5) Look up from time to time.  Especially at night.  I saw the most amazing star show while I was trying to get some sleep in the non-sleeping field.

6) Add some flare to what you are doing, and don't hold back.  I had made gold lame visors, yet I saw folks being so creative and really going all out.  Making the event even more fun.  I love adding flare, and I sometimes hold back.  I always regret this move (the holding back, never the flare.)

7) Don't down play the accomplishment.  If it is a big deal for you.  It is a big deal.   If it is a big deal for someone else...help them celebrate, and that celebration looks different to everyone.  It's still a celebration.

8) Everything is important, yet very very little of it is serious.

9) I'm a whole lot stronger, smarter and funnier than I allow myself to be everyday. 

What's next?  I'm training for next year. I'd love to get on a team with a group of friends and folks really wanting to have fun and really into pushing themselves.  I'm not giving up event walking. I enjoy it way too much. After walking over 11 miles, in some of the best areas my state has to offer, walking looks a little different to me.  Time for a walk.

Until next week...create to feel great!
43 projects complete!  9 to go!

One last P2C craft.  A gold canvas duffle bag.  The right size for over packing all I thought I needed on the road. It served me well.