To-Do Lists

I'm a list-maker.  Not a list-completer, but a list-maker.  Sometimes, I really do mark off all the items listed each morning, but not consistently.  Most days, a few items are marked off, a few are neglected, and some days, I add an item to the list that was not there originally, but that I've done--just so I can draw that line through it (laundry, weeded flower bed). 

A few items on the list keep showing up, day after day, and are not marked through (yoga, quilt label, clean closet).  When I manage to finally draw the line through the offending item or chore, I'm inordinately pleased with myself.  With my (now very haphazard) yoga practice, I often manage to get back in the habit for a week or more due to the initial satisfaction of completing one day's practice.  Then, I'm back to skipping a day, then two, then more.

I have my daily journal list, a long-term list, a list of garden chores and plants, a list of ideas for fabric art or dolls, a list of kids' activities....  All of these lists and more are in different notebooks or scraps of paper and referred to occasionally as reminders.

After reading Karen's post, I laughed at the fact that, with the exception of the beanie baby collection, I identified completely with her generalized items.  I'm always wanting to do stuff and a bunch of other stuff.  I frequently move mess from here to there, ponder, and stare at the wall.  As often as not, I get little done except reading and/or playing in my studio.

via The Art of Doing Stuff

On the other hand, the list below from Learning Minds 

is probably what I should aspire to.

 In fact, that is the one I am definitely going to use today.  Under Be productive yet calm, I'm going to assume it means to get started on another fidget quilt.

  What's on your to-do list today?

A Serious Post about Media Influence

In the sixties and seventies, a push for more equal treatment for women emerged.  Some of us remember that period.  There were women who approached that concept with reason and logic and patient determination and those who were offensive in their criticism of women who didn't immediately take up the banner and preferred to stay home and raise their children.  

The role women play in society should not be dictated by men or women who want everyone else to think exactly as they do.  A woman can want a society in which women are offered equal pay and equal opportunities and are treated with respect and still not want to climb a corporate ladder herself. Belonging to a gender doesn't require all women to think the same or to have the same goals in life.

What is interesting is that the women's movement has not advanced much in the years that followed the public outcry for a level playing field.  One doesn't have to look far to see the overwhelming evidence, for example, that violence against women (and children) continues with a vengeance.  

Media shapes our opinions and our morals.  



      
          

:) Hair Raising!

You’re watching CuteWinFail Pets: Static Pup. See the Web's top videos on AOL Video

 

I've been AWOL lately.  Only one obsession at a time.  Or maybe two.  But I can't seem to keep up with things after that.  

For a while it was making pillows and home dec crafting, then another cycle of intense yoga reading, then the discovery of Feldenkrais and Anat Baniel, now I'm playing with my eccentric dolls again.  

 

Although yoga is about balance, I can't manage that aspect unless one considers that moving in a great circle of first one period of absorption in this area, then in another, and, another, then back to the first, then discovering something new--is a kind of balance.

A visit with my friend Suzie (two hour telephone visit), also had me back to thinking about the way the brain and body work.  We talked about how technology changes our brains and behavior.  The younger generations adapt so quickly to i phones, computers, e books, and whatever new innovations occur.  

Since she works with children with Asperger's Syndrome, part of her time is working with children who have problems with manipulative skills.  Evidently they can be competent with keyboards and computer skills, but lack the pincer grip that enables handwriting and drawing.  My SIL, the Adaptive P.E. teacher, deals with many of the same difficulties of mind-body coordination.   

Which leads back and coordinates, in synchronicity, with Feldenkrais and Transformative Movement and neuroplasticity--which also fascinate me.  So in and out and here and there and all over the map, I move from one subject to another and back again.

 

Now, I have to catch up with blog reading.  What happens when I do that?  There are so many interesting ideas, thoughts, and inspiring projects that new directions open up!

Little Girls and Cats and Musical Inspiration

Another visit from Bryce Eleanor!  We will be keeping her each Tuesday night.  Right now, Amelia and Chris are enjoying a date night on Tuesdays, which is really nice because he will be leaving for Iraq on May 29.  Amelia has a class on Photo Shop at LSU-S scheduled for Tuesday nights during the summer months. 

 Edgar (with Stinker being unusually curious in right corner) loves Bryce Eleanor's feet and toes.

Edgar, always curious, doesn't let B.E. get too far away. 


I've found the most fascinating site:  Sound & Spirit.  I've just listened to Ellen Kushner narrate the episode on Bells.  Wonderful!  You really should check this out! 

Now, I'm listening to her on Aging.  The programs are all a combination of research and music on each of the topics.  It is carried on several NPR stations, but not our local one, so I'm delighted to have found it!

Almost time to get ready for the 10:00 yoga class, but it is such a beautiful morning, I've been reluctant to come in from the garden.

Yesterday's work:

Finished the bird poppet/wand.  The bird itself is all papier mache (French for chewed paper!) The little "hilt" on the end is paper clay with beads.  Bunny poppet is almost finished...

Yesterday, however, I also indulged in the messiness of more papier mache and experiments with armature.  Oh, and needle-sculpting cloth heads, which was a mixed success.

:) Most of what I do is a mixed success.  Experimenting, experimenting, experimenting...

I love having "a room of my own" (kudos Virginia), even though I spread to the rest of the house at times.  My little studio up the stairs is a haven for playing and experimenting with all of my projects.

ACey had an interesting post about inventorying and hoarding.  Loved this line about those who are able to keep their possessions to a minimum, "Let it be known that If I were that sort of person I'm sure I'd be the biggest everything-I-own-fits-inside-a-single-thimble zealot around."   But ACey is definitely not the sort  who can fit her treasures in a single thimble.

The post speaks to me because I, too, have all kinds of little treasures that are perfectly useless, unappreciated, and unimportant to anyone but me!

Are you a collector?  Of fabric, ephemera, embellishments, art, quilts, etc.?  How does your collection grow?  Do you inventory?