Beating Back the Blues

Quite a bit of time has passed since I last posted, which surprises me because in the thick of the winter festivities, I was throwing up all kinds of posts with a steady regularity.

I think I've got the winter doldrums.  I've lost my groove, can't find my mojo, forgotten how to get to my happy place.  I've just been feeling out of sorts lately.  If I were a child, it would be classified as cranky.  Too bad I've got no one to hand me a snack trap of my favorite snacks and then put me down for a nap.

Part of me thinks this funk-tastic attitude may have to do with my New Year's Resolution.  It takes work to be nice to yourself!  You've got to stop the negative self-talk, stop the self-deprecation and re-direct your behaviors.  It so much easier to correct someone else! Believe me, I'm a pro at that, just ask Mo and Co.

I'm trying to spend less time on the computer and more time being engaged in activities I like and people I enjoy.  I took this phenomenal photography workshop through Virginia Photo Safari earlier in the month. While I'm not quite ready to hang out my shingle as a portrait artist, I have a better understanding how my camera works and how I can get the shots that I want, when I want them.  It is going to involve springing for a new lens, but in the interim, I like being able to truly "get" what those buttons and knobs on the camera do.  I've got two willing subjects in Mo and Co, which means practicing the techniques is a great week-end activity.  I gave the girls their flashlights, I slowed the shutter speed, and I turned out the lights.

Pretty cool. 

I've been wanting to craft more, too.  I made some more cards. I've been checking out different websites on how to repurpose things that you already have into things you'd like to have.  For example, there is this scarf that I saw online that I would really love, but it's sold out indefinitely.  I didn't want to buy any ol' scarf in the interim, so I found a site that shows you how to take a t-shirt and make a scarf out of it.  

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Mine doesn't quite look like that.  It looks like a cut up t-shirt, but I think the secret is in how to you twist it.  Practice, practice, practice. 

I've also been wanting a cool looking jewelry tree so that I can actually know what I've got and wear it.  Back to the 'net and look at these two cool DIY projects.  

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I've got to hit up the thrift stores to see if I can score some frames and trays to make this happen.  Now that I see I don't need a circular saw, vise grips or table clamps, both of these are way more do-able. 

Instead of burning up my lap with the Mac while I watch TV,  I broke out my knitting, or rather, my rows of knits and pearls. I doubt I'll ever make anything, but I like seeing the rows emerge from where there wasn't anything before. I have a great aunt, who at 100 years of age, still knits.  She can cast on while the opening theme of the Price is Right is blaring in the background and by the time, Bob Barker was reminding us all to spay and neuter our pets, she'd hand you a sweater.  Or a hat and gloves. Or an afghan (or is that crocheting?). 

I'm in two book clubs and recently hosted one at our house.  I enjoy entertaining, really, but I just don't do it as often as I'd like.  Book club was a great way for me to try out some recipes I'd been eyeing for a while and to break out my party plates and wine glasses.  The menu planning, the prepping, the cooking and the plating! I loved every minute of it.  The cleaning up with a serious buzz afterwards? Not so much, but c'est la vie. 

So you see, I've been doing plenty. I'm happy when I'm doing it, but when it's time to clean up or get back to the tasks of parenthood, that's when my lip starts poking out.  I think I'm regressing.  You know how they say that people that live together for a long time start to look like one another? Or people start looking like their pets after a while? All this quality time with the girls has me acting like them -- "What are we going to do next? What are we doing after that?" -- except that I'd gladly welcome a nap.  

Wake me up when it's spring.