Creativity Test in honor of International Creativity Month

Hello Creative Friends,   This a video that I was supposed to post on Youtube when I have some other videos made so the last little bit won't make any sense until I redo my sign up-page.  I think it's still worth watching, so just ignore that part.  More is yet to come.  Thanks for watching.  DM

I hope you celebrate National Creativity Month by honoring and adoring your own creativity and that of others.  If you don’t feel particularly creative, go find someone who is doing something creative and hang out with them.  Take a creative genius to lunch and talk process with them.  Gush over their work.

Check out biographies of famous creative geniuses and learn more about the people who produced the art that inspires you.   Spend the afternoon in a bookstore or library and bring home stacks of books that are not about the kind of art that you do.  I am always amazed that the library lets me have so many books on so many topics at one time.

Creativity is in our DNA and the essence of the world around us.  I believe that when you pay attention to your creativity, your creativity will pay attention to you.  If you treat it like an honored guest, it will respond in kind.

My other idea for honoring my creativity this month is to give it a rest.  I have been bearing down on mine, making demands and expectations.  Every workhorse needs a rest.  Let your creativity out of the yoke of production and let it ride for the joy and fun of it.

Leave a comment and tell me how you made out on the test.   Hugs, Diana

International Creativity Month

Hello Creative Friends,

WooHoo, its International Creativity Month!

I love the idea of a whole month to dream up some thing from nothing and isn't January a perfect time?  If you live in the northern hemisphere, it's wintry cold outside and what better time to drag out an intriguing artsy craftsy project and get busy? 

                                           

When I was growing up, I lived out in the country with two parents who grew up on a farm.  In spring and summer and fall for that matter, there was always something to do outside.  Yard work and gardening or maintenence around the place was always on the agenda.  

As a kid, I was not enamored with gardening and yard work. (I still don't like it.)  When I was old enough, I was the designated tractor driver in the garden.  The fun of driving the tractor was soon replaced by the bordom of put-putting up and down the same trek of the garden rows.  In the summer the garden had to be hoed and the vegetables processed. 

There were berries to pick and peas to shell and corn to cut off the cob and all of it to can or put in the freezer.  I felt like it never ended.

When would you ever have the time to make a quilt or do some needlepoint or glue popcicle sticks together to build a fort.  It just didn't happen at my house unless it rained.

When it rained outside, you caught a break.  And in the blessed winter, the ground was frozen and fallow and you did not venture out except to feed the animals.  I still had to catch the school bus and do my homework, but there was no "outdoor" work to catch up on. 

I could catch up on creativity. And I could do it guilt free.

I hope the International Creativity Month finds you with time on your hands to do something with your hands.  And I hope you get to do it guilt free.

Hugs,

Diana

Happy New Creative YOU!

Happy New Year Creative Friends,

I always want to say Happy New You because New Year is the time we traditionally think about how we want to do things differently.  Even if we as humans resist change, even a tiny bit of change can impact our lives on a massive scale.

Think of a decimal point: Tiny, insignificant dot on a piece of paper.

Change the decimal point in .1000  to 1000. and things get interesting, especially if you are talking money.

I don’t like New Years Resolutions much, so much that I created a workshop called Resolution Revolt.  More about that later.

I used to set my self up for failure every year by making grand promises that I couldn’t keep so here is my tip about this if you are inclined to make resolutions.

Make tiny resolutions that you have a chance of keeping.  You can use these to balance out the ones that might be more difficult.

Here are some examples of tiny resolutions that I am trying.

• I resolve to use the color red in my art work on the next three pieces.

• I resolve to clean the screen on my laptop before I can no longer see the cursor.

• I resolve to take at least two naps a week. (Falling asleep at my computer does not count.)

These I can do.  These feel good to me.  They are tiny little actions that can make a big difference just like the tiny little decimal point.  They meet all the standard goal setting criteria of S.M.A.R.T. goals. Smart Goals stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

When I set these goals, I don’t get a lot of grief and lip from my internal critic, Blockhead. 

Creativity Energizer Break:  You know what I am going to say.  Pick three tiny goals that can make a difference in your creativity and make sure they are ones that you can easily do.  Success breeds success.

If your Blockhead starts telling you that you can’t or won’t do this goal, then you are setting a different kind of goal.

For those kinds of goals that provoke your Blockhead to admonish you for even thinking  of such impossibilities, I have got a workshop for you.

I am offering an online Resolution Revolt Workshop January 12, 19, and 26 at 7:00 CST.  The greatest threat to setting a goal and following through is your own internal critic.  Join me as we revolt against your Blockhead and the traditional ways of trying to keep your resolutions past February.

For more information here is the link:

/store-resolution-revolt/



Can The Holidays Make You More Creative?

Hi Creative Friends,

I hope you enjoy this video about the holidays and creativity. 

Please click the share button underneath this article to share on Facebook or Twitter.  Thanks so much, Diana

Are You in A Holi-Daze?

I think I am writing about this topic cause I like the headline I made up.  I am certain I am not the first person to come up with this line, but oh well.

I know I have readers in other countries that may or may not have the kind of nuttiness that we do here in the states around the time of year, so again, I apologize if this newsletter isn’t relevant.  (I had to apologize at the US Thanksgiving Holiday as well for my cynicism).

I am not just in a holi-daze.  I am in an end-of-the-year-daze; a gigantic-creative-project-daze and an overcommitted-sleep-deprived-daze.  I don’t mind being absorbed in a topic or even a few at a time, but puleeze…this may be too much.
 
So finally, I am going to get to a point, if I can find one here.  Sometimes you have to slip out of holi-daze into survival phase.  (Catchy, huh?  I just made that up too.)  Survival phase is where you take bouts of relief where you can find it.  So here is my prescription for survival phase:
 
Creative Energizer Break:
 
You will manage holi-daze better if you:
 

• Lighten up and let go of perfectionism.  “Done” trumps perfect every time.
• Nobody does it (whatever it is) better than you.  Absolutely true, but do you really want to spend the second week in January sick in bed because you had to do everything yourself?  Delegate, delegate, delegate.  (Or bribe, wheedle, connive.)
• Throw money at it.  I don’t have a lot of money to follow this advice, but if you do, it solves a lot of holi-daze issues.  Paying someone to clean my house is worth a lot of stocking stuffers to me and it is definitely survival phase.
• You are a brilliant creative genius.  Turn the power of your creativity into ways to take care of yourself.  Find time alone, listen to beautiful music, watch sappy Christmas movies.  Disappear for an hour if you can.
• Be gentle with yourself and your expectations.  Why set yourself up for disappointment by making unrealistic demands on yourself and others who are also in holi-daze? 
• There are only so many hours in the day of a holi-daze, but survival phase time stretches out a little longer because the unnecessary stuff falls by the wayside.

 
In my effort to live this holi-daze in survival phase, I am not going to re-write and agonize over this post so I am going to model survival phase and press save.

Be A Beliver

“There is no use trying; one can't believe impossible things." (Alice)

"I dare say you haven't had much practice. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (Red Queen)

                                                                     ~* ~* ~*~

To be creative is to believe in the possibilities.  Too many times we nip our possibilities in the bud before we ever take time to consider them. 

If the universe of great ideas is going to continue to send them your way, you must respond with consideration.  Not every idea becomes a reality, of course, but not every wild idea is impossible.

Why not try this technique: When something seems impossible, use the words “What if,” to speak about the possibility so that you don’t automatically discount and disallow a budding idea before it ever has a chance to bloom. 

“What if I did self-publish my poetry?” 

“What if I were able to save the money for that trip to take classes in Italy?” 

“What if I went to work early so I could get home while the light is still good?”

Your mind loves questions.  Posing your considerations as questions can interrupt and quiet the internal censor until possibilities can become possible.

So try using, “What if, questions.  I’ll leave you with this example:  What if this helped you believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast?

Hugs, Diana

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“Like sands through the hour glass, these are the CREATIVE days of our lives.”

Do you have issues with time?  My friend and I will be talking about a creative project and one of us will invariably say our time mantra, “Oh, that shouldn’t take too long,” and then we laugh, knowing full well that we are wishing out loud – hoping the words will make it so.

As I’ve gotten older, I want to spend my time more wisely.  As a youngster, the days stretched out in front of me seemingly forever and I thought I could afford to squander hours on end sitting in front of dumb TV or tolerating people I didn’t like.

I am coming to this conclusion with my creativity as well.  I want to spend my creative time on something that makes my heart sing, that invigorates and energizes me or connects me to my spirit.   

There will always people, place and things that threaten our creative time, but what about the time we spend inside our art that is no longer satisfying or necessary?  Maybe you can eliminate steps that you used to do when you weren’t as sure of your abilities as you are now. 

One time waster I have tried to eliminate in my creative process is the “agony hour.”   That’s all the time I waste worrying if this piece is good enough, or if someone will like my work enough to pay for it.  The agony hour is also time spent dreading a difficult project before I get down to business.

I have other creative project time drains that I am deleting.  I used to make tons of gifts to give away.  Untold amounts of time was invested in handmade gifts and the (handmade card to go with it) that often delighted me more than the recipient.  I rather spend my creative time (and energy) in other areas now.  

Creativity Energizer Break:

• Examine how you spend your creative time.  Are you making the best use of what time you do have? 

• Can you let go of unnecessary tasks that no longer interest or challenge you? 

• If you participate in the “agony hour,” see if you can reduce it or eliminate it altogether.

Like sands through the hour glass…

Have a creative week!

Hugs, Diana

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Whittle While You Work

You can whistle while you work too; whistling probably means you are content and focused; getting the job done.  But what if you aren’t focused, not taking action; what if you are overwhelmed and paralyzed by procrastination? 

When this happens, I advocate whittling.  I am not taking about taking a knife to your creative project though I admit sometimes the idea of stabbing my computer with the nearest sharp object has its appeal. 

One of the biggest problems creative geniuses face is overwhelm.  Invariably, a writer will one day grasp the number of completed novels at her favorite book store and think, “Look at all this competition; what’s the use?”  A dancer tunes in to Dances with the Stars and thinks, “I’m not a celebrity. Where is this dancing going to get me anyway?”

Overwhelm seeps into your psyche like a foggy mist until it hardens into a solid block that comes between you and your creativity.  That’s when a little whittling is in order.
 
First you have to recognize that overwhelm has you in its grip.  When you keep your focus on the big picture, how do you know what is the next possible action you need to take? 

When I use to paint for other people, I could easily get overwhelmed listening to their expectations of the overall finished project.  Finally I learned how to whittle it down into manageable bits.  What is the absolute first thing I needed to do?  It may be that I needed to just think first or make a plan.  It might be that I needed to make a sample; mix a little paint.  Those two things I knew how to do. The idea is to take some small action that I know I can do to attain a tiny measure of success.  This success will propel me forward if I will allow it.

Action promotes further action, and before you know it, you’ve whittled the project to something manageable, even something you are enjoying.  Who knows, you might find you are whistling while you whittle.

Creativity Energizer Break:

• What project have you been avoiding because the big picture overwhelms you?

• What can you do to whittle down the giant?

• Make a whittling plan.

• Decide on three tiny action steps you can take to get started.

• Commit to doing them.  (Share your plan with a friend if you need accountability.)

• Whittle while you work.



Scare Tactics: Not Just for Halloween

It’s almost Halloween, a custom we celebrate here in the United States, where we dress up in costumes and jump out from behind the bushes and yell, “Boo!”  At Halloween, we acknowledge that there are plenty of things in life and (woooooo) the afterlife that scare us. 

Eating lots of candy from large sacks or plastic jack-o-lanterns seems to help us ignore this fear.  Grab some candy corn and read on.

What I want to discuss here is Boo-Tivity!

Boo-what?

I’m so glad you asked.  Boo-Tivity is the practice of scaring our selves and not giving our creativity a ghost of a chance.

Let me give you a few haunting examples:

When you practice perfectionism, you practice Boo-Tivity. (“I am afraid my art won’t be perfect, therefore people will know I’m not perfect, so I won’t go any further.”)

When you put on a mask and hide your talent from the world you practice Boo-Tivity.  (“I’m afraid people will talk about me behind my back.”  Newsflash: They already do.  Why not give them something fabulous to talk about?)

When you set an unreachable goal or an impossible deadline you practice Boo-Tivity. (“I must have an article in the New Yorker by the time I’m thirty,” is enough to scare the absolute joy of writing out of you.)

Boo-Tivity Energizer:

• Refrain from practicing Boo-Tivity. 

• Instead practice Create-Tivity!

• Stop Scaring Yourself.

• It’s only fun at Halloween.



You've Got a Lot of Nerve!

Being creative is out there.  It’s a bit risky or risqué, even.  Making something that didn’t exist before is challenging and it takes some nerve to bring it forth.

How dare you think that you can feel and honor a creative urge, germinate an idea, have a vision, gather materials, grow a project, make mistakes, manipulate techniques, and manifest your intention?  How dare you?

You are the one doing this process, not your creative friend.  You are the one being daring; not that guy on TV.  You are the one persisting, adjusting, deciding, taking a detour, chasing an idea; not your teacher.  You are the one overcoming obstacles, being passionate, and being a dreamer; not your peers, not your coworkers, not your heroes and certainly not your critics.  You are the one riding a wave of discovery and isn’t it delicious?   Others may be following their path, but you’ve got the guts to follow yours too.

You’ve got a lot of nerve!  Creativity is scary and because you are gutsy, you risk the canvas, the page, the materials, your new manicure, your families understanding, and the time, energy and money to experience the thrill of doing.

Creativity requires courage.  Don’t act like you aren’t brave.  Don’t hide your light.  You are the dare devil of your craft and you have what it takes. 

Overcoming fear makes us feel significant, strong and more certain about who we really are.  Our creative daring helps us to experience growth and adds a spicy variety to life.  Here’s a salute to daring and having a lot of nerve!

Creativity Energizer Break:

This exercise will take about two minutes:

Be sure you read step 4 all the way to the end before you act upon it.

Think about the last time you took a big creative risk or any kind of risk for that matter and walked through your fear to the other side.  Feel how proud you are of yourself that you kicked butt.  (This is not about the outcome of a project, but about overcoming the fear.)

Feel the elation that you lived through the fear and lived to remember it.

Thank the parts of you that are willing to feel the fear and do it anyway.

Now see this brave, nervy, gutsy, ballsy, creative genius that you are and hold that vision and that feeling in your mind and in your heart for a minute till you feel the moxie all over your body.  While you are doing this place your hand over the center of your chest and breathe it all in.  Revel in it until you are ready to allow the energy go easily back to where it can be accessed whenever you need it again.

You have just created a courage touchstone.  The next time you aren’t feeling so gutsy, put your hand over your heart and think of this incident where you were daring and nervy and powerful.  Your body will remember and you mind will agree and it will be easier to have a lot of nerve!



Feel Out of this World Workshop Scheduled

Join me for "Feel Out of this World"

Tele-seminar

11:00 CST Saturday September 25, 2010

I will be launching my newest book:

How to Prevent UFO's from Alienating Your    Creativity 

• Let Go of Un-Finished Objects & Projects

• Energize Your Creativity

• Feel Out of this World

Come join me and find out how to give your creativity a swift kick in the pants and feel out of this world when you do!

Hugs, Diana

You're Finished: NOT

Hi Creative Friends,

A lot of creative people have trouble finishing projects.  Sometimes creative geniuses like us have great bursts of enthusiasm for the beginning of a project only to lose it later when the thrill is gone. 

There are as many reasons for stopping a project as there are projects.  I have spent a lot of energy beating myself up for what I don’t complete.  I regret the time, money, and supplies that I seem to have wasted and I feel guilty whenever I see a project that has not had a happy ending.  Do you?

Do you hear the words of a punishing authority figure in your head, “You never finish what you start,” as if it is a monumental sin?  I do.  The truth is I do start and finish many creative and mundane projects.  Some, I just do not. 
 
These feelings of guilt, remorse and self-recrimination generated because of past unfinished projects can be a major stumbling block to actually working on your art in the present.  All that back and forth, “I should be working on that instead,” creates ambivalence and distraction that can eventually block you.
 
Are you weary of berating yourself because you have tons of UFO’s (Un-Finished-Objects) beckoning to you?  Sometimes I see so many of the threads of unloved projects that I want to avoid my studio all together.  Not good.
 
So what is the solution?  Try this:
 
         Creativity Energizer Break:
 
    * First, forgive yourself and the project for not being perfect.  EFT can help with this

    * Tell that authority figure in your head, “Thanks for sharing,” when you hear admonishment and       derision.  Ignore it altogether if you can. EFT can help with this.

    * And…(Insert drum roll here.)

    * Come to my tele-seminar on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 11:00 AM  CST

Where I will also be sharing with you the ONE thing you can do as soon as you hang up from the call to kick your creativity in the pants.  Taking this one action step can:
 
    * Free up an incredible amount of energy that you can put to good creative use.

    * Allow immediate relief from guilt.

This process I am going to share with you is simple, obvious, but not necessarily easy.

You can absolutely do it on your own, but if you need assistance, I will have an offer that can help you start and complete this most important and freeing step: an action step that will have you feeling out of this world and will create a new intimacy with your creativity.

In fact, I am calling this my “Feel Out of this World” Tele-seminar. (Even if others think you are from another planet!)
 
I hope to connect with you on Saturday, September 25 at 11:00.
 
Attend this seminar, sign up here

Are We Having Fun Yet?

 The term “Work of Art,” came floating through my head this past weekend as I was considering Labor Day, a holiday we just celebrated in the US.   I sometimes grow weary thinking about the work required to get a project birthed from beginning to completion.  This last week I have been enmeshed in a project that requires continued determination and stamina that frankly I have had to dig deep to find.

• I sometimes take the “Work of Art” way too seriously.  See if any of these apply to you?

• Art expressed just for the joy of it can be done only after more important work is completed.  Do you have a list of ten things you must complete first before you can have fun creating?  Does your internal critic admonish you for doodling around at your art table unless the dishes are done?

• Is it ok to take the time, energy and effort to make art if you intend to make money but any other kind of activity is considered frivolous?

• Are you running an art marathon without the training you needed to make the finish line? 

• Do you make beautiful things that make your heart sing, only to give them away because you can’t justify making more for yourself?

Creative enterprise should be fun or at least interesting, arresting, invigorating, and energizing. 

The joy and excitement I felt when I first began my latest project has long gone and now it just feels like work.  What can we do when this happens?  I believe that the fire that sets our passion free needs stoking. 

My “Work of Art” is about to burn out and what it desperately needs is some energizing fuel. 

Finding your fuel:

I think the fuel that stokes the creative fires is different for each of us, but try these tips:

Take a break from the work and have some fun. 

Detach your mind from the work.  Going over and over the same tired tracks will get you the same results.  Get your mind out of the incessant loop and come back later.

Read a book, go to a movie, listen to music or go somewhere beautiful and serene or wicked and intriguing.

You know what fills you up and what stokes your fires.

By the way, if you have guilt for having fun, remember to use EFT to eliminate it right away.  The need to fuel up your creativity is not a selfish act!

I would vote yes for a new holiday called Play Day.



What You Might Not Know About Duct Tape

The big news in Duct Tape is that it now comes in colors!  TaDa! 

No more are we stuck with plain old silver.  Better still you can even find patterned duct tape from pink polka dot to blue paisley.

Here is a link where you can make your selections right from your very own home. 

http://tinyurl.com/39lqpcm

Then you can check out this website and find all the many projects you can master using your new favorite colors.  There are directions for making 62 projects.  Need a top hat to go with your upcoming Halloween costume?  What about a new pencil holder for back to school?  Yep.  Duct tape. 

http://tinyurl.com/dnmgg8

If you aren't feeling particularly duct tape crafty you can buy already made projects from someone who is.  Here you can find duct tape roses for your sweet heart and a duct tape backpack.

http://tinyurl.com/28h7enf

I was in a group of women artist the other day and there was much discussion about this new duct tape revelation.  I am not old enough (ahem!) to remember when they came out with colorful phones, but I am sure it was the same.  Why haven't they done this before?

Let's hear it for duct tape.

Borrowing Benefits

If you have practiced EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) for any length of time, you have surely heard the term, borrowing benefits.

Gary Craig accendently discovered this phenomena in one of his early EFT classes he was conducting.  While he was working with a participant on stage, class members tapped along with him and discovered their own issues where diminished or eliminated too.

This discovery is important because it allows us to benefit from being in a group where EFT is being used, almost like osmosis.  This is why I believe that mastermind groups that use EFT can take its members to greater heights of success and goal acheivement  than mastermind groups and goal setting without using it.

It's About Time

Why do I feel like time is my enemy?  I seem to under estimate how much time some project will take and over estimate my ability to get it done quickly.

When it seems like time is streching out before me and I have allowed myself enough time before a deadline, the project expands to the time allowed.

Creativity takes time.

Contemplating, thinking, wondering is time consuming and I want to rush through this part of the process because it seems like not "doing" is wasting time.

Arrrgh.  This can be some of the most important parts of the creative process and rushing through may not be in my best interest.

Here in no particular order are some time savers when it comes to creative projects.

•    Pick your optimum time:  You can't do brain surgery when you are distracted.  Save the no-brainer projects when you are eeking out some time during commercials of Grey's Anatomy.  Write your novel when you have time to actually think. (It doesn't have to be a week in a cabin in the woods; ten quiet minutes while dinner is cooking could be quality time at your house.)

•    Set priorities:  What is the best use of your time?  If I have a sudden urge to clean my house, I am usually avoiding something that has to do with my art!  How often do you need to sharpen pencils if you write on the computer?  If I have 15 minutes to spend on my art, where will that time investment do the most good?

•    Do the difficult things first: Waiting doesn't make them any easier.  Avoiding the inevitable can waste so much time, and don't you always feel better when you get the hardest task out of the way?

•    Learn to say no. (They won't die.  The world won't end.  You won't be a jerk.  Don't explain.) Allowing others to spend your time for you is the biggest reason most creativity doesn't see the light of day!

•    Learning to delegate is a great time saver too. (Repeat after me: They won't die.  The world won't end.  You won't be a jerk.)  Insisting on doing every thing yourself is another huge reason creativity doesn't see the light of day.

•    Think the job though before acting.  Do you have all your supplies at hand?  Are you prepared to work till completion or will you need to break it down in chunks?  A little planning can be a great time saver.

Leave us your favorite time saving tip ---- if you have the time.



Happy Mothers Night

It's late on Sunday night, Mother's Day.  I would have been here sooner, but my mom is visiting and well, you know how it is.

My mom's name is Dorothy.  She is known by DotDot, Dotlea or Dorothy, and I have been known to call her Dorthea. I don't know why.  My mom is one of those mom's that everybody thinks a mom should be.  She can do anything.  She knows everything and she knows everybody.  If you do anything you don't want her to know about, you better not do it in her town, cause she'll know you've done it before you start to feel guilty about it.

I don't know how my mom put the fear of doing something wrong in me.  She never hit me.  Well, there was that time she threw a wooden spoon at me she happened to be washing at the sink, but me and my sassy mouth deserved it and more.  I just never wanted to displease her.  I still don't.

I don't think my mom understands me, but I'm not so sure about that either.  I think she is proud of me to other people but she wants to keep my head from swelling so she doesn't brag on me to my face too much.  Yesterday she told me that I am smart and for the life of me I can't remember why she said it.  But I remember saying to her,  "Well, I am smart enough to be persistent."

Was I smart for thinking she might like the Art Car Parade we went to? Or was it because I can put new phone numbers in her cell phone?  Darn.  I wish I could remember.  I want to be smart in her eyes.  I want to do good.  I want to be the honorable, selfless, devoted, brilliant, self-reliant woman that she is and no matter how smart I am, I will never will be that daughter..

But hey, at least I am persistent.

I love you Dorthea.  You are the absolute Queen of my Heart and you are a treasure to me.  Thanks for all your hard work and thankless times you sacrificed for me even when I was a little brat. 

The following photos are of some flowers that we visited while she was here and then a few choice photos from the Art Car Parade in Houston.

Mercury in Retrograde Strikes Again!

Yay, it's Friday!  I love Fridays don't you?  There is such a promise of the weekend as it stretches out in front of you. Tomorrow I am going to take an art class with a friend.  We'll have lunch after.  It's good to have plans.

Today I am with my friend Audrey at The Blue Planet Cafe.  We both have our computers side by side as we clack away.  She is sending out resumes and I am working on my new website.  Ooops!  I guess I let the cat out of the bag.  Yes, I am building a new website that will serve my clients better, I hope!  I have been working away getting it switched over and hopefully create a few surprises.  However, as ever there are always a few bumps in the road when I work with computers and this week has been no different.

Are you familiar with Mercury in Retrograde?  According to astrology, MiR is when the planet Mercury appears to stop or rotate in reverse (which it does not actually do).  This creates all kinds of havoc in the areas of communication, computers, electronics, and travel.  (Consider all the travel difficulties people in Europe are having because of this freaky volcano action.)  Astrologers say that it is not a good idea to sign contracts during this period.  I don't know if Mercury really influences my computer, but I have heard more stories this week of people who have been in computer hell.  A word to the wise:  If you have been putting  off backing up your computer, don't wait until the retrograde strikes!

I would love to thank my friend, Audrey for helping me reinstall a cranky program that got blown away on my husbands computer this week when he caught a bad case of spyware which resulted in an almost disaster.  The bill was $170 plus much nail biting and gnashing of teeth. 

Hang it there, computers.  We only have to worry till May11.

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Hello Creative Friends,

I am finally able to get my act together and write a new blog post.  We have been having record pollen and yuck in the air in my hometown both my husband and I have been sicker (as they say) than a dog, for what seems like weeks.

Yesterday was his birthday and we managed to get out to breakfast and a movie.  Then we had to toddle on back home because our strength was gone.

We are quite the pair with our mountains of toxic Kleenex wadded up in piles by the bed.  We have become a squinty-eyed household of mouth breathers speaking the muffled language of grunts and moans.

"How you feeling?"
"Better. I think. You?"
"I need a nap."
"I need some oxygen. I'm only getting air through one nostril."

I have intentions of recovery real soon.  In the meantime, I've got a date with a hot toddy.

Hugs, Diana