Creative journals

I am reading a couple of books on freeing up your creativity. Kick-Ass Creativity and The Artist's Way. They both require some journaling. The Artist's Way is really centered around a free flow journal, there is even a special one printed to go with the book. Kick-Ass Creativity also encouraged journaling with questions and prompts. I am also working on the Temple series by Christopher Penczak which, like the Artist's Way, wants 3 pages of journaling every morning. AND I am working on my Tarot, thanks to a sudden connection with my favorite deck, Mystic Dreamer and a brand new deck, Shadowscapes. Journaling is an important way to develop confidence in the Tarot.

I really enjoy working on several different, but related, things at once. If you get bogged down in one you just switch to another and keep going in the same direction.

And I totally understand and support the free flow journaling. It is very hard for me to do and I know that it brings up thoughts and feelings and makes it easier to sort them out.
But now I am in the position of needing all day just to do the journaling that goes with these books.... obviously I am not doing all this. It might be interesting to have all day to do this, but I certainly don't. It was just kind of enjoyable to add up all that I am supposed to be doing.

Earth Day

40th Annual Earth Day is April 22
EarthDay.org

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Rocky Mountain Horse Expo

Going to go and play at the Horse Expo today. I haven't been for several years. Probably just as well that I don't have much money to spend today, this is the kind of place that you can spend a lot on junk that you don't need. Fortunately for me, about 90% of the exhibits are either for western riders, natural horsemanship followers or people who want to upgrade their facilities. The other 10% is stuff I want and don't need. Fun anyway.

the gem show

I had a nice day today, had lunch with a friend and then went to the gem show. She has a retail license so we were able to get into the wholesale section where we found that there were better prices for some things on the other side, but we had mostly checked things out so we knew. We ended up at the same table as last year. Great buys on lots and lots of beads. The gem show is so egalitarian; everything from high end jewelry set with precious gems to pretty beads for a couple of dollars a strand. I stay in the lower end and still managed to get some beautiful goldstone and amethyst and citrine and calcite. It will make very pretty necklaces. Some of them will end up on my Etsy site at Tapestry Art
The store is empty right now, I took everything down and I am re-doing it. That's on my to-do list for this weekend.
The show is fun but exhausting. It is jammed with people and the vendors can't sell stuff fast enough. No recession in sight today. I only buy a strand here and there, but I am the exception, most people seemed to be buying by the bushel basket. Hopefully there are enough customers to go around.

this poor blog...

It gets picked up and put down like an old shoe. Shoved in the closet, dragged out and overused, neglected again for months.
For exactly that reason I think I will keep it around. I have quite a few blogs that have a specific focus and just roll along. This one started with political ranting, morphed into looking for projects to do a year ago, then dissolved into general chat. Now it has sat abandoned for months and here I am again.
Yes, I like this little blog, I am going to keep it. Now, what shall I do with it for the next little while?

Haven't been around for a while, more on that later....

but I just had to share this:

Slate on the current mess

New horse

Finally found a new horse for Ali. She bought a nice 3 year old Thoroughbred gelding just this morning. Plain bay, very green but with a sweet disposition and built nicely. They are well suited and she should have a blast with him.
And now we can both do something with our weekends besides looking at sale horses.

Sunday update

No change this week. 185
I am actually ok with that. Part of getting control of my weight is stopping the up and down swings.
I was a little more active this week, but did not watch my eating as much as possible and had some fast food. A little leads to more. This would normally have led to a weight gain.
This week, no fast food and keep upping the activity a little at a time.

Good luck to everyone and hang in there, don't get discouraged, this isn't easy.

Sunday update

I did lose a little, but I don't know exactly when.
A few months ago my weight was edging up to 200. I made some changes, the healthiest one being that I stopped eating lunch from McDonald's in between appointments for work. My weight dropped to 185 a few weeks ago and I hadn't weigh myself since then until today. I am at 183, but don't really know when I lost those two pounds.
I am calling this the beginning.

One step toward healthier...

I started a Tai Chi class. It meets once a week and is a very basic class. I have tried Tai Chi on videos but it is difficult to know if you are doing it correctly. I have checked on a few classes but they are huge and expensive. This one is just 8 people and affordable.
Tai Chi can help with stress reduction, focus and balance. All necessary to make life changes.
The first class was fun, I felt uncoordinated but I think everyone did. I am looking forward to the next class.