The Clock and Time

mSo for some weird reason I have thought about time lately. More specifically how children learn to tell time and how they process in their young minds the concept of time. One question I ask in my job taking children's disability applications involves asking parents can their child tell time. The parents standard answer is "only on a digital clock." it seems that their answer is making this a handicap for the child. Maybe it really is a handicap. These children are only witnessing time in a linear fashion. They are missing a much older concept of time as cyclical. A round clock with hands requires a learned skill to read. It also presents the concept that time is round just as the earth is round. I'm sure that many will d disagree but so did the many that believed the earth was flat or that man really never walked on the moonn. I have not studied much on quantum physics but the little bit I be have read gave me a little understanding in how we pass through time.

Mobile Blog Begins

Mobile blog beginnings. So this is my first post from my Droid smart phone. I'm attempting to come into the 21 st century and learn to use all of the resources that I have. After all I have a 3 year old and I need to stay on top of these things or she will end up schooling me

Disturb the Inertia

I have just spent the last two days at my 20 year high school class reunion. We were the first International Baccalaureate Program in Pensacola. We were a diverse group then and now.

Oh how my high school English teachers hated when an essay started with a dictionary definition. But this is a blog not an essay.

inertia n. Physics . The tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line.

"Disturb the Inertia", was one of the infamous sayings from the pep talks that Donna Dunson, our IB coordinator, would frequently give to our IB class. She spoke those words again at our 20 year class reunion. I really had not thought of the phrase in the last 20 years, but I have lived it over and over again, so it must have stuck somewhere in my subconscious.

Looking at the faces of classmates you have not seen in 20 years makes you look a little more at your own face. At a class reunion everyone tells "their history". How they are living.

For me I like to believe that I do thinking for a living, more why and less how. Using that thinking and the knowledge from years past and gone, continuing down that road less traveled and making a difference. For me, Why is greater than How.

Why is Greater Than How

The last night of the class reunion was family night and we all witnessed our children disturbing the inertia and much more.

My toddler's first question was "why". Any parent can tell you, the endless number of times the question "why" is posed during a day. Even among the youngest toddlers, who are barely putting together 4 and 5 word sentences, it is "why" . They are using the Why instead of the How. Toddlers want explanations of their world and want to become involved in it. They want to jump in and shake things up. They do not remain at rest for very long and are always moving. Toddlers are disturbing the inertia.

Creativity is about action and life is about movement, it is that disturbing the inertia thing. The creative spirit is about transforming nothing in to something and seeing how we can get ourselves in to commotion and refusing to remain at rest. So from my child I think I will find my lost creativity. And in the end my "Blog from the Edges" may keep me from being a body at rest, and become a body disturbing the inertia. Ultimately the creativity and security for which I search for in life will be my strength so I can hang on from the edges.

Changes Changing Me

I have not blogged in 7 months. For the last 7 months I have been coming to terms with my life. In January my husband was going to clean out our spare bedroom to allow space for a craft room.

I had turned our china cabinet into a storing space for all of my crafting items. My craft stuff had taken over the dining room table and the better part of the living room. I was miserable seeing all of the stuff day after day. I wanted my own room that I could shut the door to get away and make arts and crafts. I wanted to shut the door and not see the piles of craft stuff.

My husband did try to clean out his man cave and he did move a lot into the closet. The rest he moved out into the front hall by the front door.

But I was devastated.

There was not enough room for my craft stuff and it only made our home worse. I moved all of his stuff back into the spare room so we could clear the hall to the front door. I did not want our home to become like those one's seen on reality shows where extreme hoarders live.

I knew I was not going to get my own craft space.

For the next 2 months I went to my therapist and had some intense therapy sessions. The cause of my deepest depression was my hoarding . With my therapist's guidance I came to terms with my growing piles of craft stuff. I had large piles of craft books and craft magazines. I had all kinds of crafting tools and gadgets. But the craft stuff and organizing of the stuff had taken over and I no longer had time to craft as I was continually having to move and reorganize. I thought having my own craft room would solve everything, but it really wasn't going to solve the bigger problem.

I no longer owned my crafts, they owned me, or that was conclusion my therapist made me consider.

As my therapist put it, I basically owned a craft store within my home and I was constantly arranging, updating, and organizing the inventory and I was putting more and more of my energy into my "craft store" than the creating of arts /craft. In addition my energy also went to a full time job 5 days a week. I put energy into being a mom. I also put energy into being a wife. I also put energy into household chores such as laundry, cooking and cleaning.

Unfortunately, my energy was zapped. I was deeply depressed each and every time I walked into the house. On the weekends, I spent most of the time away from the house, out shopping and unfortunately "collecting" more stuff.

I tried to organize my craft store. There were many storage containers for my craft stuff. But all of my stuff was just too much for a 1200 square foot house . And with a nearly 3 year old child, her toys and her valued possessions had no room to play.

Something had to give.

I made a conscious decision and gave up crafting and art for now.

I wanted to give my daughter a 3rd birthday party in our home that her family and friends could come and enjoy. One that I could have in a clutter free home. I had a deadline, her birthday, March 30th.

After 2 months of counseling, I did the big purge of all of my craft things. On a Saturday morning, my mom drove me to the counselor for one last session before the purge. I was already in a state of shock. After that hour I returned home and for the next 2 hours my mom and I filled bag after bag and loaded them into my dad's pick up. Everything was gone. The only thing left, a box of crayons and a coloring book. From now on, I could no longer just buy random craft for a project that I would one day work on. I would have to have a specific project. Like coloring with my daughter, something that could be done and finished without the extra excess stuff.

It is now 4 months later. I have had some intense anxiety for taking everything and throwing it away at the landfill. But I know I had too. I have felt better with at least that section of the house clutter free. I have felt better that I no longer feel my clutter dominates the household. But I feel sort of lost. Like I don't have me anymore, or what defines me. I wanted my arts and crafts to define me, but really my life and the how I live are definitions. Blogging helps put words to that definition. It really was the blog that was helping me as much at the art projects.

I have come to the conclusion after these months that Blog From the Edges, can be my creative diversion. Utilizing the blog to be my outsource of artistic wants and needs. Maybe from time to time I will post a little art project that I do with my daughter or for me time.

Along the way I will hang on to the Blog from the Edges and find security.

Powerful and Delectable Mountains

"Delectable Mountains Quilt Block"

10" x 10"

Four 5" blocks abutted together.

Constructed of security envelope paper and black card stock mounted on white card stock

"Delectable Mountains Block"

5"x5"

So the other night my darling child could not sleep and when she finally went back to sleep, then I could not get back to sleep, so I got out the security envelopes, scissors and glue and tore it up as the kids say.

The first photo with the brown in it, is the quilt pattern that I used. The photo is a completed quilt from my new 2010 calendar. It is one of those style of calendars that each day either features a new quilt pattern or a new quilt block. This particular quilt has gone by two different names: "Woven Stars" or "Delectable Mountains". I tend to like the name "Delectable Mountains" because it just rolls off the tongue better.

The second and third scanned pics are the security envelope quilt blocks that I actually constructed from my security envelopes. I first constructed four of the 5" blocks and then put them together to make the larger block. The larger block is again not scanned all of the way due to the constraints of my scanner.

One of the harder parts of using security envelopes in making these quilt blocks is that sometimes you need larger sheets of paper, but have to work within the constraints of the envelope size and sometimes even an envelope window. In this particular project I cut the pattern size in half. I also used an envelope that did not contain a window as it has more paper to work with.

I really like the way this one turned out and it took just under 3 hours to cut and glue all of the triangles and squares. Here is a photo of the action as I worked laying out each piece before gluing it all down.

I first used a 1" square paper punch and punched out a bunch of squares out of the black paper and the envelopes, then I cut the squares in half to make all of the triangles.



For me there is something very calming in cutting a square into a triangle over and over. It's a 3 sided thing and when I think about it ... it goes back to my original blogs about "The Curse of the 3s".

Maybe I should consider "The POWER of the 3's" . For whatever power it gives, first the security envelopes, second the triangles and third making art. I keep thinking I need to break a curse. But maybe this whole artsy craft project I'm blogging is really just about me finding my own power.

Power in little things, power in big things, not curses, just power. Maybe this Power of 3's will break me out of misery, sadness and my insecurities.