Life's Storms

 

Listless and tired I boil the kettle yet again and hold the steaming mug between my hands and stare outside.  The December wind protests loudly, sweeping the snow off the roof into eddies that vanish as quickly as they appeared.  It is easy to get swept along with the winds, whipped this way and that.

 I'm sensitive to getting swept away, realizing this about myself I do not own a television, or listen to the news, or engage more than I have to with negative, emotionally exhausting people.  This has taken me decades to accept about myself.  During this globally challenging season, more than ever I try to be aware and respectful of my needs and hold to my healthy habits and boundaries.

Sometimes the world is overwhelming 

 

 I look around and wonder if anyone else
feels the same way I do

 

Sometimes I just want to hide away

and close my eyes and dream instead.  
There's nothing wrong with dreaming.

Once I'm rested I can accept that
even in life's challenges there is a certain beauty to be
found and a particular wisdom
that comes with having weathered life's storms.

May you be comforted and find strength to weather any storms you may be experiencing.  

Thank you for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a day of gentle strength,

Sandra

 

DIY Christmas Tree

It isn't that I don't like a real Christmas tree, the look, the scent and all those decorations but this year I wanted to do something a little different.  I looked on line for ideas for alternatives to Christmas trees but nothing inspired me.  I stood in the middle of my painting studio and figured that there had to be something on hand that would serve as my tree this year.  Leaning in a corner were four simple wooden easels.  I took three and fashioned them together into a cone shape.  I love when an idea starts sparking....

Christmas Tree using 3 wooden artist easels
My Turquoise Kettle Life

I tied the easels together using twine, then strung the mini light around and wrapped several meters of white tulle over the lights.  The finishing touch was a star which I suspended from the ceiling to hang over the top of the tree.  Yes, its a little off beat but it might just be the perfect Christmas tree for an artist.

I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas; a time of laughter and love; and may the spirit of Christmas reside in our hearts all year long.

Thank you for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life.

Merry Christmas,
Sandra

DIY Zipper Jewelry

Its December 23rd... two days until the Christmas gifts are placed beneath the tree.  I wanted to give you a sneak preview of my DIY zipper necklace.  For Christmas our family does a gift exchange which I love; it cuts down on the shopping and the gift has to be hand-made.  While some family members find the DIY idea challenging (and it can be depending on who's name you've chosen) I love it.  This year I stumbled across zipper jewelry on line and decided to give it a try.  I roughly copied one that I found at inspiration-of-the-nation.com It was quite simple and quick to make.  

There are several good videos on line that outline the various processes for making zipper jewelry from easy to complex.  I wanted something simple so I bought my zipper by the meter, cut away the excess fabric that runs along the size of the zipper teeth, swirled the zipper into circles and used a hot glue gun to hold everything in place.  The most challenging part of this project was trying to avoid the necklace from sticking to the work surface and not burning my finger tips with the hot glue. There is a black felt backing that hides all the raggedy edges and excess glue.  Jewelry joiners, clasp and ribbon add the finishing touches.  

Thank you for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a wonderful and creative day,

Sandra

A Puddle of Peace in a Sea of Chaos

For most people, mid-December to the beginning of January is a really busy time of year.  There are a lot of good things going on as we prepare for the holidays and the new year.  But by December 26th many of us have already had too  much of a good thing: too much food, drink, entertaining, shopping, spending, cooking, cleaning, driving, visiting.  And it isn't over yet; new year's celebrations are less than a week away which may necessitate another round of the "good things" listed above.

While I have whittled away my holiday obligations and preparations to the point that I really only do what I enjoy doing, not everyone has that luxury or freedom.  Yet even I feel ready for a little time-out by this point in the festivities.

If you can manage it, this is the perfect time for a little holiday escape.  My own will involve a mini-retreat to a luxury hotel, just one night, just me.  It isn't for long, it isn't far away.  But it is a private space with a locked door, no cell phone, no lap top, no obligations.  A time to think, pray, write, plan, reflect. 

Sometimes when actually leaving hasn't been an option, I let my family know that I'm doing an in-home retreat;(usually when my husband is travelling) and that I won't be taking calls, or e-mailing.  I make sure I have everything I need on hand and try to ensure that the house is tidy and clean.  The benefit of this type of mini-retreat is that everything is here.  If I decide to paint or putz around in the garden I can; the downside is I am still in my regular home/work environment.

Whether you can retreat away from home or even just carve out a solitary afternoon to pamper yourself, the benefits will be worth the effort to arrange it. I always come back refreshed and filled with gratitude for all of the truly good things in my life.





Thank you for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a peaceful day,

Sandra

How to Refurbish a Child's Rocking Duck

Here's my latest curb-side rescue; a real ugly duckling that ended up being our Christmas gift to our little grand-daughter.  This poor guy was rescued last spring from a neighbour's garbage.  I should have taken a real "before" picture prior to getting out the red spray paint so that you could appreciate how ugly "Ugly" actually was.

He was originally bright yellow with a red seat and a navy blue beak and eyes.  He had a few rough edges which my husband sanded down.  I spray painted the entire duck with several coats of red paint, it took a lot to even begin to cover the navy blue beak and eyes.

I bought one sheet of gorgeous wrapping paper from Omer DeSerres (artist/craft shop) and a bottle of Modge Podge.  The background of the wrapping paper almost perfectly matched the red paint I had chosen and I loved the flowing floral motif.


Cutting carefully around various flowers, stems and butterflies, I was able to create shapes that suited the curving lines of the duck.

I positioned and re-positioned the cut-out flowers until I had a design that I liked.  I strategically placed the cut outs to cover the beak and eyes that were still visible through the paint. 

Using a soft paint brush I applied the flowers using the Modge Podge both under the paper and over.  I painted the entire surface of the duck with the Modge Podge so that there would be a shiny finish throughout.  I let one side dry before proceeding to the second side. I also put motifs on the inside of the duck where our grand-daughter would sit and see them.

The end result?  This once ugly duckling has been transformed into the most beautiful duck under the Christmas Tree.

Thank you for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today,

Wishing you a most beautiful day,

Sandra

Planning for a New Year - Review, Redo, Renew

I absolutely LOVE the week between Christmas and New Years. The main fireworks (Christmas) are over and there is this wonderful quiet week-long lull before the last little firecracker (New Year's).

Frost on a window

It is also the time when my husband and I individually and collectively review the past year, re-establish what our priorities and goals are and renew our commitment to them. If you have read my post October Review & Renew you are already familiar with the format I use to record and track my progress through the year concerning various areas of my life.

Individually we review the year. I look through the journal where I have set aside one or two pages for each of the following categories: Finances, Health and Fitness, Spirituality, Marriage, Family, Creativity, Work, Home and Community Service. During the year I have been recording progress made or the lack thereof in each category.

For instance in January I have recorded anything that has contributed to the above categories which included meeting with our financial wizard to review retirement planning (Financial), having my annual check-up (Health), and making cookies for an elderly woman who is shut-in (Community Service). In May I began my blog (Creativity) and we paid off our mortgage (Financial). In August we moved my mother-in-law from Ottawa to our town and spent the rest of the year helping her to get settled, (Family). Every month has many entries both big and small. This allows me to have an honest and more complete assessment of the year. It is so easy to forget all the small achievements and gestures and to feel that nothing of any worth was accomplished.

Winter Berry

The next step is to really feel the emotions associated with the review. Do I feel sad, frustrated or excited over any lack of accomplishment or area of my life? For instance I feel a little sad that I didn't do a very good job of protecting my creative time. I left myself vulnerable to other people's wants/needs sometimes at the expense of maintaining a positive environment for creativity. I need to listen to the emotions to know where to make adjustments.

Maybe the emotion is indifference. Something that felt important in January may no longer hold my interest or circumstances may have changed so that it is no longer a factor (I had planned on working 2 - 3 days a week at the high school but by September I decided to leave the job entirely).

Next I let myself dream, what would I like to have accomplished in the next 12 months? Where do I want to be? What do I want to be doing? What can I get excited about? What established habits have I grooved that I need to maintain that allow me to function at my peak? (My spiritual, eating and exercise routines help to keep me physically, mentally and spiritually healthy and therefore able to dream about what might be next.)

When my husband and I have our reviews in place we meet to go over everything together. We look at the good, the bad and the ugly. We share our achievements and our failures. We ask "What went right? What went wrong? and Why?" This can take a while as we both like to talk and while we sometimes get off topic it often produces interesting insights.

Finally we record our dreams, desires and plans for the new year asking "How can we encourage and support one another? What can we accomplish together?"

Some people would consider this entire exercise sheer agony. I agree it sounds intense but the reality is that it works for us and when something works the rewards outweigh the effort. For example, years ago with kids at home and working, I was happy to make it to the gym twice a week. Now I see that hauling my butt out of bed and going to the gym every weekday morning has given me a level of fitness that exceeds what I had ten years ago. Yes it takes effort and requires establishing a routine and protecting the routine from being sabotaged either by myself or others. That is why going at 6:30 am works, I'm on autopilot and the rest of the world is sleeping.

It's December 28 and I'm still in the "dreaming, what could be" stage of the exercise. I'm feeling the emotions and letting them lead me to form routines that will allow me to be truer to myself and to more joyfully do the work that I'm called to do in my corner of the world. 

Thank you for stopping by My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you a new year full of wonderful accomplishments and above all, love,

Sandra

How to wrap up Christmas in 6 days

There are six days left until Christmas. Maybe you're fretting over not having enough time, energy or money to do everything that you would have loved to have done for the holidays. Today would be a good time to reassess your priorities and if necessary cut yourself a little slack.

I was looking at my last post How To Enjoy Christmas and had to congratulate myself (and my husband) for actually managing to wriggle out of that one social gathering that we had felt obliged to attend. And you know what? It was quite painless, a phone call and explanation that we were planning on sticking close to home and relaxing a little (versus driving for six hours for a second turkey dinner within a 24 hour period and only arriving back home at 1:00 a.m. barring snow or freezing rain). Maybe you too feel the pressure to participate, to shop, to travel, and to visit people whom ... (Don’t get me started..!.) Yes, sometimes you just have to suck it up and visit. If that is the case be thankful they're not staying with you. And if they are landing on your doorstep with suitcases in hand promise yourself that next year you will do things differently - we all have choices.

As for wrapping up the rest of your to-do list; itemize all the food items that have to be made and the ingredients that need to be purchased. Can anything be made ahead of time and frozen? It may not be too late to delegate or get another family member involved in the shopping or preparing.

Do you have gifts left to purchase? Again my first recommendation is delegate however if you are a martyr or a control freak and insist on doing it yourself, try to do the shopping in as few locations and as few outings as possible. At this point there is no point in browsing. If you find a suitable item within your budget buy it now, avoid saying I'll come back Friday and get this one if I don't find something I like better. That is just self-punishing.

Also if you are working this week it may be too late to begin making anything unless it is a super-quick craft idea and preferably something that you've made before and know that you can do it again quickly. This is not the time to try Martha's Lusterware craft or to begin to sew a quilt.

Are you hosting? Don't spend hours house cleaning. My advice is sweep and spritz. That's it, only sweep and spritz. Sweep the floors and spritz the bathroom and kitchen surfaces. If your house is messy from crafting or you've had no time to pick-up after the kids get a couple of laundry baskets and walk through each room and load up the basket with whatever will take too long to deal with properly. Find a place in a closet or basement and just leave it all there until next week. When your family come whining that they can't find their black leggings or their i-pod point them to the hidden laundry basket(s) and let them dig through it.

Caleche in Old Montreal

While it may sound counter-intuitive, do schedule yourself a massage or take a leisurely lunch time walk out of doors (not the mall!). Meet with a friend for a cup of tea but choose someone who is upbeat and positive so that you leave feeling encouraged and happy.

If you are able drop a few coins in the cup of a street person or give a little something to a charity do so. It helps them and reminds us to be thankful for the abundance and blessings in our lives.
Try to streamline this week as much as possible. Few of us will manage to have a picture-perfect Christmas but with a change of attitude we can all have a perfectly wonderful Christmas.

Thank you for visiting My Turquoise Kettle Life today.

Wishing you and your loved ones a most precious Christmas,
Sandra