Resolutions revisited

Wow, this month has absolutely flown by. Sometimes I have so many thoughts in my head: projects to do, techniques to try, writing topics to explore, books to read, crevices to clean out. There is never enough time in the day (even when I extend my day into the wee hours of the next day!)

Here's an update on my resolutions, because after blogging here about them, I feel like I have a certain amount of accountablity, and because accountability helps keep us on track with our goals, right?!

1. Doodle more--ehh, not so much
2. Read more---read The Glass Castle, started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and have a piles of crochet, knitting, living creatively, drawing, and design books on my nightstand and throughout the stUdio
3. Create more--created 8 layouts so far this year, not monumental but it's a start, working on something creative everyday: knitting, painting, cards, sewing
4. Open an etsy shoppe--signed up for an etsy account; still working out that little problem of what to sell
5. Get organized, clean out, simplify, declutter--came up with a list of 52 projects for each week of 20-ten, checked off four so far
6. Be more efficient, so that maybe I can get to bed at a decent hour--it's a work in progress :)
7. Blog more--oh, how I've missed this happy little place {I've still not lost hope that I will catch up my 2009 blog posts}-- this one is just not working out, yet
8. Do a photo a day, this one is destined to fail, just being realistic here, but I'm ok with that bit of imperfection: some is better than none at all--resigned to creating a layout a month recapping our month in one way or another.
9. Sew more, got a cool new calendar that will help me with this one--I've definitely been using my sewing machine more, though not just for fabric.
10. Knit more, and maybe something besides a scarf!--working on two scarf projects; thank goodness for that parent pick-up line!, and knitting group starts tonight.

Well, January is off to a pretty good start.

A day in the life

I know I should be going to bed because it is after 1am, but I've decided to *slurp* my 2007/08 blog to blurb for printing, so while it loads I have time to post a little Day in My Life. I like to document the details of our life; someday I know I will love looking back on them. Here goes:
7:30 wake up, take shower and get dressed
8:00 give boys breakfast, make lunches, pack backpacks
8:30 hustle L & C out the door to bus stop
8:45 take M to swim class and knit while he swims
9:30 help M dry off and change
9:45 go to grocery store and do weekly shopping
10:45 unload and unpack groceries
11:00 eat lunch with M
11:30 brush M's teeth and pack him up for school
11:45 pick up carpool friend and drive boys to school
11:55 sit in looping line and knit
12:10 go to music store and pick up lesson book for L
12:25 pick up contacts at eye doctors
12:35 return books to library
12:45 volunteer in L's class for writing block
1:30 head home to pick up house, organize stUdio a bit and talk with sister while she drives home from work
2:15 drive to preschool to get M and friend
2:25 sit in VERY long looping line
2:53 drop of carpool friend and head to BJ's
3:35 back home to unload again, give M a snack prep dinner and wait for buses
4:00 L arrives home
4:05 C arrives home
4:10 oversee homework, dish out snack, make dinner
5:00 play Lego builder game with boys, and get up periodically to cook dinner
6:00 dinner is taking far longer than I thought to cook
6:15 rush through dinner so L can go to guitar lessons
6:35 clean up dinner dishes and reorganize game cupboard with C & M
7:00 head upstairs for showers, jammies, brushing
7:30 read books to C & M
8:00 talk with L as he gets ready for bed
8:15 retreat to stUdio to finish organizing, blogging, emailing, blogging, writing, sketching, blurbing, and blogging this post.
1:25 brush teeth, wash face and collapse into bed

One more thing

before I head to bed:

You are the artist and your life is your art.

Aren't those amazing words to live by?

My One Little Word

Possibilities.

as in no limits,
anything is possible,
the sky's the limit

Our aspirations are our possibilities ~Samuel Johnson

If we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless. ~Jamie Paolinetti

Live a life inspired. Dream with possibility.

You are your possibilities. ~Oprah Winfrey

Nothing expands possibilities like unleashed imagination. ~William Arthur Ward

Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities. ~Terry Josephson

We all have possibilities we don't know about. We can do things we don't even dream we can do. ~Dale Carnegie


So, my word for 2010 is possibilities. If you want help choosing a word to be your companion in 2010, to fuel your fire, to keep you on track to being the best you you can be this year, check out Christine Kane's short video and Word Discovery Tool.

Remember Today 1.5.09

{remember} M crawling into the dryer, completely into the dryer, to get his pajamas tonight. Went to get my camera and he climbed out before I could get back--he's onto my camera antics.

{remember} finally outsmarting the chill in my stUdio by plugging in the space heater. I couldn't take another night of crawling into bed, too cold to create, and rotting my brain on Mtv's Jersey Shore (of all things--hey, if you're going to rot your brain out, this is the quickest, most efficient way to do it!).One night of that is plenty for my lifetime.

{remember} realizing that I am not taking enough photos this year--none yesterday and today.

Remember Today 1.4.09

{remember} how genuinely happy Maddox was to be going back to school after the holiday break, and how thrilled he was to have his teacher back from a medical leave ("I saw a blue sweater when I walked in the door, and I looked up and it was Mrs. Wentworth!!" He was so cute describing their reunion)

{remember} how Camden didn't want to go back to school, and when his bus was a tad late, he used the time to try to convince me that he could do his learning at home and see his friends on playdates--nice try, bud!

Remember Today 1.3.09

{remember} getting this little one up on skates for the first time. This is the one and only photo as I had my hands full holding him up the entire rest of the time!
{remember} the boys finding the joy in saving money--I hope they are starting to learn that money that burns a hole in your pocket usually doesn't buy anything worthwhile.

{remember} receiving these little treasures from my Auntie--she thinks she gave them to the boys, but really they're for me (maybe I'll share...have to think about it)
{remember} the first family game night of 2010--some Connect Four, a bit of UNO, and the latest Neddo craze: Scrabble (don't mind our lame three and four letter words!)

Hello 2010!

Ahh, I just love a new year, don't you? The fresh blank page of a brandy new calendar itching with the promise of the possibilities that lie ahead. Possibilities is my word for this year. It is hard for me to narrow it down to just one little word; I've several others I want to pay close attention to this year: create, dream, learn, love, live {in the moment}, time, efficient, do, organize. But possibilities holds so much... well. possibility. So yes, 2010 will be a year of possibility for me, filled with dreaming and wishing, big scoops of creating, heaps of learning, loads of love, a spattering of efficiency, and hopefully a sprinkling of organization.

Here's what's on my list of goals for 2010 {and in absolutely random, stream of consciousness order!}:

1. Doodle more


2. Read more--I think I'll start with this one:


3. Create more


4. Open an etsy shoppe--yikes, that just kind of slipped out here; I would love to do this, but have no earthly idea of what I'd sell.


5. Get organized, clean out, simplify, declutter


6. Be more efficient--so that maybe I can get to bed at a decent hour


7. Blog more--oh, how I've missed this happy little place {I've still not lost hope that I will catch up my 2009 blog posts}


8. Do a photo a day--this one is destined to fail, just being realistic here, but I'm ok with that bit of imperfection: some is better than none at all.


9. Sew more--got a cool new calendar that will help me with this one.


10. Knit more--and maybe something besides a scarf!


11. Wash my face EVERY night--I know, ick, but I'm horrible at this.

I'm keeping this open b/c I know more will come to me, probably tomorrow morning in the shower.

Just two more random things:

1. Two sites I'll be keeping an eye on in 2010: notebookdoodles and A Collection a Day
2. And I really, REALLY want one of these

Here's to a year filled with possibilities! Happy New Year!!

Remember Today 1.1.10

{remember} catching half an early episode of Grey's Anatomy in the middle of the day and stopping to watch it while sipping a steaming mug of chai--it's all about the little things.

{remember} the excitement in my little guy's face as he watches the Bruins score the winning goal in overtime of the Winter Classic.

{remember} the possibilities that a new year holds.

December is Eating Me Alive!

I am grabbing the few seconds I have before I rush my little guy off to school and head to the big guy's class to volunteer. I have been wanting to share video footage of the XLO Accoustic Christmas concert from last week. It was so fabulous to have my new mini camcorder to capture pieces of this amazing night. Here's a vid (not the best quality, sorry, we were 15 rows from the stage) of Ingrid singing possibly my favorite song of hers (but it's so hard to choose, really). She was phenomenal! I'll upload more when December stops gnawing on me!



Scroll down a tad to pause my music.

Happy December!

So excited to start our December Daily to record and celebrate our family traditions during this holiday season.


Day One:

Traditions. I love traditions--little rituals that are repeated year after year. Growing up, our holidays were filled with traditions: opening the little paper doors on the advent calendar to get the chocolate treat hidden behind; attending church on Christmas Eve; listening to John Denver's Christmas album while waiting for Christmas Eve guests to arrive; Grandpa greeting us at the bottom of the stairs on Christmas morning to see our faces light up at the sight of our gifts under the tree; Christmas dinner at Grandma & Grandpa's house and bringing a favorite toy along with which to play; going to Auntie Carol's and Uncle Don's Christmas night and opening yet one last gift left there by Santa; filling up on homemade Christmas cookies (esp. Ethel's Sugar Cookies).

Since starting our own family, I have worked to establish some traditions that will help create warm memories for the boys: pictures with Santa, baking holiday cookies, decorating a gingerbread house, exchanging holiday ornaments symbolic of the year, creating and sending holiday cards, counting down the days to Christmas with daily toys and treats, lots of Christmas music playing all month long.


This year the boys took it upon themselves to write notes and cards to each other (and us) and tuck them into the stockings hanging on the fireplace. I hope they keep this up all month. And I have started yet another tradition of reading a Christmas story each night until Christmas. Tonight we read Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear and Silent Night, Holy Night.
Traditions are a big part of this holiday season, and crucial to keeping the memories of this precious time in our hearts.

One Minute Writer

Prompt: Travel: What's the farthest you traveled as a child, and what was the experience like?

I ran to my room, slammed my door, and screamed, "I'm running away!" In went the essentials: teddy bear, favorite nightgown, and cherry chapstick all contained in a Strawberry Shortcake duffel. Out the front door and down the street I headed, the entire world open before me. But then I realized I was hungry for lunch. I was 5 years old, and back I turned to the safety of home and some Campbell's chicken noodle soup, my reason for wanting to run away in the first place all but forgotten.

The One-Minute Writer

I just discovered this blog in my travels. I'm already on a New Year's Resolution kick: making my list, printing my 2010 calendar. I'll be adding this one to the list. One minute, that's it. I think I can spare that. They give a daily prompt, and have a cute little timer that runs for one minute.

Today's is Bottle: What would you like to bottle and sell? Be creative. (Feasibility is optional.)

Here's what I wrote (remember it's only a minute, so there's no time for editing!):

My children's laughter rolling over the sun-drenched grass as they run barefoot to the swimming pool. Their squeals of delight as the first drops of water bead upon their sun-kissed skin. I would bottle it up to warm my soul on cold, frost-bitten winter days.

Guess I'm already pining for warm summer days!

So excited

to be seeing this incredibly talented girl in concert next month

Holidays in Hand {day one: goals}

Part two: Turn your values into specific goals.

1. We will spend quality time together as a family each weekend in December.
2. We will continue our family traditions (gingerbread house, baking a cookie a day for 5, church on Christmas Eve, ornaments and stories, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas, etc), and will begin one new tradition (have to think on this one!)
3. We will choose a name from the giving tree at church.
4. We will light our advent candles at dinner and say a prayer.
5. I will log gratitudes weekly and remain thankful for all that we have.
6. We will bake a cookie a day for the five days before Christmas, and give some away to friends.
7. I will make at least three handmade gifts for my family/friends this year (I'm hoping for more, but let's be realistic--see #9 below) .
8. I will record daily happenings, thoughts, rememberances in my December Daily album.
9. I will not get caught up in the stress that often accompanies this season, but will relax and enjoy the beauty, peace, and gift of it.
10. I will resume my photo a day for December.
11. We will play Christmas music (lots of it) and dance around the family room to it!
12. We will decorate our tree and home together (Perry, I hope you're reading this one!)
13. I will take time for peaceful reflection each day, either in my head, journal, December Daily album, or here on my blog.
14. I will reread my values and goals when I feel like I am falling off track.

Statement of Commitment:

I, Michelle Neddo, commit to live in the moment this December, to take time each and every day to reflect, record, and remember the beauty that is Christmas. I will slow down, no matter how difficult at times that may be, no matter what forces, thoughts, and stresses may be tugging at me. I will enjoy this holiday season for the gift that it is.

Holidays in Hand {day one: values}

Values of our holiday season

• family
• traditions
• charity
• the reason
• gratitude
• baking
• gathering
• giving
• creating
• together
• remembering
• appreciating
• relaxing
• enjoying
• photographing
• playing
• music
• decorating
• peaceful
• reflection

Just my brainstormed list for the assignment for Day 1 of Holidays in Hand.

What are the things your family values during the holiday season? Make your list--it would be a great scrapbook page.

Photo of the Day 11.3

roar

Photo of the Day Nov. 2

mad scientists

Create Art Everyday

I just landed upon this website. Sometimes these things have a way of serendipitously happening. I'm embracing the possibility that this month holds for me. I view November as the sort of calm before the storm that is the month of December. I'm hoping to find lots of time to create, or even small bits of time to create, as long as I can do it everyday. It fuels me.

Photo of the Day 11/1

better than a magic carpet ride

We've seen this ride before, but today they flew directly over our yard. The kids were yelling up to the riders, and they were waving and yelling back to us. So magical!