Back to Creativity

I have a million and one ideas floating around in my head most of the time… or so it feels 😉

Ideas for family activities, saving money, menu plans, home decor, gardening, exercise, faith resources, blog posts, etc. etc. etc.

It can get a little crowded in my thoughts.

I used to think this was a huge nuisance and I used to get very confused.

How can I possibly give all these ideas a place in my life? How can there ever be enough time to get all these wonderful ideas done?

I can’t.

And there isn’t.

So I’ve learned to listen to the ideas that run on repeat and seem to progress over time.

And I’ve learned to just let some ideas play out in my mind – sometimes only takes a minute or two – and then I realize they were never going to work anyways.

But it was fun to imagine – even if only for a minute or two.

The best thing I learned is not to try and stop the ideas, or put them in a box neatly labelled, or try to record them all for future use.

Usually if they’re meant to be, they’ll be back 🙂

And I have alot of fun with the million and one ideas I have on the go internally at any given moment.

But I do have to try and pay attention to what’s going on around me, and who I’m with.

Try to always live in the moments.

Simply live.

Before our big move a couple of months ago, I did a couple of massive de-clutters around our old house.

Threw out lots and lots of used up ideas along the way.

It was time to clear out the old and make way for the new.

Time to open up space for new creativity.

I knew that some of the creative ideas would be back in our new space, once we were settled a little.

But I was too burned out from fixing, cleaning, selling homes to think of much else.

Now that I’ve had a few weeks to calm down, I’ve been glad to see some of the creativity return.

And in some of the same ways.

Good.

I enjoyed focusing on those things… once upon a time… before the chaos of moving.

So glad I get to keep some of the “clutter” of ideas I used to enjoy spinning around in my head.

It’s the home repair and decor that has made a surprise return.

Thought that one wouldn’t be welcome for a long time… but it’s already back with a vengeance.

Turns out I really do enjoy fixing up homes and seeing what I can do on a tight budget to make a space look at least a little better than when I got there.

I’ll have to start making a list of to-dos around our new place… when I start making lists that means I’m serious about it.

I’ve warned Josh 😉

The creativity is flowing in the kitchen… it’s a pretty small space and the colour palette is currently pretty dark in there too. So… I’ve been dreaming up ways to make it brighter and more welcoming.

Here’s what it looked like with just a hint of renovation already begun – we had to rip off the floor and doors of the under-the-sink cupboard – we found much evidence of mice (ugh!) and needed to take care of that ASAP. I’m happy to report we haven’t had a mouse sighting in a couple of weeks, so here’s hoping 🙂

I took off all the cupboard doors to break up some of the dark brown colour in the kitchen, and I’m testing out the open cupboard look too. I do like it, but eventually I’ll probably put some sort of doors back on. Thinking palette wood stained in different light colours… but it’s just one of many ideas 😉

And I’m going to paint the cupboards all white – that should really brighten up the space. Eventually.

My lovely sister and brother-in-law moved into a new house last year and removed their white stove and dishwasher to make room for newer appliances. The old ones had been in their garage… waiting… for me! But who knew at the time? Cool how that works. A super-amazing house-warming gift from them has helped brighten up the kitchen even further.

AND a friend of ours in our new town had a broken stove, so guess where our the black stove that came with our house went? You guessed it! Amazing how paying it forward is still such a relevant concept, and it just always seems to work out, doesn’t it? LOVE IT 🙂

And I love this white stove – I instantly feel better walking into the kitchen.

On the creativity side of writing… I’ve already got my next project in place. It should be done in the next few weeks, and I’ll introduce it in due time. You’ll have to wait and see 😉

As for other creativity ideas I’d like to pursue in the near future… I gave away my wooden loom for making milk bag mats back in Northern Ontario, but I definitely still want to make those. I’ve been collecting milk bags since we moved to Southern Ontario, and I already found a lead on getting boxed of milk bags from a local lady. She gave me my first box a week ago, and now I need me a new loom. Or two 🙂

I also found out I can make old tshirts into woven rugs on a loom, and I’m all about weaving (and quilting 🙂 ), so I’ve already started collecting any tshirts we don’t need anymore, and I’ll be adding some colour to the house with tshirt rugs… we’ll see how it goes.

And then there’s still a winter blanket to weave for our bed, and I need to make our queen-size quilt a little bigger to fit on our new-to-us king-size bed (YAY!).

And…

This is where I tell my creativity to take a nap and I get on with other things for now… like heading out to the Donkey Sanctuary one last time for the season, and going to a family event at our new church, and picking up our oldest from his last shift on the farm, and coming home to Josh BBQing steaks and baking an apple pie he made and froze weeks ago.

I’m a little spoiled. With ideas. With people who love me.

But I’ll take it.

And say thank you.

And pass it on as best I can…