The millions of ideas

There is a million things going on in my head.  I really need to focus on just a few things, but no, I try and tackle as much as I can.

I'm trying to get through school work.  I like it and much of it is interesting, but this week, I have 31 pages to read.  That's really not much, but every time I sit down to read, I fall asleep.  Or my mind starts to think about the other ten projects I'm working on and by the time I've finished a page, I can't remember a single thing that I read and I re-read it, but continue to have a wandering mind.  I still haven't made it through those 31 pages yet. 

My theater is holding auditions this coming Saturday.  I'm excited.  Recent theater experiences in the last few months have given me great ideas to do with the kids for auditions.  I'm going to have every kid go through the audition, but depending on the number of kids that show up, if they want to be in the play, I can put them in it.  It's a great little show because the cast size is very flexible.

Oldest son really wants to have a comedy troop.  We've had two meetings, but only one kid showed up and that's tough for him.  My kids and I have been playing these funny games for month, but he never has, so it's hard for him to jump into our family's insanity.  We discovered that one of our neighbors is a theater major graduate and he spent a year and a half in an improv comedy group while he was in school.  We've invited him to our next meeting to come and really help us do some fun stuff.

I've given up on writing right now.  The only thing I write these days is this blog and my school papers.  Sad, but it's a trade off in the middle of the semester.

I need to figure out how to record sound with my computer.  I can run the camera, but I don't want video, just sound and I can't figure it out.  I've asked Hubby for help, but he is so busy with everything he is involved in, he hasn't had time to help.  If I ever do figure it out, watch out!  I've got a funny idea brewing.

The kids are good.  My oldest daughter and youngest son have birthdays next week.  Ahhh!  I haven't even thought about those yet.  I had a parent/teacher conference with my daughter's teacher a couple of weeks ago.  She told me what they are learning in school and she told me, "don't teach her multiplication yet,  we need to get the addition facts down first."  OK.  Well, today, for fun, daughter was at the table, writing out her own math problems and figuring them out.  She realized that 12x6 is just 12 six times. She thinks of things that I never would have thought of at her age. She's smart, like her dad.

OK, Peanut, who I am holding, has fallen asleep.  Now it's time to put her down and see if I can tackle those reading pages again. (yawn, maybe not)

Upcoming blog entries will include:  Mincemeat adventures and my lifelong love for Peter Pan.
Oh yes, I know you're excited now.

Working the textiles

Last week I got the crazy idea that I wanted to sew my daughters some skirts.  I am not a seamstress.  Skirts are fairly easy, though.  I opened the pattern and picked out the size I wanted for my youngest.  With the cat sitting on top of the fabric and Peanut bringing me her own scissors offering to help cut the pieces out, I spread out the fabric on my floor and began to work.

The fabric was awful to cut.  It was only two piece to make the skirt, but they ended up being quite different in size.  A battle with the sewing machine began and after a little trim here and there and I finally made the skirt.  I actually made two.  The girls love them.

The sewing machine was put back into closet!

I've been weaving more.  About a month ago I decided to do a project as big as my loom would hold.  It's been kind of slow.  I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I could.  I have one little complaint, though.  My bobbin's are small and the project is large.  I go through a lot of thread very quickly.  I wind three bobbins at a time.  It's really cool looking, though. 

The loom, fully warped.

See the little white bobbin?  It doesn't hold much thread.

The underside of the loom so you can see the pattern

At the bottom of the picture, you get a glimpse of the

underside of the weaving.  It looks just as good, maybe better.

Last night I pulled out my cross stitching.  I haven't done any in a very long time.  Each of my children have a beautiful, elaborate Christmas stocking that I cross stitched.  Peanut is three and this year will be her 4th Christmas.  Her stocking isn't even halfway done. 

I've got a couple of months. Maybe I can finish it for her this year..... maybe.

To see more pictures of the weaving, go to my weaving blog, The Tangled Weaver.

Feeling brave, but not too much

Molly the Fearless?  Hardly.  Molly the More Brave Than Before?  Yes.

My theater experience from this summer has boosted my confidence in myself.  I’ve got to be careful.  Even though I have more confidence, I still have an extraordinary lack of experience in anything.

As I have said before, I’ve got a million ideas for projects, books, businesses, education and the list goes on and on.  My trouble is taking one idea (or two or three) and focusing on that particular project.   I have a million ideas and I want to do a million things and I want to do them all now!

Focus, Molly, focus!

I’ve always loved writing and I’ve probably written just about everything at some point or other in my life.  I’ve written novels, plays, poetry, children’s books, young adult books, essays, journals and of course, this blog.  I’ve even tried writing music.  I have no talent for music or poetry, though.  In my computer, I’ve got the beginnings of three excellent chick-flick novels.  I work on them a little at a time as the muse strikes me.  There is no dead-line on them so I can take as long as I want on them.  However, one story in particular I have had a very hard time writing out.

This is frustrating to me because I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, but I cannot translate that story into a book.  I’ve tried several times.  Then I realized, wait, I’ve seen the entire story play out in my head like a movie, why not write it like a movie?  I’ve never tried writing a screenplay before.  Ooooo….

After having this thought about writing a screenplay I looked up “How to write a screenplay” on my favorite search engine (The internet  is so amazing!) and it came up with thousands of pages that teach how to write a screenplay.  One site even had early drafts of movie scripts.  I had a great time reading one of my favorite movies in one of its earliest drafts.  I’ve got everything I need to do this.  I’ve got my idea, I’ve got my Internet how-to site, and I’ve got my computer with a word document program.  I’m ready to go!!

Don’t expect to ever see this movie or even the screenplay.   I’m not looking to really turn it into a movie, but it’s the idea of writing a screenplay that has me excited.  It’s something new I’ve never done before.  I have no deadlines.  No one is waiting for the first draft.  It’s just me and my idea.  I’m excited.

Back to this confidence boost I’ve been having, I signed up for an acting workshop in two weeks.  It’s actually how to audition for film.  I don’t want to audition for film, but I figured any experience that I have in the acting world, will help me do my children’s theater in the future.  What have I got to lose?  It’s just for one morning.  It will be a new experience.  I’m just going to go and have fun.

Watch out, I’m Molly, the More Brave than Before and I’m treading new territory!! (From the comfort and security of my own home.)

The insanity that is creative thinking

My mother is an amazing person. She taught me, while I was a young child, the insanity that is creative thinking. As a 10 year old, I participated in a school activity that involved 50 mouse traps. Now, imagine giving six kids ages 10-12, fifty mouse traps, several hot glue guns and a lot of green paint. That is just what my mom did. It was part of a creative thinking competition. We had to take those mouse traps and glue them down to a wooden board. Those mouse traps had to perform a chain reaction of events, like ring a bell. In a matter of weeks, I snapped my fingers, my toes, and my rear end more times than I can count. We burned our fingers on hot glue and learned real fast how not to use a hot glue gun. We didn’t do well in the competition, but I’ve never forgotten the tremendous amount of fun that insane little project was.


My mother was a school teacher. Teachers are very creative people. She was also a camp leader for several summers, a principal, a Cub Scout leader, Girl Scout leader, and so many other things. From her, I learned that to solve some problems in life, you must think creatively, and to think creatively, you sometimes have to be a little crazy.

Two weeks ago, after visiting the location for my theater, I realized that I would have no area for “off stage”. The auditorium wasn’t built for theater. What to do? I got creative. I bought some black sheets, got a lot of PVC pipe, and some scrap wood. I built a frame to hold the sheets that would create a curtain for us to hide behind when off stage. My first design didn’t work. I had to make the PVC poles shorter. As I was out in my backyard, struggling to get the pipe frame put together, I thought of my mother. I thought of how completely crazy I was trying to build a portable six foot tall frame to hold a sheet up. Several times the pipes slipped out of their joints, hitting me in the head or the knuckles. I would chuckle to myself about how much my mother would love this. I wished she had been there to help me fight those silly PVC pipes.

My mom and I came up with a great idea for a new TV show: Projects in your Pajamas! We’ve done so many home projects in our pajamas – house painting, replacing toilet seats, cutting drywall, and caulking bathtubs. It would be a great TV show – two crazy ladies in their pajamas, trying to do home improvement projects. You should have seen Mom and I five days after my youngest was born. We were both in our pajamas, standing on the kitchen counters painting the cupboards. “Insane,” you may say! Yes, we were.

I’ve worked my way through problems in life with the crazy art that is creative thinking. I think it could also be described as making-it-up in your way through life when you don’t know what else to do. Be flexible, think outside the box, laugh along the way and the most amazing things can happen.

Scenery

Two weeks until the auditions for the play.  I hope someone shows up for them. 

I thought I had three weeks, but then on Sunday I realized I was down to two and have kind of gone into an excited panic.  Instead of only thinking things through, I've started to act on what needs to be done.

One of my biggest concerns has been scenery.  What do I use?  I'm trying to go as cheaply as possible, but still have something to show.  My answers have come by way of  bed sheets from the local thrift stores and cheap paint from Wal-Mart.  I'm a terrible artist. Zero talent for drawing and painting.  However, my table has been occupied these last few days with the big sheets laid across it and paint.  I've been painting trees, windows and a large door on the sheets.  Backdrops!

It isn't pretty or professional, but at least you can tell what it is.  The trees look like trees anyway.
This is the forest backdrop:

Yes, the trees are standing on each other.  Like I said, ZERO talent for art.

This is a window for the house backdrop:

(Still working on the window...)

Details within Details

I love creative problem solving.

That's a very good thing because this play is giving me a lot to think about.  The general idea is easy: hold auditions, rehearse, perform.

Then I started to think through the many little things that need to happen.  I started thinking music, scenery, forms, locations, etc.  And within each of those details, there are more details.  I looked up information on music I could use.  Any music written before 1922 is free domain.  Great!  However, recordings of music are protected and can not be used without going through legal stuff.  That means I can choose any song pre-1922 and have a friend record it and then it is OK for use.  An interesting detail that I didn't know.

I started pricing materials for scenery.  I should probably buy stuff soon so I can see if my ideas will even work.  It it going to cost some money, so I'm going to use a little as possible and make it work in a big way.  I think paint is going to be my single most expensive thing.  Remember the Forest Hint I showed a week ago?  That is the concept art for some of the scenery.  (I know, I'm a terrible artist.)  I'll be using a green sheet for a background and trees made out of polystyrene.

I wrote up a TO DO list with everything I could think of and then as I started working on it, I realized there are more details to add that I just hadn't thought of before.

I'm having a great time!

A story and an announcement!!!

Several weeks ago, one of my favorite blogs to read, The Middle Ages, talked about what we might say to ourselves in 20 years if we had the chance to do so. I think myself in 20 years would say, “Molly, you had a dream, why didn’t you follow it?” I’m going to follow it…..


The story:

Many years ago, when I was 9 or so, I got involved in my local children’s theater. I loved it! Every summer for several years, I performed in plays and was involved in a 50’s-style music group called the Super Troopers. I sang, I danced, I acted, and I loved it. None of us were professional actors, we were just a bunch of kids who enjoyed performing.

At the young age of 11, I wrote my first play, was involved in the auditions, casted the play, directed it, acted in it, and saw it performed. It was a very brave thing for the theater owner, Mrs. Driver, to give an 11 year old her chance at something so big.

When I got to college, I decided I wouldn’t pursue theater any longer. My interests and goals lead me elsewhere, but theater always had a special place in my heart. As the years went by I thought how great it would be to do my own children’s theater, the way Mrs. Driver had hers. I wanted to be able to get kids involved and give them their first taste of theater. It has always just been a dream. For the last 13 years I’ve been busy raising small children.

My youngest is three now. She isn’t a baby. I have found myself to have more free time lately than I have had in 13 years. In the fall, I’ll be starting my Master’s degree (another longtime dream.) So, I have this summer ahead of me. I have decided to pursue a dream I’ve had since I was a kid.

Now the Announcement:

This summer, I’m pleased to announce the first season of Auntie M’s Children’s Theater! Later this month, I will hold auditions for a play I wrote called The Seven Ravens. If all goes well, the performances will be in the second week of June. I’m still working on locking down a location for this undertaking.

I’m the theater merit badge counselor for my son’s Boy Scout Troop and I will be involving the scouts as stage hands, set creators, and such.

This might totally crash and burn. I’ll see it to the end, but I might say when it is all over “Never again!”

However… this might work out. I don’t expect things to go perfectly. I have a lot to learn. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a success.

Whichever way it turns out, I will have tried. I might try and fail. But if I never try, I’ll always regret it. In 20 years, I will be able to say “Way to go, Molly! You pursued your dream.”

Official announcement of the auditions will come soon and I will keep you informed on this blog as to the progress of this enterprise.

Let the insanity begin!

A hint

Here is a hint to my project!  It's coming along, but I still have a few major details to work out first.....

Any ideas?

PS: Susan, you are not allowed to guess.  You know too much.

Summer approaches!

My kids have just four weeks of school left!  AHHHH!

Next week, I take my youngest son to the school for Kindergarten registration!  AHHHH!

It's time to start planning our annual Monkees Marathon!  YEAH!

I'm working on a huge dream I've had for years!  WOAH!

OK, enough of that.  Yes, the kids summer vacation is coming up.  It's getting hot enough here that I've had to turn on my A/C twice.  Just for an hour or so in the afternoons, but still....  There hasn't been any rain since probably September.  The desert is dry and dusty.  It's also the windy season and there is a lot of orange dirt in the air.  I look forward to the rainy season.

I'm using my clothes line a lot.  It's great.  The sun is hot out here. The top of my head will burn after about two minutes in the sun.  So, I have some awesome hats that I keep by the doors for when I go outside to water the garden or hang laundry.

I'm working on a big project right now.  I don't want to say just yet, but each day I think about it a little more and work on it a little more and I'm getting very excited that this just might happen.  Biggest obstacle now is a location for my project.  If I can find a location, then it will be all ahead full. I want this to happen this summer and with only four weeks to go before school lets out, I need to double my efforts.  I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, really, but it's going to be exciting.....  I'll announce it when it gets closer to happening.

Obligatory Photo:  Our cat.  Have you ever seen a more uncat-like pose?

So many projects...

I have so many projects to work on and there just doesn't seem to be time to do them all.  I want to weave more.  I've got a project that only needs 20 more inches.  It wouldn't take too long to do, but every time I sit down to weave, one of the kids needs something.  Then another kid needs something, and on it goes.

I've got my next weaving project all planned out.  I know what I want to do, but I really need some thread.  I've got 9 cones of thread, but they are all the same size and the same colors and although they are two different materials (one is cotton, one is acrylic) they feel exactly the same.  So, it doesn't make for anything diverse.  To tell the truth, I've got several weaving projects planned.  I just need to buckle down and do them!

I've ordered my textbook for the semester, so I'll have plenty of reading soon.

The house is in desperate need of a good cleaning, but it always is.  We did a good cleaning last week, but you wouldn't know it.  We even did a good cleaning yesterday, but again, you wouldn't know it.  These kids trash the house faster than a tornado.

My youngest daughter doesn't have her Christmas stocking yet.  I cross stitch all my kids stockings, and Peanut has had two Christmases without hers.  I want to have it ready this year, but that takes a lot of time and I haven't put much into that lately.

Also, this school year, I want to work on my youngest son's education.  He is too young for Kinder this year, so I have the joy of keeping him for one more year, but he doesn't know basics yet.  He can't say his ABCs or count to 20.  I've got a good pre-K curriculum and I'm going to work on it with him this year.  Peanut will join in as well and probably pick up the information very well.  She's smart!  She doesn't know her colors yet, so we'll work on that too.  I hope to help them both and make a bit of progress with my son.

Well, there is much to do today and the time is passing.