Wow, my 100th post....how is that possible? Creative Therapy project also!

I would say...."dude, she's got way too much time on her hands"....but I don't...so I can't really say that...little baby steps....adds up to 100 now.
Well....so...I am taking a break from CHA work...we are going to watch "The Biggest Loser" in a few minutes...the girls and I LOVE that show..I secretly want to go on it but my family keeps telling me that I'm not big enough...but I think they just can't do without me for the 6 weeks....!! I hate to exercise, mostly due to a bunch of nasty scar tissue on my abdomen from about 4 different surgeries...long story...I'll save it for later...but my abdomen is pulled really tight and I have scar tissue that has all knotted together...the nerves go crazy on some days and my side aches a lot. I also have a slipped disc in my back that causes me chronic pain...I will be addressing this after CHA and in between my husband's sea schedule (yes, it is already starting all over again...)....
So, this all leads to my dread of housework...It just plain hurts...I do little bits at a time...and can't ever have a good ole day of deep cleaning...I wouldn't be able to function the next day..so I do bits at a time...but it never seems to get done...so with the housework subject...(yes, this is going somewhere)...I did my "Creative Therapy" post this week on housework. Yep, I did...

Here is my write up.

Catalyst 44
What's something about the way you live
your life that doesn't align with who you are (or wish you were)?

Housekeeping

This completely goes with the "wish" I were. I am an artist...and a have a little bit of a "time management" problem. I wander....I rummage...I think, I create...and I work that all around trying to be a mother, a wife, a sister, a school volunteer , a cook, a housekeeper and a designer with deadlines. I have lots of ideas...some that get finished, some that just get started and others that get "thought" about a lot. The one thing that has zero interest for me is housecleaning...don't get me wrong, my house is presentable, well on most days....or at least as long as I have at least a 30 minute notice that you are dropping by.
I don't like that. I really don't . I want to have the perfect house, the perfect decorations, the perfect life...but like I said, I'm an artist...and our vision of a perfect day doesn't always include cleaning.
But.....I sometimes wish that I wasn't creative...it's complicated being creative...it is. Sometimes on days when the house seems to take me over, I wish that I was an organized and dedicated housekeeper. I wish that nothing took my time but taking care of my family. If I hadn't ever been creative, I wouldn't know what I was missing and I might have a clean showcase house. In doing my genealogy research, I found all the census records from 1880's up and all my female relatives stated that they were "housekeepers" except for Mary (gg aunt). She was a "bookbinder", I think I take after her.
One day, I was messing around on the computer (thinking about cleaning, I'm sure) and I came across the coolest site. It's called Feeding America. It's a site that is a digital archive of cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century.It contains some of the most important and influential American cookbooks. I love it. I collect old cookbooks and can cook a mean dinner when called upon. I also love history....even though life was hard (can't imagine not having air conditioning) it seemed simple. Roles were defined and everyone had one. There was no floundering with what you wanted to do, you did what needed to be done. Back breaking labor, I'm sure. I may have been miserable locked into that role, but it just seems so predictable and I'm sure that your expectations were much less.
It seems that most cookbooks back then included chapters on housekeeping, child rearing, treating the sick, curing meat, managing servants and a million other topics of interest back then. One particular cookbook stood out to me, maybe it's the author, the famous Harriet Beecher Stowe. It's called "The American Woman's Home" and it was written in 1869. I printed out the picture from the cover for my layout and also printed out a page from the book. I then chalked the picture for a little color and cut up tiny sentence strips from the text. Makes for an interesting read.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in woman's rights, I believe in women in the work force etc...and I do not consider my husband my master...but there are days when I wish that I played a more traditional role...my house would be cleaner and my mind more quiet.





You really should go and check out some of the prompts...they are cool. There are a variety of different artists and superb guest designers every month...lots of different mediums are used. It's a cool group.

The stamps(the face and the iron works things that the frame the photo) I used on the above layout are by Wendy Vecchi, they are part of her CHA-S 2008 debut for Studio 490 Stamps by Stampers Anonymous. Pretty cool stamps....they are cushioned already for you so they stamp like a dream. I couldn't even mess them up and I'm a novice stamper! Very artsy just like Mrs. Vechhi herself!

OK, well...I hear Derek getting Maddy out of the bath...so my time is up!!
Have a great day!!

OOPS, forgot....MAYA ROAD is having sneak peeks this week...each night will be new products and designs...go and check it out..we have a FAB design team and even more fab products!!

~Katie