I'm Not Weird. I Swear.

Our family tends to do things a little differently that most people we know. My husband and I didn't like working 9-5 jobs for a few hundred dollars a week, so we both quit and started our own cleaning business. People said we'd fail. They said we were crazy for quitting our jobs and taking a chance. We've had our business now for eleven years and make way more money than we would at "normal" jobs.


Now, after a few years of deliberating, I have come to the conclusion that I do not want to continue house cleaning forever. I've decided to quit within the next year or two to concentrate on expanding my creativity, and seeing where that takes me. So far I have many wonderful options I'm exploring.


We can't have kids so we decided to become foster parents to adopt. This was not a road I dreamed of going down when I was a kid. Fostering can be extremely rewarding, difficult and frustrating. But all of our tears and frustrations were worth it for the beautiful day in August of 2009 when we adopted our son. 


We don't like the school systems so we homeschool. We've taken lots (and lots) of flack for this, but we don't care. We do what's best for our family. Homeschooling is not for everyone, but it is definitely for us and we love it. 


My husband has always wanted to move out of state. I've always been the one to resist, saying I didn't want to leave my family. But something has shifted in the last eight months (I seriously think it's the work I've put into our Facebook page, Learn to Live Simply and Creatively, where we encourage and inspire people to live the life they want and be the best person they can be). We are now planning on moving to Colorado, hopefully next summer/fall. We've never been there but will be visiting this August to check out towns and neighborhoods. This will obviously be a huge deal for all of us, moving across the country, but we are really excited.


When I look back at all of the "odd" things we do, I realize that I've been looking at it wrong. We're not weird for the things we do. We just see changes that we want made and we do them. We didn't like working 9-5 so we created our own company. We couldn't have biological kids so we adopted. We didn't want to send our son to school, so we homeschool. We don't want to be those people in their 80's who regret never moving away from their hometown, so we're (planning on) doing it. 


I've never regretted one thing that we've done, and I will always be proud of us for taking the chances we've taken. I think if more people stopped complaining about their life and started taking steps towards changing it, they'd be much happier. YOU are in charge of your own happiness, no one else is. 

Jumping In

Yesterday I had some sort of crazy inspiration strike me. All I wanted to do all day long was doodle and color. I ended up getting three things done, and they weren't too bad for a first time. 

My goal is to make e-courses, workbooks, calendars and more with my own doodle/drawings included. I still need lots of practice, but it's so much fun it definitely doesn't feel like work. I may try adding some water colors once I'm done with the colored pencils. I just have to figure out how to get it all into the computer, then be able to type on it. 

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together

Something pretty cool happened today. I had an appointment with Law of Attraction Life Coach, Linda Armstrong. I was nervous about calling because I didn't really know what we'd talk about. She knew some of the things going on in my life now because of a form I filled out before hand, but there wasn't anything specific I had in mind to discuss. 

I can't remember how I had found Linda, but I remember emailing her a few months ago about the law of attraction and what it means to me. She kept in contact with me, and I eventually signed up for a free session. 

She asked me a lot of questions about where I see my life heading, and our conversation mostly stayed around the plans my husband and I have. She did a meditation session with me (my first ever), and it was amazing! I'm definitely going to do more meditating in the future. 

On top of becoming a creativity coach, I've been contemplating becoming a life coach as well. I didn't realize there was such a thing as a law of attraction life coach. She told me about her training and where she studied, and it sounds perfect. I feel like there was a reason I wasn't finding the right place to train for life coaching...maybe the place she studied at is the right one for me. I hope it is. 

I felt a very strong connection to her and the things she was telling me. A lot of what she said was just confirming what I've already been feeling. And she also gave me some great tips on how to move past some doubts I was having about possibly moving, and how I'll be able to get certified (since it's so darn expensive).  I can't wait to implement her techniques and learn more about the law of attraction life coaching.

What Moves Me to be Creative

I've been messing around with my blog title, and what exactly it is I want my blog to be. I was working (cleaning) the other day, and thinking about what it is that gets me in a creative mood. I normally listen to podcasts all day at work to make the time go by quicker, but that day I was listening to music. And it suddenly hit me that music is my muse. I can listen to almost any song and get a story idea from it. Sometimes it's just a scene that flashes in to my head, or an overwhelming feeling of how a character is feeling. But songs almost always give me inspiration and a story. 

When I write, I love to blast my music. I usually favor the 70's rock era, but I'll also listen to pop, 80's, grunge, Sinatra, Indie, movie scores...you name it. It all depends on what type of mood I'm trying to create in my story. If I'm working on a scene with fast-moving dialogue, I've played AC/DC on a loop to help. And it does. It's hard to write slowly while listening to AC/DC. 

The title idea Rockin' the Creativity came to me while I was working, and I'm still rolling it around in my brain to see if I like it. 

I think I do.



  

Wake Up & Get a Life!

 Since I clean houses all day, I have a lot of time to think about things. Over the past few months it just sort of hit me that I'm not doing what I want. I mean, I make good money, really good money for the short amount of hours I work each day, but it wasn't what I wanted to be doing.

Something finally snapped in me and made me realize this is it. Not to get all cliched on you, but this is the one life we have. And I'm already just about half-way (God willing) through mine. Which leaves me with about forty years to do what I want. I spent the last 25 years working at jobs I had no interest in. Why? Why didn't I wake up back then and do something about that? I don't know, but I'm doing it now. 

And so should you. 

I've always done this thing of asking people I meet what they do for a living, and if they truly love it. Most people say they don't. My next question is, why aren't they doing what they love? Their answer is usually they don't know where to begin, they're too invested in their current career, or they just don't have the motivation. 

Well, wake up! 

Imagine how great it would feel to wake up every morning excited to go to work. 

I have yet to feel this, but I'm working on it! Every day I'm doing something to work towards my goal of quitting cleaning and being creative all day!

I'm not saying quit your job tomorrow. But think. Think about what it is you'd truly love to do every single day.

Then start researching it. 

The only one holding you back is you.

My Vision Board

I made my first-ever vision board the other night. Not only was it fun finding the right pictures, printing, gluing and decorating (with glitter glue, of course), but it’s awesome to look at when I’m sitting down to write. It’s a constant reminder of what I want and what I’m working towards. Every picture on there means something to me. Whether it’s where I want to live or work, or what I want to become. I can’t not feel happy and excited for the future every time I see it. It makes me want to make a bunch of them and put them all over the house. Or, at least bring one to work to remind me why I’m cleaning houses every day.

If you’re interested in making one (or two) for yourself, here’s a great how-to link: How to Make a Vision Board. On Oprah.com you can make a virtual vision board. I haven't tried this because I like doing it myself.  If you make one take a picture and send me the link. I’d love to see what you did!

Why This Blog Sucks

It’s new. And blogs that are brand new are not as good as they will be in the future. I think George Washington said that.

My goal for this blog is to inspire you to be creative. Lots of people think they’re not creative, but that’s not true. Everybody is creative. Everyone. If you can pick up a pencil, or a paintbrush, or scissors and glue, you can be creative.

Within the next year I am going to be studying creativity and how to teach it. I am going to become a certified creativity coach, most likely through Kaizen-Muse, along with taking a caboodle of other creativity trainings.  I am beyond ecstatic over this new journey in my life, and can’t wait to begin learning.

And not only am I planning on starting an online coaching business, but, if all goes well, I’m going to co-own a creative expressive arts studio with my soul sister in the future. We are hoping to make a big move so we can have this studio together. Have these ideas and possibilities rolling around in my head all day while I’m cleaning houses, is what gets me through.

So stick around and watch it all get better.

How to Be Creative Without Being a Freak

Okay, that may not technically be possible. But the good news is, I do have advice for those of you who think you may possibly be creative, and have an urge to draw, or paint, or to try some funky journaling ideas.

I love to draw and paint and I’m horrible at it. And I used to care. I used to think, what if a REAL artist sees me doing this and laughs. Or, worse, a friend or family member! And I used to think the same thing about writing first drafts of my novels (which are always the worst!). What if I die before I finish my first draft, and my family actually thinks this is how badly I write?

And I always had this crazy urge to play with stickers. Like, just stick them all over the notebook I’m using for my novel ideas, stick them onto crazy journal entries I randomly decide to write, and, the best, combine all my painting/drawing/sticker sticking ideas into one in a Smash journal-type of book. (I have yet to make up my own name for creations like this, but it’s coming. I can feel it.)

So I listed some of the fun things you might want to try, even though you’ve never done anything like it. And I mentioned the friends and family who might jump out from behind the curtains to make fun of you. Now here is a delicious piece of advice (that I got from Goddess Leonie and my dad) when you hear your friends voices in your head laughing:

Fukem. 

Who cares what other people think? Be happy and excited to be YOU! When you’re creating, don’t let anyone else come into your head, unless you’re creating something for them. So, stick your stickers, paint your paintings and draw on the walls. Just be sure you’re creating what you want to create! Let your freak flag fly, and if anyone judges you for it, fukem.

Creating Out Loud

My life is shifting. It’s been on a slow upward climb for some time now, but I didn’t realize that until recently. We have lots of amazing stuff going on over here, and this web site is just the beginning of one of them. 

I have been cleaning houses for our business for eleven years. And for about the last seven years, I’ve desperately wanted to do something different. I am creative. I love all things to do with creativity. And, good Lord, cleaning toilets all day long is not creative. It’s boring, tedious and hard work. So I’m going to stop cleaning toilets (not mine, of course. That would just be yucky.). It’s going to take some time, but I’ve got a plan.

And it involves creativity.

Lots and lots and lots of glorious, dazzling, radiant creativity. ☆