Days nine to twenty five: At last!

Well that was a good start to the new year and my new blog: I completely forgot my blog password. Easy enough to solve if you don't then find you registered with the incorrect email address - I used the wrong ".xx" extension or something. So for two weeks I have been racking my brains to remember, then this morning it came to me in a flash! I won't say what it is of course but lets just say my inspiration came from my daughter's favourite episode of Dora the Explorer, which we discussing at length this morning (when we should have been putting our coats and scarves on, my daughter is an expert in the distraction technique.)

All is sorted now - email and password are corrected and duly noted. So there should be no more yawning gaps in service (save for holidays and general laziness.)

So what creativity has the last...um...seventeen days seen? Well surprisingly quite a lot - I have got lots done on the flickr cool/warm challenge mosaic. Unfortunately I don't have pics to upload today.

I have also managed to paint my bathroom at last. So it is now a rather fetching shade of delicate almond.

I have started on the flickr genie bottle challenge as well, though I mainly just stare at my chosen bottles and wonder what on earth I am going to do with them. I did buy silicone glue I suppose, so that counts towards actually doing something on this one right?

It can be challenging trying to fit in my creations with working full-time as well as being a full-time* mum and look after an very old house that is in need of many repairs. But I find that by making it part of my,even our, way of life it's easier. I leave my half finished mosaic on the table so I can play about with it if I am passing and get an idea, or my daughter picks up the beads, and embellishements and unbroken tiles and sorts them into pots and colours, my husband makes sure he wears slippers when I am cutting, I read books on colour and compostion whilst I am hooked up to the IV every 6-8 weeks, and we have a new addition to the family - a handheld cordless hoover for clearing up mosaic fragments at the end of each day.

I still struggle to get back to artistic freedom I used to when I was younger, before I was a "grown-up", a wife, a mother and a homeowner. I am too careful these days, and I care too much about what others will think of the finished product before I have even stuck on one piece of tess. I know I need to loosen up and trust my instincts again, but that will come.

* I work full-time, well four days a week. Like other working mothers, motherhood is my number one job and my work takes a seat waaaaaaay behind. Full-time mummy, part-time worker.