Focus/Care

It's early Monday morning. Dark outside. Sitting under faux Ott Light.
Listening to sports-talk radio guys discussing Minnesota Vikings' ugly defeat to Seattle Seahawks yesterday. They are noting how the team appeared not up to the day's task - especially quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater. "Didn't take chances." "Yesterday he gave you no chance to win." About recent games:"Even though they were winning, Teddy wasn't progressing."

Then about  Carolina Panthers' Cam Newtown and team doing all they did to win THEIR game and remain the only undefeated NFL game - "Because they had to."

A wee tad about Focus and Caring?

I watch football for many reasons. One is to be inspired by great talent and effort.

So what do I do with this? I walk laps in house and clean out a box filled with greeting card this and thats. I need to be focused on organizing and getting stuff in order. And becoming fitter. Never football fit, but get-into-the-jeans-you-like-best fit.

So the task was to focus for one hour. Done and done.

Result? ONE EMPTY BOX!

                          If not a Win, at least a SCORE!!

And since then another box emptied. This means a few peace-of-mind breaths. And knowing that much is still to do.

For many of us an hour of focus is easy.
For many it is HARD.

The iPhone and oven timers are my friends. If that One Hour or even Twenty Minutes chunk of time is clinked  I am free to do that decided task and nothing else.

If I don't put boundaries on a plan I flitter and dilly dally and do Other Things  and and and.

And that's even if I WANT to Focus and Care. 

Because without the Timer everything is equally important and in need of doing.
This does not lead to Great Success.

If you can just decide on a task and do that task - well, consider yourself patted on the back.

I'm on Team UnDiagnosed ADD. 

But also on Team Timer.

I'm amazed that I sat here and typed this short blog. And thought only about doing the deed. And did the deed.

On to the rest of morning and day.
A group of us get to visit the National Park Service Headquarters in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin,  and learn more about our wonderful St. Croix River and surrounding area. I will be forced to Focus. Without a timer - ha! 

Then on to more empty boxes. 
And back to football on Thursday.
The Vikings play again.
Against the 10 - 2 Arizona Cardinals.
May each team care and focus.

As for me - GO, Team Timer!

Personal Challenge: Care and Focus

"What's the outcome you're looking for?," was just asked of one sports-talk radio show host to another.

The for-ever question for me.

I want to lose weight.
I want to be stronger.
I want everybody to be happy and well.

But what do I do about the outcome that I want?

A bunch of action.
For a while.

Then I forget.

And go back to default mode.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Argh.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Today is the first day of December.
Yes, most of the year's Personal Challenges have been seen through.

And yet.... And yet.....

I feel I feel about the same as when January 1st was a new day and the adventure commenced . Though on considering this can't be true. I drew, I wrote and sent letters, I journaled, I blogged. Heck, I even relaxed. And even affected some folks with the days' doings.

Why the Always Questing? And yet seldom feeling satisfied about doings along the journey? 

Oh well. Ever onward. So it goes. (I'm quoting other authors - but can't recall who said what.)

I think December's Personal Challenge will combine A Few Doings and aim for a target at which I am always aiming - though often without real focus or care. Must CARE. Must FOCUS.

O.K., Daring to Care and Focus is The Personal Goal for December. This probably sounds way too fuzzy for you, but right now it feels like two large and very sharp daggers to my little brain.

Well, Hi there, Hound of Accountability. So glad to see you...

For this month I challenge myself to Care and Focus.

On to the only December 1, 2015 we will ever have.

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

www.suerowe.com
Facebook page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

Time

It's way past Time to post again.
It's Time to start cleaning the studios.
Time to be glad that the garden is still producing.
Time to get some orders shipped and/or delivered.

If plans go right I will deliver these cards and others to the beautiful Grand Hand Gallery in St. Paul, MN, today. Their original design was drawn in the Autumn of 2001. I could not keep being sad and angry all the time after 9/11. I had to hope for some Hope. And Joy. And a wee tad of Light.

And the bears came through! Whew.

Our show season is quickly drawing down. I've decided it is more important to clean and organize the art-making spaces here than to set up an art-selling space for one day each week in coming weeks.

We do have a nice bunch of goodies available  currently at Peggy's Holiday Boutique, at the Roseville Staking Center in Roseville, MN. This event runs from Nov. 7 - 15, with long hours and convenient parking. Easy to find - right off of Lexington Avenue. It is like entering a wonderland of wonderful beautiful things, and with free fudge and tea samples to boot! WELL worth a visit or two!

We always have our work at American Gothic Antiques, 236 S. Main, Stillwater. Upstairs in our booth area is where you'll find most of our offerings, but they sell some cards and magnets at the front desk as well. This is the shop where I drew that first bear so it's always fun to point out to customers the same little brown desk I was sitting at on that October day in 1997 that eventually changed my life, and even the lives of others! The power of a few scribbled lines of furriness and text...

Daylight is starting to lift as this is being typed. A crow is crowing. The Moon and planets have disappeared for now. (They were exquisite earlier this dark morning.)

Though the Packers lost I am O.K. Haha. Teaches one to be Good at Something Oneself. And to keep trying. and to not start too slowly at getting better. I watch and do sports for real reasons.

So on to tea and the days "adventures." And cleaning off the kitchen table. Life's so Exciting here.

Thinking how quickly the years have gone by since the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in Lake Superior. Tomorrow is always a day of reflection and remembering for me. Those Fall months at a Fargo, ND horsemanship school completely changed the course of life. "Ya yust neffer know, do ya?"

On to the best day we can make it. It's the only one we've got.

Go, Pack!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

www.suerowe.com
Facebook page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

Duh

Just because I haven't blogged doesn't mean I haven't THOUGHT about blogging. I've blogged in my head. Blogged while taking photographs and seeing sights.

But they don't count because they are not words typed out here.

I'll be back.

- Sue

October's Personal Challenge -

Yes, October is nearly half over. The early evenings are Dark and the early mornings are DARKER.

We had a wonderful and warm last outside art festival. Downtown Red Wing, Minnesota is a lovely location for this annual event (this year's Fall Festival was the 49th), and the weather co-operated beyond our dreams. On Sunday the local bank's Time and Temperature sign read 84, then 85, then 87! (We might discuss Earth's temperature changes another time - not today.) This much made up for the same show several years back - when setting up on Saturday the SNOW from a neighbor's booth top blew into the bins of tee shirts we'd just put on. And same sign read 27. (We all CHEERED when temp hit 33 degrees THAT morning!)

On to The Personal Challenge: To Make 30 Things from stuff lying around in the house. You know - that stuff you accumulate from past doings or planned doings, or perhaps bits of pieces of OTHER peoples' plans and projects. That stuff.

For me, for now,  it is back to making Junk Drawer Journals. Paper is IS at our house. But sometimes the individual pieces are more productive if bound together - if even loosely. Human Metaphor here? So on to the making of a bunch more little task organizers, holders of memories, and the like.

Equipment is minimal: papers, ruler, stabby thing, foam core as stabby back piece, waxed linen thread, needle, thimble, scissors, and perhaps some beads or other decorative trinkets. (Remember, we are trying to use up Stuff.)

I use a simple stab-book binding method. Poke holes. Stitch. There are a wide variety of stitching styles. I want fast and easy.

So - on to the morning, and some time goofing off with a little purpose.

Look! It's a slightly less dark early morning. Time to feed the Squirrels. And scribble in the Real Journal. And live the day. And remember to pick up that UV Chocolate Cake Vodka from the local liquor store! (I've forgotten that my specially-ordered goodies are waiting two days now. Nope - alcohol consumption is not high on my daily priorities -  Ha!)

And I must get back to adding more items to our newly-designed web-site, and deal with the kale, and bring in the Mr. Jades, and prep for a few winter art doings, and....

But first a little time for some stabbing... and stitching up those holes.

On to YOUR Personal Challenges. 

And a pat on the back to you all ----- pat pat.

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

www.suerowe.com
Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

Baby Steps

This is just to remind me that:

1) The Centennial Lakes art fair was a smashing success for us! And FUN in unexpected ways, too. The Life Lesson that from Not Good Things can come Great Things.

2) I have already emptied one box in Studio B this morning.
3) The kitchen counter tops are almost all empty and clean. Except for one...
4) Here is Stillwater, MN September 15th dawned sunny blue clear and fresh-aired. I am sadly aware that many folks out West would do wish the same where they live. 
5) There are projects fulfilled and projects ahead.
6) The little freezer downstairs holds many potential tomato-based eatings.
7) Classical Music rules the radio at present - after Sports Talk rehashing of Vikings loss to 49ers.
8) The Sunday paper has been read and recycled.
9) It's time to join a Tuesday crew for Tuesday breakfast doings.
10) There is a Lake Country Pastel Society meeting tonight. I missed the last one and there are only six a year.

Word for the Week: (for me) STRIVE

Here is me holding "Duffy" one last time. He is a family favorite, but it was time for a new family to give him a new home. Mixed emotions ruled the moment. And Thank You! to new owners. If one can really own an imaginary bear...?

On to a day of working at antique shop, tackling book-keeping, and trying to keep the Hope and Zest that appeared in heart this morning. (this, too shall pass!)

This weekend holds art fair in Marine-On-St.-Croix, MN. About a fifteen minute lovely curving drive north of Stillwater. We'll be in Flag Park - Booth 25 A.

Hugs to all who want/need them!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

PS - The new web-design is partially done. We will be adding more content as weeks go along. Eventually it should be a great place to hang around with the bruins. Huzzah and hooray!

September - Attitude Adjustment Needed

I need a Fresh Mindset.

Less Inner Bitchy. More Outwardly Appreciative.

So - ON TO IT!

THIS SEPTEMBER WILL BE THE BEST SEPTEMBER EVER - even if it isn't.

Mr. Mozart is helping the mellower mood so far this morning.

And a bunch of Facebook Buddies are starting our 30 Day Walk-Cam Adventure again. 

You are more than welcomed to join in - Simplest Rules? Take a walk. Post a photo on your Status.

So - on to the joys and tasks of the day.

It is forecast to be Hot and Muggy here. I plan on re-starting writing Morning pages (3), cooking down tomatoes and filling orders and cleaning house. After coming home from Always Interesting Breakfast.

And continuing to learn How to Work in a Relaxed, non-frenzied manner.

Happy as Possible

September 1st! (Yes, these 'maters are already sauce. No, I didn't simmer the Tennis Ball.)

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

www.suerowe.com (new web-site is up, but in progress.)

Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios