Time to Catch Up.

I have been crazy busy since my last post. As I mentioned then, I was creating paper flower arrangements for my daughter's high school's graduation ceremony. In the midst of that, several other projects came up. You can read about them and see some pictures here in my artist blog. Seems I've been running on a treadmill, expending a lot of energy yet staying in the same spot. Since the spot I'm staying in is home, I don't have a problem with that.

My newly graduated daughter has moved to North Carolina to live with my older daughter and her family and will be attending a nearby college there. The quiet in my house since her departure has been downright deafening and I'm still getting accustomed to the lessened workload in laundry, cooking, dishes, etc. Less work, more quiet...I can used to this.

In the middle of all my activity is my husband's inactivity, an inactivity that stems from his having been laid off on Memorial Day weekend. Yes, we have become part of the latest statistics in this bad economy. Perhaps inactivity is not the proper word to use here because the fact is that he has been hard at work looking for another job since his feet hit the ground but the market in his field, electrical construction, is very soft and jobs at his level are not to be found. We're holding our own for the present time but that may be short lived. Now we have two children in college and no income. This is not a pretty picture. I guess my flurry of income producing activities couldn't have come at a better time.

To be continued...

Ballo ergo sum,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Oh My! How Time Has Flown!!

I just read the date on my last blog update and realized I haven't written a post since early February when I decided to volunteer at a local senior citizen's center. Now, four months later, I have become a fixture at the center where I not only run an hour long crafts session once a week but also stick around to do many of the organizational tasks that the director and her small staff can't get around to. I have spent untold hours cleaning, clearing and organizing the crafts cabinet and storage closets and discovered lots of great materials that were being neglected simply because no one knew what was there or how to find it. The director and I have made several visits to Materials for the Arts, a organization that collects donations from private donors and commercial concerns and makes them available to non-profit groups, schools and theater companies. We have been able to score some great finds there that have been put to good use as crafts materials, office supplies, and storage. In short, I've been having a great time putting my organizational and creative skills to use in an environment where I am welcomed and appreciated. You can see the projects I have completed to date with the seniors at my artist blog, The Creative Diva.

As if I needed something else to do, I am also volunteering to decorate the auditorium of my daughter's high school for it's very first graduating class of which my daughter is a part. The mission of the school is that of environmental responsibility and sustainability so all elements of the celebration must be eco-friendly. To that end I am making paper flowers out of used and recyclable paper with which to create floral arrangements to decorate the front of the stage. Of course I've never done this before so I'm dead in the middle of a steep learning curve but so be it. When the flowers are done I'll be posting photos on my artist blog so I hope you'll come over to check them out.

After my daughter graduates, she'll be attending college in North Carolina and will be leaving sometime in July to get settled into her new role as an adult. In the meantime I will be settling into my role as a mother hen with one less chick and I'm looking forward to the quiet in my chicken coop.

Another news-worthy occurrence since my last post is that my son returned to college after a few years of not knowing quite what to do with himself. His first attempt was not successful because he frankly didn't want to go to school. After dropping out, going to work, getting laid off and spending a long time unemployed, he finally decided he was ready to take another stab at college. I'm happy to say that he seems much more settled and comfortable this time around and I hold great hopes for his success. In due time he, too, will be leaving the nest whereupon this old bird will be doing the empty nest happy dance. Oh yes, I'm looking forward to an empty nest in spite of everyone telling me otherwise. I've lived the last 30 years mindful of my responsibility to the needs of others. I'm ready to finally live for myself. But until my nest is completely empty, I still have to contend with the droppings.

Somebody, hand me a shovel, will ya?


Ballo ergo sum,- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Swimming in a Bigger Pond

My son would probably feel quite at home among Peter Pan's Lost Boys, playing games all day and never growing up. He graduated from high school in June and, not wanting to leave the nest, had applied to and been accepted into a local college. As the summer waned and the day of registration grew ever closer, he whined, "I don't want to go to college. I want to go back to high school", in a comical voice that only thinly veiled his very real fear of venturing beyond the sheltered world in which he had been nurtured. When it became obvious that, like it or not, he was going to have to step out of his comfort zone, his fear manifested itself as all manner of disagreeable behavior. He becomes quite obnoxious when faced with something he doesn't know and can't control. No attempts to convince him that he would manage just fine sufficed.

After dinner on the evening of my son's first day in college, my husband took out a bottle of champagne and offered a toast to his success. Fast forward to today. My son has met all his professors, purchased his books and gotten more than his feet wet. He's been given homework assignments and is becoming familiar with the anomaly known as academic scheduling. More importantly, he has begun to notice the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between high school and college and seems to be enjoying the experience, for which I am eternally grateful.

Today marks the end of my son's first week in college and I celebrate it as a battle won. I look forward to the bottle of champagne we will open on the day he graduates. In the meantime, I will quietly celebrate the victory of successfully launching my child into college in spite of his resistance and inwardly bemoan the loss of my little boy to the man he is fast becoming.

Ballo ergo sum,
Always and all ways,
- Gitana