For a while, I wrestled with trying to find time to be creative when I was juggling a full-time job and parenting. Then I gave up the job so that I could pursue my creativity drive, and it took a nap. Then I became an almost-empty-nester when my older child married, and the younger of the two in college and only home for summers and the holidays.
Not any more. The newlywed was recruited to her dream job close to our home that came with an impossible commute from her own, so she moved back home Sunday through Friday. Now her husband is also job hunting in this area, so they are now both here full time. Then the one that graduated from college is still in Asia (sending the most terrifying photos of spiders bigger than his hand that were on the roof of their "room" for a night or two), scheduled to return in a few weeks in time to start the hunt for his first full-time job post college. His significant other was displaced and is working full-time and living with us, also saving toward their getting their own place post college. It's nice to have company other than the cats, and I've actually been good about forcing myself to stop with chores to get into the studio most days.
To make sure that things remain interesting and never boring around here, we are about to embark on a full kitchen gut and remodel, so my studio/laundry room will become a temporary kitchen for the next 3-4 months, and a lot of my art supplies are getting packed away and moved into the garage. The library will become the family room, part of our upstairs will become the office and the family room & kitchen will become a war zone for a while. The project is starting sooner than I was initially advised, so I am NOT prepared to cook in the temporary space unless we are having microwaved popcorn for dinner. And chardonnay. That doesn't need any heat ;-) Just a straw.
It is hard enough to be creative when everything is going smoothly, so these next few months are really going to be a test of my commitment to keep at it. I won't have an oven for working with polymer clay, so maybe this is the time to experiment with paper clay again. I can always solder (and heaven knows, based on my recent results, that I really, really need to practice), sew and work out ideas for new projects. Even in the midst of construction, I want to push myself to do something creative, make something, every day. And then celebrate my accomplishment with chardonnay :-)
