Chalkboard Art for Creative Communication

Dear friends,

One of the goals I wrote for this year might seem a little trivial. On my Personal Development page, under the subheading "Cultivate Creativity through Communication" I wrote:

• Learn to create chalkboard designs to inspire my family.

I've been admiring chalkboard art on blogs and at stores for a long time. I figured it isn't as time consuming as the oil painting that I did in college, and I can change it up at whim.

Why not give it a try? I found two inexpensive boards and Walmart and bought them for myself as a Christmas present. Then I purchased several colors of chalk at Michael's Crafts.

I just now got around to trying it out today!

I had already looked up several web sites (listed at the bottom of this post) to get tips and to see possible fonts to copy. Today I thought about what I wanted to communicate to my family. These are small boards, so I had to keep it succinct and not embellish it much with pictures. I chose the phrases "kindness always" and "work well" because compassion and diligence are two character qualities that I most want to encourage.

The picture at the top of this post and the one below are my results today. I've got a long way to go to make it the way I will really like it, but this is good enough for now.

The font for the "work well" board is Pea Ellie Bellie, and the font for "KINDNESS ALWAYS" started out as Mad Beef but then I made my letters a lot thicker and used two colors. Now it doesn't look anything like the original font. I think it's too clunky. I may just redo the whole thing. I will at least move the heart. That's the beauty of chalk art, of course. It's easy to change. I use either a wet cotton swab or a baby wipe as an eraser.

I was a bit disappointed that my colors weren't as vibrant as in the board below, which I photographed last fall at the Spice and Tea Exchange in Winter Park. I'll have to see if I can get brighter chalk and a bigger board for the future, after I've had a little more chance to practice with what I have. (Note on February 28: Check out my latest art at my new post Blessed Are the Peacemakers.)

OK, so I know you are going to want advice with more expertise than I can give, so here are some of the sites I found.  Many of the fonts on these sites are not just for chalkboards. You can also download them to use in documents.

• 10 Things You Should Know About Chalkboard Art
• DIY Chalkboard Lettering from Beautiful Hello
• How to Draw Like an Artist on a Chalkboard
• DIY Chalkboard Art: Get Perfect Lettering Every Time
• 20 Free Chalkboard Fonts
• Chalkboard Fonts and Free Printable
• My 25 Favorite Free Chalk Fonts
• DaFont
• FontZone
• FontSpace

If you have any other suggestions for chalkboard art, leave a comment!

In what ways are you working to grow in your creativity and communication skills?

Virginia Knowles

www.ThisMomGrowsUp.blogspot.com

Move Forward by Letting Go

Dear friends,

I wrote Move Forward in 2015 about setting goals and
making progress in the new year. Yet at times, the way we move forward is to let go of what is holding us back.

I think of this often as I pinch off the dead blossoms on my marigold plants. Pruning allows new blooms to flourish.

I also think of it as I see the small stump in my flower beds. I can't remember why we cut down the holly tree so long ago, but the old stump has its own gray swirly charm and beauty right there in my garden. It's a reminder that we had to let something go, and that's just part of life.

I think also of the pioneers. We've all heard tales about piles of household goods left alongside the trail. Travelers had to make tough choices about what to haul along for future use or what to lay aside so they could even arrive at their destination at all. They had already had to let go of their old lives to prepare for their new adventures, but there was often more laying aside to do along the way. They had to let go to move forward. So do we.

I realize that letting go is not an "all or nothing" deal. We can start by letting go of a little, and see what happens. Then we can let go of more as necessary. That's the approach I am taking, and it seems to work for me.

I'm letting go of a lot of clutter - books, papers, clothes, stuff. The less I have, the less I need to shuffle, dust, reorganize, store... I'll have more time and space to LIVE. Not only that, but other people can really use many of the items I don't need anymore. I sold several books to a used bookstore for store credit, passed along a bunch of them to my adult daughters (only what they could use), bagged up a huge pile of clothes for Father's Closet (a free clothing source at a local church), and have started boxing up excess household items. I've just plain dumped a lot of other clutter like old papers and clothes with stains. The trash can and the giveaway box are my friends.  I need to repeat one of my new mantras, "I will not curate clutter!" Maybe you can't bear to part with a memory. You can take a photo of a sentimental item that you otherwise don't need - and then give it away. Sometimes I tell myself, "This was part of the old me. I don't identify with this anymore, and I don't need the reminder. Time to clear out, start fresh, and move along!" Let it go!

I'm letting go of bad habits. One of my bad habits is not making the best use of my time. When I think of adding an activity, I need to ask, "What is this going to add to my life? Is it going to make me a better person or is it going to distract me from more important priorities? If I still need to do it, how can I minimize any negative impact on my schedule?" I also need to look at my current activities, even "little" ones that distract me. I installed StayFocusd on my laptop to set a limit on daily time spent on computer games. I like it because I can still play a reasonable amount to relieve stress, but I don't get sucked into it, so it's easier to get my work done and get to bed on time. Another of my bad habits has been not paying enough attention to what foods I eat. I can choose to stop eating unhealthy foods and start eating life-giving ones. Cutting out sugar wasn't as hard as I expected, and now I've got my sights set on some other reductions and eliminations. Hopefully, I'll be letting go of even more pounds than I already have! Let's move along to health and productivity one step at a time!

I've been letting go of my role in unhealthy relationships and influences. For some people this means cutting someone out of their lives entirely. That's not always possible or necessary, but I can still stop enabling toxic behavior. I can step back, set boundaries, limit time, guard the level of emotional intimacy, change the dynamics. I can let go of the need to fix every situation, and instead let people face their own consequences. I can let go of placating those who are trying to manipulate me. If I can't completely shut out the voices, I mentally reach for my emotional volume dial and tune it way down. Then I can think, "What would this message mean if it was properly expressed? Is it valid? Does it apply to me?" That way, I can let go of knee-jerk reactions and learn to respond thoughtfully and kindly. I also don't need to expose myself to toxic spew or read things that completely stress me out. I can choose the music I listen to, the videos I watch on YouTube, the blogs and books I read. I can ask myself, "Does this message empower me for progress - or does it take me back where I don't need to go?" I want to live wisely in who and what I allow to affect my life. Sometimes that means letting go.

I want to be a strong and healthy woman: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Like a pioneer, I need to move forward by letting go.

(Watch Pioneer by Honeytree for a great encouragement on moving forward in God's strength.)


Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
www.ThisMomGrowsUp.blogspot.com

Do you like to take pictures? Check out Sweet Shot Tuesday. My entry this week will be one of the stump pictures. 

Rumpled Comfort, Sunsets, and Sweet Shot Tuesday (SST #1)

I spent three days straight in this bed with these blankets, this pillow, and vitally, this box of tissues and water cup.  Even after the worst of it, I've been back to crash more times than I can count.  

When you are sick, you hope and pray it will pass soon, and you take the comforts where you can get them. When I finally got the oomph to check in on Facebook, I tapped this status on my little iPod screen: "Today I am thankful for Puffs Plus tissues, Halls cough drops, ibuprofen, a huge cup of water, my comfy blankets, and my iPod. Fourth day of the flu. I think my fever finally broke, but still feeling cruddy."

The blankets - these blankets in particular - are more than physical comfort to me. My sister gave me the quilt this summer when we were up on vacation and she was cleaning out her home.  I love the dark but vibrant colors, the log cabin pattern, everything about it. Mostly I think of her when I see it. It's like getting wrapped in a hug. The pink thermal blanket came down with my dad, wrapped around a favorite painting from my mom's side of the family that I had requested after she passed away. I know the blanket was mom's, too, and that means a lot to me. I am sentimental like that, especially when I'm sick and need to feel wrapped in love. A bit of rumpled comfort was as welcome as any.

When I was starting to get better, I saw the way the light hit the blankets and I had to take a picture. It captured a moment and an emotion for me; that's why I take so many of my pictures. One of my goals this year is to post a picture a week at Sweet Shot Tuesday, a photography challenge. This is my first one for 2015.

Because I was so sick, I really didn't take many photos at all the first several days of January. This is the only other one I found on my "real" camera card, from the first day I was out and about and had to make a 50 mile round trip to borrow an orthopedic boot for my son. I found myself in a beautiful area of town where I rarely go (Lake Nona), and I always try to be "open to wonder" in situations like that, to see what I can see while I can see it. When we stopped at a light, I was struck by the tree.  No, it didn't fall on my van. Not that kind of "struck by the tree." I was struck by it visually, the pattern of the bare branches against the sky on the first day I had even been outside in a while. I did pull up the contrast and color saturation when I edited it in Picasa to match my own eyes' recollection of the evening.

My son took this sunset photo out the other car window a few minutes before that. I did not adjust the color at all. It was quite glorious.

In 2015, in the midst of everything going on around me and in me, I'll take the beauty and the comfort where I can get it - even if it is in simple things like blankets and sunsets and my camera.

Do you like to take pictures? Check out Sweet Shot Tuesday.

Move Forward in 2015

Dear friends,

Are you ready to move forward in 2015? It's been popular the past several years for bloggers to choose "one word" for the coming year.  In 2013 I chose REFRESH. I didn't do this again in 2014, but I already know what mine is for 2015: FORWARD!

My ten children and
four grandchildren on Christmas

Now that Christmas frenzy is over, I'm eager to start the new year off right. Yes, I'm definitely taking the time to have fun with my family before school starts again, but I'm also trying to be productive around the house. For now I'm mainly focusing on organizing (starting with my own bedroom and closet), paperwork, and personal goal setting.

I need to make some MAJOR progress in so many areas, but I realize that I have to take changes in small increments. I've felt stuck for so long in the ruts of my own attitudes and habits and now it's time to ditch the procrastination and MOVE FORWARD one step at a time!

Let's think a little bit more about goals!

GOAL SETTING

I found this quote by Orrin Woodward recently: "A goal is planned conflict against the status quo." I'm ready for that!

I decided to set goals in several key areas of life. They are:

• Family - nurturing and training my children
• Health and Nutrition - diet, exercise, medical care
• Homemaking - organization and household routines
• Home Schooling - just one child this year!
• Spiritual and Emotional Growth - reestablishing devotional life and getting more involved in fellowship
• Personal and Professional Development - productivity skills, creativity, and preparing to re-enter the work force in a couple of years

For each of these areas, I wrote several goals, along with specific actions. One of my adult daughters recently posted on Facebook about goals needing to be S.M.A.R.T. That stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. When I worked on formulating my own 2015 goals in the past few days, I tried to think of that. I asked questions like, "Why do I want to do this? Is it necessary?" and "What steps do I need to take? Can I pull it off?" and "When is my deadline for each phase?" and "How often do I want to do this?" and "Why am I not already succeeding at this? What is my weak spot here?"

For example, on my Health and Nutrition page, one of my goals is consistent exercise. Here is what I wrote:

• Exercise for muscle strength, cardio health, weight loss, joint relief.
  • Work out at the YMCA at least once a week during spring semester and twice a week during the summer. Do at least 2,500 strides on elliptical and assigned reps on at least four FitLinxx weight machines. Start swimming in April.
  • Walk or bike one mile at least once a week. (Fix bike tires and find helmet.)
  • Use exercise DVDs and resistance bands at least twice a month.

For each major goal area, I also included a list of books I already own that could help me succeed. To make this more practical, I gathered all of these books and placed them on one shelf right next to my desk.

In addition to getting insight from books and web sites, I'm also asking for help from others. My 22 year old daughter is going to help me tweak my goal list. I am talking to my other kids - especially the six who still live at home - about what they need from me and how they can cooperate with what I'm doing. I have been meeting with two different Christian counselors, one to help me with accomplishing my goals and the other to help with parenting issues. I am also planning to consult a nutritionist since I have a few medical conditions that are food sensitive.

I am using iPod apps to help me keep track of goals, schedules, and tasks. The three I use most are ToodleDo, Calendar, and Evernote.

I also think, "What can I do to increase the likelihood of following through with each goal?" One of my teenagers who has been asking for healthier home cooked meals has promised to help me plan and cook. That will be fun and keep me on track, and will also go toward my "teach my kids household skills" goals. I don't particularly like cleaning up after meals and usually put it off until just before I go to bed. I am going to try getting it down by 8 PM from now on, but I realized I'd enjoy it more and stick with the task longer if I could listen to music at the same time. That would also help me accomplish another goal of playing more Christian music to help me grow spiritually. That's why I bought an extra iPod speaker for the kitchen yesterday. I listened to Sara Groves' song "Strangely Ready" while putting away dishes after dinner. Seems like a good soundtrack for moving forward!

Another problem area is keeping track of receipts and expenses for the family bank account and my personal credit union account. I recently bought a pretty flip lid box for my desk (fits behind my laptop) to hold receipts so they won't overflow my wallet. I can download transactions from my credit union's web site into a spreadsheet. Tonight I had the computer sort this list by payee, and then I took my pile of receipts (six weeks' worth, including a lot of Christmas ones) and sorted them by payee into piles on my floor. That made it a lot easier to match them up than doing it by date. Then I just had to itemize the expenses into categories on my spreadsheet. However, what would make this a lot less arduous is becoming disciplined enough to take 20 minutes every week instead of letting it pile up and forgetting what I bought. (It's not always clear from the receipts.) I need to schedule a time for that, but I also have to get over the emotional block of not wanting to deal with finances. It's not so hard once I get going with it.

Then there is home schooling my nine year old. I've been dabbling lately with a workshop approach to math instead of relying solely on her (frustrating) workbook.  The goal is not to "finish the book" but to build and maintain sustainable fluency in the key skills. Doing the work hands-on and orally seems to work best for her. I'll be reading more on this next week, and gathering my supplemental materials. While I was organizing my bookshelves, I found a book with fun paper math manipulative pieces to punch out. Works for me!

That's enough about my goals!  Here are a few web sites to help you get going with yours!

• ToodleDo
• Personal Goal Setting
• Goal Buddy
• 7 Apps to Help You Achieve Your Goals and Build New Habits

I'm planning to attend a free "New Eyes for a New Year" webinar by Lisa Grace Byrne at noon on New Year's Day. It's about self-care for "More Calm, More Clarity, More Vitality in 2015." Join me?  (P.S. I had already signed up for this workshop since I get her e-mails, but then I found this guest post on Simple Homeschool, which I also receive by e-mail: How Small Shifts Can Lead to Big Impact.  Be sure to read it, especially if you can't watch the webinar! Here is how her article starts... "All around us there are messages about the New Year — new possibilities, new opportunities for change, ways to set your resolutions and meet them! Do you feel like you already missed the boat? For years if I didn’t wrap up all my new year’s dreams, goals and action plans in a pretty little bow right when the clock struck midnight New Year’s Eve … I might as well just can my ideas and settle back into life as-is. And when I did think about what kind of growth and change I wanted in the new year, I bought into the idea that either I had to go for massive change or give up shifting direction at all."  So true!  Lisa goes on to explain how it's the little things that often make a big difference - especially since they are doable for busy moms!

Oh! One last link that I found after I posted this article: Stay Focusd is a Google Chrome extension that can block out web sites for a specific period of time so you can focus on work. Give it a try!

~*~*~

This post is part of my Get It Done series. The other entries so far are:

• Just a Few More Things to Do...
• Pull It Together and Push It Through: How to Get It Done When You Think You Can’t
• Success or Sabotage?
• My Cottage Dreams (Why Not Now?)
• Resilience (Big Words)
• If Each Day Had Four Seasons
• Brain Boosting: The Physical Factors

Moving forward,

Virginia Knowles

www.ThisMomGrowsUp.blogspot.com

Why Do I Blog?

Dear friends,

Why do I blog?

I know that to some people, blogging seems like a waste of time. I can't imagine not blogging. 

I wrote down these ideas quite a while back and just now found them again. Here's why I blog.

• Creative expression is therapeutic to me.
• People say my words are encouraging and practical.
• It helps friends and family get to know me better.
• It preserves family memories.
• I feel like I have an important God-given mission and message.
• My blog posts are multi-purpose, since I incorporate them into my e-magazine and family letters.
• It's a good place to put my photos into a life context.
• I love nature photography and this is a good place to showcase my best pictures.
• I can post excerpts of my books, which are no longer in print.
• This is a way to start compiling my own memoir, Pilgrimage & Jubilee.
• I can collect poetry, mine and others.
• I can feature worthy causes and organizations.
• I can record instructions and recipes I want to use later.
• I can help equip other moms with homemaking and parenting skills I have acquired in the past 30 years.
• I can participate in the on-going conversation in the blogging community.
• I contribute to link parties.
• I can make a comment on someone's blog with a link for more information.
• My blogs are a quick way to link to answers to commonly asked questions.
• Writing helps me to process life as I read my own perspective later.
• The blogs can be read via readers like BlogLovin or by e-mail subscription.
• A lot of people visit from Google searches!
• I never know which post will make a big difference in someone's life.
• My blogs are an accomplishment that brings me great joy and satisfaction.

What would you add to this list?

You might also like this post from a few years ago: On Mommy Blogging: Image, Identity, Authenticity and Freedom

Come visit all my blogs at:

• This Mom Grows Up (mothering and homemaking)
• Virginia's Life, Such As It Is (my life)
• Watch The Shepherd (theology, spiritual growth, vintage hymns, advocating for the vulnerable, domestic violence, abuse in churches and Christian organizations)
• Start Well Home School (preschool and elementary)
• Continue Well Home School (middle school)
• Finish Well Home School (high school and beyond)

God bless!

Virginia Knowles
www.ThisMomGrowUp.blogspot.com

From Autumn to Advent

Dear friends,

Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is coming! We're transitioning from the Autumn season of pilgrims and pumpkins to our celebration of Advent with Jesus and the manger. 

There are a lot of helpful links in this post. Please click on them if you like pretty pictures and practical ideas! You can open them in a new tab and look at them when you're done with this post.

For starters, you can see our Thanksgiving pictures here: Happy Thanksgiving from My Home to Yours!

After Thanksgiving dinner, we laid towels on our air hockey table to use it as extra space to dry our china plates. I just haven't gotten around to putting them back yet, though I did at least stack them. I kind of like the way the light reflects off of the pile! It takes so much effort to put them in the high cabinet over the refrigrator that I might just leave them down in a more out of the way place a few weeks until we use them again at Christmas. 

On Black Friday, I started a little bit of Christmas shopping for my family. I didn't get up that early, and I only went to Target and Walmart. That was quite enough for me, especially since I took a few kids along! With ten children and four grandchildren, I've still got a long way to go on buying presents. Whenever I get something, I put it in a bin in my bedroom so I can find it easily later. When there is a lot more, I'll start sorting it into bags for each person.

On Saturday morning, I made our first scrapple of the year, using the blender to mix leftover turkey and stuffing with chicken broth and cornmeal. Then I cooked the mush to a stiff consistency, chilled it in loaf pans overnight, sliced it and fried it in my electric skillet. Yum! It's a favorite family heritage recipe for me!

On Saturday, we also started putting away the autumn decorations...

And getting out the Christmas decorations!

Daddy got out the Christmas decoration bins
from our storage unit for us.

"Something old...

Something new...

On a little stand outside the front door

Something borrowed... 

(Actually, I inherited this from my mom.)

Something blue..."

Our mailbox used to be an ugly black.
You can see its springtime transformation here:

Not-So-Extreme Makeover: The Front of Our House

Something broken 

and fixed again, too...

The base of our lighted Christmas star came off,
so I had to rig a way to attach it to the tree.
I used a paper clip, a green rubber pen grip,
and a rubber band colored green with a
permanent marker.
Yup, it worked!

The tree still isn't fully decorated.
Just the lights are on.
I honestly don't have the patience
for much else right now.

In the middle of all the cooking and decorating on Saturday, we took the time to stop and see some of our homeless friends near a bus stop about a mile from our house. Many of them live in the woods, and some have physical and psychiatric disabilities. We brought them oranges, blankets, tarps, a backpack, huge zip-top plastic storage bags for keeping their bedding dry on rainy days, and lots of warm clothes, including new underwear and socks. These dear people are so worth it to me. And what is Christmas, but for giving to those who really need it? You can read more about ministry to the homeless here: What Love Looks Like: Reaching Out to the Homeless.  For the record, there is a lot that is screwed up in my own life. My point is not to make myself look good, but to extend the same kind of mercy I have needed and received from God and others.

These fleece blankets were on sale
for $1.88 each at Old Time Pottery,
so my friend Charlotte asked me to pick up
ten of them for her to donate
to the homeless here in the Casselberry area.
These blankets aren't as thick
as the fuzzy ones at Deals for $5,
but they still make a good extra layer of warmth.
When I bought these on Sunday, there was another
lady with a cart full of them, too. She's giving them
to homeless people who live in downtown Orlando. :-)

Yesterday was the First Sunday of Advent at Lake Baldwin Church (a small Presbyterian congregation), so our liturgy was full of carols, Scripture readings, and prayers for the Christmas season. You can see more here: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (Strength in Hymn: Advent)

This morning, we got out our box of Christmas books and filled our basket in the living room. See: My Favorite Christmas Books.

I'm just home schooling my nine year old daughter this year, and we're taking the month of December for our Advent Adventure unit study. Books, crafts, cooking, music, Bible, Christmas around the world and throughout history... And yes, we'll keep up with our math, too.

A booklet I made for my family years ago.

My favorite posts on Christmas with kids!

• My Favorite Christmas Books
• Great Gifts Kids Can Make for Others
• Advent Adventure Unit Study
• Family Advent Night Ideas

This afternoon, we took a trip to Leu Gardens to enjoy the Leu House museum decorated for Christmas, as well as the rest of the extensive gardens... I'll try not to compare my house and garden to theirs!

Lots of botany for a science field trip, right? 

 You can see the rest of my photos here: Christmastime at Leu Gardens.

I've still got a whole lot of organizing to do in the house to transition from Autumn to Advent, including sorting out more of our warmer clothes. (We're in Florida, so this process is delayed a bit.) Then there are still the regular piles of laundry and paperwork and everything else! It may be the Christmas season, but we still have to live our daily lives.

At least we can do it listening to Christmas music!  Celine Dion has a good reminder for us: Don't Save It All for Christmas Day.

Don't get so busy that you miss
Giving just a little kiss to the ones you love
Don't even wait a little while
To give them a little smile
A little is enough

How many people are crying
People are dying...
How many people are asking for love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way to give a little love everyday
Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find your way
Cause holidays have come and gone
But love lives on
If you give on
Love...

How could you wait another minute

A hug is warmer when you're in it
And Baby that's a fact
And saying "I love you's" always better
Seasons, reasons, they don't matter
So don't hold back
How many people in this world
So needful in this world
How many people are praying for love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way to give a little love everyday
Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find your way
Cause holidays have come and gone
But love lives on
If you give on
Love...

Let all the children know
Everywhere that they go
Their whole life long
Let them know love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way to give a little love everyday
Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find your way
Cause holidays have come and gone
But love lives on
If you give on
Love...
Love...

~*~*~

What does your family like to do in December? Do you have special traditions?

Grace and peace,
Virginia Knowles
www.ThisMomGrowsUp.blogspot.com