Are you convinced yet? Here are the reasons why I love spray paint.

1. Cheap – Spray paint is an inexpensive way to change the look of furniture. Find something around your house or go to a used store and find a wooden shelf or cabinet. Head off to the paint store and you will see a huge variety of colors and textures to choose from. You can get shiny, matte, chalky, even mirrored.  And if you don’t like how it looks – it’s inexpensive enough to try something different.
2. Easy – If you can push a spray can, you can use spray paint. Do multiple light coats to avoid dripping paint. To avoid fumes, wear one of the masks you now own. This is something that is best done outside or in the garage. If you are a person who likes to do research, there is a lot of how-to on the internet.
3. Fun – It’s so quick and easy that it’s super fun. A quick search will give you ideas on what to do. Ask “what should I spray paint” and you will get all sorts of ideas. I have painted planting pots to match my house, a shelf for my office, and the top to a tool storage cabinet to match my kitchen. I tripled my storage space by spending $3.00 on spray paint and cleaned out my garage at the same time. My desk chair was a gift from my mother-in-law. It was old and brown, and the seat cushion was ripping. I used some paint I already had and spent $3.00 on a fabric remnant for the cushion. I get so many compliments on this chair.

This is an easy, inexpensive way to take that first step toward trying something new. I dare you to look around your garage or basement and find something you can transform with spray paint. It may be the start of something new from something old.

There are a lot of reasons for the smile. Christmas is over and I can relax a bit more. I’m the person who does Christmas at our house. But I’m also smiling because I’m really enjoying our gas fireplace. I cleaned the glass and it looks good.

What does that have to with creativity? Should a clean fireplace have an impact on my writing? It shouldn’t, but it does.

Usually, I clean stuff because people are coming over. Because of COVID -19 that isn’t happening. But I have some time off coming up and I want to spend some time sitting in front of the fireplace. It brings me joy to relax, write and read there. And I wanted to do that without looking at the glass and thinking about how dirty it is. I had the cleaner and towels. So, instead of just ignoring it like I usually do, I took the glass off and cleaned it. I cleaned the dust off the screen and I cleaned the cobwebs from the interior. I put it back together, turned it on and smiled.

Sometimes feeling creative and feeling good doesn’t require creativity. Sometimes it just requires you to take care of the little things that nag at you so you can let them go and make space for feeling something else. I cleaned the glass and made space for relaxation and writing today.

What nags at you? Pick one of those things and get rid of it this week. Then enjoy and celebrate it being done. It doesn’t have to be a big celebration. Sometimes a cup of coffee in front of the fireplace is exactly what you need.

I’m one of those writers who loves having written, but I struggle with sitting down and making it happen.  So, guess which option I chose? Yep – I cleaned the bathroom. 

But, before I started, I set an intention. I decided I would focus on what I was going to write about when my bathroom sparkled. I would do some mental brainstorming about topics and stories and anecdotes that would flow from my fingers to the keyboard to the screen. My hope was, even if I didn’t achieve the sparkle, I would have removed the ring around the tub and have an idea of where to start before I sat down to write. 

This isn’t a new idea. In her book, “The Creative Habit,” the choreographer, Twyla Tharp says “Movement stimulates our brains in ways we don’t appreciate.” She gave an example of a friend who will dust when blocked while writing. Moving allows us to get out of our heads and lets our mind wander. 

 Most of us have experienced thinking of solutions to problems while driving or taking a shower. Creatives often spend time in nature allowing their thoughts to flow. 

What I did differently on this day was to give my mind a specific task while it wandered. I wanted an idea to write about. If I got an idea – great. I would be all set to start writing. And if I didn’t – that would okay too. I’d at least be able to scratch off a task on my to-do list.  

It took all the pressure off. I was just cleaning the bathroom. I pondered creativity as I wiped the mirror. I thought about how the mind can just flow as I scrubbed the tub. As I wrung out the sponge, I decided having a pen and paper nearby would be important to the process to get down your ideas before they were forgotten. 

Does this mean all I need to do to get good ideas is to clean my house? Unlikely. I’m still a big fan of artist dates (thanks Julia Cameron), walking in nature to replenish the well and other things I do for self-care. But I have found a way of making use of the time I need to use to clean and care for my home and my family. 

Unfortunately, I need to go outside and shovel the snow off the driveway. What intention shall I set now? 

I need to read this because I chose to overdo last Sunday. I gave myself the goal of wrapping 4 presents. Once I got started I just kept going. I wrapped them all – or, at least, everything I had already purchased. By the time I was done I was stiff and tired. I hadn’t worked out which is important to my state of mind. I hadn’t prioritized my own needs of exercise, healthy eating and relaxation. I’m sure I’m not the only person who does this.

That’s not going to happen again this holiday. Here are my thoughts on things I’m going to do to lighten my Christmas load.

• Do an act of self-care – Find something that makes you feel taken care of and do it for yourself. Maybe it’s a Starbucks coffee, a hot bath or a manicure. Get takeout you want. This weekend I will find some time to do some reading with a gingerbread latte to keep me company. And I will make sure to exercise first in the morning.

• Look at your list and delegate – It’s okay  – you don’t have to do it all. And you shouldn’t. Pass some tasks to your spouse. Or order online and pick it up. The extra cost is worth your sanity. I will be passing some tasks to my husband and some tasks to my daughter.

• Look at your list and eliminate – Take another look at your list. Is there something you can just choose not to do? A couple of years ago I took mailing cards off my list. I’m fortunate to keep up with most people on Facebook and that’s enough. I use some shortcuts like cinnamon rolls that come from a can and simplifying some menus. This year, due to COVID, I’m spending more time at home. COVID eliminated some of the traditional community events I like to go to. While I miss them, it’s also okay. 

• Ask for help – Maybe there is someone who would love to have a holiday event with your kids while you do something for yourself (see self-care above). I enjoyed when my niece and nephews used to come for a sleepover at Christmas time. Ask for help when hosting an event. Make it potluck. Order food in. 

• Add something that makes you smile – There are many things above that make me smile. But I also like to do things that bring back happy childhood memories like watching Charlie Brown Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Pay attention to those little thoughts that cross your mind– make a plan and do them!

It’s the holiday season. Enjoy it.

I got a duvet my daughter no longer wants to use. I found a cover for it at IKEA for $8.00. The new sheets were on clearance at Target and the pillows were a gift from my stepmother. I have no idea why she decided we all needed new pillows, but I love them. I also have new to me furniture and furniture serving a new purpose. I go to bed with a smile on my face. 

When redecorating or trying a new look in your home or on your person it can be frustrating. You may not be able to find what you want at a price you can afford. You may not know what you want. I wasn’t sure what I wanted for our bedroom and I absolutely didn’t have the extra cash. Here are some ideas I used to get what I now love. 

1. Be Patient – The new bedding was not found or purchased all in one day. I did some shopping – both online and in stores to do some comparison pricing.  

2. Shop at home – After looking at what was in the stores, I found I already owned some things that were similar to things I had wanted to buy. This is how I got the duvet and the throw blanket. I also found a chair that was just taking up space elsewhere in the house and it looks great in the corner of the room. This is good for my wallet and good for the environment. And this makes me feel super creative. 

3. Be Willing to take Things Back to the Store – I wanted to get the $8 duvet cover, but my daughter didn’t like it, so I bought a different one. Usually when I follow her advice, she has ended up being right. But not this time. I took the cover back and got what I wanted.  

4. Get Creative – This is the part I love. I saw a bookshelf that was small and decorative and immediately thought how good it would look in my space! But it was $65. So, I did a little thinking about how I could recreate a look that was similar. I went to my church garage sale and found a little shelf for $7. I got a can of gray chalk spray paint for $6 and love my new shelf. Is it exactly the same as the $65 one? No- it’s better because of the pride I feel about what I created. Priceless! 

So now I love our bedroom. It brings me joy because it is feels fresh and new – even though it’s not. And because I got a look I love using what I already owned or what I created. And now I have extra gray chalk paint. It’s time to look around and see what else I can paint! 

I rewrote my list. Instead of writing all the things I needed to get done, I wrote what I wanted to make progress on and how long I would spend on it. That felt doable. 

I started with the garage on Saturday. It was a mess. I had done some painting and my supplies were all over the place. The Goodwill pile had been sitting there a while and was starting to fall out the bags. Tools were strewn about and some things just needed to have a home. I decided to devote one hour to the garage. I started at one side and picked up as I went. I put things back in their places, put all my painting supplies together and made a pile of tools and put them back. My husband made the Goodwill trip. I was out there a little longer than the hour and got enough done to have felt like I had made good progress.

The basement was on my list too. On Sunday morning I put on some workout clothes, started an hourlong podcast and got busy. I sorted, purged and cleaned. After one hour I could see more of the floor and I felt good when I went down to do laundry.

Later that morning I saw a post on Medium about things productive people do. And one of those things was to manage projects by sprints instead of marathons. It’s a more interesting way of saying of saying – break your projects down into small parts and make mad progress for a short amount of time. I can do that. So, this is now my new time management technique. Many small projects with time limits – and now l’m sprinting because I know when I will get to stop, and I want to feel like I have made progress.