Nurturing Creativity Daybook: May 3-8, 2010

As I mentioned in a post last week ... I can't keep up with "daybooks", but week-at-a-glance seems doable!  Here's this weeks creativity in the heart of our home:
Week-at-a-glance:

• on my needles: I have just started another project for the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program;
  the Season-spanning Cardi and the Felted Fair-Isle Yarn Basket are knitted, drafted, packed and off to the post office this morning.  The one that I've just started is titled "Memories of Eire" ... a vest in a gorgeous dark heathery green that is wonderful to knit! 
• on the craft table: SEWING projects WILL get done this week; String Bean and I need the fun skirts, dresses and capris we'll be sewing.  Today, since it's rainy out, will be a fabulous day to start!
• on the kitchen counter: ground turkey thawing for the kids' favorite dinner -- spaghetti with meat sauce!  Dinners are gonna be quick'n'easy this week as I'm stage manager for Rumors and we're in "tech week" ... 6:00pm call time for rehearsal and performances this weekend.
• in the garden: I have seedlings coming up, HUGE transplanted azalea that has taken, and all the other transplants this past month seem to have taken.  Rick and I worked on the front garden, tilling and mixing and augmenting the amazingly dense clay soil so that I could get flower seeds in and we could transplant Japanese maples into the center of the two gardens.  The gentle rain yesterday and today will help TONS in getting these things established.  Looks like I'll be weeding this weekend!  Kids have planting (including watermelon seeds) to get in the ground this week. We're designing a modular tree house that we'll add to bit-by-bit to make a "castle for the kids".  Stage 1, the swing, is shown here and we'll work on finishing the 4x8 platform atop this week. 
• in the school-room: winding down the heavy schoolwork (altho we'll continue thru the summer, just on a lower-gear); got May Crowning on Friday; end of the year projects to work on.  I'm going to pull out some various craft supplies a couple of times this week and let them make what they will.  Charlotte Mason-ites call this "masterly inactivity", I call it "free explore", the kids call it just fun!  We're also field-tripping this week since this is the week of the anniversary of the battles of Chancellorsville (April 30-May 6, 1863) and Wilderness (May 5-6, 1864) .. since they're in our "backyard" ... this is a great excuse for heading out and exploring (and maybe re-enacting a few of the bloodier scenes!) 

So what are you doing to nurture creativity in your home?

Nurturing Creativity Daybook ... the week at a glance

Last week over at Kind Conversations, I started a new daybook called "Nurturing Creativity" where I describe my day(s) and ways of nurturing creativity in my own home.

Now, let's be honest here ... there is no way I'm going to be able to keep up with a day-by-day listing of all the creative things we're doing around here.  If I did that, I wouldn't have time for all that nurturing I want to do ...

So, welcome to the week-at-a-glance version of NCD ....

• on my needles: I have just started another project for the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program;  the Season-spanning Cardi I was working on last week is ready to be pattern-drafted and sent off to KP!
• on the craft table: I have some sewing to do; we spent the weekend helping a dear friend make her aprons for her Dominican postulancy and that got String Bean and I plotting sewing projects -- skirts, tops and jumpers for summertim.
• on the kitchen counter: I have chicken thawing for making the only kind of chicken LegoManiac will eat:  MaryM's Clinkerdagger recipe.  I'm planning what we'll make to celebrate St. Louis Marie deMontfort on Wednesday, St. Catherine of Siena on Thursday and St. Joseph's Day on Saturday ... LOVE being Catholic!
• in the garden: I have seedlings coming up, transplanted azalea that needs to be nursed along, more tilling to get the front garden ready for flowers.  At least with the rain we had today, the ground is a bit easier to work
• in the school-room: String Bean and I are working on her Co-op History project on Martha Washington's contributions to the American Revolution -- we have till Wednesday to make her mob-cap, a petticoat for her skirt, baked goods to tantalize the audience, and a script to write and memorize.  We're all working on creative projects to surprise Dad on feast of St. Catherine of Siena -- she's Rick's patron saint this year and we've got some great ideas up our sleeves having to do with food, crafts and a bit of fun!

So what are you doing to nurture creativity in your home? 

BTW, my goal ... that is "my target" ... that is "my hope" ... is that every Monday I'll be posting a NCD-week at a glance to keep myself honest and ensure we're always nurturing creativity around here ....

A New Daybook: Nurturing Creativity in the Heart of My Home

I started up a group over at Kind Conversations called Nurturing Creativity (which is also the subtitle of my book, In His Image).  We'll be sharing how we nurture creativity in our homes and helping each other along. 

One thing I started to day is a kind of "daybook" for creativity .... here's my NCDaybook for April 21st:

• on my needles I have an almost finished sweater for Knit Picks Independent Designer Program;  
• on the craft table I have some items I need to finish for my quarterly craft column in the summer issue of mater-et-magistra  
• on the kitchen counter I have bread rising for dinner tonight  (Fr. G is coming so we're having a feast of roast beast, homemade bread, brownies (chocolate and blondies), and great conversation)
• in the garden I have seeds just waiting for the warmth of the sun (and the much needed rain we're getting today) to burst into life; I have ground that needs tilling to plant some more seeds ; I have transplants from a fellow-homeschooler's garden that need nurturing to get them started in this Virginia clay 
• in the school-room I have plans for letting the three littles write/direct/produce their own version of St. George and the Dragon for Friday evening entertainment!

So what creative things are you working on today .....