Belewville Gallery

 

 

Old Pumpkin = New Christmas Decor

Don't throw your pumpkins away after Halloween or Thanksgiving.  Dress them up and give them a second life with some spray paint and silk flowers.

I've kept it simple with white spray paint and a poinsettia and pine sprig, but you can use gold  or silver or even glittered spray paint.

These pumpkins have been a part of my outdoor decor from September to December this year.

Talk about stretching your dollar.

Christmas On The Farm

When your living is dependent on the cattle market or the weather, it seems that it is often feast or famine.  Being one of six children of a farmer/rancher, I can tell you that results of these less than dependable factors can be glaringly obvious at Christmas time.

My parents, though, were smart and resourceful and always made the most of what we had at the time.  I never really knew which year was feast and was which was famine.  Instead of dragging us along to shop among the throngs of frantic holiday-goers or fretting about excessive decorating, my parents chose to spend more time over more money and gave us holiday memories that still echo in my heart 20+ years later.

Each Christmas, we would load up and make the two hour trip to the Christmas tree farm where we would drink hot chocolate around a large outdoor fire and ride in a horse drawn buggy among the rows of fragrant green trees.  They would let us choose the perfect tree and then we cut it down ourselves and drug it to the cart path where it was picked up and loaded on our car.

Once situated in our living room, the smell of pine permeated the entire house - an amazing scent that meant the Christmas season had begun.  After stringing it with twinkling white lights and covering it with years worth of accumulated ornaments, we would often drink eggnog and watch Christmas movies.

Thinking back, I couldn't tell you what gifts I received or what kind of holiday goodies were baked or even how the house was decorated, but I can vividly remember cutting down our own Christmas tree and the warmth and togetherness that it inspired each year.

Take the opportunity this holiday season to purchase quality memories with your time, just as you purchase quality gifts with your money.  Many years down the road, your family will remember the things you did together, even when the memories of the gifts purchased and money spent have been long faded.

Prairie Tempest

I watch as the clouds billow and rumble overhead. The oppression of the sun's ominous fury has been squelched by these merciful pewter masses.  Leaves scorched by drought and sun swirl slowly to the ground as a soft breeze begins to ripple over the prairie grass and through the Honey Locust trees.

The farm is eerily quiet - not a bellowing cow or a chirping cricket - just the sound of the wind.  The sweet smell of impending rain is muddled by the acrid stench and sage brush and ripe vines full of gourds.  Though half devoured by this summer's plague of ravenous grasshoppers, they still manage to perfume the air with their strange familiarity.

As the windmill at the old Thomas place creaks and groans back to life in the wind, I wonder what early settlers on this prairie thought when these thunderheads rolled across the plains.  Today, this late afternoon prairie tempest has stirred the drought stricken prairie to life. Against the slate colored sky, the golden grasses of the dry fields almost seem green.  The barn cats have began to mingle in the yard and the pasture cows are now grazing up against the fence nearest the house.  They know what is coming.

I look at the row of mangled trees just across the dirt road from our farm house and consider, with reverent respect, the potential fury that I know exists in the Oklahoma sky.  The booming clouds draw nearer and speak louder and I am reminded of the security of our storm cellar.  As the plains interact with the wind and the rumbling sky, it paints a picture of a much younger prairie.  From my seat on the porch, all I can see is sage brush and love grass whipping and nodding in the breeze.  I see a trail that the cattle have tromped that slinks and wanders into a large thicket.

A wall of clay colored dust  rises from the thirsty road and pings and scuttles as it hits our prairie home and metal outbuildings with stinging force and at this moment, I know what my great grandfather felt as he looked out on this very same rugged piece of land almost 100 years ago.  I connect with this land in the same way you connect with an old friend.  No matter how long you are away, when you finally meet again, it feels like you never left.  I am comforted and reassured that just as the storms and and tempests of life may bring destruction and desolation, in this moment, this prairie tempest reminds me of where I came from and who I really am.

Click For Inspiration

Now, this is obviously not me, but this is how I feel when I know I have a lot to get done!

There are so many things throughout the course of a day that truly need my attention, that I have absolutely NO desire to do.  Being your own boss has lots of perks, but for this country girl, there is one huge drawback - MOTIVATION!  Whether you're a freelance writer like me, a seasoned artist, a craft connoisseur or even a stay at home mom, you probably thrive with the adequate motivation.  So, to help us all, I've put together a list of things that inspire me.  I hope some will inspire you, too!

Disclaimer: If you are one of those energetic do-it-yourselfers who don't need caffeine in the morning and never let the dirty dishes pile up in the sink, this list is probably not for you.

Here's a quarter... call someone who cares...
When I am lacking inspiration and just need to feel a little better about procrastinating, there are two people I call.  They let me bounce my big (and sometimes crazy) ideas around.  They give me feed back.  They tell me that some things just take time.  We may talk for five minutes or we may talk for an hour, but I always hang up feeling a surge of motivation to tackle whatever it is I am dreading.  Thanks, Mom and Tiff... for listening!

Catch a flick...
This may sound really strange, but when I am needing true creative inspiration, I watch movies that I loved from my childhood - and some more recent ones that I like for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Now, granted, this does nothing for me when I need to do the dishes -- except for giving me an extra hour and a half-long time frame in which to NOT do dishes. 
It always lends inspiration when I need to write or put together some create savvy business idea.  This is probably due to the fact that these movies always remind me of the magic of my childhood.  The following short list is a sample of some of the many movies I go to when I need a pick-me-up.  Some are more current than others and some are markedly strange, I'll admit.  I can't guarantee that they will work for you, but if you think back, you probably already have your own list.

• Anne Of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea
• You've Got Mail
• The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (the old one from the 70's)
• Hocus Pocus
• Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
• Sleepy Hollow
• Drive Me Crazy
• Twilight (yes... all of them... I know... don't judge)
• Beauty and the Beast
• Tombstone
• 19 Kids and Counting
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
• 200 Cigarettes
• Dirty Dancing
• 16 Candles
• Son In Law
• Pride and Prejudice
• The Importance of Being Earnest
• Persuasion
• Reality Bites
• The Parent Trap (not the new one... the 1960 version)

Get OUT!
Sometimes all I have to do is leave the confines of my home and smell the fresh air to find inspiration.  I'm sure my snooty suburban neighbors find it strange that I sit in a lawn chair in my front yard and work on my laptop or read a magazine.  Take time to enjoy what's around you, like the sunset or the stars or the sounds and smells of the great outdoors. (Side note: If you are my neighbor and you are actually reading this, I'm sorry for calling you snooty.  Seeing that I have only actually had the opportunity to meet a grand total of four families in my neighborhood, I don't think there is much danger there.)

Sunsets at my suburban abode don't even compare to sunsets on the prairie.

Change gears...
I can make myself sit at my computer all day and write.  It makes me cranky and grumpy and has caused me to gain a lovely 10 pounds that I am still trying to work off.  Bleh.  I have discovered that not only is my writing better when I change gears every hour or so, but my rear end fares far better as well.  It's true.
I try to switch between sitting activities and standing ones.  Sometimes I do the dishes (only because I have to, not because I like to), sometimes I work in the yard, sometimes I clean house, sometimes I just go out and play with the kids.  Work, play, work, play... this is supposed to be fun, right?

If you have to have neighbors, you may as well enjoy them, talking to other adults during the day often boosts my creative juices... and breaks the pattern of reading Dr. Seuss books and refereeing kids scuffles.

Take a break...
This is by far my favorite tool for inspiration.  I give myself complete release to do something frivolous.  When you work for yourself, every minute that you are not working, you are not making money.  I used to feel very guilty if I wasn't at my computer, pecking away, writing mundane article after mundane article.  Now, I realize that if I sit down and watch TV for an hour or browse at Hobby Lobby without feeling guilty about it, those mundane articles become a little less mundane and my work pace actually improves.

These solutions may sound simple, but actually doing them when you have an entire to-do list with nothing actually checked off yet, can be a challenge.  Take the challenge and chill out, do things backwards... as my dad always says just before the last steer has been worked, "If you girls would have started with this one, we'd have been done a long time ago."  Thanks, Bob.