"List-maker, list-maker, make me a list..."

 Are you a list maker?

 I am.

 I live by my list. If I don't have half a dozen lists going at one time, I'm lost.

Here,

 I will list my lists for you. 

1. List of to-do's (lots of phone calls, cleaning, errands to run.) 

Yawn.

2. Grocery list (short this week because we are trying to eat our way through the food in the fridge before we leave to go back to Idaho.)

3. List of projects to complete (includes putting together a chandelier that needs to be re-wired to plug into the wall, re-covering my ironing board with fabric that doesn't look like it has been barfed on, making another burlap garbage can liner (sounds weird, but I swear, it really is cute), repaint canvas on living room wall, make a key ring hook to replace the four nails pounded into the sheet rock currently serving as our key ring hook (we're high class around here, yessirree.)

4. List of photos I want to take.

5. List of places I want to go.

6. List of books I want to read in the near future (there are currently 81 books on this list and counting...I add to this list daily with no end in sight...Hello, my name is Michelle and I am a bookaholic...)

7. List of character flaws I want to eradicate (there's something along the line of obsessive list-making on there.)

8.  List of things to take to Idaho.

9. List of things to bring back from Idaho.

and so on...

But I will share a little secret with you.

Sometimes...

when I'm really feeling especially frisky...

I ditch my list.

I do.

I go listless.

You should try it too.

It's positively...

EXHILARATING!

As for those of you who aren't list-makers,

well...

you don't know what you're missing out on.

The feeling of ditching your list, that is.

Art...books...a little slice of heaven.

I was in one of my favorite haunts the other day, and I came across this sweet little book and I just wanted to share. 

I thought it would make a great Mother's Day gift. 

hint...hint...

This book begs a very important question...

Which I will answer now.

Mothers should make time to create art because...

...because that's what keeps us out of the looney bin!

That's why.

Besides the fact that this book is visually stunning, what I love most about it is that it approaches creativity in a way that is not at odds with the idea of being a mother (and a wife) first. It gives practical advice on how to fit in stolen moments of time to explore and create. I realize that not all women have the desire to paint or sew or craft, but I do believe that we are all endowed with the desire to create in some form or another.

 After all, isn't that what mothers really are?

 Creators.  

It features several artist-mothers who share their secrets for integrating art into their normal, messy, laundry-laden lives. They too, have little unfinished masterpieces running around, demanding  attention.

Thing is...

They mother. 

They create. 

But they don't feel guilty about it.

They don't have to. 

They have priorities.

Wife.

Mother.

Artist.

Imagine that.