Chief Executive Mom

Visit me at my new website - anniecrawford.com My mother is a wonderful artist and musician. She is actually a professional pianist, jewelry maker and speaker on creativity (web site). Growing up she always collected all kinds of creative mediums, pens, paints, metallics, papers, waxes, stamps, etc . . . Whenever I mentioned a project or something I might like to make, she grew very excited and proceeded to tell me all kinds of things I could do, to gleefully list for me all the endless possibilities. I would get so overwhelmed I would immediately shut down, say forget it and quit. I never learned piano for the same reason. Money was always tight (except for the art materials, eh?) and so mom figured, why spend money paying a piano teacher when she was one?! Problem is, she would sit me down and show me the circle of fifths and how with a few basic chords I could improvise all kinds of things. Mother! I cried, ahhhhhhhh! What happened to scales and chopsticks??

Needless to say, I am easily overwhelmed by options. I never really did pick a major in college. Abundance of options is my greatest obstacle in blogsphere participation. There are SO many blogs out there! I take one look at a blogroll like TulipGirl's (great site) and I feel like I would rather clean the kitchen than explore it. I write this all to say, if you visit here or link to my blog and I don't return the link, it isn't because I don't like you or your blog! I am a minimalist and I feel the need to only link to blogs I really read regularly, and so far that isn't very many. Lately I am also wondering, how do all these mom's find so much time to blog?! It probably doesn't help me that I edit WAY too much. I actually bet my rough drafts are better because they are "in the flow". Then I start to chop them up with editing, but before polish can emerge, a child needs mommy and so they are posted all half-polished and choppy. At least there is a spell check on this thing! I can't spell worth beans.

Anyway . . . I am also working on a list of recommended "mommy books" as well as recipes. (I have a passion for healthy, good cooking.) On these lists, I will only be putting "the few, the chosen, the proud" because, again, I shy from abundance. It makes me dizzy. Thanks for your patience with me! My children are definately helping me learn to thrive and even enjoy chaos. I have been very proud of myself as we moved in a new house for not being bothered by piles of boxes, full and empty, still out after three weeks. (all contained in one or two rooms of course! :-) My bathroom has been dismantled and half painted for 5 days now and I don't care. See how mature I am getting? Of course, the walls are all still bare because I can't figure out where to hand anything. Those blank walls just taunt me with too many options! And my mother has learned just to start a project for me and then I will start to copy and cary what she started for me. Sweet woman, isn't she!