sam's blog

1. Growing grass- the lawn kind, not the other kind. I have been trying to grow a lush green lawn to create a barefoot backyard kind of paradise. I have actually rototilled (sp?) half the yard, had topsoil delivered and raked the heck out of it, planted bags of seed, only to get them half-started and let it all crisp come August. This is my 4th year trying to grow grass. I am slowly accepting and embracing my somewhat slacker/overly busy life. I bought a hose timer, a hose splitter, and two brand new lengths of hose. I hooked them up and set the timer for twice a day, for one hour. It was awesome. Things started turning green, and yippy I didn't have to remember to water it. I raked, seeded, and even covered it all with straw. The first bag of seed didn't take. I returned it, bought another bag. Reseeded, re-raked, reset the timer. It started to take...and the punk neighbors broke the $25 buck hose timer that was practically indestructible and so awesome. Bummer. I seethed for a few days. My kid, accidentally broke the backyard $3 sprinkler that managed to cover 3/4 of the yard. I seethed for a few more days. I ranted, raved, and bought a new sprinkler at a bargain store. The new sprinkler leaked and sputtered, but did not really water beyond a 5 foot puddle. Yesterday I bought a new metal sprinkler and the $9 timer, and set it all up. It sputtered and leaked. I popped a leftover washer in that sprinkler this morning after an unrelated disaster. And....ahhhh. Waters the hole lawn perfectly for 120 minutes without my intervention. Beautimous. Come fall I will seed, rake and pray again.

2. My basement is exceptionally wet, with too much groundwater bubbling up. I have worked my ass of for 4 years to get the moisture down. I regraded the side of the house, finally had it paved, sealed the driveway, added hand packed asphalt to the corners that dipped to low, and it was better, but not good enough, still a danger of growing mold. The 20 + year old workhorse hand me down dehumidifier crapped out this year. I bought a new one, biggest the store had, and it worked...but required twice daily emptying of the bucket. As I am slowly accepting and embracing my somewhat slacker/overly busy life, I decided not to berate myself for not emptying it often enough to keep the basement below 90% humidity, I decided to solve the problem in a slacker mama friendly way. I asked everyone I knew, and finally figured out how to cut my washer drain pipe, fit a Y PVC pipe part into the drain pipe, and a thingamajigger to keep it from overflowing with the washer draining. $20 bucks, and some creative (read Clampett-style cob-jobbing), I managed to get the dehumidifier up above the drain, and it now drains into the pipe on its own. Humidity down to 60%, and energy efficient to boot. The puddles on the floor dried up and the wet uh-oh smell dissipated. And the best part is, I don't have to think about it at all anymore. With one more driveway sealing, the basement wetness problem will be rightly solved for a good while. Ahhhh....one less thing to think about.

Kinda silly and small things, but they have really eased some of the mental chatter. I hope all's well with y'all this evening. If anyone has solved a problem lately in a creative, slacker-mama friendly way, I'd love to hear about it.

Hi all.

Art has somehow infiltrated my life lately, in such a good way. Other things have been really difficult lately, and the little infusions of accomplishment and awe at the beauty I created in my "spare" time are giving me little much needed boosts. I said a few months back to a friend, when work was going terribly, that since I couldn't do much more to fix the work situation, and the more i tried, the more I focused on the work issues, the more they grew. With each work snafu, failure, clash of the minds, misunderstanding miscommunication, I redoubled my efforts, and yet the issues multiplied, like the fur on the vegetables I buy each week to keep us healthy and forget in the bottom drawer of the fridge. I said that it seemed like I needed to diversify my portfolio, focus a bit on other areas of my life that I can control, and can get some sense of accomplishment, fun, reason for being from.

I felt like such a failure in all areas lately. As a chronic overachiever to keep the wolves of my inner critic at bay, minor mistakes nibbled away at my sense of worth. So this little blooming of my artistic endeavors that I keep tucked away, squirreled into odd bits of time, and then promptly forget (or deny they exist, as they seem so frivolous, when I have "real" things to do). The whole time I work on a project, I pretend I'm not working on it, or that it's silly, just some sort of little craft project to occupy my time. Not actual art, couldn't be, I'm not an artist. My work is unimportant, childish, unfinished, imperfect, sub par.

The children's book I wrote for my son is almost ready. The illustrator is finishing it up in the next few weeks, and then it's on to the adventures of self publishing. I'm amazed at what the illustrator has done and so astonished that the book is wonderful. The illustrator is so happy with it that she is bringing it to a Publishing fair, and her agent to have a look at. I see all the cracks and crevices, changes to be made, but all in all it's amazing, this little book of mine.

I was sitting at work, teeth gritted, muscles already tense only an hour into the day, gearing up for the daily battle that has become my "real job". After a particularly difficult task, I popped over to my personal email, just to get a minute or two of distraction before continuing to trudge through. There was an email from my former art teacher. "Congratulations! Your film has been accepted into the WAM film festival." The what? I didn't enter any film festivals, I don't even make films.

A digital story I made a few years back in a local art class and promptly forgot about, resurfaced this week. I got an email that my digital story was accepted into the WAM! Film Festival, which looks positively awesome. The strangest part is I didn't enter the film festival. The class's teacher entered a few films in for consideration on a whim, and mine was accepted, along with another student's. I had no idea she had even entered it. I am so psyched to go and check out the Film Festival to see what others are up to. One full day of hanging out with other amazing women artists child free for a night, is just what the doctor ordered. I didn't think of myself as an artist. I have these "little hobbies" that I sometimes (foolishly says my brain and my family) indulge in. The foolish little hobbies keep me sane, and apparently my work is interesting to others. I have always appreciated the Hipmamas support for my writing, be it an intentionally crafted piece, or a mental vomit to relieve the pressure of my life. Thanks for keeping me going in the art direction. It seems to be paying off, even if it's only in keeping me sane.

I hope all the mamas are able to carve out some good solid mama time just to be, or create or whatever makes your soul sing.

PS- If anyone will be around the Boston area, I would love to meet some other hipmamas. Check out the Film Festival info at http://www.womenactionmedia.org/events/boston/