That's what my studio (er, my countertop) looked like when I came home from Art & Soul Portland. It's worse now. But it's worse because I'm working on the artist book, so I've piled on other stuff that I might use and that I'm definitely going to use.I'm not the neatest person, but I can only tolerate so much visual chaos. Then I have to clean up the mess, or set it on fire.
I'm a wee bit stressed for many reasons:
-- The Husband's birthday is this weekend. I've bought one present, but I need to get another, surprise present and wrap them.
-- His dad and stepmom are coming up for a fly-by. (They're not judgmental, and they stay in a hotel for the 24 hours they're up here. But no vacuum cleaner has disturbed our carpet in months. And we have a diaper pail near the front door.)
-- I've signed up to do the Holiday Craft Fair at work. That means I'm going to alter ten regular-sized composition notebooks, and ten more small ones. By November 29th.
-- I need to put together clever packaging for three other altered notebooks, so I can impress someone who might be interested in selling them in her shop. (My inside contact says that person's indicated it's all about the packaging.) I have a good idea, but I haven't done it yet.
-- I have a commission (my second!) that needs to be done. The client's very accommodating, but my sense of guilt... not so much.
And that doesn't include other things I should be doing, like:
-- Working out
-- Taking The Boy out more often, and setting up some play dates
OH CRAP. I just remembered my new niece's first birthday is coming up on November third. I need to send something!!!
Okay, now I'm going to do things completely out of a common-sensical, efficient order. Back to the artist book. I'm doing what I expect will be the hardest page -- maybe not technically, but the one that means the most and that I want to turn out the best. It's part of the chorus of "Someday":
We'll take a swim in the deep blue sea
I go to leave, but you reach for me
No pressure.