My "Doodle It 100 Times Challenge"

I have come up with a challenge for myself based on something I read about on an artists blog. She said she will draw 100 versions of an icon/element as it helps her explore variations, ideas and to grow, etc. So I decided I am going to doodle various objects and doodle 100 of each object.

It kind of reminds me of when I used to do Muay Thai kickboxing and I had to kick the heavy bag 100 times with each leg. That was a challenge.

So, my first object is mushrooms. I have now doodled 17 mushrooms....and I am going crazy. I actually want to scream. (I know, that's silly.) I am not used to doodling. I am not used to drawing on paper. Ack!

It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. But I knew when I read that post on that artists blog that this would be a serious challenge for me. Even though I am not taking it too seriously because I am just trying to do simple doodles rather than draw something I would actually try to use in actual art or such. I am just being sloppy and messy and not putting too much thought into it (or rather *trying* not to put too much thought into it would be more accurate)...but it is such a struggle for me. It is strangely pushing myself way out of my comfort zone.

I like drawing vector art because it is easier for me to fix, tweak, adjust things to how I like it. I can delete things if they are really bad or make little adjustments using the "handles and nodes" on the lines I've drawn to adjust them to "just right" or "close enough." Paper on the other hand isn't as forgiving. Drawing on paper with a pen is even less so. I am trying to open myself up to letting go and just *do*. I think one reason why I don't doodle is I don't like to see my "mistakes" on paper. I don't like seeing that record of something I drew that doesn't look very good. Even though it is just a doodle and isn't supposed to look good. It makes me feel raw.

This is a really crappy picture, but here is what I have so far...17 or 18 mushrooms (I've done some clusters of mushrooms and I am counting each cluster as just one mushroom). Not only is the picture crappy, but you can tell that most of my doodles are crappy too. Which in a way, for me is kind of the point...to let go of perfection and "just do something." I spend too much time not doing things because I want to do things "a certain way"...maybe not perfectly, but to a certain level of standards I have in my own mind that is high enough that I quit before I start or shortly after I start and so I never finish. I am at a point in my life that finishing is more important than doing a good job. Once I get used to finishing things, and not be so intimidated by finishing things...then I can focus more and the level of skill and care involved.

As hard as this challenge is for me, even though I have just started it, I am also already loving it. I really am liking the push it gives me. It reminds me of when I have really been pushed in the past and made breakthroughs in what I can accomplish...those events have been rare in my life and I cherish them. It is up to me to make so I have more opportunities to experience events like them more often. Push myself beyond my own boundaries...even if it's just with simple doodles.

The Zen of Squidoo and the Art of Google-Fu

It has been a really long time (literally years) since I last wrote in this blog.

Recently some things have been happening at a site called Squidoo.com where I have written some content at. Things are in upheaval at Squidoo, Google and elsewhere. People are upset, worried or angry about things that are happening or may happen.

I've found myself responding to some things others are saying about what is going on and I wanted to share those thoughts with others because they apply to so many things, while much of it applies to those writing online for income a lot of it applies to almost anything in life.


Here is some of what I wrote in reply to someone asking if it worth their energy to continue writing at Squidoo because there may be future upheavals.



Whether you have your own websites or write on websites you don't own, like Squidoo, you will face upheavals. Spammers and scammers make so search engines like Google have to constantly change their algorithms so that they can give their users the best results (or become obsolete). Technology improves, resulting in changing algorithms and more, so upheavals results from those as well.

No matter what you do to earn money, whether online or offline, whether you work for yourself or someone else...there is a good chance you will face upheavals. People get laid off as new technology or competitors come along, as the economy goes in a natural flow of up and down and sometimes goes through an unnatural flow of up and down. Hackers take down servers, a war happens in a country you never heard of...but it costs a supplier money, which costs your employer or you more money, and it effects your earnings. Some things are less likely to have upheavals that others, or the upheavals are minor by comparison. Those that have the most potential for upheavals probably have the most rewards as well as risks.

The more you see it as stressful the more energy it will take from you. The more you can see it as part of "what is" and be at peace with it, the more you can flow with it and channel your energy more constructively and positively into growth and have either equal energy or even more energy.

In another part of the discussion I added:
There are only a few things in life I have control of, and that largely consists of myself and my thoughts (which then control my feelings and actions). I am learning that accepting "what is" puts me in a place of power, instead of being thrown off balance.

Much of this sort of philosophy I have learned elsewhere, but it is being reinforced by my experiences at Squidoo and with what has been going on with Google over the past few years (with their Penguins and Pandas). It is something that applies to all of life, online and off. Change is constant, like water moving in the ocean, water flowing in the stream.

Bruce Lee is well known for reciting these lines he wrote for a role he played in a tv series called Longstreet. I hope they will serve you like they have served me. 

"Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

$25

Back in 2007 saw the documentary by BYU called Small Fortunes about the subject of microcredit. If you ever get the chance to see it I highly recommend watching it. http://www.pbs.org/kbyu/smallfortunes/index.html

I then found out about a microloan/microcredit setup called Kiva.org.

While not perfect, microloans and microcredit are one of the most successful methods tried for helping people get out of poverty. The repayments of microloans and microcredit are very high, considerably higher than that of traditional loans to businesses. They have an advantage over traditional charity in that people are more likely to be lifted up out of poverty rather than getting just a handout that helps them for a short time, but not usually long term.

So I did my research on Kiva. Looking up online articles including news articles, blog posts, and reviews about them to make sure that they were legitimate, reputable, and that I felt comfortable with them.

I was excited about this way in which I could help entrepreneurs in impovrished or third world countries. The idea of helping entrepreneurs is important to me because I have long had my own dreams of starting a business. To help someone else who has the same dream is awesome. Depending on the part of the world you are loaning to, the loan may even be as small as $5 for someone to start their own business. Most women receiving these loans start their businesses because they want to improve the lives of their children, to feed them and clothe them, and help them to receive education.

So in August 2007 I lent the small amount of $25 to a woman in Mexico looking to expand her business, other lenders joined me to complete the rest of the amount she was asking for. I sent invites out to my friends about it and quickly got emails telling me I was probably falling for a scam.

So I just went about my life as usual. Periodically I would get updates telling of her progress and when she had repaid parts of her loan. And in February 2008 I received notice that her loan had been fully repaid. It was great to know I was able to help this woman and her family. I was then given the choice to receive my money back, or to re-loan it.

It's now four years later. Since it's once again August I find it fitting I have just received notice that another loan has been fully repaid. It has come full circle. That same $25 has now helped four women in four different countries to help them and their families out of poverty. Though it's not a lot I have now loaned $100 through Kiva...but always with that same $25.

So now I am about to search for yet another recipient for that $25 and hope that it will help them achieve their dreams as well, just as it has for these five (yes, I'm including me) women.

Follow Your Own Rules!

I think this is so cool! I created my first skateboard design using Zazzle.com today!

Here's the link.
http://www.zazzle.com/my_own_rules_skateboard-186973657444045909

There's a story here...

When I was a teenager I really wanted to learn to skateboard. But I didn't know any girls who rode a skateboard. And I was super shy and not doing *anything* to call attention to myself was my own self imposed taboo. (Well, I occasionally let myself dress a little wild. I remember wearing a military jacket and a pair of tall black boots from the 60s that I'd found at thrift stores. But by then I had convinced myself I was so invisible people wouldn't notice what I wore...just what I did.) And I was too caught up in believing I had to "follow the rules" i.e. what I thought others expected of me...and skateboarding was the last thing people expected of me. Everyone always described me as shy, nice, sweet and reserved...not that crazy girl who does things like ride skateboards. I thought I had to live up to the descriptions everyone gave of me, despite the inner angst that I wanted to live a life of something different, something more.

I'm now 36 and a part of me says... "Even though I know there are some women my age who skateboard, they've been doing it a long time and it's probably a little more acceptable for girls/women to skateboard where they live (i.e. California). I'm too old to take it up for the first time now." But then I am reminded of the quote by George Eliot (the pen name of a woman named Mary Anne Evans who wrote under the pseudonym of a man so she could follow her dreams of being taken seriously as a writer) that says, "It's never too late to be who you might have been."

So, maybe someday I'll take up skateboarding. In the meantime, there are other ways in which I'll follow what it says on that skateboard design I created...I'll follow my own rules. I am a thrift store fashion lover. I'm a fan of anime and kickboxing. I love romantic home decor...if it's pink and has roses on it I'm almost certain to love it. I'm eclectic and paradoxical. I now am also a part-time writer, and dabbler as an artist/designer for t-shirts and other things, and I've got plans in the works to start my own dream business that I envision being quirky and cool at the same time.

I definitely don't fit in a box or template of anyone's making...except God's.

Yeah, I'm starting to follow my own rules of how I want to be living.

What you find at thrift stores...

Isn't it amazing what you can find at thrift stores?
My mom had three floral plates from a trunk her great grandparents. They have no markings so they probably are not something special. But they are pretty. The kind I am attracted to.
So a week or so ago I was at the Deseret Industries thrift store and I spied the plate that you see here...a plate that is exactly like the kind from my great grandparents, except it's in better condition. It's now sitting on the plate rack in my mother's dining room with the original three.
As the in store ads at Deseret Industries would say, shopping there is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you'll get. (Yes, it seems they stole that from Forrest Gump.)

Wild Junk

Tuesday my friend Stephen and his dad and I went to an "I am running away from home sale." This turned out to be quite an adventure and not your usual yard sale.
The man lived in a double wide mobile home that was being foreclosed on and was selling almost everything inside and outside the house. The place was trashed and frankly filthy...it was the kind of place many of my friends would run away from the moment they saw it.

There wasn't much there I was interested in (although I wish I could have gotten the old dresser and night stand he had inside).
But outside was a pile of stuff that had belonged to someone whose RV had broken down. And he just left what he couldn't take in this man's yard. So this man told us that everything in the pile was free. The first thing I spotted was this odd creature staring out at me from underneath the pile. I did not take him home with me, but I did pull him of the mess so I could take his picture.

While Stephen and his dad went to the shed to look at what was in the shed I started digging through the pile. It was covered in snow. Within minutes my gloves were soaked wet and probably worthless. I took them off...and lost them at some point. But I found, and came home with, the oddest pieces of junk. One of the first things I spied was some groovy looking fabric. I pulled it out and saw that it was a hippie looking shirt from the 60s. One of Stephen's friends is in charge of the costumes for the plays put on at the local university and I knew she needed stuff from that era for the next play they'll be doing. So that was the first awesome score I made.
This pile had the most eclectic mix of stuff. There were drawers of clothings, coffee cans filled with nuts and bolts, spray paint, stuffed animals, electric razors, bars of soap, etc. But I found some "good" junk too.

I found a plastic tray that had lots of vintage buttons (I am so loving these buttons), rocks (including a nice hunk of amethyst crystals...this is great since my dad loves stuff like this) , and just weird things like parts for musical gadget piggy banks (put a coin through and it triggers music...because they're old some of them are dying so the music sounds hilarious when it starts to play). When I got home and sorted through the stuff in this tray I also found a Storm Trooper's head. For some reason I thought that was one of the best things in the tray other than the buttons.

I also got a cool old, metal milk crate (which was handy to carry all the junk I got). There was a vintage lamp (that works). Some neat old tins and oil cans. A very old, gold picture frame. An old colander and bottle opener. And a coffee can full of mini liquor bottles...that aren't old...I have no idea what I am going to do with them. And many other miscellaneous things that I can't recall.

Stephen got a crate full of stuff out of the pile too. But he's more practical than me and ended up with things like paint rollers that were still in their packaging. And his crate wasn't an old, metal one like mine.

Stephen gave the guy five bucks for the stuff we took, even though he said it was free. (Stephen's an awesome guy that way and I was thinking of doing the same, but he beat me to it.)

Now despite the fact that it seems like I picked up a lot of absolute junk, I should be able to sell most of it. The milk crate and the buttons alone made the whole trip and picking through some odd things worthwhile.

It was a totally fun day for an oddball like me.

...In a Flash...

So, as some of you know, awhile ago I began to be interested in round knitting looms. And I even made my own knitting looms out of tin cans and cotter pins or nails. I even wrote instructions on how to make your own here.

But then I came across a blog here that had instructions for a unique way of making what the author calls flexible knitting looms. These looms are flexible because lack a frame. They are made up of pegs (made from things like ball point pens or cocktail stirrers), beads that are used as spacers, and rubber bands to hold it all together.

In my opinion, based on the ones I made, they are a little bit awkward to use. But still they have their advantages. Including being able to make them any size you want...just add more pegs and you have a larger loom for larger items.

Using the flexible knitting loom idea I made a mini-loom with less than a dozen plastic cocktail stirrers and some hair rubber bands I got at the grocery store, some pony beads from the craft store. I also made one that creates smaller stitches by using nails as my pegs...kinda odd, but it works. And with these mini knitting looms I made a couple "flash drive or Chapstick cozies."

Pictured here is a knit little cozy that holds my flash drive. The cozy is attached to my keys so I hopefully won't lose this one like I did my other one (which I think fell out of my purse).

It's made out of some blue and brown, nubby like yarn that I found at the thrift store and then added an old button to close it and keep it's contents secure inside.

Not only does this little cozy hold a flash drive, but, because of it's small size, it's something that can be knitted up in a flash too.