Voices From the Couch

From surfing the blogs, I came upon one of Carolina Cannonball's recent entries by the title's name. She got it from another blogger who I've read through The Crescat, Terry Nelson.

The rules: write whatever comes to mind about yourself.

Blogging - Well, that's pretty much what I've been doing. This blog is my third one and the only blog thus far that I've updated more regularly than any of the others. My other blog is about communication topics (which I will not bore you by telling you where it is. Honestly. The site has cobwebs hanging in the corner.) My second blog is an anonymous blog about scrapbooking which is actually a pretty hilarious hobby. I basically poke fun at those who take it waaaay too seriously.

Scrapbooking - I love it but I don't have enough time for it. It's the only way my creativity is still breathing, if even in short gasps. I love color, photography, fonts...(oy...fonts...) and title work. I just love it all. I do however wonder what some of our relatives will think when in the future they look at some nameless/dateless photo of an adorable kid that just has the words, "live. love. laugh." below it and think, what in the world...??

Coming Home - It has made a big difference in my language. Seriously. I used to have quite a sailor's mouth. Now I think of the Virgin Mary looking down at me and saying, "You're going to say the Rosary to me with that mouth?" Eek. No, my Lady...but please forgive my husband. He's worse. (But then again, he's not Catholic and doesn't even feel an iota of the hairy-eyeball feeling I get when I know I'm dangerously close to sinning.)

Mom - The death of my mother has affected me in ways I never expected. I do know coming back to the Catholic church is part of it. But after she passed away last year, I had this huge ginormous combo of both middle-age angst and grief. I realized I simply could not work in an office anymore. Or a 9-5 type of job, which I had at that time. I was working in a warehouse, which was a first for me. I do have a college degree but then so did some of my co-workers in the warehouse. I took the job at the warehouse about three years ago to get away from the office. I thought my dream of self-employment was just around the corner and I basically wanted a job where I clocked in and out...on. the.dot. No more staying after 6:00 PM to "get caught up." Yeesh...I loathed that.

I had been wanting to quit, hoping I had my ducks in order, but two years went by and nothing. Then, my mom passed away in March. Suddenly, everything changed. I asked my husband what he thought of me working several part-time jobs doing what I loved if it brought us the income we needed. He was good with it. And he's been a treasure, even when things were a little tight for some months. But so far, it's working.

My jobs - Yes, I have several . One is cleaning homes. My brother and father think I'm a bit mad to do something like this. They think I'm wasting my talents. But I'm not. Cleaning is almost like meditation for me. No one bothers me. I get in. I get out. And my mind has time to absorb whatever it wants during that time, which are often ideas for writing. I also have time to pray as I clean. My other job is working at a craft store so I can get a discount on my art supplies and interact with creative people. I just love creative people. Then I do some professional speaking on the side (on communication). And I teach digital scrapbooking. And occasionally sell Pampered Chef because I love to cook and I love their products and recipes. All I can say is that all of it gives me joy in one respect or the other and it sure as heck (heh) beats working in an office.

Punk Girl - I was a punk before punk was cool. Ha! Not quite. I was a mish-mash of punk/alternative but yet waaaay to happy to be taken seriously by the tragically hip crowd. However, I did bemuse many on occasion and burned the dance floors like few could.

Fonts - I'm returning to this because fonts are very important to me. I have over 1,000 on my laptop and desktop. My husband thinks I'm insane and should delete some of them. I say no, they're like my babies. I can't part with "A Year's Supply of Fairy Cakes" because I just know someday I'm going to use it again on a layout! Fonts are the heart of my eye's expressions. I've been known to fret for an hour over the choice of font for my layout.

Did I say I make fun of people like me? Yes, I believe I did...

Comedy - I've always secretly wished I could be a comedian but know this will never be because 1) I always mess up the punchlines and 2) I laugh at my own jokes and 3) I'm usually only funny by accident or when everyone else was either drunk or stoned enough to laugh at my lame antics. Still, I dream.