Creative Dash to 2011

It's been a week bursting with creative output. First there was a phone call late last week from Kelly at American Seating to see if I could write a brochure. Needing new tires, I quickly said yes but in true advertising fashion, it was needed "yesterday." After a crash course in chairs, I rolled it out and am waiting to hear from her for further edits.

Then there was the catalog job I agreed to in November. After writing a couple of pages for input, I waited to hear if I was on the right track. And waited... I finally got the okay, but since I had a deadline looming, I hit the computer the minute the baby started napping and yesterday completed the 36 pager. Whew!

Then there was the push to finish Christmas shopping. Since packages need to be shipped to family across the country, we needed to be done early. Also, three very important presents had to be handmade. I'm proud of how beautiful everything turned out. I can't reveal too much here, but there was some framing and beadwork involved.

And once all those presents were made or purchased, they needed to be wrapped. I'm sorry to say this was no artistic endeavor, it was pure assembly line. One after another, cut, wrap, tag, next. If I ran out of paper, I started a new roll. If it was an awkward item, I went tissue, gift bag, tag, and toss under the tree. At one point I was desperate for Buddy the Elf cheer, as I needed the kind of energy rush one could get from spaghetti and maple syrup. Blurry-eyed and achy ankles, I whimpered at 9pm on Friday night "this is the last one."

Yes -- under the tree! That went up on Monday, trimmed in toddler friendly oranments. It's Will's tree too, and he needs to enjoy it as much as anyone. So on the lower branches are soft, cuddly ornaments; bright, sparkly plastic snowflakes; santa heads with fluffy beards; bendy toys and wooden pieces. If he wants to play with the ornaments, he can.

I was invited to a cooking making party, which I went to after judging a skating competition. Me -- bake?! After the pumpkin pie debacle of 2001, the cookie pucks of 2003, the cereal "bars" of 2004 and of course the sugar-free cherry pie disaster of 2007, I have passed pastry duties onto Dave. Still, I wanted to contribute some sort of sweet to the production. I brought marshmallows, chocolate, candy canes and recreated one of my favorite treats from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company. It took me longer to shop for the supplies than it did to make them. All I did was line the marshmallows in a baking sheet, drizzle them with chocolate and top them with shards of candy canes while the choclate was still liquid. I've already drawn raves, so I think I will be making another batch and already thinking about how to improve them.

What's in store for the next week? The upcoming Christmas skating show, for which I will be performing "We Need a Little Christmas." A houseguest from Chicago coming in for the show. Housecleaning. Planning a mahnu (I'm watching "Father of the Bride") for Christmas. Getting giftcards for the babysitters. Tough love on the closet for Cara's visit. Continuing to train for skating and my 5K. Sleep, maybe a couple of soothing baths too.