Reboot, please...

by Tracey Clem

 Today is one of those days when I very desperately need to go back to bed and start the day over. I usually feel like that when my Boys and I have had a particularly contentious morning. But today it is all me. Like if I can't get this day on track I might hurt myself. Not "hurt myself" like cause myself some kind of intentional bodily harm. More "hurt myself" like falling down the stairs. Or getting my arm caught in the washing machine. Or inadvertently chopping a finger off with a butter knife while making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Just like my brain is completely out to lunch and disconnected from my body. Chances are that is not going to end well.

I was supposed to write this article over the weekend, which sadly didn't get done...you know how life can get out of hand sometimes. No problem...the boys are in school this morning for a whopping 2.5 hours - I can crank it out while they're gone. So I sit down at my desk this morning to work on some art to include in the riveting article I was going to write about my new (*awesome*) Gelli plate.

But absolutely nothing worked.

The paint would dry on the plate before I could get paper down. The prints would come up all splotchy. The colors I mixed would be muddy. Not "good-grungy-muddy-with-hints-of-brilliant" muddy. More "I-dropped-this-paper-in-the-mud-then-used-it-to-wipe-my-shoes-on" muddy. Just ugly. Sometimes I would get paint on the plate and then put paper on it without having done anything to the paint - which means nothing happens. I could have just painted on the paper and saved a step. Once I printed a layer on a piece of paper, and then when I went to put the next layer on it, I printed it on the wrong side of the paper. So I stood up from my desk and decided a change of perspective would help. I gave myself a good mental shake, squeezed paint on the Gelli plate, started spreading it around...and promptly whisked the entire paint covered plate off of my desk and onto the floor and my favorite jeans.

Really?!?

So I just stopped. I cleaned up the mess, put the (*cursed*) Gelli plate away, threw my jeans in the wash, and sat down to write before I "hurt myself".

Most of the time, crafting, gluing, painting, playing is my happy place. The time where I breathe, pray, play and get my day settled and on track. And then every once in awhile it veers completely off-track and I need to just stop - and for the sake of personal safety and my favorite jeans - pour myself another cup of coffee, and go read a magazine or something.