About the name

Pie Problem by Shel Silverstein

If I eat one more piece of pie, I’ll die!

If I can’t have one more piece of pie, I’ll die!

So since it’s all decided I must die,

I might as well have one more piece of pie.

MMMM-OOOH-MY!

Chomp-Gulp-’Bye.

This poem is a silly metaphor for my current stage of life. I have so many personal interests, dreams, goals, ambitions - I want to do everything! Obviously, I can't. I also really can't stand not to feed my creative interests. It goes far beyond pie for me. Although, honestly, usually I have this exact problem with pie also!

The original goal for this blog was for it to be one of those amazing quilt blogs that eventually gets so popular and cool that people end up sponsoring it and supporting the woman who runs it in her fabric addiction. The truth is that a quilt blog is not sustainable for me for the simple reason that my interests, while they don't disappear, definitely have an ebb and flow. I am interested in so many things that this blog has to be open to exploring all of them if it will actually be an honest reflection of my personal creative journey. 

A lot of moms with young children are really fed by serving their families. I have found that along with serving my family (aka wiping substances off various orifices, being the most entertaining person in their lives, encouraging them to read, stroking their egos, nurturing their spirituality, and also doing a very high percentage of the mundane tasks that just have to be done in order to keep people fed, clothed, and safe) I also need frequent (VERY FREQUENT) bursts of "me" time in order to be the best mom, wife, and person I can be. What's funny is that a lot of my interests actually do somehow end up helping my family. For example, quilting a bedspread that my kids can sleep under, cooking a tasty and healthy meal that we can all enjoy, organizing a closet that was filthy into something really logical, beautiful, and manageable! 

I guess what I mean is not that I need "breaks" from my very young children, so much as I need to actually feel like I'm working on some kind of challenging project that is beyond the mundane routine of childcare and house care. Repetition can be so boring!

The impetus of this blog is that my oldest child just started kindergarten, which initiates me into the world of repetitive schedules. As a stay home mom of preschoolers, I completely made my own hours. Now, we will live and breathe to the rhythm of the school bell. More specifically, the huff and puff of the bus as it stops two doors down every morning and afternoon. My daughter is thrilled and so ready to go to school. My boys at home are also thrilled to have a more strict routine, as almost all young children are. Me? I'm terrified. 

For me, as the one who struggles with getting bored from the repetitive nature of strict by-the-clock schedules, I feel that this whole school adventure will only be emotionally sustainable for me if I can find a time within the schedule that is not the same. A time that is mine, for me. The morning is for getting my boys tired enough that they will actually fall asleep during nap time. Nap time is for me to first, take a nap (I am pregnant and exhausted, after all), and then fill a short time with something that is entirely my own choice. 

I'm very good at starting things, and not so great at finishing them. I hope that this blog will become a place where I can document my progress in my various interests during this flexible time.

I know that I won't always get this time each day. So, of course, this blog won't have a daily quota post goal. And honestly, I am probably going to aim for more pictures and less words, due to the finite nature of time in general! 

I hope that I can bring beauty and joy into the lives of those who stumble across this blog. I also hope that at the end of the year I will be able to use this blog to compile and print some kind of physical record of my efforts to go on my bookshelf and cheer my own spirits when I will inevitably need it.