I Needed a Time Out

I have a lot on my plate this week, yet I took some time for me. One might say, well, you just had the whole weekend and it's Monday, time to get working. Well, maybe that's true. I think though, that the few minutes I took for myself this morning really paid off. After my little time out, I managed all of the following:

Cleaned out the refrigerator
Swept the patio clean of Tropical Storm Isaac's mess
put all the patio furniture back outside
mopped and vacuumed the floors in the whole house
washed one load of laundry
home schooled my son for several hours
Blogged

I emerged from my time out feeling relaxed. It gave me enough time to go through my to do list for the week and break it up into smaller, more easily accomplished tasks. Now, I have an idea of what I need to do each day this week. Time out is also part of my creative habit. It's how I find and make the time to work on my memory keeping.

         Laser Tag by Christy Strickler Supplies Patterned Paper:  Cosmo Cricket;
Ink: Ranger; Stickers: Basic Grey, Cosmo Cricket,October Afternoon;
Stamp: JBS Mercantile; Mist: Homemade; Buttons: Basic Grey            

So what exactly did I do during my time out today? Well, for once, I did not work on a project for a creative team. Don't get me wrong, I love being on creative teams. It's just that sometimes, I miss the days of just posting to a challenge group. I decided to play along with the JBS Mercantile summer challenge. This weekend, they challenged everyone to create a page based off the dimensional drawings of a tennis court.

I have a photo of my son and his friends in full gear, posing and ready for laser tag. Since I haven't asked one of the kid's parents for permission to use his photos for publication, I covered his adorable face up. It's another reason I reached outside my creative team assignments today. I always have to share everyone's adorable faces for CT assignments.

I made the title with a JBS Mercantile stencil.I fussy cut the alphabet from some scrap kraft cardstock. I then cut it into squares. I love the way the page shows through the letters. Even thought this JBS kit featured sewing themed paper, I manages to adapt it to my topic. I love the 4 volts on the top right corner. It seemed to fit with there being four kids in the photo.

Have you had your time out today?If not, I really encourage you to find the time. Even it it's just ten minutes ( which on some days is all I get), you will feel so much better about you and end up being a lot more productive throughout your week.