Friday, January 22, 2010

Creative Block...

Do you ever have those times in life where you feel as if you have hit a wall creatively. Well, I'm there. I feel like I have lost all sense of creativity when it comes to cooking, keeping my home, schooling, ideas for the kids...pretty much everything. Exasperation abounds, and when creativity is lacking I also feel like I lose a small bit of desire to do those things the "I don't have any new ideas so, I don't feel like doing anything" kind of thing, which is basically a stinky attitude. When that happens, I like to do 2 things:
1. Pray. God has some awesome ideas.
2. Hit the library.
There are probably other ideas too but, that is what I do. :)
My very generous and understanding honey helps me out on Friday afternoons. He takes the afternoon off so he can take part in homeschooling "K" and give him his guitar lesson (which, I think rocks). While he is doing that I am free for a couple of hours. (Hallelujah!) Today, I stopped and got a vanilla rooibos tea and headed to the Library. Our city has a Main Library that is huge and has tons and tons of books. I stayed for an hour and a half and left with 5 books. I love the Library. I also love the internet for research and ideas as well but, there's just something about a book. I love just having something to hold in my hand, pore through the pages, look at pictures, etc...especially cookbooks. I think I am slightly addicted to cookbooks. Most of the books I end up bringing home are cookbooks. So, now I feel like I am armed for creativity with my stack of books. Would you like to know which books I checked out? Sure you would. Don't you love it when people read your mind? :)

The Gluten Free Nutrition Guide by Tricia Thompson
The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet by Nava Atlas
The Wheat-Free Cook (Gluten-Free Recipes for Everyone) by Jacqueline Mallorca
The Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas
Prescription for Natural Cures by James F. Balch

Not to mention 5 others I got last week when I was there...those are children's activity books.
About the Vegetarian books. No, we are not vegetarian exclusively but, we do eat several meatless meals a week. I don't intend on reading all of these books cover to cover but, I do intend on finding some great recipes and ideas.

Do you ever have a creative block? If so, what do you do about it? I'd love to know!

3 comments:

Miranda said...

I hear you on creative blocks. I normally end up going for walks or pulling out my journal. Sometimes I listen to music that inspired me before. Before I know it, God begins to speak to me and those juices begin flowing again :)

Eric & Jen said...

Good stuff Gina! Cook books are quite wonderful. I also like to go to www.allrecipes.com. There you can type in any ingredients and it gives you tons of recipes. I like to make the ones with the most amount of stars! The comments on what to change really help too.
My mother-in-law has bought me the magazine "Family Fun" for a gift every year. I think it's pretty reasonably priced. It has tons of wonderfully creative ideas as well.
I pray God gets your juices flowing again soon - I'm sure He will!

Tracy said...

I am also addicted to cookbooks. ;-) I hope they serve well to inspire more creativity!