I win!

I never win anything which usually prevents me from even entering contests. But on a whim I filled in the necessary blanks recently and I was thrilled to learn yesterday that I won a gift certificate and book from one of the Parent Bloggers Network's giveaways. Thank you so much PBN and Alma for the posting that alerted me to the contest! I am really psyched to put the gift to use. I have been really creative recently and it will be great to get some new ideas and then, be able to cruise the shelves at Michael guilt free.

I think there are a couple of things driving me to create. While I think I am pretty excellent at playing creatively with the Mizz, let's face it, there are plenty of pretty mundane tasks that come with almost full time toddler care. When we are walking, playing on the swings, playing with playdoh for the nth to the billionth time, my mind occasionally wanders. As people like to say, this is a "win-win" type of situation because Mama gets to time to think and so does the Mizz. I can't be a running commentator "24-7" (another phrase that is disturbingly overused) and Mizz gets space to do his own thinking, which some day hopefully, I'll understand. Also as I grapple with the temporary loss of my professional identity and the satisfaction that comes from doing good work, I can transfer some of that need to hobbying. We'll see how this plays out. Someone please do an intervention if I suddenly start beading things that shouldn't be beaded or in the event that I become permanently attached to my knitting needles.