I hate it when she does that

Normally I love it when my Muse pops up and says, "Let's do something today!" Actually, I get really excited when she says that because it means that we're going to have some fun creating something. When she said it yesterday, I immediately ran back to the studio and looked at the pending projects. Would it be the half-scale Fairfield? I've built in 1:48 scale before but never in 1:24 so that was exciting to consider. Muse was silent so obviously that wasn't it.

Could it be one of the dozen beds sitting on the shelf waiting their turn to be dressed? They're all lined up nicely with fabrics and trims folded neatly and sitting on top of the beds. All I had to do was pick one and jump right in. I ran my hands over the fabrics and petted a couple of the beds but Muse remained silent. Apparently it wasn't going to be a bed.

How about dressing a living room set? There are a few of those on the shelf too! Dressing that Empire set is something I've been looking forward to. Still silence.

By that time I was getting a little annoyed with Muse but I reminded myself that when she repeatedly ignores my requests for certain things it means that she has an even bigger project in mind. I bit back my annoyance and twirled around in my chair waiting for her to talk.

I was on the third revolution and starting to get a bit dizzy when I saw the McKinley box sitting in the corner. I jumped out of my chair (not a good thing to do when you've been spinning youself silly) and landed on the floor somewhere in the vicinity of the box. No problem, I was going to have to get down on the floor anyway. I rested my cheek against the smooth, cool surface of the box and thought, "This is it." From within the box, the muffled voice of the McKinley said, "Yes!! I've been thinking it over and believe I'd like to go with a modern look and have selected my colors and wallpapers." I was happy. The McKinley was happy. I reached for the box to lift it up and set it on the table.

Muse said, "No."

Huh?

Whaddya mean "No"????

Muse said, "No. The McKinley has some wonderful ideas but that's not what we're going to work on today".

Uh, okay. Reluctantly I set the McKinley box back in the corner and suggested that if Muse had something in mind for the day she'd better get with the program and let me know before we spent half the day just sitting there.

Muse suggested that I would benefit from some time spent in learning patience and then said, "Today, we are going to clean the studio and reogranize everything".

Have I mentioned that there are days when I'd like to lock Muse in the closet? Oh well. She had a point. I'd left things scattered here and there from my last project and honestly, the place was a mess. So I started cleaning up the clutter and reorganizing things on the shelves and in the drawers. About halfway thru the process I was sitting in the middle of the floor refolding stacks of fabric and sorting them by color and content. The cat was curled up in the middle of a pile of batiks sleeping with one eye open so he could watch me. Muse was perched atop the cabinet filled with landscaping supplies, shingles and wood trim doing her nails with my dremel. That's when it occured to me that cleaning and organizing the studio is a part of my creative process.

Being a Virgo, I don't mind cleaning and actually enjoy organizing things. Okay, let's be honest.......I'm a really OCD Virgo which means that organizing things is just what I do. But when it comes to the studio, that organizing process is a Zen experience. As I sort thru supplies and the tools of my trade, ideas some to me. When fabrics are tossed into a pile, I see combinations of colors and textures that I might have overlooked before. While I'm moving wallpaper around I consider how certain designs would go together in a house and before I know it, I've got a new decor planned. I come up with all kinds of ideas when I'm sorting thru the bins of wood scraps!

Today I have a freshly cleaned and organized studio, a design book full of new ideas, and Muse sitting on top of the desk saying, "I told you so".

I hate it when she does that.