Changes, hmmm...

So I have made some changes to my projects from what they were originally intended:

• The Choices and Honor projects has become leather-working rather than wood working and I'm almost playing dress-up but in a very cool and difficult manner. I had forgotten that I knew how to do leather-working but I think that it's going rather well. I have also made use of other random objects which included some wood-working and also some metal-working. So I think that this has just become the worked materials project. Here's a picture of what it looks like so far: 
• In my painting I had originally planned to have the word Faith off to the side of the plant underground but I have now decided to have the roots of the small plant twine around the word and make it a part of them
• I have my story partly done. I will hopefully finish it by tomorrow
• I still have a little work to do on collecting things for the Joy in the Little Things project.

My mom asked me a question today that made me think a bit about what I'm trying to accomplish. My goal is to make changes in my attitude to help me be a better person. These changes are things I was taught but that I chose not to remember or acknowledge. My mom reminded me that changes are made through experiences and asked me how making all these art projects to remind me of various values was going to actually change me because I wasn't experiencing life trials that would actually cause those changes to occur with or without reminders. I think I have an answer. You know the saying "Going by the book..." or "That's how it is in my book..." or "Taking a page out of their book..."? Well, in my book the values got somewhat lost or misprinted (apparently I edited it badly) such that my book is faulty. This project is like a rewrite of my book where the mistakes that I chose to address are being changed to what they should have been all along. This change is so that when I do encounter situations that will give me experience in helping me to make a habit of the new changes, I will be able to open to that page in my book and have the proper answer to my question. For example, if I had a situation where I had to chose between work or family time (this is a choice I've had many times before and, as my parents put it, I keep having to make the decision all over again every time it comes up) I would waffle back and forth, stress, and just all around be indecisive because in my book it had misprinted such that I had never made a definite priority list for my lifestyle. Now that I have corrected that wrong through something concrete and in a way that was fun and enjoyable for me to complete, I can dwell on the proper answer to my question and focus more time and energy on questions that have more difficult solutions. I hope that explanation answers my mother's question. I honestly thought all day about it and that was what I came up with to best describe why I am making all these things. They are reminders of what I wrote in my book so that I can never misprint it again.

That's about it for the night. Any other comments or questions about this blog or my project are welcome and appreciated. It makes me think more and helps me learn better. Thanks Mom!! 

Jessie Jane