OK, so my blogging schedule has been a bit anemic lately. I know it. My writing life has been anemic, too... or comatose... or catatonic, for a couple of months. Stress does that to me. It sucks out all my creativity and leaves me motivated to do nothing beyond read (seriously, even I am appalled by the number of books I've read in the last two months) and perform monotonous, mindless household chores.

That said, a friend of a friend instituted a new round of the "30 Day Drawing Challenge" for the month of April, and I decided to jump in. Because I'm crazy like that. Heheheheh. (I can FEEL my children cringing as they read that last statement.)

For the record, I am NOT an artist. I took one semester of graphic design in college and remember sobbing hysterically over an assignment to "create your own font design."

Art, in my mind, is my mother's realm (she's one of those people whose phone book doodles should be framed and sold) and my children's arena (it skips a generation, apparently).

That said, today's artistic challenge was to draw a Muppet.

If that doesn't stir your creative juices, nothing will.

I chose Elmo. My grandson calls him "Melmo." I'm still reeling from the combined chemical odors of the black dry erase marker and the red Sharpie. Yes, those "extra" lines are pen marks, because I never did learn to do my sketches in pencil.


 Elmo is NOT my favorite Muppet. In my ancient, early Sesame Street era opinion, Elmo is a second generation Muppet, a subspecies to Bert & Ernie, Cookie Monster, Oscar, and Grover. But man, Elmo knows how to grab the attention of the baby and toddler set.

When Melmo is on TV, the world stops. It's like those old commercials, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." Yeah, well, nobody remembers E.F. Hutton anymore, but everyone remembers Elmo.

Why is that? As an unwilling Elmo audience member, I think it's because Elmo is very well versed in the art of unconditional love and acceptance. And even tiny tots can grasp THAT message. Something we could learn from the furry red Muppet with the skull-piercing voice, perhaps?

Sesame Street will celebrate 42 years of children's television broadcasting in November. I like to think that Kermit the Frog and Big Bird and Grover and Cookie Monster and Bert and Ernie are just eight months older than me. Of course, that's not why I'm thinking about Sesame Street today. THIS is why...

Grandbaby Talen, 5 months old and already fascinated by Sesame Street.

Forty-two years on air is a pretty amazing track record. The show's creators Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett combined short films, humor, music, live action and animation with Jim Henson and his team of puppeteers to harness the childlike quality of the human imagination and yoke it together with educational teaching tools. How many of us learned how to count, how to read, even how to get along better with others while watching Sesame Street?

Oh, sure, there's been controversy ...after only one year on the air, "a state commission in Mississippi voted to ban Sesame Street because of its 'highly integrated cast of children' which 'the commission members felt ... Mississippi was not yet ready for'." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street#cite_note-missban-116)
At some point, even before the Peewee Herman debacle, someone suggested that Bert and Ernie might be gay, since they live together. In my opinion, people who sit around looking for homosexual tendencies in a couple of puppets need to have their minds washed out with strong lye soap.

Even lovable, huggable Cookie Monster came under public fire. His cookie addiction reportedly setting a bad example for children. These days, you'll find Cookie including healthy, nutritious snacks to his diet. Poor Cookie... I know how he feels, but we all have to eat better as we get older.

Oscar has been recommended as a candidate for antidepressant therapy since he's always so grouchy. But then, that's why we love him. Didn't you always want to venture down in that trash can and see what his house looked like?

Grover (my favorite growing up) probably has adult ADHD and delusional tendencies. He does, after all, sometimes think he's Super Grover. But he also has a sweet, kind heart and wants to help others.

Source: yfrog.com via Adam on Pinterest

During the years when I was "too cool" for Sesame Street and the time I had my own kids, new characters joined the neighborhood. Most notably, Elmo. Remember the tickle-me Elmo doll? Parents having knock-down drag-outs over the last one on the shelf at Walmart before Christmas? Elmo would not approve, I'm sure, since he's all about being nice. So nice he drives most people crazy.

Criticism aside, the next time you think about Sesame Street, for whatever reason, remember how powerful and far-reaching our imaginations are. Like Jim Henson (pictured at left), let's be bold enough to do things that haven't been done before, in spite of the controversy, in spite of the opposition, whether we are lawyers or teachers or writers or ministers of the Gospel.

Our God-given creativity, unleashed, has the power to extend far beyond our own lifetimes. Let's release that creativity for His glory and honor in whatever we set our hands to.

Want to know what those three things have in common besides the "p" sound? (Well, no "p" in writing, but you get the point.)

Come visit me at Inkwell Inspirations today to find out.


There's even a Sesame Street video involved!

Living with months of a wintry white landscape and below-freezing temperatures outside can start to grate on one's nerves, resulting in a "condition" our pioneer ancestors called "cabin fever."

Some of the symptoms, according to Wikipedia, include restlessness, irritability, excessive sleeping, and paranoia. Sound familiar?
I'd include a loss of motivation and lack of creativity. Maybe it's just the law of inertia in effect -- an object at rest tends to stay at rest -- but cabin fever could very well be what causes us to need a prolonged period of spring cleaning!

I spent all afternoon Sunday doing taxes, and that, combined with the weather, has left me a little unmotivated and non-creative. So, I thought I'd just share something fun today. No deep revelations, no heavy thoughts, no scriptural lessons... (I know, some of you are breathing a sigh of relief, and some of you are asking, 'when did she have a deep revelation?')

Here are the Muppets, from the movie Muppet Treasure Island, singing "Cabin Fever."
It brightened my day, I hope it brightens yours!





http://www.morguefile.com/creative/stachoo
http://www.morguefile.com/creative/vema