The pencils were about to hit the floor again.

*every pencil we owned*

We’re a homeschooling family, and even though my husband tosses every pencil he finds left on the floor, we still have a lot of pencils because, you know, when I can’t find pencils I buy more. Because we’re just that organized around here.

“Move the pencil cup away from the edge of the table before it falls.”

“Why?”

“Because if the pencils hit the floor again I might explode like the Incredible Hulk.”

Here we get into a conversation about who is the Incredible Hulk, and my explanations and impersonations include, “You won’t like me when I’m angry!” with more animation from me than most people are ever likely to see. Somewhere I say, “but instead of exploding green I’ll explode . . . purple!”

“Now move the pencils. I’m going to the bathroom.”

When I return I find pencils all over the floor.

And I chill out.

Many times since my children have begged me to explode purple. The imagined image delights them, and many times since I’ve noticed my tension rising and exclaimed, “I’m about to explode purple!”

We have silly conversations about how Mammaw came from Blue Land and Pappaw came from Red Land (or maybe the other way around), and that’s why I explode purple.

Being a mama can be fun stuff.

But it can also be exhausting. So why am I writing this post at nearly one a. m.?

I couldn’t sleep. My beautiful two-month old is sleeping nearly ten hours straight through the night, and I’m unable to sleep until the a. m. hours roll around. I toss and turn at night, but fall asleep nursing my baby all during the day.

I met a home school mom once who trained her kids to fix her a cup of coffee every time they saw her nodding off during school lessons.

That could work if I actually made a trip to the store and bought coffee. I’ve been sending my dear husband for the bare minimum “just until I go myself” for weeks now. (Honey, you’re so romantic.)

That home school mom mentioned above also confessed to looking around for the baby only to have an older child point out, “You’re nursing the baby.” (It’s okay. I constantly count my five to make sure I haven’t left one behind somewhere. Bless Mamas everywhere who will admit to not having it all together.)

I grab my phone to check Facebook one more time because staring at the glowing screen will surely help me beat this insomnia. (HA!) Then I switch to my RSS feed and the Art of Simple has shared her weekend links and did this woman just crawl inside my head?

So here I am resolving once again to spend a little time each day doing something creative.

Because really, I want to keep the idea of Mama exploding purple a fun joke for my children.

Good night!

Note: I wrote most of this post months ago. That delightful two month old is now hitting her six month mark. She’s rolling about, babbling, and offering many delightful smiles and giggles. AND still sleeping through the night most nights. (Don’t be jealous. Not all of mine have been so awesome.) My sleeping schedule is getting better, and I’m still working on working in the creative muscle usage. It’s a process.

How do you exercise your creative muscles?