The Practical Side of Creativity

Recently I’ve mentioned to a few, my decision to be intentionally creative.

I have been fortunate for most of my formative years including going to a performing and visual arts high school, and being a theatre major in college, to be “allowed” to be creative.

Because I am now homeschooling my children, I've been challenged in a way that I haven't been in a long time. And I realized that, while yes I’m still creative, I’ve allowed myself to get in to a bit of a rut. I’ve allowed the distractions of the world, as well as the “musts” and “shoulds” to hinder my creativity.

Then I came across this talk on a website I recently "discovered" TED.com. After seeing this (entertaining) talk by Sir Ken Robinson I realized just how critically important creativity is.
Not for creativity's own sake, but for how it heavily influences the way we view life, the way we view challenges, and the way we navigate through life and through such challenges. There are practical implications to the creative process.

As I watch my two children play, work, rest, eat, everything really, I am captivated by what they discover, how they discover, and then what they do with that information.

Why are more adults not like this? What happens as we grow older that this ability is lost (or greatly reduced)? And how does this affect the world in which we live?

Here is a link to the talk which engagingly addresses these questions. Ken Robinson on TED.com

Are Your "Peanuts" Bio-degradable?

Because I failed to educate an eco-conscious customer on the the high volume of "evil" peanuts she would be receiving with her recent order, I nearly induced a mini-heart attack.

Here is my short (74 seconds) Green Public Service Announcement, designed to heighten awareness and avoid unnecessarily filling our landfills. Pass it on!

What's So Special About Vitamin D?

Over the last two weeks I’ve had three people mention Vitamin D to me. They talked about knowing that it’s important, but not knowing exactly why it’s important. Vitamin D for a long time has been known to help with the absorption of calcium, which thus can aid in preventing a vitamin deficiency which can lead to “soft bones” known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

But I had no idea of new research showing how low levels of Vitamin D could affect other areas of our health, physical and mental.

Here is what Dr. Chet Zelasko, says (with footnotes at the end of my post):

“Recently, we've learned about other problems caused by less severe vitamin D deficiencies. Researchers have found people living north of the 35th parallel – the line that runs through Arizona and Georgia – have higher rates of depression, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. iii
Our lifestyles have caused this problem to develop. We spend most of our time inside offices and homes. Then, we apply sunscreen liberally when we're out in the sun to prevent skin cancer. iv
In the summer, we manage to make some vitamin D even while wearing sunscreen. But in the northern winter, the angle of the sun and the reduction in ultraviolet light doesn't allow for much vitamin D production.
This causes seasonal changes in our vitamin D levels, which seems to be linked with health problems.
This problem was only discovered recently, because it is fairly hard to detect. A vitamin D deficiency can take years to develop and is often overlooked. v
That's why it took so long to learn conditions like Type 1 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, some cancers, and multiple sclerosis may all be related to low levels of vitamin D.vi
New recommendations for vitamin D intake aren't expected until next year, but most experts say 1,000 units of vitamin D3 should be the new minimum for adults.vii”


Okay. So now that I know the importance of Vitamin D, how do I get it?

Foods with high amounts of vitamin D include fatty fish, fortified milk and fortified cereal. The foods that are “fortified” have about 25% of the USDV, which works out to be 100 IUs. So to get 2,000 IUs, I would need to eat two full boxes of cereal or drink 20 cups of milk a day.

Or I could have 1 and ½ tablespoons of cod liver oil a day. Just thinking about it made me convulse like a cat trying to get rid of a hairball.

The sun also offers Vitamin D—if you don’t wear sunscreen and have enough exposed skin (equivalent to the size of your entire back) to grab it from the rays for about 15 minutes. This is assuming that the sun is even shining without cloud or pollution obstruction, which doesn’t happen very often in Chicago outside of the summer months.

I cannot believe today, which isn’t even the shortest day of the year, has five less hours of sun than the middle of June. Five whole hours. No wonder it’s harder to maintain a great mood in the middle of winter; and who knows what long-term havoc is happening in my body.

All that to say, it looks like I’m going need to supplement. The National Institute of Health’s Office of Supplements says,

“Vitamin D3 could be more than three times as effective as vitamin D2 in raising serum 25(OH)D concentrations and maintaining those levels for a longer time, and its metabolites have superior affinity for vitamin D-binding proteins in plasma.”

Looking at our multi, I see that we’re already getting 400 IUs, and it is Vitamin D3.

But that isn’t enough. So we’ll be adding Nutrilite’s Vitamin D3 to our supplement regimen every other day. Our total Vitamin D intake will fall in the 1,200 – 2,000 IU range that researchers are recommending.

NUTRILITE is the world’s leading brand of vitamin, mineral, and dietary supplements, based on 2008 sales. And it is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest, and process plants on its own certified organic farms.

iii Hyppönen E and C Power. Hypovitaminosis D in British adults at age 45 y: nationwide cohort study of dietary and
lifestyle predictors. AJCN 2007;85:860–8.
iv Hyppönen E and C Power. Hypovitaminosis D in British adults at age 45 y: nationwide cohort study of dietary and
lifestyle predictors. AJCN 2007;85:860–8.
v Heaney RP. Nutrients, Endpoints, and the Problem of Proof. Journal of Nutrition. 2008. 138:1591‐1595.
vi Holick, MF. Sunlight and vitamin D for bone health and prevention of autoimmune diseases, cancers, and
cardiovascular disease. AJCN 2004;80(suppl):1678S– 88S.
vii Vieth R et al. The urgent need to recommend an intake of vitamin D that is effective. AJCN. 2007;85:649 –50.

What's a Way to Shock People?

Tell them you have an Amway Business.

This video from our Australian market made me smile, and laugh out loud. I've had more than one person in my life, knowing who I am, knowing my past and current accomplishments, knowing my character, have this same response.

After a while, I realized that their response has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with their preconceived notions about Amway and "Amway people."

Fun-ny.


Libby is a triple Gold Olympic Medalist (with a Silver and a couple of Bronzes thrown in there as well).

Thanks IBOFB at The Truth About Amway for posting this.

In the Beginning...

One of the concerns I had about educating my kids, was teaching subjects which were important, but that I didn't necessarily enjoy myself. I didn't want my lack of enthusiasm for a topic to influence them. So I made a decision to jump in with both feet, when it came to science in general, and astronomy specifically.

How could I make this interesting? How could I make this fun? So the first thing we did was take a trip to the Adler Planetarium. Shockingly, living here all my life, I had never been there.

I didn't want to try to do too much in that trip. Living so close, I knew there would be many more opportunities to visit. My goal was to be inspired, and to inspire the kids. To be awed and to want to know more. Mission accomplished. After seeing the big picture, literally, I got excited about "outer space." Hmm, maybe there was a correlation between my level of interest and my level of knowledge.

After teaching the kids some basic "stuff" like what's astronomy, what's a star, what's a satellite, and what's a planet (don't even get me started on Pluto. Can everyone please update your websites and books? It has been three years, ya know.), we embarked on building a model of the solar system (sans that "dwarf planet").

There were two main points I wanted to teach with our solar system model beyond knowing the names and order of the planets: the size of the planets in relation to each other, and the relative distance of the eight planets to the sun. My experience in school was that all the planets were pretty much the same size and pretty much equidistant from each other.

Why did I think this? Same reason I had no concept of the size of Alaska or Hawaii, nor where they existed on the globe. Gotta fit everything on one page!

Also, I didn't want the sun in the model. If we are going to have the sun, it's gotta be accurate, relatively, in size. And that's just not possible, unless I want Mercury to be microscopic, or move in to a bigger home.


To determine the scale we were going to use, we needed something that could be tiny enough to be Mercury, and large enough to be Jupiter. So we chose to use balloons--water balloons, birthday balloons, and punching balloons.

Here is our model, in this 41-second video:

Coca-Cola: 60 Seconds of Reality

First let me say that I do not drink Coca-Cola. Mainly because it's not a healthy drink.

So while I am not a fan of the product itself, I am a fan of their marketing.

Participating in InternetLand with texts, emails, IMs, social networking, blogs, forums, etc., I appreciate the commentary Coca-Cola made with their Super Bowl 2009 Avatar commercial.

Have a look:



Technology has the power to bring us together. I use digital photos and videos to keep friends and family up to date on our kids. I use social networking to reconnect and stay in touch with friends from twenty years ago. I use texts to send lil love notes to my husband.

But if used improperly, technology has the power to create a disconnect, a lack of human contact, creating an inability to communicate effectively, and therefore leading to a breakdown of intimate and meaningful relationships.

A few things I noticed in a mere sixty seconds with this commercial:

* A person in Cyberspace is not always who they truly are. They hide behind their keypad. (example: avatars and humans rarely match each other in form or persona)

*A person can have multiple "personalities" in Cyberspace. (example: the changing avatars of one person sitting at a table)

* A person in Cyberspace, trying to be great and powerful online, can miss opportunities to be great in real life. (example: the "superhero" and the mom with the baby carriage)

* A person choosing to be more involved online can become ineffective, and misses out on the gifts in real life. (example: the mom pushing her child on the swing)

* It takes a conscious effort of reaching out and being authentic, in order to break through those techno barriers--our own and others.

* People crave real contact.

Coke doesn't sell a beverage. Coke sells human contact. Relationships. Connectedness.

This is not a new concept for Coke, as evident by their 1971 commercial:



The concept for the "I Like to Buy the World A Coke" commercial came from the creative director for the ad agency witnessing, during a bad travel experience how Coke brought people together.

"The next morning, as the passengers gathered in the airport coffee shop awaiting clearance to fly, Backer noticed that several who had been among the most irate were now laughing and sharing stories over bottles of Coke."

I'm too young to remember that commercial. But I sure do remember when they brought back that song and built on the theme in 1984:



These commercials inspire me. I find inspiration everywhere--even in an ad for a product I don't even like! I guess that's because I want to be inspired. How about you?

Love Lavishly

There’s a little “25 Things About Me” exercise going around on one of the social networks of which I’m a part. The idea is that you write 25 things about you, and “tag” 19 others, as well as the person who originally tagged you.

The lists have been neat, and I’ve learned many things about my social network friends who have done lists. Yesterday though, was breathtaking.

"10. When my mom died I held her and touched her till she went cold. I could not stop sniffing her. I never want to forget her smell and her smooth skin."

I quickly read through the rest of the list, and then went back to #10. I re-read #10. And re-read it again.

I was speechless, stunned, a puddle of tears, and grateful for being allowed to be included in such a deep, intimate, personal detail.

Twenty four hours later I am still pondering the depths of #10. Instant tears I have flowing freely down my cheeks every time I read #10.

I have yet to lose someone close to me. And no one, as far as I know, is nearing death. So my response seems puzzling. I’m not grieving a death, nor am I anticipating a death.

Why am I so moved? Why the depths of emotion?

Lavish love. I read #10 and it is what a life lived being lavishly loved, looks like. A daughter, showing one last act of deep love to her mom.

When I was pregnant, a big concern for me was that I would not love my child as deeply (or at all) as a mom should. Many days I’d rock in my glider, with my hands on my belly, praying to God that He give me a heart that loved this child (I prayed in the singular for a long time since we didn’t know I was carrying twins until the eighth month).

I prayed to Him that I’d love the way Jesus loves—no strings attached. I knew I needed Him for that kind of love, since, being human, I’m selfish, self-centered, and demand my own way.

God is so good. He does answer prayers. I am astounded, really, by how He continually transforms my heart. Not only do I love my children, but I love people, even those that are really hard to love, if ya know what I mean.

The definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is beautiful, magnificent,and awe-inspiring.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

I want to love like that.

As my relationship with God grows, as I am humbled by His grace and His love for me, and as I remain focused on Him, it’s easier to love God’s way—agape love.

Lavish love.

#10 is lavish love, and a sobering reminder of just how fleeting all of our lives on Earth really are.

While I'm here, whether it is for a day, a decade, or several decades, I choose to love lavishly.