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    Edit: one more pic for Jack.  A little taller but still not there.  Looks a little lopsided in the pic but fortunately, it's not.




     


    Most of the pots that I've made are in the kiln being bisque-fired right now.  But here is one little pot that I just threw (Jack asked me to post my work!)


    Only one of my tall forms has made it so far.  I get to a point where I'm happy with my cylinder and then I start to shape it...I think I'm overworking it to try to get the form that I want.  So I cut it down and make a small pot like this.


    Getting better every day but it is HARD work!



    It's actually kind of embarrassing to show my work but it's only been 2 weeks throwing now.  It will hopefully get better.


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    Ay Carumba!!  Has it really been that long since I blogged??  OOOps.


    I'm going to make it brief because I don't know where to begin. 


    We're all well and healthy except for colds now and then.   Robin has split up with her husband...things had not gone well for many months.  She and Chase actually seem to be doing much better now.  Sarah is going to Boise State U and really loves it.  I'm so happy she's back in school.  Erin is living at home off and on...she split with her long time boyfriend back in November I think.  She seems to be doing very good...interested in fashion design. 


    The grandsons are well...Jakey is into Spiderman to the point of distraction and Chase is obsessed with all things Star Wars.


    I'm working one shift per week at the hospital still.  It's okay.  It almost always turns out to be rewarding at the end of a shift-the fact that I helped someone.  And I love the babies!


    I started taking a wheel-throwing ceramics class and I'm pretty obsessed with it.  I bought a wheel and throw about 2  hours per day.  (Aren't you happy, Jack??!!) 


    I found out that I most likely have ADD pretty severely.  I don't know why I didn't figure it out before.  Everyone close to me seemed to already know that!  The crazy disorganization and procrastination, not following through with anything.  I don't think I'm going to go on Meds for it but it helps to know what I'm dealing with.  So far, just breaking things down into small tasks and living by the day planner seems to help a ton. 


    I joined an online group for people with ADD and messiness and it has helped bunches.


    I'll be around to visit soon...



     

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    It has been another long absence from Xanga for me.


    Everything is going fine.  Even though I haven't felt quite myself for many months...since before Jim's surgery.  I know this and try to address the issues as they pop up for me.  But I have been experiencing more "normal" days than for many months past.  I have laughed more this week than I have for a while.  Absence of laughter in me is very abnormal.


    I visited Sarah and her family in Boise and it was a beautiful time for me.  It was good just to be near her and Jake, Jim and Austin. 


    Here are a few pictures from the trip. Jakey was trying on an eagle mask at the Birds of Prey Sanctuary.  Other pics from the Salmon River where we had lunch one day.


     


                      


        


     

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    I just bought a pendant from a polymer bead artist that is AMAZING!   But...it's a Christmas present so I can't post the picture of it.  The one above is from her website.  But go look at her website and see these amazing things....


    Artistbeads.com


    And if you're interested, she has really good prices on her auctions at JustBeads.com:


    Rasa's Beads at Justbeads.com


    I have been playing with polymer clay these past two weeks also but my results are nothing close to Rasa's.


    I bought some modeling clay for Chase and I.  It holds its shape so much better than Playdough.  Here is our lineup of trick-or-treaters:



    I'm trying to adjust to our new schedule with Jim being back at work.  He really enjoys it and I love seeing him excited about learning something new. 


    I think my moods are still suffering from being on steroids recently.  I get manic for several days and then comes the crash, which is where I am right now.


    Hope you're all doing well.


    Blessings.


     

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    I've been spending time trying to organize my art and craft material so that I can get to everything easily.  It is NO easy job!!


    Chase came over and went trick or treating with us tonight:


     


               



    And he spent the night on Saturday. 


    A Boy and his Light Sabers:



     

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    Heard yesterday from a 30-something woman: In passing by her while I was walking downtown, 4 out of the 7 words that I caught were, "like". (yes, I counted them)


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    My daughter Erin's friend was over last night and his car was stolen from in front of our house in the wee hours of the a.m. His horoscope today read something like, "to gain something new, you must first give something up..." Fricking neighborhood.


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    I had a dream last night that I smelled bad and people were telling me how disgusting I was. Maybe Jim had gas last night?? It was a very disturbing dream.

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    Edit 5:23pm:  New Jewelry Pendant I made today.  It's made from a gourd shard, woodburned and colored pencil:




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    I'm stealing this link from Miserable Beyotch.  Funniest fecking thing I've seen in a while! 


    Richard Simmons on Whose Line is it Anyway?


    The steroids are making me better (whattever-ya-gotta-tell-yourself )  I think my house-depression is lifting a little (or maybe it's just the 'roids and I don't mean Hemies) because I've been cleaning and making plans for remodeling.  Who got me addicted to Mr. Clean Magic Erasers?  I think it was Karos.  I seriously need a 12-step group now. 



    I'm afraid to look in my studio-room right now, though.  When Erin moved back in, I moved all of my crap in there.  Now, now, now, it's like the room of a psycho-woman with a hoarding disorder.    I guess that'd be me. 


    Went to see my mom yesterday and give her the wreath I made her for her birthday:



    I cut leaf shapes out of gourd pieces, used wax-resist to make the veins and then stained the leaves with leather dyes. 


    I've been messing with making pendants and jewelry out of gourd pieces.  Will post pictures soon. 


     

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    Crap.  I didn't make it to Boise.  I got reallllly sick on Monday when I was supposed to leave for Cathy's to fly out.  Turns out it was a good decision because on Tuesday I was almost ready for the ER my asthma was so bad.  Now I'm on steroids and feeling a little better (emphasis on the "little")  It was really traumatic for me to cancel my trip and I have felt SO overwhelmed and down since.  I will still make the trip; just not with Cathy and probably not with Jim since it will be hard to take time off work.  But my plan is to fly out on October 26th...although I'm tossing around Novemer 1st thru 6th.  Will decide tomorrow.



    Erin is doing a bit better.  It's been very, very hard for me to see her in so much pain.  Jim, too.  And hard for me not being able to do much for Jim with his Pneumonia.  So so so drained.  Empty.  I feel like a downed log in the forest with the insides disintegrating and the outside starting to crumble.  Many tears.


    Not sleeping much because of the steroids.


    The music that I'm listening to is reminding me of Autumn and making me feel connected to earth.  Next week, next week will be better for me.  I'm praying for rejuvenation and inspiration.


     


     


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    It's painful for me when my kids break up with their boyfriends.  It always has been.  Erin (21) moved home on Thursday night after ending an 8-month relationship.  I'm grieving a bit as I always do when one of the girls' relationships ends.  It started way back with Robin's first boyfriend; she had dated him for about 3 or so years and even though I knew that she wasn't happy, I was still sad for both of them.  I do everything I can to accept a new partner into their lives and I never think at the time of how it will feel if it doesn't work out.  I have been through this more than a half-dozen times and it still surprises me that I feel pain. 


    I sometimes think that I might be better off being aloof and indifferent.  But that's not the way that I am and I know it. 


    So I have a grieving daughter here, a sick husband (he has a slight pneumonia), a sick body (virus), and PMS.  Fun place. 


    On the lighter side, I do leave for Boise on Tuesday to see Sarah, Jake, Jim and Austin.  Bad thing is I don't think that my Jim is going to make the trip with his pneumonia.  The most appropriate thing I can think of is, "Oy vey".  Oh...and Chase barfed all over me today. 


     

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    My Grandfather was Seventh Day Adventist and knew as much about Leviticus and Biblical Law as Jewish people do.  He passed some of it on to me.  Needless to say, I am NOT SDA.  Too many rules.  But I love this little...whatever-it-is....so much that I had to re-post it.  I laugh every time I read it.


    Family Leviticus
    Laws Pertaining to Dessert


    For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert.
    But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert.
    But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof.
    And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.


    Laws When at Table

    And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me.
    Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke.
    Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away.
    When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck: for you will be sent away.
    When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you.
    Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is.
    And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why.
    And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why.
    Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.


    On Screaming

    Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault.
    Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose.
    For even not I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.


    Laws of Forbidden Places

    Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room.
    Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room.
    Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room.
    Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room.
    Of quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room.
    Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink.
    But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.


    Concerning Face and Hands

    Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon.
    And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see.
    Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.


    Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

    Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, not against any building; nor eat sand.
    Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape?
    And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.