I got on my wheel tonight for the first time in a long time. My wheel. The one that's all mine, that stays at my house cuz I own it. Awesome, eh? As I let my creative genius out I just had to marvel at how stinking awesome it was to be up in my cozy loft throwing with my dear
heat dish at my side and a fire crackling happily downstairs. I realize though, my "studio" leaves MUCH to be desired. Like some decent lighting, for starters, more shelves, more bats for my wheel (I only have three which means after my third pot I have to turn the wheel off...*sniff*) Lighting, I think, will be first on my list. We have a couple of wall fixtures up there that I've never seen working. They are from the original builders, I'm sure, so it is time they were replaced. I have one silly lamp from college that is really pretty ridiculous and that's about it. Perhaps it's time for a trip to Home Depot this weekend!
Sunday night I woke up with a NASTY bug. But I got up and went to work anyway. There's something about teaching that makes it seem like you just can't afford to take a sick day unless you've planned well in advance for it. I hate just letting my classes flounder with a sub who has no idea what they're doing, knowing that I left my desk a total mess the day prior (No offense to you subs out there. I've done my time in your job and I know it sucks.) So I went to work with the crawling skin, throat on fire, aching ears, feverish, headachey, my-eyes-are-going-to-explode-out-of-my-head yuckiness and tried to put on the strong face. I made it about 20 minutes into my first hour class and knew it was a stupid thing to try. But I was already there so.... The day turned out to be a total waste on multiple levels. On Friday we had a mercury spill in one of the science labs and due to the clean up all of the freshmen had the day off (the spill happened in a classroom in freshman hall). My two afternoon classes are about 70% freshmen. So I had all of 8 or 9 students show. But by that time I was little more than a puddle of misery in my chair so I did something that I never do. I showed a movie that had nothing whatsoever to do with my curriculum. I hate doing that. But the day was a wash instructionally as I couldn't really introduce the next thing when the majority of the class was gone, not that I was physically up for it anyway. By the 3 o'clock bell I stumbled out to my car and by God's sweet grace made it home in one piece whereby I curled up into a pathetic ball on the couch while the tears just dripped from my eyes. It was the kind of physical pain I get when I get strep so I knew there was no chance I was going in on Tuesday. I was distressed because that was supposed to be my evening to finish my master's class paper so I could turn it in to the revision center before sending it in for my grade. It just wasn't going to happen. I got up early Tuesday morning to get to the doc-in-the-box when they opened. As it turns out, thankfully and surprisingly--knowing my record-- it was not strep but the doc thought it was most likely something viral and there was little I could do but wait it out.
Wednesday I truly did not think I could miss (tho the freshmen were STILL out of school, so really, another semi-wasted day). I could have missed it. But I actually felt a little less creepy. I ended up spending some of the day working on my master's paper while students were working so it was semi-productive afterall. I finished my paper Wednesday night and it's currently being revised so I feel AWESOME about that. But now I've got a ton of congestion and a nasty cough that keeps Adrian up at night. The couch doesn't sleep that well and we don't have a spare bed so unfortunately he's just having to deal. If I can't sleep, he can't sleep. That's marriage, right? He's a good sport.
Tomorrow we've got Halloween plans for the first time in oh... ever. Adrian is planning on being Frankenstein (you should see his costume!) and I'm going as a boring vampire. I think I've been more excited about his costume than mine. I'll post pictures for sure. Hopefully this cough lets up a bit and I can have some fun. Happy Halloween!
yes, that is a pumpkin... homegrown and strange, but a pumpkin.
And in case you're wondering, no, we have no normal pictures of us. We just look like this.
And these mugs are for my father-in-law. Allow me to explain the one on the right. Several weeks ago my FIL was admiring the mugs I made for my Grandma and Aunt (in the mail soon, this week probably!) and my comedian husband made a smart remark about how his father's nose was too big for those mugs, that it would be dipping into his coffee (interesting as Adrian has his father's nose... but that's beside the point, apparently). So Adrian came to me wanting a nose mug for his dad, where his nose would rest comfortable on the outside of the lip. With a deep sigh, I agreed. However due to the shrinkage that happens between making the mug and the final fired piece I had to totally guess on the size to make it, hoping what I ended up with was a good fit. And boy is it ever.
To demonstrate...
