In the Mud...

Lean Year

2011-01-02T13:01:00.004-07:00

This year was pretty lean on the production side of things. I had a whole lot of other irons in the fire and just found it difficult to make time for my own stuff. However, just prior to Christmas I was able to work up a few things. Playing with some different forms for mugs, mostly.

One of my "other irons" were these afghans for my brand new twin nieces. They were expected in December so I started back in September and devoted most of my evenings to crocheting. Turns out it pleases my inner old lady a great deal and I found it difficult to want to work on anything else. Other than a few scarves, these are my first real crocheting accomplishment. Looking forward to making more.

Lesley University Graduating Class of 2010

2010-06-06T20:22:00.004-06:00

My posts have been few and far between since the new year started and all I can say for myself is that I've been tumbling through the black hole of Master's homework, lesson planning and not-much-fun-having. Today, however, marks (at least preliminarily) the conclusion of my journey through the Integrated Arts Master's program with Lesley University. A journey I decided to pursue well over two years ago and that I set out upon 22 months ago. I have to admit, I wasn't at all sure what to expect from this experience but what came out of it was far more than what I could have imagined. This program coincided with some of the most difficult emotional challenges I've ever had to face. In a way my Lesley weekends have been synonymous with emotion and as I drove away for the final time today that emotion bubbled to the surface. I made some incredible friendships through the last 22 months of working with these educators and today we said our goodbyes, at least for now. You know how everyone has the best intentions to stay in touch and get together for drinks or this or that, but it will never really be quite the same once that single unifying connection is gone. Though I know I've made a few friendships that will continue to thrive.
I'm grateful for the outlet this program has provided for my own art production. Oddly enough it took something requiring a large commitment of my time in order for me to find time to do more of my own drawing. Many a dull class moment found me scribbling away on my sketches and I've valued that. This program has reminded me of the importance of staying passionate about my own art, if I'm ever going to have a chance at inspiring my students with a passion of their own.
The demand on my personal time has been tremendous. Having homework hanging over my head continuously for the last 22 months is exhausting and as I face the final days of working on my Master's Thesis I marvel at what it will feel like when that is gone. I may go on a 3 week bender, pajamas, Ally McBeal episodes and piling pizza boxes. I'm drunk on the possibilities! I can once again dust off my pottery wheel and actually produce some work again. I may not shower or get off the couch for a couple of days! I may actually have time to get organized or while away hours contemplatively napping on my patio. And the best part of all is that I won't have to feel guilty for any of it-- except maybe the no-showering thing... for Adrian's sake. It's a beautiful thing.

I'm grateful. For the friends, for the support, for the education and the opportunity to grow. It hasn't been easy and I'm pretty sure if this had been Survivor we'd have all killed one another a long time ago, but Lesley friends... I'll miss you.

Recent

2010-02-14T16:31:00.003-07:00

Please ignore the terrible lack of appropriate backdrop for this piece. I made this one for Adrian's aunt's recent wedding. The gold inside the letters had to be hand painted as the stain I originally used inside the carvings did not turn out. Ultimately I liked the effect but the whole thing was a monumental amount of work that I'm not sure I'd be up for repeating so don't be getting any ideas. Thanks.

News

2010-01-31T16:16:00.003-07:00

At church last week our pastor made a comment about the youth in our worship team. He mentioned what a blessing it was that they were using their gifts to give back to others and to God. I've been wrestling lately with what I can be doing to give more for God, considering volunteering for various causes, joining a group of Christian students at my school, that kind of thing. But when he specifically mentioned their gifts it came to me. I have this gift for ceramics and I certainly don't make a lot of money at it, but I enjoy the income it does provide. So I've decided to go non-profit and donate all the money I receive from commissions of work to charity. And my chosen charity will probably change all the time. I may hold on to the money until it accumulates and then donate, or I may just give it away as it comes in. I think I'll play that part by ear. The more I thought about it the more excited I got. I struggle sometimes with producing just for production's sake and when I had this idea I suddenly lost that block. I can see myself being more motivated because now it's not about me at all. The joy will continue into the giving and I'm excited to do it. I always say I should give more away and this is the perfect way. Who knows, perhaps if I give what little I do make away then I'll start selling more work. After all, God works in mysterious ways. So the money made off of the following piece will be donated shortly as the first fruits, followed by the money from a couple of mugs I'm making for a gentleman at school. It's very exciting.

Birthday Excitement

2010-01-25T20:05:00.003-07:00

Last Friday was Adrian's birthday (the BIG 30!) As I pulled up to the intersection just before my house my quandary over what kind of cake to get him was quickly snuffed and my heart plunged into my shoes. I tend to be a "glass is mostly empty" type of person and often when I approach that intersection I half expect to see emergency vehicles in front of our burning house with our animals trapped inside. Sounds morbid, but this is seriously the kind of stuff I think about! As I came to the intersection I saw a swarm of flashing emergency lights and traffic being diverted from what looked to be my home. Our street is a busy one, with a speed limit of 35 that people frequently overlook. It's a scary street where pedestrians have been known to be hit by cars driven by people who don't see there's a crosswalk because they're too busy texting and putting on their make-up. When I pulled up there were no flames and trapped animals but a busted up Pontiac in the middle of my front yard. As I tried to recover from what I was sure to be utter catastrophe I came to find out that the driver had supposedly fallen asleep behind the wheel, clipped the power pole 30 feet before my driveway, come up on the curb, bust an axel, plow over our mailbox (and the neighbor's), smash through the remains of a brick pillar at the foot of our driveway and slide neatly between our 4 year old Maple tree and newly planted shrubs to rest in the middle of my lawn spewing oil over my grass and stone walkway. It was completely surreal. My mail was littered out in the wet street, soaked and driven over, and there was concrete (from the brick pillar), glass and metal everywhere. The officer overseeing the removal of the vehicle from my yard saw the stricken look on my face and correctly deduced the I must live here. He pulled the incident report from the remains of a mailbox on our front porch (which the vehicle narrowly missed, thank the Lord) and filled me in on the details. There were four passengers in the vehicle, two of which were a 22 year old mother, her 4 day old baby included. Dad had been taken to the hospital though the officer assured me all were okay (again thank the Lord!) From what I can tell the driver did not have insurance and our homeowners insurance has a deductible higher than the $80 or so it's going to take to replace our mailbox. The steel post it was attached to is bent to hell and not likely to come back. Once the dust settled and we surveyed the damage, we realized the mailbox the police left on our front porch wasn't even ours, it was the neighbor's. Ours was nowhere to be found. I can only hope the rain soaked, but mostly intact mail I pulled out of the street was all there was that day. The neighbor's phonebook wasn't so lucky. The driver was blessed that he only glanced off of the power pole. From the looks of it the entire pole must have shaken as the soil around the base was pushed out several inches. If he had hit it straight on things could have been much worse. I'm incredibly grateful that our tree that I love was spared, that the car came no closer to our house and that all involved lived to tell about it. Adrian's cake was forgotten in the shuffle but he says he didn't miss it. I did. I could have used a big 'ol fatty slice right about then.

You thought I was dead.

2010-01-18T13:38:00.012-07:00

Admit it.
Obviously I am quite alive, but I have also been wildly busy for the past two and a half months. So unfortunately for me there is much to update.

At the start of November I went to Philadelphia with a group of staff from my school. We attended a conference on career academies for 2 of our 6 day trip. We left early the morning of Halloween. The day saw much in terms of layovers, including multiple additions of hours in Chicago due to weather problems in Philadelphia. Every time we thought we were getting ready to board they would hit us with another hour or two, and after we finally boarded we were hit with an additional hour and a half sitting at the gate. When we finally rolled into Philadelphia it was after 11. Once we saddled up with our rental cars we proceeded to get lost in the Philadelphia ghetto on what should have been a 20 minute drive to the hotel. After over an hour of, "no wait, turn here!! no that was our turn back there... wait..." we FINALLY found our hotel, well after midnight, and found too, that our nice, non-smoking rooms were given away (though we had called the hotel from Chicago to let them know about our layovers and late arrival). Our very polluted smoking room seemed a poor substitute but I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a decent night of sleep. The next day we hauled all of our luggage back down to the lobby to be held until the staff could secure us proper non-smoking rooms for the remainder of our stay. But unfortunately the damage had been done and all of my clothes smelled of smoke for the rest of the trip.
That first day of the trip was Sunday and we ventured out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Within five minutes in the car it became glaringly obvious how rude their drivers are. Last second lane changes, cutting one another off, hit and runs, illegal parking, horn blowing and finger waving had me thankful that I was not the one behind the wheel. It's really a wonder we made it through the trip unscathed. The museum, as you may recall, was made famous in the film Rocky, where Rocky makes his triumphant run up the steps to shout "Yo Adrian!! I did it!!" At the risk of looking like a tourist, I was the lone loser of our group to actually re-enact this scene. I felt it fitting, considering I married an Adrian. No film was taken of this, so do not ask. Suffice it to say, I looked about as foolish as all the other morons doing the same thing, much like those featured in this film clip. Philadelphians must hate that. I would.
The museum was without a doubt the highlight of the entire trip for me. I had no idea so many famous and WONDERFUL paintings, ones that I have studied for years, were housed here in America. As I wandered from room to room my jaw literally dropped with each new surprise. They even allow you to take photographs, as long as you don't use a flash. I took photos of all of my favorites and could feel my heart racing as I got up close and personal with Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne, Rothko and Duchamp. You could see hairs from their brushes stuck in the paint. It was almost like looking at their very fingerprints. I could not fathom, and still can't, that I was looking so closely at utter genius.

Monet- Bend in the Epte River near Giverny

Van Gogh- Sunflowers
Picasso- Man with a Violin

Dali- Soft Construction with Boiled Beans

Duchamp- Nude Descending a StaircaseMy group had given a time frame of about 2 hours to look at everything and as my time raced down I realized with great dismay that there was no way I was going to see it all. In the last 20 minutes I nearly ran from room to room, trying to see as much as I could. When time ran out and I skulked back to the car I hoped I hadn't missed anything I would regret. I was thrilled with all the pictures I took (so thrilled that I frequently looked back through them once or twice every day of the rest of the trip.) As it turned out I did miss a piece by Frida Kahlo that I truly wish I had seen, though I was able to see one of Diego Rivera's.One of the best parts about the city of Philadelphia is their commitment to the arts. Despite how rude many of the people were, I've got to give them credit for their art. There is public art everywhere. Though I didn't see a fraction of them, I was told that there are somewhere upwards of 3000 murals in the city, and sculptures on almost every corner. Even their architecture has an artistic quality that I admire.

This particular mural consisted of millions of 1-inch tiles. The detail was incredible. and it spanned an entire block. What is seen here is a very small portion.Aside from all of the art, I haven't even touched on Philadelphia's rich history. We experienced a re-enactment of the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence through a dinner with Thomas Jefferson at the City Tavern.
Dinner consisted of authentic 1700s cuisine by candlelight with a side of drama. We traveled from there to Independence Hall for an after hours dramatic performance between Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Being inside of that historical building was humbling. We stood in a room in which great visionaries stood hundreds of years ago as they drafted documents that would change this country forever. We were given the inside scoop on what original artifacts remain there from Washington's time, one being the chair that Washington himself sat in at the head of this room (the thought of which floored me). The other being the painting hanging on the wall over this gentleman's shoulder
Later in the trip I made it back to get photos of the building in daylight and to see the Liberty Bell.

The Comcast building was one that I had seen in the skyline throughout the trip. One afternoon brought us to its lobby and I was baffled by the technology we found there. The entire wall of the lobby is one giant screen. In the fifteen minutes or so that we stood there like a bunch of idiots watching with our mouths open, we saw the earth turning, people dancing, water flowing, slow motion puddle dropping and larger than life basketball players flying across the wall. It was simply bizarre.

We also spent an afternoon at the supposedly haunted Eastern State Penitentiary. I didn't see any ghosts but did experience some chills.

Following out trip out to the Penitentiary, my roommate and I decided to hit up the Body Worlds exhibit at the Franklin Institute. I'm so glad that we did. It was completely horrifying and fascinating. If given the opportunity to go again I would in a second and highly recommend it to you as well. When I returned and shared my experiences with my students, this was the part they were most interested in hearing about, though unfortunately they do not allow any photography to be taken. On our last day, we took a trip out to the Pennsylvania countryside to see Hershey. We were fortunate enough to get a VIP tour of the Milton Hershey School. I was very impressed by the school, its facilities, staff, and opportunities it offers for students who come from difficult circumstances. They truly have a beautiful little world there that I must admit was difficult for me to leave. If you know of a student between the ages of 5 and 15 that needs to get out of a very bad situation I would encourage you to look into the Milton Hershey School. Nothing is asked of the students financially and the world will be opened to them in ways that they never would have dreamed.
Following the school we hit up Chocolate World, of course, which was less impressive to me than I had hoped it would be. Don't get me wrong, it was magical, but I was hoping more to see the factory and the inner workings of how the chocolate is made. But as it was, I spent a small fortune in the gift shop buying chocolate and other goodies about as fresh as it comes.

By the time Thursday rolled around I was more than ready to be rid of the rudeness of Philadelphia's people and come back to the sticks where people are polite (or at least don't take offense at your very existence) and sanity reigns on the roads. Most of all I missed my husband. It was the first time in our short two and a half years of marriage that we had spent a night (let alone 5) apart from one another. Ultimately I'm so grateful for the opportunity to go but don't think I'll need to return for a very long time. Philly was a great place for a short visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!

More to come on life since I dropped off the face of the planet soon.

Time for throw-backs

2009-10-27T21:03:00.006-06:00

Years ago, in college, my boyfriend introduced me to the true art of the pumpkin. He took his carving very seriously. It rubbed off on me and I became semi-fanatical about pumpkin carving. Now some years have been better than others and nearly every year I try to do too many. The problem is, once I find a PERFECT pumpkin, it must be bought. However, if 2nd, 3rd and 4th PERFECT pumpkins cross my line of sight, they also must be bought. It cannot be helped! Last year at the pumpkin patch we ended up spending a fortune on something close to 8 or 10 pumpkins (I lost count). Ridiculous. This year we very nearly passed it up altogether but then decided on the spur of the moment to get A COUPLE, and that turned into 4 which turned into something like 6 or 7. Whatever. Here they are, chronological. Don't judge the photos, it's very difficult to get a good shot of a pumpkin lit up.

2003 the beginning.

2004- The Frankenstein on the left is probably one of my all-time favorites. Adrian's always have the goofy expressions so you can guess which ones are his.

2005 (Just one good pic from this lot. Hard to tell, but it's Edward Scissorhands.)

2006 in the light (the far left was supposed to be a killer klown... didn't turn out, as you can tell... but in all honesty, I think that one was Adrian's... haha).

2006 in the dark

2007 (a sampling)

the record of 2008 has been lost. Don't ask about it.

And finally 2009. Adrian's idea was for the pumpkin totem. All his work. I've decided to lay off of the fancy, incredibly labor intensive designs for a few years of just the oldies but goodies.

Not a great pic of the totem. We need more fire-power to light up the top. They don't have bottoms so just the candles in the big guy light up the whole totem. Cool idea.
The display.
From the old days on my mom's kitchen floor with large sharp knives in inexperienced hands, I've always loved pumpkins. Maybe someday I'll get artistic with mine again, but for now...

Pooch Pool Party

2009-09-25T20:43:00.004-06:00

Back in August, Adrian, his dad, and I took Molly to the Pooch Pool Party in Nampa. Nacho stayed home for a number of reasons based largely on his disdain for most bodies of water and his inability to play nice with others. Molly had a GREAT time. I meant to post the pictures and video sooner but you know, life happens.

That's not Molly next to him, just a friendly guy looking to snag our ball.

Five Years

2009-09-25T20:17:00.005-06:00

Tonight is the five year anniversary of the day Adrian and I met and subsequently had our first date. We were set up, of sorts, by a friend who had known both of us for years. I had recently broken up with a long term relationship and was in no way looking to get fixed up. She gave him my number because regardless of what I wanted, she just knew that he was supposed to be my husband. He called one day and left me a message while I was at work. Like the chicken that I am, I called him back at a time when I was hoping to catch him at work so that I could leave a message and be done with the whole hairy business. But he answered and I suppose it was pretty much down hill from there. He wanted me to join him for his cousin's wedding the following Saturday. I resolutely refused. I would have felt like some kind of wedding crasher, in addition to the stress of meeting him as well as ALL of his tremendous family at once. Over the week we continued to talk and he eventually wore me down and I agreed to meet him after the wedding. I nearly canceled on him a dozen times. I thought I must be crazy to go on a mostly-blind date. The reception was at the Basque Center downtown so the plan was to meet him on the corner out front. I remember my first impressions of him as I approached the corner. He was tall, built like a body builder and handsome as I could ever imagine. As it turned out, it was one of the easiest dates I'd ever been on. We walked around downtown, had a couple of Italian sodas, and rounded out the last several hours into the early light of morning at the glamorous airport Denny's. I can't explain it, but by the end of the night I just knew I'd met my husband. Two-ish years later he proposed on that same corner.

We went down the the Basque Center tonight and had a drink before spending our anniversary date in much the same way as our first. We walked around and had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory (a little classier than Denny's). We've been married 2 and a half years, but somehow the anniversary of our meeting almost seems more significant to me. It certainly hasn't always been easy. But ultimately, there still isn't any doubt in my mind that he's my perfect other half.

Great Adventure

2009-08-22T15:55:00.009-06:00

Adrian and I decided to celebrate our end of the summer by taking my nephew Zac and his nephew Isaiah camping for two nights near Idaho City. The week leading up to our departure had me re-considering, wondering what the hell we were thinking! But I'm SO glad we did. We all had so much fun!

The boys wanted to help crank up the tent.

One thing continued to surprise me... the sheer amount of dirt these boys managed to accumulate on their bodies, not to be bothered by it. We'd wash them off and within minutes they'd look like this again. I eventually accepted defeat.

Target practice. All of us had a turn.

A snake that had all three of the boys giddy with excitement.

Too much excitement.

Not sure about this face... but we were sure having fun!

Last morning fun on their rock.

We all had so much fun it's decided that this needs to happen every summer! But Adrian and I are both so glad to be home, in the quiet, with our nap time intact.

Dog Park

2009-08-14T15:41:00.005-06:00

Nampa just opened up a dog park this summer and it's really close to our house. Initially I didn't think that we'd be able to partake in the joy because Nacho has such a big-dog complex that he's aggressive with anyone but Molly. But Adrian thought if we bought a soft muzzle that he could still enjoy the time off of the leash without landing us a big lawsuit. Unfortunately he still really isn't very social. He growls a lot, and rubs his face in the grass constantly. Plus, he's the only dog we've ever seen there with a muzzle. But at least he gets some exercise. Molly gets a little overstimulated and foams at the mouth the entire time we're there so people are a little wary of the long strings of goo hanging from her face. It's very exciting. The other night there was a huge crowd there. It's just a riot to watch all of these social dogs, even if mine isn't one of them. And some of the breeds are really surprising.

Raspberry Festival

2009-08-11T22:09:00.003-06:00

We had another great year at the Raspberry Festival. From what I hear, sales were down from last year for most of the vendors. I didn't see a huge drop from last year's sales. I would say it was pretty comparable. With all of our expenses and the amount of time I spent on my work I'd say I only broke even. But as I've been telling everyone, like teaching, I don't do it for the money. I do it for the love and the fact that people from all over the country have a little bit of my world in theirs. That part is pretty darn cool.

What was left...One surprise this year... My plates that were so desired last year did not sell! I sold one of the 7. The mugs did well and the neti pots about the same as last year. The minis, as always, were a hit. So I don't know what I'll do for next year, but I'll definitely focus on the completely functional, like mugs, perhaps a teapot or two, and spoon rests (by request). I guess I have a year to figure it out.

Post-Glazing

2009-07-30T20:37:00.008-06:00

I unloaded my kilns this morning and was fairly happy with what came out. Of the 10 mugs I made, 4 handles pulled away and can't be sold, but the rest held up ok. I was happy with almost all of my glazes. There were a few things that I had greater vision for that didn't quite get there. But my plates all came out great, as did the Neti pots. Once again I must admit that I am no photographer, so please do not judge the quality of the work based off of the quality of the photos!

These netis along with the mugs glazed like them are a little disappointing. I did not go heavy enough with the top coat so they didn't reach that toasty marshmallow look I was going for and the wheat carving underneath disappeared almost entirely. A shame, but at least they didn't crack.
This glaze looks like boring black but in person there is a hint of deep blue around the neck.

The color in these two photos doesn't show the blue glaze very well. I bent my rules a little bit and made 3 or 4 pots in blue. They actually look kind of pretty in person. You'll just have to trust me.
I have 4 plates with these interesting leaves that I found on our camping trip last week. The backs of them were really deep with veins so they made for a fantastic texture and they were huge, the biggest one being 10 inches across.

This is an urn for a dear family friend who lost a little dog that was close to my heart. I don't feel that the carving does her justice, but she was a slick-coated black dog which made her one of my most challenging carvings yet.
We're heading up to Cottonwood on Saturday for Sunday's Raspberry Festival. I made a mock-up of my display in our living room and my two tables are packed! It's going to be a great display. I hope my sales improve this year.

Pre-Glazing

2009-07-28T22:09:00.004-06:00

Here's the fruit of my summer labor. I just finished glazing them all today and actually had enough to fill up two kilns so I guess that isn't bad.

Compared to what I produced last summer for the festival:

I made my focus on functional wares (neti pots, mugs, plates) this year because most of the folks weren't interested in art pieces so much as stuff that they could use. I struggled with the issue of whether or not to use blue glazes this time around. I know that people are really drawn to blue and would probably be more likely to buy something blue, but I just don't like using it. I felt that I would compromise too much of my art by just making what sells easier. I'd almost rather not sell a nice piece that isn't blue than sell a blue piece that I'm not really wild about. I'll know how everything turned out on Thursday, so be watching for updates.

Pots pots and more pots

2009-07-23T09:11:00.003-06:00

I've ended production on the work I'm taking for the Raspberry Festival and I'm just finishing up some of the last carvings. My hope is to drag all this work in to school to fire this weekend, a task I've been worried about all summer. With all the trouble I've had with my handles it would just be my luck that they would all get bumped and break off somewhere in transport (they are so fragile). All told, I have 12 mugs, 12 neti pots, 10 plates (7 with leaves), a smattering of tree pots, and about 20 or 25 minis. I don't know how it matches up to last year's product. It's scattered all over my studio at the moment, so I'll have a better idea when I get it all out on the table for photos. I'll hopefully be bisque firing this weekend and glazing the first part of next week. We're off to the festival next Saturday.

On another note, my new website should be up and running next week. It will be a more professional display of my work, primarily to get it out there and hopefully make more sales. I will still be blogging here about all matter of life, never you worry. I'll let you know what it is when it is. But it's definitely exciting.

With all this pottering, I haven't done anything else for weeks. My house is in a state, my yard is overgrown with weeds (although thanks to a little unexpected help from my mother-in-law while we were camping this last weekend, it's a little bit less-- Thanks Maria!!) I have closet doors that I've been wanting to finish painting this summer, a couple of paintings for our hallway to finish, curriculum to plan and Master's homework to start. It's piling up and my summer is dwindling away! It's enough to bring on full-fledged panic. I'll post about our latest camping trip a little later.

Clematis

2009-07-09T10:00:00.003-06:00

This clematis astounds me every day. We planted the three plants in late April 2008, when we bought our house. This summer you could literally watch it grow inches a day. Last year all we saw were the red blooms on the middle plant. This summer, finally, I've got one of the white ones blooming. It brings me a lot of joy so I thought I would share.

Then:
Now:

Coast Trip

2009-07-01T16:02:00.011-06:00

Adrian and I returned from our coast trip on Tuesday evening. We had a great time and I was relieved that it went as smoothly as it did. Nacho was a little bit of a pill in the car, a lot of whining, but there were actually periods where he would sleep quietly. By the time we were nearly home he was a champ at it, which I appreciated. This was Nacho's first trip to the coast and he really loved it.
On Friday we set out early and drove through Bend to our campground (Beachside) just south of Newport. We made it there in about 10 and a half hours, which I thought was pretty decent with stops. The campsite we had this year was a lot bigger and much more secluded than last year. It had plenty of sun, plenty of shade and plenty of wind cover, all good things. The weather was beautiful and stayed that way all weekend (aside from the wind, of course).

Nacho had his first taste of the ocean Friday night and surprised us both by running right out in it. This dog will do anything to avoid a sprinkler and he's tromping right out into the frigid north Pacific! While he's not to be trusted off of his leash, I firmly believe he'd have kept going and probably have gotten himself into trouble. The beach was really windy that night, blowing drifts of sand all the way down the coast. We visited the tree on which we carved our names on last year only to find it almost entirely buried by sand. Disappointing as we weren't able to see the spot where our initials were. (Below is how we saw it last year)

It was pretty cold so we kept it short with a shivering little dog who decided he'd had enough.

On Saturday we woke up plenty early (thanks Nacho) and walked on the beach. We found a seal pup basking in the sun. There are signs all over saying to leave these guys alone as they come to the beach to rest so I didn't want to get too close. But it was pretty cool to see him. Nacho did not get the opportunity. :)

We spent some time in the sun, reading and napping before heading in to Lincoln City to hit the outlet mall. Didn't get much, just a long sleeve shirt for Mr. I-forgot-my-coat-for-the-second-year-in-a-row. We could practically hear Nacho yowling in the car from the parking garage so we did not stay long.

Then a little more time playing in the water.And after all that, a dog with practically no hair gets chilly, so Nacho spent most of the rest of the afternoon/evening curled up in his blanket.

Every time we camp we like to do the old stand-by foil pack meal over the fire. It's always the same. Potatoes, carrots, onions and chicken plus a little magic and voila! Gourmet.
Someone managed to put up these logs on the beach near our campsite. Not sure how it was done but it was interesting all the same.
We saved the Newport Bayfront trip for Monday hoping the crowds would be minimal, and they were, but apparently the harbor sea lions were on vacation as well. Their normal hangout was completely deserted and a huge disappointment. But again, beautiful weather.
When we got back we did some kite flying. The wind was perfect and the kites were fast. Nacho goes nuts for kites and spent his time barking and running back and forth after them.
We finished off our trip with a very cold but beautiful sunset on the beach.
With weather as nice as we had, we stopped at Multnomah Falls on the way home. I've never been there when the sun was shining and it was downright warm out. It was very cool and I was wishing we could have taken the rare opportunity to hike the mile up to the very top but decided that was best saved for a trip without the dog. I can't imagine we'll ever see weather like that there again though.
Nacho did much better on the way home and was happy enough to stay put in the back with his head between the seats, in case anything interesting happened.

Another great trip. No mishaps or accidents, so that was a huge relief. It is good to be home though now the pressure is really on for the pottery production. Only a couple of weeks left! I'll post my progress, such as it is, soon.

Updates

2009-06-24T13:39:00.006-06:00

You may safely assume that my lack of posting this month is entirely due to how busy I've been enjoying my summer. This is the first time I've had a summer off with Adrian and while that makes money tight we sure have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been happier in the last 3 weeks than I've felt in the last 8 months.

As I've said, Adrian and I have spent mass quantities of time together. In fact the other night he went to play basketball at our church and I had a rare 2 hours or so all alone at the house. Outside of my Master's weekends, we never spend large amounts of time away from one another. Some of you may shudder at the thought of that much quality time with your spouse, but that's always been something that Adrian and I could do with no problem. We're best friends.

We had our two year anniversary on the 8th, which we spent in McCall. No pictures this time. I guess I've got so many of the same basic pictures of us up there that I just didn't even bother to take any. But we watched the sun go down while sitting on the dock, similar to how we spent it last year on the coast. Some nice symmetry there. Even though we can't really afford it, Adrian bought me a beautiful diamond pendant necklace. It was really the first jewelry he's gotten me since our wedding so it was pretty special.

Adrian decided about two months ago that we should try to go a bit low carb around our house, something I was definitely not excited about. But the more we talked about it and looked at what our diet currently consisted of (essentially all carbs and a little protein for good measure) it started to make sense. So we began what has become a bit of a summer project. We've cut out a ton of the carbs we used to enjoy and have replaced them with healthier meals, more veggies and smaller portions. On top of that, since we're off every day, we've been going to the gym 5-6 (sometimes 7) days a week. I've amped up my workouts to include running and some pretty intense machine sessions and I'll admit, I've become somewhat hooked on the exercise. So far I've lost 10 pounds (though I seem to be holding there) and have seen a huge change in my metabolism. Since we started watching our portions (super difficult at first) I realize earlier when I'm satisfied before I'm overstuffed. It's been great. And really, after the first week when there was much wailing and writhing on the floor, it hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. More to come on this, hopefully, later.

On the pottery front I'm plugging away, however slowly, on items for the Raspberry Festival. I've had a few big screw-ups which are pretty frustrating, not to mention time-consuming. I'm taking a different focus this time around, making more plates, neti pots and mugs rather than the tree pots. That crowd wasn't looking so much for art as they were practical home items. We'll see how I do this year.

We're heading off to the coast again Friday for our annual camping trip. Same campground we went to last year. This year we're going to attempt to take Nacho, our Jack Russell, (Adrian's idea, NOT mine). I guess we'll see how that goes. Hey worst case it'll only be 12 hours of him whining all the way over there, 4 days of whining there and, well, 12 hours back. No problem right? As my bargaining chip, Adrian will be required to scoop all poop. Have fun there buddy. I'll update again when we get back next week.

Last Day of School

2009-06-02T20:35:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the day that we, as teachers, value beyond all other days... except perhaps the day after tomorrow. My fifth year is ending on a bitter-sweet note. This has been, by far, the hardest year I have faced. When it started I had nothing but grand visions in mind for the fifth year of my career. I was pumped and inspired. I was going to out-do my previous years of teaching by being even more innovative and dedicated. But life has a way of setting fire to your plans. I found, instead, that I was more self-absorbed, grumpy, introverted and distracted than ever before. I won't go into the details but suffice it to say, I struggled, and struggle still. So tomorrow comes as a much needed break during which, I hope, I can refocus. Though honestly I wonder if 10 weeks will be enough. I feel as though I have let my students down, though it's likely you could not tell by them. I know my teaching was not what it should have been and I am sorry for it. I'm sure all teachers have their up and down years. I only hope that this summer gives me the opportunity to do what I need to do, whatever that might be.

My summer actually looks to be fairly bright to the outside eye. I have plans to spend large amounts of time on my ceramics, with possible production "dates" with a fellow artist and friend, a stack of books knee deep that I'd like to read, a Master's degree to work on, a yard in desperate need of some weeding, a house still in need of chinking and oiling, a front yard to landscape, traveling and camping to do, a new patio to enjoy my coffee on every morning and a husband to spend it all with. I'm trying to be positive when so much of the past seven months has been so negative. So goodbye to the worst year of my teaching career. Goodbye and good riddance.

A card

2009-05-31T15:44:00.000-06:00

I got this card from my favorite gentleman at work that read:

"A birthday is like a vacuum cleaner. It's just there and then it sucks. And when it's not sucking, it's there waiting to suck."

Thanks Howard!

Birthday

2009-05-27T20:10:00.004-06:00

Technically my birthday isn't until Sunday but I've been celebrating it since last Friday. I came home from work to find a brand new shiny bike waiting for me. Adrian decided it was finally time to replace the really awesome mountain bike (really it has been!) that my dad bought me somewhere around 17 years ago. Though honestly I hadn't busted it out in nearly 2 years. So Friday night we went on a bike ride and stopped at his dad's place where I was given more gifts (apparently no one told them that if you give up your surprises before the actual birthday you are still expected to give gifts on THE day... not my fault.) So I got the entire set of Harry Potter books, in hard-back and a genuine (non-cultured) pearl necklace. Hey what can I say? I'm the best daughter-in-law he could ever ask for, right? We spent the rest of the weekend doing all kinds of fun things, Saturday Market, Parma Motor-Vu drive-in, lots of bike riding, including the Greenbelt on Monday. I got a couple of great gifts from students this week (though not specifically for my birthday, they just wanted to show their appreciation... always a blessing) and today when I came home I had still more birthday surprises. Adrian teamed up with his sister, Monica, to pick out a great weeping birch tree for a corner of the yard I had yet to do anything with. She, along with my mother-in-law, bought me a couple of beautiful rose bushes to add to my collection. Adrian spent the day digging and planting so that it would all be ready when I came home. Now, I love plants as gifts, but I love them EVEN MORE when I don't have to do any of the work! And we still have 3 days before my actual birthday. I've got to say, it sure takes the sting off of turning... 24....... again. Shut up. :)

latest

2009-05-19T19:20:00.003-06:00

This pot and another just like it were commissioned by a gentleman that I work with. He was looking for a personalized pot for his wife for Mother's Day. She really likes angels and he was hoping I could come up with something and add her name. Then when he told his friend in Nevada about it I had a second order for his wife (her's is the one below). I've never really drawn an angel before but I had an idea for something like this and messed around with it until I came up with something decent.

This flower pot was for my own mother for Mother's Day. I was really pretty pleased with how it came out.

new

2009-05-06T20:55:00.004-06:00

I've said this before and it remains true. The night before opening the kiln is just like Christmas Eve. I have a few things I'm excited to see come out of this latest firing (pictures forthcoming) so although I can hardly stand to be at work these days I'm anxious to go in tomorrow morning and crack that baby open.

Also, things to come... I'll be living the wild life of an almost serious artist with my own website hopefully soon. Apparently it pays to have connections and I have a graduating senior who has his own web development business. I know, ambitious huh? Turns out he's really talented and approached me about designing my website. (Don't feel slighted Jas, I should have hit you up when you had all that free time at your old job! I don't want to bog you down with extra projects.) Anyway, I'm not sure when it will be done and online but I'll let you know when I know. And make your travel plans now! We're on again for the Raspberry Festival the first Sunday in August in glorious Cottonwood, Idaho. I'm hoping to expand my offerings this year and look forward to my second annual attempt at acting like a real artist.

More to come.

So awesome

2009-04-25T17:13:00.003-06:00

Adrian and I have been working toward making our backyard a place that is pleasant to hang out for the last several years (tho I've only lived here for almost 2 of them). Check out here, here,
and here, for the history highlights. Today we finally invested in a quality set of patio furniture to replace the nasty, broken rickety old plastic stuff we have been using. We weighed the advantages of buying a new umbrella for our new set (the one I bought just last summer is cracked almost all the way down the middle!! Cheap!!) when we saw these great gazebos on sale at Fred Meyer. The gazebo ended up being more bang for only a tiny more buck so we went with that. The result is a totally AWESOME backyard paradise. Check it!

Lesley Weekend

2009-04-20T21:09:00.006-06:00

This last weekend was the second installment of our Art and Visual Inquiry class. I had so much fun in this class it is hard to believe I'm getting my Master's for this. The whole class was about making art. Here are a few of the highlights from this weekend.

Still life

This is the cover of my book. Relief printmaking. Way fun.
And here's my book laid out.

Spring

2009-04-20T21:03:00.003-06:00

The first bulbs I've ever planted (with Mom's help) have sprung! It makes for a cheerful homecoming everyday.

I am the Dog Whisperer... and other news

2009-04-15T21:13:00.006-06:00

So, no. I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. I've just been busy. Very busy. It's getting to be that time of year where school things are running a mile a minute, students are squirelly and don't want to work-- though neither do I, the grading is piling, the master's homework has been mounting, the house has needed--and still needs-- cleaning (though you can guess how high that one is on my priority list...) and the yard needs weeding, mowing (already!) and de-pooping (from a long winter of dog dookie. No, I don't poop safari in the winter. I actually just found the Christmas poo of Nacho's after he got into our bowl of nuts on Christmas Eve. It's the gift that just keeps on giving!) On top of it all I simply can't give up the jam sessions on Guitar Hero. A girl's gotta rock, you know?
I kept meaning to blog about our Oregon Coast trip over Spring Break but that never happened. Partially due to a very emotional experience that happened that I still actually have a hard time talking about. I started to load my pictures from the trip onto my Flickr account but even that got interrupted. I'll get it done one of these days.
I have pots that people want made but have had zero time for making and honestly my motivation seems to have flown off. If you see it, would you send it back my way?

But on to my really exciting news. I am the Dog Whisperer! Yes! It's true! Adrian and I love that show and Cesar has taught me much in how to deal with our occassionally ill-behaved Nacho. Tonight I had a real break through which you will undoubtedly fail to see the significance of. Every time I go to let Nacho out the back door he is jumping and scratching and making the most awful noises one can imagine. It makes us insane. You know that sound Cesar makes? That *tsh* very quick, very assertive. Well hot diggity, tonight I'd just watched an episode (don't worry I was multi-tasking with homework) and went to let Nacho out. He started his usual and I just showed him who was boss dang it! I made him back several feet up, sit, wait IN SILENCE (!!) while I opened the door, opened the screen door (he is STILL sitting, staring at me wondering how I became a Jedi) and I finally released him and he quietly walked out the door. I tell you I was higher than a kite. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! This is a dog who is more obstinate than even I am and will bark rebelliously even as I am threatening him to within an inch of his life. Of course I did my Michael Jackson victory moonwalk back into the living room where Adrian quickly bowed at my feet in awe of my Jedi mind trick. Did I mention I'm the Dog Whisperer, cuz I am.

New Pots

2009-03-23T08:16:00.003-06:00

This colander is meant to replace the nasty one I gave to Jas and Jess for Christmas. I'm MUCH happier with the results of this glaze. It's the same one I used on my father-in-law's nose mug (found on that same post) so I knew I could trust it. I'm not particularly happy with the amount of shrinkage on this pot, though I guess I've just come to expect that of porcelain.

I had the worst trouble with cracks in this firing. I never have this problem but two of my pots cracked big time. This one has a very large crack that's horizontal to the bottom, you can see it on the bottom right side of this picture. It didn't go all the way through but it's several inches long and completely perplexing.

This was my other cracked pot, which may have been doomed from the start. I had a blunder with it while it was still leatherhard and I managed to drop it. So it had one part that was completely flat and I tried to reshape it a bit. But then as it dried it began to crack in the bottom as well, which I kept trying to compact and fix but I knew in the firing it would reappear. It did, but actually most of the glaze covered the crack. However it did crack in another spot on the bottom which I suspect had something to do with dropping it. At any rate it was still good enough to submit for a teacher show going up at our district office along with a few others that I had sitting around.

Rock & Worship Roadshow

2009-03-22T14:37:00.006-06:00

Friday night the Rock & Worship Roadshow came to town and entertained a PACKED house at the Idaho Center, possibly 10,000 people. Adrian and I had been looking forward to this for weeks. The Roadshow consists of five Christian groups; MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Hawk Nelson, Tenth Avenue North and Addison Road. I told Adrian weeks ago that he needed to be prepared to sit out in line for hours and hours if need be as there weren't any tickets sold prior to the show, $10 at the door was all. Since he doesn't work on Fridays it was on him to get us as close to the head of the line as possible. I've had anxiety about this for weeks! Don't get me wrong, I loved the price, but sometimes it's more comforting to have seats that are all ours. At any rate, I had early release on Friday for Spring Break but I had him head over to the Idaho Center at about 1. Good thing too as kids, just out of school I'm sure, started showing up. He was a champ and parked it in line for the next 5 and a half hours. I joined him mid-afternoon after scrambling to get my grades turned in. I was amazed at how many people were already in line by the time I got there around 3:30. But this was a big deal. MercyMe and Jeremy Camp are the ultimate! Next to Casting Crowns and Third Day it just doesn't get any better. As the hours to door opening drew on I started to get extraordinarily irritated with the people in line. For a bunch of Christians there sure was a great deal of line jumping and edging in front of others... crowding toward the front gate. By the time we actually got inside I was so cranky because of the people who had shoved around me to get in front of me that I seriously doubted I was in the appropriate state of mind for a concert meant for worship. I spent much of the next hour scouring the growing crowd for those individuals who just HAD to push me out so they could get floor seats. But finally the show started with Addison Road and I felt the tension I'd been holding on to for the last four hours (plus 6 weeks) wash away. Our seats were great, just where I wanted to be and the music promised to be amazing. It delivered, for sure. Addison Road's rather pregnant lead singer, Jenny, has a really extraordinary voice. Their set was really short, only 3 songs, which I suspect may have something to do with the fact that she is a mere 5 and a half weeks away from her due date. They didn't drop the house lights for their set, which I thought was strange. This was my first Christian concert so I didn't know what to expect. But following their performance Tenth Avenue North took the stage and the lights went down. Their set was slightly longer and equally excellent. It started to feel like a real concert. In between the groups the lead singer from MercyMe, Bart Millard, came out to talk about various opportunities to finiancially support Cure International and Compassion International. If you are looking for ministry opportunities that can truly make a difference, particularly in the life of a child please check out those links. What they do is truly spread God's love around the world.

The next act to take the stage was not one that I was particularly looking forward to. Hawk Nelson is a group that appeals probably more to the younger crowd (geez, did I really just put that? As in, I'm no longer a part of that younger crowd???) But anyway, they're a little more punk, too much so for my taste, but man, they had a lot of energy. This was the first concert I've been to since cell phones have really taken hold of our culture. I had heard this but never witnessed the fact that in a concert venue, cell phones are the new lighter. Makes for a cool effect when everyone's little blue lights are waving up in the air.
But it just figures that the one group I was least interested in seeing had, by far to this point, the longest set. It was entertaining but they definitely upped the volume and set my ears ringing. Then finally it was time for the one act that I was really amped to see. I've been a fan of Jeremy Camp since I met Adrian and he introduced me to his album Stay. He's a phenomenal artist who deeply loves Christ and writes and co-produces all of his own music. Check him out.

Finally the last group to perform was MercyMe. I've loved their music for a long time and seeing them perform was incredible. They put on a great show with some pretty cool special effects. But throughout the entire performance, by all groups, the focus was so clearly on worship. It's so easy to fall into that mentality of celebrity fandom, where you're in awe of actually seeing someone you've wanted to see perform for years finally live and on stage. The final song of the night ended and Bart Millard started the crowd singing "I love you Lord" and he walked off the stage as the crowd continued to sing. It was really moving because it made it not about MercyMe or any of the groups that had performed. It ended the night with our hearts and minds on God and was incredible to hear the crowd sing in unison without any sort of leader. When the singing stopped and people started moving out they played "Blessed Be Your Name" by Tree 63 over the P.A. system. And though the concert was over the whole crowd continued to sing this song as they shuffled out. It was amazing!

Adrian and I are still talking about our experience. This was such an incredible concert and I would jump at the chance to go again. If you check out the roadshow website and find that they're coming to a venue near you, consider checking it out. You don't have to be a believer to go, in fact I would tell non-believers that they should go more than believers. It's a message you should experience. And for a mere $10 and 3 hours of your time, it's well worth it.

Bo-Barcus

2009-03-15T19:09:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was my nephew Marcus' 1st birthday. As much as I can't believe it's true, that little boy is growing so fast!

Rock Band jam session

2009-03-15T18:46:00.004-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated getting our awesome huge tv back from the fixer-uppers by having our good friends Christy and Chris come over for a little jam session. They had never played before so it was fun for all.

Nacho was not digging it so much.

Yes I'm getting my Master's with this...

2009-03-15T18:36:00.003-06:00

What a cool program. This weekend was the first installment of our Visual Inquiry class. The entire weekend was spent up to our elbows in various art media. Here are a couple of things we did with our time.

Jealous, huh?

A very productive Master's weekend...

2009-02-16T16:32:00.004-07:00

Well, ok, the class was ridiculously worthless but I was incredibly productive with the final two drawings for my series (see the first here).

Latest...

2009-02-09T20:50:00.005-07:00

I have a few new pots out. A couple were commissioned, including this one. Normally I don't do much with bright blue glazes but boy was this one ever blue!

A couple more neti pots for a cousin and the rest were just me dinking around.

This is a pot I made years and years ago as a demonstration of the technique you see on the outside. I finally decided to dust it off and glaze it. It turned out kind of cool, but nothing earth shattering.

Since I wasn't overly attached to these pots I tried a new glaze combo that I think I really like. Definitely one to continue working with. I included an upside-down photo so you can really see the glaze.

I'm having my beginning pottery students create pinch pot vases as their intro project instead of clay whistles. I'm all whistled out for a semester or two. So I had to make one with them and this is what I came up with. I love the look of it and had fun making it. Though my advanced students keep trying to tell me it's a bong. Doy, no it most definitely is not.

McCall Winter Carnival

2009-02-01T21:18:00.006-07:00

Adrian and I went up to the McCall Winter Carnival for the first time together. It was the first time I've been there since I was a little girl. We had a great time for such a short weekend.

We spent a little time Saturday sledding at the Condo. It was pretty exciting as the end of the hill was really the frozen lake. When our sleds came to a stop we were halfway out to the boat dock on 3 feet of snow. It was about as far out as I was brave enough to go.

Wii have our first casualty

2009-01-29T21:16:00.002-07:00

Adrian and I, in true financial responsibility, purchased a Wii last weekend for his birthday. No, we can't afford it, no we didn't need it, but dang it, sometimes you just have to do the impulsive thing (especially on the tail end of my salary tailspin). So anyway, the week has seen MUCH sporting (and jamming-- Guitar Hero). However tonight we were head to head in bowling when my poor cat, Louie, walked right in front of my strike zone and I clocked him in the face pretty hard. He was dazed for a moment but recovered. I do believe he'll be a bit wary of those controllers from now on. Poor guy.

Why teachers quit the profession

2009-01-24T19:09:00.002-07:00

Could it be because of district office bureaucratic b*s*? I fully believe this to be true. So, allow me to give a little back story...

In my district you are required to take 12 credits continuing ed during your first 3 years. I received a list of required courses in my orientation in my first year. What followed is entirely my fault. I diligently took all of the courses on that list, but I failed to realize that it only added up to half of the required 12 credits. *DOH* How much time would it have taken me to actually do the math? .6 seconds? No no, I was too busy for that. So at the end of the summer after my third year I realize my mistake, that I am 4 or 5 credits short of my needed 12. Holy hell, I'm not going to get my raise... I was mad. WAY mad. But really I could only be mad at myself. Eventually I came to terms with my stupidity and accepted that my mistake cost me that one year of increased pay but I was determined that I would correct my error and catch up to my proper spot on the pay scale the following year (this year). I finished the necessary credits and was SO excited to see my new pay in September. But alas, the union was in the process of negotiating our new pay scale so all salaries remained the same until the conclusion of negotiations, which didn't happen until December. So January, yay! BIG paycheck with all that back pay plus the extra big money from my jump way down on the payscale (technically 3 spots down from where I was currently, a difference of about $4000.) All week I was beside myself waiting for that direct deposit slip that was going to make up for all the overdrafts and postponed bills of the last month. I pulled my slip out of my box, quickly pulled back the tape with bated breath and... it's the exact same. WHAT? (explitive, explitive). I couldn't figure it out. What happened? Where's my big payday? What's the deal?!? As it turned out we had our union rep at our school for lunch on Friday so I went and asked her. I found out that there were others who, for whatever reason, did not get their retro pay from the 4 months they were in negotiations, but I explained that I was also expecting to make this big jump down to step 5 of the pay scale (for my 5 years experience in the school district). No, she says, it doesn't work like that. "You lose that entire year of experience." What do you mean I lose that experience??? I worked it, I have it... what do you mean I lose it?! Apparently, because someone at the district says so, you can never catch up. So essentially, instead of being paid as a 5th year employee with 12 credits, I'm going to be paid as a 3rd year employee with 12 credits. Next year I'll be paid as a 4th year, though I will be in my 6th year. The crushing realization that my district was out to rob me of money that is properly mine bulldozed me. I could hardly focus on teaching the rest of the afternoon as I struggled to deal with my anger and disappointment. That stupid stupid mistake that has already cost me thousands of dollars will continue to cost me thousands more for the rest of my career. And why? Because someone with the power says that I can't move down the scale more than one step per year. No reason, you just can't. Well I can tell you the reason. It has everything to do with them not wanting to pay people what they're worth. Thanks for all your hard work but we're not going to pay you like you've done it. Awesome. I love my job. Truly. What the students do for me is incredible. But it's district b*s* like this that really makes me question things. Why does it have to be us and them? Why aren't we all on the same side?

*sigh* There are some things I'd love to say here, things that would attempt to express the depth of my anger at the unjustice but I can't. So anyway, thanks for the vent.

surprise

2009-01-18T17:46:00.002-07:00

I came home from class last night to two dozen red roses on the table and dinner ready on the stove. He bought the vases himself and spent an hour cutting and arranging the flowers to sit perfectly at different heights... whatta man. Think I might be pretty lucky.

Christmas pots

2008-12-30T13:16:00.008-07:00

I've been sitting on these pictures of my lastest work because they were all Christmas gifts or birthday gifts.

This is a colander I made for my brother and his wife. It looks fine in the picture but in real life it didn't turn out at all like I wanted so I'll be remaking it...

This colander was for my sister for her birthday. That's not trick photography, it truly is that warped. Something that has me a bit perplexed. But the glaze turned out nice. Love that spray booth.

Two mugs for Jason and Jess. I was really happy with how the glaze came out on these.

Two mugs for my sister and her husband. Again the glaze turned out great. Up close you can pick up a real deep blue on top of the black.

Two mugs for my parents. Again, great results.

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...

Christmas

2008-12-30T10:28:00.008-07:00

Finally the Christmas photos are here.

My sweet new nephew Marcus had his first Christmas. I think he enjoyed it.
Adrian and I had our 2nd annual Mouws and Mistletoe on the 20th. Another success. Thanks for coming out everyone!

This was a common sight throughout the month.

This was Marcus at our family tree decorating. My family has the coolest tradition that even though we've all long since moved out of our parent's house we all still come back to decorate the family tree with all the creepy old ornaments we made as children, including, yes, the construction paper gingerbread man that I ate the incredibly old, petrified raisin buttons off of when I was little. I still get crap for that and I'm thinking, why wasn't I supervised, eh people?

Every year Christmas Eve has me making a couple hundred tamales with the women on Adrian's side. Then we all gather at his grandparent's tiny house for stockings and a gift exchange. The chaos is crazy but wonderful. Following that we come back to our house for yet another exchange between Adrian's mom and siblings. It's always a VERY late night.

Christmas morning has us at my parent's house for more family gifting fun.

The day after Christmas held more gifting, this time with Adrian's father, sister and her kids.

Finally after all was said and done, Adrian and I both felt a bit like Nacho, desiring a much needed Christmas nap.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T01:09:00.002-07:00

Sitting in the calm between storms (his family and my family) and before I collapse into bed, I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. But don't forget that it has NOTHING to do with all that crap we stuff under a tree and all the stress and anxiety that goes with it. It has everything to do with a man born to be our Savior. May He bless and keep you safe in the coming year. He has done MUCH for me in this one.

Husband humor follow-up

2008-12-22T09:51:00.001-07:00

Just to add to his perceived hilarity, the other night when Adrian was hanging the final portion of our cabinets (a great little end piece with shelves for my pottery-- pictures forthcoming) he pulls out his trusty stud-finder, right? Turns it on and starts rubbing it on his chest as it starts beeping, "See?? See?" Yes honey, I see. You're a stud alright.

Husband Humor

2008-12-14T19:32:00.002-07:00

Adrian is completing our kitchen (nearly two years later...) and today while putting up our new cabinet box we had some technical difficulties in locating the wall studs. So he took a quick trip to Wal-Mart for one of the fancy kind that beeps over the studs...

Here's what he tells me tonight:

"So I was in the aisle looking for those stud finders, right? I turned the corner and they all started going off..."

Deck the halls

2008-12-01T19:22:00.003-07:00

Adrian and I spent the weekend decorating the house. Christmas is what this house was built for so despite all the turmoil in our lives lately, this, we decided, is a must. We also discussed the possibility of going fake this year. Our fireplace frequently spits embers over our gate and can make Christmas with a real tree somewhat scary. So we had the discussion and decided if we were going to go fake then we needed to go big. We found this 9-foot tree that Adrian really liked at Costco, and even though it's got white lights, which I'm not wild about, it really is pretty awesome. It's got some pretty fancy real-looking branches on the outer edges. It's the most convincing fake tree I've seen and with as much as we spent last year on our very large real tree, this seemed to be a sound investment.

Bazaar results

2008-11-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Well there aren't any. Unfortunately I didn't sell a thing.

New

2008-11-20T19:56:00.005-07:00

I've been working on some pieces for a holiday bazaar this week. I wasn't able to produce as much as I wanted but the stuff I did work up came out pretty well.

These mugs are one set of 4 that I made for my Grandma and another set of 4 for my Aunt Idette. Here's hoping they aren't disappointed. Unfortunately the handle on one separated a little so it will have to be re-made before I ship them. (Sorry Idette! Soon, I promise!)

This is part of a different design I tried a couple of years ago. I never finished glazing them. I think I liked them better before. The glaze really didn't turn out (take my word for it.)

As it turned out the amount of stuff I had worked perfectly for the space. So here's the set up for the bazaar. If I sell all of it I could make a fair penny. A girl can hope.

Halloween

2008-11-01T20:54:00.005-06:00

Our collective make-up took a little over 2 hours to do. But the result was pretty stinking cool. We joined up with some friends and hit the downtown scene; something I haven't done in a long time. When we walked in to Hannah's the folks at the door wanted to enter us into their costume contest. We had to stick around until midnight for it though and the music was bad so we left and went to the Bistro instead. I told Adrian that he probably had a shot with his costume but there was no way I could stand up to some of those that I saw. For the both of us it was enough just to know that we were good enough to warrant entrance. His costume was such a hit. Lots of comments on it. I'd just like to say, his make-up was all me. :)

Wheel-wonderful

2008-10-30T21:30:00.003-06:00

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.

Homework is going well...

2008-10-18T17:15:00.003-06:00

Clearly.

Fortunately the strep turned into a false alarm and never progressed beyond feeling crappy for a while (which could have been sleep deprivation) and the tell-tale white spot on the back of my throat. Usually, and I can say this as I get it so often, strep progresses quickly on me and starts kicking my butt within a day or two of the dreaded spot. So that was a relief, however...
I knew starting my Master's was going to be a lot of work but after one month with homework always hanging over my head I'm starting to get a little mental. It seems my fuse runs about 3.6 seconds these days. I hate having unfinished work on my shoulders and I'm finding that even beginning the final paper for my first Master's class an exercise of monumental proportions. I haven't written a paper in 5 years. I don't even know how to start a paper anymore. And APA citation? I don't care how many songs you make me sing about it, I'm not going to get it (you had to be there for that one.) I've always suffered from this disease of not really having much to say and having even fewer words with which to say it. Paper writing is painful. Excruciating. Akin to, oh, say cleaning a community cat box after 8 weeks of multiple patrons. Yah, it's about like that. So all week I would come home from work (or acupuncture, more on that in a minute) to a house in a state of national disaster, make dinner and attempt to pull out some of my books for a genuine start on my arts rationale paper and oh look, here's something to distract me and oh look, it's after nine. No homework gets done after nine. I hadn't read a sentence on critical pedagogy or arts modalities all week. On top of which I'm trying to design my integrated arts lesson, which I'm pretty excited about but terrified of actually starting in class. All the while the clock is ticking down to November 3rd, the due date. Oiy.

Acupuncture. Let me give some back story, and I'll try to keep it brief. I was rear-ended when I was 20. My chiropractor believed that was the initial event that led to my current neck pain. For years it has been something that came for a week or two and went for a month or two. But before school let out last spring the pain came on, I assumed due to end of the year stress, but then it never went away. All day long the aching/burning pain between my neck and shoulder made just about everything harder, but it was summer and all I had to worry about was my pottery. Months now it's been hurting and by the start of school I'd dare to say it was worse. Minutes after waking up in the morning I'd have my shoulder hunched up around my ear (I do Quasimodo very well by the way) and it would remain there, burning all day long. The chiropractor didn't fix it, ibuprophen doesn't help it (and I'm not big on drugs anyway) so I'd started considering acupuncture. I've heard so many wonderful things about it I became convinced that this was my salvation. I called around, found a doctor of eastern medicine with 30 years of experience under his belt. Figured if anyone could fix me it'd be him. He's a very sweet man with a passion for people so I felt good in my decision to commit to his recommended 12 sessions of electro-stim acupuncture. If it worked, and I was completely convinced I'd be cured by the 3rd session, it would be well worth the first-born child I promised him. Yesterday I had my 11th session after a particularly excruciating day of pain only to find it still there when I got up off the table. I cried on the way home and arrived in one of the most foul moods I've been in for a very long time. Clearly acupuncture is not my miracle and I'm just about out of places to turn. Being waist-deep in homework, enormously behind on the chinking and oiling project we're doing on the house, neck-deep in dirt, grim and dirty dishes and a brand new beautiful pottery wheel gathering dust makes having this pain go on another minute completely unbearable. Adrian puts up with my moods like a champ (in silence and distance when necessary) but I seriously need to get a grip on things. I'm thinking of scheduling a massage this week. I have a couple of gift certificates I've been needing to use. Perhaps I can find a small miracle there.

So I do apologize for not updating more these days. I'm turning to pottery now as my stress relief so perhaps you'll be seeing some more of my work coming soon. One can only hope.

short update before bed

2008-10-12T20:37:00.002-06:00

I just had my second weekend of my first Master's class. It was another greatly rewarding weekend with some of my new favorite people in the world. Unfortunately now that I'm entering crunch time to complete the final project of the course I do believe I'm coming down with strep throat for the third time since March. According to my doc I'm dangerously close to needing my tonsils taken out. Pretty sure I don't have time for that. Anyway, as I'm feeling kind of junky I'm going to bed a little extra early. I'll update more hopefully tomorrow.

At long, long last!

2008-09-30T20:46:00.004-06:00

I have to give a shout out to my awesome mom (you're the best!) for her help over the weekend. She came over and worked her weeding magic to help me conquer the last corners of our yard that were yet unfinished. The bark we got way back at the beginning of the summer didn't make it all the way around as we had hoped and in the interim the weeds had yet again taken over. With so much on our plates I wasn't sure when we'd get around to finishing though I was desperate to try to get all the dirt covered before the winter hit. The dogs, Molly especially, love to lay in it and they drag so much of it into our already dusty house. So with mom's tenacious super-weeding abilities we were able to deep-six the weeds and yesterday we got the bark down! Now all that's left is filling it all in with plants, but that's for next year. My backyard is officially done... for now. You may be interested to see the before photos here and here. Most of the work happened this year, except for the grass! However as an aside, I do still have a butt-ton (literally 140) tulip and iris bulbs to plant, perhaps this weekend if it isn't too rainy. Next year our yard should be totally rockin'! I can't wait to have people over for a little bbq on our sweet new patio in our sweet new yard, but I'm afraid that the weather this weekend may not hold up for it. We'll see. You guys have plans?

drawing

2008-09-21T21:24:00.003-06:00

The first real drawing I've done in my sketchbook for a while. Finished over the weekend while Notre Dame lost to Michigan State.

I must be having a growth spurt...

2008-09-19T20:30:00.002-06:00

Don't they say that great growth happens through great challenge? I hope so. I have a class of students that could very well be my most challenging obstacle in my short 4.5-ish years (5 sounds better but I'm in my 5th so I guess I can't say it just yet) of teaching. I've had classes in the past with one or two students who were challenging from a classroom management standpoint, but this particular class has no less than 6. I've tried a few different tactics and finally broke down and contacted some parents today (we'll see next week if that helps) but they have thwarted my every maneuver. It seems as though every day they pass the torch to another of their group as to who can make me pull the most hair out. At this rate I'll surely be bald by Thanksgiving. It's so frustrating because I don't think any of these kids are bad kids (I can say that now, semi-objectively 6 hours later) and I'm pretty sure that if I had a couple of them mixed in to a couple of my other classes that I would have no problem at all. But all 6 at once is just more than I can emotionally bear. I hate the fact that I dread the days in which I meet with this class because I just cannot seem to get a grip on them. The other day I even had to stoop to bribery (candy can be an effective motivator) and even then I met with mediocre results. But like I said, maybe contacting a few parents will make all the difference. I'm not big into disciplinary write-ups but that may also become my best tool. However I have a difficult time putting a word to what exactly each student does that is so counter-productive to my teaching. I mean, I could easily attach a few words to some of the actions but not all of them. And some things (like some suspected bullying) I haven't been able to clearly witness (clear enough that I can hear what was said) though it seems to be happening under my nose. It's all so utterly exasperating I can hardly stand it and it makes me look at the calendar and think, "It's only September???"

Master's weekend in review

2008-09-14T19:20:00.002-06:00

When I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 2003 I clearly remember thinking that there was no way I could ever attempt a Master's degree. I so badly wanted to be done with school (well, my student role in it, anyway). The thought of going back was unfathomable. Then last fall I had a student teacher who was doing his observation hours with me before beginning his student teaching in the spring. He got me seriously considering the possibility of taking the leap. I began my pursuit in earnest in February with Lesley University. This weekend was my official launch into the program.

I worked through last week with the knowledge that my weekend was going to be completely sucked up into class and that I would (horror of horrors!) not get a single morning to sleep in (a true hardship). But worse than that, I had barely been able to see my dearest husband all week. He's been working a few side jobs to earn a little extra money which required late nights every night last week. He would get home after I had gone to bed nearly every night. So we had literally a cumulative of about 40 minutes a day in which we were awake and in the vicinity of one another. It felt as though I needed to start writing notes to him throughout the day so I could remember things that I wanted to tell him in our precious few minutes of conversation each day. So facing a weekend where we had MUCH to work on around the house (that's for a different blog post altogether) and knowing that I would not see him but for an hour or two before bed time wasn't making me feel terribly confident about my choice of going back to school. I wondered if I could handle the time commitment, the workload demands, and *shudder* the paper writing... eegads if there's something I hate to do, that would be it. I'd gleefully clean the bathroom before writing a paper. Our first 5 hours of class started Friday night at 5, after a long day of work. Joy.

But surprise surprise, it actually was a joy. Holy cats is this going to be a stinking awesome ride! I wish I could do justice to the experience but I know that like some secret societies, some things are just better left in the circle. But I can see how these people will become my extended family already. I've been out of class now for 2 and a half hours and I miss them!! Don't get me wrong, I had moments where my eyes were crossing and my brain was functioning at half-power but spending 23 hours of my weekend with one group of 22 people was an exercise in team-building that I didn't expect. I have met some WONDERFUL people that I cannot wait to see again, already. We ate our meals together, we planned future meals, we supported one another, laughed at one another and with one another... This is dangerously close to Mr. Roger's touchy-feely-ness, I realize. But truly, I'm floored by what I get to spend the next 21 months doing.

I suppose I have to disclose, however, my mortification for the weekend. Most of you know about my arachnophobia. To say it's debilitating is an understatement. This afternoon we were having a serious discussion when what should I look down to see on my paper? I, true to form, freaked, threw my papers on the floor and jumped about 6 feet back while everyone turned to stare at me, completely dumbfounded. The initial fear was enough to get the sweat going, the shaking and the heart racing (I have a GREAT flight response), but then the emotion caught up to me and the tears started to flow (only in part due to my embarrassment). It's humiliating to be so utterly undone by something so small and I have zero rationale for it. I suppose I should revist my spider therapy from a year ago though I'm in no way up for carrying the spider in my purse for a week ordeal, and definitely not without a counselor telling me I have to. So now my new friends know that I'm a mental case, but to their credit no one laughed and my unwanted guest was promptly removed from class.

So anyway, I'm really happy to be done with my first loooooooong weekend, not wild about heading back to work tomorrow, but super excited for what I've started. It's absolutely the right program for me; a fear that has plagued me since I decided to go for it last February. Now I need to finish writing down a few thoughts on the activities of the weekend before my memories escape me and I crash into bed.

The official studio

2008-09-07T16:44:00.003-06:00

Ok, so it might not look like much, and of course the sofa isn't ideal, and the seasoned potter with their complete studio may look at this and think how can anyone work like that, but to me it's pure gold because it's all mine! I haven't had a chance to break it in yet as we are, yet again, projecting around the house. Our latest is that we are chinking our logs so that we can oil the house in another couple of weeks. But then today we were out of chinking material so we went to the nurseries looking for the great sales. Unfortunately we came home with a truck full of yard work on top of everything else. In the middle of purchasing all our shrubs and grasses and rose bushes and trees I looked at Adrian and said, "What the HELL are we thinking?" The afternoon was spent transplanting our old bushes that are nowhere near creating the hedge we desired in the front yard and started replacing them with larger, faster growing hedge plants. So we had to move the old boxwoods to the backyard, plant our new trees (in the middle of which Adrian decided he needed to prune the overgrown pine tree in our front yard) and we have yet to get to the rest of the grasses in, finish the transplant of the boxwoods and plant the new rose bush.

We still need to move my shelves upstairs and get rid of a few things we'd been needlessly storing up in the loft before I'll be able to fully utilize my new studio space, but rest assured I'll be breaking in the new wheel SOON.

#1 Dad

2008-09-06T21:28:00.003-06:00

You should all know that my dad is the ultimate. He told me a few weeks ago that he wanted to help me purchase my wheel so I can kick up my production at home. So today was the day. We got a crazy good deal on a great (at least that's what I've heard) Thomas Stuart Revolution wheel. I had originally had the Shimpo Whisper VL in mind but I talked to an artist who has a Thomas Stuart and she highly recommended it, plus it was cheaper. I'm in the process of relocating "my studio" upstairs to the loft so I'll post new photos of my AWESOME NEW WHEEL and my awesome new studio as soon as I'm set... hopefully tomorrow.

THANKS DAD!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!

My own Mary Kate

2008-08-23T09:36:00.000-06:00

Wedding

2008-08-23T09:16:00.006-06:00

It's been such a busy week I hadn't gotten the chance to post about my brother's wedding a week ago today. It was so awesome and the two of them looked amazing. I'll just cut to the chase and post a few photos.

First Day From Hell

2008-08-18T21:06:00.003-06:00

It’s my first day back on the job and I’ve already come home in tears. Where to begin…

Over the summer my maintenance guy promised me that he would install my spray booth. I know he’s a very busy and under-appreciated man, but he promised something and I thought he would come through. He didn’t and I’m back to the expensive paperweight/storage container on the counter bit. Great.

Last Friday I hauled Adrian (and all of my borrowed ceramic studio equipment) in to my classroom. The custodial staff enjoys tearing the room apart over the summer and NEVER puts my 300+ lb. tables back where they go. So I needed Adrian’s help to shove them back to their places. Not easy in itself but then you add on top of that the fact that my floor is sloped toward a drain in the center and that means that the feet on all of the tables have to be adjusted to level off the tops. An irritating way to begin my year.

Today was our first day of inservice. As a member of the art department I have come to acknowledge that many inservices are going to relate more to other folks than to me. The first two hours of our morning inservice were just that. But then I learned that the district has decided no teachers should have printers in their classrooms. WHAT? I went my entire first year without a printer in my classroom. I know what it’s like and let me tell you the amount of ridiculous-ness that decision has and will cause cannot be quantified. Instead we will have “printing stations” where everyone’s documents will print. In an art classroom students require the use of a printer almost daily. That’s a fact. And should I need to print something confidential (like a student’s grades? Accommodations??) Um, do you see the issue? When they’re talking about moving the “printing station” to the prep room (a mere QUARTER MILE from my classroom)… whaddya think the odds are of me running down there before someone beats me to it? I’m in fair shape, I work out… but that’s not gonna do much if you’re plowing through 2400 students on the way there. Not even Michael Phelps in all his super-human glory could achieve such a thing. Ok, so I’m really upset at the printer situation and it isn’t even 10 o’clock.

Lunch rolls around and I’m working through it. Administration doesn’t plan a whole heck of a lot of time to be working in our rooms this week so one must make use of every available moment. So while sucking down my pb & j in one dust covered hand and trying to sort through the disaster that the custodial staff left of my computer cords and clay dust bunnies (so much more fierce than your run of the mill dust bunnies) I discovered that while they were judiciously moving my crap to the most inconvenient places they destroyed one of the connectors of my BRAND NEW COMPUTER SPEAKERS. Destroyed, beyond repair, kaput, useless, done. So my anger is now set to flash boil. So I head to the faculty lounge to retrieve my beloved plant that I purchased in my pre-school year optimism last year. This plant was GORGEOUS, to say the least. I left it in the lounge as part of a program that allows teachers to do that at the beginning of summer with the promise that they will be well cared for. With my preoccupation with other things (call it scatterbrain, call it half-a-brain, whatever) I figured my dearest plant would probably be better cared for by someone whose job it is to regularly water the plants in a room full of beautiful sunlight. Let me put it this way, I dropped off Queen Latifah and picked up one of the Olsen twins. I was over the top with fury. Who knows if this emaciated excuse for a plant will EVER become a shadow of it’s former glory, and quite honestly, to even put it out is an embarrassment.

One thing after another piled on to my oppressive first day back. I made a quick detour for something to ease the pain on the way home, fuming over all the frustrations of my first day back. And I haven’t even seen a single student.

I decided this was a blogging type of day so I jump on my fancy little computer here and think about “blogging it out” as they say. Literally seconds after I open up the browser, my connection flickers off because I have a P.O.S internet provider, apparently. An issue that I’ve called multiple times about, had multiple technicians out to the house over and have yet to have fixed. In fact, since my latest service call just last week it’s gotten worse and now is connected to the internet less time than not. Anyone want to recommend a new service? PLEASE? Before I throw my modem through a window? Now I’ve got to try to post this in my next 30 seconds of service or--

Joy, here comes day two. I love my job I love my job I love my job…

McCall

2008-08-11T10:48:00.003-06:00

Some photos from our many trips to the condo

Backwoods Adventure

2008-08-11T10:22:00.006-06:00

Adrian and I decided to spend our last available weekend of the summer in McCall. Some good friends of ours have a condo that I have visited every summer of my working memory. It has long been my favorite place in the world to be especially when accompanied by my best friend.

On Saturday we decided to finally use a gift certificate for Backwoods Adventures that we received as a wedding gift from some friends of ours. They're located on the north beach boat ramp of Payette Lake. It's a small company that rents canoes and kayaks for trips up the North Fork of the Payette River. We were nervous considering that neither of us had ever placed a foot in a kayak and all I'd previously known about them is that they're the ones that can roll over in water. But we were assured that this was something we could handle so we loaded up and hit the water. It was beautiful!
I had no idea how much work was involved as there really is no current to push you. If you're not paddling you aren't going to be moving much. But between the two of us (ok well really just Muscles back there) we didn't do too bad.
We stopped on a sandbar for lunch. So far we hadn't seen much in the way of wildlife except for a studious chipmunk at our lunch spot and some kind of water weasel (I have no idea, but that's what we called him). Oddly enough it wasn't until we returned to town that we saw A BEAR in someone's backyard.
If anyone is heading to McCall anytime soon I would highly recommend checking this place out. If we can handle it anyone can and it was way worth the effort.

Raspberry Festival

2008-08-04T15:53:00.006-06:00

Adrian and I just returned from our quest for fame and riches. I can attest that we are neither famous nor rich. We did, however, have a pretty good time.

The Raspberry Festival takes place at St. Gertrude's Monastery:
A beautiful 100 year old building nestled at the base of a mountain in Cottonwood. Surrounded by the rolling Camus prairie it's really a beautiful setting.

The amount of work I had actually worked really well for the table space.
Open for business!
And here's what I ended up with at the end of the day.
Surprisingly I only sold one or two of my tree pots and all the rest were my plates, minis and 3 of the neti pots. It was hard to sit and watch people walk by without a second glance, though, admittedly, I've done that myself at similar events. Now I know how that feels. I didn't sell a single pot for the first 2 hours and I was fighting the urge to really get upset about it. But then, slowly, things started disappearing. I had a TON of positive comments and it wasn't even my prices that turned people off. They didn't even get so far as looking at the prices before they just started moving on to the next booth. I met a gal who wants to display my stuff in her gallery in Kooskia (tiny town somewhere near Cottonwood, though I really couldn't say where). And lots of people took my card, though they didn't buy anything. Not sure if that means they might contact me or if they just took it only to throw it away later. Probably should get a website up and running specifically for my pots. I know how irritating it is to me to find an artist that I like that doesn't have a website. I always roll my eyes and think "why don't they get with the times?!" Doh... But anyway, the trip was a fun experience even if it wasn't wildly profitable. And I still have pots available if anyone is interested in purchasing them.

Plenty to smile about

2008-07-30T17:17:00.007-06:00

This one is REALLY beautiful, best appreciated in person.

Just one of my Neti Pots. Two, unfortunately, did not make it to temperature so those will have to be refired. I tried a couple of different glaze combinations on these. They still need some tweaking.

Overall I'd say I had about 85% success, which for me is monumental. Normally, and this is no exaggeration, I get about 15% success. Spraying my glaze makes all the difference. Like I said, I had the couple of Netis that didn't make it to temperature which is a big bummer as that means I have a cold spot in my kiln and I just spent $800 of my principals money replacing the coils. I also had two pots that the kiln wash actually curled up and touched so those are no good. But overall I'm THRILLED. We'll see how things go at the Raspberry Festival.

And here's Sebastian. The buyer didn't give me any guidelines to follow so I hope they like what I came up with.

The night before Christmas...

2008-07-29T21:55:00.002-06:00

That's always what the night before unloading the kiln feels like. Buzzing with the anticipation... will it be the Easy Bake Oven I always wanted or will it be socks... or worse, socks like my sister's hole-y (as in full of holes) Christmas socks. There's a good story there (with even better pictures!) But I digress.
I had the kiln programmed to fire off this morning. I stopped by the school at 3 to make sure it shut off ok and that there weren't any unforeseen power outages or some other catastrophe that would have tanked my efforts. Everything looked good and it was down to 1200 degrees. Good news, I should be able to open it up hopefully early afternoon (as I can't hardly wait any longer.) This firing will be the first ever glaze fire that has been completely my own work. In fact I had to load the kiln twice as when I got to the top the first time I ran out of space, requiring me to unload all the way back down to the bottom to re-organize. To say I'm nervous and excited is an understatement. I have untold hours of production, 18 hours of glazing and all the hope I can summon into this endeavor. I'm looking now for the payoff.

I know my family is invested in this nearly as much as I am as the first thing I hear when I talk to them is "Well??" To which I reply, "Not yet." Thanks guys. I appreciate your support. Once I get the results you can bet I'll be posting photos. After that I still have to bone up for sitting in front of my wares, watching people pick them up and then set them down only to walk away. A position I have never been up for putting myself in. Every artist is their own worst critic but I'd say it gets worse when you interpret other's perhaps not as positive as you would like reactions. Fortunately I'll have the big A there for life support. I haven't even tried computing what I'd look at bringing in if I were to sell everything. Something about not counting your eggs. I'll know more tomorrow.

Glazing has begun

2008-07-25T22:14:00.004-06:00

Last Monday I carefully packed all my goodies up in plastic and got them in to my classroom, which I was not so happy to see in a state of total disaster. A few things got chipped up in transport as you have only to sneeze at them, really, to cause something to chip or crack. But I fixed what I could and loaded everything up to bisque. Thursday I unloaded and started the long and laborious process of glazing. Because I do the detailed carving my glaze process is really labor intensive. Everything had to first be stained, then I wax off all the carvings to preserve the clay body underneath from receiving any glaze. I spent 6 hours and got everything stained and a good chunk of the waxing done. I'll have a couple more hours of waxing tomorrow then I'll begin glazing. My glaze palette will be limited to just a few solid combos that I know pretty well and have more faith in them to turn out. I need absolutely everything to turn out as you can see I don't have much. It seems like I should have so much more for spending a month and a half of summer on the wheel. But I'm more of the slow and steady type so I guess this was the best I could do. I'll post the afters once I unload the glaze mid-next week. Keep the positive thoughts!

Here is my army of minis. You can see my six neti pots in the back ground.

A few wheat pots, three of which have a new spin on the wheat theme with just the band of the wheat design. I think I like them! I especially liked that they didn't take as much time to carve. Always a bonus.

And the most time consuming of all my pots. The tree idea is something I came up with years ago and have duplicated a hundred times, though no two pots are ever exactly the same.

And my latest order for a dog urn. This is for Sebastian.

Back to School

2008-07-20T12:03:00.002-06:00

No, not just to teaching. Back to college! I finally got the letter from Lesley University regarding the start date for my Masters program. Holy crap I'm going back to school. We have an orientation meeting on August 20th and my first loooooong weekend of school will be September 12-14th. Now that it's actually starting I'm overwhelmed with anxiety and a strong voice saying "Do you know what the hell you're getting in to?" And the answer to that would be a resounding "No. But I sure hope it doesn't make me hate life..."
I told Adrian he has to take me back-to-school shopping. I need pencils and pens and loose-leaf paper! Folders with my favorite boy bands on them and pencil boxes! A backpack!! And some new Keds!!!

On the pottery front, I'm on my last day to finish all my unfinished work. I was hoping to get in to school and fire everything off tomorrow. However, I still have a dog urn to carve, a plate to finish, 2 neti pots to spout (isn't likely to happen and thus they will be left behind) and another tree pot to carve. With my nephew's birthday party this afternoon I've got a slim few hours to attack so I'd better get to it. I'll post photos of everything I accomplished this summer as soon as I get them done. It may be affirming or it may be shaming. We'll see. Stay tuned.

IT IS FINISHED!

2008-07-12T17:12:00.004-06:00

And no, we will not make one for you... not even if you paid us large amounts of money.

Well ok, maybe for obscene amounts of money... we can negotiate.

Raspberry Festival

2008-07-07T14:20:00.003-06:00

I haven't mentioned my pottery in a while. It isn't that I haven't been working, I just haven't had time to work enough! I spent all of last week with our nephew Isaiah so I got very little done. And the weekends have been sucked up by the patio and family gatherings. I checked in with my calendar this morning and realized that I have a frightening 2 and a half weeks to produce and about a week and a half to fire, glaze and glaze fire. If you know my track record with glaze fires you can understand the metric-ton of anxiety I have about having things turn out well enough for me to sell at the Raspberry Festival on the 3rd of August. Essentially I have to have twice as much stuff to allow for the half that will likely turn out ruined for any number of glaze mistakes. As usual I'm beginning to think I was crazy to sign on for this. Ultimately, if there were to be some glazing catastrophe I'm only out $30, but the potential for making a good deal of money on this experience is big. Money that I would like to put toward buying my own wheel. It's probably my largest artistic commitment to date. I'd post pictures but I haven't got enough to show... yah, how scary is that?!

woo!

2008-07-06T21:45:00.003-06:00

Just a taste... we'll be finishing the rest this week!

Update

2008-07-02T17:46:00.003-06:00

For those of you who were wondering, we are continuing to slave over the patio project. We spent yet another long hot weekend working our tails off on it last weekend. The largest part of which was dealing with the gravel. We had finished digging the depth last week and bought the first yard of gravel. According to the magic book our finished gravel depth needed to be 4 inches. I don't know what I expected, but by the end of the weekend it took 5 and a half yards of gravel (which is 11 trips... wait, is that right?? holy cow) to the local (thank goodness) D & B store which is about a minute and a half from our house. Lemme tell you guys, at this point we have SO blown the budget, which was our stimulus check. We blew that in just the stone alone. I ordered the stones from Home Depot and was enormously grateful to see that they could deliver them directly to us. A blessing of the largest sort as we needed 4 pallets and each pallet weighs 2800 pounds... that alone would have made for at least 16 trips to Home Depot and that's a 20 minute drive one way! Yicks. So, the stone showed up last Friday night. We have yet to actually lay any of it but it'll be beautiful!
On Sunday we rented a plate compactor from Tates and compacted the gravel. Nacho had to exert his authority over the compactor and chased it around gnawing on it's edges and barking, much the way he does every time we vacuum. He's very tough. So at this point we have our set-up mostly complete, the problems hopefully problem-solved and have only to screed an inch thick layer of sand and lay our stones. Voila! Just like that it'll be done... psh, just like that.
The Supervisors, very helpful.
The aftermath...
840 Rustic Tumbled Cobblestone $1300
5+ yards of gravel $187
55 feet of edging and stakes $100
26 Retaining wall bricks $39
? Yards of sand for screeding $?

50 + Hours of hard, sweaty labor and having a patio we can entertain on... Priceless

Orange Julius

2008-06-23T21:17:00.002-06:00

Adrian and I make this summer treat frequently and the recipe is sooo easy. It's one I picked up from my sister so I don't know where it actually came from. It's too good not to share.

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup water
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
12 ice cubes

Blend it up and it makes enough for two! Enjoy!

No pizza for you

2008-06-21T14:54:00.003-06:00

So we started at 8:30 this morning and 6 hours and a new wheelbarrow later we finished... with the digging portion anyway. I'm too tired to write any more than that. So here are the photos instead.

Hot Weekend

2008-06-20T11:11:00.003-06:00

We finally got our economic stimulus money this week, with which we had planned to rid our lives of the miserable patch of dirt next to our patio that the dog loves to roll in so much and replace it with a beautiful new stone patio. The only problem is now that we have the money we also have the heat with it. So this weekend was slated to be the beginning of the project and fittingly, we should see temperatures in the mid-90s. Great. So I thought maybe I'd get a jump-start on the weekend's work this morning while it was still cool out.

2 hours and 11 wheel barrows of heavy, hard packed clay later this was all I accomplished. We're supposed to dig out 7 and a half inches of dirt below our finished level. This is just the beginning. Once we get the lion's share of dirt out we've got to string up our levels and level it all off to the same depth. I've only scratched the surface and I've already got the beginnings of blisters...
Anyone free this weekend?? I'll buy you pizza!! Lots and lots of pizza. And beer! Just bring a shovel!

Wish List...

2008-06-17T14:39:00.002-06:00

In just a few days of having a wheel here at the house I've decided that the ONLY way I'm ever going to be able to effectively produce my own art is if I can work out of our house. As awkward as my setup is and the fact that we lose a bedroom in the deal, I'm really digging the ceramics at home. If I have an hour free I can jump on the wheel and whip something out, I can sit out in our newly landscaped yard and carve... it's great! I've always struggled with producing anything at school as once the school day is over the last thing I want to do is stick around, away from my husband (who, though we've been married for a year already, I cannot wait to see at the end of every day) even for the sake of art, my other true love. So over the course of a year I only manage to produce maybe half a dozen pots at best and usually one or two fall victim to careless hands. So I have my wish list:

Numero Uno (and most important):
Shimpo VL Whisper Pottery Wheel. A few years back I went to a Tom Coleman workshop at BSU. If you don't know who Tom Coleman is he's like the Peyton Manning of the ceramics world only not a sell-out. He's everywhere and everyone reveres him. Anyway, his word is gospel, so when he endorses a product you can bet your fanny it's a damn good product. He recommended this wheel and as I've researched it I can't find any fault in it. It comes with one hell of a price tag to boot. I'm starting my savings and if anyone feels moved to donate to the advancement of the arts fund I've started you can make your checks payable to Kristen Mouw, though it may or may not be tax deductible, I'll make you a custom pot for your very own. Consider it!

# 2:
A Raku kiln. My dad and I have plans to put this into action. It's just going to take a little time. I'm trying to get my patio finished so we have a place to do it. After that we'll be cookin' with gas, so to speak.

# 3:
A proper studio space with sinks and storage, glaze facility and kilns. This is a bit of a pipe dream right now. But eventually Adrian and I will sell this house and find one where I can hopefully make this dream come true. Something with a nice little workshop space or really even just a three car garage would work fine! I'm not picky, too much.

Ceramic Summer

2008-06-13T13:52:00.003-06:00

It has begun! The last two days have seen me convincing myself that I had to finish this and that around the house before getting started on my ceramic "studio." I think it was my subconscious fear of... what? I don't even know. I just could see myself gradually putting it off regardless of all the ideas I had swimming in my head after our coast trip. I am a complicated individual. But yesterday I spent a small fortune on some shelving (remarkable how expensive some dinky shelves can be) to set up a place to store my in-progress work in "the studio." Incidentally, I say "the studio" because it's the sorriest excuse for a ceramic studio I can imagine. Now that I've begun I am seeing all the logistical problems with my set-up. I'll work through those, however, and plan to have the most productive summer of my life!
Embarrassing as it is... my rinky-dink "studio."
And today's efforts... my mini-series.My mom dropped me a line on an opportunity at the end of the summer to possibly make a fair amount of money. Apparently Cottonwood, Idaho (yes glamorous Cottonwood) has a Raspberry Festival and they are seeking artists to host booths for the meager price of $30. I would LOVE to do this so that's my summer goal and it was this more than anything else that got me in motion. I'll try to update my progress frequently. Check back if you're interested! And hey, pass the word if you like what you see.

Coast Trip

2008-06-11T16:00:00.010-06:00

Adrian and I got home Tuesday night from our celebratory trip to the Oregon Coast. We had a WONDERFUL time. We left early Friday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed... and Adrian was asleep within 30 minutes of hitting the road.

The drive was uneventful and looooong, with the requisite stops for edibles and Multnomah Falls. Adrian had never been there so that was fun. We ventured as far as the bridge (not far) and declined any further adventuring mostly due to the soggy weather.
Our trip took a full 12 hours but the campground we stayed at (Beachside) made it all worth it. True to it's name it was indeed right on the beach which made it very convenient and also VERY cold. If it hadn't been windy the entire time we were there it might not have been so cold. But the gusts made for some chilly temps for our ill-planned wardrobe. Note to self: next year plan for more winter clothing. The campground was nestled just south of Waldport and north of Yachats. Waldport proved to be an armpit but I had spent some time in Yachats back in 2002 for my sister's wedding. It was fun to take Adrian to all the places I remembered from that trip.

Friday night we did little more than pitch our camp and walk on the beach. We stumbled upon a tree stump that reminded us of that scene in Karate Kid where Daniel practices his crane kick at the beach... so of course Adrian wanted to perch me up there and have a photo op of me making an idiot of myself. Those pictures will not be posted here due to the overwhelming terror that took me while precariously perched well above the height of Adrian's 6'3". Combine the height (which I hate) and the wind (which I also hate) and I could do little more than crouch up there screaming into the wind. Let me spare you details of the graceful dismount...We also discovered a huge log that had been washed up on the beach as early as the late 70s. We were able to find names and carvings dating back to at least 1978. We, of course, added our own. I figured some day it may be a cool thing to show our kids and remember our first anniversary.

Saturday we ventured in to Yachats to seek out some tide pools and we hit the mother-load. We found a great spot with all kinds of beautiful starfish and sea anemones. And this cave that becomes a blow hole at high tide. You can't tell from the picture but it's completely covered in sea life... barnacles and mollusks. Fascinating to see up close.
Then we hit the mother-load of northwest art galleries. I was floored by some of the art we found at the Earthworks and neighboring galleries. We wound up at glamorous Izzy's in Newport. The food was marginal but worth the view alone. That afternoon we returned to our campground and took our kites out for a spin in the windy weather.We rounded out the day with some goofiness around the campfire and a raging cool sunset on the beach to finish out our 1st year of marriage.Sunday was our anniversary. We rolled out to another beautiful (and brisk) morning. I gave Adrian his gift before we ventured back to Yachats to take in their Farmer's Market. Whoa tiny. I'm not sure what I had in mind but the entire thing took us about 10 minutes to peruse. I was able to finally get up close to some bushes that I'd seen ALL OVER Oregon that are spectacularly in bloom right now. Turns out they're azaleas. SO impressive.

We ate a small yet expensive breakfast at the Landmark, a place that lives up to it's slogan "An ocean view from every table." We had our pick of breakfast spots but I remembered this place for it's ocean view when my parents and I ate there in 2002. Note to self: pay more attention to prices when parents foot the bill! At $3 a pancake we didn't eat much and opted for a cheaper lunch later on in Newport.
We drove up to Newport to hit the historic bay front. This was another activity I had enjoyed with my family over the years and I was excited to share the experience with Adrian. The weather was perfect for the activity and we stopped at all of my favorite hot spots including the candy shop where my mom and I used to get salt-water taffy. We bought a handful or two and some amazing caramel corn before we decided we'd better get out of there before we broke the bank.
And no trip to the bay front is complete without a stop to see the barking seals and sea lions. We had lunch at the Newport Cafe to squeeze the required halibut fish and chips meal into the trip. Awesome.
That afternoon we retired to our camp beach and had a few hours of reading/napping in the sun. We made our traditional camping dinner that night of foil-pack chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions and some special seasoning cooked directly over the fire. It's the easiest dinner ever and sooo good. While I prepared the grub Adrian got busy memorializing our first anniversary...*the "sorry Nacho" part was a little shout out to our poor guy who had to be left at home.

Monday we woke up to stormy, cloudy and oh yah, windy. We didn't have a whole lot planned for our final day but the Newport Aquarium was at the top of the list. Yet another family favorite of years past. As always it was amazing.
A quick stop at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse.

Our last walk on the beach before our last cold sunset. We were sad to say goodbye to the ocean but very ready to get home.

One thing that struck me was the fact that this was my first trip to the coast with Adrian and my first trip to the coast without my family. I wasn't prepared for how much I would miss them over there. Family, we're going to have to plan another trip up there next year...

One Year

2008-06-03T17:57:00.002-06:00

Adrian and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary on Sunday. I was thinking about anniversary gifts and I always hate giving gifts that don't have some kind of deeper meaning or thought to them. I was also considering the traditional anniversary gifts. For the longest time I thought having paper for the first year seemed so ridiculous. What could you possibly get for your spouse with that? Actually quite a bit when I really started considering it. So I decided on a couple of things, one of which being a drawing of his other best friend (other than me of course!) I just finished it today. It'll be matted and framed when I give it to him but here's the finished product. Shhh... don't tell him. (No, he doesn't check the blog so it's perfectly safe to post it here.)

Happiness and Heartache

2008-05-30T18:36:00.007-06:00

All day yesterday I was thinking of those pots in the kiln. When I woke up this morning I found it surprisingly easy to get out of bed because I knew the sooner I did then the sooner I could get to school and open that kiln! It was the first thing I did when I got there... Christmas.

And as expected I lost a few of my hopefuls but had a couple of big successes that I was really pleased with. (Disclaimer: I am not a photographer. I have never pretended to be nor do I have the equipment set-up to pretend to be. Judge not the quality of the photos but of their content... and then judge nicely!)

Success!

Half-success
Miserable failure (glaze ran like crazy)
Success
Wild Failure (again with the running. A bummer because I really loved the carving on this one.)

Success
And remember these little bitty guys?

Yah, there used to be 3. During my 4th hour final today, one of my favorite classes, full of wonderful kids that I adore, one of my little bitty wheat pots was stolen. STOLEN. When I discovered it missing after school I was devastated. It was my favorite of the three little bitties. Of course it was my favorite, slightly different in shape and perfectly wonderful... the one I was planning to keep for myself because it made me so happy... I searched everywhere because surely none of those kids could do such a thing. It's gone. And I won't be seeing those kids again so there's nothing I can do. No amount of ill-wishing will change the fact that I can't get it back and someone will have to live with a black and rotted soul. Even now I can't imagine a single one of them that would do that to me but I know it was there at the beginning of the hour and gone at the end. There was a snake among that group and I wished them well and gave them candy... I hope you can sleep tonight Snake.

One more
Mostly Successful
Detail

I had work to get done after school but was so physically sick to my stomach I couldn't bear to stay there any longer. I came home and wallowed in the hurt while I escaped watching Karate Kid II until my awesome husband came home. Tomorrow is my birthday and he bought me flowers... big beautiful smelly ones... here, smell!

Pretty, huh? Pretty lucky. And on top of it all I get to spend my birthday at graduation. I wouldn't miss it though, not even for my birthday. We'll go out on an afternoon date instead. All I can say is thank goodness there's only 3 half days of school left. I need to get away and we'll be hitting the coast a week from today to celebrate our one year anniversary. Cool, eh?

Spraying Glaze (part 2 of 3)

2008-05-28T19:31:00.003-06:00

Today I finally ended my standoff with the pottery I've made this semester. I finally got my own crap out in our Ghetto Booth for some spraying and found that afterward a weight had been lifted that I didn't know I had been carrying. I'm so used to not finishing ANYTHING that I become accustomed to that feeling of "bleh- I really should finish those...." But I figured with our last couple of firings coming up this week it's my last opportunity to get my things finished before the fall (unless I want to pay to have them fired elsewhere which I am by no means up for- especially when you consider the odds of my glazing turning out like poo and me adding yet more artifacts to the potter's field of broken dreams). I had several student items to fit in the kiln and of course those get top billing before my stuff as we're down to the wire but I managed to squeeze all but one piece in. So the good news is that will fire off tomorrow and I should have pictures for your (hopeful) viewing pleasure on Friday or Saturday. Can you taste the anticipation? Yah, me too. I don't know any potter who doesn't feel that Christmas morning thrill when they open the kiln after a glaze. After all this waiting now it suddenly seems so hard to wait. I'm reminded why my students hound me about when will the kiln be unloaded?? and did you get my stuff in??? and why didn't my stuff get in??!! which always makes me Crazy (yes, with a capital C). Here's hoping I'm not monumentally disappointed.

On a related note, my plans to bring the ceramic studio a little closer to home (like, say... in our back bedroom) are making me buzz with ideas for this summer. I've got some new ideas I'd like to try out and I think by having all that I need at home (minus the kiln) I'll be more motivated to see my ideas through. Adrian said he would build me some shelves to store my stuff on until I can transport it back to school for firing in late July/early August. My plan is to treat this somewhat like a job with regular (though perhaps not as long- it is my summer after all) hours every day. I figure I could bust out a boat-load or two over the span of a summer and feel more willing to experiment with new forms and ideas. I'm feeling pretty pumped about it. More on that later, I'm sure. Stay tuned.

For Comparison

2008-05-23T20:04:00.004-06:00

I was organizing photos tonight and found some photos of the back yard pre-majesty. I knew I must have had some pictures somewhere. So now maybe you can appreciate it even more! I know I do. These photos were not, however, taken at the height of the weed tyranny.

Check it!

2008-05-19T19:26:00.005-06:00

Hooray for bark! Look at the sophistication!

We ordered 6 yards of bark and still didn't quite make it all the way around (not shown). I get paid next week so we'll get a few more to finish it off. And of course you should all see it in person. The photos just don't do it justice. It's majestic!

These are my front porch baskets... the ones that make me smile everyday.

Silly Dog

2008-05-16T21:52:00.003-06:00

Silly Molly. She enjoyed the sunshine today... a little too much.

Spraying Glaze! And other news...

2008-05-16T07:39:00.007-06:00

Yesterday we made MVHS history and sprayed glaze for the first time. I know what you're thinking... yes, it was quite momentous. It may not have been the prettiest setup but I tell you what, once we got it, and despite the wind factor, and the fact that all of us were wearing about as much glaze as went on the pots, and the fact that air compressors terrify me we were triumphant. Of course the real test will be when the pots come out of the fire next week. I've yet to spray mine as I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have less wind on the day I make my attempt. We were pretty excited about it, regardless of how ridiculous the setup was. Probably more excited than is reasonably expected for such an activity. So I took pictures (not great ones, and of course the photos I took were prior to me pulling out the safety masks so it looks like I'm the irresponsible teacher but really I'm not!

I'll probably post more about our experiences soon... now to other news.

Last night Adrian and I took the plunge and bought a new laptop. I've had it in my mind to downsize to a laptop for a couple of years. My old computer (which was purchased around 2000) had become an antique and gave me so many memory problems (on the computer, not me personally) that I finally had to be done with it. My generous siblings stepped up to donate to the popular "support the baby sibling" charity and supplied me with a fancy new (to me) computer and a huge monitor. But I've been hesitant to do too much with it because it wasn't really mine and I knew that one day I would eventually replace it with one that was really ours. So I've been watching the deals at Costco for a while, researching what I thought I would like and finally last night we did it. It's an HP Pavilion Notebook with 250GB hard drive and a bunch of other features that I couldn't begin to describe (and don't really understand.) The wake up call was that I have to actually purchase Microsoft Office. Way back when, that kind of thing came standard. I guess I get why they don't put that on automatically but for people like me it would be really handy. So for now I've got a 60 day trial on Word and Norton but will have to do something after that... unless I have a connection out there somewhere... but we'll see. Now I'm just in the process of figuring out how to transfer everything. Really I'm not all that computer savvy so I may have to enlist some help, possibly in exchange for dinner (Jas) or free babysitting (Chris). Anyway, it's pretty exciting. I'm amazed by the technology of this thing and can't wait to learn all the bells and whistles.

Busy weekend ahead!

Yard work

2008-05-10T20:28:00.007-06:00

Adrian and I have been determined to get our yard into something resembling a nice place to be for years. When his dad first bought the house the back yard had weeds up to your waist. No exaggeration. So we've come a LOOOOOOOONG way. I don't have photos of the weeds, but then, we've all seen weeds. You can imagine how trashy that looked. Here's what things looked like before we planted grass seed about a year and a half ago...

And this just because it's cute...

Two weekends ago we spent an entire Saturday pulling up this Spring's weeds which had gotten way out of control already and re-cut the edge of the grass where our bark will start...

Then we also planted some clematis next to the shed.

And today we finally got the weed guard down and pinned. We're just waiting for bark now!

It was hard work for everybody...
These two are best friends.

Only one of my clematis has blooms and surprisingly it was the one that the dog tore into right after we planted it. I didn't think it would survive. Clearly it's doing well.

Hell-ish weeks!

2008-05-09T21:23:00.007-06:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks. With all that's been on my plate at work I've reminded myself numerous times of how incredibly grateful I am that I'm not planning a wedding THIS year. I actually have no idea how I did it last year but figure that I must have been a REALLY bad teacher and I've blocked the memory for the sake of my pride.

Everything came to a head over the last two weeks. Somehow the grading, which is normally a moderately over-flowing pile on my desk avalanched into a tidal wave of potter's logs (dumb dumb idea!) and Design projects that buried my desk and my computer. For a few days there I thought I was going to have to simply pass everyone and mentally check out to save my sanity. So what I did instead is took off to McCall and spent an entire weekend in my bathrobe playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the original Nintendo (yes, that's PRE-Super Nintendo). I returned Sunday and felt that sinking dread that reminded me of the piles and piles of work that I procrastinated while in the mind-numbing coma induced by an antiquated gaming system. I spent Wednesday night at work feverishly pumping out 100 clay medallions for a senior awards night next week. I'm not really sure how I got volunteered for the task but I've since taken a memo to me: NEVER AGAIN! Ten and a half grueling hours of smashing clay into plaster molds left me miserable and grumpy when I drove home at 9:45 that night. The next day Adrian and I conveniently slept through the alarm and woke up with an expletive at 6:20. It requires a full hour and a half for me to become a fully functioning human being so I normally rise at 5:00. Needless to say my grumps followed me to work where I bitterly resented having spent so many hours on a project that I was neither paid to do or helped with (besides Adrian who graciously came to my aid to speed the painful process.) I think what bothered me most was that it kept me from even attempting to catch up on all the other work I couldn't do while making mold after mold. I'm over it now... mostly. And once they're out of the kiln on Monday I wash my hands of the whole deal. I will not be painting or stringing those silly things, nor do I care who does. The awards ceremony (Olympic theme, thus the medals) is Tuesday and I've nominated a student who has been outstanding in my program for 2 years now. Unfortunately the cost of nominating someone is that I have to actually present it in front of hundreds of parents. The last time I did that I fumbled my speech (hearkening back to that humiliating experience at my Homecoming Queen pageant... don't ask.) So I'm not exactly excited about the opportunity but will relish when it is over and the whole messy business is behind me. Meanwhile I've managed to slowly chip away at the piles and have now whittled it down to something mildly manageable. But the late work seems to keep showing up in my basket and my work is never finished.

So with all the overtime I've spent I have done ZERO art and regret it. Once summer comes I am banished from my room until mid-July. It seems horrible now but really, come June 5th I'll want nothing more to do with the place for at least a month and a half anyway. But it's all the more reason to be pumping out the work now as all progress halts in another month (not that there has really been any progress in the last ohhhhh 3 months.) It is my goal to have some actual photos of pottery up here by June... Actual finished stuff. You're excited, I can tell. I'll keep you posted. Til then, enjoy a couple of oldies...

Closing-on-the-house Eve

2008-04-23T21:27:00.007-06:00

When we began the earnest attempt to purchase our house from my father-in-law a month ago we had originally set the closing date for May 2nd. I've written it on all of my calendars. It's been committed as a national holiday. Lately though I've been feeling the crunch of getting all the pieces-parts together to seal the deal. I've become good friends with our mortgage broker's secretary. It seems like every day I've fielded calls from various parties needing information on this insurance, that pay-out, this file, that title etc. I had no idea how much goes in to the buying and selling of property and honestly if we weren't related to our seller (who's going to give us his $15,000 payout so we can fix the roof and oil the logs) I think I'd probably have beat my head against the busted door jam and moved to a cabin in the woods. Yet with all my dealings with my new best friend I somehow missed the memo that our closing date had been moved up a week and oh yah, it's tomorrow. I'm not even sure how it happened but apparently my father-in-law goes in tomorrow morning to sign his portion and we're going in at 4 to do our part. Apparently we're also supposed to bring $900+ dollars to this shindig, though I don't get paid til Friday and we have about 20 bucks. (Don't worry, we'll get through.) I'm just a little floored to think that it's already happening. Don't get me wrong, I'll be damn glad when it's done but it feels a little unceremonious seeing as how we're already living in our "new house." So the day off I scheduled for next Friday, our "closing" holiday, is now just unnecessary fluff. However we've decided that I'll keep the day off and we'll take off to McCall for the weekend. Let's celebrate the purchase of our house by sleeping somewhere else for a couple of nights, right? Makes sense. Or not. But that's what we're doing.

Tonight we had my nephews over. Zach (who's nearly 4) and Marcus (who's just over a month old). We played with the dogs and went ghost hunting with some really old tennis rackets, played video games and the keyboard, tossed the egg parachute off the loft, and changed the dog water. Pretty much a great night.

Spring Break

2008-03-30T16:12:00.002-06:00

It's another of the great reasons that I love my profession. Having a week off in March to help me get through the push to June is priceless and judging by the behavior of both students and staff just prior to the break, it is a much needed boost for our sanity. The students start getting weary of the homework and the demands and teachers get very weary of the students. It's a downward spiral and it's my belief that without spring break there would surely be more beatings out behind the cafeteria and not just among the students.

I had so much planned for this week. Probably an unrealistic amount which of course, I did not accomplish. But I got more done than I suspected I might. Here are a few of the highlights:

Cleaned house (and subsequently messed it up again)
Finished painting the trim in the bedroom, though I couldn't get to the closet doors as well due to poor weather off and on all week. I've got to get them outside and spray the primer on (louver doors suck to paint) and we've had wind and rain off and on all week long. I'm not sure that I'm crazy about my choice to paint the trim and closet but it's too late now and I must continue.
Started, but did not finish, painting the laundry room. It's by far the darkest "room" of the house. It's really more of a passage between the hallway and the back door where our washer and dryer happen to be located, but I digress. I went a couple of shades lighter yellow than what is in the main hallway and it's looking pretty nice. I had to quit halfway and wait for the weekend to finish when I could get Adrian to pull out the appliances and help me clear off the shelf above them (mostly I couldn't do it for my fear of spiders). Remarkably the weekend filled up and the motivation waned and I did not complete the project. Perhaps next weekend...
Painted the downstairs bathroom (and completed!) I'm supremely happy with how it turned out. It was painted the same old vanilla ice cream color that the rest of the house was and I painted a color called celery ice over the top to match the green counter tops. On a side note I LOVE the names of paint colors. Whoever has the job of creating the names is really in a cool position. I'd say they nailed the "celery ice" and the "peanut butter" that I painted our bedroom. The hallway is "tropical mango"... how awesome is that? Unfortunately completing the painting in the bathroom led to a trip to Home Depot where I spent an hour and a half just making lists of things I need to improve on, starting with new towel racks, toilet paper holders, robe hooks and oh yah, doors for all the bedrooms/bathrooms, new kitchen sink, new bathroom vanity- for upstairs and downstairs- new toilets, new windows and screens and those awesome little glass square windows for the bathrooms, new flooring, shower enclosures..... well you get the idea. I was drunk on the possibilities and have since crashed with the weighty knowledge that even if we clear some cash on buying this house from his dad there's no way we'll have enough to even begin after taking care of some of the real issues around here (of which there are plenty.) *sigh*
I met with a mortgage broker about finally purchasing this house but not before pulling out my "Personal Finance for Dummies" books to help me with the lingo. Not that it helped a whole lot. She threw out a lot of big numbers and while she explained it all to me I knew that as soon as I left her office I wouldn't have a clue as to how to explain it all to my husband or his father (our landlord). But the big step was meeting with her. She seems to be very knowledgeable in the field (has been in it for 26 years or so) and she spoke at the Smart Women Smart Money conference that I went to last fall, filling us in on all the things to watch out for when dealing with mortgage brokers. Handy.
I spent WAY too much money on stuff for the house. Like I said, home improvements kind of tend to snow-ball.
I started feeling the itch to do yard work, buy flowers, work on our landscaping but really it's just an itch yet. Weather was too cold to really allow the itch to be scratched. Another couple of weeks yet.
Had a great my-big-fat-Mexican-Easter lunch with Adrian's family and a great Easter dinner with my family.
I spent one whole day with my awesome nephew Zach. He and I went on mole safari in the backyard (mr. mole moved in last summer and has since been making a mess of my new grass.) We did not find him, but swore that if we did we'd throw our "bomb-its" at him.
I did NOT make it in to my classroom to glaze my pots... whoa big surprise. But Adrian and I did get some semblance of a plan together for getting my spray booth up and running, or at least the compressor portion... the booth itself will be at the mercy of my moderately unhelpful and overworked maintenance man (who just lost his house in a fire...)
I finished filling out my FAFSA for financial aid heading in to my Master's program that is reportedly supposed to start in June, though I have yet to hear anything constructive from the University itself. In fact about a week and a half ago I got an email saying that they had yet to receive my transcript, letters of rec. and personal statement all of which were sent out on the 9th of this month. Um... ok. So I emailed back and haven't heard anything since. Great. So I MAY be starting in June, or maybe not.
Spent many hours reading my book (though most of that was just yesterday)
Saw my 10 year old niece (Adrian's one and only niece) take first place in her state gymnastics competition. She pretty much owned every other kid there.

Like I said, I got a lot done but had plenty more on my list. I can't complain. And now, facing my 5 o'clock alarm tomorrow morning and the anxiety that always accompanies going back to work I'm feeling a bit uneasy. Thinking I'll read my way to the end of a productive week and maybe have a bag of popcorn for dinner so I don't have to cook (Adrian oughta love that). And you know, Summer vacation is a mere 9 and a half weeks away!

Pottery

2008-03-22T17:05:00.009-06:00

I'm probably one of the slowest working potters in America. It takes me literally months to finish a pot. I've come to the conclusion that the reason for this lies solely in my lack of confidence in glazing and my overwhelming history of botching glaze jobs. For whatever reason my pots always come out with issues and when I spend SO much time on the carvings it makes me supremely frustrated to find it was all a waste, the pot can't be sold (or won't be, as I refuse to put any work into the gallery that doesn't meet my strict standards of quality). However up to this point I've been working with limited glazing options and I blame that for a large part of my troubles.
I am in the process of improving my classroom resources to include a spray booth. At the end of last year I spoke with my awesome principal about the possibility of having him foot the bill on a spray booth for my classroom. Without even hearing the price tag he agreed and didn't bat an eye lash when I told him what it would set his budget back. So at the start of this year I had my nice new booth only to find it is just inches too large for the space I have for it. In speaking with my maintenance man (who is worlds of unhelpful) he said that what I wanted to have done to accommodate this behemoth was not possible (read: I don't want to do it so it can't be done, period). So it's been a frustrating semester and a half dealing with this very large plastic paper weight on my limited counter space. I've decided to bypass maintenance and have my handy Mr. Fix-It (husband) come in and see what he can do. Last week I finally got my compressor and it seems that I have all the parts (nearly) to get this show on the road. Granted, it may not be a beautiful install but I think we can get it up and running on our own. So it is my hope that in the weeks to come I can start to glaze the abundance of pots that are sitting around, if not in the booth then at least outside with my fancy new compressor. It's exciting times. So here are a few of the things I've started and yet to finish. A few of which are totally different than my typical wares. (note: I am NOT a photographer so I must apologize for the crap-tastic photos. I do what I can.)

These three are very small, a little bigger than a golf ball, perhaps. I was going to do my trees on them but found the size to be a little smaller than my skills could accommodate. So I substituted my wheat pattern instead.

Another experiment with a different kind of carved pattern.

This is just my most recent experimentation. I'll post pictures again after I have glazed and hopefully not ruined them.

Marcus (Puzzle) Samuel

2008-03-16T17:05:00.008-06:00

The latest beautiful addition to our family and by far the cutest baby since his amazing older brother, Zachary, who wanted to name him Puzzle.

Marcus joined us on Friday morning after a scheduled c-section. He is healthy with beautiful skin and a face to match his big brother. His mama is doing well and they should all be coming home tomorrow! I am a very proud Auntie K.