And the Winner Is....

Well....  No one.  =/  Unless you count my family, who got to eat some apple pie.  

I was trying to give away one of these slightly naughty pie birds/vents by having a guessing contest.  But no one guessed correctly.

The adventure started with a request from my brother-in-law (aka "anonymous" in a previous post) for a pie bird.  After a little research (I've never seen one in person.) and taking my BiL into consideration (he did marry into our family, after all!) I thought it would be appropriate to make his pie bird/vent look like a pig's butt.  So that's what I did.

And because one great idea spawns another, other posteriors were produced: a cow and a black bird along with another pig.

Don't be too impressed. It's Pillsbury's pie crust.

I thought the black bird was too tall but he turned out to be the perfect height for a deep dish pie.  The cow and pig will work in a regular sized pie.

YUMMY!  Guess who forgot the ice cream & RediWhip?

Now, if only I could get a picture inside the oven of steam actually coming out of the hole....   You smiled.  I know you did.  =D

Click here to see the Etsy listing.

Click here to see the Etsy listing.

Out of the Firing and into the Fire

I unloaded the kiln with our latest glaze firing over a week ago then promptly jumped on a plane (ok, several planes and slept in Dulles airport!) to AZ.

Beautiful but not green enough for me.

My mother's been diagnosed with early Alzheimer's and finally consented to move out of her townhouse where she's been living alone and 3 hours away from any family.   We found a place 20 minutes from my sister in CO and we all pitched in to pack up her house.  It was not fun and very emotional.  This is her 3rd and most extreme down sizing since I moved out and, boy, what a lot of STUFF!  Not a hoarder or pack-rat by any stretch but....  I'm pretty sure the IRS isn't going to audit a little old lady's 20 year old tax return.  =/

So we sifted a house full down to a trailer full and yesterday was move-in day.  Whew!  What a load off all of our minds!  I'm praying she settles in peacefully and makes some new friends.  Getting old SUCKS!

ANYWHO....  Onto a more pleasant topic.  New friends and happy homes came out of the kiln last week and there were a couple of disappointments (typical) but the majority came out great.  Another "Whew!".

Pigs Can Fly Bird House

Cactus & Lizard Bird House

Fat Frog Bank

Two Tone Turtle Bank

More to come when the sun starts cooperating and I can get more pictures done (I really need to get a better photo setup.).  Stay tuned, boys and girls!

Faith, Family, Friends and Football

Blue Jean Baby....  As much as I love summer and the warm weather there's something comforting about slipping back into my jeans on that first too-cool-for-shorts morning.  Although my teen years were spent in the hey day of Jordache and Sergio Valente I was a steadfast Levis girl and still am.  Honestly, I think if I could have afforded the designer jeans I would have gotten myself some Calvin's but I now thank my empty purse of yesteryear for sparing me the pain of seeing myself in old pictures sporting a butt billboard.

We have our second pottery class this week.  The first one went really well and they're coming back for more!  That's always a good sign.  We went through very basic clay physics and properties.  I did a demo and then they got muddy.  I probably would have been much more nervous but these are ladies that I've known for years and they knew it was my first class so they were gentle with me. 

The weekend-long tribute to my father-in-law was amazing!

Included is an image taken from the portrait that started the ball rolling.

Al Nicholas started the football program at Mount Olive HS back in 1972 and still holds the record for most winning seasons.  The impact he had on his players was overwhelmingly apparent when we heard stories of how these now grown men have taken Coach Nick's principals and applied them to their lives.  Many of them now coach school sports and are passing those principals on to their players.  What a legacy!

T-shirts made specially for the occasion.

The Boys with their proud Grandpa and a squashed Mom.

And, no, I haven't started glazing yet.  Sheesh!

Good Things are a'Comin'

I just wanted to share a quick post to show you the latest bisque firing....

Birdhouses, bowls, leaf dishes, banks and mugs

.... and let you know what's coming up this week.

We're giving our very first pottery class tomorrow night (very, very exciting!) and ALL of the in-laws are coming in for the weekend.  You would think "Not so exciting." but actually it is.  There's no room at the "inn" so they're staying at the local B&B so that isn't exciting but it's less stress for me.  It's been many years since we've had the honor of all of them visiting at once.  It's gonna get loud!

The reason for the invasion?  Craig's dad is being honored for being an inspiring coach and roll model in Mount Olive HS football.  Some of the alumni and former football players have organized a weekend of activities and surprises starting at the season's opening game this Friday.  So you can imagine we'll be a little busy.

Hopefully, I'll get some pots glazed but I'm not optimistic.

The sunflowers are fading but the sedum and mums are gorgeous!

Everyone's enjoying the sedum.

Where are the BRAKES?!?!

Well, the "Limbo" is securely behind us and it's now full speed ahead!  We had the meeting with the town board.  Maybe we shouldn't have been so surprised, but what a nice bunch of people!  They were very receptive, made some good suggestions and were generally very supportive of local merchants.  There were just a couple of minor items to clarify about the parking spaces and determining any DEP restrictions (which could prove to be not so minor) since we're right across the street from the Musconetcong River.  But we're pretty confident the next meeting will be the last and everything will be "ok'd".

Oh, yeah!  And the sign is up!

Looking pretty professional!

On the pottery side, not so "full speed" anything!  I've decided to skip the craft show circuit this fall.  Between the new business and family activity I'm just not comfortable booking my time on anything else.  It's been years since I've done the Working-Mom-of-Three routine and now my sedate little life has been tossed into high gear and I'm a bit slow adjusting.  So rather than get in over my head I'll leave me some breathing room, thank you very much.

I'm still getting into the studio on occasion to get the inventory up for the holiday shopping season on our website.  The kiln is slowly filling up.  So, not to worry, I'm still getting my therapy!

Limbo, limbo!

Too much going on and nothing happening.  Everything seems to be in the process or patiently waiting.  Even the birdhouses are still waiting to be loaded into the kiln.  They're taking forever to dry in our lovely, humid NJ weather.  And here, I was afraid they'd dry too fast!  Silly me.

We finally got our Used Car Dealer license.  Can I get a "whoop, whoop"?  However, we still don't have the sign up (small town bureaucracy!) and are going to have to get the town board to amend our property use so we can have more than 10 cars for sale.  It's ridiculous the hoops they make you jump through but we have to play nice to get what we need!  You would think the town would be tripping over themselves to encourage small businesses to move into vacant buildings.  You would think.  =/

Taking a break from the madness to enjoy some of God's handiwork.

These re-seeded from the half dozen I planted last year.  For scale - the fence is 6 ft.

I love the different color combos.

I never realized how hard it is to take pics of butterflies!  Kudos to those who have the patience for it.

And the Stirring Continues....

The clay's not at the right consistency yet.  =/

I shared my last post on one of my FB groups and several fellow potters said they use a paint mixer with a drill to mix their reclaimed clay.  Genius!  I've seen glaze mixed with one but it never occurred to me that it would work with clay.  When I asked Craig if we had one he came up with this baby -

Perfect!

...or so I thought.  I believe this is designed for mixing dry wall compound.  But it didn't fit in our corded drill and the cordless drill just didn't have enough oomph.

Look, Ma!  No hands!  It's stuck.

I also realized I probably didn't add enough water.  Not to worry.  I detached the drill, added more water and used the mixer with good old fashioned elbow grease.  Clean up was much easier!  Thank you Peeps!

I don't know about other types of artisans but potters seem to be a pretty ingenious bunch and very willing to share ideas, techniques and tricks.  No matter what barriers rise up before me there's always someone out there who's already figured out how to overcome it and posted it on YouTube or in a forum or blog somewhere.  Maybe it's because our craft isn't easy or inexpensive to pursue and out of necessity and financial constraints we have to come up with shortcuts and innovative ways to get her done.

If all I had to invest in were brushes, paints and canvas I'd have taken that trip to Italy by now and wouldn't have to take over half of the garage with my "stuff". Don't get me wrong.  I've tried painting but I'm mediocre at best and truly envy anyone who can create art in that medium.

I love my craft.  It's my therapy.  And though I feel like I'm just "mud-dling" through at times (very punny!) I have very supportive family, friends and cyber community to bolster me up and push me forward into uncharted (for me) territories.  Thank you all very much!  =D

My New Project

First, I will apologize to my pottery followers.  This is completely removed from anything to do with mud.  But I did sneak some creativity into my current project.

I've been working on getting the shop ready to open.  We've gotten the preliminary approval from the township and have sent the application to the state for our dealers license.  In between piles of paperwork I've been painting the office.  We settled on English Racing Green as our official color to tie in with the name Highlands Auto Exchange.  And because I can't stand boring white walls I thought the checker board was appropriate.

New wall before (yawn)

New wall after

Now we're very fashionable (I think)

Prior color was Painters Tape Blue

The view from the shop is much  prettier.  It overlooks the Musconetcong river across the road.  I might have to take up fishing.

View of the shop from the road

Craig had the brilliant idea of displaying and, hopefully, selling pottery in the office!  He's a genius!  So this is the wall I'm thinking of putting up some shelves/displays.  Maybe we'll do a special:  

"Buy a car - get a mug"!

=D

From Nothin' to Somethin'

The past 2 weeks have been mad busy and I wrapped it all up by catching my son's cold (thank you VERY much!).   So I spent most of today just vegging so I'll be up for working at the new shop this week.

While we were away, our carpenter, Jim, did a great job moving and removing walls and doors.

Wall was moved about 6 ft. to make the bay bigger.

So on my agenda this week is priming and painting the office area.  We've decide on English racing green and white as the company colors.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Oh, I haven't mentioned too much about the business have I?  It's called Highlands (hence the green) Auto Exchange and for the past 2 years Craig's been working with a friend who has a used car lot.  At this new spot he should be able to get his own used car dealer license.  It's been a dream of his forever to have his own lot and it looks like it's really going to happen.  He works so hard and I'm so proud of how well he's doing.

I've been doing his bookkeeping from the start but I really want to do more to help lighten his load.  So, hopefully, I'll be in the new office pretty much full time.  We're building a website and applying for the dealers license, etc.  It's quite a big switch to go from the sidelines to the front office but I am so up for it.

I have been blessed with a husband who, after 20+ years, is still my best friend.  We've been through our valleys and have come out stronger (Thank you, God!).  He has been so supportive with my pottery business and recognizes that it's my passion and not a silly hobby.   I hear from many artisans that their spouses don't support their craft as much as they'd hope.  I don't always recognize my blessings but in this case I do.  So now I have the perfect opportunity to reciprocate the support he's shown me.  And I'm so happy to do it!

Also, I must give a big shout out to Craig for being the star of the ASP auction fundraiser Saturday.  He did an outstanding job!

Well, I have to laugh.  When I started this post it was entitled "I Got Nothin'" because I wasn't feeling very inspired to write but felt a need to post something.  Apparently, I got somthin'.  =D

Temporarily (I hope) Refocusing

Unfortunately, pottery as taken a back seat recently.  Fortunately, though, it's because Hubby's business is moving again.  That doesn't sound very fortunate since he moved in January but the space he's in now is zoned industrial only so he can't sell cars retail out of that location.  One of his dreams has been to have his own used car lot.  The arrangement he's been working with is a little complicated and I won't bore you with the industry lingo and details that I barely understand.  The new location already had a car lot there so that makes it super easy for him to apply for a dealers license.

I had a craft show this past weekend and usually that's my focus for the week leading up to it.  This time I had more of a "Oh yeah, I have a show Sunday." reaction when looking at my calendar.

Loving my new table covers, btw.

The hippo bank was my first sale of the day!

The show went very well and I really should have more scheduled for the spring but the thought of having to spend hours in the studio under pressure to get my inventory restored (did I mention the show went very well?) in addition to helping Hubby out with getting the new store ready, birthdays, getting pics done for eBay listings, bookkeeping, working on our ASP mission fundraiser (tickets still available!), entertaining In-laws, Easter, taxes, spring cleaning, more birthdays.... (gasping, head spinning, holding wall for support!)  Holy heart failure, Batman!  When did my life get so busy?

So, I'm going to take the spring and summer off from doing shows (though I might do the one in June at the Bethlehem ice rink.) and hopefully, hit the circuit really hard in the fall.  We'll see.

The "Other" Kids

Since I gave time to the dogs I feel it's only fair to give the boys some time, too. ;-D

These are our prides and joys - The Monsters

 

This is from 2 Christmas' ago when Santa put these wax mustaches in all of their stockings.  That Santa!  What a jokester!

Of course, they've inherited our very dry sarcasm and "Monty Python" style sense of humors.  They're all unbearably handsome, incredibly smart (which their grades don't always reflect!) and tower over their 5'10" parents.  They were born 2 years apart from each other and get along most of the time.  Mostly.  To paraphrase something I read by Dr. Mike Bradley when asked how to stop siblings from fighting.  His response was to have them 4+ years apart.  Wow!  Really?  Now he tells me!  (BTW I highly respect his analysis of the teenager's mind.)  However, if we had spaced them 4 years apart my youngest would be only 11 and we'd be that much further away from moving down south, which is currently in our 4 year plan book.

There's nothing like a teenager to demonstrate how much plucking your heartstrings can take!

Out of the Mud and into the Furr

I thought I'd introduce some of our household today.

We have The Boys (our teenaged offspring and a nephew) and The Kids (our dogs).  We're lab lovers and rescue lovers.  So our current pack consists of:

Madeline Anastasia (because her initials had to spell out MAN in order to offset any possibility of estrogen overtaking the testosterone in the house!) - a 6 yr old yellow Lab mix.

Princess Maddie, aka Maddie Moo, Moo Moo

At 4 months old she developed a growth in her lower jaw that was diagnosed as cancer and we were told she'd be gone within the next couple of months.  Six years later, she's still with us and has some teeth that grew in crooked (Snaggle Teeth) but we think she's beautiful, especially when she smiles!

Oliver Twist - a 4 yr old black Lab Beagle mix.

Oliver, aka Ollie, Wallie, Ollie Pops

Oliver started out life being called Malcolm but was quickly renamed when he would pick up his food dish after being fed and walk around with it very reminiscent of Oliver Twist.  He has half a tail.  Out of all of the litter mates that I saw when I picked him out only one of them had a full tail (I'm always drawn to the underdogs).  We were told his mom was a pure bred black Lab and, after examining him, our vet determined his dad was probably a Beagle because the tail defect is typical of that breed.  I'm sorry to report that Oliver has a problem.  He's a tennis ball junkie!  I don't let him bring them into the house because they get so slobbery and gross so he'll sit at the back door looking longingly at them on the deck.  He needs help.

Then there's Franklin:

Franklin, aka Frankie, Franklinstein, Froo Froo, Yittlest Putch, Spankie

Frankie's not a Lab.  He's a 2 yr old long haired Chihuahua with a Rottweiler's ego, a cat's voice and mismatched eyes.  He came part and parcel with my nephew when he moved in with us and we've become very attached to them both.  The first time he visited he was dealing with a Jesus complex.  I guess he'd never seen a pool before and didn't realize it wasn't a solid surface so he walked right in.  After I fished him out he shook off and walked back in again.  I think that's when he realized that only Jesus can walk on water.  Not Chihuahuas.  We've never had tiny dogs so it's been very amusing watching the big dogs interacting with him.  Frank and Oliver have their daily wrestle where Oliver will have Frank's whole head in his mouth (it is the same size as a tennis ball!) then lay down to let Frank jump all over him.  Who needs TV when there are dogs in the house!  =D

Score one for the Chihuahua!

Three Out of Four Isn't Bad

I question myself.  Who doesn't?  Sometimes, when I'm working on a new design, I'll know immediately that I've hit the mark.  Mission accomplished.  Next.  However, there are those times when I'm too close to my work and lose my objectivity.  Then I question.

I spent the afternoon in the studio while hubby took our boys and nephew to pick up a fridge for his shop.  I had a second go at creating a hippo bank and thought I'd gotten it better than the last attempt but there was that question. I've kinda gotten into the habit of presenting a new animal bank or birdhouse design to my boys and asking them to identify it.  So when they got home I unveiled him and just asked "What is it?".  To my delight 3 out of the 4 said "It's a hippo!".  My middle son, (Mr. Contradictory) said "It's a pig!".  I've come to expect this from him.  He says everything I make looks like a pig.  So I don't count his vote.  But it still nags at me if he really thinks it looks like a pig or is he teasing me again.

What do you think?

A Swift Kick in the Pants

Motivation seems to be escaping me lately.  I had one good day last week when I started several birdhouses and banks.  But that was it. Just a glint and now it's gone.

It probably has a lot to do with my husband.  Somehow, I'm able to blame just about everything on him in some way, poor thing.  He started a new business almost 2 years ago after losing his job and it's doing so well he's now renting space in town to operate out of.  Unfortunately, I ended up being clean-up girl.  The place was a machine shop and it's been vacant for a while so you can imagine the old, black, greasy, dusty man-mess I was facing.  Yuck!

Anyway, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it.  I've been working on officey stuff in between helping hubby out.  It's not like I've been unbelievably busy, I'm just not feeling motivated to get back into the studio. So maybe writing about it will help or some sympathetic soul will come by and give me that swift kick I so desperately need!

A Poopy Day!

After last week's very successful craft show I was all ramped up (though a little nervous about my inventory level) for this weekend's show at a new venue.  It was at a huge county tech school in a very nice area about half an hour from NYC and run by promoters that I've worked with before. My expectations were high. 

After driving an hour to the school, there was already a line of cars/vans lined up in front of the school when I arrived so I parked about 6 car lengths from the doors.  I found my booth space and come back to the van to unload and realized I forgot my cart!  I have this old beat up cart that I can wheel 6 bins on at once.  Maybe because I hadn't brought it the prior week, because I knew there were firemen to help out, it didn't occur to me that I hadn't loaded it.  It was on my packing list.  Obviously, I needed to check that list one last time!  To quote the ever lovable Charlie Brown - "Aaugh!"

So, two by two, I start carrying in my bins. Arms aching, mood grouching I texted a little rant to my husband about the cart. Things started turning around! He's coming out in this direction later and will bring my cart. Also, 2 wonderful guys took pity on me and helped me bring in the rest of my stuff! My space was good and pretty close to the entrance. The extra time I had allowed for post-setup/pre-show browsing was gone. Oh well.

The show started at 10:00. Usually, there's a flock of early birds waiting for the doors to open at most shows. No flock. Hmmm.... Curious. After a while it became clear a slow trickle was the best it was gonna get. I hadn't realized this was the first year for this show and several of the more seasoned vendors were commenting how there's a glut of shows in this area making them less of a novelty. Great!

Needless to say I didn't do well. I don't think anyone did.  Several vendors packed up early (a big no-no!) and the mood of disappointment was cast over everyone. But my husband had delivered my cart so loading up went much smoother than the morning travesty. Unfortunately, the headache I felt coming on when I finally left was a raging migraine by the time I got home. Straight to bed for me. The difference in stress level between last week's show and this week's was huge! Making a profit definitely helps take the edge off of a bad day.

Our next show is local and less expensive. Since it's about 10 minutes from home I'll have my boys come out to help with the unloading and loading. But our last show of the season is the following weekend out in the same area as last week with the same promoter.  I've done that venue before and had a good show but my expectations have been knocked down a bit.  I have to learn to expect the worst so I won't be disappointed. This is not a philosophy that fits me at all.  =/

From our family to yours - Have a safe, peaceful and thankful Thanksgiving!

Treasuring the family drama

It's been 15 years since we've had a legitimate ER visit with our kids. With three boys, who have a father who's parents were on a first name basis with the ER staff, I consider this a major miracle.

I said "legitimate ER visit" because we had a "false alarm visit" with the whole shebang: EMT's and an ambulance ride. Our middle boy fell out of a tree when he was 7 or 8. His brothers came to fetch me from the house and I ran out to find him laying on his back crying "Ooow! My back hurts! I can't move!". Hence, the EMT's were called in. He was immobilized and carted to the hospital in style. After a thorough exam, including x-rays, they cleaned the large scrape on his back that he had gotten from falling against the tree and sent us home. Very anti-climactic, huh?

Now for the drama. Our oldest boy had broke his arm when he was three. That was our first ER visit. He now works in a sheet metal fabrication shop and caught his finger in one of the machines yesterday. He had an open fracture and is now all stitched back together and resting in front of his video games. Poor baby!

I know. You're thinking "That's it?" and you're 100% right! Our family has had it's share of major drama but, thankfully, not directly involving the boys. We have been so blessed with healthy children and when little things like this happen to them I thank God because it can always be so much worse. I know parents whose children have addictions, chronic illnesses, life changing injuries or have died. My heart brakes for them.  We are so blessed!

So I'll take our little doses of drama and put them in our treasure box because everything that's put in our path, good and bad, is a challenge. How we deal with our challenges is what defines our character.