On our way...

Well, we are almost there. I wasn't always sure we'd make it, but we leave for Rhinebeck in about 36 hours. I am excited. I am nervous. I have added our etsy store to the side.

Is this our moment?

Things I've learned...

about porcelain clay. I don't enjoy porcelain clay. It is far too fickle for me... too hard to get even... too inconsistant in drying... warps too frequently. However... this is what I've learned. Drying it in the oven seems to lessen the warping... about 45 mins at 175 degrees. Don't keep rolling over it... it thins in some places too much and not enough in others. Let it dry before taking a sponge to the rough edge... it goes faster & takes less off the button. This is true for stoneware as well. And while I'm at it... don't cut the straws to make the holes. When you cut them unevenly they don't make a clear hole.

I look at this blog and have a hard time thinking about what to write, but I think writing rather than not is the better choice. So there you have a perfectly boring blog entry... :)

Last year's birthday entry was sweet & sappy, so I figure that this year (just to change it up) I need to go for funny. Funny things about my sister (this is harder then you think)....

-our mother used to tell me to talk quietly because she has "sensitive ears". (is that funny about me or funny about her?)

-when cleaning out my grandparents home she took the door knobs... yep, really. The door knobs.

Ok, I'm giving up. I'm staring at the screen, racking my brain for funny and there's really just sweet. So, I'll leave you with a funny story which shows just how sweet she is...

When we were growing up, we would visit our grandparents in upstate New York. Our Nana was an incredibly sweet woman who always had the Stella Doro cookies when we came to visit and I LOVED the flower shaped cookies with the pink icing.

On one visit, I must have been rifling through her kitchen drawers when I stumbled across some mouse poison. She gave me a lengthy explanation about mice in the walls and the dangers of mouse poison. This information was rattling around in my brain about bedtime (when we know all fears become larger). Since my sister & I shared the bedroom in Monroe, I guess I was keeping her awake worrying about the mice. Did this upset her? Nope, she told me the story of the Pied Piper and put me to sleep. I know that was the first time I had ever heard that story, and it may have been the only time. She has always taken care of me... at the silliest of times and the most serious of times. See, isn't she sweet?

Happy Birthday! Love you!

Life Couture

How in the world do we expect to be all things to all people? Don't we know it's killing us? The things that are put off till tomorrow's to-do list would fill a week's worth - no a month's worth - of to-do lists. And we really think we can get them done. My life to-do list is trying to simplify, to edit, to become more manageable. TO SET BOUNDARIES. With myself, with others.... That is soooo hard. I've been doing the opposite for fifty years. Even my "relaxation" time is spent trying to accomplish something. Something relaxing, yes, but it's still that trying to get something accomplished that takes it out of the real relaxation department and into the busy department. Am I making sense?

You're doing the same thing. Following in my footsteps. But I think you are a l-i-t-t-l-e better at setting some boundaries. But just a little. (Sorry I added to your to do list today....)(But I needed to add to your to-do list to accomplish something on my to-do list....)(All things to all people....)

Take a look at this guy. I'd like to see his to-do list...

Keep moving forward

I have nothing what-so-ever to say tonight. It's late & I'm tired, but I'm posting. Getting in the groove. Another bowl finished today and another started. So, so fun. Even if I'm not doing what I should be... cleaning the house, paying the bills, etc. Oh well. Tomorrow's another day.

I need to revamp the blog look, too. Dontcha' think?

See, it's like I never left...

Ok, so here I am again. TWO days in a row. Go me! I am lovin' these little felt bowls. They knit really quick & are so cute!

This is not a great photo, but I stuck to my promise! I made another one in bright pink, too.

Ok, so it's late & I'm tired. Short & sweet, but see 2 posts in a row & it's like I never left!

So, I am just going to pretend that I didn't drop off the blogosphere.. again, and post something new... like I've been here all along.

Between trying to finish up the kids' school yearbook (which has gotten incredibly O.L.D.) and chasing all four kids on a summer schedule, I have really got Sheep & Wool on the brain. I can't wait to go & be there all over again. I really had such a great time last year. It was completely worth the work it took to get there and even if I didn't become a big button mogle in the last year, it is so exciting to get ready to go again.

Today I taught myself (with a great video on the internet) to knit on double pointed needles. I thought it was going to be so hard, but I wanted to knit a felted bowl and there was only one way... It came out very cute so far and it whipped up in no time. Tomorrow I will felt it and if it comes out. I photograph & post it... and then it will really be like I've been posting all along! {wink}

Perseverance.

Ok, well picking one little word proved more difficult then I thought. I wanted to pick "stick to it", but it didn't really have good flow. KWIM? I need to stick to things... not abandon them when the initial thrill passes or when my "real" life crap gets in the way. Truly, real life will never stop, and I love my "real" life but in my heart I know there is something more to do. Something that will, in the end, be really me. So, I'm choosing this year... "perseverance". It seems like a harsh word to me, but I need to learn it.

one little word part 2

perserverance?

persistence?

focus?

I'm still thinking. Can you smell the wood burning?

one little word

Why is it so hard to go back to something? Somehow after a period of time has passed, it is embarrassing to return to something again. I guess I don't like acknowledging failure and I feel like I failed. I dropped the ball after that great time at NY Sheep & Wool. Maybe I'm afraid of succeeding. Maybe I'm lazy. I don't know. Anyway, here I am again. Even though I may very well fail. Again. But I guess I keep hoping someday, sometime, I'll get it together, stick to it and succeed.

Around blogland, there is a pretty popular idea of "one little word". Ali Edwards started the idea and lots of others have joined her. There is even a blog based on the idea. Basically, the idea is to choose one word which will serve as a guide or a touch stone for the year to come. I have not done this before, but I'm considering it for 2009. Maybe it would give me some focus. I just need to decide what word to choose. Hopefully, that won't take me until February.