busy-ness

Life has gotten a bit busy around here. We are packing up the house and getting ready to move out of the mold this weekend. We are looking forward to moving into a bigger, brighter house! A house! Not a condo with no yard. I am so looking forward to see Caden ride his scooter again and get back to learning to ride his bike (once we can repair it from the last move-the movers crushed it a bit) Caden will be able to play outside again without me by his side every moment making sure he doesn't "disturb" the neighbors (mostly the manager...ugh!). It will be like regaining a bit of freedom back, like we had at our house in Michigan. Speaking of which, we got an offer, less than what we owe, but maybe viable with a counter offer and some generosity from the bank we will get out of the house without going under any further. Pray pray pray, please please please :) !!!

I have been going to physical therapy in a salt water pool two times a week. It is nice to be able to exercise a little, although I much prefer working up a sweat and seeing results like I did when I was able to run oh so long ago, but I am thankful that I am able to do something at least. The pool is nice and warm. My last injection was a complete failure, unfortunately. It ended up flaring up the nerves even more. Apparently this happens about once out of 200 patients. I have had so many nerve blocks that have been successful, I was so disappointed when my legs went freezing cold and burning, like when you have really cold hands and stick them under hot water-that sort of feeling. It remained like that for over a week, but now seems to just be lessening now, thankfully. I also got disappointing news yesterday that it looks like the surgery I had in December for endometriosis was also not successful. Such a bummer. My body and I are not getting along. I wish I could trade it in!

Caden is doing great in school. We made crayon hearts for valentine's day. You collect all of the broken up crayons, break them up some more, combine them in various colors and put them in a heart shaped silicon mold and heat them up in an oven at about 250 degrees for 15 minutes or so or until all melted together. It makes a multi-colored heart shaped crayon that we will attach to the valentines Caden will be giving his friends next week.


(pictures from familyfun.go.com arts and crafts site where you can find complete directions)

Ok, I better get back to packing so we can get outta here! We are convinced that the mold in this house have been causing Paul's headaches and just a general fatigue feeling. If anything, I know it isn't a healthy thing to be living in a house with mold and if they are not going to do anything more than spray some bleach water on the wall, it isn't going to get any better and we are not going to argue about it with the owner anymore.

ornament exchange 2007

Just thought I would share a quick picture of all of the ornaments I received from around the world in this last ornament swap. They are all so wonderful!

updates...

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa-lini's house. We left Oregon feeling very full and satiated. It is nice being closer to family, we have spent so few holidays together.

Posting may be a bit more sporadic here...I have just found out that I need to have surgery on December 13th, which also means at least 4 doctors appointments in between now and then. On top of that I am participating in the ornament swap that I did last year. I signed up before I knew I had to have said surgery. I am finishing up 10 ceramic ornaments that need to be shipped by the 10th. I love this swap. It is the one and only swap I have ever participated in.


On the 19th, I finally get to see a local neuro here about my spinal disease issues. I haven't had a nerve block for over eight months, so I am moving slowly around here. I usually get injections at least every 6-8 weeks. Hopefully they can do the injections in office like my last physician could. It would be so nice to be out of my flare before Christmas.

Boy, this is a downer post, but I just thought I would let everyone know what is up. We have settled in quite nicely here in California, we just have to get the health issues in check and start being more productive! I wish my body would accomplish one tenth of the things I sketch out and aspire to make. I have made a new mold for a 6 inch bowl and also a smaller mold for a tea cup or small bowl. My next task is making a mold of a vintage child's bowling pin. I love the shape, I think it would make a cool vase. This mold will be my first attempt at a slip-mold (a two part mold, much more technically difficult).

We are taking our kitty Suki to the vet tomorrow to see if they can do anything about her allergies, she has been sneezing up a storm. Poor thing....

That is it for now, Paul is on his way home and Caden is starving (as usual), time to make dinner!

I will try to post soon, but don't worry if I don't! Take care!

Well, I have been waiting to post until I had some new pictures to share, but that isn't going to cut it. The hard drive is on order for my regular laptop which has a card reader for our camera. I cannot find out portable card reader right now so I thought I would just pop in to say "hi" and let you know that I have started Caden's Christmas list on the side of the blog.

Caden is going to be a bat for Halloween. I made his wings out of an old umbrella for his wings and made felt ears and a mask. To make it more realistic looking I needle felted "fur" in the ears and on the sides of his mask. I have pictures to share, but they will need to wait until I can upload them to the computer...sorry :(.
This picture was my jumping off point....
which is from the craft queen herself, I ended up taking all of the metal parts out of the umbrella because I just didn't trust Caden not to poke his eye or someone else's eye out. Better to be safe than sorry is my motto.

This weekend was full of jack-o-lantern creating. Our cat Suki really wanted to help us out, she kept stealing the tools and trying to take the smoochy innards out of the pumpkin and spread them throughout the house.

We are pretty much settled into our house. Paul even surprised me by setting up my crafting studio in the corner of our garage. I have been excited to get back to creating. We need to get some shelving for me to use to dry green ware and for display. We also need one more table for me to use to roll out clay. A trip to Ikea may be in order for this next weekend.

update

Caden says the funniest things. This weekend we went to the Auburn Home Show and we got to pick up baby chickens. He just loved them. We went back twice. He was able to feed them and pick them up. He told me that "chicks love him".... It is funny because it is true for both baby fowl and girls. He is already quite a popular little guy at school too!
------------------------------------

We have settled into a rhythm here. Staying with my dad has gone a lot better than we expected. We have found a condo to lease, it will be ready this week, but we are waiting until mid-October to move, hoping that finances will smooth out. Paul is enjoying working with the American Red Cross again. We had found a new (to us) car to buy, did all of the financing etc and got in to drive it home and the "check engine" light went on. Isn't that just our luck? After waiting a week for the dealer to fix it or even call and let us know what was happening, we got our deposit back and are on the lookout for a reliable car again.

I have been working on my design ideas for "buggabu studio". Paul surprised me and updated the website a little and set up an etsy account for me. For those of you who don't know what etsy is, it is an online community for handmade goods sorta like ebay, but so so much better! There are so many talented artists who sell their work on the etsy website. I am excited to get back to the production phase, but we need to complete our move first. Once we are settled in our new place, I can get the studio set up and get to work!

The update on the moving truck (penske) situation is not good. They have not been communicating with us unless we call and call them. The truck cost was not refunded as promised, nor was our extra hotel and gas costs. That was supposed to be handled right away. The damaged furniture, etc (about 80-90% of all of our stuff was damaged or destroyed in the move) is being handled by Penke's insurance company. We have jumped through so many hoops we feel like we have joined the circus. We had to unload the storage unit for their agent to re-take pictures of all of the damage. This took them a week to decide, it has been such a waste of time and energy. Now they say it will take another two weeks for them to "research" the products damaged. It has been a very trying experience.

Other than that, Caden is doing great in school. I have been volunteering in his classroom every Thursday. Caden loves to have me in his class, it is so cute. In other news, he wants to be Harry Potter for Halloween. He is growing like a weed. None of his pants fit him. He is so tall. He towers over all of his classmates. Also, he is now a cub scout. His second meeting is next week. He is very excited!

Please continue to pray for our house to sell. We really need this additional stressors out of our life. We just want to be able to try to "start over". The economy is so bad in Michigan that we really just want out of our mortgage, we don't care if we lose our initial down payment. It is such a beautiful house in a great neighborhood. We miss it dearly. We miss our family and friends in Michigan too. But we feel blessed to be able to come "home" to where we grew up in California to raise Caden and be able to have more financial stability. It is also nice to be close to our west coast family and catch up with some old friends.

proof!

Remember months and months ago I posted about making a quilt? And then a few months later I said I finished it? Well, now I finally uploaded some proof!



I sewed yards and yards of patchwork, and then more and more yards of linen strips. Then sewed and sewed some more. Once it was all pieced together I quilted it all together. I made it into a duvet cover, and it was ready right in time to move to South Carolina, whew! You know how much we needed a hot quilt right in the middle of summer in the south! We still use it, just turn the air conditioner down and pretend! Caden has decided that he doesn't get enough use of it, so he wants one of his own!
indulge me with viewing some more pics!






The back and quilted front are attached together with printed twill tape that I had collected.



This pic is of the back, sear sucker fabric with rivets on top and natural linen separated by a strip of patchwork!

hooray!!!








...ok the fireworks weren't for me....but we didn't even have to leave our house for the 4th of July, our neighbors had dueling firework displays, I guess there are no illegal fireworks in South

Carolina! It was beautiful!

We have been getting spoiled by going to the movies a lot. We have seen more movies this week than we have seen all of last year. We went to Evan Almighty, Ratatouille and Transformers. It is nice and cool inside there! It is nice that Caden is getting to an age that he can enjoy a movie and sit still long enough that others can enjoy as well.

This is a big week for our family. Tomorrow is Paul's birthday and Thursday will be our tenth anniversary. Caden will be attending VBS this week at a church that we have been trying out. He is excited!

Ok, I better go, Caden is waiting for me to finish so we can go swimming in the pool.

happy Easter

Caden (still with his fever rash above his lip from being so sick last week) posing with his new little mini moopy bunny.



Happy Easter.....♥ ♥ ♥ Paul, Michelle and Caden



ps....this is our weather...colder than Christmas! too funny!

spring has sprung!

Spring break officially starts this Friday for Caden. We are thinking that we will be driving down to South Carolina to check out houses. We are all pre-qualified and think we have found a house, but we still are keeping several others in mind. It is difficult to pick a house out without seeing it.

This is a picture of our first possibility. It is on almost an acre of land and is brand new. It has a double deep garage, but we are used to a double garage that is extra deep, we have talked to the builders about the possibility of adding a separate garage with a studio for my ceramic work. We will see. This has been a bit overwhelming for me. This is why there hasn't been much conversation here on this blog these days.

There has been a little crafting though. I received my Lotta Jansdotter book "Simple Sewing"
It is full of pattern, texture and inspiration. I adore everythingLotta. I admire her aesthetic.
I would like to make the roll-up tool case for my ceramic tools, the hat, and, if I get really gutsy (I am not the most experienced seamstress), I would love to make the garden tote to use to put some portable art supplies in.

I also covered a cork board and added a pocket to it. I made a large tin board and a magnetic chalkboard, all of which are in storage for the move to South Carolina. Oh, I was so inspired by this that I made my own out of my favorite fabric, all of which are now in storage too. (the picture below is the work in progress)


I searched all over the area for baker's twine :

but was out of luck, so I ended up dying hemp twine in several colors to use in my packaging of products.



Let's see, Caden had a great school conference. He is progressing great and gets along with everyone. He is such the thoughtful, caring little guy.



Yesterday he made some chalk art of our family (notice Paul is bald, he he), he was very proud of his creation!

Today I have my follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon to see if the nerve block series worked. I would say that the shots helped about 40% of my problem with my back, it relieved the radiating nerve pain down my legs, but did not help my SI joint area at all. So it looks like that both above and below my fusion may be deteriorating. It is good that we are getting somewhere though.

Thanks for stopping by, I will try to update at least once a week, please don't give up on this blog! I promise to share some of my ceramic jewelry too, it is on hold for a bit while we are in this transition time between Michigan and South Carolina. I even got a new slab roller! I am so so excited! But, we decided to keep it boxed up until the move is over, :( I guess I will have even more to look forward to. It is just killing me though, seeing my slab roller sitting there in the box, just wanting to get out and be used! But for right now I focusing on trying to finish my patchwork quilted duvet cover so I can work solely on my ceramic once the move is done in June.

See ya'll soon!

Well Paul is off in South Carolina, so far so good. Although we all are a bit discombobulated....

I read "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" By Mo Willems (a fantastic book!) to Caden's kindergarten class today. He beemed with delight! It is the small things in life that mean so much, isn't it?

I had my nerve roots injected at the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. I received four injections instead of two, so that was surprising. They seem to be helping. He hit the bone several times during the injection, and I was only given a valium, so I wasn't something I enjoyed to say the least.

I habe been working on a quilted pathwork duvet cover as well as wall organizers, pictures to follow....it is much too dark to take pics right now. I am awaiting the arrival of a tabletop slab maker for my ceramics. This will be so make it much more easy physically for me to roll clay slabs. It will also speed up production. I am thinking of making ceramic magnets also. I have a tiny kiln, so I am limited to small items, but I am not complaining, there are endless things you can make with a hunk of clay, you are only limited by time and imagination!

Well, just a quick update. I will include pics tomorrow or so!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing everyone a happy Valentine's Day!

Paul has been ill lately. He has had pain in his chest radiating down his left arm and poor circulation. He has been really cold, not even able to heat up by sitting by the fireplace. He finally ended up going to the ER, kind of convinced he was having a heart attack at age 30. Well, no heart attack, thank goodness. It isn't a re-assurance of his cancer either, thank God again. He has pleurisy. A viral infection of the lining of his lungs, which is quite painful and causes you to breath more shallow, which, in turn, causes his circulation to decrease. Since it is a virus, it has to work its way out naturally. Antibiotics won't work. He is doing better now, especially that he knows what it is. Needless to say we have been even more stressed than usual. This makes this valentine's day even more meaningful, just being aware of our thankfulness to be together and semi-healthy.

Paul's business has been so stressful too. The economy here is awful. Most of his clients are not being their bills, which is so hard on us. In fact, he has stopped work completely with two clients until they pay their bills. Paul has been interviewing for jobs, but it is a competitive market here, due to so many qualified people being unemployed. He also has two job opportunities in Ohio and one in South Carolina. We have been praying for a long long time about Paul leaving the business sector and going into ministry. More and more we feel the push to go into ministry. The South Carolina job is for director of technical services for a church. It is funny how things happen. After another restless night, Paul picked up the bible. Long story short, he opened the lap top and stumbled upon the job in South Carolina, and the Pastor emailed him right away. God works in his time, sometimes it astounds us how quickly things work! We will see. Right now, Paul is at his second interview at another promising prospect. We only have one car now, so the job that he is interviewing for now would be great because we have a good friend that works there and they could carpool. We just hope that something happens soon! If you are so inclined, we would appreciate every prayer!

Ok, onto the Valentine's day celebration. I was greeted with breakfast in bed and Caden wrote valentine's to us (and himself :) on his own. So cute. We have such a loving son. I attempted my first encaustic collage/painting. Encaustic medium is a mixture of beeswax and resin. I was inspired by Amy Ruppel and Meredith Baxter.

The deer symbolize our family. The clouds are maps....button flowers, the deer are etched and filled in with a charcoal pencil.


P+M+R=C (Paul +Michelle +R (our last name and date of marriage) = Caden. The measuring tape I used is vintage from my grandmother's sewing kit that I inherited.


close up on some of the flowers. The hills were made from grouped shades of green punched circles from sheets of scrapbook paper, paint chip samples and magazine paper.

Paul really liked it. He had no idea that I was making it for him. He, of course knew I was making something,( it is difficult to hide the sound of a heat gun triggering the smoke detector!), but he has absolutely no idea that I was making it for him. All and all I am satisfied on how it turned out, I need more practice to be as good as I would like, but for a first try, it is ok.

Happy Valentine's Day!

ps..I found it extremely difficult to photograph the encaustic...it is much brighter in person.

Tooth Fairy Time!

Look everyone! Loose tooth!



Caden has had a slightly loose tooth for a couple of weeks, but it is really progression now. There is a large gap where the adult tooth is pushing through and his baby tooth is really loose.
So, that gave me the inspiration for a tooth fairy pillow. At first Paul wasn't too hip on my idea, he has memories of a white envelope from the tooth fairy, I had a heart shaped strawberry shortcake pillow. So, we had clashing traditions. I came up with a compromise that the gift from the tooth fairy can be put into a white envelope and Caden's tooth can be in the pillow.
I had Caden write the word "tooth" and used carbon paper to transfer it to the linen. I then embroidered it (this is my first time embroidering, so that explains why it is goofy looking, but I think it adds to the look of Caden's writing) I was very inspired by these two nifty crafters.


tooth-shaped tooth fairy pillow.


close-up on the embroidery and the patchwork pocket.


close-up on the "tooth" written by Caden.

I also hand felted a pin cushion using some organic silk and wool that I had laying around. I have read that it is better (keeps needles sharper) if you store your needles in a wool pin cushion. I love how the silk fiber is slightly wavy and shimmers.









.......We also pinched our pennies to go to a "monster jam" this weekend. Caden had seen the commercial on TV and we knew he would love to see the huge monster trucks. It was loud and crowded and fun, just what any five and a half year old thrives on. It is so cold and snowy here, there isn't much to do unless it is inside. We also got to see one of the two in the world "jet quad" which is an ATV set on a jet engine. VERY loud. It shot around the stadium making flames and basically sounded like a jet airplane. Quite interesting, I never even knew about this "monster" truck world.

here are some highlights:
before:

after:

(broken axel)
we were rooting for this guy:



In other news, our kitten, suki, is still sick. We are setting up a visitation time, since we haven't been allowed to see her in three weeks. She has been gone longer than we had her. It is so sad that they allowed a sick cat to be adopted, we are so attached and miss her so, but have no idea when and, now, even if we can get her back. They still do not have a definitive diagnosis, they have just been giving her different doses of antibiotics.

putzing along...

I am finaaly getting around to glazing some of the buttons and pendants that I have been making. I ordered mason stain and once it arrived, I realized that I needed to mix it with a "flux" to make it stick. Ugh. I didn't know what to mix it with, so onto the beads of clay yahoo group. Such a helpful group if you are interested in making ceramic art, especially beads. They also have a flickr group. So long story short, I was able to start the expiramenting today. I have found that, for me, I have had to do a lot of expiramenting to find my true niche. I am so excited to get back working with clay. I have decided that we really need a butter dish. So instead of going out to buy one, I am going to create one. Sure it may take me a couple of months (I am pokey), but we have lived this long without one, a couple more months won't hurt! But, I am most excited about a new concept I am working on, "nesting dolls" but in animal for, like a little bird that can open up and you can place little trasures inside etc. I think that, for me, jewelry was limiting me, slowing me down. I love to make jewelry and will continue it, but I want to also make small ornaments, candle sticks, figures etc.


This is a picture of some of my glass collection. I have been trying to imbed the various glass beads and shards into glaze. I have found that some colors work better than others.


These are the next set of expiramental glass imbedded pendants, they are glazed and ready to fire. I will show you all the results later, I am not sure if I am going to fire these separate from the pendants above.

Thanks for stopping by..have a great day!

Welcome::

Welcome:: to my newest collection:Letterpress. Letterpress of all kind, but especially wooded letterpress. I also have several birds,shells, bicycles, etc that I use to stamp my ceramic pieces.


Introducing:: the final version of the owl ornament. I used a celadon glaze. I think that I will be making more of these, but maybe pure white with a staining of underglaze that would allow the texture to "pop" even more. But first I am making tags to lable the glazes I have. I think it is so lovely to see all of the color choices at hand, almost a piece of art in itself.


Goodbye:: to the turkey and...


Hello:: Christmas {isn't he getting so big?}

happiness is..

happiness is trying to teach Caden how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. I have no idea how I learned this particularly "cool" (to a five year old) ability, but Caden sure helps me relish in the little things in life. He has not yet mastered this talent, but he has been trying and trying all afternoon.

In other news, the vin number on the wheels to our stolen car has been "pinged" in the database. Apparently they are somewhere in Detroit. I wonder if we at least get the wheels back? The car has to be gone for 30 days until the insurance pays us for it. Thank goodness for insurance. Caden's theory of the whole car thing is that they simply needed a ride because they lost their car, and they needed to "use" daddy's car. Hmm, to think so much of this world. Caden was quite heatbroken because he had his two "favorite" (everything is his favorite) trucks were in the car. Daddy is upset because his peacoat was in the car (winter is coming tomorrow, literally) and all of his computer programming programs...oh bugger. This is our third stolen car, and it just sucks. It is hard to keep starting over again, but, once again, that is why we carry good insurance. Sometimes it seems that if we didn't have bad luck, we would have no luck at all. But really, we just need to stop buying cars that everyone else likes to steal.

The first batch of owls are cooling down from the glaze firing. {I peeked, they look cute!} Looks like they will be packaged and ready to fly away on December first, right on the deadline!

tic toc tic toc

Can you hear it? The tic tic ticking of my biological clock? Well, it has been on overtime since Caden has started kindergarten and I turned 31 a couple of weeks ago. We really want to expand our family. Yesterday was my appointment with my spine specialist. And his answer was not what I wanted to hear. But actually not a big surprise. No, no, no. Not going to happen. He said that the fusion would be stressed and that it would cause more unrepairable damage. I am so grateful to have Caden, truly blessed. So that's that. We have thought about adoption a lot, but I think that I just need to be happy with my little family, making our way through the world.

So I got my spinal injections that I get every three months. My legs are still numb, which I quite prefer to what they usually feel like. So I think it will help out this time. The relief lasts anywhere from 2-6 weeks. It decreases my swelling by a ton, though. I am always amazed how much I really swell and I thought I was getting chubbier. I have been walking on the treadmill and doing pilates for the last couple of weeks, and I hope to keep going on that. We haven't had much sunshine, so the time has come for the treadmill.

The lack of sunshine also means that I cannot get a good picture of my latest crafting adventure. I cut up a felted sweater to make a wrap-around shrug. It is cute, but I think that I will only wear it in the house for now, because I think I may have cut it a little short. Live and learn.

Paul was able to work out his Chicago job to a contract basis, so he will not have to leave us for three weeks at a time. He may need to travel a like two days a week for the next few weeks to finish the contract, but at least we don't have to get an apartment down there and basically pay for two houses, etc. He is now working in Grand Rapids and it seems to be going good. He just hated leaving us for the week. The only bad thing is that we have one car right now, so I am stranded home. We do not have any public transportation out here. That is ok, though. It won't be too much longer until we find the right vehicle. Hopefully within two weeks I will have some new wheels, or I will have the Passat back!

I have had a few requests from family for Christmas ideas for Caden. We just bought him three pairs of shoes last weekend, he wears 13.5 but I would buy 1's. Stripey socks are always a popular thing around here. For clothing, he is a size 6. We have recently purchased a play station two, (PS2), so children's games would be loved. He has always wanted a guitar, in fact he has been saving for a nice one (wooden) for a few months, but he is still far aways from the $40.00 goal. He likes to sing and play music, a karaoke machine or radio with a microphone would be so loved by him (not so sure if we would love it so!;) Books are great. He loves legos. He spends hours putting things together and taking them apart. I hope that this helps you all out.

until next time! have a great weekend!!

close call

Yesterday I waited for Caden at the bus stop as usual. The bus just drove on past me. I was talking to Paul on the cell phone and all I said was 'they took our kid' and starting running after the bus. I was so upset because what I really was thinking is that he is only 5, they don't stop at the stop when the child is not on the bus, he is only five, he is only five....!!! The bus stopped about a quarter of a mile down the road and the door opened. No Caden. I kept running like a madwoman and I saw Caden at the top of the stairs of the bus, there was a substitute bus driver. Ok, I calmed down. Poor Caden, he has had some bus tribulations so far, not getting along with the older kids and the "pecking order", and once I had to board the bus to get him off because he wasn't sure he was at the right stop yet. This time he said "I thought I was lost in a field" hmmm, no field, but I get what he was saying....It was scary. Today we didn't have any problems, but I think that I will be picking him up after school from now on. He has asked several times, and I just feel more connected to the school and his teachers if I can peak in daily or so.

I spent this afternoon organizing the studio (aka my basement craft room). Paul had ordered some really nice organizing units and they came in this morning, so I made quick work of them. It is so nice to have it a little more organized, especially since my interests have expanded. I have my ceramic studio, am working on my first quilt, and also working on a series of encaustic paintings and collages. On top of all that, we found an old letterpress. I have been collecting letterpress fonts, both wooden and metal, and letterpress stamps that I use for my ceramic work, so we thought that we could use them for the intended purpose also. I also carve my own stamps from clay and rubber, which can also be printed on the letterpress. Now that everything has its own station, I think I will be able to get a lot more work done. Maybe I will even take pics! Paul had the camera card with him in Chicago, so no pics for the last few days.

I also re-scanned all of Caden's art work, but the files were too large to upload on flickr, only a few worked. So I have figured out a way to decrease resolution and maybe I can try to put them on the blog again. He just brought home a whole bunch more art work today, so I have even more for your viewing pleasure! He has been drawing a lot of birds and airplanes lately. Each picture he draws has a little narrated story to it. He is very creative. Today he brought home an 'early reader' book, they are expected to be able to 'read' the book by Monday. He is doing great with it, he almost has it memorized and can identify most of the words. He has been also learning to write more than just his name, so neat to see him grow in leaps and bounds like this. Thursday is picture day, the only problem is that Caden has somehow lost the paperwork between school and the bus drop. I guess I will pick it up after school Monday or on the field trip to the pumpkin farm on Tuesday. Not really a big deal, I just minorly (not a word, just my own special vocabulary ;) panicked.

Up North it is 100% peak color, we should reach peak within the next two weeks. It is so beautiful the way the trees explode with color and then,poof, their leaves just fall off, leaving a whole new view of the woods. I especially like the birch trees with their white bark gleaming in the colorful yellow, orange and red forest. My Dad will be out in November to stay with us for a while, so he will miss the fall and head into the winter chill. For all you friends and relatives out west, I hope you know that our door is always open and we have a spare bedroom, so if you ever want to explore Michigan, you can hang with us. I know I have said this before, but I really am sincere, we cannot go west as much as we used too. I guess that is what happens when we grow up, everyone becomes too busy in their daily lives. I cannot remember when I have had a vacation, we usually are traveling to try to maintain some sort of contact with our widespread family!

have a great weekend all!

renegade...

yippee!!! We are going to the Renegade Craft Fair in
Chicago tomorrow!!!


Even better yet, Paul and I are going...alone! This will only be the second time that Paul and I have left Caden overnight since he was born over five years ago. So it will be nice :)
We got a fairly good deal at a very nice hotel, so that will be even nicer. We have a great sitter who just so happened to be free. She is even taking Caden to Church and a birthday party she needed to go to. He will have so much fun. Probably a lot more fun than going to a busy craft fair to look at art. He loves his babysitter, he says she is his "favorite girl". (other than mom of course)

I have some good news to share...
Remember the computer incident we had over six months ago? The "borrowed" computer was returned to the Montcalm County Sheriff's office! I had to drive an hour and a half both ways to go pick it up, but we are so happy to have it back. Paul had to completely overhaul it, and, of course, all of our info had "disappeared", but other than a few other minor problems, it is in good shape.

Also, Caden is doing great in kindergarten. He has made a lot of new friends, and has greatly improved in his writing and drawing in just a week! He even has a little "girlfriend". (he he) He did have a little problem on the bus ride home on the second day. I mentioned it to the morning driver the next morning as not to embarrass Caden and she talked with the afternoon driver. So far, it has been resolved, although, today the bus stopped one stop down the road for a long time while the driver had to settle the kids down. It seems it is a rowdy bus. I am still considering driving him home from school, but I do not want to "baby" him too much. Besides, he probably wouldn't want to anyways, he likes watching "the big kids".

I have gotten a lot of great mail lately, and I plan on blogging about it early next week! I have been trying to blog this all week, but every time I started, something came up, or the computer needed to be fixed, or it was cloudy and rainy and I couldn't take good pictures. Excuses, excuses, but all true! I think that the computer is almost all organized and all but a couple of the programs have been loaded, so blogging won't be so laborious! Such is life! I will try to take some pictures of the craft fair and share all of the crafty coolness with you!

kindergarten: t minus 2 days...

This is the, hopefully, Internet safe version of caden's backpack label. I designed the monkey and put his name and our phone number on it and printed it out on fabric transfer paper. After learning it doesn't adhere to his nylon backpack, I ironed it on to linen and embroidered it onto the back of his backpack.(can't put it on the front because it gives the strangers an opportunity to know his name and call him, all these new safety rules..) I printed out a plain monkey to embroider on the front of the backpack. He loves it, so that is what counts.

We went to a destruction derby last night. It was the State Championship, who could miss that? It was a lot different than the ones we went to in Auburn (California). The arena was a lot smaller. So you would think they would have less cars in it, right? Oh no. Seven to eight crashed up cars dueling to the death. The bleachers were close to the track and a sign stated "enter at your own risk" greeted us. Very funny...ahem, not. We got a seat as far as we deemed safe, but in the middle of a match, Caden had to go potty. So he and I trudged through flying mud balls and the chance of a flying car part to the potty. I actually got hit in the forehead on the way back to our seat. (Which, if you know me, is quite appropriate because if you can get injured somewhere, I will...) I was literally dragging Caden as fast as I could, as he was screaming with delight. Quite an adventure (in the white trash/ way out in a hick town sorta way!) Fun was had by all. No...really!

Paul is off doing a contract computer maintenance job today, so Caden and I are car-less. (not complaining, we just haven't found the right truck/jeep yet) So Caden and I are going to take a nice walk, it is a beautiful day. I am looking for some birch peelings for my first adventure in encaustic collage.

studio time

I was able to squeeze in some studio time this week. I have created a few more hand sculpted ceramic pendants ready for the bisque fire. Here are a few pictures:




the butterfly pendants are about the size of a quarter, they will bisque fire white and then I will glaze them.




they need to dry for a couple of days before I can kiln fire them.


The small pinwheel is my favorite, it is the size of a dime, I think I will make another, larger one, I really liked where this could go, with a little color...

I just wanted to give a shout out to Andi at

Mystic Spiral, who kindly called me and answered all my kiln questions. I have had a kiln for over a year, but have been afraid to use it, silly me! Hopefully, this will get me one step closer to achieving a dream.

One day we want to pick up a Nikon D50 or D70, to take some better pictures, but it won't be anytime soon, unless one drops from heaven......uh didn't think so.