holiday check-in

Wow, things have been crazy around here. My surgery was cancelled and now is resceduled for December 27th. Good thing though, because we spent all of the day Saturday in the ER with Paul. We were getting ready to go see a movie and as his was walking upstairs he pulled something in his back and couldn't move his arms or left leg and it hurt to breathe. Panic set in....we were thinking, ok he pulled a muscle or a rib popped out, no problem, it will pop back in in a couple of minutes. Nope...so I had to put his shoes on him and help him hobble down two flight of stairs to the car and off the the ER, no Chipmunk movie for us. Because of Paul's cancer history, they took tons of tests. Thankfully, no cancer spots on his lungs or any problem with his bloodwork. Just excrutiating pain. Caden was an angel throughout the whole ordeal. The doctors do think that it is a soft tissue issue, but we are going to be on the safe side and Paul is seeing the family doctor today to schedule an MRI to rule out any herniation. It is a very high place to be herniated, so I have been hoping and praying it is a rib out and will heal and that will be that. Rib injuries are really painful. I have had a laminotomy at the T10 area and I know kinda what it feels like to have a disc problem up there...I hope he heals fast and doesn't turn chronic.







Ok, in happier news, I finished the ornaments I was working on for the 2007 Ornament Swap.

I made ceramic snowflakes, with holiday sentiments like "joy", "sparkle", "ho, ho, ho" hand embossed and glitter snow imbedded in the glaze.



here is an example:





and wrapped them all up like this:



I sent them off to locations from Hong Kong, Australia, and all over the United States. I have received some beautiful ornaments in exchange. I really enjoy doing this exchange!



I made 25 more snowflakes and a red-nosed reindeer that are in the kiln right now for the bisque fire. I numbered them 1 through 25 and I plan on making them into an advent garland for Caden where he would move the red-nosed reindeer each day to countdown the Christmas. I know, I am pretty far behind for it to work for this year :) but he will enjoy it next year! Maybe he will be able to countdown from 24 to 25!



Caden had his first stage performance last Wednesday. He and his first grade class sang a rap song called "Ribbons and Bows" in the school Christmas program. He hammed it up!





the pre-requisite goofy pose pre-performance! Like any six year old would want to have a plain smile for the camera!



He really really wanted a tie, he was the only one with a tie, but he loves wearing ties like daddy does. I had to pry it off twice before school, he insisted he needed to wear it to school, with a turtleneck, quite a style. That is Caden though, our little style maker.



Because it was a rap song, they put sunglasses on during the performance. Caden insisted on wearing my sunglasses, so they kept slipping down his face! Here he is, isn't he cute!







I was also the lucky winner of some beautiful ceramic loot from Linda at little flower designs



so so very cute, she is very talented:



(this is her picture, but it is the stuff she sent me, it is too dark today to take a decent pic!)

The little scoop with the bird face on it is adorable! I have the wee vase by my sink with a flower in it, it is perfect for that! And the ornament, oh so cute! So well made, and packaged with such love and care! I love to see what methods other ceramic artists use. She is very prolific and creative! Thank you Linda!