State Of Hands Test...

I have been wanting to try this InLinkz thing on my blog. And right now with Riley playing in his bouncy toy, I can bust out the laptop to try it.

So here is the state of my hands:

Weed pulling without gloves hand... (need to get me a new nail brush!)

Or maybe: think twice about biting my nails...
Or: I really need to get into the studio hands...

Riley's hands are busy curious hands today! I think he has learned that now with teeth, hands being in mouth can hurt...

Peeves the cat is a bit playful... Technically not hands, but that's not her fault... paws count too!

And Stinker... Well, you get the picture right? This shows her whole attitude about life...

Ok, so here is the test. Does this work with URL links to any site (blogs, websites, Flickr, Facebook, etc).

To find out, add your link to this blog of a picture of the state of your hands... (Nothing vulgar please - you know whom I am talking to!)

Make sure your link is to the actual page with the image, not just to a general website... Share this with friends too so we can get a good test batch...

Link back to this post by clicking on the title of this post and copying it on your post (if you can) somewhere...

This test will run until July 1, 2010 @ 11pm EST.

Thanks!

Some Time Off...

I had a bit of an epiphany this morning...

I was out watering the garden with my little garden helper (Chloe - we found a little toad and were checking it out before letting it go into the garden) and had a moment of clarity...

 I should listen to Dave and my sister Wendy: schedule yourself a set amount of time and designated day to do things.

Frustration and Guilt are two things I cannot stand to feel.

Frustration because I am thinking about doing way too many things...

Guilt because I'm doing something other than I am thinking about, and maybe enjoying it...

And I feel both when I have orders that I need to be working on because

1. Things need to be pulled or created to fill the order

2. I have this business as my "job"

But there are times where I just want to sit on this computer and write or read blogs, catch up with friends and family on FaceBook.

There are times where I want to disconnect the computer and spend time with the little ones or in the garden or with extended family and friends...

Sorry Dave, notice "cleaning the house" isn't a priority on the list...

And when there is an order in studio, I feel the guilt and frustration settle in because I feel that needs to be priority. Priority as respect for my customers, and priority because I have this overwhelming guilty feeling of having to have a contributional income to this household. 

Right now, Dave carries everything on his back. 

And he's strong overall, but I think it's unfair to him...

So it does make sense to have time designated to work. 

Now if I could just stick to it for the one day a week (Thursdays) that I have to do it. Oh, and also during Riley's naptime - but that seems to be the time when I get on the computer the most.

Darn ADHD or rather my interest in anything and everything around me...

See, Riley is now waking up, and all my time that I had to spend cleaning glaze holes was spent organizing blog post labels, adding new blog pages, and writing this post (and reading and commenting on others). Oh well... maybe I will have another cup of coffee and get stuff done in the studio later tonight...

Getting Back To It: Sometime...

Somehow I have not been able to get back into the swing of things too fast now that we are home from a week at the beach in North Carolina (Ocean Isle Beach - very nice!!!).

Orders are getting organized into Quickbooks, pieces being pulled, silks being pulled, pieces getting made and glazed, kilns to be fired... But it is taking me so long to do everything!

I would like to still be at the beach, getting up early and taking walks with Riley (and Chloe if she were a morning person... but she likes her sleep too much, like her dad).

But then who wouldn't... I'm happy to say that the beach vacation was an actual vacation. Dave and I are both parentally exhausted as normal, but our work and worries went away for just a little while...

So I think tomorrow will be my actual big studio day. For the making and glazing of the pieces anyway. I have some special request pieces from before I left that are glazed, but not fired - so a few more pieces for new orders can get glazed then they can all go into the kiln together - maybe even tomorrow night if I'm really good at it!

I don't even want to tell you what a mess my garden is - SO many weeds grew in just a week. Time to call in the neighborhood kids (they seem to want to hang out and help weed the garden and play with Chloe and Riley)... I think we might be the "cool house" - at least just a little...

Silks Have Arrived!

I just got my shipment of out of stock colored fairy and silky ribbons...


Oh I just love these! Ute you do such beautiful work - Thank You!!!

-- Pictures Taken With & Posted From My iPhone

AMACO.com - American Art Clay Company - The source for creative people!

Can I just say that I am itching to give the AMACO velvets and opalescent glazes a try!!!

Oh, the days of working with low fire clay...

AMACO.com - American Art Clay Company - The source for creative people!

I saw the tile samples at NCECA on display and have wanted to try them ever since.

For me for right now, there are way too many Cone 6 glazes to test out...

And switching to a low fire clay in the studio is a direction that can get me in trouble with my time management (I won't have any time at all left to get anything accomplished!).

But who knows... I already have the velvets on hand... Hmmm... wonder if they have small 4oz jars of the Opalescents available???