Spring

So I won't bore you all with the standard "it's been so long since I blogged" but it has. Seems like this spring is the longest I can remember. It has been so rainy and cold which is fine if you are living on the west coast....

So much happening around here. Pottery is taking off -- stuff if flying off of the shelves. Which is great -- but Arne and I are struggling to find some balance in our lives. We have so many hobbies that we have ignored in the last couple of months trying to make the pottery happen. I am sooooo tired.

Got the bike out. Mostly because my friend (thanks Kelli) has turned into an animal and keeps asking if I am going to ride. She rode over 90 miles this weekend and the competitive side of me says I need to be trying to kick her ass. The realistic side of me tells me that ain't going to happen and perhaps I should go smoke another cigarette. :-) So I will be fitting some riding in somewhere because I have decided it is important, I love doing it and I know I feel better once my ass stops hurting!

Finally, I got the garden planted. I started all of my plants from seed this year -- and they look like they were started in the house of a girl who lives in the mountains. They are spindly and sad looking and no matter what angle I look from...they still look sad. To add insult to injury a rabbit got in the garden this weekend and ate the five leaves that were left on the plants after the wind and rain. Geez...so now I have a little fence inside my fence to protect the little nubs that are left standing in my raised beds that are surrounded by (healthy and in full bloom) weeds because the weather has been too crappy to weed.

It all didn't seem so bad until I wrote it down...so I think I will go have a glass of wine :-)

Spring

Montana....Big Sky Country....land of opportunities....some of the most beautiful landscapes in America.....I love it here...But I am going to go CRAZY if spring doesn't make an appearance soon!! It is snowing outside and I am dying to get outside and dig in the dirt. I know, I know, I dig in the dirt in the house, but it isn't the same as being outside and seeing all of the little spring plants start to make their appearances.

I have about 20 tomato, 20 pepper and some assorted plants started in the house. They are all about 1/2 foot tall....they are dying to get outside as well. This is such a hard time of year for me because I am not a very patient person....

Craft show went well -- and I sold a casserole dish on Etsy -- YAY! It was pretty exciting as the woman was on the East coast and just came across our shop. We are working on pottery for a three day show in Missoula and also the Mount Helena Music Fest. I was just asked to make a piece for an anniversary and we are swamped with back orders. We are doing a firing this week and if the sun isn't out I will post pics....otherwise I will be outside! Hope you all are dealing with the fickle weather better than me!!!

Finally found some time to post! Arne is judging a VICA competition so it is nice and quiet here...ahhhh....doesn't happen very often. A lot has happened in the last month -- we have a new grandson, Dawson, and he is so cute. We are trying to find the time to visit but work is crazy and we are desperately trying to finish enough product for the upcoming craft show. Spring is also making some appearances through beautiful days of sunshine which makes it hard to stay in the house and play with the mud. Mcki, my gorgeous daughter, turned 12 and we had to take a break from everything to celebrate and hang with her and her girls. It was fun -- she is growing up so fast! We were also the featured artists at the Habitat for Humanity Gallery this month. We sold quite a bit of pottery and made some money for a good cause!

I finally made some pasta/salad bowls I was happy with - pictures are below. Enjoy the pics and as always there is more to come!

Educated Potter

I follow several pottery blogs and all the potters I admire have an arts degree. I often wonder if I would be a better artist if someone had taught me how to be artsy -- as opposed to my degree in computer information systems -- not artsy! But then I look at my daughter Amy who is a wonderful artist and dreamer and ponder whether or not you can be taught to be creative? Because I am a "rule follower" at heart -- my mother would strongly disagree! -- I find it hard to just sit down and create. I am usually inspired by another artist and have a hard time finding my own starting point. I have been reading Patrick Marsolek's (I hope that is spelled correctly) book on self hypnosis hoping that the book forward was not lying when it said I would become more creative, lose weight, quit smoking and stop dreaming about bacon. He is a friend of my husband -- so I guess if it is all a big fat lie to sell books I know where to find him! It is snowing tonight and we are glazing, trimming and throwing. I will get the pictures out as promised soon.

Happy New Year

It is a new year! So much has happened in the span of a month. One of my friends fell in love (About time someone realized she was so wonderful!), one of my friends lost his love and another friend is learning to love herself. It makes you appreciate how special love is and how short your time together can be. I am pledging to live every day this year in the moment -- except for the diet thing. Dieting is so hard--especially when you are living in the moment and your moments include gravy and deep fat fried bacon balls. I seriously dream of this food and know someday I will probably be blogging about my gout.

Pottery is going awesome! We are the featured artists in February at the Habitat for Humanity Gallery where we will be having our open house -- with appetizers that hopefully will include bacon! New pictures will be coming soon of our upside down planters, bird feeders and planters -- bring it on spring!!! We will also soon be posting new products on our website -- be patient with us as this is all new for us! Stay tuned!!!