I'm Not Sure About This

I've always been resistant to journaling, and, by extension, blogging. I really have no idea why. I have no problem reporting on the day's happenings in letters and on online forums and on Facebook.....why is blogging so much different? Maybe it's kind of like my aversion to making phone calls and emailing, but having no problem texting people. So weird.

Anyway, I've been working on bunches of stuff. Nothing particularly amazing - just little baby steps here and there.

Days Fly By

Last week of February, and GOOD RIDDANCE. Thank goodness the month has pretty much just flown by. That's been handy.

I've pretty much spent the month doing the same few things - not following my diet, pottery, sewing on the yo-yo quilt, and watching TV. I like to think that the lack of variety is helping to speed the time along.



The quilt grows. I've watched my way through Mr. Selfridge, Cranford, The Last Enemy, a bit of Miss Marple, Penelope, Wayne's World, Bill and Ted, and The Hobbit. All things Monty Python is slated for this week, as trivia at City Park Grill will be along that theme on Sunday. (I lost tonight, so I got to pick the topic. How was I to know that Maria Von Trapp outlived all of her children? I don't watch the news!)

The Pottery Run-down

I signed up for a "Clay Club" at our local Arts Center in September. I had done some ceramics in high school, and really enjoyed working with clay a lot, but I shied away from anything that was seriously challenging and ended up dropping the class once I was pregnant with Ian, because the clay dust made me feel sick. I never picked it up again until I joined the club this fall.

Turns out....I enjoy working with clay even more now. And apparently I've gained a modicum of maturity over the last twenty-so years, because I went in with the intention of becoming proficient on the potter's wheel, and I've stuck to that goal even though it's probably the most difficult and time-consuming goal I have ever set for myself. THROWING POTTERY IS HARD.

Seriously. So incredibly hard. I mean yeah, even a kid can learn to make functional wheel-thrown pottery...but there's functional and then there's beautiful-light-symmetrical-functional, you know? Turns out, making pretty pottery is something you have to PRACTICE at. It's something you will waste clay on, trying to achieve. I'm not used to having to do either to get to decently proficient, so starting this whole endeavor got VERY frustrating very fast.

Pottery Stamps

So, last fall, about when I started taking pottery classes, my friend Tom decided to upgrade his cable-drive rotary tool arsenal. He very very very generously gave me his old set. And stand. And table. And accessory box. Seriously, this was a HUGE gift. Blew me away!

Lifetime Achievement Quilt

Ok, so it hasn't been achieved yet. BUT!! I've finally started and made (very very small) headway on that yo-yo quilt that I have wanted for my entire life, from the time my Grandma Marge told me what the heck yo-yos were and how they were made and what you could do with them. Besides make creepy clown dolls.

I had started making yo-yos ages ago, like when Davey or Bobby were babies? Anyway, I found a whole bag of them all gathered up nicely....but not nicely enough. They were pretty lumpy looking and not very perfectly round. I compared them with the couple test ones that I had made using my impulse-purchase Clover Yo-yo Maker (size Large 45mm) and they were a touch too big to be compatible. So I strung them all in a rope on a sturdy thread and gave David a yo-yo lei. It looks pretty stupid. Then I decided to give that yo-yo maker a workout!

Short Update

So....I've been depressed most of the last year. It happens.

I started following the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol diet in July to try to get my unexplainable body pain under control. It works. So far I know that eggs, tomatoes, and potatoes cause me pain, and I have problems with wheat and milk to some degree as well. My weight dropped to 123 lbs when I was following the diet and feeling well, then jumped right up to 145 once I succumbed to the depression and desire for holiday / comfort / sugary foods. The awful pain came back, too. Live and learn. The pain is gone and I'm back down to 130. It's a start.

I started learning how to make pottery in the fall. It makes me happy when it works. I gave a piece of pottery to most of my friends and family for Christmas. I'm in the process of making a set of mugs as a gift for a local restaurant. It's slow going because I chose crappy clay and have to test out how the glazes interact with it. I also have my own potter's wheel at home. It's a good thing.