SHORT ‘N SWEET GODDESSES. — 2019. — January

Wow, you must have actually caught the flu, Sue!  Hope you are feeling lots better by today!

Holly, how long is your trip?  Will be anxious to hear about it.

Wonder what is going on with JoAnne.  Hope all is well.

I had another clay class on Saturday (went then instead of Thursday) and it was an awesome class—only 4 of us which was really nice—I made a “luncheon set”—well it was supposed to be—I decided on a serving plate with a matching bowl for dip—like for veggies.  OMG, I went and finished it off today, smoothing edges, etc., and I made a second bowl for it today—the plate is a very fat cat and I made the bowl into a mouse—I searched pictures on Pinterest before this started (way back in August) and saved them—one was a picture of a cat like this and I had found a bowl that I thought was cute and had ears like a mouse—I modified it a bit—both my bowls and plate are done by pinching—I can hardly wait to glaze—I think it’s going to make a really cute little set.  Now I’m psyched and want to go do some more—I joined the studio so I could have unlimited time down there to work—plan to go a couple days a week and make more of what I learn about so I can improve.  Have not done any glazing yet but am asking lots of questions and trying to learn about it so I don’t ruin my stuff!  

Just made a gluten free orange cake—someone at the studio gave me the recipe—OMG, it’s so good—has two whole oranges in it—peeling and all—you boil the oranges in the microwave for 15 minutes and then seed them and chop in the food processor.  It uses almond meal instead of flour.  I have all these oranges from Sacramento and may make up some of these and freeze them for desserts for company ahead of time!  

Joan/ - glad you did not get injured by the car. I noticed that when the kids lived near Berkeley, the pedestrians were really brazen and took no responsibility crossing streets etc. Even though they have right of way, you would think they would try to make sure they were safe whenever stepping out. The students were the worst. I know your situation was completely different but just reminded me of how it is there.
Was good that the man apologized- and hopefully will be more careful.

Sue - seems like you just got home! And will soon be going again!

Holly - just finished 2 scarves that my DDIL Asked me to make. Now working on socks for DH

Cold here!! But to warm the end of week- hooray!

Remodeling almost done- he will be through by Monday. It is looking so good. Excited about the new bed but cannot get it delivered until the 23rd

Need to weigh DH and see where he is.

Christmas decorations are still up. Just can’t think about putting them away til the workmen are out of the house.

JoAnne, getting excited to see your remodel pics if you post on FB!  How are you feeling?  Digestion ok?

Can hardly wait to get my hair cut tomorrow afternoon—it’s so thick and getting too long to spike up.  The texture is so different—I will say my hair stays styled all day once I sort of freshen it up in the morning.  Has so much more body!

I went to the clay studio yesterday afternoon and made another cat plate—not done with it as it is too soft to finish—hopefully Saturday I can go and finish it up.  Will do class again tomorrow night—maybe—if my friend wants to go Saturday in stead I will get her to drive herself and then I can stay after and work on my cat plate finishing.  We have a play Sunday night and I have a NOW meeting Sunday afternoon so cannot go then.  

I am loving the clay work—don’t know if I’ll ever get good at getting a nice smooth finish but I am trying.  I am drawing tons of things I want to try when hom in the evening.  Watching You Tube videos to learn about glazing techniques and get more ideas for handbuilding.

My gym friend who I gave the h. Aides to thinks her cancer is back in her other breast!  She had a CT scan on Wed and they won’t get a report for two weeks!  But she has pain and it’s not going away—I’m so scared for her—I just so love her—she is like a rennassance woman—she’s in late 70’s and takes college courses all the time and reads like crazy, loves to cook like you, Sue—and just went through that jaw replacement—OMG, I am so hoping not.

I’m really tired.  Tried some Beyond Meat chicken strips and made fajitas tonight—oh they were so good—I love the Beyond Meat products because they aren’t based on soy—they use pea protein which is very high protein content—and their crumbles hold up in soups and chilies and tacos—their patties we really love.  Most of the time I don’t use processed stuff but need a few “go to’s” to make life less about hours of cooking!

I keep waking up at about 5 am—don’t know why—then I’m so tired in the evenings!

Went to clay class last night and made a fat horse—made a sphere out of two pinch pots and then put chunky legs on and a tiny head ==goal was to make an animal everyone could identify without putting normal scale parts on or lots of detail.

Loved this project==have been drawing out more ideas off and on all day—will go again tomorrow and make another one.  And clean up my cat plate project which was too wet to finish up last night.  I’m loving my class—DH not very happy to have me going—doesn’t say much but I can tell-yet if I stay here nothing different will happen—so I am no longer passing up the opportunity.

Hair really nice and short!

Hi!

Coughing still hanging on. My neighbor told me she went to her Dr and doc said this thing going around lasts from 4 to 6 weeks. I'm at 3 1/2 weeks. I did start going to the gym 2 days ago, not full steam, walking slower and 4 miles instead of 6.

Jojo, renovation is so exciting! Glad it's going well.

Joan, so scary about the guy turning! That happened to me once, a woman was looking right as she was turning left onto 1 way street and I was crossing the street at the time. She saw me last minute as I scrambled away (I'm very aware when I walk the city streets) and she was very apologetic, but I told her she could have very easily hit me.
So great that you are enjoying the clay studio.

Holly, yes this trip we are going from Hong Kong to Dubai. In spring of 2017 we did the Dubai to Athens leg of that trip. Very excited to go to some places I haven't been to before - Vietnam, Cambodia, Myammar, India
We had some stops in Israel in our Dubai/Athens cruise. Are you going with your travel friend?

Tonight we're having a neighbor couple over for wine and cheese. Very casual. Hope we don't get too much snow tonight.

Thank goodness for you and your husband doing that and your church—i cannot imagine being on the streets—it is getting pretty chilly here as well—nothing like back east of course but I think there is a storm pushing in from the north and it’s really dropped in temps from this morning.

I saw that it is to get down to 12º in NYC tonight.  Brr.

We took Jordan out for about an hour or so of driving—then went to lunch at this neat Korean coffee shop—it’s so awesome there.  He doesn’t have school today but has to tutor from 1 to 7 pm.  He and I had a chance to talk about some things that had been worrying me—discovered he missed the deadline for getting his vaccinations for school—so we will do that this week.  Also trying to decide whether he signs up for the Honors program at UNLV—he has some reservations—we are both going to call and ask questions.  His mom showed up in town last week—she left or got kicked out of the boyfriend’s place in San Diego—showed up here—at her sisters and then sort of manipulated them to come to her and she got in the car and said she was going “home” with them (here I thought the sister threw her out).  Justin gave her a chance—he lived with her till age 10 so he remembers her—but after seeing what she had in mind for three days he told her he was taking her back to her sister’s—she was leaving everynight and staying out till 3 or 4 am and then waking them up to get back in—no effort to help them by acting maternal—Justin felt that she was not really interested in them, just mooching (his word) and when they got up the next morning (which he told her he would be delivering her to aunt’s) she was gone and only took her backpack—and has disappeared.  So essentially she may be on the street unless she found a way to get back to CA—so sad—I think my suspicion that she may have had drug issues and what not may not be far off.  Jordan and I talked about the ambiguity they are all feeling—she is a biological mom and you have so set a boundary—really hard emotionally to reconcile all.  However, I’m so proud of Justin—at 24 he is making adult decisions to protect the life they have—I so worried she was drug involved and would get busted and drag them into a problem.  Really sad.  Jordan has no connection with her—says he has no memories of ever living with her—he talked about foregoing a grad party for fear she would show up—but we fixed that concept—will only have a peer party—and not do it on graduation day—he doesn’t even want to go out to dinner after graduation for fear she will find out and show up.  Wow, some heavy duty stuff.