Old As Dirt

Coffee was in the Barcelona Barista mug an hour or more ago, "I Want To Be Your Girlfriend" by Mary Chapin Carpenter on the iPod. I have already been putting up shelving and leveling it, organizing frit and emptying boxes in the studio this morning. It was only 47 degrees inside when I arrived and I just couldn't bear to sit and post in the cold so I turned on the furnace and worked until it was warm enough to write. Now I am toasty snug and enjoying a well-deserved break. Heck, the break would be well-deserved if I took it all day--Dee and I moved about 1500 lbs of frit yesterday (2/3 of it) and I woke with an aching back this morning.

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I left the computer for a few hours and moved the rest of the frit. Boy am I SORE! I am clearly old as dirt. Early this evening I am going to soak in the whirlpool tub with some Epsom salts mixed with scented bath salts... and a glass of Roederer Cristal champagne. Tonight we officially celebrate the release of the book (even though I still have never seen it in a bookstore). Jessie has a sleepover at a friend's house and Dave and I are going to veg with champagne, pizza, and Netflix (I love Friday). Yes, clearly we are old as dirt--and I wouldn't have it any other way.

More pics next week as the studio comes together (big comfy green chair in the office. yum.)

Live From the New Studio!

Coffee in the Los Angeles skyline mug, "Far, Far Away From My Heart" by the BoDeans on the iPod. I'm live from the new studio and the view from my desk is of a billboard with the picture at right on the side of the building next door. Oh boy. Every time Jessie comes over she cries. She wants us to adopt the dog in the poster, Angel. "I would give her chocolate every day--if dogs could have chocolate but they can't because it would make them sick. And I would love her more than anyone else does. And if I had two chocolates, I would give them both to her--if dogs could have chocolate, but they can't because it would make them sick." Oh boy. Sadly, we live in a neighborhood where many people treat their dogs this way so the billboard is well-placed for its target demographic.

It's cold in the studio this morning! I think there's a problem with the thermostat--it reads 54 degrees when it's sweltering hot in here so I can't just leave it on all night, but these mornings are chilly (she says squeezing her warm coffee mug). My parents in Montana and my in-laws in Chicago must be laughing themselves silly to read that I think southern fall mornings are "chilly".

All the books but the international ones went out yesterday (yea!). I have to take the international ones to the post office today. I tried to send them UPS, but the most economical way to send a a 3 lb 12 X 9 X 2 package costs $85 to send to the UK... !!! It's still going to be expensive via the post office (probably just less than the cost of the book). I hope the recipients think it's worth it, if not I have personalized three copies for nothing.

Now Dee is here and it's time to keep putting together the studio. Till tomorrow.

Back to Earth

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, "Hands Like Rain" by James McMurtry on iTunes. So okay, blogging from the new studio is not quite ready for prime time. Yesterday was fully occupied with the book. Got another call from Ed Hoy. He wanted to let me know that the response to it in their showroom has been overwhelmingly positive, and they have a couple slots in their teaching schedule for next year, would I be interested? Heck yes! Got a poke from my editor on getting the supplies list to them for their website, I am sooo behind on that. Good thing I have a whole day dedicated to on-line work coming up. But I can't feel too bad--they don't have my book up on their site yet either. Everyone's behind. And then there's Borders.

Last night was date night and we went to Pura Vida for tapas and pisco sours and then on to Borders to look for new books (and pick up a copy of Ratatouille on dvd). With the mellowness engendered by a couple of pisco sours in my belly, I had the bright idea of offering to sign the copies of my book at Borders. I figured between my driver's license and the author photo and bio, I could convince them I really did write it. And I could bask in the public I'm An Author glow. Oh you know where this is going...

I waltzed in the front doors and sashayed over to the craft section. Glass, glass, glass. Hmmm. where's glass? Oh there it is, the little section squashed between jewelry and something else. Not very many books in it, and certainly not one of mine. Somewhat chastened, headed for the computer to look it up. Huh. Still in pre-order status. Well they need to fix that! Strode boldly to the info desk and asked the young man when the book would be in! He tapped and he typed and he peered intently at the screen. Where else have you seen it, ma'am? Well, Amazon and some local Barnes and Nobles have it listed as in. Hmmm. Regretfully he informed me that he couldn't even find a Border's number associated with that particular book so they probably weren't even going to be carrying it. Not carrying it! But I could order a copy for you and you could pick it up when it comes in. Sniff. Shoulders slightly hunched, I slunk over to the new hardback books table to drown my sorrows in a new book or three.

Books are always good for whatever ails me. Jezebel grabbed my attention--as much for the beautiful cover as for the content (I am a sucker for neo-classical paintings. My favorite being Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Léon Gérôme). On the way home Dave consoled me with the idea that they would probably carry my novel, if I wrote one. And heck, I've already written one book so how hard could the second one be? Isn't that what young couples say to convince themselves that a second child is only marginally work work than the first? Hah! I didn't believe that one either! (Well, I did, but Dave talked me out of it.)

Today I continue studio set-up--several hundred pounds of back-up frit to move--and I might even fire a load in Big Bertha. Tomorrow, studio blogging for sure.

Studio History

Coffee in the Washington D.C. skyline mug, "Punish the Monkey" by Mark Knopfler (new music!) on iTunes. I was going to post form the new studio this morning, but there is a little more set-up to get done (including moving over my desk chair) before I'm ready for that. I did get the painting finished in the office yesterday and Dee got all the shelving units built (listen to the sound of check marks appearing next to to do items) AND she unpacked the new case of glass so I am ready to formally move in. Tomorrow, "Live from Siyeh Studio mark... 11! Wow. I am on my eleventh "studio".

I had to put the quotes around studio in the last sentence because I remember the first studio was a corner in the great room in my grandparents basement. I didn't do any kiln forming then, it was a stained glass only studio. I wonder if my Uncle Ed still has the big round window of a mallard flying in front of a lake? It was my second piece and the only one I ever did from a pattern. There was a piece for each feather and I remember being amazed when it actually all fit together. I was never much of a copper-foiler so it was a huge round leaded window.

Then I went off to graduate school in Chicago in my 1967 GMC Suburban with the backseat removed. That car was *big*. It seated 20 and I had a small paragon kiln in the back, a case of glass tied to the back of the bench seat, and boxes of tools. Oh yeah, I also had some clothes and books, but those were thrown in as almost an after thought. The "Studio" in Chicago was most of my graduate student apartment: the bedroom was the glass studio, the kiln was in the kitchen and I slept on a pull-out sofa in the living room.

Studio three was in an old coach house in the Kenwood area of Hyde Park by the University of Chicago. I finally had a 20-amp circuit so I could get a bigger kiln. I bought a 20" X 20" Glass Glow from Phil Teefy and tucked it under the stairs in the garage area of the coach house (the little Paragon stayed upstairs in the bedroom/studio). Production firing back then meant two firings a day and for the second one, setting the alarm to get up every time the power needed to be adjusted for a new firing segment (slow ramp, fast ramp, cool, anneal, etc.). Chicago in the winter in the middle of the night in a drafty old coach house. Brrr. I feel so spoiled now.

Yesterday I shipped from the new shipping room. It was heaven--no more crowded, dark corner in the studio annex (aka the garage). I am still a little concerned about putting my packages out for pick-up on the front porch. I would feel better if it were screened in. Construction round two.

Today I sign and ship all the books people pre-ordered and change the Glass Incarnate web site from "pre-order a signed copy" to "order a signed copy". I'm already getting inquiries about suppliers so I need to get a list together for Lark and one up on my site asap. Maybe I need a Kavarna Day...

The First Review!

Coffee in the Los Angeles mug, the sound of dogs chomping kibble and the in-laws chortling at the cat for music. The studio is (mostly) moved, the signed copies of the book go out tomorrow (when the boxes for them arrive), I did not have to go for jury duty today, and the first review came in on Amazon over the weekend. No, it's not a plant, and I am over the moon!

While I took the weekend off from glass, the electrician finished the last of the studio wiring including the gallery room. As I don't have jury duty today I am going to finish painting the office, put together the rest of the shelves, put away the rest of the 5-lb jars of frit and unpack the case of glass that arrived last week (the week before?). I'm also going to move the finished inventory over to the studio and ship the last two orders I made before the move. And I don't even have to work alone! Dee is coming down again today to help me get set up. I am truly a fortunate one.

I have decided not to have a studio open house/book signing party this weekend--it's just too much to pull off in too little time. If I had an assistant and a good mailing database I could do it no sweat, but I just don't have time to get the studio up and running and organize a social event. then there's the fact that I don't currently have *any* finished inventory so I would have to make all the work for the gallery this week too... Bleh.

Now off to take the in-laws to the airport and mail off a copy of the book to be reviewed for the next issue of Glass Craftsman. Gulp.

Aggravation

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Mystery" by the Indigo Girls (in honor of the week) on iTunes. It wasn't a random choice and I considered "Building a Mystery" by Sarah McLachlan--which might have been more appropriate--but you can never go wrong with the Indigo Girls. Aggravation. I was all set to post pictures of the tumultuous week up to and including the first kiln load in the new studio and I can't. find. the camera. transfer. cable. I can't find the fly-swatter either and we are *infested* with little fruit fly-like things. I can feel myself getting wound up. Breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. Wash, rinse, repeat.

It's Friday now. Yesterday's move wrap-up and install went well. Bertha is level (and wasn't THAT a job in this 90 year-old house with very Un-level floors!) and has a counterweight pulley system hung for the lid, the Styrofoam peanut dispenser is hung, the frit storage racks are mounted, and the middle kiln has been loaded and fired even before the computer control panel has been mounted on the wall. Why did I fire after two long, chaotic, stressful days of moving? Well it's like this...

Jessie is in a new school this year and at her school they have a ritual for celebrating childrens' birthdays. I found out that, yes, the date for her in-school party really is *today* yesterday at 1:00 pm, and I had none of my assigned prep for the party even begun--much less completed. The first step was the cake. The kids make a cake in class and the birthday child decorates it with flowers she brings from her garden. Our garden yielded a couple of impatiens, a few marigolds, some ivy and a lacy white flower. It wasn't really enough so Jessie and her Gramma (newly arrived from Chicago) went off on a walk and gathered the last of the season's roses growing through neighboring fences.

Meanwhile back at the studio... The moving wound down and the helpers went home after hugs all around. I dragged my very tired and sore body home and sat down to start the little story about the milestones of Jessie's life that her teacher will read in class today when I remembered that part of the celebration includes the birthday child giving a little hand-made gift or natural object to all of her classmates... I had planned to have Jessie make little glass sun-catcher ornaments, but that was before the painting and the move dragged out for an extra week. What to do, what to do. As we are fresh out of Popsicle sticks, little magnets to glue and other ideas, Jessie and I headed back over to the studio to see what we could do.

Picture, if you will, a glass studio at the tail-end of the most random, unprepared, chaotic move imaginable. Jessie saw a scrap of clear irid with black streamers in a box on the coldroom floor. I found and assembled the pieces of the Morton cutting system (the cutting oil was the hardest part) and cut the scrap into two-inch squares that we washed and dried. J sprinkled multi-colored frit on them... and then it was time for dinner.

As I was waiting for J to finish dinner, with memories and input from Dave and the grandparents, I finished J's story and emailed it to her teacher. Then Jessie and I headed back to the studio where she put little copper loops in the corner of the ornament and covered them with colored circles. It took about 20 minutes to find the computer controller for the kiln (it was still hanging on the wall in the old studio) but eventually it all came together.

And the day ended. Well, there was also a hot bath and a white Russian with Bailey's instead of cream in it.

Postscript: I found the camera cable AND the fly-swatter so you get pictures and I get dead flies. Enjoy!


Moving Bertha:


Moving glass:


New Studio in chaos:

Insurmountable Obstacles On the Road to Imminent Disaster

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug (in honor of the in-laws who arrive later today to celebrate their granddaughter's birthday with us), the quiet ticking of the clocks for music. I just noticed--after months of writing in this same spot every morning--that I am sitting equidistant between two clocks and they tick a fraction of a second off from each other. Time in stereo. (Makes sense that it would be just a fraction wouldn't it as they each tick every second.) And that pretty much sums up October: Time in stereo.

I promised pictures today, but I also thought I'd be (more or less) moved by today. Not so. Pictures tomorrow and a full status report. I might even have an idea of the status for the report by tomorrow... But before I go any further, Thank you, thank you thank you!!!! to Dee Janssen for helping with the move yesterday and for committing to come back today for more. So the move, how'd it go? Well...

Moving into a new space of any kind is... difficult for me--the title of the post says it all. I see it empty and waiting and I see all of the wonderful possibility in it, and I want to realize that possibility. So I paint and I build and I prepare. And I run out of time. In years past, running out of time meant that whatever was done at the moment time ended was what would get done--I never saw the possibility of work on it/finish it later. (I would have been a lousy candidate to paint the Sistine Chapel--for so many reasons!) In smart times I scaled my ambitions to avoid the disappointment of not being able to finish before the time allotted for prep was over. In not-so-smart times I rushed to finish and did a poor job at the end. With the new studio I've done something else. I started all the painting and prep--every room but one has been touched with a brush and the paint has been purchased for the final one--and when the time for prep ended, I put it down to go on to the next step, the move. I calmly set aside brushes and rollers and picked up the dolly and the UHaul.

Even though the space looks even more haphazard than my spaces usually do on moving day (there were immovable objects placed in front of raw plaster in one room), it feels right. I will pick up brushes again again and paint this winter. In only the instance of the raw-plaster-room will I be painting around objects. Every other unfinished space can be painted easily after moving. And all of the weaving words so far in this post has led to that idea, to that kernel of wisdom that it took me till now to get: Things don't have to be completed in perfect blocks. You don't have to eat all of your peas before you eat your steak and all of your steak before you eat your potatoes. I don't have to finish all the painting before moving--just the painting on the critical path of the move (hallways and the bathroom, e.g., can be done equally easily at any time).

Let's extend this thought in the next couple of paragraphs, and we will get to the genesis of the New Move.

A big part of the stress of the new studio for me has been that I couldn't wrap my head around moving all of the studio contents--even 200 feet. For a move to be a success for me, I have to have mapped out exactly where everything is going. And let's be frank, I don't even know WHAT everything is, much less where it is now, much less where it will go! I have over 20 years of equipment, experiments, tools tried, tools purchased on a whim to try, molds, stands, other materials, and glass sheets, glass scrap, glass, glass, GLASS!! It would take a year to plan the campaign of the move for everything.

Then Dave, who got me through the book, who gets me through life, said "Why are you moving everything now? Why don't you just move what you need now, and move the rest over time?" "Well, Because!", I stammered. Because I eat all my peas before I eat my steak. Because I completely finish one thing before getting on to the next. Because it's never before been practical or even an option to do a partial move. But now it's not an option, it's a necessity. Yesterday with five people focused and dedicated (and a sixth when it came time to move Big Bertha) we moved maybe 1/3 of the studio. We moved three cases of glass with 12-13 to go. We might move one or two today, or we might not.

Today the whole crew maybe minus one will be back to do it all again. The crew is all over 40 years old and I know I'm feeling every year this morning. I can only imagine how the guys--who did all the major lifting and carrying--feel. They'll be here in 45 minutes, and I'm no closer to a picture in my mind of what's going to happen when, what's going to get moved, where it's going to get moved to, where the stuff that's not getting moved is going to be stored, than I was for all of October. And yet, the move will go on nonetheless. It will go on competently, smoothly and efficiently. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.

Moving day!

Coffee in the Atlanta skyline mug, "Too Long in the Wasteland" by James McMurtry on iTunes. Today is a day that deserves a long, thoughtful, weighty post. Too bad. It's Moving Day and I have movers and helpers and a tow truck and its driver to wrangle (a tow truck!). I will, however, take time to say if you plan to use a UHaul truck to move a kiln like Big Bertha, perish the thought: UHauls trucks come equipped with a ramp, sure. but the ramp is only wide enough for a standard dolly (about 24") which I discovered when I picked mine up at 5:00 pm yesterday. I guess they don't want you to really MOVE things with them. In the spirit of Mysteries and things just working out, Thomas is dropping by with his flatbed tow truck (with a BIG ramp) this morning to wrestle Bertha over to the new studio. I will take pictures and tomorrow will see a really great post. Promise. Now off to get Sprout and Spouse out the door for the day and to prepare for the onslaught of the horde.

Moving Days of Our Lives

Coffee in the Washington D.C mug, hold music from U-Haul instead of iTunes. Yep, staring down the barrel of moving day. It looks to be a long hold. Of course it is 10/30--I couldn't move mid-month in an off-month. Now I've made a reservation and within an hour a rep will call to tell me where I can pick up my truck... I will not be a pessimist. I will not be a pessimist. I will not be a pessimist--this WILL all work out. (How? I don't know. It's a mystery*.)

Today is the last major paint day before the move, and the office and kiln room must be finished. The shipping room is up in the air. I had the most ambitious plans of all for painting it, but that was before I took down half of one wall and patched it. The new plaster still hadn't dried by Sunday so I couldn't even prime it then. No painting at all got done yesterday**, so the room barely qualifies as a work-in-progress. I may have to punt to something easy for in there.

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An hour or so has passed now and since I said everything will work out... The furnace and air man called, I can fire up the furnace (after shop-vaccing the ducts as best I can). The electrician will wire the air conditioner tonight and the furnace and air man will test it and run over the furnace again (now that the electricity and gas are on) on Friday. I pick up Dave at 4:15 from work today and then pick up a UHaul truck around the corner from Dave's work at 4:30. Tomorrow at 8:30 am the carpenter is showing up with two helpers to disassemble and move the big parts of the studio (Big Bertha, the work table, the frit storage, etc.). The helpers will also move boxes of stuff across the wilds of the back yard. So now I have to get over there and GET PAINTING! Pics and more... later in the week.

*I started to write the quote from Shakespeare in Love here, but I think I'm just going to morph it into the Siyeh Studio motto:

"Allow me to explain about my business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery."

**Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away... At 12:15 yesterday I had a miraculous gift of time: I finished all the morning's tasks actually in the morning (how often does THAT happen?) and thought I might get a good chunk of painting done in the afternoon. ROFLOL. The time went... somewhere, and I headed off to get the Sprout at school for trick-or-treating at Turner Broadcasting. We got home exhausted (but happy) with hot pizza about 7:45 and everyone was in bed subsequently.

Painter's Progess 2

Coffee in the Starbucks go-cup, pre-meeting chatter for music. It's Monday morning PTA. I snarf a plain bagel, sip coffee and surreptitiously type while waiting for the meeting to begin. After the meeting I run to Ikebana. At the end of the day (4:00 pm) I pick the J up from school and take her to CNN to trick-or-treat. In between the Mom stuff I have to buy the new shelving at Sam's Club and finish painting the office and the kiln room floor. This is another time and space continuum kind of day.

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And yet, it is 12:16, I am back home with six shelving units, a gorgeous single material Asiatic lily arrangement to reconstruct from ikebana, and more tombstones for the front yard. (I find I have a perverse fondness for the big, black plastic tombstone Halloween decoration and Sam's Club has what my kind need.) Looks like painting will happen--as soon as I unload the six shelving units weighing around 65 lbs apiece...

Tomorrow, the first post-painting pictures. Anything to put off the actual move.

The 300 Lb Gorilla

Coffee in the Denver skyline mug, "Get Together Now" covered by the Indigo Girls on iTunes. Today I am sore. Yesterday the plumber and his assistant moved the sink 200 ft to the new studio. I thought, "It would be good, while they're here, to move the lap grinder over so I can see for sure where I want it to go and if it needs a new ice-maker line run for it." My first clue that it was not a good idea to move it by myself should have been when I had a lot of difficulty just getting it down to the end of the concrete parking pad in the back of our yard. I should have looked at the damp lawn and the soggy expanse of soil and water oak and pecan tree roots between me and the new studio and just said no.

I should have looked at the little hill down through the gate and said "It could fall on me and crush me like a bug. I think I'll wait.". But I did none of these things and predictably, there was disaster. I got half-way across the yard of the studio and it overbalanced on the dolly and tipped over and off. Would have been okay if I hadn't tried to grab for it. On the plus side, it was my left arm I grabbed with and I'm right handed. I had to go ask the plumber's assistant if he would help me lever it back up. We got it on the dolly and he pushed and I pulled/supported it over to the ramp and up to the French doors (Thank You Dan the Carpenter!--we never would have been able to lift it into the studio). Turns out it weighs about 300 lbs. For comparison our washer--roughly the same footprint--is only about 185 lbs...

What have I learned from the experience? That I am too old to move. I need to supervise. Yes, Bill, I will still move because I am alive. Fortunately for me, words can have more than one meaning and I am too old for the transitive instance of one of the meanings. Now I need to find a moving company that will think out of the box with me and move a few things on a truck and carry everything else. Or I need to skip the company thing and go for day labor and a U-Haul for a day... A few days ago I was hoping the logistics would just sort themselves out in my head. Hasn't happened yet. Instead I am squirrel-caging.

The only thing I am really nervous about moving is the sheet glass (and Big Bertha). I do not have the time to pack the glass up in crates and have the crates moved (and possibly dropped or tipped over--happens every move). The solution is to move the sheets by hand--they aren't that heavy--but though I am good at that, it might make other people nervous to carry large pieces of glass across a bumpy lawn. And there are over 15 cases of glass in the studio (what can I say? I'm a pack rat.).

*sigh* enough angsting. Off to Home Depot for some more paint, a mop, lightbulbs, and filters for our home furnace. It's getting time to change them and fire that baby up! Groundhog day continues...

Paint the Plumber?

Coffee in the Alaska skyline mug, "Rest For the Weary" by Marc Cohn on iTunes. It was iTunes' random choice. Really. I get a break in the monotony of painting today. Helmut the plumber is coming to move the big three-bin steel restaurant sink and the lapgrinder into the new studio. Well, he might not actually move the lapgrinder with me as he is a plumber, not a mover, but he'll run the water line for it.

Yesterday saw the first of the final decorative paint coats down. I got two walls of the coldworking room (previously the kitchen) done. Had to so Helmut could move the sink. Today sees the rest of the coldworking room and the final wall coat in the kiln room (and all the persnickety trim). I might get to the kiln room floor. That would be a real bonus. But it's Thursday which means gymnastics and ballet for the J so I have to end at 3:00. Well, I won't really "end" (I'm sure there was a collective sigh of relief there). I'll just put down paint brushes and rollers and the rest of the paraphernalia and maybe clean it all. Why is it that the cleaning prep and post takes more time than the painting and I don't even mask off?? I suppose if I didn't purify every roller, brush and tray it would take less time (and water--you're bound to waste one way or the other).

It was tempting to post a picture of the papers I shuffled into neat little manila folders yesterday and filed in a cardboard box. The breakfast room (the current office since the real office is filled with so many piles of papers you can't see the desk) is tidy again. Huzzah. Now to order my metal, ship my last shipment till 11/1 and maybe get to painting before 9:00 (ugh).

Groundhog Day

Coffee in the Washington D.C. skyline mug, "Possession" by Sarah McLachlan on iTunes. I am possessed, consumed, by the new studio. I woke up today and I am Bill Murray. The painting is interminable and I am back to having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night. Last night's episode *could* have been caused by overeating dinner at Babette's Cafe followed by dessert (blackberry and chocolate beignets) at Pacific Kitchen, but it could just be the fourth straight rainy, grey day of painting.

Before I head out for today's paint-a-palooza, I have to ship three orders, slump a stray piece, order metal pieces from EMW, send in my VIP list for the One of a Kind Show, and shuffle other assorted papers. Does *any* of that sound enjoyable? Where is the playing with the vitrigraph kiln, experimenting with color, trying new mold-making techniques?

SLAP! Oh just get over it! Sometimes I think I have the attention span of a flea. I lose sight of the long goal and get discouraged by a little drudgery. The studio will be INCREDIBLE when it's finished, and all the investment of time and money will be well spent. THEN Licha will come play with vitrigraph, and Becky will hang and make beads, and Dee will make molds (or is that Licha again?), and Leah will blast in the cabinet. There will be sunshine again and it will stream into the windows of an above-ground studio for the first time in five years (the last time I had a daylight studio was in Austin).

I just have to get through the next couple of weeks and keep the faith that it really will all get done and END. I won't be painting and moving FOREVER.

Painter's Progess

Coffee in the New York skyline mug, "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers on iTunes. "Good Morning, Good Morning!" warbles Mrs. Chickadee..... scritchhhh. Wrong morning melody. I am not chipper or perky this morning. I am old and sore and moving like it. "Mmmfwha?" is more like the sound coming out of my mouth (though The Killers are waking me up fast).

Licha called yesterday and mentioned in the conversation what a Seattle kind of day it was. I had been thinking exactly that, and today looks to be more of the same. A dark grey drizzle day with a gentle susurrus of the leaves in the trees and the fountain in the little pond on the front porch... Holy Poo! I left the water running and overflowed the pond (I can hear the goldfish, "Hurray! Down the stream and Freedom!"). So it's going to be THAT kind of day, is it?

I wish with all my heart it could be a curl-up-on-the-couch-under-a-cosy-throw-and-read-a-book kind of day. I am in the midst of the new Simon Green (The Man With the Golden Torq) and would love to throw responsibility to the wind and read all day (and drink green tea). Alas, big painting push. The schedule comes together and I have high hopes that by the end of the week the logistics of the move will have come together as smoothly as the logistics for the painting have.

You might be saying to yourself, "How tough can be it be to paint? You get a brush or a roller, slap the paint on, wash, rinse, repeat!". That is painting for Other People. Here, as an example, are the steps in their proper order for painting the kiln room (all cleaning prep and dry times left out): putty the holes in the floor (plywood), prime the floor, roll the basecoat on the walls, cut the basecoat on the walls, putty the trim, prime the trim, sponge the first accent color on the walls, sponge the second accent color on the walls, paint the trim, roll the floor (with the accent colors swirled into the base), cut the floor, spatter the gold paint onto the floor, turn Jessie loose on the walls with the rubber stamps and the gold paint. Everything in a specific order.

This is one room/area out of ten. The others aren't as complicated as this one--I'm mostly not doing the trim, just where it's new and this is the only floor I have to do. But all the rooms have a base color (or two) and one to four accent colors applied in various techniques including sponging on, woolie stamping, roll on/wipe off, and roll on cover with plastic wrap and pull off. The schedule is... intense. Dave, my beloved Igor, did most of the rolling over the weekend, and yet there is still a full week more.

Okay, enough talking/writing. Time to do. Off to don the paint duds.

What's In YOUR Wallet?

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "California Dreamin' " by the Mamas and the Papas on iTunes. The sky's drizzling and grey. The Sprout is having a bad hair day. (Her: "Is it curving front all the way?" Me: "No." Her: "I hate myself!") It's Monday.

Monday follows Sunday when I discovered that Capital One Visa (slogan, "What's In Your Wallet?"--I'll tell you, nothing thanks to you thieving pirates!) raised the interest rate on my card from 8.9% to 28.15% because I missed my payment in June. Nevermind that I made three payments in May and two in July (archaic system won't let you schedule a payment--it's the day you go on-line or nothing. Someone needs to drag them kicking and screaming into the year of the fruitbat!). This morning I am scrambling to get all my business automatic charges (booth fees for upcoming shows, etc.,) moved to a new business card and to get my "rewards" from Cap One before terminating their a**es.

The glass from Bullseye was delivered before 9:00 without a hitch from Roadway. Oh I am loving the new studio! The only cloud on the horizon is the possibility that someone will buy the lot next door that Roadway drives across to get to my delivery gate. Not too likely as the price is way over-inflated and it's across a busy street from a sprawling autobody place--not somewhere one would put either a new mini-mansion or upscale retail. But I have to be prepared for the day my bubble will burst.

After a weekend of painting I know exactly where my lats and delts and all the other back (and arm!) muscles are. Oy. Dave and I were both moving like old people by yesterday. While the end is not yet in sight, I know it's just over the horizon (and then the moving can begin...). And yet it was a GOOD weekend.

Today, do a little glass, move a little paper, get down with my paint self. (Call everyone who is past due on their invoices--c'mon people, I have bills too and I like to pay them ON TIME).

Flog That Book!

Wasn't going to post today (and still not using the usual format--I'm not telling what coffee mug I'm using), but I got the following in an email from Amazon.com this morning and it made my day!



Oh yes, and the news from yesterday: LET THERE BE LIGHT! The studio DOES have electricity and DOES NOT have termites. Good and Gooder.

The Week Closes As It Began

Coffee in the Los Angeles skyline mug, "Kentucky Rain" by Elvis Presley on iTunes, Amazon sales ranking on the book #1,630, #1 in Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Glass & Glassware. Wow. And the only reason I even know this is Dave told me about Rankforest the night before last and I set it up. Again, wow. And it's on Amazon UK and Amazon France! No takers yet on the photo-in-the-wild contest. It's still wide open...

I was such a Mom yesterday that I managed to only get an hour and a half in the studio working on a firing that I never did get in (pushed off till this morning after I do the pet insurance and UPS claims forms). I didn't make it to the new studio at all to paint (even though I was in my slouchy paint clothes all day). Today will be a different story. Today I also meet the rep from the termite company who will present his interpretation of my problem and pitch me on their solution.

Georgia Power *might* get my power hooked up today. No one had called me (despite assurances to the contrary) by yesterday morning so I called and reigned down my wrath upon them. I invoked the calling-of-the-mayor if I didn't get some answers from somebody as to why I still didn't have power and where I was in the schedule. Within half an hour three people had called me back and I had made it onto the schedule for today... weather permitting. Since there is a big storm front passing through from the gulf today, I doubt if the rain is going to permit. Whatever. I am in the che sera, sera stage at this point and work when there is enough light.

I think that's all for this morning. My delivery from Bullseye is scheduled for Monday in the new studio and I am anxious to see how it goes with the new delivery gate. I haven't decided yet whether to just drop the pallet on the drive or to ask him to wheel it up the ramp and into the studio door (what a luxury!). There won't be posting over the weekend, but there will be painting and working so I'll be Studio Incarnate!

Mutiny

No coffee yet, grumble, grumble, grumble, mutiny, mutiny, mutiny, "Gwenlaise" by Eugene Freisen & Scott Cossu on iTunes. It's bloody dark out there. What lame congressman decided to push back ending daylight savings time?!? November. I don't think I can wait that long ("Mutineer" by Warren Zevon just came on, looks like iTunes is with me on this one).

Every five weeks, Thursday is my long day: dogs to groomer, legs waxed, gymnastics for J and then ballet for her (I feel like Martha Stewart on this Thursday). Today add to that intense painting, one kiln load, and putting out the Halloween decorations this evening. And I'm grumbly. Did I mention I'm grumbly? Time to go roust the Sprout. I'll come back here tomorrow when I am more gruntled.

Politics R NOT Us

Coffee in the New York skyline mug, "In Without Knocking" by Mission Mountain Woodband on iTunes. Remember high school? I've just discovered it's life and woken up screaming. All the petty 'he said, she said' that we (some of us) fool ourselves into thinking we leave behind with high school lays in wait ready to combust every day. And, boy howdy, a blog is the perfect tinder for it. Every day when I sit down here to write it's a balance between honesty and better-left-unsaid. But the blog is a reflection of the person, and I'm a pretty in-your-face person so my definition of honesty still ventures occasionally into the realm angels fear to tread. Yesterday manifested a little dust-up that made it crystal clear that I do not have a future in politics or school governance. My foray into the PTA will begin and end with felt fish and no one will get hurt or go to jail (not that the current issue has anything to do with J's school or the PTA).

The book has gone back to pre-order status on Amazon! How weird, what does it mean? Did they sell out of their first shipment (looks like) and, because it's still officially before the release, go back to pre-order status? If anyone gets a copy from Amazon, please let me know. Yes Ren, I would be HAPPY to sign your book for you! I didn't make it to Border's or B&N to see if it's there yet. Hey, I have an idea! Free signed copy to the first person who sends me a pic of it out in the world either in a bookstore or from Amazon. :-)

"Georgia Power, a Southern Company". I said to a friend yesterday that the people of the south should rise up and beat them with sticks for smearing the southern reputation so badly by using that slogan. He said it's not just a slogan, it's really their name. Three different people yesterday, three different tunes. At least by the end of the day they were singing in loose harmony--of course I still won't have electricity till the end of the week and it's kind of hard to paint in the evenings without lights. I'm already on tenterhooks to see how badly I have muffed the gallery walls by painting them with only the light from dim windows. When 1000 watts of light goes up in there every single flaw in the painting will glare.

If you want potted plants on your deck in the fall and you live in a squirrel-infested neighborhood either plant geraniums or get a spaniel. The squirrels have run rampant in my potted plants (the ones that mostly died while I was at the BMAC in August but sort of came back when we got rain) this fall, knocking many of the pots to the deck and smashing them to shards. The geraniums, however, they avoid. I am guessing because of the smell, and I bet mums would be the same. The weather is nice and cool though so I'm just leaving the back door open and every time a squirrel evens THINKS about playing on our deck Baxter the wonder spaniel is out the door gums and ears flapping.

Have I mentioned glass yet? No? Not surprising. The last fuse load before the move goes in today, but I've decided to paint in the morning today to see if I can get more done than yesterday. Off to don the paint clothes.

The Book Is Out!!!!

Just checked Amazon.com and it is no longer a pre-order item, it's out in the world (only 3 left in stock!).