9.27.2010

goal fail

So I said I was going to enamel on Saturday, right?
Well I lied.
Apparently.

I did not, in fact, do anything related to enameling on Saturday. Instead I hosted Collin's out of town friend staying with us for the football game after he arrived earlier than I anticipated. When I also realized that the football game would not be on TV I should have decided to stay home and work while listening to it on the radio.
What I did instead was go to a friends house to attempt watching it online through her TV. Too bad we found out after we were all there and the potluck had started that it was not online at all.
So we hung out and ate snacks and chicken legs listening to it on the radio.

I had fun, but if I'm ever going to get this work done, I'm going to have to start declining some invitations from friends eventually.
Sunday didn't happen either after waking up at nearly 11AM, cleaning the house, getting dinner started in the slow cooker, getting a surprise phone call from a friend passing through town who wanted to meet for a late lunch, and then hosting Gabe and Jenn (and Foster pup) for dinner and DVR'd TV premiers.
This weekend was full. And I really needed that early bedtime I gave myself yesterday.

SO!
Tonight, Monday night.
September 27th, 2010.

I will enamel several pieces. Start to finish.
Because I already made plans for Tuesday to hang out and watch an interesting DVD
with Adriane while Collin is out kicking around a soccer ball with his buddies. We went out for ladies night Friday night at The Warehouse and got to talking about religion/creation. A while ago my lovely friend Anna invited me to see a Christian astrophysicist speak about his thoughts on evolution and creation. It was a really interesting discussion and she then secretly went and bought the DVD for sale at the end of the event. I'm pretty sure it will lean towards the intelligent design side of the argument, but I have always felt bad about failing to watch it for so long. Tuesday sounds like a great night for it, especially because when talking it sounds like something that aligns greatly with what Adriane believes. She is in grad school for architecture (serious business) so I told her that I would always love to hang out and watch TV or a DVD while she's doing sketches or models. A lot of work for most people in school requires serious concentration, but thankfully a lot of hers can be done while casually hangin', but now that we're not all in school, it's harder to feel comfortable doing work if the other person has none to do. It will make for a great time for me to sit and finish the pieces I'll be doing tonight.
I've planned an easy dinner and everything!
GOALS. Aren't they great?
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9.24.2010

Avoidance

I am reminded when I come to blog that I have been consistently avoiding all things enameling for most of this summer.

"It's too hot to fire the kiln."
"I still have to move in and finish the house for the party."
"I don't have time to build my work desk yet so I can't set anything up."
"It's too hard to move everything around when we have guests who will stay for football weekends when we need to put the bed down."
"I don't wanna."

But then I look at this and remind myself that it's not so hard to just get started and in one night or so have something gorgeous in my hands.


Something that hopefully others will think is gorgeous come December at the holiday craft shows I have already signed up for and paid the required fees to enter.


Mostly I'm putting off what I perceive as an overwhelming amount of work. I'm intimidated by all the talent I consistently see around me at these shows and the fact that you actually have to pay to get into them this time around which makes me think that my items and display have to be even better this year. I can, in reality, break it down so that it's a reasonable amount of work spread out over the next two months but damn. Just getting that first fire going has been rough. I am constantly putting off doing anything related. I'd rather cook dinner, bake bread, strategize supercoupon shopping trips, or catch up on the TV shows I missed from the night before. I was also supposed to have cable in the new guest room/work room and I don't. So I'm pouting.

Last weekend I made progress though and rearranged the guest room so that I can fit the big 6' folding table in there as a work space while I wait on creating whatever custom desk fits better in the room. It doesn't have to be pretty to be functional. All I really need is a desk, an outlet, and easy access to my stuff. Three things I now have.

This Saturday I will fire a good handful of pieces. Maybe a dozen? I don't think that's too ambitious. Then, Sunday morning when I'm re-watching the Gator game after I make breakfast for us and our guest (home games mean guests) I'll even assemble them into actual jewelry. Yep. It's a plan.
Now to stick to it.
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9.23.2010

Gator Bait

Saturday the 4th Collin's Granny Carol came up for the first football game of the year.
It was over 90 degrees out with some serious humidity.


But we still won! I'm not going to comment on how they've been playing this year because people have had lots of opinions and know much more about football than I do. Check them out elsewhere. All I can say though is that when you win, by a lot, for almost every game of the last 3+ years... it's kind of hard to live up to the hype right from the start.


I'm happy I skipped the game the next weekend because oh man it was even hotter. No clouds and far too many people being treated for heat exhaustion if you ask me. I'm happy to host some of Collin's college buddies for a night or a family member or two and for now stay in the comfort of my air conditioning. This weekend's game against Kentucky should be nice because it starts at 7pm, but I really am looking forward to the first 'Fall' game. That one where I need a sweater and won't get a farmer's tan from my t-shirt.

I don't know how my favorite football team will do this season. But I can tell you that I'll have lots of fun while they're at it.
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9.02.2010

The Life List : update

Over the summer a few more items have been crossed of my list of 101 things in 1001 days.

First there was #38 - getting renter's insurance.
We had some close calls in the last few years, narrowly missing really expensive damage to our things due to flooding (pipes) and theft. We also now have a dog whom we know would never maliciously bite anyone but who knows what can happen. We're now covered for all of the above and more. Thanks Geico! Not too many like to cover us Floridians for any kind of insurance so I appreciate it simply being available, as well as the ease of online registration and savings thanks to our having auto insurance through them for many years now.

Then a biggie, #60. Quit smoking cigarettes for six full months. Yes! I feel like now I can say I have officially quit smoking. I quit. I did it. Six full months with nothing and I have no desire to have one ever again. At least right now, I'm good. Collin has also taken the steps to quit and has thrown away his last pack since starting at the University. They are a fully non-smoking campus and he can't even have them in his car. I've always said that life changes are the perfect time to quit smoking; a move, new job, substantial new hobby. Something that disrupts your routine in a way that you can effectively remove smoking without noticing while you establish your new habits. Collin's done all three in the last month and is off to a good start. I am happy to support him and I'm happy he sees me as inspiration that we can do it together.

#75 is one step closer, having thrown ourselves a housewarming/birthday/new job party a couple weeks ago. It was a blast and I have a whole year to throw another one and reach my social goal. I think we'll hit the mark and then some.

I also have some items that will be crossed off the list soon enough (so I went ahead and did it already for one). Saturday Collin's Granny Carol is coming to be our inaugural house guest and is taking us to the first game of the football season. So, getting to a Gator game during the 2010 season (#73) is done if you ask me. Collin and I are also going to experiment with not going out to eat except with friends for the whole month of September. After a few months now of couponing we have a fabulous stockpile for ourselves and when I was planning out our monthly meals I noticed we could essentially eat like kings for the whole month with food left to spare and no need to go out. So, because we still have friends and like to do things like spontaneously accept invitations on a Friday night (like last weekend, where we got to then sit outside and listen to the Downtown Plaza concert on top if eating tasty sushi) we gave ourselves the leniency to hit up some of our favorite restaurants. We also have some buffer nights for leftovers or frozen pizza as well as meals planned that will work well for having friends over for dinner or dishes that will be a hit at the next potluck party. I'm looking to cross off #65 (no fast food for one month) by the time October comes, which I'm sure will be way too soon.

Stay tuned for that month of meals I've planned from our kitchen!
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