Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

After a very long car ride, including a detour to the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY, we arrived last night in Gatlinburg, TN at Arrowmont. I love this place. Despite my rocky past with the Pi Beta Phi sorority, I have found a new home at Arrowmont (which was founded by the Pi Phis). This is my third time here and this one’s a little different. This time I’m serving as a student worker during the pre-conference workshops for The Enamelist Society.

When I arrived last night, weary from the road and very hungry, I learned that this would be quite a new experience for me. I would be sharing a room with my fellow female students, I would be expected to serve the workshop instructors and I would probably get very little sleep. Hmm, I wasn’t sure what to think. I am not a low-maintenace person (shocker, I know) and I have never enjoyed sharing space with virtual strangers. Luckily, we all have our own bathroom so we don’t have to schlep our stuff down the hall to use the shower.

The girls I’m sharing a room with are very nice and patient with me. I informed them that I’m not low-maintenance and can’t get ready for the day in 15 minutes or less. I suggested they stick to their schedules and let me lag behind. They didn’t and waited for me so we could walk to breakfast together. They also tolerate my fan and my ability to take up much more space than I should. I figure I’m just giving them all sorts of interesting stories they can tell their friends once we return home. What can I say except I am who I am.

This morning I did a round asking all the instructors if they needed anything. I’ve had time to find a class I think I like and am able to sit in on it. So it’s nice that I get the benefits of the workshops without paying the hefty fee. It’s no surprise the instructor I bonded with tells horrible jokes like my mom, asks if it’s ok if he swears and discusses alcohol freely. Yep, we’re going to get along great.

Gotta run and check in with my bosses. Send me good vibes that I can sleep tonight because I don’t think anyone wants an assistant who looks and acts like the walking dead.

Whew! It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m been quite remiss in my blogging. And things are going to get busier in my life. The big news is that I’m headed back to one of my favorite places, Arrowmont, in Gatlinburg, TN for The Enamelist Society Conference.

When I initially agreed to create the show catalog, I was going to receive cash and conference fees for my work. Unfortunately, a series of financial obligations meant I had very little left over for the rest of the trip. I had decided that I wouldn’t be able to attend the conference which really bummed me out. Fortunately, I have a great friend in Sarah Perkins, who not only believes in my skills, but went to bat for me and got the society to pay for my room and board. Not only that, I’m able to hitch a ride with Sarah and some MSU students who are going. My only fees will be part of the meal plan and any money I need on the road. Plus, I’ll be working part of the conference as a studio assistant to any artist who’s teaching a workshop. Let’s see, room, board and conference fees paid for AND I get to meet and hobnob with well-known enamelists from around the world. Where do I sign?! I owe a huge debt to Sarah for believing in me and making this happen. She’s so awesome!

In other news, I have a new studio assistant – Steve! He’s been helping me get ready for this big show in Des Moines and has done a great job. So far he’s been doing a lot of the hammering work, but last night I taught him how to use the torch and he made granules. I figured it was something he could do and not have to worry about messing it up. I think he liked it, but he mentioned that intricate work wasn’t for him. He also mentioned that he could tell I enjoyed having him in the studio. Let’s face it, working alone gets quite boring after a while so having someone else around is nice. Plus, it gives us something to do at night rather than sit on the couch watching TV. I always make sure we quit with enough time left over for Steve to play his XBox before bed. That’s just the kind of awesome wife I am!

That’s all I know for now. Hope everyone has a great, safe Labor Day weekend. I’ll enjoy doing very little.

I’m not a lake person. Just ask anyone and they’ll tell you that the last place they could picture me going to willingly would be the lake. It’s dirty, fish poop in it, there are snakes, I don’t like getting wet, the list goes on and on. Recently, a friend asked me if I’d be up for going to the lake with her, her husband and another couple. The group sounded fun, and I knew Steve would love it, so I agreed.

I actually enjoy being on the water. Racing across the lake in a boat is really fun. And I like the relaxed vibe at the lake. No one is wearing makeup, it doesn’t matter if you have on cut-offs and a t-shirt and a bathing suit is a must. I’d bought a bathing suit three years ago and it hadn’t touched water. I figured it was time I got the thing out and actually wore it, even if I didn’t plan on getting into the lake.

Our friends’ boat is near Roaring River/Cassville so it was a bit of a haul to get there, but the reward was a calmer, less populated part of the lake. We drove about 15 minutes from the dock and selected a nice cove to drop anchor and relax. Everyone jumped in the water and I stood on the back of the boat, taunting them. Steve yelled at me to jump so I did. I went right in and it was really fun! That part of the lake was really clean and didn’t smell all fishy like I remembered. We floated around, chatting and listening to some great tunes, compliments of the great sound system my friends had installed in the boat. We only took a break from the water to eat lunch then we jumped back in and relaxed until about 3 pm when it was time to head back.

Since the roads we’d taken to the dock had been excessively curvy, Steve opted for a slightly longer (but less stressful) return that took up right to Roaring River. That brought back some memories! As a kid, my family spent many weekends camping at RR in our pop-up camper we’d bought from the neighbor. Dad and Ralph loved fly fishing while mom and I read in our lawn chairs we’d put in the river, or took some hikes on the trails. A big day was driving into Cassville to do some shopping. If we were really lucky, we got to stay at the Roaring River Resort just outside the park. It had air conditioning! Mom, the resort still has the same sign, but it’s gotten quite a face lift over the years. I had to stop at the Lodge (which is new) and buy a t-shirt. I may have spent most of my summers complaining about camping, but I do have some good memories of  that time together. Not scarred for life, that’s for sure.

We returned home with sunburns, despite our waterproof 30 spf sunscreen, but we had a great time. Actually, I hope we get invited back. I’d go!

In my last post I lamented the fact my catalog project had come to an end and I didn’t know how I was going to fill my time. That is no longer a worry. On Monday I was notified that I had been accepted into a show in Des Moines, IA. The show is one I’d applied for in the past and been rejected so I wasn’t expecting to get in this year. They only take 100 artists and the jewelry section is quite competitive. Guess the new photos I had taken this past spring were worth the money!

I had taken inventory a couple of weeks ago and knew I had several holes to fill, but planning for this show means I need to have a lot of inventory. I like to think positive, you know. The good news is that Des Moines is a great market and this is a well-promoted show. The bad news is that my sister won’t be around to help. She and Blair are going to Las Vegas that same weekend for a conference. How selfish of them! The other good news is that we’ll still get to see the world’s most adorable little girls and we’ll have a place to stay for free. On top of that, Ralph said she expects us to help ourselves to any food and alcohol (nick perk!).

So I guess I’d better stop wasting time on this blog post and get my butt into the studio. Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Enamelist Society catalog is done. Now what? This project has consumed most of my spare time for the past several months and now I’m trying to figure out what in the world to do with myself. Oh yeah, I think I have a metals studio downstairs that I’ve ignored for a while. Perhaps I should re-aquaint myself with it.

Trouble is that I’m not motivated to work in my studio. I don’t have any shows scheduled for the fall and my only  pressing work is filling gaps in my inventory, which is boring. I do have a couple of ideas for some granulated pieces, but I’m not in any hurry to start on them. As usual, I’m in a rut. See, the problem is that I really enjoyed getting back into graphic design and I’m not ready to give up the project. I need another 80-page catalog to land in my lap so I can design and execute that. Anyone need a catalog done? Anyone?

I know I’ll get back into the swing of things in my studio. Until then, I’m going to make myself go downstairs every day and at least start a piece or two. What usually happens is that I become involved working on production pieces and come up with ideas for something else to make. Basically, I’m going to kick myself in the butt until I get my groove back. Yeah, that should work!

Every so often, I expect Rod Serling to pop up on Facebook and tell me I’ve entered another dimension of time and space. Let’s face it: Facebook is a weird place.

When I first joined FB I thought I’d reconnect with high school classmates and become friends with people who are part of my normal life. I have done this, but I’ve also encountered friend requests from people I don’t know, people I don’t want to know and people I wish didn’t know me. I have several requests I still haven’t answered because I just don’t know what to do with them. But the stickiest situation came last year.

I was friends with my boss and all my coworkers. It didn’t really bother me but I was always aware of what I said and always kept a positive outlook on my job (which is unrealistic regardless of who you work for or where you work). Because most of my coworkers barely knew how to use FB and rarely logged on, it didn’t bother me that my posts would pop up in their news feeds. I knew my boss read mine regularly, but I didn’t have anything to hide. Then, I started my postings about cool shoes I saw, wanted or bought and things changed. Little comments would be made about styles I posted. One comment was made about where I bought my boots (which were ones we carried, but no longer had in my size). It all came to a head the day I posted a drool-worthy pair of studded boots one morning, then came to work to find a studded boot on my desk with a note declaring “these have studs.” I felt like I was being watched and censored so I immediately unfriended every person at work, including my boss.

My boss never said a word to me about the incident, but I knew she was mad because she mentioned it to several other people (really? she thinks they won’t tell me?). Ever since then, she’s been a little cool and distant towards me. I am now not a team player. The sad thing is that I am a team player. I just wanted my FB page to stay, well, mine.

The other weird thing about FB is that I now know what’s going on in peoples’ lives so it makes small talk unnecessary. I attended a multi-class reunion this summer and was struck by how much I already knew about my former classmates. Discussions about trips and families were short because what needed to be said had already been posted on their page. Seeing them in person was really nice, but I feel like I see them almost every day anyway!

Then, I was struck by how small the world really is. Regular readers of my blog may remember my good friends Kelli and Kenderick who lost their daughter, Kali, a year ago last March. The other day, a college acquaintance posted a link to a friend’s site who was running a race in honor of their friends’ daughter. It was Kali. Forget “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon.” I think everyone on FB is playing a “Seven Degrees” game of their own.

I enjoy FB and I love keeping up with people. I just think it’s a weird place, don’t you?

The Enamelist Society catalog is at the printer! Those of you who have been reading my blog might remember how I was learning InDesign in order to create an 84-page catalog for The Enamelist Society’s biannual conference. I started this project in late March and took the finished piece to the printer yesterday. I am very excited to see my hard work in a hard copy.

I hadn’t done such an in-depth project since I left public television in 2000 and I admit I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of creating such a huge catalog. The KOZK Program Guide, which I wrote and designed, was usually about 32 pages and wasn’t in full color. This catalog is full-color, over twice the pages and created in a program I didn’t know. I bought a book on InDesign, went through the chapters, created a sample section and took it to ColorGraphic in early June to see if the set-up was correct. It was, thank goodness. It helped to be working with some of the same people at CG who helped me learn QuarkXPress back in my public television days. They taught me well so I knew what they expected from me and I felt comfortable asking a lot of dumb questions.

Tomorrow I’ll give the printer copy a final ok and it will be off to the press. Then I’ll have all kinds of time on my hands which means I’ll need to re-aquaint myself with my studio. At this time, I have no shows scheduled for the fall/holiday season, but I’m hoping that will change. I’m waiting to hear back from one and am thinking of having a trunk show in November. I took inventory yesterday and have a lot of work to do, so at least I won’t get bored. I’ll post pics of the finished catalog in a couple of weeks when it’s done!

It all started at 6:40 a.m. I’d just gotten up and was brushing my teeth when I heard the fan shut off. I thought Steve had turned it off, but it was really us losing power. Oh well, we thought, a squirrel probably fried in the transmitter and we’ll be back up and running in no time. Inconvenient, yes, but nothing major. Steve showered and went to work and I went to the gym. Around 8:30 I called the house to see if the answering machine was on indicating the return of power. It didn’t pick up so my initial thought was to make a Starbuck’s run for coffe. Then, call it instinct or fate, I thought I’d stop by the house on the chance the power had returned and the machine hadn’t reset. Nope, the garage door wasn’t working so I pulled into the driveway to go inside. Then I remembered a garage sale around the corner and thought I’d check it out before returning home. That’s when I saw the mess in my backyard.

Wow! What happened here, I thought. I got out of the car and was greeted by a crew from City Utilities (CU) and several tree guys. They explained that they’d been trying to contact us regarding the situation. Apparently, a huge branch on our tree was rotten and fell hitting our utility pole and knocking into the CU pole. Ok, so what’s the deal? Just fix the pole and we’re good to go, right? Uh, not really. As my new friend Keith explained, the utility pole to our house was ours, not CU’s and they couldn’t do anything about it because it was private property. Huh? Who in the world has their own private pole? Insert pole dancing jokes here. Our guess was that Harry (original builder, architect, owner of our house) didn’t want anything to mar the lines of the house so he had a utility pole installed away from the house, buried the lines and put the meter/breaker box on the outside. Great idea, except that time had rotted the pole and the once-buried cable was now exposed due to soil erosion. Keith explained that we needed an electrician to come out and either set up a new pole or put a new box on our house before CU would hook up our electricity. Oh, and it was supposed to reach 100 degrees that day. Oh, and the exposed cable wouldn’t pass code so it would need to be re-buried or removed. The list of problems was growing.

I told Keith I didn’t know any electricians so he and his supervisor, Kim, took action and started giving me names and numbers. Naturally, they couldn’t recommend an electrician but they could tell me about ones they knew. The first number rang and rang, the second company only did commercial work and the third was out of business. That’s when Keith stated that maybe my home owner’s insurance might help. I called my agent David Potter with American Family Insurance (the best insurance agency and agent EVER) and explained the situation. He gave me the name of a company, Sechler Electric, to call.  I called and explained to them that I had an electrical emergency, that David Potter’s office had recommended them and that I needed someone right away. Keith talked to Wally (at Sechler) and told him the details. Wally said he’d get a crew here as soon as possible.

In the meantime, CU restored power to the neighbors and told me that they couldn’t take care of me until the electricians had done their work. We’d already decided that the new breaker box would probably need to be attached to the side of the house and a cable would run from the house to the CU pole. My yard was a mess and the tree guys told me they couldn’t clean any of it up because they were contracted through CU and the debris was our responsibility. By now I’d called Steve and told him that he needed to come home and help me deal with this. He got the rest of the day off and headed home from Branson. By 10 a.m. Steve was here and the electricians had just arrived, fortunately before the CU guys left. Everyone was able to pow-wow about the situation and devise a plan for fixing it. The CU guys left, the electricians went to get some equipment and I was left talking to the tree guys. Dave, the head tree dude, was a trip. A little firecracker of a man, this guy knew trees and informed me that my huge hackberry tree had more problems than just missing one limb. The area where the limb had fallen had another limb on it that Dave said might go next. He also pointed out an area where the tree had previously split and repaired itself. He suggested we call an arborist to assess it and either have it removed or reinforced with cables. The bad news just kept coming. I asked him if he told his kids there was no Santa Claus. He said he was just wanting me to know the depth of the situation and I thanked him for his honesty, but frankly didn’t need any more bad news.

Fortunately, the electricians decided the box could be mounted on the side of the house and the cable run through the tree so no more limbs would need to be removed. Yes, the box is unsightly, but every house here has one so it just goes with the territory. Plus, this was cheaper than a new pole and would mean no more incidents exactly like this one in the future. Apologies to Harry for messing up his design, but we need electricity! I called David back and he assured me that this was all covered by our home owner’s insurance and that the main goal was to get electricity back. I called Burl to see if we could borrow his generator for our refrigerator since we didn’t know how long we’d be without power. Naturally, he and mom arrived just as power was being restored.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. The city code inspector had to come by and inspect the electrical work before we went any further. Thankfully, the Sechler guys were professionals and they took care of the situation. The inspector gave us a temporary ok to get things going and the electricians will return on Monday to finish the work. We now have a yard full of limbs, debris, a rotted utility pole, old metal pipe and an open trench. We look like victims of a natural disaster, which I guess in a way we are. Once the trench is filled on Monday and all is done then we begin the work of clean up and hauling off the branches. We will have some nice sized logs for future firewood, but that’s about it. Anyone have a chainsaw we can borrow? I leave you with this lovely photograph of Steve and the electrician (and his butt crack) dealing with the tree and pole.

Our yard is awful. The soil is bad, the grass is dead and the ground is uneven. When we moved in three years ago, the previous owners had installed two berms in the front. I’m sure when they were installed they looked nice, but by the time we came along weeds had taken over all the plants and they looked ridiculous. It became our mission to rid the yard of the “dirt boobs.” That was easier said than done.

The berms had two layers of weed barrier and the Bermuda grass had grown up through it and essentially stitched the barrier to the ground. Somehow, we managed to dismantle one of the berms, but the other one was proving more of a challenge than we could handle. My neighbor, Tracy, has a talent for landscaping and a vast knowledge of plants. She’d been helping us all along with suggestions and ideas but we couldn’t do much until we’d torn down the berm and put the good dirt to use. Fortunately, Tracy decided to start a lawn care business and offered to use our yard as a sample yard. All we had to do was give her some direction and pay a reduced rate for her time. Sounded good to us!

Tracy arrived with her team of teenage workers the Monday after Steve left for Florida. The idea was that she’d get as much work done as possible so Steve would have a nice surprise when he arrived home on Saturday. They’d already impressed me with their lawn mowing skills the previous week so I was excited to see what they’d accomplish when turned loose in the yard. I went to they gym and when I returned was greeted by this site:

Nothing like a few teens with pickaxes attacking an unwanted berm to start my week off right! They were so thrilled I was taking their picture that Tracy had to yell at them to get back to work. In about two hours, the whole thing was gone, the weed barrier was in a pile by the trash and the extra dirt had been taken over to an area we call Stonehenge to fill the eroded places. On top of that, while one crew had been tackling the berm, another kid had been trimming trees and pulling up ivy in the area outside my studio. Wow, this place was starting to look really good!

Within a few days they had removed all offending ivy, trimmed trees, pulled up all poison ivy and poison oak, cleaned brush, dismantled the berm, spread dirt and removed all the limbs and brush they tore down. I can’t tell you have excited I was for Steve to come home and see how nice everything looked! Here’s a view outside my studio. Before, you couldn’t see the stones.

The groups isn’t quite done, but most of the really hard work is finished. When (if) it gets cooler, they will tackle the last of the poison ivy and poison oak and loan us the power washer so we can clean the side of the house where the ivy had grown. The nice thing is that Steve and I feel like we can maintain what we have and not feel so overwhelmed by the job. We need to decide what to do with the spot where the berm was, but that will come to us later. For now, we’re enjoying our bermless yard. If you need to hire anyone to work on your yard, let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Tracy and her team. I can tell you from experience, they are worth the money!

Steve spent last week in Orlando for work which meant I was left at home – alone. My mom and I like to joke about whether or not we’ll manage if our spouses are gone. The reality is that we both enjoy spending time at home by ourselves. I admit, this week was nice, but I do look forward to a little company in our quiet house.

I dropped Steve off at the airport last Saturday morning and came back home to enjoy my morning coffee. Once that was done, I started my usual Saturday house cleaning chores. Because I didn’t have plans until later that night, I just kept on going. I cleaned everything I could, except for dusting (which I hate to do). I liked the idea of getting my house clean for the week and knowing that I’d be the only one making messes which meant I’d actually clean them!

I had plans Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights so I knew I wouldn’t get lonely at home. By Tuesday I was desperate for a night alone so I was thrilled when mom called to tell me plans had changed and I could stay home if I wanted. I know she understood! I spent most of the evening working on my catalog project and got so much done.

I admit, I did miss Steve and the conversations we have at the end of the day. I also missed my chef! Cooking for one is really boring. Wednesday night I just had some cottage cheese and fruit because it was too hot and I was too lazy to make anything. Thursday I did treat myself to a nice Greek pasta dish I invented and I enjoyed it while watching an old movie. I’m hoping Steve feels like grilling tonight because I’d really like a “real” meal! Even if he just wants pizza, I’ll be glad that I’m sharing it with him.

In about an hour I’ll pick him up at the airport and my clean, quiet house will change dramatically. Nothing like a week’s worth of dirty laundry to fill up a Saturday! I’ll be glad he’s home and I have several surprises waiting for him. I got his car washed and detailed, I hired people to work on the lawn and the house is clean. What more could a guy ask for? Well, me, of course! And I’m the best wife ever. Just ask me.