Monday, December 29, 2008

Monday


Monday
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
Geeze I can't believe the year is almost up.

In about 2 weeks, it'll be my birthday and ya know... I'm cool with it, I'll be 39 on January 13th. I feel like I finally almost know who I am lol

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas is over...

Time to get back to work!
I received a wonderful email today from a lady, her fiance purchased one of my mugs as a Christmas gift for her. She emailed me the sweetest feedback and totally made my day:

Hi, Denise, Just wanted to get back to you about how much I'm enjoying the Blue Dragonfly Mug that my fiance bought for me. He was so concerned about the safety of my repeatedly microwaving my morning coffee in a plastic mug. I just love your beautiful blue & dragonfly design, the great easy-to-work caps, the shape of the mug itself, and especially the nice large handle. But as weird as it may seem, the raised dots on the handle make this my favorite mug ever....and I've collected quite a few mugs trying to the find just the perfect one! Now I've found it! Thank you so much for offering this and I'm so happy I found you on Etsy (where I have a shop, also).
Happy New Year, Denise, and keep making these.... Warm regards, Sheri

Monday, December 8, 2008

Me & Santa Claus


Me & Santa Claus
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
My dad met this Santa at a gas station 1972. Santa had just finished a party and was headed home with a few of his friends. My dad begged him to come to our house, at first the Santa didn't want to go until one of his friends said it was cool, he knew my dad and kinda pushed Santa to go. So... he came, I loved him, dropped to my knees and gasped when I saw him. He refused to take the payment my dad promised him for his visit, he said the look on my face was payment enough.

So fast forward: I'm an adult with children of my own and working in animal control in my home town. The sheriffs department pages me to come rescue a dog that had been hit by a car. By the time I reached the location the dog had passed away. The officer waited for me to show up to the scene. Being that there was no rush at this point, we chatted a bit on the side of this country road we were on. When he found out my name and who my folks were he laughed and said "Ya know I played Santa Claus for your dad one year..." And he told me his story. I was completely blown away that there before me was the best Santa I ever met as a child and the man that is in some of my favorite childhood pictures. I finally got to meet him and thank him. My dad will still light up when he tells the story of how it all came about and my reaction.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Shine


Shine
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
Playing with light. When I started my 365 project I played some with off camera flash. This is the first I've done in sometime.
I actually did this shot in my closet with a black curtain valance I found at a 2nd hand store for $2.00 and my flash unit was on the shelf pointing down at me. Camera mounted on my tripod and I used a wireless remote to trigger.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Gum is fun


Gum outtakes
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~

Monday, December 1, 2008

It's Snowing!!!!!!


It's Snowing!!!!!!
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
230/365 woohoo! it snowed today! it didn't last long but we loved every bit of it while it was coming down. I guess it lasted maybe an hour.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Coffee Mugs


Coffee Mugs-16
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
I listed a fresh batch of 16oz travel size coffee mugs in my etsy store! Fresh from the kiln today. I'll be firing my bowls tomorrow. I'm most excited about them. I'm using a new glaze and waxing technique that I haven't tried before, so I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Custom order cupcake box


Custom order cupcake box
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
I did this one as custom order.

Can't sleep

I tossed and turned all night, finally getting up for good at 5:00 am. While bumbling around in the kitchen my bad knee gave out a huge loud POP! Very strange, instant pain and discomfort but luckily it didn't last long. So While I'm up at this ridiculous hour on a Sunday and completely miserable, I took the opportunity to stick a load of pottery in the kiln. I have a customer waiting on a custom cupcake box and I have another load of travel mugs done. I put them all in the kiln this morning. I have a friend waiting on me for those. I actually have 1 to show him now, the others were grabbed up during Thanksgiving by some family friends. I did step in and grab the most manly one in the bunch for him and set it aside. So in order to try and be a good friend I did another load so he'll have more to choose from. of course I haven't told him yet lol But he's a big boy, he can wait a little longer.
The 2nd load I have waiting will be some miniature pottery and some large mugs that are more like mug bowls. They are huge and fabulous! Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

saturday


saturday
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
228/365 Not too much to say, it's Saturday morning. 15 more days until I see my surgeon and hopefully get a operation day scheduled for my knee.

Today is also 132 days since I quit smoking. I'm pretty happy about that, even though sometimes I feel like I want a cigarette, but that feeling doesn't last long. I'm at the point where I can smell everything, I swear I'm like a Bloodhound.
I can tell you that McDonalds restaurants stink horribly like fish.
I can sniff out a smoker in a store from 3 isles away and not because it's an enticing smell, it's because they stink so bad and the smell gives me a headache. I also discovered my shampoo makes my hair smell sooo good and I had to switch my deodorant because I hated the scent.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Spookers


Spookers
Originally uploaded by ~*Denise*~
This is a picture I took of our cat "Spookers". Possibly the most spoiled, loved creature on earth. He's laying beside me right now snoring... who knew cats snored? lol

Chris- Stranger #16


Chris- Stranger #16
Originally uploaded by Jeff__M
My flickr friend Jeff took this picture during his 100 strangers project. The picture and the story really jumped out at me. Sometimes we bumble through life not knowing how lucky we really are.

The day after...

Thanksgiving was yesterday, today is Black Friday. I'm sitting at home and have no intentions of trying to leave the house today. I really hate crowds and rushing around. Since I'm not walking so well these days I'd probably get knocked over.
My husband has taken our youngest son Levi (age 16) fishing today, Levi loves to go fishing and swears he's going to live on a boat when he "grows up".
Our oldest son (age 18) Michael is in his room playing video games and talking to his friends online, he has a party to go to tonight which always worries me, but he's a smart kid. All I can do now is sit back and let him be him and hope and pray I taught him well. I hate that kids grow up.... it just seems to get more stressful.
So anyway, I'm technically home alone. I'm trying to keep my knee elevated and at the same time get some painting done.
I had a special request for a ceramic cupcake box from my Etsy store I just finished painting it. I'll glaze it today and if the glaze is dry, then it will be fired tomorrow with a new load of travel mugs. So thats what I'm doing these days. Trying to sit still and be productive at the same time.
I missed seeing my family for Thanksgiving this year. My dad called me to wish me a happy day and while he had me on the phone everyone yelled out "Happy Thanksgiving Denise we love you". of course it made me cry but it was so sweet to hear.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

It's Thanksgiving Eve!

We originally had plans to go north to Maryland to visit and celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with family. Because of a turn of events, namely me hurting my knee, we had to cancel. So we will be staying in Georgia and celebrating alone (kinda depressing!). I'm planning to make a traditional dinner; turkey with dressing, veggies, mashed potatoes etc. Mostly I'm looking forward to desert! I think I'm going to try something new, pretzel salad! My "step" grandma Betty who passed away a few years ago use to make the best deserts. Most were things I had never heard of... like pretzel salad, Hawaiian wedding cake and many more. So I'm thinking in honor of Grandma Betty, I'm making pretzel salad. I'll post pictures to my flickr site of all the yummy goodies I make. Hopefully I won't char anything lol

My Esty store is now open

I finally have opened my Esty store I added the cupcake boxes I made and will be adding more items this week!
cupcake box

cupcake box

cupcake box grouping

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Taco soup!

Taco Soup for dinner... it's super easy and soooo yummy.
------------------------------------------
You can cut this recipe in half if you don't need so much, recipe as is makes about 6 quarts.

To Make in a slow cooker add:
2 pounds lean ground beef browned
2 cans (15 ounces) kidney beans
2 cans (11 to 15 ounces) whole kernel corn, drained
2 10 oz cans Ro-tel tomatoes
2 envelopes taco seasoning
2 (28 oz) cans tomatoes (crushed)
2 sm cans chopped chile peppers (4 ounces) (this is optional)
2 cans (15 ounces) pinto beans
2 envelopes Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing

PREPARATION:
Brown the ground beef; drain well. Add all ingredients in crock pot / slow cooker mix well. Then simmer in slow cooker on LOW for 6 to 8 hours. Top with a little shredded cheese and serve with tortilla chips.

Blogging?

Well I've thought about blogging for a while now. I've always loved the idea of having a diary. I started a 365 day project on flickr and have found that I do a little "blogging" about my day there. I'm on day 224. I was cold this morning and tired so I crawled back into bed to read which of course turned into a nap, it was fabulous.