Last Leg

Unopened goodness

It's the last leg of the grand "house cleaning" adventure here! I've saved the worst room for last. It's the upper studio/file cabinet section filled with old and mostly unused paper garbage. Each stitch of paper here needs my personal attention. Read it, sort it, and then shred whatever has personal info on it. I've managed to get through one box so far. ONE. It's gonna be a long, drawin out week and it isn't helping that some cool "paper" stuff keeps winding up in my mail box.

Beautiful and inspiring invite


In my quest to get to box two I found an unopened issue of Arabian Horse World. SCORE! That proved to be a perfect tool in procrastination! Sweet Arab goodness. There is just something so lovely about an Arab.

I think I forgot to share with you one of my favorite porcelain pieces from December. It was rather busy then and I was scatterbrained, for sure. This is one of my "Bittibabi" bowls complete with a scampering wee little mouse on the edge. Painted in Spanish Oils (which I have had a blast exploring and letting my mind chomp on and sink with swish). I anticipate a few more of these being created. I just love the way the organics of the mouse play against the geometrical shape of the bowl. Fun, fun stuff.


Bittibabi bowls with mouse

After the Excitement

Playin' on the Doodleboard

After the excitement of the weekend finally settled I looked around and found that the house and studio were pretty much in an uproar. Boxes, bags, clothes, art, mail, bills, Christmas presents arriving and half made presents were all strewn around the studio and house. There was an overall lack of organization throughout so I made the decision to take half the week off from anything artistic and work on getting things in order.

Of course, late at night I've been taking time out for myself to enjoy a nice cup of tea and some Simon Leach videos on You Tube. I've been wanting to explore the "mug" more fully in January and since now is a tough time to be studio bound with the holiday in full swing I figured I'd take in as much instruction online as I can during this busy time. Simon Leach is probably my favorite potter. I just love his pottery, of course, but most especially enjoy his easy going attitude about making pottery. He is most inspirational to me.

I'll Take That Bissell!

One of the big bad bridges
all our merchandise must cross
to get to our stores

I'm veering off into the domestics today cause, I'll be honest, I really would love to win this vacuum being given away by the SITS gals. I believe I have paid my dues to the vacuum god this past year and then some. It's time for a little payoff for Jenn. All I want is a vacuum THAT WORKS!

I have owned THREE vacuums in the past year and a half. Yes, you read that correctly THREE and let me tell ya, they have all SUCKED (and not in the good way a vacuum should be sucking!) In fact, they all lost suction immediately.

Now, before I go any further I want to bring the offensive little brats to the front of the room to endure proper online punishment. In the market for a vacuum? Don't even bother plunkin your money down on these:

1). The Dirt Devil.
2). The Eureka
3). A Hoover. This beauty being the most expensive vacuum I have bought. Retails on their site for $250 was about $70 more purchased in a local Brooklyn store cause well, it's fashionable to gouge us here since there are those big bad bridges the trucks have to cross to get the merchandise to the stores.

A factor that I must point out is that I barely have any rugs in my house. Aside from my son's room, the entire apartment is hand laid wooden floors with a few larger throw rugs. Bare floors should be a no brainer for a vacuum that is nearing the $300 mark. But no, they have all crapped out on the job.

Someone is most definitely saying, "Well, just box them back up and get a refund." I hear ya and I wish more than anything that I could do that, but once you throw away the box AND any portion of the innards (cause, I mean really, after the first month of relocating an annoying box about the apartment who really keeps the boxes?) the guarantee goes right out the window. The Hoover has taught me one thing and that is to keep all boxes and innards and now we have a closet minus clothes, but many boxes. I'm poised and ready for something to break. Just give me the chance to use these boxes! I know Mr. Murphy is having a good laugh.

What does this all mean and what is my next step other than embarrassingly asking my mother-in-law for the use of her 1980s Elextrolux? Which, I must mention is the best darned vacuum I have EVER used!!! Suctions a carpet like a giant leech on skin. I'm either gonna jump in and ante up the $600 for the Dyson cause I hear it suctions well WHEN it's in a good mood. Plunk down the $800 for the Orek cause Mr. Orek seems like a nice dude or win this Bissell. But in reality I'm probably going to have to just cuddle up with my trusty broom again. It always gets the job done. Is cost effective and hay, it's the greenest choice. :/

On The Agenda Today

On the agenda:
One of the boring, but necessary evils of the house.
Cleaning the stair spindles

On the agenda:
Taking a bit of time to enjoy my once one legged horse who is slowly making nice progress.
My boy "NYC VIP"

On the agenda:
Stopping to relocate the mule to the warm laundry room so he dries in time for more layering work tonight.
Region X Regional Show Donation

On the agenda:
Happily procrastinating for a good portion of the morning. What spindles? They ain't that dirty.
This one with hoodies

And lastly, on the adenda today a date with a Vixen.
An incredible sculpture

Saturday

Bubble hearts

Saturday.

The day to clean. It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. I can't work well on my art if the house is overly dirty. I let the house go for a couple of week so cleaning took longer than usual, but I did get a little reward toward the end. A little floating bubble heart appeared in the dirty water. I just looked down and there it was. I couldn't resist showing someone else.