The Studio is Finished....YAY!!

When we moved to Coutts we rented the Art Room in the local school. This town is so small and the population has been decreasing, the school board shut down the school in 2010.

The town bought the school and a local group has been turning into an arts and rec building. They have a lovely little library and a music room. We have rented the Art Room for our pottery studio and the Science Room for our video. Here is a picture of the school and if you look closely on the roof, Jim is on his way down from repairing the vent fan for the kiln room.

The Art Room was empty and just begging to be a studio

However.... 

we need somewhere to unload all our crap.... errr... I should say quality items to be sorted. Most of this truck load, unfortunately, ended up in the middle of the studio floor.  

That was the middle of January. We have worked on the finishing the house and studio. We are waiting for backsplash for the bathrooms and the house is done. We have moved, sorted and organized the stuff in the studio and it is done and I am back to work. 

and teaching. 

Getting the kiln hooked up was a bit of challenge. We had to go from three phase wiring to single phase kiln, find a breaker that everyone said we would never find, but we got a refurbished out of California and then drill through eight inches of solid concrete to go from the kiln room to the panel in the maintenance room. 

Here is the mother of all drills Jim used to do it. Those are his size 13 feet.

We have gone from this

to this.

It feels great to have a studio again.It has almost been a year since I made pots. I have a few orders and I am enjoying teaching. I have already become Mrs. Clay to most of the kids in Coutts. It was funny, I met some boys when walking to work and we were talking. When we were done one little boy , " good bye Mrs. Fatty", the others were upset. " You can't say that, she is Mrs. Clay" they told him. He was only about four and hadn't learned not to tell the truth yet, but the boys like and respect Mrs. Clay. Even the kids in my summer program know my real name, but they call me Mrs. Clay. When Jim shows up, he is Mr. Clay. 

It has taken longer than we ever had thought it would to get to this point, so has the house, but we did it. Now on to the next phase, not single or three, just pots. I don't plan  to do a lot of production, we are after all "retired", but I want to do more art and playful pieces. After all, Rule Number One is Have Fun!

Until next time. 

AKA

Mrs. Clay

Almost Done.

The house is almost done. We just have a few base boards to install and the back splash in the kitchen and bathrooms to put up. The bathrooms and base boards will be done today. We have to order the back splash for the kitchen. I will post pictures when it is all done.

The outside is still not quite finished, but it has been a long and cold spring and it has been hard to get outside. Yesterday was rainy and snowy so the yard was, and still is, too muddy to do anything. We it rototilled once and now we have a lovely crop of rocks, some the size of my head, to pick. When it dries we will pick all we can and then rototill it again. Then drag the landscape rake around for a while, pack it down, seed and tell it to grow. We have to get a load of gravel to put around the house and where the patio will go, add a row of siding and paint the skirting. We are almost done. It will be finished by the end of the month. I have been saying that since February and this month I should be right.

The studio is almost done. We just need to put particle board tops on the tables for working with the clay, hook the kiln up and we are good to go. I start lessons May 20th so we have to be done. The video studio is almost done. There is not a lot of work to do there. Hang some lights and the back drop is all we have left to do.

We are going to Edmonton next week. I have lined up a week of workshops. We have some great clients that will have us anytime in their classrooms. We will go for the workshops, and that will pay to get our truck fixed, my fancy back splash for the kitchen, rent the Uhaul to get the rest of our stuff out of storage, a load of clay and maybe a few bucks for gravel and paint for the skirting.. We will stay with the kids and I am so looking forward to seeing them. We talk often on the phone but a visit is much better.

It has been a record breaking long, cold winter and spring. The house has taken all our time, money and energy. I have gained weight and lost fitness. I am so looking forward to the next chapter. We first saw this house parked on blocks in the farmer's field nine months ago. That's an interesting gestation period for the birth of a new life. But the house will soon be done, the studio will be up and running, We are walking again We have met a few people. Time to get on with it.   I have not even touched a piece of clay this year. Since my kids were babies, 20+ years ago, this is the longest I have gone and not made something out of clay. This state of transition I have been in, is almost done.

Until the next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Playing in the wrong type of mud.

Saturday, the walls had all been painted and the floor was down in the master bed and we had one bedroom left to put flooring down. We have been using that bedroom as our tool shed because our shed was stacked in pieces on the it's concrete pad covered in in a tarp just waiting for us to build it.

The weather finally warmed up enough so we could build the shed. Our yard is nothing but  mud. After the house was brought in and the driveway built our yard was leveled with  about 250 yard of clay and dirt. We trudged through the mud to start on the shed.

When we asked the concrete guy to build the shed pad with the pillions for house, we asked it to a bit bigger than an 8 foot square, because the shed is 8 x 8. Our pad is 8 x 8. We asked, but he didn't hear. We had some "fun" getting the bottom metal strip around such a small space. After a day of fiddling and drilling 50 some holes into the concrete, we were ready to start building.

Sunday morning we were out there first thing to finish that shed. It is only an 8 x 8 plastic garden shed. What could go wrong?

It was soo muddy, but we trudged through, back and forth to the house and around the work area. We we really wanted to get it done, so we can get the stuff out of the house and finish this place. We worked and it was going quite well, despite a few hick-ups. After  3 hours of traipsing around in the mud and about 70% done, the winds picked up and when we put up one piece, it blew down 2. We had to take down every thing we had built, stack it up and weigh it down. Dang, the second four letter word that popped to mind.

Sunday afternoon we moved all the shed stuff out of the room that needs flooring in and around the rest of the house to trip over. The winds blew in more rain and snow to add to the mud. Monday we started flooring the last room. We were putting down wood laminate and since the wind was blowing the rain and snow around, we worked in the house. It makes such a mess to saw it in the house. The snow stopped later that day and again, out in the mud, to cut for the floor. We almost got done. there was just a bit left and we finished Tuesday. Just baseboards, cupboards, counter tops, backslash and we are done. Not to mention the shed, outside trim and painting the skirting.

I am so looking forward to getting this place done and playing in the mud, my mud, clay. This was a whiny post, but this has been much harder than I had thought it would be. Anyway, bitch, bitch, bitch, I should shave been a dog. But on the up side, this is a beautiful place to live. Here is a shot of the hills I see every day through my living room window.

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Help I’m stepping into the Twilight Zone

We moved here for a few reasons, none of which we have even started because of this house. It feels like we have stepped into the Twilight Zone. Day after day we just work on the house. We work slowly and don't get as much done in a day as I had hoped. We have been working for 2 months and I had no idea we would still be mudding, painting and flooring for the entire winter. It has been record breaking cold here, so each day is work on the house and  look at the snow, work on the house and look at the snow.......

The master bedroom is the last room to paint and we should be done painting this weekend. We had thought it would be done today, but it needed a little more TLC than the all the rest of the rooms. There were over 80 cracks, dings, divots and popped screws to repair. It is the last room, or back room, in a very long house and when it was moved, a few times, it bounced and wagged along behind. Anyone who has not picked up and moved their house will not understand how very little gyp-rock will flex.

The view out the living room window. 

We have been in this Twilight Zone for the most of the winter. However the cold weather is forecasted to end this weekend. Once the painting is done we only have to install the floor in the master and finish the painting the kitchen cupboards. The end is in sight. The cupboards will take a while as there are lots of them. With the weather warming we can work outside making sanding cupboards and cutting the floor sooo much easier and cleaner. 

I have taken a part time job in a local restaurant serving tables to help make some of the ends meet. Its fun and I am meeting some of our neighbours, but it too takes me away from the reasons we came here and it too feels a little like stepping into the Twilight Zone. 

I will be glad when this is house is done, spring is sprung and we have the studio up and running. It is coming......soon.... I won't miss this Twilight Zone once we are on the other side. 

Until next time.

AKA

Mrs. Clay

Skirting the issue.

We got our house delivered November 10th. Wow, time goes by quickly. Everyone has told us, since it was delivered, that we have to have it skirted. The house is a mobile, sitting blocks and pilings. Skirting is putting something around the bottom and closing it in.

Here is the house without the bottom closed in. The wind, snow and cold whip around under there causing all kinds of problems. Or so we were told. The house went through some pretty cold temperatures without incident.

We went to the library a while ago, after introducing ourselves to the librarian, she knew who we were, the people in the house without skirting. We went to pay the water bill at the town office, and before we could say hi, were asked if we had the skirting on. I am sure there was a town bet going on, dates picked and odds set for when we are done. We are done and I wonder who won. We got it done last week.

Skirting the house was the hardest thing I have ever done. We had 3 inch thick Styrofoam coated in a fiberglass, creating a very rigid 4' X 4' material with about a 20 R insulation rating. We had metal channel that had to be screwed to the underside of the house, to hold the top of the panel in place, and we had 2 x 6' boards to be attached to the ground and screw channel into that to hold the bottom. The panels then slid into the channel to skirt the house. Sounds easy enough.

This is another one of those posts that when I start talking about it, it just sounds like whining. Once in a while, I guess is okay to whine. We have no top soil or lawn.The weather was above freezing and the yard was one big mud puddle mixed snow and melting ice. We crawled around in the water, mud and snow to attach the top channel, crawled in it to hammer the 50 plus, 5/8 re-bar through the 2 x 6 boards into the frozen ground to hold the bottom channel. Hands and knees to attach bottom channel to the boards,  Walked for miles, or so it seemed, back and for the through the sliding muck to the saw on the only piece of dry ground to cut the panels to fit the channels.A good time was not had by all, but we got 'er done. A week later, I am still cleaning the mud out of the house that we tracked in.

The piece of trim came off when during transit and replacing it is on the list for things to do.

I am claustrophobic and when we first got the mobile I was very uncomfortable working under it. Fear is not quite the word for it. Facing a man with a gun would be fear, but it was difficult for me to go under and stay under there and work. However we have spent a lot of time under that house.We had some sewer problems when we first moved in. Had to crawl under, removed the belly, poly and insulation, fix the problem, and put it all back together again. While skirting we spent a lot of time under there I have gone from very uncomfortable to indifferent about being under the house. All my fear of small places, at least under the house, have left the building.

This past week has been cold, record cold, and we have spent it in the house working on the inside. We work slowly, but we work at the only speed we have. We are learning as we go and want to good job. We have some rooms complete, some almost done and some just started. I will have pictures .....soon.....

I placed Pot Head I made in Edmonton in one of the trees. He says it all about cold weather.

We, and I use the term loosely, are putting the floor in the front entry and bathroom today. If I was doing much to help, I would not be writing this blog. I am gofer, holder and watcher. It is fiddly around the doors and corners. Jim is doing it and by the time I am done this post, he will be at a point where we can work together.

Until next time.

AKA
Mrs. Clay

There is tumbleweed under the truck.

Since we moved life has completely changed.  I haven't blogged for a while because one, we have been busy, but more so because every one sounded like I was doing nothing but complaining. When going through a move everything feels so big. There are a lot of emotions, and things that are not all that important feel monumental. We have been here for two weeks and all the things that felt like the end of the world during the move, just don't matter anymore. I left things behind I wished I had kept, and kept things that I don't care about. Getting all the stuff organized and out is done. We drove here through winter weather, it was a little hairy but we are here. We got unloaded and have put our energies into finishing the house.

The reno and skirting the house have been a much larger job than we had thought.We will get done when we get done. I was aiming for the end of January, but now I am hoping for the end of February. I have to go to Victoria in there. It is a lot of work and a lot of money finishing the house. I have always said that everything always takes longer and costs more than you ever thought possible.

We are here and life is very different. I really like it and do not miss the city at all. I haven't been Mrs. Clay for a long time and I am starting to miss her. I haven't made anything out of clay for a long time either and I miss that as well. We will get the house done, then we will set up the studio and get to work. But right now, when I look out my living room window I see tumbleweed under the truck. Yesterday while working on the house, the elbow was in the fertilizer spreader. Life is good.

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Too much stuff.

Jim and I have been together for 15 years and in this house we are moving out of for 10 of those years. We have not gone out of our way to collect stuff, but we have or I should say had, a house full. There is all kinds of stuff in a house. Stuff you need, stuff you want, stuff you think you should keep and then a whole lotta other stuff. Once you get past the stuff you need, like your bed, couch, and all the things that make a house function, it gets into the grey area of what do you keep and why.

We should have started this process of getting rid of stuff  long before we did, but we didn't. We have taken down to Coutts a load of stuff that makes the house function. Furniture, appliances, pots, all the basics then. came back to Edmonton to pack up the studio and house. How hard could it be? I learned that you can collect stuff and not really notice. It just stacks up here and there, under this and behind that. Like the shelving unit in the basement as long as a room stacked with stuff. I walked by it so often for years, I really didn't even see it anymore. The stuff on that shelf hadn't been thought of, let alone touched since we moved in 10 years ago, but it is good stuff and I should keep it because one day I might need to .........

We have gotten rid of a lot of stuff. Some went to auction. That is a weird place. Some stuff goes for pennies on the dollar and other stuff will go for more than retail. You take your stuff there and take you your chances, but it goes away.  Other stuff I gave away, mind you our stuff is not that good, and it is hard to find someone to take away. We sold some of the larger items on Kijiji. The treadmill guy put down a deposit in November and he still has not taken it away. He said he will come today, but I am a little nervous, it has to go. The dishwasher went the other night. The guy called just as I was going to run it, so he waited for the last load to finish. The dresser was funny. Stephen called and said he thought he would be interested but would get back to me. Then minuets later Stephen called and said he wanted the dresser and would be right over to get it. Then Stephen called and he said he had just called but couldn't come over until the next morning. Then the door bell rang and Stephen said he was there to get the dresser. Two Stephens calling at the same time within minutes. I thought I had the air hockey table sold, right up until I didn't. The guy was to pick it up New Years Eve, so I took it off Kijiji and considered it sold, he changed his mind. It had to go, so it went for free. We tried to give our piano away to family and friends, We met other people that had pianos to get rid of and couldn't so we put our piano on Kijiji for free and sold it. We had more interest than we hand thought we get, one man really wanted it, so he bought it. It went to good home.

We get the U Haul Friday and load up what stuff is left. We will take it down and put it, for now, in the studio. Once we get our house set up, we will go through all that stuff and get rid of more. I never had "the stuff disease" , the need for lots of stuff, and I am sure after this move  I will have the opposite of "the stuff disease". I don't want a bunch of stuff junking up the new house.


Happy New Year Everyone. May 2014 be filled with happiness and health. This year will have many changes for Jim and I and I look forward to them all.

Here are some before pictures of the studio. It is going to look worse before it looks better.

Until next time,

AKA Mrs. Clay