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

Just Chill

It has been a busy December with all the back and forth trying to get the house ready and moved into. We borrowed our son-in-law's big pick up truck and trailer to move down, but trailer had some problems and the lights and breaks didn't work.  Jim was trying to get them fixed but the weather turned very cold with wind chills of minus 40. Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same at minus 40, COLD. The weather was bad all over the country so just went in the the truck and I talked about that last blog.

We didn't get all the work done in the house. We were a little optimistic to think that we could repair, paint and floor the entire place in less than a week. We left Coutts Wednesday December 18. Thursday and Friday we loaded all we could into the trailer and Saturday back to Coutts again. Jim got the lights working, but we went down without breaks. Not a good idea, but it was okay. Sunday we unloaded and came back to Edmonton  Monday. He did get the breaks fixed when we were in Coutts. It was all in the wiring. The weather has not been very cooperative. Here is a picture of us leaving with the empty trailer. And no we don't have the skirting on yet.

Tuesday we were going to drive 6 hours to the other side of Grande Prairie, return the truck and come back to Edmonton to do Christmas dinner. That's when I thought .....just chill....The weather has warmed up to around freezing, so now that it is warm, it is time to chill. We spent  Christmas Eve with our daughter and family. Coming back Christmas Day the roads were not the best. That is a four lane divided highway. You can tell I took the picture because my finger is in the shot. Jim usually takes all the pictures but he was a little busy at the time.

The "kids" here in Edmonton took over and did the dinner and all we had to do was show up.

We were going to jump right back into packing up the last of what has to go, but no, we are taking Boxing Day off. All the big stuff is gone, well almost all, we have the kiln and glazes to move. But most of the stuff is gone, we just have to clean up the mess and pack up the studio, clean out the garage and shed, all my stuff in the flower bed...... Ok there is more there than I had thought. It is too bad that we didn't get it all done when we had the trailer, but we didn't. I think we will rent a small cube van one way to Lethbridge and what we can fit we take and if it doesn't fit, we don't need it anymore.We might not be done all the cleaning and studio by the end of the month, but .....just chill.... it will get done.

By the time we are done, we will have traveled about 30,000 K or 18,000 miles back and forth from looking at places to our last move in. We are not planning a road trip this summer!

Happy Holidays everyone and all the best for 2014!

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Lookin' Out My Door.

I was going to post pictures of the storm we had last week. We all have seen nasty winter shots, so I thought I would post some pics of morning after. Here is outside my kitchen window

and out the back door. 

And looking out the living-room window.

It is soooo pretty here. Here is a shot of the full moon tonight

Unfortunately the inside is not a nice, or should I say, was not as nice as the outside.  Here is a before shot of one of the bedrooms looking out into the hallway.

It is hard not to notice the screaming pink, but look closer and see the dark shiny gold hallway and green floor. What you can't see is the blue bathroom. Who does that to a house and why? She is a nice house and deserves better. That's where we come/came in. It has been a busy day of painting and I don't have a lot to say, but a picture, or this case a few pictures are worth maybe not a thousand words, but a least a paragraph or two. 

Until next time.

AKA

Mrs Clay

Stormy Weather.

A large system hit a major part of Western Canada and the US.  I am far from the only affected, but it did change our plans.  Or closer yet, just delay them. Saturday, December 1^st, we drove to Grande Prairie, about 4 hours north of Edmonton to pick up our son-in-law’s truck and trailer to use for our move. We had thought we were getting the truck closer to the end of the month and we were far from ready to move. During the drive this storm was coming. There was freezing rain and blowing snow. Not a lot of fun, but we made it missed the ditches, unlike many.

Monday we were booked for our last Clay Teacher workshop for the next foreseeable while, if ever again. We were booked for Camrose, about an hour east of Edmonton. Sunday the wind and the rain blew in the cold weather. By Sunday night we had snow, wind and temps in the minus 30 range and wind chills down to minus 40 or colder. We didn't go. Roads were closed, there were multi car pile-ups, we stayed home and started getting ready for this move we have been talking about for…..ever…..I thought we didn't have that much stuff, however I might have been mistaken, or just living in denial. We have been chipping and chipping at it. I thought we had put a good dent in the work…… however….. once I was done with the last of the pottery orders….( not done, and it is a story for another blog ) I started taking down the studio in the basement. Ten years in that house and five years with the studio in the basement.....so much stuff.... We have taken loads to auction and we will soon rent a dumpster. There is a little whispering voice in my head telling me that I have a lot more to do than I think or want to believe.

We did go out to Camrose, it was no longer blizzarding but it was nasty cold. Friday December 6^th was our last workshops. It was both exciting and sad. We are excited about the new life, but sad to say good bye to all the little bright faces. We are open to Artists in Residences and who know what the future brings.

We had hoped/planned to load up the trailer and head to Coutts, but the weather was soooo dang cold. There were wind chills of minus 40 plus or minus a bit. We loaded up the truck with the snow blower and headed for Coutts to dig our home out of the biggest now storm they have seen in years. The trip down was …..interesting…. I have never seen so many vehicles in the ditch as we did when driving down. All kinds and sizes, from little cars to fully loaded semis. As soon as we started feeling a little safe, we would see another “bite the dust”.

We arrived to mostly okay. We had a few leaks and problems, but nothing laying under the house for a few hours in the snow and wind didn't fix. We got a fixer upper, and we are fixing it up. Just paint and floors. We will go back to Edmonton early next week to bring that trailer of schtuff and set up here by the end of the year. That is the plan….. what could happen?

I have pics to share but I also have a second coat of dry wall patch to apply. Pics to follow.....maybe

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

People are strange.

We won The Best Bet Award from the Canadian Toy Testing Council and still not that many people are interested in the purchasing the kits. Well, that is not entirely true. Kids really want the kits. We did the Christmas show Make It last weekend and the kids that saw them were very excited about getting one, the parents however, not so much. Few would buy them. They told the kids great idea and they would pick it up on the way out, or would get it later. Not one "be back" came back. I think there are a few reasons that they are not selling as I had hoped. One is the mud. The parents see a ball of mud going into their house and simply don't want the dirt. Another is that they don't see the benefits of creativity and three dimensional thinking. The parents grew up with computers and TV, two dimensions. We sell more kits to grand parents than parents. Strange.

Here is our booth at Make It.

Another thing I found strange is our Facebook. Earlier this month we wished everyone Happy Diwali and lost a liker. Wednesday we wished people Happy Hanukkah and lost another liker. Everyone all over the world works with clay and has celebrations this time of year. We will wish everyone  Merry Christmas in a few weeks and will see if we lose a liker then as well.

What is not so strange is we are slowly getting ready to move. We just got our gas meter in Thursday. Now that we have heat we can turn on the water.With heat, water and lights we can finally get in the house and get to work. We had hoped to go down the end of the week.  We have only two days of workshops left as Mr. and Mrs clay. We had booked today and tomorrow but a nasty storm is hitting the province and bringing some very cold temperatures, snow and wind with it. We will hold off until it passes and and have the workshops Thursday and Friday. After we are done there we will  head down to Coutts .....later..... when the weather is warmer as we have outside work to do as well as the inside. I look around this place and look at all that still has to be done to get ready to go....sigh......

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay

Big Mouth Beaver Wins Award

Last spring we sent the Canadian Toy Testing Council The Big Mouth Beaver to be tested and included in the 2014 Toy Report. Our Fun Clay Project, The Big Mouth Beaver, won Best Bet.

Here is what they said about the Best Bet category:

"A Best Bet toy is one that testers have consistently rated as top notch in areas of assembly, design, function, durability and safety. But most importantly, a best bet toy has sustained play value. This isn't a toy that will be outgrown in a few months or left to gather dust on a shelf. Best Bets are quality toys that our testers enjoyed throughout the testing period. "

And here is what they said about the Big Mouth:

"Bigmouth Beaver Project Kit
The Clay Teacher
7 +
This project will keep kids as busy as a beaver! Using the Canadian clay provided and an instructional DVD, kids can create a cute little clay beaver with a big, wide mouth. There is enough material for two beavers, which our testers liked, so the activity can be done with a sibling or friend, or kids can make another one to improve on the first. The easy-to-understand instructions on the English-only DVD teach kids how to work with clay and use humour and little rhymes to keep kids engaged. Some adult help may be required when kids are working with the clay, but testers were proud to be able to do much of the project on their own and thought the end product was “pretty impressive.” Activity requires about 2 hours over the course of about a week (to allow for drying time)."

The Big Mouth Beaver kit and others can be purchased on line at Fun Clay Projects or the instruction only is available on Youtube.  If you are in the Edmonton area we will be at Make It with our kits and pottery.

We are thrilled to have this award and look forward to making more videos and kits in the New Year. 

Until next time.

AKA Mrs. Clay