Feats of strength! And other things they don't tell you about Motherhood

My favorite made up holiday is from, Seinfeld, with the character of George's father's Festivus! A festivus for the rest of of us! I love that episode, so funny. Where George's Dad creates his own holiday and the celebration involved a pole and feats of strength! I adopted that term "feats of strength" as a joke to myself whenever I have to do anything that requires crazy Mommy strength, like grocery shopping with the kids. Mirabel always wants me to carry her so I end up carrying her in one arm and shopping and pushing the cart with the other. When she was a baby she didn't like to ride in the cart either, even in her little infant seat, so I would have to carry her swinging her in her carrier with one arm, and pushing the cart with the other, being careful to switch arms, because I kept imagining one of my arms was going to get a lot bigger than the other one, like the dude in that movie "Lady in the Water".

But the alternative to do these crazy acts of strength, is listening to a baby scream and carry on while I try to shop, which is nearly impossible, especially once they are mobile. But let me just say, before I go any further, that I love my children more than anything in the whole world, even though they probably challenge me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually every single day more than anyone else either. But that's all right, because I wouldn't have it any other way, and I am so grateful to have them in my life.

As we gear up to the holidays, and I am taking some much needed time off work, and my kids will be home and so will Big Poppa..(my husband's new nickname per his request). I am actually surprised to realize, I haven't taken more than a week off with both my kids ever. That is because I am always working, since I don't get much paid time off. Though I do get a little vaca and holiday pay that I have to finish up before the end of the year so I am using it up! I can tell the kids need a break too, everyone seems burnt out. So I guess we get to have some family bonding time. Hopefully we won't kill each other! Haha..just kidding.

So anyway, I am sure I will be involved with some feats of strength over the course of the next few weeks, but it is what it is. Being a Mom has made me stronger in ways I never thought possible. Plus there are things I have learned how to do that can serve me well the rest of my life I think like sleeping with one eye open, sleeping standing up, growing eyes in the back of my head, and also finding objects at any given notice that have been lost by someone in the house so I guess Xray vision? Ok, well that is it, gotta get some stuff in the kiln..More later..

Adventures in slumping

So as some of you know, I have been playing around with glass the past few years, both fusing and slumping it in various forms in my home studio. I received my big kiln the week before my second daughter was born, a little over a year ago. You can check out some of my current work here on my glass Web site at: http://www.rockwaterglass.com or also I am selling a few items on Etsy http://www.rockwaterglass.etsy.com.

Here lately, due to tough economic times and also my own curiosity, I started slumping beer, wine and other booze bottles I have gathered from friends and family. I think the technical term is "sagging" the bottles. I find the results very interesting. I still do plenty of forms in Bullseye glass, which I love! But I try to be really purposeful and frugal with the premium glass.

The bottles are kind of interesting I think, though I am not sure I have found the right audience for them. Sagging them is pretty simple, no cutting even, I just clean them really well, and heat them up slowly to 1500 degrees and then cool them slowly and anneal andcool some more. This is pretty easily done with my progammable kiln, which is awesome, I might add.

The process of sagging makes the bottle retain its basic shape, but it just flattens out. Then I turn the bottles into different things like sun catchers, hanging the flattened bottle from a strand of various beads and chandelier parts. I also make cheese plates out of wine bottles. If nothing else, they make interesting conversation starters. When I was working at the Oakhurst Arts and Music Festival this past October, it was funny to me how many people stopped to check the "recycled bottle" cheese plates out, and ask me questions about them, it was pretty cool actually, talking to people about it. I call it "green" art.

Yesterday I wanted to see what would happen if I fused two bottles together, and the piece came out kind of interesting, not sure what to do with it now though, it didn't quite slump as much as I wanted it to, but they didn't break, because I used the same color glass. I am not sure if the melting temp varies for different colors of bottle glass, so it is all kind of experimental. It's fun though and it takes my mind off my troubles for a little while.

I also slumped some stained glass pieces I had that I can't fuse to other pieces of glass, because I don't know if it is compatible, but I slumped them by themselves over a slumping form to make a vase or candle holders.

It amuses me to see what will come out of my kiln, that is the magic of glass though, you can plan for it to look a certain way to a point, but the rest of it is, as far as how it turns out, is not so predictable. To me the process is sort of like raising children. You can guide them, you can teach them, love them, try to keep them on a safe path, but the rest is kind of up to fate maybe? Not sure if it is fate or what? But I am just hoping for the best!

That is all.

Molly

editing, punctuation and other rules

My husband reminded me that I might want to consider using punctuation in these blog posts. He doesn't like the way I let my brain spew out uncontrollable words with no editing, in the fashion of Jack Kerouac. Not that I am bold enough to try to compare myself to Kerouac, though he is one of my favorite writers. Nevertheless, I get it that not too many people appreciate that style. So in the name of improving myself, I will from this moment on solemnly swear to use punctuation as needed.

I have been thinking today about what I ultimately I wish to do with my life. That got me to thinking about why I stopped writing, except for the occasional stray poem. Not to mention, I spend all day writing for work stuff, mostly brief product blurbs but strangely mind zapping at the same time.

A while ago when I got laid off from a company called, Ezgov, in 2001. Strangely enough that is also where K and I met. We were smoking buddies, now we are just cranky ex- smokers.. After Ezgov, I worked for one year as a freelance writer, and then the gig I am in now cropped up. My goal at the time was to start writing and getting published and then try to build that up but somewhere along the way I lost sight of what I wanted to do, and also got into the glass work, which I still love .It is amazing to me that my 3 month contract job turned into 6 years and counting. That is crazy.
I think what happened was I became more focused on trying to make money, as opposed to the "if you build it they will come" sort of mentality. And to be honest, I still have my doubts, but something in my bones is telling me to write, so I am writing. If nothing else, just for the practice of it, because everyone who writes knows, the only way to do it is to write everyday, and maybe if I am lucky something I actually like plops out of my head.

Of course, that doesn't mean anyone else will like it, but I think one of the benefits of growing older, and therefore wiser, is that I really care less and less what anyone else thinks! Its very freeing. But then of course on the flippant side, I naturally want you to love me too. I mean, aren't we all ultimately seeking a loving audience who adores us? OK, peace out..