It’s been a nice and relaxing day around the house. Bob and I slept in this morning and it’s already after 6 pm and I’m still in my pj’s. Kristy surfaced sometime after 2:00 this afternoon as she did not have to work today. We all decided that a nice breakfast sounded good. Having a quick look in the fridge proved that the grocery store was mandatory. Kristy was ok to fly if Bobby would buy. Ah, it was so nice not to have to get around and rush to the grocery. She was home in a flash and we were serving up bacon, eggs, pancakes, hash browns, chocolate milk and grape juice in no time. We finished our breakfast around 4:30 cleaned the kitchen and I’ve settled back on the computer for the rest of the afternoon. It’s been a lovely day of chilling and that’s about all it amounts to.

I do believe I’m going to have a difficult time losing weight this week as it’s proven to be a little harder than I thought. Having Bobby around the house has caused him to feel a bit cooped up and we are eating out a lot as he wants to get out from time to time. He wanted donuts one morning so I made a fresh donut run for both of us. It’s sure hard to pass up fresh baked donuts. I’m coming up with lots of excuses I know but I plan to get myself in ship shape soon! I’ll keep you posted.

Ever think you may have something that has value or worth something to someone? I never really thought about it before. Back oh, I’d say 15 or so years ago I purchased many, many antique books. I used to work for someone who had a huge library of antique books and I was quite taken with them. I think that moved me to acquire some of my own.

I’m finally deciding that I don’t have use for them, except for the ones I decorate with. I am going thru them one by one and researching them online. Today I came across two very interesting books one being the Bible which was printed in 1839. I only paid $5.00 for it and in all honesty, that is still all it’s worth. When thumbing thru the huge book I found many keep sakes like old dried flowers with a clipping from a funeral on the same page, I found newspaper clippings from the early 1800’s all the way thru as late as 1916. While flipping thru the pages I found a Birth, Marriage, and Death registry between the Old and New Testaments. Come to find out that Bible has the important dates of a family that date back to 1806. The owner did a wonderful job of keeping the family registry. Bob and I, the genealogy fanatics that we are, are trying to find the family that this Bible belongs to. The person that owned this Bible kept so many articles and Sunday school and church bulletins from the mid 1800’s. I even found an old scrap of material between the pages. There is a huge newspaper clipping from the Civil War and a vast of cool old documents. I sure hope we can find the right home for this wonderful old Bible. I’m not here to make any money on this and we have taken it upon ourselves to make a project out of this to find the family as we feel this would be a valuable keepsake for them.

I have another interesting book that I purchased many, many years ago. It is Angelica Kauffmann, her life and her works. Her paintings are beautiful and this book displays them well. The exciting part about my book is that this edition has three extra plates and is limited to 75 numbered copies of which this is number 19. It is also signed by the original authors. It was published in 1924 and is the first edition. I found reprints of this book for as high as $250.00 so I have no idea what my book could be worth. Bobby wants me to have this one appraised and who knows if I will ever get that done.

It’s amazing what you find while cleaning up around the house or could it be we are just the sentimental type?

Look out e-bay, here we come, or something like that. Bob and I decided to open an e-bay store so that we can get rid of some of the extra ‘junk’ around the house, you know what I’m talking about. I have some old antique books and miscellaneous things I’m trying to sell and Bob has some odds and ends here and there and Kristy has her college books from last semester that we need to sell. At first I was a little hesitant about opening an e-bay store but Bob finally talked me into it. It’s only $15.95 per month which is great. The listings are only 2 cents per item and 1 cent for a gallery pic. what a deal! We had our first customer and sale last night and the store was not even open for 24 hours. We were taking all our miscellaneous things to Goodwill but it will be interesting to see what happens with our little mini store on e-bay. For anyone who is interested in having a yard sale without the effort of minding the sale, this is the way to go in our opinion. We print out our postage from home and the mailman picks up the packages at the front door or in the mailbox if they fit. Now that’s sweet! Here’s to new beginnings on ebay!

Bobby is doing quite well today and I actually have to remind him not to do this, that or the other. He mentioned carrying down the laundry basket for me this morning and I had to put an immediate halt to that. Then he talked about jumping in the car and running over to the dealership to pick up a part for Kristy’s car. I had to remind him that I am the designated driver this week. He is not to be driving a vehicle for at least a week and he’s not to be doing any access lifting. I think I’m going to be driving him crazy for a week consistently reminding him to take it easy.

We were up till 2:00 AM and he did not get to sleep till sometime after 5AM. He was awake before 8:30 this morning and out of bed before me too. It sounds like I was the one in surgery instead of him. I think he needs more rest but he is like a little energizer bunny around the house today. He’s up and down the stairs like a speed demon and I really need to slow him down.

Our day started at the hospital around 9:00 AM. I stayed with Bobby up until the very last possible min I gave him a last min kiss and we said our I love you’s and with that they wheeled him away. I made my way to the outpatient surgery waiting room. I was so surprised by the small groups of families in there waiting on their loved ones. I guess the surprising thing was that everyone in there said welcome as I came in and at first I thought perhaps they were one big family. I checked in with the lady at the desk letting her know who I was and who I was there for. She gave me the rundown explaining to me that a nurse would call to speak with me during the surgery to let me know how everything was going and then the Dr. would come out and speak with me in a private room to let me know how Bobby did during the surgery. After the lady at the desk covered the bases with me I had a seat and all the others began to ask me who I was there for and what my hubby was having done. Come to find out none of them were family but everyone seemed to just bond together. They were all so kind and sweet and that made for a nice pleasant wait.

After my visit with the Dr., the nurse allowed me to go in to see my dearest patient. I stood there beside his bed and bent down to give him a little kiss on his forehead. Bobby opened his eyes shortly after and said… I’m in heaven, I see an angel. Even though his tummy was hurting a great deal he was so happy to see me standing there beside him. He kept telling the nurse that his tummy was hurting and when she came with the morphine; he said ‘make it a double.’ I only got to stay with him for about 5 min. and then I had to go back to the waiting room for another 45 min. while they monitored him. After a while they came to let me know what room he would be in and I was able to stay with him for the next few hours while he continued to recover from surgery. He was so groggy but every time he would wake to see me there beside his bed he would say, I see an angel. My dearest is such a good patient and I would hang the moon for him if I could. Whatever he needs, I’m at his beckon call.

I figured it out! I know what Bobby wants for Christmas! I just did a search for ‘Wee’ on the internet and also went to Wikipedia and found it’s spelled Wii! Being the Nintendo buffs that we are this is sure going to be a hit for sure! This is pretty awesome! I provided a link where you can go and check it out for yourselves.

Bobby is sad that the surprise is over. Now he says I need to tell him what I want for Christmas and make it a game.

http://wii.nintendo.com/hardware.html

For those of you who are new to my page… Bobby told me last month, on May 19th what he wanted for Christmas. He wants a Weee and I now have 6 months to figure it out. Jennifer gave me the idea of getting at least 1 clue per month and here is the running list. Any and all help is appreciated.

May 19, 2006

• I have 7 months to figure it out
• It’s not on the market yet
• He does not know exactly when it’s going on the market
• He thinks I’ll like it
• He won’t tell me how it’s spelled – because that would give it away
• Weee ‘might’ fit under the Christmas tree
• It’s an item that must be purchased
• If I don’t get it for him, he will get it for himself

May 20, 2006

• If I have not figured it out by Thanksgiving he will tell me over our Thanksgiving dinner

June 2, 2006

• He says – “I found out last week that it’s going to cost less than $250.00”
• The spelling is definitely not ‘we’ and it is not something to do with us
• It’s something that must be wrapped
• It’s not alive – has no blood – does not breathe
• He says it’s lively
• We is not a partial name – in other words it’s nothing like weekend

June 3, 2006

• Fact – Clue on the spelling – It is not made in FranceDebbie’s Q’s and Bobby’s A’s
• Q – Does it make a noise – A – Maybe
• Q – Can the volume can be adjusted if it has volume – A – I don’t know
• Q – Has this type of product ever been made before or is this a new invention – A – Both

June 19, 2006

• Q – Does it have an on and off switch – A – Yes
• Q – Can you plug it in or does it have a battery – A – Both

P.S. – It has to be plugged in, but it also has batteries.

Things that I know for sure and answers to some of your questions.

• He is not into rollercoaster’s like I am
• We talk of getting another motorcycle but those are more than $250
• I asked him if he was joshing and he says… Have I ever lied to you and the answer would be no.

The Kiln has recovered back to a cool state and everything has been unloaded. Here is a little sample of what happened during their long stay in the hot temperatures. It’s always like Christmas morning for me when it comes time to open the lid of the kiln. I have an idea in my head of what I think the pieces should look like but there is always that element of surprise. I’m pleased with the wood grain purse. I love the way the flower turned out and I’m so happy I changed the color of the flower from red to white. I also brushed a little of the brown stain over the white flower petals and I’m also pleased with the textured look.

I like the mixture of the turquoise and kemp red featured on the left. I would like to start doing more with these two colors as I think they are delecious blended together.

I’m also unhappy with so many of the pieces that came out today. Bobby and I are going to look into getting a sprayer as that will help in the glazing process. When glazing large pieces I have a difficult time getting evenness in the color and to be honest my heart sank this morning. I’m going to try to reglaze some of the pieces to see if I can achieve what I’m aiming for.

I included a picture per Laura’s request of the studio where I’m a member and go to glaze. The portion of the pic here is probably 1/4 the size of the studio as there is another room behind this one for glazing and an area where we have several kilns for different kinds of firing. However I have my own studio at home where I handbuild and also have a wheel too. My kiln is in the garage where I fire my own work.

Bobby has been experiencing some stomach trouble the last couple months. He went to see the Family Dr. Wednesday and then went to see a specialist this afternoon. He has an umbilical hernia and will be having the laparoscopic procedure done next Thursday.

Here are a couple pics of the before and during process of this particular piece. I will follow with another pic as soon as it is completely fired. Fingers crossed now!

I had a wonderful day in the studio, it was a time of visiting with friends, glazing and there were several hours that I was there alone.

Every piece I came to required much thought and consideration. For the piece above, I added emerald green on the inside, down both sides and to the leaves. The emerald green is also inside the veins of the wood and then covered with a brown stain. Where you see the brown stain will turn out to be a mat finish after it has been fired, not glossy.

The white looking flower is actually going to be a red flower with a light brown color stamen. After I had the piece pretty much complete I went back and added a little stain around the handles and sides of the purse to add a bit of character. You will also notice a little white looking area inside the little snaps. That white looking color is actually Kemp red over the emerald green. I can’t wait to see what delicious color will pop out of there.

I will not start the kiln for glazing till I have all my pieces glazed and at the rate I’m going… It looks like I have another 2 days in the studio of nothing but glazing.It was a great day in the studio and will be going back tomorrow for another round of fun.

After a couple days my truck was getting hammered with ‘bird droppings’. Crazy how the birds kept finding my car. I approached my number one Buddy Bobby (hubby) on the ever nagging issue and with a little thought he figured it out. It appears that the birds decided to build their nest right over the hood of my truck making my life a bit miserable. Seriously, my hood was completely covered in mess! As much as I love birdies, bird houses, bird feeders, bird baths and such… I did not appreciate the ever growing mess on my truck each day.

Bobby in all his problem solving skills thought about calling someone to have that branch removed from the tree. With further thought he launched the idea of using the hose to free the newly designed nest from the tree. I was worried about there being eggs in the nest but the nest was no more than 2 days old so Bobby went for it!

In no time the nest came tumbling down and we were so thankful that the mommy had not laid her eggs in the nest. I’ve been able to keep my car clean and the precious birdies have found another spot to nest. Now we are all happy campers!

The spring has turned to summer rather quickly it seems. The weather man has given us temps in the high 90’s and yesterday it reached a whopping 101 degrees. Fortunately we don’t have that much humidity here which I’m so thankful for. I don’t seem to mind the heat that much when there is not a lot of humidity to go along with it. I’m starting to enjoy the summer and plan to take advantage of our clubhouse and pool over the next few months. I enjoy meeting our neighbors and I’m looking forward to a great summer.

We just hired a lawn service to begin caring for our lawn over the next few months. As much as we love working outside, getting all dirty and taking in all that wonderful exercise, we’re happy to turn it over to the lawn service during the hot summer months. This will be a first for us and I’m actually liking the idea. We would like to concentrate on our flower beds and flowers and start some roses as well. I’m already getting used to this.

Yea for us, we just finished the last of our 2005 Christmas stamps yesterday! We send over 170 Christmas newsletters and I went stamp happy when I purchased our stamps last Christmas. To make matters worse I had to purchase a bazillion 2 cent postage stamps (ah, maybe that’s stretching it a bit) because the postage rates went up following the holidays. We pay all bills electronically so we don’t use a whole lot of stamps, but I’m looking forward to just putting 1 fun stamp on an envelope period. Oh the joys of postage and I will never purchase that many holiday stamps again.

Those snowmen were not the ones we were using as we had the santa style stamps. I just wanted to give you a little “Christmas Cheer” in the month of June. LOL!

Can’t wait to see what new and exciting stamps are there at the PO waiting for me.

What’s happening in the studio? We (Bobby and I) have all my pieces of pottery bisque fired and I plan to start the glazing process tomorrow. It will be so nice to get back over to the studio to see all my friends and have another big day with them. I’m getting so excited and plan to visit some new galleries next week. That is if my pieces turn out, otherwise as I call it… it will be hammer time. I’m already planning out what I’m going to wear and how I’m going to present my work. Instead of overwhelming myself with all my pieces lugging them in and out of galleries… I’m going to take pictures and make a little portfolio to present to the manager of these places in hopes to get my foot in the door. If everything goes well, I’ll have my work in several places so fingers crossed the rest of the week for me.

Not what Bobby wants for Christmas.

Our trip to St Louis started Friday May 26th and what a great road trip for us. One of the highlights of our trip to St Louis was to see the WIENERMOBILE! Kristy could tell something was out of the ordinary with the vehicle way ahead of us. She questioned, is that the WIENERMOBILE? Bobby and I both thought she could be on to something and with that Kristy and I were at the ready with both of our digital cameras, windows rolled down, hangin’ out the window embarrassing Bobby ‘said driver’ as we were flashing away with our cameras.

As we passed the prestigious mobile we continued to take pictures, Kristy and I must have been the entertainment for the drivers that day. Hee, Hee! It’s a funny thing what you will do after spending 9 hours on the road.