Gracie's First Play

Grace is growing up so quickly! She started high school this year, and though she doesn't look it, she is 15! We were thrilled to find the high school has a community training program where the kids volunteer for the first two hours of the day at various stores and organizations around town. Then the store or organization supplies a treat of some kind for the kids. So far the class has taken paper out of new shoes at Target (and gotten pop and a bagel in return), cleaned the parking lot at a bowling alley and then bowled for free, cleaned tables at Chuck E. Cheese and gotten tokens for the play area (She came home with 15 photos of herself from the photo booth.) She just applied to be a volunteer at the a children's petting park, and got accepted, so now that will be one of the places she goes to work.

This high school encourages the kids in Special Ed to try out for sports, clubs and plays. So Grace did try out for the play and she got a part! The play was A Taste of Sunrise, and her line was "That poor unfortunate boy." She also played a student in a deaf school, and a member of the town, so she was on stage quite a bit.

The play was quite good, and Grace stole the show, at least in my eyes. Congratulations Gracie!

Samhain ....must wait!

Normally Halloween is a very big deal here at the Barry house. But this year we are going to have to delay it! I have a huge order to finish this weekend, Gracie has a play, Jens and Tasha have plans...So it looks like Samhain is going to be celebrated on Sunday for us this year.

So sad, but ...oh well!

Pots destined for the Smashing Bin!

Pots destined for the Smashing Bin!, originally uploaded by antfiresbetter.

Since this week had Friday the 13th in it, I decided to clean my studio and list all the pots that I felt were just cluttering up the shelves. Some are a bit heavy, some have small flaws, and some I just haven't gotten around to photographing yet!

Anyway, all these pots are getting listed this weekend in my shop, (antb.etsy.com) for only the materials cost of each one. I am not charging for my labor or time on any of them. Then, on Monday morning, all the ones that haven't sold I will unlist and put into a bin for breaking and sending to mosaic artists!

Here is my shop announcement for this weekend:

And to celebrate Unlucky Friday, I am going to be listing Unlucky Pots all weekend. Some will be PIF's (they will cost only the listing fee plus shipping) and some will be for only the cost of my materials (clay, glaze, firing, but no charge for my time, labor, or skill) and shipping. Some will be seconds also priced only for my materials cost.

All of this weekend's listings will be at incredibly low prices. I want these poor unlucky pots to find good homes. After this weekend- bright and early Monday morning- any Unlucky Pots that are left will go into the Smashing Bin, get broken into pieces and then be sold to mosaic artists.

Please, rescue these poor Unlucky Pots from my Evil Smashing Bin! Buy them today and then they will be Lucky Pots! (They are all on the first page of my shop.)
Have a lucky day!
-Ant

****Update!
Due to storms taking my power out, I am behind with my listings today, and won't get them all listed. So I will keep going tonight and tomorrow until they are done. BUT Monday, they all still go into The Smashing Bin!

No more Mrs. Nice Potter!

:D

Gracie Makes Contact

IMG_0085, originally uploaded by antfiresbetter.

Jens and Tasha are house sitting in Chicago, so for Mother's Day, they invited Grace and I for a weekend of sight seeing. The highlight for me was an amazing vegan restaurant on Broadway called "Alice and Friends". I have never had such wonderful food ! I had the "Runaway Potato" and would highly recommend it!!

The high point for Gracie was a full day at the zoo. She took her Playschool Digital Camera and snapped it full of photos!

In the Primate House, there is a fake log, that goes into one of the cages. A child can sit in the log. There is plexiglass, and a gorilla can sit in the other half.
When Gracie climbed into the log, a baby gorrilla ambled over and sat and looked at her. We got a photo on Gracie's camera for her.

I don't know who enjoyed the encounter more, Grace, or the baby gorilla!

April Fools Day Dinner- Renee and Jasmine look...

April Fools Day Dinner- Renee and Jasmine look..., originally uploaded by antfiresbetter.

Every year on April Fool's Day, I make a silly meal. Sometimes we have dinner for breakfast, sometimes the food looks like something else (sandwiches with faces, or submarine subs). Sometimes what looks like one food is really something else.

This year the dinner looked like a grilled cheese sandwich, a fried egg and some peas and carrots, with a cupcake for dessert.

What it really was:

Fried egg- marshmallow fluff with lemon pudding in the center

Grilled cheese- pound cake with tinted buttercream frosting

Peas and Carrots-Green and Orange Tootsie fruit rolls reshaped.

Cupcake- a little quiche baked in a foil cup with tinted mashed potatoes for frosting.

I think this one turned out great! But Renee and Jasmine's faces showed that they had a different take on my April Fools Day dinner!

I got the ideas for this meal from Family Fun's website.

It's Alive!

It's Alive! , originally uploaded by antfiresbetter.

As you know, just after Christmas, I needed to move from a rented community crafts studio to a home studio. I have been trying to jump through the hoops with local authorities to get my kiln OK'd.

I had to move it once after getting it hooked up, so that meant putting in all new pipes. It had to have it's own gas line and meter (more expense), and they didn't like my 'think out of the box' vent hood ( but finally admitted it was terrific!)

But now.....The inspector finally OK'd my gas kiln set up, and we are thrilled! I made a trip to my local-ish clay supply to buy my glaze materials. I am waiting on my scales to arrive so I can mix my glazes and get started!

Hopefully, I will be up and running soon! Possibly within a week!!!

Though I think I have been saying that since January 1st, this time I may be right!!

Ritual Hearth - Evening Sky Blue

Ritual Hearth - Evening Sky Blue, originally uploaded by antfiresbetter.

Not all Pagan folk are blessed with country cottages or crumbling Victorian manors. In fact a lot of use are living in regular, run of the mill homes without a fireplace or stone hearth in sight.

I've read about about hearth magic and always wanted to try some, especially on Yule or St. John's Day. I crossed my fingers and toes the last time we moved, but no such luck.

Enter Tasha. We were chatting one day and I brought up my complaints.

"Well...why don't you just make one?"

"A hearth?" I asked.

"Sure, a little ritual one out of clay."

The conversation quickly moved on, but the idea stayed with me. Why don't I just make a hearth? So I did.

The first one I made worked just fine, but I've modified this one to have more ritual space.