So, you might ask, what IS on my "list of things to do" and what DID I actually get accomplished? My list of things to do is too long to post, just know it's very long and intimidating!!! But, what I got accomplished yesterday, is easy to post.
1. I got my kitchen cleaned up, dishes caught up, laundry done, and scrap book area put back together after replacing the power strip that caught fire the other day (yep, never a dull moment around here, LOL). I also got dinner started; lasagna.
2. I stopped in and participated in Discussions from the ClayPen, a chat through Polymer Clay Central. If you're interested in Polymer Clay, you need to check out Polymer Clay Central. http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ They have a message board, tutorials, challenges, chat rooms, and more. It's a wonderful resource.
3. I worked a bit more on my book and publishing options. Hmmm, people might ask, what kind of book are you writing. Although I read "adventurous smut" (as Mr. C calls it) I wouldn't be any good at writing it. No, this is a book I have been asked to write many, many times, and it concerns polymer clay (of course, what else). But that's all I'm willing to share at the moment. I have it 2/3 of the way written, now have to do the actual step out photos to go with it, (I also have a great idea for another book, but one at a time, LOL) which led to #4.
4. I got my clay desk pretty well cleaned off (still need to do both ends, but got distracted, as usual), which led to #5.
5. As I was attempting to put away my clay cutters and Kemper cutters I remembered that at Clay Carnival last year we were all borrowing one another's Kemper cutters and having trouble remembering who got which one from whom. I saw that one instructor had dots of red (nail polish?) on the ends of hers and I thought that was a great idea.
At Clay Carnival, during our last night pizza party, one of the "game prizes" (don't ask, it was too silly to believe, but tons of fun, if you ever have the chance be sure to go) was nail polish (and the color choices weren't the greatest, but since I don't wear nail polish anyway, I decided I would use it to mark my Kemper cutters). So I was hemming and hawing over what color and mentioned what I was going to do with it to the instructor at that "station". She said, "Get the Black." I said, "Black, who would want black", and she wisely said, "Exactly!" Hmmm, she's right, most people will mark thing with bright or interesting colors, who would want the black. So I took the black nail polish as my prize, LOL. I said, if you ever get the chance to attend Clay Carnival, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clay-Carnival-Las-Vegas/143330999067954 do so, it's great, as is Cabin Fever Clay Festival, which I don't have the url for, just google it, LOL.
Now, here I am 6 months later, with all these cutters mixed up in front of me, so I sat there and painted the top of each Kemper Cutter with black nail polish. Just as an aside, I forgot how much nail polish stinks, LOL.
6. We happened to need to go to town to get Mr. C's Mustang's oil changed, so while we were in town we went to WalMart (as usual, sure wish we had purchased stock in WalMart when it first started up like I wanted to. . . oops, better not go there, LOL). While at WalMart, at my request, we visited the fishing tackle aisle, as I had
I already use the wonderful large 3" deep ones for storing the canes I make that I choose to keep (I keep at least one sample of each size of cane I make, I have 5 of the silly things filled already, LOL). Anyway, I wanted something a bit smaller, but still tall enough to hold the Kemper Cutters (with their little plunger thingies on top). I finally found one I thought would work and it even had a little handle. So we got it and brought it home.
7. I started planning my attack on the clay cutter holders to keep them from rolling around and getting mixed up. My first idea was to just make blocks of clay, stick the cutter in them, cure them, and then glue them into the box. But getting the squares the right size and not having them distort when I stuck the cutters into them etc. proved to be an exercise in futility. So, what if I just stick the clay in the sections and bake it there? Can you heat a Plano tackle box to 275* F? Have I ever seen anybody talk about doing this? I asked Mr. C what he thought and he said, go for it. I asked him if he'd be peeved if I melted the box we just bought, he asked me how much it cost (which of course I didn't have the faintest idea of ;-p ) and said to try it. So I carefully stuffed polymer clay into the spaces I was going to use and carefully cut out the shape of the cutters and then stuck them back in and wiggled them a bit in hopes of not having stuck cutters when I got done.
8. While it was curing, however, I needed something else to do, so I started cleaning up my clay desk and putting more stuff away and suddenly thought of a way to make a cane I've been trying to imagine for quite awhile now. You see, my Dad's birthday is on the Fourth of July, he's a Fire Cracker and I've tried several times, unsuccessfully to make a fire works cane. I suddenly thought of how it could be done and set to work.
Question now, is. . . what am I going to do with about 6 ft of this cane, LMAO. Anybody want some fireworks cane?
So, before going to bed, I decided to check my email and blog reader once more, which led to #9. I got distracted again, LOL
9. I got distracted by the most wonderful magical blog post by one of the blogs I follow about a real live Fairy named Twig. Of course I had to follow all the links etc. to find out all about Twig the Fairy. She's so personable and made me smile and feel wonderful happy thoughts. You can go to Twig's FaceBook and even find out what your own Fairy Name is as well as Moodify yourself. It was so uplifting.
As I continued checking out my blog reader, I happened upon #10.
10. I was reading LuAnn Udell's blog, http://luannudell.wordpress.com/ at the end of which she states, "With apologies the the delightful blog Hyperbole and a Half by Allie, whose post about her simple-minded dog made me laugh til I cried, and inspired the title of this post.)" So of course, out of curiousity, I just had to go check out the Hyperbole and a Half blog.
First I read the post mentioned, http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/11/dogs-dont-understand-basic-concepts.html and then checked out a link to an earlier blog post and just kept going "older post and older post" until I was laughing so hard that tears ran down my face and my stomach hurt, at which time I decided since it was now something like 2:00 a.m. I should probably go to bed.
11. Finally, this afternoon I got the Kemper Cutter Container out of the oven to check it out. It worked perfectly. The cutters are in there a bit tightly right now, but will come out and go back in. The lid and handle are replaced and as I put the extra dividers back in place, I realized I had room for my Makin's Clay Cutters, too. So this is what it looks like complete and I am really pleased. A close up of one compartment:
Closed:
Upright, ready to travel and everything stays right in place, as designed. I am so PLEASED!!!
12. Oh, and I almost forgot, somewhere in here, I went to Craft Edu and got Leslie Blackford's class on making the cutest Chubby Little Bird Lamps. I watched the video and can't wait to make a couple of those.
This photo isn't very good, so go see it yourself at:http://www.craftedu.com/leslie-blackford39s-chubby-little-bird-lamps/play-MzA3ODExNDY2OA
So, that's what I've been doing clay wise the past couple of days. You can now see, though, just how my mind and day work (or don't work for that matter). My brain goes round in these circles 24 hours a day, which leads to very poor sleep which leads to more and round and round we go.
I've also been having fun researching Zentangles and Tangling, I believe is the correct terminology. I've cut about a zillion little 3 1/2 X 3 1/2" squares of paper with my Deckle blade on my paper cutter. I still need to get some of the "permanent ink pens" they recommend. Just what I need, something else to distract myself with. But then again, maybe that is just what I'm needing to do right now, is distract myself, from my back pain, from my inability to do much of anything physical, from my, once again, empty nest. Yes, I think distraction is JUST what I need. Sheesh, no wonder my back was feeling worse last night and today, I got a LOT accomplished, LOL.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Smiles Sue http://faeriemooncreations.blogspot.com/2011/06/happy-fairy-day.html
and know I took some. 
) . After several Dr. visits etc. it was determined that I have 2 torn, desiccated disks. There isn’t much I can do but wait for my back to quit hurting (and not do things to irritate it). I’m not a very patient patient…..