Monday's Suck

I hate to be on a downer, really I do. This is not at all the post I had planned. In fact I went on a lovely hike with my dog this morning and took all sorts of wonderful photos of our new running spot, but I just discovered that my beloved tried and true point and shot is broken. All the beautiful photos have lines running through them. I could not see this due to the sunlight when I took them. I need my camera for my ETSY shop and for my blog, so I will have to scrape together some money and go buy another, and given my money situation, a new camera really was not in the plan. Other things were broken today and keys were lost and here it is almost 4PM on my one day off and no art has been done. I want to look on the bright side, at least I am healthy and I have a few hours left to paint, but really I hate to pick up my brush given my mood right now, so perhaps I will go meditate first. In the meantime here is a photo of my new, making her self right at home, kitty, Zoe. I hope you all are having a better day and soon, I promise the bright and happy Annie will return. XOXO

Grace Abounds

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.- wendell berry

This came to me today, I needed it so and it came. Thank you all for your wise and insightful comments on yesterday's post. I love you. Today I am off to put my hands in porcelain clay and forget my troubles. Have a wonderful Sunday! XOXO

Circling Around Trust

This photo has nothing to do with the post, I just think it's pretty :-). Life lately has been tough. There are a lot of things that happen that I choose to not write about here. Family issues, money issues and health issues are not things I really want to share, though sometimes I do. Lately I choose to keep them to myself or close friends. Many things have been weighing heavily of late and I have been having trouble sleeping. I worry, then I circle back round to trust. It always comes back to trust. Trusting what you may ask? Trusting myself and my intuition, trusting that I know or will know the right course of action. Trust in spirit, that I will be given all I need to move to the next step. Then I wake up and worry again, do my "Process", worry, process, but I always end up right back at trust. My goal is to just go to trust and leave all the worry in the trash where it belongs :-). Any thoughts on trust are welcome. Happy Saturday! XOXO

The Winner of my OWOH Doorprize is...

The winner of my doorprize for the One World One Heart event is the talented Halle.

She won the above porcelain pendant and it will be winging it's way to her tomorrow. This was a wonderful event, I think I made a few long lasting connections and I still have many blogs to visit. There just has not been enough time to visit everyone yet. Thank you Lisa for all your hard work putting this together. Love and Blessings. XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

See Spike's heart, isn't he cute. I am off to Santa Fe on a beautiful Winter's day with a friend, which to me right now is ever so much better than a boy friend. I have no Valentine, but then I decided that the world was my Valentine :-) Have a wonderful one. Love. XOXO

Sneak preview, Thank you, and What's been going on...

The top photos are new vases I made, under glazed and bisque fired, they will look very different after I clear glaze them and have them fired again, they will look like porcelain. I wanted you to see them though as I really love them and had so much fun making them. I made them weeks ago and have not done art since, so TODAY I am making more, finally I have a bit of time.

The photos of the bag are a lovely present that the very talented Melanie made for me, this is the second bag she has made and they are a big hit at the grocery store. She also tucked a lovely lavender sachet she made inside, sorry I did not get a photo of that. Thank you Melanie, I love it and I love you dear girl.

As for other news, Zoe is getting on well enough with Max, she and Spike had some hissing going on and Spike is a bit afraid of her, but I think it will be fine in a few days after they get more used to each other. It went much better than I thought it would. I actually think that there may be a bit of romance between Max and Zoe :-).

And now for something completely different, I never said anything about it, but a month ago I started a weight reducing program, no sugar, no bad carbs and I have lost 12 pounds! I really only wanted to get back to where I was 4 years ago, after gaining about 8 of the 30 I lost back then, but I am really liking this life style change and I plan on staying on it forever. However, I think life is to be lived, so I do allow myself little treats on the weekend or when I go out to eat, but I won't buy bread or pasta for a long while, also no chips, I eat nuts instead, lots of veggies and fruit. I feel ever so much better and this time I am doing it for me, no one else! Really I don't need to lose any more, but I want my body to be lean, not skinny and I think it will just level out soon. I just wanted to share.

I am off to play with clay, have a WONDERFUL weekend. XOXO

Animal Wednesday (It's a Girl!)

Zoe is a female, like I thought. She is healthy, YAY! She had her vet visit this morning and in 3 weeks she gets spayed and has the rest of her shots. She took it all like a trooper, a little growling and hissing, but really she was very good. So tonight I sequestered my big boy kitties in the bedroom for a couple hours and she explored the rest of the house and met Zeus my wonderful dog. She growled at him, but it all went without incident. I will do the same for the next two evenings, then Saturday I will introduce her to the big boys , one at a time and keep my spray bottle handy in case a fight breaks out. I am so grateful for the feral cat friends who paid for the vet bill. I will get a better photo of her soon, she does not like the camera, but she will get used to it :-). Happy Animal Wednesday! XOXO

Trust Has its Rewards

Okay, now we are talking, today things started falling in place. First I called a woman here in Taos who takes care of feral cats, the same one who would not take Zoe, but what she will do is to pay for her tests, shots and to be spayed! So Wednesday she will go for her day at the vets and then we can begin the work of either integrating her into my world or finding her a good home. I am really in love with her, so she will likely stay if my boys and her all get along.
Then, THEN, the gas boys came and turned on all my heat and my hot water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Life can get back to normal and I can get back to work tomorrow. Also I made 3 lovely sales on my ETSY site, one by my sweet sister L. Thanks sweetie. Looks like this is going to be a good week. I hope for all of you too. Thank you for all of your sweet words and thoughts. Happy Monday! XOXO

Update on The No Heat Situation

Still alive here, though still very cold. They say we won't have our heat back until Monday or Tuesday earliest and that with another cold front coming in tomorrow, not that 26 is warm, but better than -17. I also learned that it is not about Texas and the Super Bowl, I was only repeating what I had heard all over town, but today I got the real story or at least the story they are telling. Because Texas got cold and turned on all their heaters, they had an electrical blackout, which effected the oil pumps which then got air in them (this is all Greek to me) which is what has caused all the problem, not lack of oil. So now they have to turn off all the heaters to fix them and then turn them all back on which is taking a long while.I have never heard of this happening and a friend told me tonight that he finds it very odd and is not sure if he believes this story. I don't know, I just want my heat on. Many people here are fine as they have wood burning stoves and fire places and many of the rich people in town run on propane, so it is only some of us who are dealing with this. One thing I know for sure is that I have good friends who have offered me to stay with them, but my furbabies need me and I have too many to drag around. We are making do. It is strange how something like this makes you realize how easy we have it most of the time. I have no heat and no hot water, that means no shower, that means heating water up to do dishes, it is surprising how long it takes to do my dinner dishes now. You have much less time for anything other than survival needs to be met. I would never have time to make art if I had to live like this all the time. Mostly I want to just be under my covers. Mornings are the worst because these little heaters are not safe to leave on when you are sleeping, so it is freezing when I get up, which makes you not want to get up :-). But get up I must. I am still healthy and safe and so blessed to have a roof over my head. I really think about the homeless people and animals that have to live out in this cold. I don't know how they do it.
All in all I am doing okay, stressed, but okay. I am trying to get around to some blogs everyday, but it is hard to work in the time, so forgive me if I seem to be absent. Happy weekend. XOXO

Yes, It can get Worse!

Well, that is what I get for complaining, now things are way worse. Yesterday morning Taos lost all it's oil for natural gas heaters and my heat and stove run on the stuff. When I got up it was -17, so as you can imagine there was a run on space heaters. I was not able to buy one. I have one tiny space heater, but thankfully my clients had many and loaned me two and a microwave oven. As miserable as it all is, I feel very blessed by this. Work got cancelled today, so after a run I will be indeed huddling under my flannel sheets. The house is still freezing, but not as bad as it would be without the heaters. On top of all this, the electric company is having rolling blackouts, so I will not be around on the computer much, it takes too much energy up. Hopefully we will have everything back to normal by tomorrow, I still have a black cat in my bathroom :-). Happy Friday! XOXO

Animal Wednesday

Meet Zoe or Milo, depends on what sex she turns out to be, but I think it's a she, I have not turned her upside down yet to find out for sure. She is sequestered in my bathroom at the moment. It got to -19 last night, and she is a homeless cat that has been hanging out in my yard. I could not let her freeze. Our shelter is NOT a no kill shelter and the feral cat lady would not take her, so I had to do something. At the moment I am looking for a home for her, if you live in Taos or Santa Fe and want a kitty, this one is a gem. Sweet and loving, very special. I have fallen in love with her myself, but I fear my other cats don't want her here, so I must find her a home.

Other news around here, it has been a very rough week. I have car issues and it cleaned out my little savings, now I need a bunch more to fix the rest of it, but I have to wait for a miracle as there is no more money to be had. I am driving on a wing and a prayer. In Taos, especially in Winter you have to have a car! Also the place I run, have run with my dog for 9 years, has now put up a sign that trespassers will be prosecuted, so we have to find a new running spot. And then there is the cat issue. Right now it is -6 and I have to go to work, I really want to just cozy back into bed. I know things will get better, I know that these are small issues in the Scheme of things, I know that life is good. Have a wonderful Animal Wednesday! XOXO