Mosaic Mom

It has taken 15 minutes to get Google to let me in to my account to Blog. They are trying to force me to turn my email over to them. If I want to continue blogging, this is what they are forcing me to do.
I may just not blog anymore.

I know big brother Google reads all my blogs, the tracker tells me so. But by God, I don't want them reading my email too.

So I'll blog again if I can, but one day I'll probably find myself locked out for good and that will be that.

All the bloggers are gone now anyway. Helen and Ian and Jenn and Casey and Serena and Kelly and Karin and Terri and Brother Matthew at the monastery who just turned 90 and decided to call it quits for blogging. Maybe it's time for me to go too.

Today I got my copy of the Raritan Literary Magazine to read and I got Thoreau's Walk along the Concord River. I'm looking forward to a good read. Also Richard's opening about the indigenous people in Appalachian West Virginia is brilliant. Wow!

Losing blogging is like losing a huge part of me. This is sad.

Not mosaic shoes this time, but some really neat Winklepickers!

I had a character in a story who needed some unusual men's shoes. This is what I found...

How did people write before google?

My Sunday...

Read the morning paper...some winter visitor meathead wrote a letter to the editor about how all the retired Indiana teachers in the "village" got together and determined that education in Indiana is SOOOO much better than education in Florida. Keyword : Retired. When was the last decade you set foot in a classroom?

Next, the meathead said the schools were better because they had swimming pools and nautilaus equipment. Keyword: sports equipment.Are we talking smarts or sports?

I hate Yankees like you. Go Home. Go back to Indiana if it's so damn great!

Next, since I was so fired up about the damn Yankees, I mulched the Barlarias, onions and green beans since we are expecting a freeze tonight and tomorrow.

I mosaiced the hand and packed all the class necessities for the students tomorrow.
Class is ready to go!

I made Plant Daddy Blueberry muffins for dessert. Yum.

This Wednesday morning student is making a birdbath with a Teddy Bear's Pic Nic Theme!

A student in the Wednesday morning class is making a Butterfly Mosaic Table.

Just kidding. Actually this is a mosaic of St Praxades and St. Paul. Today is the feast day of St Paul.

As for feasts, Plant Daddy and I are roasting a chicken tonight to heat up the house. It's cold tonight...in the 40's.

I hope this will slow down all the caterpillars eating my garden to shreds! Grrr.

The Doctor's office phoned this morning to report that my thyroid test results are normal at last! Hooray!

Carry on.

At the very last minute yesterday, I drove over to Mt Dora and enrolled in the "Get Started Writing Your Novel" class.

The good thing: I am focusing on the story again.

The bad thing: I will not have time to create many new mosaics to sell at the April show.

Oh well!

I gave blood over at the Doctor's office today. I will see what adjustments, if any, they will make in my thyroid medicine. I should get the call tomorrow.

The good thing: I'm feeling a lot better.

The bad thing: Why doesn't Rodger Dodger give lollipops?

This was a birdbath I made for Plant Daddy for his feathered friends.

What a great group of mosaic enthusiasts!

We went over mosaic history and styles then a demonstration of each project. Then each student got to chose what she wanted to make.

The tally: 4 Bird Baths, 2 stepping stones, and one flower pot.

I had every one practice with nippers and on the snap cutter.We should fly through these projects next week.

Can't wait for Lowe's to deliver my cabinets tomorrow!

I love being able to teach Mosaics.

I don't love so much having to try to transport all the mosaic supplies needed for class. They're heavy!

But I got the car all loaded up and ready to go. Off to class tomorrow!

Also today I got started on the Mosaic Hand and I made a pineapple turnover dessert for me and Plant Daddy to have with vanilla ice cream later! Yum!

Right before Christmas, I had a cabinet man come measure the office for new cabinetry.He measured and was going to give me a bid.

Long time, no bid.

So I phoned another cabinet company. Had an appointment for their lady to come measure and give an estimate.

She was a no show.

As of today I still had no bid from the first guy either.

So I went to Lowe's this morning and ordered.

My cabinets will be delivered Tuesday.

Go Lowe's!

People often criticize the Box Stores for killing the "little guy" family businesses. Today I say thank God for the Lowe's Box. The "Little Guys" put themselves out of the market.

I Can't wait till Tuesday!

Community Education Office called yesterday with the good news that my class will run starting on Monday!

So I'm off to Lowe's today to buy supplies! What fun!

There's still time to enroll. Call Jeanette at 352-253-6780 to reserve a spot.
Project choices are : Mosaic Stepping Stone, Mosaic Flower Pot and Mosaic Bird Bath.

See you in class on Monday!

My students yesterday were absolutely great.

One lady may still be in shock since I disassembled her "kit" for a mosaic table, but I think she trusts that she'll get superior results this way. We needed a wood sealer and we needed to protect the frame. It'll work.

The best part though was teaching in the studio vs. teaching at a distant location. This was the first class here. (I don't count the Garden Club Event as a real mosaic class, just a fun workshop event).

By being in my studio, I had everything at hand. All the tools were handy and there was a depth of materials to compose with.

When I'm working distant, I can only tote so much. Here I have the full range of supplies available.I never have to say, "Wait till I bring it next week".

Love it.

Watch for project photos next week!

I made a few changes on the blog this morning.

I deleted the link to Society of American Mosaic Artists.

Three times I have navigated over there and looked for my membership listing. Three times it has not been there. I am tired of begging.

I took their link down this morning and I guess I will not renew next year, even though I have been a member over 5 years.

I let them know, too, that I expect to have 12 to 15 students next week and I will not be enrolling them for SAMA membership.

I also deleted a link to a web site that never updates! Grrr. A year was long enough to wait. Bye!

trying to get the rubber glove off the mold for this (soon to be) mosaic hand sculpture...


I thought pouring mortar into a rubber glove to create a hand shape would be easy, but the fingers need reinforcement. The pinky and the pointer broke. I will use a wire insert armature next time.

Two mosaic class listings!

1. From the Spring 2007 Quest
Community Education Class Schedule!

Garden Mosaics
Add a colorful focal point to your garden or patio. Use mosaics to design a stepping stone, small birdbath or terracotta pot.
6 Mondays Jan. 22 - Feb. 26 5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
(No class Feb.19th)
Tavares High School - Bldg. 2, Rm. 112 Fee: $58
603 N. New Hampshire, Tavares 32778
Note: Material fee of $10.00 per project.



If you need more info, or to register call Jeanette at 352-253-6780.



2. STUDIO CLASS (NEW!!)

Location…Mosaic Mom’s Studio in Lake Jem

Wednesday mornings 10:30 AM till Noon

6 weeks- January 17, 24, 31, February 7,14,and 21.

Choose any basic mosaic project…terracotta pot, mirror, small tabletop, birdbath, garden sculpture, birdhouse, etc.

Fee: $75 plus materials fee per project.

Limited to 6 students.

E-mail to reserve your spot! soon!

Here's a little short story, 500-ish words, that I wrote last fall. I submitted it to my writers group, but it didn't get picked. Oh well. Enjoy!


Bowled Over

“Don’t beat him if you want him to like you,” my best friend warned. Her Double Bubble breath popped with womanly advice, “If you like a guy, let him win. Duh!”

“Shut up, Cecelia! He’ll hear you,” I commanded through clenched teeth and darted from my orange inject-a-mold plastic seat towards the ball carousel. I jammed three fingers into the bowling ball’s ill- fitting grip and winced as I eyed the scoreboard. Up by a spare, I could beat ‘em all with a strike now.

My crush on Don Jackson was fresh and raw. Cupid’s arrow’d struck a fatal vein during 8th grade English class last week. He’d won the school essay contest. Nobody had beaten me in essays since the 5th grade. I was the undisputed writing champ in this school district and who was this chubby, transfer boy who challenged me? I liked him. Did he like me back?


I told Cecelia who told Nikki that I liked him. Nikki told her boyfriend who surely had told Don. We should be going steady by now, but we’d barely exchanged smiles. Had the romance grapevine wilted? I hoped this Saturday’s bowling with the church group would be fruitful.

Hiking the bowling ball under my nose as if it were a duck blind, I spun right round and spied on him one lane over. Don was sucking Coke-a-Cola through a single straw Anita Daniels offered from her own paper cup. The kiss equivalent! I was doomed.

Choking, I fixed my eyes back on my lane. Don had been panting after perky, little Anita all week. I had tried to copy her beauty secrets to attract his attention, but applying cosmetics was harder for me to achieve than a B in History.

On Monday, I stole a lipstick from my Mother’s purse and smeared it on.
“Wash your mouth, you little thief!” Mother shrieked.

On Tuesday, I wore a new sweater.
“You cost me a fortune,” Father belly-ached.

Wednesday, I washed my hair and wore it unbraided.
“Let me touch it. Let me sniff it,” whispered the youth pastor before the mid-week evening service.


I paid Shelly Jabbot a dollar on Thursday to swap desks with me so I could sit by him in Algebra for an hour. He focused intently on the subject matter while I swooned and flunked the pop quiz.

My left toe wiggled along the alley dots by rote. My eyes locked on the load of pins set fresh by the stainless steel automaton. Should I claim the win or sandbag? Was love a drug worth pursuing or would my salvation come in saving myself?

The ball pushed itself forward. My feet danced bowling alley steps they knew by heart. I felt the wind in my hair and all the power in the world as I let loose the pearl before the swine.

Who comes to eat out of Mosaicmom's and PlantDaddy's dumpster in the middle of the night?

Here comes Mr. Racoon


There goes Mr. Possum

Today will be the day to root on the team.

Go PlantDaddy Go!
Grow the Plant!
Grow the Plant!
Big Plant!

Enough of that...Now for the important stuff...

There was an article in today's paper about the upcoming Mosaics Classes. Call Jeanette at 352-253-6780 to register.

Here's the first projects of 2007.

Plant Daddy's Flower Sculpture and a Stained glass mosaic flower mirror.

Yesterday I finished the tesserae application for Plant Daddy's giant blue flower sculpture. It looks great. I will photograph it today for you.

My nose is stuffy from the wet saw. I really ought to change that water more often.
Blech!

Also yesterday, my Amazon books showed up. One is about Oscar Bluemner. More on that later.

The other is Walden by Thoreau. I was up till 1AM reading this classic. So far I think it is the ranting of a rich, unsocial, white, New England boy sitting alone in the woods and he has a brain disorder that causes him to write copious amounts of bovine excrement.

He thinks he's superior to everybody.

But he lived in 1845 when books were authority.Books really hit the market in the late 1830's according to research I did for a class once. So I guess people thought he was original.

We had to teach kids to be discriminate about what they read on the Internet. Be discriminate about things in press, too.

Cingular forced me and Plant Daddy to offer up our old cell phones. They simply wouldn't connect us to the tower anymore.

Forced to buy new phones, Mom here went to the [dreaded] Cingular store to purchase updated equipment.

Let's just say things didn't go too well. I would rather have dental surgery without anesthesia than ever set foot in that place again.

I went to Radio Shack. They were great. I have new phones. Woo hoo!
It did take 3 hours; the line at Radio Shack was huge. But everyone was in a happy mood because of the excellent worker smurfs there. Good job.

And get this!!!Because I was very patient [must be the thyroid meds]the girl told me what a nice lady I was. NICE LADY? ME!?!?!WOW!!!

But here's the problem...I really like my new, very small phone. It has a hole in the bottom where ear plugs could be ported out. I potentially could download MP3 music onto my phone and listen to music. I would like that...a lot.

They don't offer that service to us cheap pay per use, go phone customers.

Yet.

Ah Spring,,,time for chores.
(Hey, it's still 80 degrees here in Florida. We just skipped winter this year.)

Anyway Spring chores...

I got my desk clear in the studio and started 2 new projects yesterday...a mirror for me and a flower sculpture for Plant Daddy.

I had my check written out for my SAMA membership but could not mail it due to President Ford's funeral giving the Post Office a day off. It'll go out today. Yay!

I tossed a stack of old catalogs and magazines.

I started on TAXES. Grrrr.

And I checked out these birdhouses since the yard is full of robins...

Here’s the latest class listing!

From the Spring 2007 Quest
Community Education Class Schedule!

Garden Mosaics
Add a colorful focal point to your garden or patio. Use mosaics to design a stepping stone, small birdbath or terracotta pot.
6 Mondays Jan. 22 - Feb. 26 5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
(No class Feb.19th)
Tavares High School - Bldg. 2, Rm. 112 Fee: $58
603 N. New Hampshire, Tavares 32778
Note: Material fee of $10.00 per project.



If you need more info, email me.

The Mount Dora Dinner Train was right in front of our house at midnight and let loose with its train whistle rootie-toot-toot just at the stroke of twelve!

Plant Daddy and I were sipping champagne and watching the Twilight Zone! Appropriate, n'est pas?

The Twilight Zone was doing a re-run of a story about GLOBAL WARMING! Whoa!

In this morning's paper was an article about folks who get paid to blog products. They must write a disclaimer. So here goes...

I do not get paid. I use Bisazza and Durock and Hardibacker and Mapei and Custom products because I like them. If I cease to like them, you will hear about it!

Have a great Day. I'm off to watch the Rose Parade.