Clayton Hill Studio
Site of my fused glass life
T’was Two Days Before Christmas …
[MmHmm – You know how it goes …] And, all through the house, not a creature was stirring … Except for me, and Ro … Busy week! But, I am prepared!
On Tuesday, Rotunda came home. She is TOO FREAKIN’ ADORABLE!!! And, Chloe loves her too!
On Thursday, we finished our Christmas shopping. Which meant we discovered these amazing bottles. ❤ them! And, the beer is pretty tasty. I can’t wait to slump them/see what the kiln does for them!
On Friday, we did our ‘Christmas kitchen’: Chex Mix, Turtles, Peanut Butter Balls, Rollo Cracker Cookies, and (not pictured) Teryaki Pork Jerky. AND, (I know, RIGHT?!?) we finished wrapping presents … All set for Monday morning – when I get home from WORK for a magical Christmas! [I’ll take the traditional present/tree photo then.]
All the while, keeping the family well fed (pork chops/mashed potatoes/gravy, french onion soup, swai with veggies, and we tried kugel for the first time … DH loves it!), and playing with puppies. Here’s Bonnie, wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy ER nurse weekend! [Ready, Set – GO ….]
Computers & Cute Puppies
Spent 3-4 hours this week fighting with my new computer, Windows 10 and technology. Aaarrggh! I now realize nothing is compatible with Windows 10. Previously purchased (expensive) software programs (Corel, Excel, WinZip) need to be upgraded (‘at a discount’ … MY ARSE!), reinstalled, reconfigured … Good Lawdy! But, my computer, my files and my plotter are now playing nicely … just in time for some custom orders, along with other glass favorites!
Thank goodness for cute puppies! We have romp time throughout the day and my baby boy, Chloe, Gina, Bubba, Luna, Hera and Bonnie love to join in!
I’m happy to have our youngest son home again. We’ve been cooking ‘specials’ and favorites all week. And dessert. My photo didn’t do any justice, so I’m including the original and link here … Thank you, Amanda! My men-folk give it two thumbs up!
Now to have some ER nursing fun!
Full House … gonna get FULLER
Yep … we’ve got a full house, that’s for sure! Last week our Tubitha, doing her best interpretation of a ‘beached whale meets hippopotamus’ (poor girl), finally had her babies – all 12 of them. Now that we’re settling in to ‘life on the outside’, and Tubby can breathe and eat again … Well DH and I are on pup-watch. Momma Tubbs and her piglets are doing great!
And, our son comes home … today! He has completed his military training, surviving summer months in Georgia and Texas (that had this ‘hot-flashing’ Mom feeling extra sympathy for the boy). I can’t wait to see him, give him a hug and know he’s safe and sound back home! ❤
DH and I have decided Chloe needs a sister. So, Lil Miss Rotunda will be joining our gang. Is she not ADORABLE!?!
I’m wrapping up Christmas orders during stolen moments in the studio. I hope to carve out a few more hours this week for another project or two. We’ll see. With all this excitement in the house … Mom’s kitchen is in full swing!
Computer complications, cute puppies and part sheets …
The new computer is giving me grief, as I try to load programs and drivers … Aaargh! Thank goodness for cute puppies!
I’ve been making part sheets in the studio to use in projects (christmas ornaments, snowman scarves, etc.) …
And, a couple of other finished pieces:
Cooked up a big vat of potato soup, so DH will be well fed as I head off to nursing ER fun this full moon weekend!
November 17-24, 2017
Wow, what a week! We started with Arts & Greens … A special Thank You(!) to all who stopped, shopped and visited with us!!! We had a great time, despite the torrential pouring of rain that was oozing down the greenhouse wall, creating a river through the middle of our space … [Doh!]
Once the show was over, and we moved some 200+ pounds of glass/display back up the studio stairs, the old guy and I rested for a day. Then, Chloe helped me tackle replacing the relays in our production kiln. She was very attentive as I struggled with the little wires in that tiny space, but we did it! 
I met with the high-school girls for dinner. SO much going on in our lives with spouses, kids, grand-kids and/or fur-babies … ❤ you ladies! [No photos … sorry!]
On Thursday, I started an eight hour cook-off. So silly to wait until Thanksgiving day to prepare, but that’s what I did. Our bacon-wrapped, herb/butter-rubbed turkey is delicious! (Here’s the link to the recipe I’ve been following for 3 years now … http://therunawayspoon.com/blog/2011/10/bacon-blanketed-herb-roasted-turkey/)
And the rest of the fixins … Butter-herb rolls; this green bean/mushroom casserole recipe (thank you, Pinterest and Bon Appetit!); Garlic-onion smashed red potatoes (a little too heavy on the cream, but my son loved it); and Whiskey apple walnut stuffing (with spinach, sausage and cranberries).
My favorite? Our homemade gravy (which is flavored with blended bacon, onion, carrots, herbs and apple from the turkey) … YUM!!! I cheated with dessert, as we bought pumpkin and pecan pies …
I hope to spend all of Friday (today) in the studio, before I head back to the ER (work) this weekend. I’m ready for the break! Happy Thanksgiving Ya’ll!!!
T-2 …
Yep – down to the final hours of Arts N Greens preparations! So what does my production kiln do? It gives me a brand new error code. I promptly looked it up, (didn’t sound too bad …) and it looked like my kiln stopped heating at 1240 degrees. Hmmm … “it might do the tack fuse I wanted”, was my thought. I hit the ‘skip step’ sequence to advance to annealing, and I went to sleep.
Woke up to full fusing (1460 degrees) temps. Here’s my ‘SQUARE’ snowman … OUCH!!! The good news – JenKen is sending out new relays. The other news: Unless I work out a very large batch (coffin kiln), I’m done prepping … Double OUCH!
So – I’m slicing up vit-pot pattern bars. I like it … and if I cut it all up, it would make a large batch! Hmm ….
Join us this weekend at Bogie Lake Greenhouse. I’ll have neat stuff – I promise! 
Turning 29 and other news …
Celebrated another anniversary of ‘Turning 29’ … DH and I had a quiet week. I didn’t cook a single thing, and he made cake! Hmm, I might finally have this birthday thing figured out …
We watched over our pups, who are slowly opening their eyes:
I made some progress on my double-knit polka dot bag. And, received some beautiful rainbow yarn from Estonia, for this project by E.Sanders (Ravelry download):
I beaded last week’s ornaments, and cut a few more:
And, we did a vitrigraph pull, in the screened porch – steps away from the pups. We were shooting for black and white. I KNOW that black is over-powering in a stack/pull, and I thought I had it toned-down enough … NOPE! We’ll try again … After we do this coe96 red pull – maybe tonight:
A Little of This …
A little of that. A quiet week, while we watch over our pups – ‘babysitting’ at it’s most fun!
I ran the kilns a few times. Most recently, with these ornaments and night lights:
Put together a shrimp stir fry, that turned out pretty amazing:
And, I’ve started a new knitting project, thanks to KnitPicks. It’s The Molly Bag. I’m doing the circle bag, in these colors.
All while the pups sleep, eat and GROW!
Laying low … but, NOT
While my studio is quiet this week, our house is busy … We have puppies (AGAIN)! Labor started in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Many, many hours later, with lots of love, encouragement and patience – we welcomed blue, velvety-soft babies!
Which keeps us close to the whelping boxes. Thank goodness for our downstairs kitchen. I’ve been keeping Moms well fed, while doing a bit of cooking. We tried this recipe from GreatGrubDeliciousTreats … Thanks Terri, it’s delicious!
And, I’ve got a batch of chicken stock (bone broth) on slow boil … It smells amazing! I’m going to be all set for yummy Fall soups!!!
When I do steal away to the studio, I’m fussing with my new computer. I’m learning how not-so-friendly Windows 10 is with a lot of my much-loved, older programs/software. Grrrr! I have managed a few more ornaments, which I like. And, we replaced relays in my coffin kiln, so I finally fired a whole load of future spoon rests and, you guessed it … more ornaments(!):
Clayton Hill Studio 