Author: mud&string

Mother, daughter, wife, grandma, friend, animal lover, potter, knitter, Catholic and finally, retiree. Will work for yarn and/or clay and tend to geek out on any and all the above at the drop of a hat, provoking glazed expressions from g
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Has My Warranty Expired? or Now What!!??

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It’s 11:48 p.m. and I’m wearing my insomniac hat tonight. Now, it’s 11:49 p.m. which gives me about 11 minutes to have that last glass of water before midnight. If you’ve ever undergone a “procedure”, you’re familiar with the nothing to eat or drink after midnight rule. So, yes, there is a “procedure” in my near future. To be more specific, tomorrow at 11:30, I’m having oral surgery to extract three molars on the right and placement of two screws into my upper jawbone for eventual implants and a bridge. I admit that while I don’t have a phobia regarding dentists, I do get anxious a few days beforehand. I will be under heavy sedation so intellectually I know that it will be painless and quick, it’s just that my nervous stomach and jitters haven’t received the It’ll be OK memo.

This dental adventure on top of my broken arm and my subsequent ER visit, followed by a visit to a hand and arm specialist and the surgery to repair it using a steel fixator and let’s not forget about Covid-19 and it’s cousin, Quarantine, has me wondering what next!

I got a photo of my postop x-ray. BTW, if looking at stuff like this makes you feel woozy or sick I encourage you to skip over the low tolerance stuff.

This month’s Knit Crate carried a naked hank of yarn and enough kool-ade to dye it up right. Here’s how mine turned out using cherry on half and blue raspberry on the other half. I think it will knit up into a very interesting pair of socks.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

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This Wasn’t In the Plan

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How is everyone holding up while sheltering in place or self quarantining or social distancing or whatever it’s being called where you are? Casa Coleman was doing pretty well up until midnight Thursday. That’s when I fell down on my way to the bathroom and broke my right arm. In doctor speak that would be a fracture of the distal radius with some telescoping into the joint. We went to the ER around 5 a.m. where they x-rayed my arm and casted it.  Yesterday I saw an orthopedic surgeon and got set up for surgery to repair the break with a plate and screws this coming Tuesday.  😑 The worst thing, though, is that I’m right handed and can’t knit, can’t throw pots, can’t do anything myself except sleep.

Monday Night

Tomorrow’s the big day, the day I actually can start healing.  I miss being busy and today has been especially long and hard.  On top of being bored, this cast is starting to be less than fresh. Yuck.

Tuesday Afternoon

It’s over and done with and I’m told it all went very well – The last thing I remember is the big lights in the OR and being moved from the gurney to the OR table. Nine hours post op fracture and no pain (so far) thanks to the nerve block. 😁😁😁 Nothing lasts forever though so there are pain meds at the ready. 💊

My Bangkok grands, left to right, Annabelle, Emma and Susannah. My Bangkok beauties and their precious faith keep me going!

We walk by faith, not by sight. The Holy Bible

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If this is a rerun, I’m sorry. I think I actually neglected to hit Publish when this post was done. Musta been the pain meds!

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Could the End Be In Sight??

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You’d think that with the quarantine/social distancing/mask wearing and sheltering in place I’d be throwing pots and knitting like a maniac, but my orthopedic adventures brought these things to a screeching halt. The backstory is here if you missed it the first time around.

Anyhow, besides just the couple of weeks being bored out of my mind because I couldn’t do much of anything – when you break your dominant arm you’re pretty much out of luck for a while – being housebound hasn’t been too bad. You can bet, though, as soon as I got my cast off I was knitting, even if it was a super slow process. I got my hands back into the clay, finally able to finish what I’d started before I broke my arm and every day is a  little bit better than the day before. Here’s three very patient pots that waited for me to heal.

 

Word on the street is that life is starting to normalize.  Mr. iknead said there was toilet paper on the grocery shelves, no hand sanitizer or gloves, but at least it’s a move in the right direction.

 

From error to error one discovers the entire truth. Sigmund Freud

 

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p.s. Don’t forget to visit my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery.  I’m always adding new pots and you don’t want to miss out on the perfect one!

 

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Cooler Heads

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Thank heaven for cooler heads!!! I took ya’lls advice and put Gray Days in timeout for about a week, during which I calmed down a bit, enough for an attitude adjustment. . I picked it up again Monday morning and Gray Days is knitting up well and once again, all is well at Casa Coleman. 🙂 Here’s a look at my new, improved Gray Days Gansey:

Things are also going well in the pottery studio also.  I’ve had a couple of kiln unloads that I’m  very pleased with and want to share with you all.  Both pieces are made of the same clay, Speckled Brownstone.

 

Thanks to all who sent me good advice when I was ready to relegate Gray Days to my personal limbo — the back of my closet.

Oh, and don’t forget to visit my etsy shop for more pottery love!

And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.

William Blake

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Bummed

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So for the second time, I frogged the cable section on Gray Day and tried to fix a mistake.  Made a bigger mistake that just got worse and worse.  I’m fighting the temptation to relegate it to the WIP basket that resides in the deepest, darkest part of my closet, never to be seen again.  Should I give it another chance??  What would you do?

 

One fails forward toward success. Charles Kettering

 

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A Real Post As Promised

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I finally got my Etsy update finished and posted. If you haven’t visited my shop, consider this your invitation. I had a pretty good pull out of my kiln yesterday so another update is in the works so BOLO!

Here’s what’s happening here at Casa Coleman –

The Gray Days sweater has undergone a radical amputation and is about half the size it was when last shared. 😩 One of the cables went rogue necessitating a radical frogging. In my world, it’s more efficient to place a lifeline, take the needles out and just unravel. Tinking cables…..well, we just won’t go there. 😉

Here’s a look at some of yesterday’s firing –

The cookies are glaze tests; the green is Amaco’s Potter’s Choice Wasabi celadon and the blue is also an Amaco PC glaze, Downpour celadon. The large piece is wearing Downpour also.

Grandgirl #2, Harper has had the flu, but is on the mend fortunately. Now praying that the other two avoid it. 🙏🙏🙏

The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. Christopher McCandless

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