Starting over, again.

As many of you know, I had major surgery a year ago and have had trouble getting going again.  I have had pretty bad depression (perhaps hormonal, perhaps not???) and just no real interest in anything.  It's also been a very bad winter for someone with Fibromyalgia and I've been in a lot of pain from both the surgery and the Fibro).  I've tried several times to get things going, but it's always been an effort.  Suddenly a couple days ago, my muse popped its little head back up and said, "Let's go play clay, you know "we" wanted to do this and that and try this and that, the clay table is waiting, let's get busy".  Of course, the muse, as usual, has lousy timing, now it's spring/summer and yard work and traveling await, but all the same, I welcome that creative muse back into my life.  Fortunately, on most of my travels, the muse can go with me, as I have a portable studio in our Fifth Wheel, which I showed a couple blog posts ago.

One of the things I plan to do is write a couple of tutorials.  That's time consuming, I  have found out, LOL.  I guess I usually jump in with both feet in a huge way, as I make canes to sell and I wanted to write my tutorial for the average person wanting to actually USE their cane creation.  So I had to scale myself way back.  I've also noticed with doing tutorials with my Play Clay Day group, many people want exact amounts to work with the first time they try a new tutorial and few tutorials give the exact amounts or measurements.  As the 3-4 of us work together to follow a tutorial, we come up with all kinds of different interpretations of the instructions.  We've even found that many books, although they may tell you the ratios to use, don't actually tell you how much you need to complete the instructions as written.  It can be very frustrating, even for an experienced clayer, so how much more frustrating this must be for a beginner.  So, that is what I am going to try to address in my tutorials.  So, I need to finish this up so I can get back to my clay desk.

Perhaps this has been discussed, elsewhere, but I have been out of the loop for awhile.  A couple of days ago while browsing in Michael's I saw that they have changed their clay tools drastically, in addition to carrying Lisa Pavelka stuff now, they also have newly packaged Sculpey tools (exactly like the "Studio" tools)--(I also noticed Hobby Lobby is selling out on all the "Studio" clay).  But there was also a new Extruder set (as well as a cutter set) made by Walnut Hollow.  This extruder appears to have the exact same die set as the Makins.  The main difference is that it has a HANDLE that actually cranks, rather than the bar you have to hand twist.  Of course I went home and got my 40% off coupon and purchased one.  It was about $25.00 before the coupon.



My review is mixed.  The barrel is a little shorter and thinner than the Makins.  The crank handle is great, except it is held on with a screw on thing and the nut doesn't stay on and the top is a weird rounded tip allen wrench (guessing metric, as my allen wrench doesn't fit it well).

The O ring gasket doesn't fit nearly as snugly as in the Makins so clay stays in the barrel and actually squeezes past the pusher and gums up where the threaded part is and gets stuck between the top and the pusher thing.  The dies are identical right down to the exact same shapes in the kit as in the Makins kit.  So, in closing, the only thing this extruder has in its favor is the crank type handle =(  Overall, not happy with it and will stick with my Makins for now.  Was originally planning to buy 2 (one for home and one for the 5th wheel studio), but won't bother now.


I just can't resist leaving you with a cute story and picture of my favorite pooch.  We have a garden window in the back of our "den/computer room/craft room/clay room".  It sticks out from the back of the house about 21 1/2 " and is lovely, except, the person who put it in didn't bother to tell me it gets too hot to grow many plants in it and not knowing this, I went ahead and had it put in.  To add insult to injury, it is also on the South side of the house, so it gets way too much sun and heat to grow much of anything in it.

Our puppy, Snuffles, is almost 8 months old now and is an acrobat extraordinare, LOLOL.  She is also a bit of an escape artist and very creative in her efforts to be with us.  So, back to the garden window.  I had taken to just kind of using it as a "holding place" for stuff.  There were still dead or dying plants in it and it was pretty full.  One morning, Mr. C got up to go to work and let Snuffles out of her crate (although the gate was still up half way across the room--she is doing so well on her potty training that she had graduated to having half the room to play in, and that half didn't include the clay area or the garden window--I needed to get a new cabinet and get some craft/clay stuff put up before we let her have the run of the room).  I came in about an hour later and couldn't find her anywhere.  I called and rushed around and started to call Mr.C to see if he hadn't told me something, when I heard a little whimper, so I knew she was there somewhere.  I started searching again and then saw something move in the mess I had in that window.  Plants had been knocked over, dirt etc. was everywhere, LOL, but there was my puppy, she had gotten herself up there (probably to try to get to Mr. C as he goes out that way to go to his car).  So, I got her down and put away again and tried to figure out how she had gotten out.

Next day we went and got another cabinet so I could put up the clay/craft stuff so she would be safe out, loose in the room during the day (she still gets crated at night).  I also cleaned off the bottom of the Garden Window to make it accessible for Snuffles and Coco the cat.  Cat can get up there easily, Snuffles can't.  To get into the window she had to climb onto the chair, up onto the back of the rocking recliner, and then leap onto the window (which is why she couldn't get herself back down that first time).  So, I says to Mr. C:  "We need to make some kind of a ramp for her so she can walk up there".  Mr. C., being my HERO, rolls his eyes and shakes his head, as he says, "OK, we probably have some scrap wood we can make a little ramp for her".  So, we went out to the garage/barn (have you noticed a trend here?  Nothing at our home is just one thing or has just one purpose, LOLOL  we're not only multi-taskers, we're multi-users, LOL).  We found a 6" board (which is really only 5 1/2" if you know anything about wood).  It was about the right length and looked like it would work fine.  Then I said, she needs little steps so she doesn't slide off, so poor Mr. C cuts a bunch of 1 X 2 pieces to attach and make little steps and some of that stuff that goes around the wall to hide the edge of your carpet or tile, can't think of what it is called right this minute, to make a little edge so she won't fall off.  We have to make a special trip to the hardware (fortunately, in our little town, so only a 10 minute drive rather than clear to the big towns a half hour away) to get some L brackets to attach it to the wall.  So Mr. C makes this perfect little ramp and I start training Snuffles to use her little ramp so she can get in the window.  I sigh and Mr. C. patiently asks, "What's wrong?'  I say, "It won't work, it's too steep and too slick, she can't do it and I'm afraid she'll just launch herself off the window and hurt herself.  Could we re do it and make it a little higher on the bottom end so it's not as steep.  She can jump up onto it at about 12".  What can we do to make it not slippery?"  Mr. C. (see, he's truly my Hero) takes it down, goes back to the barn/garage and finds some astroturf we have leftover from another project, staples the astroturf to the ramp and reinstalls it about a foot higher on the lower end.  I start retraining her, and it WORKS!!!  Hooray, now puppy is happy, she can get up in the window and watch us coming and going when she can't go with us.  So, all the craft stuff is put away, Snuffles has the run of the den, and even can go with me into other rooms of the house and she's in puppy heaven, LOL.  One other quick story, she wants to be with us, no matter what we do or where we go.  She doesn't particularly like baths in the kitchen sink, but we let her go into the bathroom with us when we took a shower and she jumped right in with us.  Now she gets a shower every day, anywhere I go, there goes she, it's hilarious.  We happen to have a pool, so we even decided she had better have a puppy life jacket as I suspect she'll try to come swimming with us too.  Silly puppy.  Anyway, here's a picture of Snuffles in her window.  Hope you enjoy.

So, I'm done and ready to get back to the clay table and my first tutorial, see you later.  S

We had a lot of fun at our last three Polymer Clay Play Day.  Sheesh, it seems weird to be writing about something that happened March 13 and April 11, when we just had ANOTHER Clay Play Day yesterday, April 24, but I'll do it anyway, LOL  I may be a ditz, but I'm a thorough ditz, LOLOL

All three PC Play Days, it was just me, my sister, our friend, and Mom.

March 13 we were exploring faux stones.  We tried just "river rocks", as well as faux amethyst, faux rose quartz, and faux marble in differing colors.  Some we liked, some we didn't, some needed sanding, which none of us like to do, LOL.

















We had a wonderful messy time but our hands looked worse than a little kid's hands while coloring Easter eggs.





Since Gail and Reni both work in health care fields, these beautifully stained hands wouldn't have gone over too well at work. . . but we had a wonderful rescue remedy available to us.

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, but my daughter Becky happens to be a Soap Artisan and has her own business Moon Silver Soapworks.  At my request she has developed a special recipe for a VERY special soap.  She calls it Scrubby Soap and it is fantastic at getting almost anything off your hands.  Originally she designed it to take the Polymer Clay residue off my hands since anything else that worked also dried my hands out horribly.  Becky's Scrubby Hands soap is fantastic at not only removing Polymer Clay residue, but it also leaves my hands feeling soft, moisturized and clean.  We also know it works great for grease and garden stains, but didn't have a clue if it would help with these alcohol dyes and paint or not.  We tried it and WOW, it worked, and here's the proof (photo above of clean hands).   Becky also has other wonderful soaps and candles with lovely colors and scents or unscented, if you happen to be sensitive to scents.  Go visit Moon Silver Soapworks for further information.

We also made some of our river rocks into Christi Friesen style rock gardens and rock garden pendants.


Don't you just love Reni's take on the "Pet Rocks" from the '70s?















Mom doesn't clay with us, she just comes to keep us company and chat with us.  Here she is holding our efforts for the day.

Mom also comes to cuddle with Snuffles:






April 11, we had a specific project we needed to complete.  Mom has a special group of Lady Friends she meets with on a regular basis for friendship, support, encouragement, and personal/spiritual growth.  Mom will be giving a presentation in May and for her presentation she has chosen to use the topic of Positive Thinking and Attitude is her by-word.  So, we decided to make some of my Secret Stones (based on something I got out of the Book and Video  "The Secret", which, by the way, I thoroughly enjoyed).  The idea is a small reminder of a word that has special meaning to you.  I started out with just the word gratitude, but so many people saw them and wanted other words that I decided to make others and called them Secret Stones:    I wanted them fairly small so people could carry them in their pocket or put them on or in their desk or any special place where they would see them or feel them and be able to remind themselves of the special thought or word they chose.

So, Mom was telling us about her presentation and wanted some small token to give her friends to go with her presentation and we thought of the Secret Stones with the word Attitude on them.  So, we spent the Clay Play Day making  Attitude stones for Mom and other "Secret Stones" for ourselves and friends.

While the "Secret Stones" were curing, we also made some Faux Malachite.  It was an interesting experience.  We had several tutorials for making faux malachite which were all quite different.  Reni followed one, but tweaked the colors, I followed another but didn't like the colors, so changed them up a bit, and Gail followed one made with the extruder and the colors listed in the same Tutorial Reni used.

All in all, a very successful Polymer Clay Play Day.


Yesterday, April 24 we had another Polymer Clay Play Day.  We tried a new tutorial for a flower cane:  Flowers with Curling Petals by Zuleykah.  Zuleykah is a very generous Polymer Clay Artist who does beautiful cane work as well as miniatures that look good enough to eat and other dimensional jewelry.  Zuleykah has a great blog and freely shares many how too posts on there as well.  This was a fun tutorial, although it was a little difficult as we didn't know how much clay to start with or to use for the different parts.  We managed it though and came up with the following canes:

We find it amazing that 3 people working alongside one another and following the exact same instructions can come up with 3 totally different looking canes.  As a group we decided we had used too much white and the purple one has too "high" a curled petal to look like it's curing over.  This is a cute flower even without the curling petals though, as shown on the second blue one.  Thanks Zuleykah for a fun tutorial.  While researching the website for this tutorial, I found a new one I had asked Zuleykah to make a couple of months ago for a sunflower cane and it's in her store right now.  Thanks Zuleykah.

We finished out our Clay Play Day, yesterday with attempting some bargello canes.  I just love the look of Bargello, most especially the way Kim Cavendar does it (link is to a long past workshop, but shows what I'm talking about).  Unfortunately, our attempts came nowhere even close to Kim's and weren't even worth taking pictures of.  We still had fun and got some new ideas to try and techniques to practice.

So, now I'm all caught up on my blog, if everybody hasn't already given up on me and nobody's reading it anymore, LOL.  Otherwise, all is okay in my world.  Sun is shining today, temps are in the 60's, and now I'm back to my clay table for another attempt at bargello a different way, LOL.  Hope you are all having a wonderful 2010, so far.  Smiles

I just want to know where the time goes.  I used to work full time, take care of my house, hubby, and 2 kids, volunteer for anything the kids and/or their schools needed and still got some other stuff done.  Here I am 15 years later and it seems like the days have gotten shorter or something because I'm always a day late and a dollar short. . .  Oh well, enough grouching, here's the missing post I promised several weeks ago.

Let's see, this one was supposed to be about polymer clay, wasn't it?  Let me go fetch some pictures and I'll figure out what I'm supposed to be writing about. . . (yes, even my cell phone ring tone is "If I only had a brain", LOLOL

While we were on our camping trip to Kentucky, I started working on a new cane.   We choose this particular 5th wheel so that I would have an area to clay in.  The original idea didn't work out as to where I was going to work, but we worked it out.  We got a special coffee table that the lid raises up to table height and since it's just the two of us, we use that for our "dining table" and the actual dining area has become my mini studio.  It works out great.  I can leave my glass table top on the table and leave my clay stuff out as I'm working on whatever.  Here are a couple pictures of my mini studio:  

I have this idea for making what I am personally calling a "Mandalascope" cane.  Here is the picture of the first one I wanted to try.  I loved the colors and the design and felt it would translate well into clay:

Here is the put together cane.
 It went together perfectly, the colors were good or at least as close as I could get them:

It was hard to reduce because of the non equaliteral  size and shape, but it did reduce and reduced fairly well.  BUT. . .

As you will see, in the following pictures, the individual parts were too small to allow for much reduction.  It worked, but I don't like it!!!!

It's pretty, but not what I was visualizing, so back to the drawing board.  Maybe I should stick to flowers and butterflies and leaves, they seem to be what I do best, LOLOL



Anyway, that was my big project during that short trip to Kentucky.  I also started some more leaf canes, as my store is nearly empty and I need to get some more canes in there.  I also had an idea for making the Sarah Shriver type Kaleidoscope a little bigger and more "mine", I'll have to try that in the near future.

I almost forgot, although it's a little late now, LOL.  Just before we left on our trip I received the Around the World Swap started by Tonja Lenderman .  This was a swap of Trash to Treasures.  Tonja started it out with a box full of goodies, could be anything, didn't even have to be Polymer Clay.  Mostly any crafty stuff you wanted to move on to someone else.  As each participant received it, they were to take out anything they felt they wanted or could use and then add roughly the same amount of stuff and send it to the next person on the list.  It went all over the world.  It finally got to me a couple days before we left on our trip.  Here is a quick picture of what was there when it got to me:  this was a bulk rate small medium flat rate Priority box and it was stuffed to the gills, honestly stuffed.  Problem was that some things had gotten broken being stuffed so tightly.  Also, even after I took out the few things I wanted, there just wasn't any room to add my stuff.

 So, I called Tonja and we decided I should throw out anything broken, and then sort it and send any definite duplicates back to Tonja, add my stuff to the original box, and send it on.  So, this is what I did, and added some of my stuff to both boxes, the one to Tonja and the one to the next person on the list.

Here are some of the things I wanted to add back into the box, but since they didn't all fit, I couldn't.  Some of them I put in the extra box back to Tonja, I added what I could and then sent it on.

I also included a box of miscellaneous canes.  I was disappointed that I couldn't put in all I had planned, as I had some nice supply type items I had hoped someone else could get some use out of.



It turned out that someone who didn't make it into the first swap wanted to start another one, so Tonja used the box of  extras and sent it to that person to help them start their own Trash to Treasure Swap.


So, that's it for this post, but I have two more I need to do today, I'm so very far behind and this is my priority today, to catch up the blog.  Thanks for visiting with me, watch for more today.  Smiles  S

Hmmm, well, here I am again, better late than never, I guess.  I have absolutely no excuse, either.  Oh yeah, I could make up excuses 'til the cows come home, but it doesn't really matter, now does it???   I'm going to break this into 2 posts, because I have so much to add.  Some is personal people kind of stuff and some is Polymer Clay stuff and it's too much for 1 post.  First I'll do the personal kind of stuff.

Okay, first we were in Nevada for a week of R&R and to see Mr. C's Dad and Step-Mom.  Then we both got horribly sick with bronchitis and upper respiratory infections and just plain didn't feel like doing anything.  We did have a Clay Play Day sandwiched in there, but that's in the next post (even though it happened first, LOLOL).  Then we started getting ready for our first camping trip of the season, a short jaunt to be sure everything is in working order.  We didn't have a clue where to go, but it was Mr. C's 4 day weekend (he gets one of those every 6 weeks, I think I explained his crazy schedule, in a previous post, LOL).  Since that 4 day weekend also had Good Friday attached, (which was a Holiday for him as he's on relief crew that week), he took 1 day of vacation so they couldn't force him to do any overtime, thereby giving us a 6 day long weekend with only 1 actual vacation day.  Isn't that grand???  We didn't have a clue where to go, as I said before.  My only request was that it be south, I wanted out of the cold.  (As a side note here, it was apparently very nice and warm, although stormy at home while we were gone).  We only wanted a 1 day drive (4-6 hours is plenty pulling this monstrosity of a 5th wheel we call our Condo on Wheels).  So we chose to go to the Kentucky Lakes area.

 It has been beautiful.  The trees are starting to leaf out, the flowering bushes and spring flowers are all blooming.  The weather has been sunshiny for the most part with temps in the 80s.  We are the only people at the campground we ended up choosing, LOL.  It's not a fancy campground, but our only requirements were sewer, water, 50 amp electric and large enough pull thru sites to handle our 40 ft 5th wheel.

There have been a couple overnighters, but we're the only ones staying here.  We've driven around some to see the sights, but planned on some hiking which our lazy fannies need and didn't do, LOLOL  We've mostly just hung out at the trailer, doing clay and computer stuff and just plain relaxing.  It's been nice.

Miss Snuffles has had the time of her life.  She is with her most favorite people in the world nearly 24/7, she has windows she can get up in and see the world pass by.  She can run and chase toys without skidding across the floor and into the walls.  She's also an excellent car/truck passenger.  She has her own little "booster seat" so she can see out the window if she wants, but mostly she just curls up and sleeps.  I've tried to catch her picture, but she's so interested in everything I do that if I get the camera out she leaves off what she's doing to come see what I have in my hand.   I do have one "bad picture" taken in a "rear view mirror", of her in her car seat.  She has been so good.  We realized about 10 days before our trip that she had never been on carpeting and since she's "litter box trained" to a puppy pad we suddenly realized she might not know the difference between carpet and her potty pad.  So we put a bunch of rugs down in her puppy area (she's doing so well she has graduated to half the den, now, rather than just a 6 ft area).  She tore up the rugs, she chewed and played and scratched and tried to "dig to China" through them.  We were really starting to worry about how this was going to work out.  As we prepared the trailer we took her out there with us and helped her learn to climb up the steps and back down them (she's a great jumper, as small as she is).  Our poor old Sheltie was so set in his ways he hated camping and hated having to be carried into and out of the trailer (he couldn't jump or climb, he was old and had arthritis) that after the first couple of tries, we gave up and just took him to his familiar kennel when we went on trips.  He was happier that way, and therefore, so were we, but I really wanted to be able to bring our dog along, and now with Snuffles, we CAN.  Anyway, she has only started to have one accident and fortunately we caught her and showed her where she was supposed to go and she's not had a single accident since, KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

Oh, I forgot, at the end of March, Snuffles had her first  haircut.  She was starting to look like a mop, an actual rag mop and even though I know Shih-Tzu's are known for their long flowing hair, she is only half Shih-Tzu and we wanted her hair kept easy to care for.  So we had her cut in a puppy type cut and she looks so cute.  The gal who did it said she was very good, in spite of being such a wiggle butt!!!  Isn't she just the cutest???  She's the light of our pet lives, LOL.

One last picture, for now and then I'll leave the puppy stories behind (at least for now, LOL)

Ooo, wheee, we just got 2 neighbors, wonder if they're just here for the night or to saty awhile?

So, that's it for an update of what I've been doing on a personal note, on to the Polymer Clay stuff in the next post.

Okay, so I lied, we just finished nearly a mile long hike with poor little short legs, (Snuffles, not mine, although mine are pretty short too,  LOL).  We never did find the stupid river, LOL.  But here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment:





























And, last but now least, another picture of our big truck and 5th wheel:
And that's truly all for this trip, except for the clay info:

Boy have we had a wild week.  We were actually out of town (didn't want to announce it ahead of time, didn't want to "invite" any burglars or anything by announcing we'd be gone, LMAO).  Although we have absolutely nothing we own that would be worth a burglar's time or effort, I still want to protect what is mine.  We may not own anything worth stealing monetarily, but it all has sentimental or emotional worth to me.

So, you may ask, where did you go, what did you do, what did you see. . . patience, my friend, I'm getting to that and I'll tell you all about it.

First things first, is an explanation that Mr. C's Dad and Step-Mom live in Albuquerque, NM.  They happen to enjoy casinos and Mr. C's Mom used to live in CA.  so, in order to fit them all into our vacation time we used to go to CA to see "Mom" and then met "Dad" and "J" in Las Vegas or Laughlin, NV for a few days of fun.  Mr. C's Mom, has, sadly, departed this life (very unexpectedly 4 years ago) but we always had such fun with "Dad and J" that we still try to meet them in NV at least once a year.  We fly out and they drive from Albuquerque and we meet in Laughlin.  We try out all the casinos and walk and talk and eat and chat and eat and play and eat (well, you get the idea).  We actually aren't "big" gamblers, we only play penny machines and Mr. C usually won't even put in the smallest wager, LMAO.  I always use "all my lines" at the lowest penny amount as all I really want is to play with the bonuses.  (If you don't know anything about slot machines, the previous sentences won't make a bit of sense to you, so just understand that we are really cheap gamblers, LOLOLOL).  We view gambling as a shopping trip, we decide how much we can afford to spend on these games and that is that.  As to how we did this year, I'll get to that later.

Anyway, so we left last Sunday (Valentine's Day) to drive to St. Louis, where we would spend the night at a place that lets you leave your car with them and then would fly out on Monday.  Usually we fly Southwest and go for non-stop flights, but decided we didn't want to get up at the b---crack of dawn (as daughter B so eloquently puts it) to go sit at the airport waiting for a flight.  So, we opted for American with a change of planes in Dallas. . . well, we should have gotten a clue that our luck was not going to run well that first night. . .

We got to St. Louis with only cold rain.  So far, so good, stopped at Collinsville at Golden Corral (our very favorite place to eat).  When we left the restaurant there was roughly an eighth of an inch of ice on all the windows and it was still coming down but was turning white (slushy, icy, hard, sleety, snowy, nasty white).  We left fot the motel and slip slid our way the next 20 miles (more or less, it seemed like 80) to the motel.  Even the semis were only creeping along, people in the ditches on all sides of us.  Scary drive, especially when we didn't know the roads that well or where we were going, but we got there.  We were a little worried about our flight the next morning, but we got up and called and no problem, flights were as scheduled etc.  So we took the motel van to the Airport and found our terminal and gate, had breakfast and went to sit and wait, and wait, and wait. . . and wait.  Our boarding time came and went and finally they announced that our flight would be delayed by about 2 hours.  The plane we were supposed to take had come from Washington D.C. and when it got to St. Louis one of the "de-icer valves" wouldn't open, so they had to get us another plane and get it all ready etc.  We were supposed to have about 3 hours between planes in Dallas, so we weren't too worried. . . until we finally got on our plane and waited to take off etc. and looked at the map of the Dallas Airport.  We've never been to or through the Dallas airport before. . . it's HUGE and kind of like a clover leaf and the only way to get from terminal to terminal is via a monorail kind of train.  Of course, they announce the gates for the connecting flights and we're landing two terminals away from where our connecting flight is going to be.  If we could have been first off the plane we might have made it. . . we had twenty minutes from the time we left our seats to get off the plane, and through the crowds and onto the monorail thing and then to our gate. . . I'm sure you've already seen the punch line in all this. . . yep, we made it about 5 minutes too late.  Other people from our flight were there waiting too and said the plane left a few minutes early because they were there before us and it was already gone.

So, we patiently waited in line for them to put us on the next available fight.  BUT, the next flight that had seats available was at 6:00 AM THE NEXT MORNING!!!!  What are we supposed to do until 6 am the next morning.  This would mean we would/could lose our rental car price (which was very good), our Hotel reservation, etc.  If we left and got a motel, there is every chance we wouldn't be able to find a motel with shuttle service early enough to get us back to the airport early enough (since you have to do an hour to two hour early check in nowadays).  We asked if there was anything else they could do, any other flight, any other airlines etc.  They said all we could do was go to the ticket counter and see if they could and would do anything else.  So, that's what we did (which meant another trip through security, which anyone who flies nowadays knows is a royal pain in the. . . well, you know where).  

So we trudged out to the Ticket Counter and fortunately got a very nice agent with an extra observant multi-tasking fellow agent next to him.  He looked and looked trying to find us another flight and wasn't having any luck.  The gal next to him was on the phone waiting for an answer from another airline and was looking over our guy's shoulder and pointed and said, what about that US Air Flight.  He had been scrolling through quickly enough he hadn't seen it.  He thanked her profusely (and so did we, LOL) and he went back to it and found 2 seats still available on it for 2 hours from then (at least he said it "looked like they were viable/available seats on a viable flight").  Hooray, he issued the tickets with priority passes and boarding and we went back through security and to the US Air gate where the guy issued us actual boarding passes and seats assignments etc.

We called the Rental Car place, they said no problem, we called our Hotel and they said, no problem.  We called Mr. C's Dad and J and told them we would see them the next morning as we'd be in really, really late.  So we sat and patiently waited, but everything went off as planned, we got to Las Vegas and got our car and took off on the drive to Laughlin.  We got to our Hotel and found that in spite of our calling ahead they had given away our room.  A little aside here, I am horribly allergic (as in asthmatic) to smoke (which is why we chose Laughlin over Las Vegas, as most of the casinos have non-smoking areas).   I still take my Singular and my allergy meds and inhaler with us anytime we will be in that type of places though, just in case.  The only room they had available was a handicapped smoking room (but the guy says, "maybe since it's for handicapped people they aren't as healthy and not as apt to smoke"----NOT).  The minute we got off the elevator we knew we were in trouble.  It reeked, even in the hallways.  The room was so bad I thought I would choke to death, but I medicated myself and said, well, we don't really have a choice, we'll make do for one night.

Another little aside here (although it's a little personal. . .) I have a personal hang-up/phobia, whatever you want to call it, about showers and tubs, especially public ones.  I am creeped out (the computer says that's not a word, but it is in MY dictionary) very easily if bathing facilities aren't just as I expect them to be and I won't sleep or bathe in those situations.  This turned out to be one of those situations.  I was setting out our personal items to get ready for bed and Mr. C comes into the bathroom and moves aside the shower curtain and said, "Did you see this?"  Of course he knew I hadn't seen it or he would have already heard about it, LOL.  It wasn't a nice clean white tub/shower combo, it was a handicapped room with a shower open to the bathroom, all dark tiles and the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor.  So, without further ado we will skip the fact that I didn't get any sleep that night and the next morning we dragged all our luggage down to the desk and told them it wouldn't do and if they couldn't provide the room we had paid for we would have to go elsewhere.  Low and behold, they said, we'll put you in room such and such, they just left, it's another handicapped room, but is non-smoking.  We said, NO, we want a regular room with a regular tub/shower, a king size bed and non-smoking, like we reserved.  He hemmed and hawed and said come back at 11 and he'd see who had checked out and try to get us into a room then.  So we left our bags with them and went and had breakfast with Dad and J.

We should have known by this time that "Lady Luck" had totally deserted us, LMAO, and sure enough, none of us won anything.  That's okay for Mr C and me, as I said before, we don't go expecting to win, we don't view it that way, to us gambling is like paying to play a game of golf or go to the movie or something, we spend for a few hours of entertainment.

We went back to the desk at 11 and they assigned us to a room but we couldn't get the keys until it had been cleaned.  So, we finally got into our room and it was just as expected and the rest of the time was fairly uneventful.  One evening we went to an Oakridge Boys Concert (which is why we chose to go at the particular time of  year we chose, LOL).  It was a good concert, as usual, with one exception.  I don't understand why nowadays at concerts they always shine or flash lights into the audience.  I happen to have an undiagnosed case of strobe epilepsy.  My family all know about it and I know to protect in certain instances (like light flashing through trees while driving) but when it is unexpected it can throw me into petit mal seizures which isn't fun at all, so half the concert I sat there with my hands tightly over my eyes, which made it much less enjoyable.  We've seen the Oakridge Boys in Concert many many times and after they got their own theater in Branson decided we wouldn't be able to see them anymore because in their new theater they had decided to join the bandwagon and start the flashing lights into the audience stuff.  We thought we'd be safe due to the small stage size and venue at the Casino, so we went to see them, but no, they had the stupid lights there, too.  We have always enjoyed concerts, but have walked out on a couple due to the light situation and have finally concluded we can no longer attend any concerts, as it seems "everybody's doin' it" with the light shows now.   So, guess I'm stuck with my CDs (which is lots less expensive, at least).

So, we enjoyed our 4 days with Dad and J and the weather couldn't be beat.  It was in the mid 60s and the sun was shining and it was just beautiful.  I could have gladly stayed for the rest of the winter.  All I needed was my puppy, my clay, and my own bed and I'd have been a happy camper.  Actually, if you don't already know, we own a 40 ft fifth wheel trailer, just so I DO have my own bed and shower etc.  as well as a mini clay studio "to go".  Only problem is that Mr. C isn't retired yet, so we are still restrained by "vacation time" and don't want to waste that precious time on driving.  So, when we go West, we fly.  When we go to see the kids or anywhere in the East or Central US we take our trailer.  It is so nice, we jokingly call it our condo on wheels.  We plan it to be our "retirement home" when we finally get to that stage.

The final two days of our vacation we went back to Las Vegas and stayed there.  Our Hotel room there was "supposedly" a non smoking room, but the smell was so imbedded in the carpet, drapes, etc. that it might as well have been a smoking room (and, in fact, I suspect it is a smoking room when they need extra smoking rooms).

But, we had the most marvelous time on Saturday night.  We went to see:

His show was absolutely fantastic. I laughed until I almost cried.
If you don't know who Terry Fator is, go to YouTube and search for him and watch a couple of his videos.  He won America's Got Talent a year or so ago and is a fantastic entertainer.  He is a ventriloquist, but not JUST a ventriloquist, he's also an impersonator, but not JUST an impersonator, he is a SINGING impersonator, BUT. . . not JUST a singing impersonator, he combines all three talents and is a singing impersonating ventriloquist.

We own his DVD "Live in Las Vegas" but his show doesn't just follow his DVD, he mixes it up and changes it a bit.

He did start the show with is great turtle and had many of the same puppets he normally uses, but had some new stuff/acts as well.


He even has a new puppet we've never seen before and I want to go back again to video tape that part to share with my friends.

Mr. Fator is the nicest guy.  Although the theater says no cameras etc. Mr. Fator said point blank that he doesn't care if you have cameras (as he put it, we all know we smuggled in our cameras and might as well use them), and that flashes don't bother him or his puppets and we were welcome to take all the photos we want and could even video tape portions of the show.  He said the ushers would stop anyone trying to tape the entire show, but if we wanted to just tape our favorite parts he didn't care.

Anyway, this is the newest puppet, he's "a Beatle"  when asked which one, the following picture was shown (as well as many others).

He also claimed to be a songwriter and every couple of lines or jokes he would say he had written a song about it.  The songs were all "re-worded" Beatle songs and they were hilarious, including one about Tiger Woods.  We want to go back again and tape that part, it was so cute and funny.

He closed his show with the Turtle and he singing one of the songs he did on America's got talent.  It was just wonderful and we all left with big smiles on our faces.

Mr. C and I had our picture taken, one of the very few with both of us in it.

The final night in Las Vegas, we went to see Rick Thomas, a magician.  He was okay and his act was okay, but if you've ever seen David Copperfield, you've seen Rick Thomas.  He did have some cool/pretty tigers and birds in his show, but way too much song and music and lights for our liking.  In  the hour and a quarter long show, if you took out all the music/dance/light stuff the actual magic was probably about 20 minutes worth, if that.

So, we were ready to come back home and get back to our usual routines.

You know the saying, though. . . "What happens in Las Vegas, STAYS in Las Vegas"?  Well, in this instance that wasn't true, because Mr. C got bronchitis and an ear infection and brought it home with him and ever so nicely shared it with me, so we're neither one feeling too good.

One more little bit of excitement happened on the way home, though. . . (I'm never flying through Dallas again). . . We got to Dallas with plenty of time to catch our connecting flight.  Went to get on that automated monorail thing (no driver, no people, no bell to ring or anything. . . yes, there's a reason I'm telling this).  We needed to get from Terminal C to Terminal D (which for some weird reason goes through Terminal E, which makes no sense, but. . . that's the way it is).  So, we get on and it stops for the second half of Terminal C, stops for Terminal E, and says the next stop is Terminal D, gates 1-20 (we needed D-37) and to stand away from the doors yada, yada, yada, and then it blows PAST that stop.  It announces Terminal D, gates 21-40 and blows PAST that stop, goes about half way to the next stop (Terminal A, I think) and just stops, in the middle of two stops, in the middle of the air, so to speak.  We're all looking at each other and Mr. C says, what do we have, a runaway car???  Finally, the speaker comes on and they announce there has been a security breech in Terminal D and so they can't let anyone on or off the monorail thing at Terminal D.  We're all still looking at each other saying, Uh, what do we do now, sit and ride this thing all day until it decides it can let us off at our terminal, (we're personally down to about 20 minutes to our next flight, now).  Finally, they announce they have cleared the security problem and will continue our "ride".  So, it gets to the next stop, we all stream off our monorail car and across the platform and onto the car going the other direction BACK to Terminal D.  No more excitement after that, we got safely to our Terminal, our Gate, onto our plane and back to St. Louis.  Got the Van back to our Car and headed home.  We got home about 11 pm and fell into bed.

Oh yeah, I told you I'd tell you how the gambling went. . . well. . . as expected, we LOST, LOLOLOLOL  No big surprise there.  BUT, we only spent about half what we had "earmarked" for spending, so we feel we came home winners anyway.  Actually, we won some and we lost some, but the machines weren't nearly as "loose" as they have been in the past, so they weren't nearly as much fun.

So, yesterday, we spent going to the Dr. for Mr. C and getting the puppy picked up and grocery shopping to refill the fridge and started catching up on computer, mail, etc.  Today I've spent the morning catching up on all the blogs I follow,  playing with Snuffles, and just generally relaxing.  It is so COLD here though, I wish I was back in Laughlin.

So, that's all my news, hopefully my Fairy Child teacher has my critique's done on my heads so I can continue with my sculpting class and away I go.  Hope you missed us a little bit.  Talk to you later.  Smiles

Oooohhh, boy, have I been a blog slug lately (I obviously made up that term, but I think it fits).  I have no excuse whatsoever, except that I have absolutely nothing to say or write about.  My thoughts seem to have taken a hiatus (which for me is a blessing, honestly!!!).  I've been lazy as lazy as can be.  We're getting ready to take a trip in the near future (I'll tell you all about it when we get back, LOL) and I'm not anywhere near ready.

I have to admit, I've taken a bit of a "trip" to Facebook and have been so busy building up my farm and my zoo that there just hasn't been any room or time for anything else.  I honestly think there must be some type of subliminal messaging going on in the background of those games, as it's honestly ALL I  WANTED to do for days and hours on end.  Even my sweet Mr. C. got into the act and we have found ourselves lost for hours every evening building our farms, snagging bonuses, hatching eggs, plowing, planting, waiting and harvesting crops, just to do it all again.   I also had 3 other games I was supposed to be playing, but I finally gave up on trying to keep up on 5 games.  Sorry to anybody I "ignore" on their invites, but 2 games is all I can handle and actually more than I SHOULD be playing.  But it's such fun, and relaxing and non-demanding (unless trying to catch all the bonuses could be called demanding).  I now have my farm basically where I want it and I'm happy with the level I'm on with my zoo, so I plan to take a break (I'm actually finally getting a little bored with them. . .) and I'm ready to get back to what's important (life, clay, housework, you know, REAL things like that).  But I must admit it's been a good break, I don't think I've done anything like this in my life, and I've had a lot of fun.

We have had a bit of snow and cold, again, but nothing compared to what our daughter B and her family have had out in VA.  She said the kids have only gone to school 1 (one) day in February due to weather.  They lost power for several days and finally had to resort to a motel for some heat for the kids.  The kids didn't mind at all, they got to go swimming, so they were in seventh heaven.

Well, I'd better run for now, have things to do and get off this COMPUTER.  More later.

PS.  I haven't posted about my sculpture class and critique, yet because the instructor got called out of state unexpectedly and hasn't had a chance to do the critique yet.  I'll let you know when she does.  Hugs and smiles to all my friends.

I just came to check into comments (I was right, we ran half the day, so I didn't have anything new to post about) and my followers have all disappeared.  PLEASE, if you were a follower, "join" up (or whatever) again, I like to see who looks at my blog, it gives me a sense of connection.  Thanks, Sad Smile and hugs, S