Travel Log

Over the summer this blog will temporarily move from craft/general posting to travel posting. Originally I had intended to go over to Europe for 8-10 weeks and do a Grand Tour of Western Europe, of sorts. Sadly, thanks to the falling economy (the money I have saved is worth less and the price of flights to Europe just tripled) I have to cut it short. I'm hoping for 6 weeks but I think in reality its going to be more like 4 weeks. Which is extremely sucky, but there's really nothing I can do about it. I need to be a responsible adult and not go into ridiculous credit card debt if I run out of money while I'm there. Sigh.
After making this decision, I consoled myself by buying my backpack for the trip. I had my REI Co-Op member 20% off discount for March, and obviously I wanted to use it on the pack. Alexis was kind enough to accompany me and watch my stuff. I had originally hoped to get the biggest pack that would still be reasonable for the trip but as it turned out I had less choice in the matter than most. My tiny 5 foot barely 3 inch frame doesnt allow for comfortable wearing of most packs. But luckily with the help of awesome backpack fitter guy at REI, I was able to find one that fit perfect and still had a decent capacity. I ended up with the Gregory Jade 50 womens size small pack and I Love it! The REI guy showed me how to put it on, what all the straps were for, how to pack it up, and even put in 15 lbs of weights so I could give it a test drive. I'm super excited about my pack now, did I mention that I love it? (:

In other news the Rook has finally stopped hurting like crazy but now it itches like hell. Its annoying, but perfectly normal.
Also, a spring update on the Resolutions: today the scale read the smallest number I've seen in over 2 years! So excited. I'm just 2 lbs away from my pre-diabetes weight (the Byetta is def helping). Too bad all of it has come off of my breasts, arms, and back and not my belly. So I still have a beer gut that I need to work on.
Hopefully I will be casting on a second go at a first sock soon. I've made major progress on the 2 year mittens for my sister, too bad my gauge has changed over the years and I had to rip the new one out. Grrrr.

Lovely Day and old ceramic FO's

hey! its been a lovely day! everything is going my way
i had so much fun today and i'm on fire

I've had the Dresden Dolls song Good Day in my head ever since I left the doctor's office this morning. And that's kinda odd for me, having a good day so early and after a visit to the doctor at that! So I just had to share. But I didnt want to keep posting about life only so I finally got around to photoshopping collages of some of the ceramic Raku FO from the first time I tried Raku.
So why is it such a good day? Well, I wore my brand spankin new coat, North Face Apex Bionic, and it rocks. Then, I found out I've lost 8 lbs since starting Byetta in November and my A1c is as low as its ever been so I'm super stoked. I dont think I've ever heard any of my diabetes dr's say "Wow, way to go, good job!" Resolution 2 is all set (just have to keep it up) and Resolution 1 is well on the way. (even despite my friday night drinking habit, or maybe b/c of it?) And its not even March! Have I mentioned I'm on fire?

Speaking of fire, lets talk about Raku. Raku is sooo much fun. You glaze the pots with special, partly dangerous glazes (heavy metals anyone??). Then you pop them into a kiln, and heat it super hot. I'm pretty sure we were doing ours to Cone 06 which is roughly 1800 F. Then you open the kiln while its still hot, take your pieces out using special tongs - and wearing lots of protective gear - so you dont burn yourself or set on fire. Then you put your piece into a metal bin full of combustibles (wood chips, newspaper) and after they set on fire you put a lid on it. oooh Fire! Then you wait for it all to cool off and then clean all the soot off your stuff.
The pieces below are ok. Not super exciting or good, but they gave me an idea of what its all about.





Here we have a small vase with a green crackly glaze on the outside and a white crackly glaze on the inside. I'm not a fan of the green dripping into the white on the inside, but other than that its pretty neat.














Here we have an example where too many different glazes killed the piece. But the flash of color like an oil spot gave me hope of using the one glaze again and trying for that specific effect.
















I think the glaze came out nice on this one despite it being a dumpy looking object. I like the range of green I can get with varying thickness of glaze.























This one is by far my favourite. The color is better than the pictures depict. Its mustard yellow with black cracks. It reminds me of a lion. And I had some fun constructing this sort of wacky combo of a thrown/hand built object so I'm glad the glaze suits it.








Evening edit: day got even better. Moved up to 10 lb free weights today and they didnt strain the neck. Bergeron is back on skates! AND the Bruins shut out the evil Senators tonight 4-0. Oh what a night!

real life injects itself into crafters blog

I know as of late there have been more non-crafty posts than crafty ones, and I promise soon to put up my Secret Spook goodies, some FO ceramics, and some knitting and crocheting WIP's but right now i need to talk about something else.
Today at work I've gotten absolutely nothing done. Well, ok, I made 3 graphs. But mostly I've just been sitting here staring out into space wishing to feel better. I know I should probably just go home and curl up in a ball and watch tv, but I dont want to. I want to be normal and feel normal again. I dont think I'm making any sense. Maybe I should explain. This is day 3 of Byetta injections. After three years of tinkering, hoping, tinkering more, and crossing fingers my endocrinologist and I have come to the conclusion that metformin just isnt adequate. Its not doing it for me. And so on to other meds. Since I've already tried so many different diabetes meds there were few options left. After months of researching on my part I made the decision to try Byetta again. I've been on it before and had success until my life got whacky while studying for the MCAT's and i stopped exercising and eating properly. So I knew what to expect. I knew the first month is hell. But it doesnt make it any easier. The nausea is overwhelming. The space-cadetness is overwhelming. Eating ginger helps with the nausea. But I have yet to find a remedy for this foggy-headed dream land I'm in. I dont remember this being part of the slew of side effects I encountered the first time I tried Byetta, so maybe it goes away relatively quickly. I hope. The worst part is I cant even concentrate long enough to knit!
Right now I'm trying to stay focused on the positives that I remember (decreased appetite, weight loss, less sore-ness and tired-ness and fatigue during workouts, better sugar control, better A1c).
All this baloney of having stupid type 2 diabetes as a youngin really just sucks. thank you genetics.
Anyhow I'm done w/ my rambling complaint. Will return to regularly scheduled craftyness soon. I hope.