Pottery

Two blog post in one night...WOW! Well, life has been very busy the past couple of weeks! I'm also watching the Bachelorette and I am wanting it to be good...but I'm just not interested! So, two blog post were born :)

Here is some of my most recent pottery. I hope you like it :)

This is a teapot that I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy with! It turned out better then I expected. If you want to have tea with me....come on over :) This teapot will make the tea taste extra good...I promise ;)

This pitcher did not turn out like I had hoped. I wasn't going for this light blue (it was supposed to be purple but I didn't get the reduction I wanted...boo to no reduction!). But it turned out pretty good for a light blue pitcher!

This bow was inspired by a potter I found online and I really liked her stuff! According to my pottery teacher "A good potter borrows but the best potters steal!" In reference to others work. Nice! Well, I didn't really still so I guess I'm just a "good" potter :)

Cheeseball cover and plate! I love this piece.

Surprise Flowers!

So, we have some flowers growing in our back yard. Last year we had two and this year we have ~15. We have no idea where they came from but they are beautiful. From what I understand they grow from bulbs and might be called surprise lilys....but I'm not sure. I took this opportunity to take some pictures of them and they turned out pretty good!

Happy Birthday Taggie!

Yesterday was Taggie's 5th birthday! He had the best day. We played, went for walks, ate to many chewys and just had a great day :)

I should have more pottery soon! I'm waiting for it to finish getting fired....Hopefully it will be done by Wednesday.

Girly Tag

Nothing to intersting has been happening in the household! So here are some pictures. This is me and Taggie cuddling on the couch. He got a MILLION belly scratches and rubs just before this picture was taken. So he was pretty happy to say the least! Its like he leaned in and is posing for the camera...Actually, I think he really is...Such a smart puppy!

I do have a short story. Dan took Taggie to the park this weekend. A girl and her mom were at the dog park too. They came up to Tag and the mom said, "She has such beautiful eyes." The little girl said, "She is SOOO soft!". Well, they finally realized Taggie is not a "she" but a he. Its pretty funny because most people think Taggie is a girl at first sight. Poor girly Taggie!

Sleepy Tag! I laid infront of him with the camera for about 30 seconds and he drifted back to sleep. Then I took this picture. How cute :)

I have some new pottery! Here is a flower pot I made for someone. It turned out pretty good and they seemed to like it....at least thats what they told me.

This is just a small bowl with turquoise and brown. It turned out nice.

Lastly, this is a large coffee cup with a light blue glaze and some hand carving. Holds at least a cup and a half...probably more.

A Little Inspiration!

Dan and I had a nice three day weekend together with NO SCHOOL to worry about. It was very nice to enjoy each other. We also spent some time with my side of the family.

On Friday, we went to my Mom and Dad's house for lunch. My brother was in town from DC and it was really nice to see him! I didn't think I would ever miss my brother but I do. He is so far away but he will be back in the area soon :)

On Saturday, my Dad's side of the family had a family reunion. We mingled with the family. Then we played cards and dominos. We had a good time. The best part of the reunion was the auction...and this is where my inspiration came from!

This was the first time I brought anything for the auction. (There is a silent auction every reunion to raise money for the next reunion. Most items in the auction are handmade.) I brought some pottery, a cheese ball cover and a casserole dish. I was a little nervous that no one would want my stuff. I even told Dan "If someone bids a dollar, I'll bid two dollars and take it back home with me." Well, I was very wrong. A couple people wanted my stuff and they were willing to pay (what I consider) a high price! The cheese ball cover went for $40 and the casserole went for $35. WOW! I am very thankful to them because I needed that little bit of inspiration. They made me realize "Maybe I am pretty good!" So, I think I am going to open a shop on etsy.com and start trying to sale my pottery. I'll keep you posted and let you know when I open the shop :)

Here is the casserole and I unfortunately never took a picture of the cheese ball cover :(

Taggie Update:
We were up VERY late last night! Taggie DOES NOT like fireworks. July 4th and New Years are his worst days of the year. While we were getting ready for bed he was right by our side in the bathroom! We got in bed and he shivered and panted until about midnight last night between me and dan. All the petting and comforting in the world couldn't calm him down. Poor Taggie! Then about 1 am there was a HORRIBLE storm...WOW was it loud. We were up again with Tag. (We found him hiding in the closet) We all survived the night! Thank goodness :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Taggie doesn't like rubber bands!

SO....Taggie came running to me because his Papa is SOOOOO mean to him!

It started with Dan pretending to pop Tag with the rubber band. Tag would lean his head away like "Papa, please don't pop me". Dan didn't...instead he decided to put a "bracelet" on Tag. Dan put the rubber band around Tags front leg. Tag in no time decided to take it off. He grabs ahold of the rubber band and PULLS!!! Then LETS GO!!! All I can hear is POP! Dan starts laughing and takes it off Taggies leg. Then Taggie runs to my side like..."Mama, Mama save me". He is still sitting next to me 30 minutes later. While also giving the constant stink eye to Dan.

Poor Tag!

(No animals were harmed in the making of this blog post!)

Been Traveling!

I've been traveling and I'm finally home! I plan to post soon....

J. Parrish Pottery

So, the car is HERE! After a crazy car drama filled week we finally have the car. We picked it up Friday at about 6:30 with a total of 7 miles on it! Here are some pictures...they aren't the best but hopefully I will get a better picture later! Or you could come visit and I will take you for a spin :)

Here is some pottery that I just got back this past week:

Blue and Yellow Green mug that holds about 1.5 cups. Its pretty big. I'm still trying to find the perfect coffee mug size!

Orange and Turquoise mug that holds about 1.5 cups.

This is a small bowl. Probably holds about 3/4 of a cup of stuff. Its color is blue and yellow green.

This is one of the neatest bowls I have made! The colors just came out PERFECTLY! This is a medium sized bowl and holds about 4 or 5 cups...I'm only guessing it might be a little bigger.

This is a tray I made for Tommie. It didn't really come out like I had planned. Its color is light blue.

There is a sale in November through the Arkansas Arts Center that me and mom are thinking about participating in. You should mark your calendars NOW and come visit me :) AND buy something! I'm gonna stick to making stuff and hope I can keep getting better and faster at producing "saleable" items. If that happens, I am thinking about starting a website to display my work! That's probably a couple years down the road but I've already thought of the website...JParrishPottery.com...original huh?

Last but not least, its the TAG!!! He didn't want me to take his picture because he was focused on going for a walk. So this is the best picture I could get! He is doing good and I have nothing to report on the Tag Front at this time! So, for now you are going to have to listen to stories about me :)

NEW CAR!

We bought a new car today!!! YEAH! I am so glad the old car is gone. It was about to break down at any minute...at least thats what it felt like.

I think with this car we won't wait until 124000 miles to get a new one! (Yet another lesson learned)

Well, we bought a new car today but we don't get the car until Tuesday or so. It just got "born" and its being delivered to me. So, I will post a picture when we get it!

We ended up with a Honda Civic. I have been wanting to go back to a small car and when we drove it, the car was so nice and perfect. Good gas mileage, great reliability and awesome resale value! How could we go wrong??? We could even shove a couple kids back there if we wanted to ;)

But I did realize one thing today...I HATE CAR DEALERSHIPS! I'm not sure who likes them but if you do, you are crazy and I will pay you to buy my next car! It was the worst experience! I felt like I got a good deal at one moment but then I realized that no deal is a good deal and they will always get the better deal. So, who knows if it was good, I'm hoping it was but I'm guessing it probably wasn't. :( I really don't see the need in haggling...it wasted so much of my time today...I should have charged them. Now that I think of it, I'm sending them a bill first thing monday for wasting my time ;)

They come in threes

So, everything seems to happen in three's. Why is that? When something breaks, everything else breaks. Its like they had a pack to do it at the same time.

Its been a pretty crazy week for me and dan. Dan started a new rotation and he has to be at work at 4:30AM! And I have been handling all the breaks around the house!

First, our oven stopped working. The stove top still worked so we were able to cook but its odd not having an oven. I have come to realize that we use the oven more then I thought. So, yesterday we bought a new oven and it gets here next Wednesday. (The oven repair guy wanted $420 to fix an 11 year old oven...I'm no genius but I didn't think that was a very good deal!)

Second, my car decided to start shaking violently and the "service engine soon" light came on. I learned from past experience that getting this checked as soon as possible is the best thing to do. (Side bar: In my "younger" days, I ignored it thinking it was just a suggestion. I quickly realized it wasn't. As I was driving down the highway at 70 MPH one day on my way to dallas to visit some friends, my car just died...yeah is was weird...everything just stopped and the car just kept rolling until it stopped. And I the learned/realized that alternators are really important to a car...and VERY expensive!) Anywho, I took the car in and they did a "test" and found that NOTHING was wrong. The service engine soon light "code" was something about a #2 misfire...whatever. So they tried to get me to "flush the fuel stuff" (as you can see I'm great with cars) but I remembered some "dateline like" show in the past warning of dealers trying to add cost with this fuel flush stuff. So I passed and its been working just fine since...knock on wood! We are in the process of looking for a new car...wish us luck. And if you want to donate a car, we are willing to take almost anything that works :)

Lastly, our tub is "special" and has to be repaired every year it seems. Its an "easy" fix and it is really cheap. But it just sucks that it always breaks. AND its something we can do ourselves. So, after buying the parts it will only cost us about 5 bucks to fix it. That is MUCH cheaper then the oven and even just fixing the car. Not to mention buying a car.

Alright, so I might be complaining/venting. But its been a stressful week...or do I dare say "Its been a busy week"????

Side note about the car: Dan and I went to test drive a car yesterday. The car didn't "speak" to me so we were going to test out some other cars. I was trying to leave and the dude was still trying to sale us a car. $500 above "invoice" is what he offered. But what is invoice? I hear the "trusty" sales guys fib about "invoice". Anyways, if you have any advice on how to get the best deal on a car...I'm all ears. I did learn today that you shouldn't tell them you have a trade-in until after the sale...oops...I messed up at my first attempt!

Taggie Update: I think with all the stress around the house last night his tummy got upset. He woke me up at 2:12 this morning with the "booty bump". He went outside and he ate some grass. He seems to be back to normal today. So all is good with the Taggie! As for the "booty bump", Taggie is very good at this technique. He will get into bed, between me and the edge of the bed and constantly reposition himself. As he does it, he bumps me and its his booty that is usually touching me so thats where it got its name, booty bump. I think he is wanting me to get up to let him out but most of the time he doesn't get out of bed after me. So, I'm thinking he just wants my warm spot! This morning though, I think he just needed to go outside because he doesn't normally join me until my alarm clock goes off...that I know of!

Random: We don't have much grass in our yard for Tag to eat when he does need it so I looked online and Petco sales this thing where you can grow grass. I'm going to try and get it this weekend. He won't have to wake me up in the middle of the night for some grass...he can just help himself!! We will see if he likes it.