Wax Maquette, Fontanelle Forest, and More Canning!

Wow, what a collection of things for this post. Well lets start with the first of the three. My Wax Marquette. This is the piece that I will now dip into high heat plaster and then will burn out the wax. I will then be left with a hollow mold of my figure, and then will pour bronze into the cast. We had to have our finished Marquette done on Thursday and present them to the class. I didn't realize just how hard it would be for me to present this to the class. We had to discuss why we did the memorial, and who it was for, and our inspiration, and talk about the memorial. It is still so hard for me to discuss this with anyone without having my feeling come to the surface. I ended up crying as I was presenting this to my class, and I made the teacher cry and four other students cry. It was touching, and I felt it has turned out quite well. We also had to put together a board with photos and quotes and things that inspired us to do this memorial, and I am so glad I am going to this school. I was able to put a picture of Christ on the board and not feel like I was going to be reprimanded. I also put the lyrics to the song that was sung at Gavin's funeral. I'd have to say it turned out rather well, and I am pleased with it. I wish I knew how to do wings a little better, but this is my very first attempt at any type of molding in clay or wax on this scale. I did the jewelry design, but its a lot different trying to mold people and things, rather than a piece of jewelry. The middle of him is cut into two pieces so that this doesn't weigh a ton, so I had to hollow him out. Thats why there is a big huge seam around his middle, and it looks like he doesn't line up well. He will when its in bronze.

The kids went to the Fontanel Forest with Will this morning to see the new exhibit Acorn Acres. They had fun playing. It was so much fun for the kids to get outside and play. They really need that. They also had a great time playing with Will. They don't get much of that lately and so they treasure it when they do. I love seeing him play with the kids.

And then also I have been canning again today. I did another 15 quart batch of homemade chili, and then I did a 15 quart batch of homemade Chicken Soup. This is all the kids ever want to eat in the winter time, and I'm so happy to oblige. Doing the canning now is easy, and helps so that when I'm cold and tired, and worn out from sledding down snow covered hills with the kids, or building snowmen, I can break out a can of homemade soup, and have dinner taste like I was cooking all day long. Now if only I can get the 100$ I need to fix my Bosh Bowl, I'd be in heaven, but that will have to wait till January when we get our student loan disbursement again. I'm still so mad at myself that my bowl broke. I am HATING life without it right now. We have to eat store bought bread and rolls, and I have to mix my cookies by hand, and my banana breads and zucchini breads by hand. How did I ever live without my Bosh. Anyway, here are the photos, and I hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather. I know I am and so are the kids!!

Very Productive Weekend

MY MESSY KITCHEN!!

Will and I have been very productive this weekend. Over the last few weeks we have been gathering all our fruit for the winter. We have now finally done something with it all.

Here is what we had:

28 lbs. of Blueberries

28 lbs. of Cherries

14 lbs. of Raspberry Puree

1 Bushel of apples (with another on its way Monday)

This is what we made this weekend:

14 lbs of Dehydrated Blueberries

12 Quarts of Fresh Canned Blueberries

14 lbs. of Dehydrated Cherries

10 Quarts of Fresh Canned Cherries

8 pints of Sugar free Raspberry Jam

12 Quarts of sliced apples

We also made 14 Quarts of Homemade Chili and Canned those as well. And I had two lbs. of Almonds to use before they went rancid, so I made Almond Brittle with them. All of that is done and I still have a good 7 hours left of my weekend.

I also had requests for a turkey dinner for Sunday Dinner, so that's what we had. Crock Pot Turkey Breast with stuffing potatoes and salad. I then made this rustic apple pie tart. I am making another one of these to give to the lady who just gave us the apples for free.

I also moved and rearranged the kids bedroom, and carpet cleaned the floors. A good friend in my Branch loaned me her carpet cleaner. What a life saver she is. SO now the room doesn't smell like funky monkeys anymore.

I am now ready to go take a big huge nap. I am tired. But my kids need me, and I know the Fontanel Forest just opened it's brand new "Shady Acres" fun area just for kids today. It's their Grand Opening and we have a family pass. SO I think we will be taking the kids to that here in a few min.

Rommel's 5 Month Pic's!

Rommel is now 5 months old, and getting HUGE! I didn't realize how large German Shepherds are. I thought they would be the same size as my childhood dog "Harley", but Rommel has surpassed him in size, and is only 5 months old. He still has another year of growing. He has finally lost all his baby teeth, and is now stopping the biting. He was chewing and biting on everything including the kids. Rommel has become a more favorite pet now that he has stopped biting the kids. Go figure!! He is an excellent dog. Very obedient. We have him trained with the hand signals as well as the voice commands, and does very well. He is also registered as a Therapy and Service dog, so he has a little vest he wears when out in public. He does very well, and is very well behaved in public as well. His favorite is the dog park where he gets to run and chase balls. I've put in some older pics so you can see how quickly a German Shepherd changes from one month to the next.

Rommel at 5 months old

Rommel at 3 months old

Rommel at 2 months old

My Project!

Well, the weather has turned cooler (thank goodness) and Will has started to advertise in his pharmacy for my services. There have been requests for something to help with delivering heat to sore muscles, joints, relieving arthritis and so on. Well I have made these "Corn Hotties" for a while now, but now I take special requests for shapes to cover severely arthritic hands. SO here is what I had done. I also have started using rice. It doesn't have that nasty stink to it, and I can add some oils to it, and so it smells better when heated. I added some lavender oil to this one. The lady who received it is very pleased with it, and it helps her tremendously. I'm glad I can help in some small way. Now if only I can get paid for these things. I've been doing them for free to try and get more out there, but it hasn't worked very well. Oh well, it's my good deeds and service I guess. But enjoy.

A Collage of Thoughts!!

Well here it is almost 2 minutes before Labor Day (and our three day weekend) is over. I should be in bed, however I am still up doing some homework, and taking a break from the boring reading. I thought art class is about doing art, not reading about it. Oh well, we start the fun stuff this week. I am taking a Bronze Sculpting class, and it sound like it will be super fun. I will be sculpting a couple of statues out of wax, and then casting them into bronze. A very exciting prospect indeed. I will keep posts of how I am doing. First off we are going to be sculpting a memorial. He wants us to sculpt a figure for this. He gave a a big long list of things we could memorialize such as 9-11, or some of the World Wars, or Homelessness and such. But one caught my eye, death. I know sort of morbid, but with the unexpected passing of my little nephew I felt very moved to use this as a tool in which to make my memorial. SO here is a quick put together photo shop rendering of what I want to try to accomplish. Wish me luck!

Anyway, so that's one of my classes. My other class is Print Design. In here I will be using the computer and many different programs to design printed materials such as wedding invitations, and brochures and such. I am excited because it will give me an even greater edge to my portfolio, and help me in my new job at Creighton. I work for the Medical Copy center doing their graphic designing and illustration work. Yes once in a while when others are busy I will have to make copies for a student, or print something off, but for the most part I am working closely with the Dean of the medical school and his staff to produce beautiful artwork on their fliers and posters and brochures. SO if you see something cool printed on paper and posted around the campus or the Hospital, chances are I had a hand in it. It truly is fun. I also get to work on some personal projects for the Dena and his family as well. This week I have been putting together a wedding invitation. It has been a ton of fun, and is using my designing skills. I enjoy the flexibility and ability to be able to take my kids to school and to be home whenever they are home. I don't even have to ask twice to have a day off if the kids are home. The school is all about Family. If I get my work done, they have no problems with me taking time off. It is such a great school.

And so we get to the fun zoo trip we had today. We rode the train for the last time this year. They open the train on Memorial day, and shut it down after Labor day. The kids had tons of fun. We fed the fish, which were all crazy and pushing each other out of the water to get to the food. Will asked the kids if they wanted to go swimming in the water with the fish, and there was a unanimous NO!! I wouldn't either kids that's NASTY!! I may end up with missing fingers or toes if I did that. The fish are HUGE!!! Anyway here are some of the pics I snapped. Other that that we had a fun and much needed relaxing weekend. And then the hectic week starts all over again come 7:30 in the morning. Which is a little over seven hours from now. I guess I better get off to bed.

Sabrina posing for the camera. She looks so cute even after we were wind blown to death all afternoon. It was reall windy outside which really helped to mask some of the humid heat. Not all of it, but it helped some.

Vanessa is my little model. She loves to work it for the camera. She is such a cutie!!!

And here is my handsome boy. Trying his best to keep his hands still for the camera. He always wants to put them up by his face and growl like an animal. SO he looks very posed here. Oh well at least he is smiling. But he is getting to be a very handsome little man.