conditioning the clay

Tonight is my clay class, so last night I got the clay I am taking and had to "condition" it. You just take it out of the package and roll it and knead it and run it through the pasta machine a few times to make it pliable. I learned a few things last night and here they are:

1. wash your hands after conditioning EACH color. Otherwise, your white clay will end up a bit purple and your purple clay will end up with white bits in. (this goes for all colors.)

2. Don't forget that you have a razor-type blade instrument in your hand when cutting the clay and it WILL CUT you. Ouchy.

3. You need a bigger work table when rolling out the clay with the pasta machine.

4. The clay is sticky and sheets of it stick to each other (even if the instructions say to lay the clay sheets on top of each other and then separate them, it's not going to work for you (meaning me).

5. Your hands and neck and back are not used to kneading clay and you feel like a truck has run over you at the end of a couple of hours of doing this.

Now, here's a few pictures from last night.

My first package of clay. I hope to look back on this picture a year from now and see how far I've come.

The clay after conditioning.

I have a bead roller and I put some of the scrap clay in it and rolled it around and it makes some pretty beads.

Another picture of the beads.


My instructions for class were to make a skinner blend cane. (class tonight not last night) Being brand-new at this I had to find out on the Internet and in books what this was. It looked pretty easy in the instructions so I set out to do this with my white clay and purple clay and by conditioning the clay and then stack the two different colors of clay on top of each other and then cut on a diagonal and then separate the pieces...that was easy except my pieces stuck together like glue and that was not part of the plan. So I said to myself this will have to do anyway. So then it was time to run them through the pasta machine. This is fairly simple except that the clay will stick to itself if I don't have my hand down there to pull it straight...but as the clay gets longer and you keep running it through the pasta machine, you have to have a hand holding it up top and one hand holding it on the bottom and then you have no hand to turn the crank on the pasta machine. I have seen that some people have a motor on their pasta machine with foot pedal. That must be how they use both hands to keep the clay from sticking??

Anyway, my skinner blend cane is not happening unless I get it done before I go to class tonight.

Random things

Wesnlani tagged me to do this...so here goes.

The rules are to link the person who sent this to you...and leave a comment on their blog.. so their readers can visit yours.
*post the rules on your blog
*Share 7 strange/weird facts about you on your blog
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog
*Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blog...


1. I grew up loving cats and not liking dogs. Can you believe that?

2. When someone I love dies and I go to the funeral, I cannot wear the dress or shoes or anything that I had on again. It goes in the trash...I don't even want it to go to Goodwill.

3. I cannot watch medical operations on TV.

4. I could not ride a bike until fourth grade.

5. Years ago, I would get in my car and just drive and listen to the music by myself.

6. I don't like to go to bed without getting a shower.

7. When I'm at home, I can only read a book laying down. (this does not mean magazines or study-type books...just leisure reading.) **But if I'm in a waiting room like someone is having a procedure done, then I can read sitting up.

All right, friends, now every time I do one of these, you get to know just how weird I am!

I'm not tagging but if you do this, let me know so I can see what you had to say.

potato and asparagus frittata

Here is a recipe that I made the other day. I changed the ingredients in my dish but I am printing the original recipe here. What I did differently was put three whole eggs and three egg whites in it, a little more parmesan cheese. I did not have an ovenproof skillet so I had to transfer it to a pie dish to finish it in the oven.







Asparagus and Potato Frittata

1 large baking potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into ½ inch pieces
4 large eggs
4 egg whites
½ cup fat-free milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 onion, chopped

Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Put the potato into a saucepan and add enough water to cover by 3 inches. Cover the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat; boil 5 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook 2 minutes longer. Drain and set aside to cool.

Combine the whole eggs, egg whites, milk, 3 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, the salt, and the baking powder in a bowl. Mix in the potato and asparagus.

Heat an ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Coat the skillet with nonstick spray and add the onion; cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add the egg mixture and reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook until almost set, about 10 minutes. Uncover the skillet, sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese, and transfer to the oven. Bake until the frittata is cooked through and the cheese has browned about 5 minutes. Invert the frittata onto a plate and cut into wedges before serving.

Sugar put herself to bed the other day. I went looking for her and there she was, all up in the pillows.

It's mardi gras time around here. Lots of decorations and activities going on.

Looks like these people used their Christmas tree to decorate for mardi gras.

I saw this bird sitting on a twig on a bush.

I found out this doggie's name is Snowball...I think he/she needs a "person's" name.

Santa is still waiting to get in the garage...the reindeer took off without him.


I have a recipe to share tomorrow. Other than that, my work is picking up and I don't know if I'll get out of here to take pictures the rest of the week.

I won the grand prize in Girlville's blogaversary giveaway!! It's the newest book by Mary Kay Andrews titled Deep Dish. Girlville is going to take it to the book signing in her area soon and then she will send it to me. I can't wait to read it and then it will stay on my bookshelf as a special book. Thank you Girlville! I hope to do giveaways like that one day.

I am working on a small craft project now for one of our blogging friends will soon be adding to her family! Anyone can guess who that is?? I hope it turns out like I want it to. I can't show you all because it's a surprise for her. It's not my clay craft. If it turns out cute, I might make this same project with a different theme for a giveaway! I know you all like the suspense of this.

I shopped online at Crate and Barrel after Christmas and got these items half price. I wanted some picture frames for Chichi and Tiny and Baxterman and Sugar ... so I had already bought a frame I saw somewhere else for one of them and then saw these so got these three. So now I'll have these to hang on a tree in the future with their pictures in them.

Sugar in her stroller

Naomi requested to see pictures of Sugar in her stroller! I'm always happy to show Sugar riding her stroller. The stroller really is her favorite part of the day and I think it is mine, too. So here are some picture of her from the past couple of days.







I worked all weekend and I'm still reading the boring book. I don't think I picked it up but once last week. Today I am giving Sugar a bath and cleaning up some around here...I've let it go too long and it's messy because I was working.

One of my nieces got engaged this past weekend! She works in Tampa, Florida, and her fiance is a wonderful guy and they met the first day of university at Florida four or five years ago and have been together ever since! I asked her to send me a picture of her ring because I love to see the bling!!! It didn't photograph too well, but I'll be seeing her in February so I'll get a better look then. But here it is!


I think I'll be planning some type of party to give her...not sure if it will be a shower, or bridesmaid lunch or engagement party.