Being accountable

I have procrastinated in starting to study for the LEED AP exam which I am registered to take at the end of June. There is a pile of study material approximately 9" thick on a shelf calling to me. Tomorrow I start studying. I think I will try to study at my old haunt, Panera on the strip. It is where I studied for all 9 parts of the A.R.E. and I passed all those on the first try...maybe it is a thing? I also gained 15 pounds during that period of time...oops. This time it will be coffee and nothing else, well maybe a salad since I need to lose a few more pounds to get into some of the clothes I picked up last weekend from a generous coworker. I digress, tomorrow...studying at some point... like after church, and the gym, and whatever else I can come up with. :)

Jacene

Not quite like riding a bike...

Ok, so it has been a while since I took a ceramics class and it isn't like you get to pick up where you left off but I promised pictures and I am delivering. here are some shots of last week's class. I threw some cups and bowls.

I went in today with John and the cups were still too wet to trim and put handles on so we played with more clay. I forgot to bring in my camera so I will have to wait to get shots of what John made. We were there for about 3 hours which is amazing for a 5 year old. I didn't do any throwing today, just handbuilding stuff and I was John's helper. People kept coming up to him and talking to him about what he was doing and he ate it up. He even shared with some people that he was smart and it was a gift...blah blah blah. I chimed in that he was also modest. I also reminded him that maybe instead of telling people he was smart he should do smart things and let them figure it out for themselves. School has been reinforcing the "being smart is a gift he needs to share". Oh well. Anyway, we had fun and maybe you will receive an original England art piece as a gift this year...poor you.

Jacene

Thackston Spring Musical

It has been a busy couple of weeks since Easter. John was part of Thackston's spring musical extravaganza. I thought this picture sort of typified the event...a little bit of chaos. It was done very well considering the kids ranged from 3 years old to 5th graders. Each class had a different number which tied into the overall theme of "our solar system". At the end, the whole school got up on stage and sang "Here Comes the Sun". It was all very cute and they all did a great job.

Jacene

...more comfort food

Monday night I went to the gym like normal to see how much weight I could pick up, squat down, and try to get back into a standing position with 15 times. When I got there the topic of discussion was the fact that my trainer tried and failed at eating the "Rooster Burger" at the Happy Rooster Cafe in Halls. While trying to find some information out about it for the blog posting I ran across this link where you can get two $25 gift certificates to the Happy Rooster Cafe for just $25. Apparently the rooster burger is over $10 by itself. Anyway, back to the story. He tried to eat the 2 lb. burger and did not make it through to get the t-shirt. He showed me a photo afterward and said that it was definitely more than 2 pounds and after seeing the picture I have to agree. His tip for anyone wanting to try it is not to fill up on anything else like drink while you are waiting for it to cook (30 minutes or so).

Talk of the burger challenge went on for 45 minutes or so and I started craving a burger too. I didn't think I could make it through a Rooster Burger so I went for quality instead of quantity and started thinking of Litton's. I hadn't had a Litton's burger in months. Before I finished my last set of pull ups I dialed the number and ordered a burger to go: Litton Burger, medium, cheddar cheese, no fries. This little hunk of heaven set me back $9.05 with tax. I made it home added some ketchup and mustard and almost dove in before I realized that not everyone knows about Litton's and everyone should so I grabbed my camera and set up a little photo shoot at the dining room table. After the photo it was time to dig in. I ate it all but felt extra full afterward...yeah, I don't think I should try the Rooster Burger.

Jacene

Comfort Food

While John was taking a nap I started working on part of my culinary contribution to the Easter meals I have been invited to... banana pudding.

Unlike my last endeavor to make banana pudding, this time the pudding set up. From what I tasted from the leftovers in the pot, it should taste good...new recipe.

I liked this recipe, in spite of it being from Texas, because it used a lot of bananas, had humor, and used cream of tartar in the meringue.

I will find out tomorrow if I have a favorite banana pudding recipe.

Jacene

Yes, I am cheating and just adding to this post as an update. The banana pudding was good, a little too thick but that could be adjusted by adding a little milk while cooking. I think I will keep the Texas Lady's recipe and modify as required. I have leftovers in the fridge so the people at work will be happy tomorrow!

Jacene (04/12/09)

Easter Egg Time!

Today we dyed eggs. I had a small sick child helping me but we powered through. He can't quite understand why I won't let him play with them all over the house and why I want to keep them in the fridge. He is also concerned that I will eat them all. I promised that I wouldn't, although I will eat some. :)

Jacene

Things I learned in class

Last night was the first session of a 6 week ceramics class. I learned some things concerning ceramics and somethings that don't involve ceramics at all.

Ceramics:
There are numerous ways to throw and I will be learning new ones in this class. I am going to have to change how I throw. Maybe this way will be better?

Non Ceramics:
So, my instructor's name is Barron. It is a combination of his parent's names, Barbara and Ron. Pretty cool. So we all tried to figure out what we would be named in that scenario.
Patricia + Maynard = Paynard? Maypat? Maytricia? Patard?

He also let us in on some other name info. Your name sounds better if you don't have the same number of syllables in it for each part. I am a 2/3/2 = Jacene Lillian England. John would be a 1/2/2/1/1 = John Clayton England the Fourth. Maybe we should have known this trick before we picked a name? Nah. :)

Oh, as background, in case you aren't familiar with my ceramics history and randomness here is a breakdown:
Summer 1994 = Hand building class at UT
Spring 1995 = Throwing class at UT
Fall +/- 1998 = Hand building class at Pellissippi State
Fall 2005 = Throwing class at the City of Knoxville Arts Center (when it was at the Candy Factory)
Spring 2009 = Throwing class at Mighty Mud
Future = My own studio?

Jacene

High Expectations

Tonight is my first ceramics class at Mighty Mud. It has been 5 years since I have been able to take a class. I just get caught up in life too much to take a break most of the time. I made a conscious decision to stop and do something that is relaxing to me...pottery. I am very excited about the class. It is six weeks long and I have a conflict already with two of the classes but that isn't dampening my enthusiasm. I will try to remember to take some photos and post them and I will definitely take some shots of what I make for everyone's entertainment. Watch out what you make fun of though...it could be your Christmas present! :)

Jacene

Chattanooga in style

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited, last minute, to a trip to Chattanooga with the Knoxville Construction Specifications Institute elite for a reception honoring Mike Davis who is from Chattanooga and will be the National CSI President starting in June.

CSI Knoxville knows how to be social and so for this event they rented a limo and 7 of us piled inside. We had a good time there and back and the reception was nice but the BEST part was at the end of the reception, which was held at the Chattanooga Country Club. This was the time that a prom was starting. I was one of the first to notice and one of my traveling companions joined me on my informal critiquing and ogling of the prom participants. It was so much fun and super entertaining. We wound up staying past when the reception was officially over just to continue to watch. I wish I had brought a camera...well, maybe that would be too creepy of me to have taken pictures of teenagers that I don't know.

All in all, it was fun to take the little jaunt down to Chattanooga with a great group of people in a black stretch limo. If given the opportunity to travel with CSI...say yes. :)

Jacene

Easter is almost here

Saturday morning was the Fountain City Easter egg hunt. John has been going since he was two, I think...maybe three. Not important. It was chillier this year than in years past and he is quite styling in his shades. I tried to get him to take them off for the hunt since I knew I would be taking pictures and more importantly, I thought they would fall off in the middle of the hunt. He insisted they stay on and I don't really want to be the one discouraging protection from all those harmful UV rays so they stayed on and made it through the whole park trip. The age group he was hunting with was all kids below 8 years old. That is a giant range when you are talking about kids just learning to walk up to ones that could start skateboarding any day now. This year John held his own and filled up his "basket". We didn't get any of the big prizes but he was very happy with the 3 pieces of caramel he received in the eggs.

There was park play time before and after the hunt. He wanted his face painted after a while but absent minded mom did not bring any cash. Someday I will remember that any kid event will need extra cash for something. He bounced in the bounce house. I am so proud of this. We never thought he would leave the ground. He also was pulled around the park by a tractor. He loved all of it. Easter time is fun.

Jacene