Twin Mountain Pottery: 2011

WOW! It is already the end of 2011! Where did the year go? As I think back over this year's many events I find things I want to change, would love to go back and do again and others I would just rather skip!

My relationship with God, which is most important to me, has continued to grow. I have met many new friends - brothers and sisters in Christ - and love my ETSY Christian teams and the friendships I have gained. Since retirement I am now able to attend our Church Women's Bible Study and am truly blessed by what I have learned and the closeness gained. I wonder what God has planned for me in 2012! He has so richly blessed our family during 2011.

Family changes for 2011 were definitely evident. David got an excellent job being barn manager at a beautiful dude ranch in the mountains of North Carolina. We miss both David and Jess, and especially JP. Wish we could have been there for JP's first birthday but did get to see them in June. After David and family moved to North Carolina Steven and family moved to Nevada by his Grandmother. It has been a good move for them and I have been able to visit several times. Melissa and Eric are getting a divorce, she plans to get back into nursing school (she had dropped out so they could move again), is staying in Fort Collins and completed CNA school and passed state test and started new job. 2012 should be a little less for change - although another grandbaby in North Carolina in June.

ETSY is starting to happen. I have had an ETSY shop for several years but never took time to list, or become active. Well I finally started becoming more visable, listed a few more items and now the sales have started. I love doing craft shows, but doing this online shop is another fun adventure.

Back at our little ranch we have had lots of change. For a bad thing the coyotes have finally found us instead of just passing by. They loved my chickens and reduced my flock to six! Also enjoyed all three of the boys bunnies. So two of the ranch dogs have been spending nights outside! Don't know why 7 dogs (all around 100 pounds) need to be so spoiled to always be inside. Of course now that it is winter they are back inside a lot! Possibly the cats think they should be outside... We also have a new addition and a loss. Strawberry Shortcakes decided to visit our stud and therefore presented us with a beautiful stud colt on the 29th of July. Two months later she (only be a 7 year old mare) dropped dead perhaps of a heart attack. Derby is doing great and loves lots of attention and his buckets of milk. I leased a gelding out to one of Melissa's friends and its a great connection for them. Two of Melissa's horses have returned to me for a year of rest for tendoin issues.

As for me - I still need to lose weight, but I am becoming more acive on my blog, facebook and twitter but can see my business pages on facebook need a lot more attention. I get way too many junk emails and trying to get off some of those lists but....I often wonder how these companies get my address! We finished my kiln shed so no longer fire it on my porch. Made tons of mugs! Visited with family, love taking vacations, doing craft shows, etc. John spend quite a bit of the year in the Denver VA Hospital. I visited Mom several times - she will be 90 on her next birthday.

Now I am thinking about 2012. What changes are in store for our family. Do I want to make any New Year's Challenges ??? I think they are better than resolutions! How about you?

So I am off to finish getting ready for Christmas, and will be pondering what my challenges will be for next year.

Everyone have a great day.

Building a NEW Kiln Shed

My former kiln shed blew down in a storm this past spring so I have been in the process of building a new one on a shoestring budget. Step 1 started in Nevada in April. My sister had a shed she no longer needed so my son and husband dismantled it and I moved the pieces back to our home in Colorado. Spring winds and a reluctant husband to reassemble the shed put this project on hold.

Fall arrived and the reconstruction of my shed began. WOW reassembling a shed can be quite complicated and getting the framework square (we were missing a few pieces) a major complication.

We had to prop the sides of shed up with tables, etc. until the top rail went on. There were no wind free days for our construction but at least only gentle winds. Our building took several days to complete – the bottom frame was hardest but once the sides went up it got much easier.