New Year's Eve - December 31, 2025

I played with air-dry clay most of the day yesterday.  Sat down at the kitchen table around 6 a.m., watched a few more how-to videos, cleared a spot on the table, then went to sculptin'.   Really, I just mostly did "clay patties," cutting out simple shapes to experiment with paint. 

While I was fooling with the clay, how-to videos were running in the background, one after the other.  I eventually went "ear blind" to them until the algorithm fed me a Crafsman video, and I heard his voice.

"Has anyone figured out your true identity?" and more QUESTIONS ANSWERED!

He has some good how-to videos on his channel.

(And Craftsman, if you've googled yourself and have run across this post . . . can I be in your tribe?)  :)

Anyway, I'm going to spend today trying to figure out UV resin.  I have the basic materials.  I just poured some clear resin into a jewelry pendant mold and have set in the sun on the back porch to cure.  It's cold outside (39 degrees); I don't know if that will delay curing time or have no effect at all.  I have a UV lamp, and I'd prefer to use it outside, too, for my next pour (which will be resin colored with alcohol inks).  

Last night, I did a tiny watercolor landscape painting on an un-coated 2" round disk of air-dry clay.  I'm curious to see if it will show through the resin pendant.  

The thing I'm most anxious/excited about it playing with colors.  I only have one little bottle of resin, so I can't go buck wild with experiments if I want to have any left for a "keeper" piece.  

I just went out to check the clear resin pendant that was on the porch.  Earlier, I noticed that the sun had moved, and so I took the mold out to the yard and set it on top of my cold frame.  I'd noticed some little bubbles as I was pouring, and I tried to pop them, but just made them worse.  But since this pour is only a test, I didn't worry about the tiny bubbles.  Since I moved the mold, a MONSTROUS bubble has developed.  Good thing this is just a practice piece!  I'd better go back to the how-to videos, and pay attention this time.

Santa Claus brought me a big easel.  Earlier this morning, while I was rummaging around in the cabinet looking for some markers, I found two cheap house-painting-type brushes (I'd bought them for use on the magnificent oil landscape I'm going to do one of these days 😉).  It seemed that there was no better place for them than in the tray on the easel.  When I approached the easel with the brushes in my hand, I had an urge to whack them against leg of the easel, a la Bob Ross, just for sport.  But I didn't.  

Old Snot - December 30, 2025

Y'all.

(Don't eat while you read this.  It's disgusting.)

My nose has been running thin, clear snot since . . . I don't know when, but I know it was happening this spring while I was trying to work in the vegetable garden, because I had to keep my pockets full of tissue so I could work.  This continued all year.  I blamed it on allergies. 

Last week, when I went to the doctor for my yearly physical, he prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection.  I've been taking them for a week. 

This morning, I got up, poured some coffee, made some toast, and sat down to resume a video that I'd abandoned last night before bed.  Pretty soon, I began to hear noises - cracking, popping, squeaking noises - coming from INSIDE my head.  I blew my nose, and what came out looked like (and had the consistency of) well-chewed, yellow-green bubble gum.  It must be vintage snot, breaking loose from deep recesses.  It probably has spring pollen in it.

I guess the antibiotics are working.  

* * * * * * * 

Yesterday, despite temps in the '20s, I went out shopping for groceries and craft supplies.  Not long after I got home, the mailman delivered craft supplies I'd ordered the day after Christmas.  

This week's crafts focus on air-dry clay and UV resin.  In the past, I've played with polymer clay and two-part resin but did not produce anything noteworthy with either medium.  I threw them away a couple of years ago during The Big Purge - I did not like the toxic fumes - but I still have all the tools and molds.  

I'd never worked with air-dry clay until yesterday.  All I did was form some small shapes and set them out to dry.  I want to paint on the clay.  The plan is to try different kinds of paints, see what I can come up with.  

My BFF is gearing up to play with the same craft materials.  I wish we lived in the same state.

Better - December 28, 2025

The day after Christmas, I spent most of the day sitting either in my recliner or on the back porch (it was at least 70 degrees).  I felt terrible.  Around noon, I went to the drug store to get my prescriptions, some OTC cold medicine, and some softer tissues for my poor, raw nose.  That night, I went to bed at 8 p.m. and actually managed to sleep until almost 7 a.m.  I woke up feeling much better.  We had enough assorted food left over from Christmas to see us through the day.

I am still pretty snotty today and would not even consider doing anything very physical, but I am getting better.

The Husband has gone to Cousin David's house for a few days, to drive him to/from day surgery and sit with him for a day or so afterward.  I sent the rest of the German chocolate cake that Nanny brought here Christmas eve, for it does not need to stay here, tempting me.

The summer-like weather we had last week is disappearing today; it's supposed to be in the low 20s tomorrow morning.  I hate cold weather, but if the weatherman is correct, we'll be back in the 40s-50s near the end of the week.  

Tomorrow, a load of craft stuff will be delivered to my doorstep.  I'm stoked.  With The Husband away, there'll be no cooking, so I can craft to my heart's content without interruption.  

Today, I'll be watching how-to videos as well as taking inventory of the craft stuff already on hand.  

The Day After - December 26, 2025

Our Christmas Eve get-together for the folks on the hill was a fairly quiet affair.  There was no particular start time, no sit-down meal.  People just showed up when they felt like it or could get here, which was fine with me.  By 9 p.m., everyone had gone home. 

I woke up at 6 yesterday morning and started baking biscuits and warming the country ham to take to Nanny's.  We were supposed to be at her house by 8 to help her get the family breakfast on the table.  I woke The Husband up around 7, we exchanged our gifts and then began loading the first round of presents to take to Nanny's.

After breakfast, we had Christmas with The Grandson at our house.  When he went home, we loaded up the gifts to take to Son #2's house across the road.  We spent about an hour there, then came home and loaded up the gifts to take to Son #1's house.  (While we were loading that last batch, The Husband said, "Next year, we need to make everybody come here if they want their gifts!"  It's not a bad idea, though we'll need to have Christmas on some day other than Christmas Day.)  Son #1 has the same sinus crud that I've got - he felt so crappy that for the first time in his life he missed breakfast at Nanny's - and he was in bed when we arrived at his house.  We unloaded the loot, hung around a few minutes, then came home and crashed.  Our daughter-in-law had cooked Christmas Dinner but had cancelled the sit-down meal since #1 was feeling so poorly.  She sent dinner home with us in take-out boxes.  We were grateful for it.  

I feel like sh*t today.  I am exhausted, and my nose is so sore from blowing it that I have taken to coating it with chap-stick.  The drug store STILL hasn't filled the prescriptions that my doctor sent Tuesday morning.  My face may explode before I get any medicine.

One rather funny thing happened.  One of The Husband's gifts to me was a rechargeable engraving pen.  I already had the very same engraving pen, which I'd bought for myself several years ago but had seldom used.  Later, when we got into our truck after breakfast at Nanny's, there was a gift on the console from "Santa" to me.  It was another identical engraving pen.  

Christmas Crud - December 24, 2025

My annual holiday cold came early this year.  Normally, after enjoying time with the family at Christmas, in crowded rooms, I come down with a cold a few days later.  Well, it's here, already, on Christmas Eve, when folks will be coming here hungry.

At yesterday's annual physical, the doctor gave me prescriptions for a sinus infection.  Twenty-four hours later, they are still not ready.  I need a new pharmacy.  Pickin's are slim in small towns.

I cooked almost all day yesterday, prepping for today and tomorrow.  Went to bed early, slept fitfully.  At 5, I got up, drank some coffee, ate some toast, and went back to bed until 8.  Got up grumpy.  Slammed things around.  Pissed The Husband off right away.

At noon, I'm going to start a crockpot full of chili.  Half-a-dozen baking sheets are lined up on the kitchen table, ready for hors d'oeuvres assembly.  I should get busy doing that.

Y'all, pray for me today.  By the time the "fun" starts, I may be worthless.

I've been driving the Wrangler for the past couple of weeks, having loaned my "daily driver" car to Son #2 while his car was in the shop.  Friday morning on my way to my optometrist appointment, the Wrangler quit on a country backroad. This had happened once before, a couple of weeks ago.  Both The Husband and I had driven the Wrangler without incident in the interim.  I don't know what's wrong with it.  I was driving along at speed, when all of a sudden . . . RRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr . . . .  It just quit and coasted to a stop.  I cranked and cranked and cranked, and just when I was about to give up and call for help, it fired off and didn't give me any more problems for the rest of my outing.  After Christmas, we'll have to have it looked at, for The Husband has decided that he wants to drive it to a Jeep rally in Florida this spring.  I will make sure our AAA account is paid up.  

This is the last "idle" day before the Christmas cooking begins.  The presents are wrapped.  The grocery shopping is done.  Tomorrow morning, I have an appointment for my yearly physical, and after that, let the cooking begin, and it won't stop until about noon on Christmas day.  I will be making the same old stuff I always make, but it's stuff that everybody likes, so . . . . 

I have been pondering how I will occupy myself between Christmas and the spring gardening season.  (To be honest, after this year's gardening failures, I am not 100% sure that I will even raise a garden next year, but we'll cross that bridge later.)  My BFF suggested we try air dry clay together, so I ordered some.  It should be here in the next couple of days, but I won't have time to fool with it until after Christmas.  

Shopping, Part 2 - December 19, 2025

Yesterday's shopping outing was unusually successful, considering that my shopping list consisted mostly of gift certificates.  My first stop was at a nail salon, which was next door to a "relics" shop that I had never visited.  After buying the DIL's gift certificate, I decided to poke my head in the relics shop, just to see what kind of stuff it was selling, thinking I might go back after Christmas to investigate more closely.  But on a rack, right in the front of the store, there were stacks of metal signs featuring funny messages, some of which were "man cave" signs with sayings that were perfect for Son #1's new garage.  I got two.  Next door to that was an "overstock" store (which I'd also never visited) running serious pre-Christmas discounts.  There I found a big space heater for #1's unheated man cave/garage.  Score!

The one non-gift-certificate item on my list was a pair of shoes for Nanny.  The shoe store had two - count 'em, TWO - pairs of shoes to fit Nanny's toddler-sized feet.  One of the two was black, shot through with gold threads; the other was solid black.  I almost got the black/gold ones.  Nanny's got a sneaky quirky side, and there's a possibility that she might have worn the glittery shoes with panache, but . . . .  I bought the boring ones and headed home.

Halfway home, I realized that I'd forgotten something, so I turned around and went back to town.  While I was in the store, waiting in line to buy more gift certificates, rain started to pour down.  I thought, "Oh, great . . . ," but by the time I'd paid up and was ready to leave, the storm had calmed to a sprinkle.  

I drove home feeling highly satisfied for having accomplished all of my missions.

There was more gift-wrapping to do - mostly stuff I'd put off the previous day.  I got busy and finished wrapping all of the presents that were here (there's a few more on the way).

This morning, Son #1 finally told me what he'd like to have for Christmas.  The elves said they'd try to get it here by Christmas, but they ain't promising,  

Today, I've got an appointment with my optometrist, after which I need to do just a tad more shopping and then pick up the grocery order. On my way home, I'll stop at a locally-owned grocery store for a country ham for Christmas breakfast at Nanny's.  With that done, we should be good to go for Christmas.