Jenyfer Matthews

It’s amazing how much trash you find tucked away in the nooks and crannies, put away because it might be useful one day. Well, guess what? I’M NOT MOVING IT. Throwing. It. Out. There’s plenty more where that stuff came from…

I am happy to report that the only thing injured in the process of reducing the port bottle down to pretty green glass dust were several plastic bags and my rolling pin. Even several layers of thick plastic bags are not enough to protect a wooden rolling pin from shards of glass. (The top edge of my hammer was much more effective) On one hand, I don’t use the rolling pin that much. On the other hand, I guess I’ll have to get a new one since it’s newly gauged surface won’t work as well on dough (darn it!) – unless scar-faced gingerbread men are acceptable!

I just hope that in the end, my pottery projects come out as I envision.

On another topic, housing is provided with my husband’s job and a while back we requested to be moved to a larger apartment. I’ve loved the one we are currently in for the nearly four years we lived here, however we’ve outgrown the space and the children really need their own rooms. The housing department called us on Thursday to say they had a place for us and could we move on Tuesday? My initial reaction was um…no! I’ve gotten pretty good at moving, but I’m not THAT good! The movers I called yesterday for a quote on moving our large furniture items gave me such a good quote on moving everything that I decided in the interest of my stress levels and the remaining disks in my back to let them! They also suggested they could move us on Tuesday and since they are also responsible for the packing, Tuesday it is! Fortunately, our new place is only a few blocks away so things don’t have to be packed quite as carefully as they would if we were moving countries, but it’s still a big job.

Bigger still will be the job of cleaning / sorting / unpacking on the other end!

I also wanted to report that I did try a new recipe over the weekend (February – check!) I made shrimp chowder, using a fish chowder recipe from my Jane Brody cookbook. The only things I changed were I substituted shrimp for fish, I omitted the white wine, and I added a can of corn. It was amusing how much the frozen “cooking shrimp” I bought shrunk in the process though – in the end they were so small they could have been sea monkeys! The chowder was a hit – very tasty – and I’ll definitely be making it again.

I suspect the rest of this week we’ll be eating sandwiches and pizza however!

So another interest of mine is in making pottery. I first took pottery lessons about 12 years ago and fell in love with the process. Unfortunately, it’s not such an easy hobby to take-along and so I haven’t been able work with clay since we moved abroad – until last spring when I discovered that one of the other tennis moms not only had her own equipment but also offered lessons.

So here I am, months later, getting ready to glaze my first crop of pots, and I had the great idea to add a bit of texture and shine by using bits of broken glass – specifically, the green glass of a Cockburn’s port bottle. It is a good idea and I do believe that the end result will look fabulous. The problem? Actually breaking the glass.

Because it’s not enough to just break the bottle – most of it has to be reduced to powder. I did a google search to figure out how best to accomplish this and found one site that suggested that heating glass to red hot and then plunging it in cold water would do the trick – the glass would shatter cleanly and then it was just a matter of pounding it to dust with a mortar and pestle. Easy peasy.

Forgive me, but I have my reservations. I am fully aware of how easily some glass will break when it is exposed to rapid changes in temperature, having once had a glass pitcher explode all over my kitchen while I was in the process of making iced tea. I am, however, somewhat reluctant to repeat such an experiment without safety glasses and perhaps a lead apron. Also, I think I would prefer to use non-cooking pots and instruments for the grinding process to minimize any food contamination and subsequent deaths in the pursuit of my artistic vision.

I haven’t totally formulated my plan but I’m thinking pretty low tech, perhaps involving multiple layers of plastic bags and a hammer. We’ll see what we get (besides multiple lacerations).

Back in November I replied to a post on A Home Grown Journal: Mama Pea (fulfilling a commitment she’d made to another blogger) offered to send a handmade item to the first three people to comment on the post. The catch? They in turn had to “pay it forward” by making the same offer on their own blogs.

Here are the rules: I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment on this post requesting to participate. I can’t tell you what your gift will be, but since I’m primarily a quilter maybe you can take a wild guess as to which form the gift will take! The normal rules state that the gift has to be received within 365 days, however, I am pretty sure that whoever decides to play with me will get their gift in the summertime since that is when I will have access to reliable mail service!

So who wants to play? The only thing you have to do in return is promise to make the same offer on your own blog after you receive your gift from me. Don’t be shy – the gift does not have to be elaborate, just homemade. Do you paint? Are you a photographer? Do you crochet or make paper? You could send someone a selection of greeting cards using your own photographs, for example (insert innocent whistling here) You could crochet a pot holder or one of those magical dish rags I’ve heard about. Paint a tiny picture – or a big one. Wood working, jewelry, pottery, collage, glass blowing, sand art – only your imagination, generosity, and particular skill is the limit.

Just to be clear: none of your gifts will come to me – I give a gift to you, then you give gift to three other people. Ready? Go!

My seven year old son hates to do his homework. None of his assignments are difficult and most could be finished in under fifteen minutes if only he would settle down and just do it. Instead he complains, procrastinates, and has tantrums all of which make it a much more painful drawn out process than it has to be.

I’ve tried various ways to encourage him to get the work done and out of the way – most of which includes LOUD voices and threats. Today I decided to switch tactics: bribery. Do your homework and you can have a lollipop. I’ll let you know how it works out.

But as I was thinking of how to best motivate him to do his homework, this Chris Farley skit from Saturday Night Live popped into my brain. It still makes me laugh after all these years: