I hereby withdraw my endorsement

No, this is not a political post. (Sorry, Stephen)
Nope, this is another fascinating arts and crafts post - hey, where are y'all going? :-)
We will get to the reason for the title of this post in a minute.- But first some personal rambling/ uh, I mean reflection...
Sunday, Alaina (the 14 year old wonder ;-?) claimed me as her personal assistant.
After church, (the kids and I leave for church at 9:30 AM- every Sunday- day of rest my eye!), Alaina informs me that she has a school project due Tuesday. They have been put into groups of three to put on an "original" Greek tragedy, and she is in charge of her group's costumes.
But... before we hit Michael's we really DO need to stop at Target- she needs more make-up, shampoo, "product" as Doug calls it. And by some wonderful coincidence, there is a "Starbuck's" in Target so the little kid's can get hot chocolate and "mom" can get a caramel macchiato.
Yes, I know I'm weak. I am Aware that we are in a recession, and that $12.00 for drinks is excessive. But if we get ourselves out of bed, out of the house,- and to church ON TIME, all when it is about 12 degrees out, I figure we have earned it.
Anyway, next stop- Michaels'. As it was explained to me,
Alaina "We all know that guys played all the girls' parts in all Greek plays, right?"
-Me: "Wouldn't that be "Grecian plays?",
Alaina: "no",
Me: "why not?"
Alaina (with the total look of disdain, only a 14 year old girl can give) "uh- because Grecian doesn't sound like a real word".
(Greek play or Grecian play?? feel free to weigh in Addie- if you agree with Alaina, I can take it- I won't tell her, but I can take it ;-)
"Yes, I know it is called a "Greek Tragedy"- but they ARE called Grecian Urns, vases, etc.,".
Alaina "anyway... since guys played the girl parts they had to wear masks- so I'm going to make masks- I want to make- like- those "Venetian masks." (yup,Venetian masks in Ancient "Greek" plays, our public school system hard at work)
Me: "sounds good to me"
"So who are your characters"?
"Aphrodite, Hades, and Apollo"
Ok, so a black mask with a crown of discount/ close-out black poinsettias with gold glitter for Hades, a white mask with purple "forget me not" stickers and a crown of purple flowers for Aphrodite, and a white mask with gold glitter paint/feathers, and a crown of some sort of branches for Apollo.- $30.00 later...
"Ok, now we have to get fabric for togas for everyone".
Me: "um-No"
Alaina:"But this is a school project, and I told them I would"
Me "tell them to each bring in a white sheet"
YES- The win actually goes to Mom this time!!!
When we get home and actually get out the play, in reality the characters are Artemis, Orion, and Apollo (hey at least she got Apollo right.)
Post-script- She recieved a 117% A+ as her grade for this project. lol
So now, the reason for this title of this post...
While at Michaels I decided to try Sculpey Bake & Bend clay. I figured if they claim that it can actually be bent it must be less prone to breaking, right?
Well, yes and no. Once it is baked it DOES bend. It does seem less prone to breaking.
But you pretty much better limit your "sculpting" to snakes, worms, and ball/marbles. any other type of "working" and the clay crumbles.
Ok, so no big deal, this clay goes into the kids' arts and crafts desk.
BUT
Then my larger greyhound bust out of SCULPEY "PREMO" clay.
Yes, I just made the eyes out of clay. I told you patience is not one of my virtues.
But when I baked it- it cracked!!!!!

Note the neck-

I glazed over the crack, but it is very noticeable! I'm really pretty sad about it.

Sorry Jen!

I told you I could not do Travis justice.

I guess I could try to make a mold, and cast a copy without the cracks,... but that can wait until I create something that is actually good enough to sell.......

Anyone in the market for greyhound art?

Alex unplugged

Well, I was unplugged,

BUT, I shall be "unplugged" no longer!

No, I have not turned my back on all acoustically performed music....

This all started because my darling daughter Alaina had been "tidying".

Am I actually about to complain about a teenager who cleans? Well, yes I guess I am and- No, I did not mean to say " Alex unhinged"!

The problem is that when Alaina "tidies"- things go missing. Important things, like- mail correspondence, checkbooks, food, medications, AND cords/"plugs" for the computers- it's all fair game. And when you ask her if she knows where something is, more often than not the answer is, I didn't touch/move that! "I never EVEN saw that"

Well, this has been the situation the last couple of days with my cord/" plug" to download the pictures from my digital camera.

We found my dried ginger spice bottle (in the toy box), the dog treats (in with the candy), and the PLUGS in the china cabinet. YAY.

so prepare yourself fro a barrage of pictures....

"Alex unleashed"

This is another "pup" based on a picture on fellow blogger's blog.

Guesses?

This will be a greyhound bust (eventually). I will most likely will use glass eyes on this one too. (Unfortunately, that means ordering some 12 mm glass eyes through the mail- patience is NOT one of my virtues).

This Bust is made out of sculpey "premo" clay. a very different medium/ experience than using the boneware clay. It will be a more fair comparison, once it is "fired" and glazed. I'm not sure whether to try to glaze it in "true to life/ paint colors" or just glaze it white like the horse.

If you have actually stayed with me this far- PLEASE let me know your opinions!!!!

The birds that visit our bird feeder/ dog water bowl. ( These pictures were taken through our kitchen window- dog nose smudges and all :-)

With all the bluebirds we have been seeing, we should be drowning in happiness ;-)

Round 2

For those of you who have missed the background story, I will try to relay it as briefly and succinctly as possible (for me).

We adopted Pepsi, our beagle /Jack Russell mix, when she was about 8 weeks old. When she was approximately thirteen weeks of age, my daughter Alaina (who was 9 at the time), was walking her (on a leash), when a neighbor's Shepherd mix got loose, ran across the street, and attacked Pepsi - injuring her badly enough to require surgery. The day before the stitches were due to come out,we finally gave Alaina the all clear to take her for a SHORT walk- (say down to the corner and back), when the SAME dog got loose and attacked Pepsi again. (the result of the second attack was only a few torn exterior stitches).

Now, Alaina was not harmed in either attack, and the neighbor did pay all the vet bills. (We reported the attacks to animal control anyway, because while no action was ever taken, we thought that they should at least have the attacks on record). The offending neighbors (and their dog) moved away soon after. The problem is that both Alaina and Pepsi were permanently "scarred" by the attacks. Alaina has been much better at overcoming her fear of other dogs than Pepsi. Whom we have spent untold time and money trying to rehabilitate- to no avail.

So why this rehashing of ancient history?

Today, Alaina (now 14) was out walking Hero, when another neighbor's dog, a boxer this time, charged right through their electric "fence" and attacked Hero. Once again, Alaina was not harmed, and to be truthful I think it was a more even fight this time (Hero was not muzzled) and he seems to have come away with only one small tooth mark (it hardly bled at all- and seems more like a scrape/bruise- than a puncture) on his chest near his front leg. We will be watching it carefully for infection/ additional tearing, but it seems fine. The owner did come out to pull the dog away and apologise, (and to make sure that everyone was "O.K.")-, NO actually, it is NOT OK!!

Alaina spent most of the afternoon in tears. More trauma- more drama.

I don't even know how to end this post.

Why does this keep happening? Is this corner of Virginia especially backwards when it comes to it's canines or does this sort of thing really happen everywhere? How do I keep Alaina from being permanently traumatized? Should I really never let her walk her dogs again?

How do I keep Hero from being traumatized and ending up as psychotic and anti-social as the rest of these dogs (my beautiful Pepsi included)? How long can my luck hold out before one of these Cujos actually attacks Alaina? I am sure one or more of you kind and wise bloggers, have some sage advice for me.....(help)

Putting the "P" in Petco.

Did you all get your 10% off coupons from Petco in the mail?

Well I did, and being that we needed filters for the aquarium's pump, and fish oil for the dogs, I figured there is no time like the present.

So after a good 20 minute romp in the backyard, off to Petco we go- Alaina (my 14 year old/ easily embarrassed daughter), Will (the 2 year old), Hero and I. (A motley crew to be sure). Now, I have taken Hero to Petco a couple times before, and he did lift his leg on a display (once) so I requested for Alaina to walk him around outside first. He watered one tree, and simply sniffed another, thus she decided that he was "done" and brought him inside. Now I DID ask her if she wanted responsibility for Hero or for Will, but she decided walking around Petco with a cool looking greyhound was better than chasing a hyperactive 2 year old- normally a safe bet---but not this time.

She caught up with me, and whispered "Hero just peed a huge puddle in one of the aisles".- Being that I believe in teaching my children to take responsibility and never to just walk away from a problem- I told her- "there are towels and cleaning spray at the end of some of the aisles- go clean it up!" Dutifully, she grabbed a handful of paper towels and returned to the scene of the crime. Now I have to admit, the next part I am reporting from her point of view because I was busy trying to keep Will from grabbing fish out of the fish tanks with his bare hands.

Alaina claims that she was pushing the paper towels around with her shoe (which happened to be very muddy from our romp outside)- thus just sort of smearing mud and pee all over the aisle. When a family came in the door and said something to the effect of "That's a big dog- and OH MY GOSH that's a lot of PEE!" This called sufficient attention to that aisle that 2 Petco workers came to her and said-"the mop will be here soon." To which my honor student daughter replies-"UHHH"- but continues to push the paper towels with her foot. So, they tried again, saying- "you don't have to do that, you know- the mop will be here soon". She finally decided to walk off, and ducked into the dog toy aisle at which time Hero felt it was time to make another puddle. I told her, "it's obviously time to take Hero out of the store". As she was heading for the door, another Petco worker stopped to admire Hero, and say what "a cool dog" he was. Alaina later commented that she was afraid Hero was going to pee on his leg- in which case she would have to throw paper towels at his legs, and tell him "Don't worry, the mop will be here soon".

No, we were not banned forever from the store, They do not even have our pictures posted on their wall of shame. But I don't think Hero is ready for indoor "Meet and Greets" yet.

And the next time Alaina mentions that she is "bored" I am definitely going to offer her a trip to Petco.