Dominguez’s blog

Unfortunately the few items I made awhile back including a coffee mug and a bowl, were placed into the wrong kiln and are no more.  Luckily they were just practice pieces and I hadn't placed as much work into them as the following items.

Sugar Bowl

This is my first attempt at a sugar bowl.  I haven't quite mastered how to make the lids yet. ;-)

Creamer

Here is the matching creamer.

Leaf Bowl

What looks like brown was supposed to be blue.  Sometimes you don't know what you get until it comes out of the kiln.

Little Blue Pot

This one will most likely be brought out to the camper where it will hold salsa or sour cream, and it will double as a paper weight to keep the table cloth from flying off the picnic table.

Sedona Hike - Brins Mesa

My good friend had the wonderful idea of going up to Sedona for a night.  She had Friday off and I as only working half a day.  So, we drove up, checked into our hotel and spent Friday afternoon hiking through the red rocks.  Sedona is a breathtakingly beautiful place.  It's one thing to drive through or stop at a scenic vista.  It's quite another to be in it.

Ida - Brins Mesa

Here is my friend Ida, the marathon runner.  She is in amazing shape and I often have a hard time keeping up with her. 

More Red Rock

The picture below was taken Saturday at Slide Rock State Park.

Oak Creek Canyon

We spotted two deer eating apples under the trees.  Unfortunately they aren't that visible in this picture.  They blend in with the shade.  It was neat to see though.

Two Deer

Below is one of three tourist cabins that are still standing at Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon.  A good stiff wind would probably knock this over.  I'm sure many families spent many a summer here before the cabins fell into disrepair.

Tourist Cabin (1933) - Oak Creek

Cardinals Football Practice- Flagstaff, AZ

Players Entering the Field - Flagstaff, AZ

This was a question posed in a magazine that I receive monthly. 

They gave examples like, "Perhaps it was meeting your son's girlfriend for the first time, or being called ma'am."  For me being a 'grown up' is not a place that I've arrived at like a train reaching a station.  It is a place I continue to arrive at and probably will for the rest of my life.

I realized I was a grown up recently when I finally accepted all my flaws as a part of who I am in addition to the things that I do like and have long accepted about myself.  It hit me the other day after fighting with myself to clean the house for the umpteenth time that week that I simply do not like housework.  Do not like is putting it mildly.  Sure, the house is clean for company but there are days I look around and wonder why we live like this.  I'm often envious of girlfriends who seem to keep it all together no matter what time of the day or night.  There are no dishes in the sink and no one has written their name in the dust on the coffee table.  As of right now there is a smiley face donning the dust of my coffee table certainly drawn in by an unseen finger that most likely belongs to my husband's 9 year old niece.  At least she didn't call me fat.  If a kid calls you fat, you have an issue.  If a kid writes in your dust, it's beyond time to clean.  Once I have a permanent job again I will hire a housecleaning.  Another adult problem solved.

When I was younger being a grown up meant having your own checking account.  I remember sitting at the kitchen table with my mother as she showed me how to balance numbers in that gray and white lined ledger.  That year I bought my family gifts for Christmas through the Swiss Colony catalog.  This is the same catalog I couldn't wait to see every year as a child because of the elaborate gingerbread houses they displayed.  Now I was actually buying my family a gift basket using a check I had mailed the company.  This was a long time before computer banking and online orders. 

In 1998 I was engaged to be married.  A few months before the wedding he called it off.  This was the single most devastating moment of my life.  Not only was the wedding called off, he had someone else he had been seeing for quite awhile.  Now I've heard stories of revenge where the jilted woman goes over the deep end and takes a baseball bat to the car of her former betrothed.  In fact, friends at the time actually suggested I seek out some sort of revenge.  Surely he did deserve it.  However, despite what I may have been feeling at the time, I knew there was a whole other world out there.  I was only 29 at the time.  From that experience sprang so many different opportunities and avenues to explore.  There were people to learn from and plenty of country to see.  As in nature, when there is a devastating fire in the forest, in time everything grows back stronger.  I grew back stronger too.

This year being a grown up was finally throwing in the towel on a job that I detested.  After hemming and hawing about it I finally came to the conclusion that this job was not for me.  I gave my notice, gave up a great income, and walked away with the complete sense of relief that I had absoutely done the right thing.  As of yesterday I had 58 cents in my bank account. I joked with my husband that this was the first time in months I had any disposable income.  I accept this as the reality of the decisions I made a few months ago.  I may not be able to shop like I used to and my savings may not be what it once was, however, there is food on the table, the bills are paid, and I have time now to visit with friends.  I can take an exercise class.  My weekends aren't filled with crushing thoughts on all the things that need to get done on Monday.  I can eat dinner with my husband most nights of the week.  I may not be able to jump up at a moment's notice to get a pedicure but that is okay.  Again this is just another golden moment in the realization of adulthood. 

In time more 'grown up' moments will present themselves.  The important thing is that these moments are recognized as miles stones on the way to being a 'grown up.'  Until then I will wait for the next stop on my continuing journey to becoming a 'grown up.' 

I had to move Monsoon's food dish up to the top level of her ferret condo because Abby was cleaning her out when we weren't watching.

Here is Monsoon not having to leave the comforts of her sleeping bag to enjoy a meal. What else would a little Diva need?

Breakfast In Bed

Very little housework was completed this weekend. It is hot here. I mean crazy hot. Africa hot (to quote 'Biloxi Blues'). Ruben & I have stayed inside most of the weekend. I try to remind myself that once we get through all this hot weather then we are blessed with beautiful weather the rest of the year. This is a small price to pay. However, there are reminders everywhere of how hot it gets.

The A/C in the house or car never feels quite cool enough when it gets this hot. A cool shower is out of the question. The water runs out hot even when the cold knob is on. Swimming pools seem like a good idea but they are like bath tub water. --Not very refreshing. The best option is to leave for some place cooler. I hope to leave for the mountains soon, camper in tow.

I'm blogging from my phone today while laying on top of the bed with the ceiling fan going at full speed above me. If I decided to venture into the Girl-Cave then I'm sure I would have broken a sweat getting there, and that is just more than I can bare right now.

To end this post, I included a picture of Glacier Bay in Alaska. Its my way of thinking positive cool thoughts.

Cabin Fever in Reverse

Berry Cobbler

First off, I hope anyone reading in the States had a wonderful 4th of July and anyone out of the country had a relaxing weekend.

We celebrated with friends at their home.  They have the perfect home for entertaining, complete with pool and outdoor TV which Ruben found perfect for watching NASCAR yesterday.

To the left is a desert I made.  I found this on the MSN home page and am happy to report that it was gone within a few minutes of it being tucked into.  My poor husband didn't get any so I will be making him his own batch (sans sucre).

After an afternoon of drinking sangria in the pool and chatting with a good girlfriend while her kids splashed around us, we headed over to a nearby park to watch the fireworks.  Apparently the fire ants were celebrating too, and I had to keep brushing them off my legs.  I was bitten twice before the finale, and man, those things hurt!

Before the fireworks started Ruben and I separated from the group for a few minutes to sit on a park bench.  He told me this was the most relaxed  he had been in a long time.  I could tell by the way he was seated so casually on the bench with his arms stretched out across the back rest and his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles,  that he really was.  It's nice to see that side of him sometimes because I know his job can be very stressful.

It's been a good summer so far.  I am feeling beyond blessed.  While laying in bed this morning I thought back on these past couple of months and remembered thinking that there was much work to be done in my life.  Things are progressing.  It's been hard work to figure out what it is I wanted to do.  There were many times I felt so lost.  There were times in this past year when Ruben and I had talked about calling it quits (my eyes tear up at the thought of that) but we've worked it out.  It's my firm belief that relationships/marriage are defined by the harder times.  We've both found out what we are made of.  That's not to say that there is not work to still be done.  Marriage is a work in progress and I refuse to be another statistic buried in too large of a graveyard of failed marriages.  I've prayed for guidance and the path has become clearer.  I will continue to pray on it.

Right now I'm continuing to work at my sister-in-law's company.  I'm really enjoying the work.  This week I start training for a temporary job that will start within the next few weeks.  Its nice to be doing something I enjoy again.  It's a relief actually.  The nice thing too is that I realized that I have had time to be with friends again.  I'm exercising, which was something that I didn't have much time for before.  At least a few times a week I meet up with friends to either take an exercise class or just get together to do girl stuff (pedicures, lunch, shopping, and pottery!).  My life feels full again.  This is what I had missed out on.  I wondered if I would ever feel that sense of balance again and finally, FINALLY, I do!

This past week the air conditioning in my car went.  Luckily it was only a shot of freon that it needed but wow, it was pretty miserable those few days I went without!  Wednesday night I arrived at the gym looking like I had already worked out.  On Friday I brought my car in for detailing.  Ruben wasn't too happy that I had spent the money because there was a closer place to our home that charges a third less.  It was more out of convenience that I stopped at the one place I did.  Of course following the rule of things, we finally had the rain that night that we've so needed.  It was just enough to spot the exterior.  I also left the window open.  :(  It had been such a nice night with cooler breezes that I decided to forego the A/C while out Friday night and opened a window (which is pretty much unheard of this time of the year) and forgot to close it when arriving home.  Luckily nothing was damaged or drenched.  It must have been a brief shower.

The heat this year for some reason has really bothered me.  Ruben said the same.  Maybe we are just growing less tolerant as we get older.  Then again it went from about 90 or so to 110 within a relatively short period of time.  Usually there is a gradual increase.  I noticed when working out that I feel nauseous and I just feel more lethargic.  --More so than I remember feeling in the past seven summers I have spent here.  There's a lot of humidity, too, which we don't usually get.  It's been a different kind of summer.  I will be very grateful to go camping in a few weeks.  It is always much cooler and the temps for the day usually do not get much higher than 80 degrees.  We also get at least one rain storm a day.  Being a desert dweller, what's not to like about that?

Speaking of the heat, Ruben went out this morning and mowed the much needed overgrown backyard.  Although it was early I'm sure it was still in the low hundreds temperature-wise.  He just got the mower back from being repaired so we had quite the jungle back there.  Luckily none of our neighbor's windows face our backyard.  It was that bad, ha ha.  I was beginning to think we might lose poor Abby back there.  Anyways, it is looking quite nice now.  Ruben even went so far to pull the weeds that I was able to see from the window in the livingroom.  To thank him for that, we are going to go to lunch.  --My treat.  And we won't stop until we find a place that is properly air conditioned to a frosty 60 degrees so I better get a move on! 

I wasn't quite sure what to do with this 'spitoon' looking creation I made so I popped a votive candle in and voila! I think I kind of like it.

What To Do With The Odd Ball

A few weeks ago I had posted about how I had my first pottery lesson.  I finally got around to getting up to the studio today to pick up the items I had created then.  Here is what the before picture looked like:

Pottery 101

This is what they look like today:

Completed Pottery

I'm really amazed at how the glaze turned out.  They of course looked nothing like this when painted.  Unfortunately the last piece in the lower right hand corner stuck to the kiln and cracked when removed.  Nothing a little super glue couldn't fix.

Below is my favorite piece.  It reminds me of a Japanese tea cup.  I did this by dipping it into a bucket of green glaze at an angle, and then after that dried, dipping the other side in red glaze.  The red didn't really come out but it looks interesting to me regardless.

My Favorite Piece

Here is the inside of one other I created.  What I like about this type of glaze is that you'll never know what you're going to get.  One the pieces are fired in the kiln they create such a unique design that can't be duplicated.

Interesting Design

In a few weeks I'll have the results of my second pottery lesson fresh out of the kiln.  I did some experimenting today with low-fire and high-fire glazes so it should be interesting.

On Friday we left to go camping in the Arizona woods.  As usual we left two hours later than planned.  We had planned to meet our usual camping buddies up north past towns called, Happy Jack, Clint's Well, and Strawberry.  We traveled north on the route of the original pony express, only a few hours from the New Mexico border.  Ruben mentioned on the way that he thought the radiator may be leaking and to let him know while I was driving if the engine appeared to be getting hotter.  We got up the first mountain and the radiator started to steam through the grill of his truck.  We were too far along to turn around and go home although the thought did cross my mind.  We pulled over and Ruben started to grab water containers from the back of the truck that we had brought to fill the camper with.  He removed the cap to the radiator which sputtered like a geiser from the hood.  I'm so thankful that he didn't get burned.  We got back on the freeway and had to stop every couple of miles to refill the radiator with water to keep the engine from overheating.  It was a nuisance but we still plugged on.  Once in the town of Payson we stopped to get some sealant for the engine.  Unfortunately that didn't work. 

It started really raining hard and I was growing a bit concerned that once the main highway ended, we would be on windy forest roads with not many places to pull over to add the water.  As the altitude got higher the fog grew thicker.  We were on a sharp incline when the truck started to overheat again.  I could barely see the road between the fog and the steam rising from the hood.  Ruben kept pointing out places for me to pull over but I couldn't see them until it was too late. Both of us were starting to panic.  Ruben kept yelling for me to pull over.  The embankment off the road was very muddy.  I had a bad feeling about it but wanting to respect my husband as it was his truck, and also because I was in sheer panic mode, I pulled over.  The embankment gave way and the truck sank into the ditch next to the road.  The camper was teetering precariously off the side of the embankment and the only thing that was keeping it upright were the sway bars attached to Ruben's truck. 

Tilting Camper

I really didn't panic.  I was amazingly calm as was Ruben.  Many people stopped to help but unfortunately what we needed was a tow truck to pull us out.  I still can't get over the kindness of strangers.  Some offered us beverages and just a warm vehicle to sit in until help came.  Neither one of our cell phones came in there so we couldn't call AAA.  We just asked everyone that stopped to call the police once they reached an area with cell phone reception. 

Stuck In The Mud

Night was descending fast and the temperature was dropping.  I was wondering if our friends were wondering where we were.  We had talked to them hours before when we had gotten on the highway earlier.  We waited for three hours in the ditch.  All our warm clothes were in the camper and we couldn't go inside without risking tipping it over.  Luckily Ruben had a sweatshirt in his truck that I was able to slip on over my t-shirt.  It was dirty but I didn't care.  It was the kind of night where the dampness just chills you to the bone.  Anyone from the east coast knows what I'm talking about.  We were still dressed in shorts and flip-flops.  Ruben paced outside and he was thoroughly drenched.  I sat inside the truck with Abby and I silently prayed.  I knew that this prayer would be answered.  Sometimes you know before you know.  I prayed outloud.  There was only one point during that time we were stuck that I felt like I was going to have a melt-down.  I pulled it together though.  We sat in the truck for a long time.  The rain hammered the windshield and the people that had stopped to help looked like ghosts on the side of the road in the flashing of the hazard lights. 

Finally a tow truck came.  A police officer also showed and they blocked traffic so that we had room to get out.  Both the tow truck driver and the police officer were incredibly kind.  "Don't worry," the tow truck driver said encouragingly with a smile.  "We're gonna get you out of here and you are going to go on to have a great weekend." I was amazed as I stood outside with Abby, that the cord from the tow truck was actually lifting the camper right out of the mud.  The wheels weren't even touching the ground.  Ruben steered the truck out until finally we were out of the ditch and back on the road.  My teeth were chattering partly from the cold and partly from the shock.  It wasn't until afterwards that the gravity of what had happened sank in.  I had stayed amazingly calm throughout that whole thing and now I felt sick.  We stopped in Clint's Well and paid the tow truck driver.  Then we headed on to our campsite to meet our friends.  I was never so grateful and thanked God outloud about a dozen times. 

The rest of the weekend was very fun.  It rained most of the time but a rainy day in the mountains is still better than a 100+ degree day in Phoenix.  We pulled the camper next to our friend's camper and we both extended our awnings to create one large dry area.  We were completely out of water so we placed buckets out in the rain to fill the camper.  There's nothing like showering in rain water.  The rain proved to be a blessing, too.  Talk about going green!

After a harrowing evening, Ruben and I were exhausted.  We sunk into the depths of the down mattress and thick comforter in the comfort of a warm dry camper.  The sound of the rain on the roof put us right to sleep.  Soon the events of that night were forgotten about as we enjoyed time with friends and some great meals.  By Monday morning I felt like I didn't have a care in the world.  The woods and good friends will do that.

Lately I've worried about so many things.  While stuck in that ditch it hit me that I have to have Faith in whatever situation I might find myself in.  There's only so much control we have in life.  The rest we have to leave in God's hands.