I'm working again!

Not only was I MIA from the blog, I wasn't making pottery or sculpture either. But all that has changed and I'm working again. It feels good to be working in clay; I feel like I need to dust off the cobwebs and find the rhythm once again. I have been throwing some mugs and some lidded jars - after I had to search to find all my tools again. My studio has been in a state of disrepair - we ripped out the sink and transformed it into a closet. (We did that because we were preparing to put the house on the market and needed another bedroom.) So, I am working without a sink, but I am managing alright with buckets of water. I know I am not the first potter to work without a sink! In the new house, I'm going to have a bad ass studio and that will make up for it. I've already purchased a kiln - I got a large, electric front loading kiln from Bailey. I stayed with electric firing because all my glazes are formulated for it. To switch to gas firing, I would have to make so many changes to my glazes, and I'm not prepared to do that at this time. I don't have any pictures of finished pieces yet, because there are no finished pieces yet! I'm in a throwing cycle, and soon I will start firing and glazing some of the work. As soon as I have some pieces, I will take a quick picture and post it. Thanks and you all have a great day!

I'm Back!

Well, well, well! After a long hiatus, I'm back. Things have been so crazy around the Thiel household. First off - we had our baby! Three weeks early, as a matter of fact. I went in for a doctor's appt, and had an ultrasound. We found out that I was running out of amniotic fluid and it was time to get the baby out! Wow! I didn't even have my car seat yet! We had ordered it, but it hadn't been delivered yet! The same goes for my rocking chair and other baby gadgets. So we scrambled, got a bag together, arranged for a dogsitter, made about a million phone calls and got ourselves to the hospital. I stayed the night and the next morning they prepped me for surgery, as I was going to have a c-section. (Why? I'll tell you all about that later...) At about 11:45, I walked into the surgery room (boy, that was a bit scary) and at 12:02, we had a baby girl. What a crazy experience! Marley Marie weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and was 19.5" long. She had medium brown hair and was ours! Wow! Since then, we have been trying to adapt to this new life, and getting very little sleep while doing it. Baby Marley didn't want to sleep at night in the beginning, and we've only begun to turn that around here in the past couple of weeks. Thank goodness! Now the challenge is to get her to sleep in the bassinet instead of on our chests. That is where she is happiest. She is a cute little peanut and she is our biggest challenge. Having a baby is such an emotional event - nobody warns you that you will feel the strongest emotions of your life. You feel extreme happiness, excitement, frustration, stressed out, worried, guilty, crazy, exhausted and more. I realize that not all of those are emotions, but you feel them all! And then there is the reprioritizing of your life. Some things just lose their importance in those first few hours with a baby! And other things gain importance, like friends, family, health, safety, things of that sort. I could go on and on, but I will save it for another time. I have included some photos for you all. I'm sorry I was MIA for a while. I guess I was feeling overwhelmed! Love to all of you!

Look at that Belly!

I took this photo of myself at 29 weeks pregnant! As I sit here and write this, I think my belly has grown even more, so I will have to post another photo soon. I'm actually starting my 31 week tomorrow, so that photo is slightly out of date. I am feeling great right now, just very aware of this baby growing in my belly! Charlie and I have been to register and will soon start taking baby classes at the hospital. I believe we start on May 21 with the Childbirth Prep and Tour. Wow, things are getting real! It sounds like our new house will not be ready in time for the new baby, but that might be a good thing. With so much going on, maybe we will have a chance to get used to this baby thing before we have to dive into a move. I will keep you posted. I'm not sure what this means for my pottery studio, but I will have to play it all by ear. With my decreasing energy and Mom going through chemo, things are kind of up in the air anyway. Happy Mother's Day to all of you~ Kelly

Mother's Day

Hello everyone, Mother's Day is tomorrow, and this year has special meaning for me. With my Mom being sick, I realize that this could be our last Mother's Day together, and that weighs so heavily on my heart. Because of this, I am going to try to make the day special for her. I am taking her to Beaufort, SC, with her mother, as well, and the three of us are going to make a day of it. We are going to have lunch and go shopping and just enjoy being together. She is feeling pretty good today, and hopefully tomorrow will be another "feel-good" kind of day. She started chemotherapy last week, and so far, she is doing okay. Thank goodness for that. Mom is such a generous person. Her last stay in the hospital was for bronchitis, and she really enjoyed all of the nurses she dealt with. So what did she do? She came home and started making clay pendants for keychains for all the nurses. She just wanted to do a little something to say thank you. She has taught me so much in life and and I hope to learn even more from her as we go along on this path. Thank you to all of you who have sent me your thoughts and prayers. I do believe they are helping! Kelly

Getting out of the Hospital

My mother should be getting out of the hospital on Friday and hopefully things will settle down a bit. She caught a cold that turned into bronchitis and sent her to the hospital on Monday. Once again, it has been a wild ride, with appointments, and medications, and lovely side effects. I can't believe that our country spends billions on cancer and we still can't really beat it. We are getting better at it and thank goodness for that, but I know the world will rejoice when we can eradicate this awful demon altogether. Thank you to all of you who have called or emailed me about Mom's condition. I may not always be able to respond, but it really does help to hear such feeling in your voice. I can't say thank you enough. I am doing my best to take care of me and my growing belly and it helps to know you all are there.

Gearing Up For Another Week

Today is a beautiful spring day! The jasmine is starting to bloom, as is the pittosporum shrub, and the air is perfumed with all these wonderful smells. It is a perfect day to recharge the batteries and get ready for another week. I did not realize how much I needed a day to do this. Our lives today get so busy with everything, that I think sometimes, your spirit just gets tired. I didn't have the energy to do any of my "normal" activities, even the ones that usually cheer me up. I haven't touched wet clay in a while, ever since we found out about Mom's cancer. I did manage to run the kiln though, so I do have a few new glazed items that I can take to Charleston Crafts. That will be good. My Mom has now been through 6 radiation treatments to the brain and is just starting to see some hair loss. A few hairs in the brush is all, but it is starting. I think that is so hard for anybody, man or woman, to lose their hair so suddenly like that. I just hope she is able to keep her eyebrows and eyelashes for a little longer. I know the chemo will claim those eventually, but for now, I would love for her to keep those. I have started my third trimester in my pregnancy, as of today, and I need to take some new photos to post on here. I'll see if I can do that in the next few days for you guys. This is such a bittersweet time for me right now, with the baby coming in a couple of months and my mom being sick. There is so much to be done, and not enough energy or drive to do it. I do want to try to get back into the clay this week. I know that I have orders to fill and galleries waiting on deliveries. I will let all of you know where I get started on all that. Everyone take care of yourselves and stay healthy.

You never think it could happen to you..

Well, last week, we got some terrible news about my mother's health. You never think it could happen to you or your family, but she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer of the lungs. I can't believe it. My mother, who is never sick, has cancer. It all started with that trip to Tampa for the Gasparilla Art Festival, she started having symptoms there, but those sort of went away. Her symptoms would come and go, and seemed to be so strange and intermittent. Then, last week, she started having serious headaches (she never gets headaches) and nausea, and I took her to the ER. The admitted her immediately and started testing with CT scans and MRIs. Turns out the news is pretty bad. It started out as lung cancer, and has spread to the brain and adrenal glands. We've been in and out of doctors' offices ever since. She started her radiation last Friday and hopefully that will help her headaches and some of the other symptoms. I'm sure it will give her new ones, as well. This is why I haven't posted in a while, as we've been a little busy with appointments. I haven't been doing much pottery or sculpture in the past two weeks, as I have been dealing with so many conflicting emotions. Maybe I can get back to it before too long. Sculpting has always been therapeutic for me. My pregnancy has become so bittersweet for me right now. I want my mother here to meet the little one and watch her grow up. I don't know if that is in our future. Anyone else find themselves in a situation like this?? How did I get here??