Throwing Shit: January
You’ll have to forgive me for being the most boring human alive in the month of January. This winter has been the bummer of a lifetime. As of February 1, we’ve had nothing more than a polite dusting of snow — the kind that melts before you can even get your hopes up. Aside from one brief flirtation with real winter (low twenties for a week, if we’re being generous), it’s been aggressively mild, with most days hovering in the 40s. Which means the conditions still aren’t right for any of the things I actually enjoy doing in winter. No ice fishing, no proper snow days, just bad vibes and mud.
Chris was gone for about 90% of the month, and since I’m taking a little time off from work, my days have mostly consisted of finding increasingly creative ways to keep myself busy. I knocked out a few professional certifications, did some reading, and spent the rest of my time chipping away at the ever-expanding list of household tasks that somehow multiplies when you make eye contact with it. Productive? Yes. Blog-worthy? Certainly not, unless you want to hear me rage about the need to pay money for a storage unit.
I also haven’t been taking many photos. I did pick up a fun little film camera earlier this month and have been shooting on that here and there, but I haven’t developed any of the rolls yet — so at the moment, those images exist purely in theory.
January in Photos
(What Would Have Been) Stories
Part II - Hobbies are my Hobby: A Ceramics Progression
In true me fashion, I took exactly one class in my six-week ceramics course and immediately decided it would become my entire personality. Naturally, I dove in headfirst and ordered a pottery wheel so I could keep practicing at home. Four classes in, I’ve thrown and glazed a few pieces, but I haven’t gotten anything back from the final firing yet — so the jury is very much still out on how this is all going to turn out. Stay tuned for a verdict next month.
In my first class, I somehow picked up centering pretty quickly, which immediately gave me a false sense of confidence. Coning and pulling up the walls, however, were a different story. Still, I managed to make two tiny cups, which felt like a massive win at the time. One survived. The other met its untimely end two weeks later during trimming, when I learned the hard way that “not enough clay at the bottom” is a fatal design flaw.
In my second week, I threw a little plate/trinket dish, a few more cups, and a couple of small bowls. I was feeling brave. Bold, even. Things were starting to resemble functional objects, which only reinforced the idea that I definitely knew what I was doing (I did not).
Then my wheel arrived. I set it up in the garage, immediately made a little mug, and promptly destroyed it the very next day during trimming. I’m still getting used to that part. Trimming is probably the part of the process I enjoy the most — which is unfortunate, because it’s also the part I’m the worst at.
By my third class, I actually managed to trim a few pieces without destroying them, which felt extremely validating. I finally sent a handful of pieces off for bisque firing and began to believe that maybe, just maybe, this hobby and I could coexist peacefully.
In week four, my bisque-fired pieces were back and I got to glaze a few of them — truly a highlight. We also worked on hand-building, which resulted in this silly little wavy dish that I originally intended to use for snacks. Now that I’m thinking about it, I will never be able to stack this in my kitchen, so she’ll need to find a home elsewhere… assuming she survives the remaining firing processes.
MOby is the sweetest angel studio celebrity and I love him.
Pages I Turned (Willingly)
Honestly, I didn’t get much reading done this month. Once I found the motivation to start tackling real-life tasks, and trying to balance that with ceramics, sitting down to read became surprisingly difficult. Learning to manage ADHD in adulthood means recognizing that when motivation strikes, I have to prioritize the things I need to do over the things I want to do.
That said — I did read one book, and it was worth the wait.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke - I knew I would devour this book the second I got my hands on it. I woke up to a NetGalley email granting me access to the ARC (it comes out in April), read the first five pages, and immediately canceled all my plans for the day. This is the first advanced reader copy I’ve ever received, and I could have squealed.
This book is perfect for me. Snarky, critical, slightly sci-fi, and thrillery. The narrator is an absolutely insufferable tradwife influencer — complete with full-time staff, a production crew, secret plastic surgery, a cheating husband, and an increasingly self-aware daughter who no longer wants to be filmed. She is convinced that anyone critical of her “authenticity” is simply jealous.
Desperate to maintain the illusion of perfection while fully aware that her life is falling apart, the influencing must continue and the bread must be baked. Then, one day, she wakes up in 1805 and is suddenly forced to live the life she’s been romanticizing and monetizing.
The fact that this book is set in Idaho makes it even better. I feel like I know her. I do know her — she’s every tradwife influencer exploiting her children’s lives for content while preaching virtue. I highlighted something on nearly every page. This was the perfect first fiction read after ACOTAR and a 10/10 twisty, turny ride.
This Would Have Done Numbers on Vine
As payment for being such a horrifically boring person this month, here’s a video of me falling on my ass while throwing on my wheel for the first time. I was impatient (shocking), and instead of waiting one day for my stool to arrive, I used a small camping chair. It did not go well.
Please enjoy at my expense. February will be better. Probably. Hopefully.
