This would be the introduction

I finally decided that if I wait until I know what I'm doing, & get my profile written, & get this set up the way I want, & take some decent pictures to post, then I'll never have any entries on this blog. So I'm just going to start.

I'm Jem.
Yes, my real name. No, it isn't short for anything. And yes, there was a time when I knew all the words to the theme song for that cartoon, not because I'd ever seen it, but from all the times people sang it to me. If you're in your 20's or have daughters or granddaughters that age you know what I'm talking about. The rest of you, you really don't want to know, trust me.

I am an artist, bead-maker and a mother of three young teen boys (oops, make that two, that third one hasn't been a teen for many years, just acts like one sometimes. My husband would be the one racing the shopping cart down the aisle, which our sons now find more embarrassing than amusing - may be why they don't want to go shopping with us anymore.)
I work full-time and am involved in our local polymer clay artist guild, moderating our online group and organizing (or delegating- thanks guys!) our meetings.
We're also in the design/red-tape stage of building a new house so I'm also looking for a place for us to live while it's being built.

If anyone asks me how I find the time to make art, I just tell them the truth: I don't clean my house. Everyone laughs but it really isn't a joke, not a very funny one anyway. You certainly wouldn't laugh if you saw the state of my house. At least now I have an excuse - what's the point of cleaning it when we're going to tear it down soon.

One thing I do keep on top of is laundry. We always have clean clothes. It's sheer coincidence that the laundry room is just off my studio (it will be in the new house too - why change what works?) On weekends I sort the mountain into 6 or 7 hills and head downstairs. I tell everyone I have LOTS of laundry to do, don't expect to see me all day, maybe not until Monday. Have to stay within earshot of that washer & dryer of course, never know what terrible things would happen to the family's clothes if I left the studio, I mean laundry room, to go dust or something. (that's an inside joke- I don't dust if I can help it - so almost never. The kids & I used to make handmade paper out of dryer lint, surely giant dust bunnies can be made into something equally useful. )

I'd like this blog to have a number of functions: a way to keep friends & family up-to-date on the progress of our house project; show off some of my polymer beads, jewellery and ornaments, maybe some of my older ceramic work & furniture too; share some of the things I've learned and figured out about working with polymer clay (Barb, those tumbler tips are coming, promise); and share some of the joys of living with two teenage boys and a very demanding, very talkative cat (aka "the rug").

And, now that I've taken my first blog babystep, my next will be to decide if I'm going to tell anyone about it or not.

Jem