Jump to content

Qotw:how Do They Put Up With You?


Recommended Posts

Ok, so I was just reading an old Qotw about "Are we Crazy". I was mentioning it to my wife, and it occurred to me, How has she put up with me over the years.. . . . let me explain. So we know we are Passionately Crazy about clay, but what does that mean.

  • I believed in Rt/Lft Brain theory, it explains much of me. I will go into the shop at evening, and start working, and not realize how late things are until early mid or late morning. Working through the night. Even did that a few times while teaching, not getting in til 2 or 3 a.m. and then getting up for work at 6:30.
  • Firing a kiln up and down without a programmer or a setter means strange bed time antics, alarms going off every few hours, staying out of be til way late, and doing other weird things at night and then sleeping in.
  • Tracking clay into the house on the bottoms of my feet after she has just mopped!
  • Dusty or muddy hands and clothes leaving finger prints all over.
  • Glazing on the deck with materials and pots everywhere when some would like to enjoy a nice day also. ... in quiet, without mess, or splatter!
  • Laundry that wears out the washing machine a few years early.
  • Rejected pots laying around everywhere, for her use, always gets the seconds.
  • Overly persnickity and picky potter that always sees something wrong with a pot she wants to buy, even as I say, I can throw you one. . . Why not?
  • I can go on and on, but I am sure you all get the picture.

So when I ask her how she puts up with me, she just smiles and very quietly says: because I love you. Go figure!

 

How do those around you put up with it, deal with it, adapt to it or just overlook it?

 

 

best,

as always,

Pres

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife has gotten used to that nerdy "glazed" look when I am "formulating" in my mind. When she asks me to run up to the store to buy some flour: and I say what mesh size?... she just shakes her head at me. At 3am when I slip out of bed and go into the study and begin writing notes: she asks" did you figure it out" when I come back to bed. In fact she is looking at me now, asking what the topic is this time? How did she know I was answering the QQW?...guess 36 years of marriage does that.

 

She also knows because I see that same glazed look when she has written stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul, or other articles. I have seen it when she is editing novels for national authors. For 2 years, I seen that intent stare when she wrote her own novel (coming to a store near you.) I have seen it when she was reading emails from Nicholas Sparks before he became well known. She knows because she has been there.

 

She use to correct my spelling and grammar but has since ceased when I told her: I am a Glaze Nerd, not an English major.

 

Nerd

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thinks its best to let my wife speak for herself here,

 

I love pottery and all that goes with it.  Don't mind the clay dust everywhere.  I love going to sleep to a roaring red-hot kiln.  I'd love to do more pottery myself.  His workaholism is a bit much at times, so maybe, just once in a while, we could do something spontaneous, like go to the beach for a sunset, or up to the mountain to see the shooting star showers (hint, hint).  As long as the kiln isn't firing.  - wife of Mark C.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife agreed early on not to interfere with two things. My pottery and my eating. I told her she would loose every time. Good news is a couple of weeks ago she was carving and sgrafittoing some pots and had a good time of it. The pots looked fantastic when she was done. Now if she would only catch clay fever I would be the happiest husband ever. I at this point am just an obsessed hobbyist not some crazy full blown potter with multiple kilns and out buildings. Would be nice though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband doesn't mind because he is the same way in his garage restoring cars.  Doesn't care if the house is dusty and his grimy fingerprints are a lot harder to get off the walls than mine.  Sleeps through the 3 am kiln checks.  My studio is next to his garage, I love it when we can open the door between us and listen to a rock station on the radio and work all day.    Denice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what I do with my husband,  a couple of years ago he had finished a 61 Ranchero restoration,  he was just sitting around the house with his arms folded and his lip stuck out.  I told him it was time to start another car, we decided it would be my son's 74 Challenger that he had wrecked all four corners, destroyed the interior and abandoned it in a field to rust away.  The rust turned out to be a bigger problem than we thought but working on it keeps my husbands stress levels down.   Denice

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband says: he's not putting up with it, there's nothing to put up with. He says that watching me do something I love is awesome so he loves supporting it and he enjoys what I do because it's important to me. And he also likes that it makes money. :) 

 

That was very sweet so I'm glad I asked! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My husband is fairly amazed at the intensity with which clay grabbed me.  We were in the shop doing a kiln repair, 11:00 at night, 20 below outside and not terribly warm inside, and I said, "I bet you wish I had have been a knitter!"   And he said "Oh, that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun!"  And he meant it.    

 

Roberta

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Complaints about the dust & mess....yep

complaints about taking over the whole basement and having his shop shrink.....yep

complaints about my culinary skills and thinking I should stay out of the kitchen & stick to baking clay........yep

showing off some of my best pieces to visitors and a pat on the back when I need it......yep

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My significant other lives down the road from me and he has his messes and I have mine.  Works great.  I get a little irked (not really) when he seems to like my less than great pieces.  Right now he's got a failed piece of mine on his mantle that I used as a glaze tester...I think I tried 10 different glazes/glaze combos around the sides. (And yes, I wrote it all down)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.