THE MOST AWESOME TOOL ON THE JOURNEY......

ONE word: HOBBY .... whatever or whichever suits one's fancy ... Hobbies are AWESOME tools on the journey ... nothing better than keeping the mind busy and entertained while doing something that one enjoys ... and I have MANY hobbies ... but today I will share just a couple...

WOW ... time certainly FLIES by and there are just not enough hours in the day or days in the week to do all that I want to do ... plus more...

I had the most AWESOME week ... I started in a new division within the organization I work for on Monday and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE my new department ... this promotion is just as awesome or may be even more so than my former position which I too loved ... with awesome peeps in the department too ... a total WIN....

I took a couple days off before my transition from one department to another to 'supposedly' rest and 'de-stress' but but but ... what did I do instead? I used one of the most awesome tools during weight loss AND now in maintenance and reaped awesome rewards PLUS I had fun along the way ... it is called "HOBBY" and comes in many shapes,,,, forms... or modalities ...one can have one ... or one can have many ....

Today I share snippets of one of my many hobbies ...or a re-kindling of a past hobby I should say... YUP.... this time  I decided to fire up my kiln and take a shot at pouring/baking and painting porcelain using a mold for a 'Hannah' doll hoping to replace my still broken doll ... I got so carried away and so involved in my project that turned out to be  'much much bigger' than the dimensions of the doll that I was trying to replace while rehashing my dollmaking skills with porcelain ----- I wound up with a totally re-made doll that could NOT replace my original broken doll with as she is HUGE ... but I had sooooooooooooo much fun making her ... in the end I renamed her Dedes ... short for Mercedes ... my mom's (RIP)  name Maria Mercedes AND nickname "Dedes".... and of course pictures were taken ... and before you know it ... there went my day off ... but I HAD FUN! 

I got home and poured porcelain into the mold and using three cones as guides and  leads and placement I set up my kiln and despite a tiny crack in one of the shelves I decided to pour and bake starting with the hands ... then I ventured to the feet ... and as I began having a bit of a problem adjusting the temperatures I was either firing too high or too low and could not adjust the temperatures so I switched to both firing the kiln and using my regular oven alternating .... I stayed up ALL NIGHT LONG ... of course time flew on by and I had not realized that I had been up all night...

I fired/kiln and baked/oven in layers ... and then I sanded and painted ...applying matte sealant and baking also in between layers of painting ...

I then applied the eyes which were a PITA and then I applied human hair eyelashes from the shop... I did a base color to the lips and with a toothpick I traced the shape of eyebrows to fine tune after...with the toothpick in a mixture of burnt senna and aquamarine blue to get an off black tone I made the two moles on the side of her face just like my mom had... then with a large doll needle and a hair braiding hook I laced ribbon through the jointed cloth body I had sewn earlier and to which I had attached the poured porcelain arms and legs that I had painted and dried before working on the face....

when the body was attached to the breastplate I then applied one of the doll wigs that I had made which I planned on styling after dressing the doll in the dress that I had bought along with the mold... I plan to make her her very own Pollera de Panama when I get a chance otherwise I will ask my sister Rosita to buy and send me one in her measurements...

After assembling the doll she turned out to be wayyyyyyyyyyyyy larger than the 36" doll whose head ONLY I was trying to replace where my toy poodle Chip had broken her when she fell at his trying to hump her ... this doll turn out to be much bigger and taller and now she IS special because it has been YEARS since I tried my hand at pouring porcelain and firing my kiln I am sooooooooooooo rusty ... BUT ... I am enjoying this and plan to work on other items as well...

I even took a picture with this dolly... oh and I baked her with pins through the ears so when I removed them she had perfect piercings for her earrings... an old pair of my own...

So I ended last week with an awesome session of arts and crafts and a rekindled hobby ... pouring porcelain ... ohhhhhhhh I am sooooooooooo going to invest in a NEW and BIGGER electric kiln... I am fired up... LOL... and the next day I worked fine tuning details on her face and I styled her hair for this end product ... and I painted her fingernails AND her toenails too...

My weekend was gone and before I knew it I was just relaxing spending quality time with my family all of whom were involved as go-fers during different pieces of my project ESPECIALLY as I burnt my fingers a couple times accidentally... I got very little rest YET I was totally rested ... if that makes any sense ... and I started my new job on Monday... 

With on-going intense training I had not much time if any at all to post as I wanted to ... but I did snap a picture a day for my empowerment journal "A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches Away" ... I had an awesome dinner event I went to with my DH for our anniversary last week and again last night we went out to a formal dinner with friends after coming home from work ... I wore my gold gown ... that I made MYSELF ... a couple years ago ... and it fit perfectly except looser in the bust area ... and I am so not liking these gravity shifts with age LOL...

This is my week last week in pictures...

I even took a close-up as once again I can rock my hair and my duds and just be artsy fartsy old me... 

yesterday was an AWESOME Friday ... end of my first week and loving this new position ... this picture at the end of the day and rushing up to shower and don a gown to go back out with DH and friends...

I got home and showered and donned my gold 'home-made' gown made by moi and shared on here a couple years ago .. I took a picture in it before leaving the house last night ... and hope to find the picture I took sometime tomorrow in my digial empowerment journal for comparison... SEWING ... MY FAVORITE-EST hobby yet!!! and AWESOME TOOL ... as a hobby and as an awesome survival kit for the wardrobe pre and post WLS...

and in a few minutes our friends from our awesome 'Oldies Keeping the Flame Going' Club will be coming over and we will be heading out for a night of fun ... I will be wearing this dress here and rocking these gargantuan heels ... yup I will be strutting and working my calves and burning cals on my stilts as I hit the dance floor LOL .... 

OMG ... I DEFINITELY NEED AND EXTRA DAY OR SOME EXTRA HOURS ... LOL.... but I won't complain.... with all of life's ups and downs and turn arounds I am determined to live my ongoing journey with joy and happiness and living every day to the fullest and the best me ... because 6 years and 7 months ago I could barely make it up a flight of stairs... I had 5 co-morbidities ... now all in remission ... and I weighed 203 pounds MORE than I do today .... I am embracing joy and making it happen to me ... as I share SNIPPETS of my journey....

BEFORE and TODAY ... WLS... the best decision and the best action I took for ME ...

I took my life back from morbid obesity and I am NOT going back if I can help it.... of course there are cir****tances and health issues that none of us can control ... should it happen to me I will deal but while I have my health ... and I have a tool...and  I have some rules and an AWESOME pool of  brothers and sisters on the journey right here on OH and IRL and in the world ... I am going to continue on my walk away from morbid obesity one day at a time ... one choice at a time ... 

Thanks for allowing me to share .... snippets of my journey... please excuse typos.... typing on the run long winded old fart that I am teeeeeeeee heeeeeeeeeeeee......

What a great hobby! I am so impressed with all your talents! The doll is gorgeous! You are gorgeous!

Thank you my BEAUTIFUL  BEAUTIFUL friend!!!! I MISSED YOU! and just about everyone else on here ... hopefully things will calm down a bit after next week ... changes and more changes .... I was fretful at first and now that it came upon us it ALL worked out for the best ...can you imagine??? I even got an extra 'white' hair on my chin behind all this ... but I plucked that joker out and kept on moving.... I am running out now but tomorrow I have a full day of leisure to catch up and post on here and look up and read all the updates..

Hello NEIGHBOR!!!! it is AWESOME to see a fellow CTer on here ... just AWESOME!!!!  Thank you soooooooooooo much for your encouragement and support!!!! It would be awesome to meet and greet someday...

Gorgeous! Both you and your dolls!

Thank YOU! beautiful .... this doll is a bit rough around the edges as I am years out of practice ... I need more practice ... I think I want to try my had at sculpting in clay someday too ... I am reading up online to find some do it yourself with instruction sites.... but first I have to be able to replace my broken doll's face ... it can't be that hard ... only thing is I want to keep it like the original ... not just any old face... my first trial with the mold I got for her was a total failure ... what a mess... I am going to try again though...

Thanks so much for "kicking my butt" into gear and get out all my craft stuff and DO something. I love making jewelry, which has been the most recent of crafts I get into. I have so many things here I could do. Thanks so much for posting. As always, your awesome and love reading and looking at your pics!! Shine on!!

Brenda, making jewelry is AWESOME and sounds like fun ... my friend does it and I love her pieces ...  she does the most amazing earrings/necklace sets with all manner of beadwork she gets online ... Again, thanks for your encouragement and support ALWAYS! I can't believe that I am just getting up on a Sunday morning LOL...must've been tired...

Wow, that was a lot of work and your new dolly turned out FABULOUSLY!!