clay: handmade home vision board

We've a maid coming today to clean our home, which forced me to de-clutter so that she could do her job. Crazy to have to clean for the cleaning service, but I even found an article on the etiquette of cleaning for the cleaners.  And so I did clear my kitchen counters--there's only my Vitamix blender, dishwashing liquid, sponge, drain cover, and the paper towels in its rack on one side of the galley kitchen, and salt, pepper, sugar crocks, butter dish and fruit bowl on the other side. My dining table is likewise clear except for a printer, candlesticks, candy bowl, and a vase of flowers. Ditto for clutter in the living room BECAUSE junk is crammed onto my bookcases. There's no dusting of my bookcase until I get rid of said junk. And in my bedroom, I picked everything off the floor (lots of sewing projects in garbage bags shoved into my closet). Last night I decided I was going to throw away even more stuff than I already have in these past few months in preparation for another deep dusting of surfaces in a few months. The goal is to some day have a home that looks spare but comfortable and soothing like the picture below.

Yeah it's all beige and white and maybe bland, but so soothing and serene. I want that tranquil and rustic simplicity. I've also found pictures of ceramics I could make to create that ambience.

The overlapping slabs remind me of Ann Van Hoey's bowls, and I've fallen in love with a Cone 10 rutile glaze at clay club.

Yesterday I was telling Zan that I'm in love with her autobiographical bottle made with red clay with white slip into which she had inscribed mishima imagery. But the bottle above is also giving me ideas of combining the red and white stoneware clays I've been working with. 

When I came home, I could smell the clean. There still lingered the scent of detergent, surfaces were gleaming, and my fingers glided smoothly on counters and tabletops. We didn't instruct the maid on what to clean, for we wanted to see what she determined needed scrubbing. There were a few surfaces that I did have to attack with a disinfecting wipe like the bottoms of the screens of our sliding door (BUT omg our windows are clear and sparkling!). I'm pretty pleased with the dusting.

Ugh, I hate the printer being on top of my dining table. I'm hoping we'll get rid of it when we both retire from our day jobs. I did buy a printer cart which was just delivered and which I'll assemble to make this tabletop even more attractive. Why yes she did dust my candlesticks!

And my bedroom is spotless. We'll see how long that lasts. I guess a rug would soften the room and make it more cozy.

Even my bedside table has been winnowed down to just one journal and one fiction book and one nonfiction book.

I wonder if the maid had to move the bed to dust underneath it, which I'll check this weekend. I was shocked that she even emptied the refrigerator to wipe down the shelves. Next time, I'll tell her to clean something else instead. 

I was loathe to use my newly polished stove, but I did anyway. Cecilia gave me a parbaked crust from her sourdough which I turned into a meat lovers' pizza. I had trekked to the grocery store just to buy and brown Italian sausage for this pie. I also added salami, soppresata, and pepperoni.                          

Seriously better than any Papa Murphy's pizza I ever brought home, and I really miss their take ‘n bake pies.

I told Cecilia that I loved, loved, loved this pie. The crust was in between the light, crispy Detroit and the chewiness of a foccaccia. I may not have used Wisconsin brick cheddar, but there was still a butteriness to this pizza that I LOVED from all the olive oil in the dough and in the crushed tomato sauce to which Cecilia adds garlic, fresh oregano, and balsamic vinegar. Molto buono.