"A Learning Experience"

Saturday was Jenna's bridal shower here for our side of the family and Jenna's high school and college friends. The house was wall-to-wall people, but still comfortable and she received some wonderful things that she and Joe really need. Kara and the bridesmaids put together some good eats, too.

My friend Marsha was here and the day before had picked up our pottery projects we'd done on Monday. I was excited to see mine since I was so pleased with how it turned out and wanted to see the finished product.

"How does it look?" I asked Marsha as she handed me the paper bag. She put her arm around my shoulders and gave me a brief look that had me wishing I hadn't asked. "Well," she said, "it was a learning experience." Oh dear. I wondered what that meant.

I opened the bag and when I looked at it, I understood. When I was putting the lettering on, I hadn't liked the position of the first 'S'. It had been painted in dark brown paint and I wiped it off as best I could with a wet paper towel and then painted over it with the beige paint. Oops! I accidentally hit the blue part with the brush, so I had to paint over that, too.

Those of you who have more experience in such things know that you can't just paint over a darker color with a lighter one. You have to completely remove the mistake or it will come through when it's fired. So, as a result, I've got two brown dots on the blue, and a shadow of an S where I don't want it. But other than that, I really like it. And if I put it on my counter where I had planned and turn it a little to the left, you can barely see my mistakes. Just admire it from afar, okay?