Arganis Art Productions

Summertime is here!

For most people this makes little difference in their day-to-day routine, but for students and teachers summertime means summer vacation.

For a little school kid that means swimming pools and water guns and the feeling like school will never return. For older school kids summer vacation means summer jobs. Cutting grass. Flipping burgers. Packing groceries. Bussing tables. Selling blood. The thrill of the summer job cannot be over-emphasized.
One of the perks of being a school teacher is still getting summer vacations…paid summer vacations. One of the anti-perks of being a private Christian school teacher is still needing a summer job.

In my 8 years of professional teaching I have still had the questionable pleasure of working at a summer job. I’ve been a camp counselor, a house painter, a landscaper, and even a private art instructor. It is difficult to describe the joy of making less than minimum wage as an adult trying to support his family. Nothing says “summer vacation” like working all summer.

But this year is going to be different. This year Jess and I are embarking on a new and entrepreneurial endeavor.

We leave Monday for Nicholson, PA. My father-in-law, Nick, has graciously agreed to
relinquish his shed for three weeks to give Jessie the opportunity to set up a make-shift clay studio. Jess’s old high school art teacher has also agreed to allow her access to his kilns. So for three weeks (or so) Jess will be working in her clay studio making ceramics. I will be watching the kids while she works and building a deck with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.

From there we’re heading to Long Island for three weeks (or so) and I’ll be focusing on my drawings. Portraits, botanicals, and some nature studies. Jess will be watching the kids (as usual) and she will not be building a deck; mainly because her due date is August 21st.

So this summer’s goals are:
1)Jess will make a LOT of well-made, sellable ceramics.
2)I will build a deck without losing any digits.
3)I will make a lot of small sellable drawings.
4)Launch a website (not a blog site) about the work we’re making.
5)Get back to Philly before the baby comes.
6)Find an art fair for the fall where we can sell the things we’ve made.

So for the next seven weeks the blog site will be devoted to tracking this endeavor. I have no idea how this will work out, but we’ll be posting updates as often as possible (hopefully daily) so keep checking back often to see how we’re doing.

And keep praying for us!

Spring Break!

No work for a week and a day.

I love being a teacher.

Campfires, Birthday's, and Comedic Polkas

We'll be on the road for a couple days and I can't guarantee any Internet access while I'm gone.
But we're going to see Weird Al Yankovic in Scranton on Wednesday, Thursday is my birthday, Friday is the Eventide release (geek stuff) Saturday is Jess's birthday and we're going camping until we come home Sunday night. This will be a pretty crazy couple of days!
I'll fill you all in when we get back.

In the mean time, here's a pretty funny video you can enjoy:

Bummer Vacation

Today is the first day of my summer vacation. My plan was to wake up late, fart around on the internet, and generally do nothing all day.
This is how my day actually went…

5:04 am Drank too much water last night, got up to pee.
6:00 am Alarm went off, forgot to turn it off last night.
6:30 am Carmellina climbs into bed and makes a game of kicking me.
7:15 am Rosemary and Joey join in.
7:45 am Carmellina punches me in the family jewels, Jess takes them all downstairs for breakfast
8:15 am Carmellina comes back upstairs to tell me Rosemary is getting spanked downstairs (which the entire neighborhood can hear)
8:30 am Walk the dog.
9:00 am sit down to breakfast with the family, Joey poops, Jessie leaves, Rosie follows.
9:15 am Jess remembers Carmellina has piano lessons in 15 minutes, we all scramble
9:20 am Carmellina and I head out the door to her lessons
10:30 am Swing back to the house to get Rosemary and head back up town to the comic book shop with the girls
12:00 pm Home
12:15 pm Fell asleep on the couch
1:15 pm Lunch
1:45 pm Sat back down on my bed (which is where I intended to be all morning) and wrote this blog.
1:46 pm Jess, Rosemary, Carmellina, and Joey are all back on the bed with me.

It’s now 2:16 and in less than an hour an air conditioner repair man is coming to fix our leaking wall unit, as well as my landlord who is coming to replace a broken light fixture in the basement. Before today is over I expect
1) the air conditioner will still be broken
2) I’ll end up doing most of the work on the light fixture in the basement
3) the light fixture will still be broken

As far as relaxing on my summer vacation…well we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Memorial Day in D.C.

Here are photos of our trip to Washington, D.C. with Grandma on Memorial Day. It was a very touching moment when Grandma was at the World War II Memorial and saw Grandpa on their website, knowing he will always be a part of the Memorial. Thank goodness there was a low screen so she could read the blog, or else Joe would of had to put her on his shoulders!

It was great seeing Jeanna in her apartment in Virginia too! She has been busily decorating it to her taste, and it looks great. We are going to start calling her Mary Tyler Moore.

The Rolling Thunder motorcycle group were once again in Washington D.C. honoring the veterans. About 40,000 bikes road down Constitution Avenue and it really sounded like rolling thunder.

Take note of the photo of a helicopter. We assume the President was on board because it took off from the White House lawn, and they closed down roads and streets.

Now let's talk lunch - we met up with Lori and Rodney and all went to Uncle Dom's favorite spot for lunch - Cosi. Jealous Dom?

Enjoy the pictures!