Saturday was a good day. I spent it with children. Since I have none of my own, I borrowed three sweet, vivacious, dear kids aged 8-10 and took them to the Contemporary Craft Museum to learn about making felt. They were on their best behavior, having been warned by dad that he had better get a good report.
Small piles of wool roving were dipped into soapy water and rolled into a ball between little hands. The wad is rolled gently at first, gradually getting pressed tighter and smaller. The objective was to make fat, felt beads for earrings, a bracelet or the body of a spider.
While the hands rolled the beads, we did a little tour of the museum, admiring dogs, dolls, purses and wall hangings made with different applications of felt and fibers.
We met an artist who was cutting a small metal screen door on which she would attach a bug. One of my girls took out her notebook and wrote about some of the peices she really liked.
We met another artist painting bowls to be used in a project called Empty Bowls, where the proceeds from the bowls will be used to feed the hungry. It was fun to see the art and artists through the eyes of my borrowed kids.
I had thought the craft time would last a few hours, but we were out of there in about one hour headed to the craft store for jewelry fixin's. The instructor had brought all the materials for the spiders, but not for the jewelry.which my kids had elected to make. Since the parents had anticipated half a day without their children I took a detour and drove past the mansions in River Oaks -- something I had not done in many years. They oohed and aahed, but by the time I was heading back to the highway home, they were tired of being in the car and grew a bit irritable.
Forty minutes (and a short nap for some) later, we were in the craft shop where each spent some of his own money and I bought materials for earrings and bracelets. Then we were finally home and taking care of two babies while assembling the jewelry. The 8 year-olds completely lost interest and went to play with clay while I struggled with finishing their projects.
Aaaach! one of the babies rolled off the bed on to the tile floor. She was mostly just scared and quit crying soon after being held. The three month baby woke with a wet diaper. I haven't changed diapers in more than a decade -- maybe two... I let the 10 year old change his brother. He did a great job under my supervision.
Spending a day with five children under the age of 10 was a real change of pace for me -- and a blast.
Tonight I went to one of my favorite places, the Radio Music Theater. The production was A Bad Night's Sleep. It was a really good show as usual with plenty of laughs. I drank coffee at the show, and I'll likely have my own bad night's sleep, but I have a smile on my face.
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| A Good Day and A Bad Night... |
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