Threads

Marion did say I must have lists going on in my head… well… almost… I’m really BAD at keeping things in my head, so any list I have going on is definitely on paper. Possibly in different coloured pens. My diary is jam packed, and I have to make a point of looking at it over breakfast every day, otherwise I totally forget what I’m supposed to be doing.

This week is arts week in school, so I’m in every day. I have a pink exercise book I’ve pinched out of the school stationery cupboard and I have a double page spread for each day… this is in addition to the timetable up on the staff room wall. Each page has a list of what I’m doing, who with, where, and what materials I need. The back of the art room has a box containing all the materials required for each activity throughout the week. Then I have a section on which visiting artist is coming in, what they are doing, who with, what materials, where, and they have a box too. Then I have a list of parent helpers who are given a cup of tea, instructed as to where they are and what they are to do.

There is NO WAY this could go on in just my head!

I love Arts Week. I go in whistling a happy tune and get yelled at by those who don’t. Once I am organised, it is bliss. I am happy and exhausted at the end of each day.

Today, with year 6 we made a life size man to sit at one of the benches in the playground. He is made from papier mache and chicken wire. His name is Bob. He is The Daily Male. They have decided not to paint him, but sit next to him and read him. Friendly!

Tomorrow I am making Clingfilmy window thingies with y3, they will get dangled from the trees. Then in the afternoon writing songs with y5. Brill.

Feeling in limbo… like I’m on a stake-out. Waiting, ever ready, but nothing’s happening. The adrenalin is swooshing about, fight or flight preparedness paramount.

I have all this stuff waiting to be done, but just can’t get at it yet.

Of course, I have Arts Week in school next week, I’m all prepared for that, but can’t start till Monday. I have a couple of work deadlines looming, but can’t do anything about those till other people have done their bit. I have my own art work I want to do, but I daren’t start it, because once I do, that’ll be it for 6 weeks.

The similes and metaphors abound, I’m climbing this big hill, to the end of term, then SWOOSH! Off I go!

So I pace about the house. Then I go to Rachel’s garden and paint flowers for goodness sake! Fun, but crikey, I have got better things I could be doing! I could even do some decent cooking or some housework, but can’t settle.

I’ll be better on Monday, because my feet won’t touch the ground, and I’ll get rid of some of this…. Whatever it is.

I’ll be told off by my husband in a minute for “jiggling my bloody legs in front of the football”. It’s happened before.

Did you know that charity shops aren’t allowed to sell baby shoes? Why not? Stupid! I went to 3 and found nothing before they actually told me. So I’ve now got to hijack small children and upend them to look at the tread on the bottoms of their shoes. Then take rubbings. I was at less risk of arrest if I’d been able to buy a pair from Oxfam for goodness sake!

Anyway, I’ve managed to find a pair of bootee type things, but there’s not much in the way of tread pattern.

I’ve done most of the jobs I had on the list in the last post, except the tricky one. I can’t face calling back the newspaper ad woman, and I cant think what to say to her… Dread. You know when you just know something is going to take ages to explain and you know they just don’t really get it? Where do I start?

Off to Birmingham tomorrow to do a day of endurance French knitting in the Mailbox. Pop in if you’re around!

What I really want to do is get on with practical, creative work for the final show. What I have to do first feels like an army assault course. I have this lovely pink cotton dress with slightly conical/comical bust-darting just waiting for me to stitch on it. But no, first I have to finish writing 120 reports… I’m about half way through (I only do the art bit, so don’t feel too sorry for me). Arts week is a fortnight away so I have to send out emails to our visiting artists with last minute arrangements and confirmation, requests for invoices and so on. Then I have to timetable myself and the room, which over the week don’t necessarily coincide. I have ordered some materials, but this morning – note it’s Saturday – have to go to Worcester Resource Exchange for ferreting about purposes… you never know what you might find.

http://www.wre.uk.com/

Then there’s the day to day stuff, my son’s birthday this week, and Father’s day of course. Got to get to the farm for the meat. This family not terribly keen on vegetarianism. I could probably do with doing some housework, but as the MA has progressed, Mike seems to be doing most of that, bless him!

Then Arts week… 5 days of jollity and mayhem. Some teachers love it, but most tolerate it, a few loathe it. I have to keep my helpful enthusiastic smile on all week. I do love the thing, but supporting other people’s hatred of the whole affair can be draining. This time round I plan to do a variety of stuff… printing, embroidery, weaving, clay stuff, drawing, painting, a bit more printing, collage… with children ranging from 4-11.

The deadline is looming for the catalogue to be sent to the printers for the MA show.

The “art dept” of the local papers have misunderstood my instructions and have sent me a proof of my advert for the LOAF event, totally reworked on the computer, instead of just using the hand drawn one I sent as a jpeg as they requested. If I’d wanted to have it done on a computer I’d have done it myself. They have made about a dozen errors too! So I am going to have to have a difficult conversation on Monday about that one.

At some point before the 14th July, the shed has to be dismantled, loaded onto the van, transported to Stourbridge and re-erected for LOAF.

http://www.elenathomas.co.uk/events

I need to borrow some sort of awning in case it rains in the middle of July (hollow laughter). I printed out a table with time slots for people to take turns to make tea/ bake cakes/invigilate/sell raffle tickets and so on… getting people to write their names into it is quite difficult.

By the 19th July, all of this will be over (apart from show at end of August), term will be finished and I will be able to breathe again. I then have about 4 weeks to make, sew, record, practice and perform.

I shall wallow in those four weeks, soak up, relax, be invigorated by them.

Just a quick post… an interesting evening… great fun… just recorded “Inside Tracks” with Pete Whitehouse for WCRfm. It’s all a bit of a blur now really, but will be broadcast all around our area on 101.8fm, or online for those further afield, on Thursday at 7pm, then next Monday at 2pm….if you can really be bothered to listen to me prattling on about why these are my favourite songs!

here’s the link…

http://wcrfm.com/cmsms/index.php?page=Programmes

My list of songs was:

White Room – Cream

Tears of a Clown – Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Us and Them – Pink Floyd

Oh You Pretty Things – David Bowie

Too Much Too Young – Specials

Somewhere – Tom Waits

We Do What We’re Told – Peter Gabriel

Great Expectations – Elbow

It’s Good to Getaway – Dan Whitehouse

Misread – Kings of Convenience

I hope they’re not all too predictable…