Silly Putty, Mylar and Mud

by Brenda Roger

My sewing room is a metaphor for my life. It is chaotic, and for the past year nothing has come from it. I’m not sure what people think I do all day, and I love to read what other people do in a day, so here goes.

Monday, I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:30. Then I will rush to pick up supplies and lunch. A friend is coming over to help me finish Christmas tree ornaments for the Carnegie Museum’s annual display. We are decorating 12, 10, and 8-foot trees in the entrance to the Hall of Architecture, so we have to assess how many more we may need. The theme is stained glass, and I am once again painting Mylar to look like stained glass. My dining room table and kitchen have been covered in Mylar dragonflies, wisteria, and grapes for weeks. I suspect the ornament painting will go on well into the evening.

Tuesday, I am teaching School to Museum Partnership at the museum where I work (not the one where I volunteer). SchMus, as it is called for short, is a writing and art program. Tomorrow, it is eighth graders from a city school. We are talking about hyperbole and making a project that involves a five-pound block of Silly Putty. Don’t ask. SchMus ends at 11:30, which is the exact time that I’m supposed to be all the way at the other end of the site to teach in the galleries. Oops, I need to prepare for that today, yikes. The teaching in the galleries ends at the exact time that I am supposed to be at the University of Pittsburgh Archives Service Center to straighten out loan paperwork and schedule a photo shoot for a print catalog. By the time that is over, I would love to eat something and pass out, however, I must paint more ornaments!

Wednesday, I have to creep up to Monroeville to pick up the standing rib roast for our non-turkey, turkey dinner. Then, it is off in search of something clever to use as tree skirts. I can’t be around the public the day before a holiday, so I will probably have to cut the shopping trip short, but that’s ok, because there are always more ornaments to paint. Oh, and did I mention the tree toppers that still need to be made? At 2:30, my sanity arrives in the form of a riding lesson. A riding lesson is the only thing I do in a week that is useful only to me. For an hour, my teacher actually pays attention to me, and a big yellow horse does the hard work. When I sadly part with George the horse, I have to drive the previously mentioned rib roast to my mother’s house in Greensburg.

Can you see how my days get used up, but the time never amounts to anything? Someone suggested over the weekend that I take my laptop with me, and write when I’m not at home! That’s very funny. Perhaps, I could dictate something into a tape recorder while I am running down the sidewalk at the museum. The next three days are actually very slow days because I don’t have any evening engagements. Usually, I am out at least two evenings a week to fulfill obligations for my husband’s job. My feet are stuck in mud. I’m completely burned out. I haven’t been on vacation in many years. Perhaps, I should disappear into the sewing room for a much needed rest. It would be so easy to get lost in there! Anyone else want to hide in the sewing room with me??