Teaching on Tuesday

I need to spray some WD-40 on the bottom of the office chair. It sounds like fingernails on a blackboard every time I sit down and turn towards the desk. No coffee, no music, but I hear the spouse stirring and have high hopes for coffee soon.

Yesterday was as full as a day can be. Except for brief breaks to get J to school, eat lunch and dinner, I worked... almost 14 hours. There are those out there for whom this schedule is "normal" (my friend Dr. Bill comes to mind) but I had to end the day with Epsom salts in the whirlpool tub. And I have no great hopes for the book project I did yesterday--pattern bars for a wall mirror. I won't get to see how they turned out till tomorrow (the kiln is still at 930 degrees and only going down 16 degrees an hour till 750 then 32 degrees an hour till 650).

Ah, the blue light is on in the temple of the magic beans (I have made coffee). Now I await the ringing of the bells to announce the service (it chimes when it's ready). And there it is! ... The bell went off half-cocked (again) leaving 2 cups of water still in the reservoir. I turned the infernal machine back on and poured from the first brew. Yep, it's going to have a kick. Ok, though it is my consuming passion at 6:00 am, enough about coffee!

Today I teach another art class at Jessie's school, I am going to do the coaster project with the 3-4 year-olds. No frit for them: c;ear squares with all the edges ground smooth and little bottles of Glassline paints. Two birds, one stone: I get to see how the paints fire (they are tapped for a book project) and I make Jessie's former teachers happy (J was in their class for two years and I never did an art project with them).

But that happy activity comes after I write an email to my interim editor. I still await my assigned editor and an interim schedule. At this rate all interim will be over before I get the schedule. I am also going to get the slideshow working on the homepage of my website (all this before breakfast!). If I could get one page done per day I might have it all done before the BMAC.

Studio work for the day: polish and ship the pieces I made yesterday for the metal artist in California and a gallery in Iowa, cut the dams I will need to fire all the Art Institute pieces, fire the last pieces of a dinnerware commission and an order for a new (for me) gallery in Las Vegas, and unpack the order from Bullseye which is scheduled to arrive today. Gonna be another full one.