Just because I don’t have enough on my plate each week, and just because I am such an overachiever who can’t seem to get enough, I scheduled a patrol outing for the same week we are doing our elementary music camp at church…and unfortunately, the same day I was scheduled for jury duty. But we’ll get to that part later. Right now, I wanna talk about our outing to Walls of Clay!
Walls of Clay is a little hole-in-the-wall, mom-and-pop type art studio just off the square in downtown McKinney. For a small fee, you can paint your own ceramic pottery – everything from wall decorations to tableware to sculptures – and they will glaze and fire it and have it ready for pick up in about 2 weeks. I had heard good things and figured this would be a great opportunity for my kids to explore their artistic sides, especially since they have such a non-artistic mom. For added fun, we made it a patrol outing so there would be lots of friends there!
We had a good turnout of scouts and siblings, which allowed us to have a couple of “boy†tables and a “girl†table…something that made Crisana VERY happy.
We were personally on a shoestring budget for this, so the selection of pottery was pretty limited. Crisana chose a little fish to paint. Each child received four colors of paint to use on their pottery. Crisana chose wonderful ocean shades of blues, purples, and a little yellow for accent color.
Trey had a harder time deciding since we didn’t have enough money to do what he REALLY wanted. Finally he settled on a cross to hang on his wall in his room. He chose a vibrant color scheme of reds, oranges and yellows.
When the painting was done, the owner was kind enough to offer a behind-the-scenes look for our boys. She took them to the back room and showed them the kiln and discussed the firing process with the boys. They saw what the glaze looked like and were able to see inside the kiln and and watch her load some items for firing.
It was a fantastic outing and our kids had so much fun…right up until the part where I remembered I was scheduled for jury duty. About an hour and a half earlier. And I had forgotten to take my exemption form by the Fairview Town Hall. So, in a mad panic, I left the art studio and rushed home to get the form and get by Town Hall before they closed for the day. All the while, I’m fuming at myself and nearly sick to my stomach over what the consequences will be: a huge fine? having to return another day? Of course, my children were convinced I was going to be arrested and thrown in jail. Thankfully, however, when I reached Town Hall and penitently handed over my form with sincerest apologies (and my children in tow as PROOF of my exemption), the receptionist merely smiled and said “Thank you and no problem.â€Â As I exhaled for the first time in about 45 minutes, Crisana looked up at me and with big doe eyes and a concerned expression said, “So does this mean you aren’t in trouble, Mommy?â€
I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect reaction.