eMom

To demonstrate...

Monday morning I have the first "major" speech in my public speaking class. As has proven to be the case thus far, I am first on the list to speak and I'm starting to get a little stressed. Some of you will wonder how in the world speaking could ever cause me to be stressed. When I started this semester my son said to me, "Mom, you're always talking, you won't have any problem!" A good son he is, but I'm afraid that giving a speech is a little different than just talking.

Anyway, this is a demonstration speech and I am demonstrating how to make a basket. I thought this was a good idea since I wasn't about to cart my sewing machine or the kitchen stove into the classroom. My husband liked the idea too because he felt that this would get me back into basket weaving. He's anxious to have the tons of reed and basketry supplies removed from the walls of his garage.

Last night, while my husband and daughter were gone, I sat and made a basket just to review the techniques and decide how I could divide up the steps to make my presentation effective. It was GREAT! I'm now in the mood to weave and my husband is thrilled. The only major drawback to this is that the living room now contains hanks of flat reed, coils of round reed, my bucket for soaking above-mentioned reed, and the various and sundry nippers, cutters, and sharpeners that are required for this undertaking. The carpet is covered with fuzzies AND there are a number of chewed pieces courtesy of Jasper. He proved to be a great help. It's wonderful exercise trying to pull a 30-foot length of reed through the ribs of a basket when there's a 20-pound cat clinging tenaciously to the other end. Needless to say, we both had fun and I now have a beautiful new melon basket ready for finishing.

I won't take the cat with me on Monday for my demonstration, but I do think that I should be able to get through this speech with very few hitches. AND I might just make a few more baskets while I'm at it.