That Should Be Enough…

OK we only have two full weeks (and a short one) left. It doesn’t make this week easier, mostly, because we’re still here, trying to teach, while students dream of summer vacay (trust me, y’all…we also are dreaming of this…we’re just capable of dreaming AND working). I woke up this morning, and my foot is behaving (knock on wood). Not even any pain (in that one, ironically, let’s not talk about the other foot). Weird shit, bodies. I managed to pick up three pieces from the photographer yesterday and get them entered (the deadline was today). And I did art this weekend. All good.

I traced Friday night…

I was close to the end…about 150 pieces away.

Foot was still hurting Saturday. We had to go grocery shopping and I took the crutches because they force me not to limp and destroy all my other muscles, which is part of what happened last week. Everything hurt.

Saturday night, I finished tracing…5 full yards and a little bit of one.

Scribble guarding them. And I started cutting them out.

Usually I can do about a yard a night, but I started late, had to be up early Sunday for an art meeting, and had that funny little bit to do as well, so I’m already off my easy tracking plan.

Last night I finished that yard and got about a 1/3 of the way through another.

Friday night, I should be sorting them, ironing Saturday…I hope. Lots of busy weekends this month though…but also, school will end. I have to get this to a good place before I leave for Oregon. For some definition of ‘good place’. I also started the borders of the next set of dye paintings I’m going to finish, but I didn’t take any photos. Yes, I bought more fabric for those, because I don’t have enough of anything in my stash to work.

The local fabric store usually has an awesome stash for this stuff, but they have downsized and their stash was not as awesome as before. It does not bode well for me and my batik habit. Maybe it bodes well for my finances.

Local wildlife…the two (blurry) young coyotes who ran through my yard, over my fence, into my neighbor’s yard, over their fence.

The hawks were out in force. This one has something in its talons.

Two of the owl babies are racing around, flying everywhere. One is still staying back, I think. This is so early for release.

Our own wildlife…Scribble loves this bed.

Simba was at the ex’s house with the boychild…and Annie.

Peaceful moment for them.

This is my brain on the regular, especially last week.

I actually didn’t lose my mind over the foot/brain stuff for too long. I prefer to make art and read books.

Especially when I see this.

So frustrating. As is this.

Any other president and we wouldn’t be speculating like this.

Anyway. Teaching space this week still, focusing on mass and gravity. So a simulation today, a demo tomorrow with help from kids. Leaving the crutches home. Frustrated about my district/principal. Not sure who came up with the busywork we’ve been assigned for 2 hours after work, but it’s already been done, just not in this format. Differentiation for professional development is not a thing in my district. So quietly simmering and trying not to. Trying to think about getting stuff set up for tomorrow and finishing grading and getting myself back to my art instead of considering my WHY. If you’re a teacher, you’ll get that reference. But if my district/principal are not telling me why I need to do this thing, then WHY do I need to do it in this format? It already exists. If it’s for me and my department, that should be enough. Right? Anyway. We know how these arguments go. Rarely on the side of the worker bee.

Short Week…

Woo Wee what a week. Short week. Kicking my butt. I’m currently on crutches, just scheduled another brain MRI, waiting on podiatry, and dammit, I need to go take my antibiotics…hold on…be right back. Luckily, it’s Eid, so half the school has been gone…a few more came back yesterday, and we’ll get a few more back today (and lose a few more because it’s Friday…certainly some kids are NOT gone for Eid, just based on their last names). A couple of kids I think believe school is already done, because I haven’t seen them in two weeks. Fun times. I wonder how they function as adults sometimes. I hope they figure it out…and I know sometimes it’s parents making those lovely decisions. Sigh.

Anyway, to summarize, on antibiotics for a UTI (haven’t had one of those since I was pregnant with one of the kids who are now late 20s, early 30s), then woke up in the middle of the night unable to put weight on my left foot (probably a really bad flareup of plantar fasciitis; haven’t had that for 20+ years)…here’s my cankle at urgent care Wednesday evening…

I don’t think it ever got swollen when I had it before. Not like that. That warranted crutches. Probably need a boot…found my old one and it’s definitely very worn and has way too much velcro and padding. Sigh. Acupuncture? Frozen bottle of water? Tennis ball? IYKYK.

Also, Wednesday morning, I had this weird visual disturbance (weirder than the one I’ve had for two years now) and ended up on the line with the nurse triage, who originally said go to the ER, but then the symptoms stopped, so she said, uh, contact the neuro-opthalmologist you saw before, so I emailed. Got to work, got a call from my primary doc telling me to go to the ER until I told her symptoms were gone and I’d contacted the eye doc. Eye doc called during Period 1 and scheduled me for the end of the day, so I went for 90 minutes of testing to find out I had a typical migraine aura without the headache (damn lucky there) and the retinas were still fine and there were no weird things that weren’t already weird in there. Then down to urgent care for the crutches (x-rays show bone spurs…woo! I think it’s the other foot though, different from 20+ years ago). MY GODDESS. CAN WE JUST NOT. Apparently my body is ready for summer break; it’s gonna take me out for the last few weeks. Dudes, we have 2 1/2 more weeks…14 days of actual school, 4 of those are not teaching days. I just need to be able to walk and make art and see. And pee when I need to. (UTIs are common for teachers…I’ve been lucky).

The foot was better yesterday. This morning was a little hinky, but I’m sure being on crutches to get to the bathroom is OK (really rather not, y’all. Really rather not.).

Tuesday night, I traced. The foot wasn’t as bad Tuesday night and I have a pad I stand on and I really lean on the light table when I’m tracing anyway, so very little weight on the foot.

I iced and elevated for 2 hours before that. I wanted to go to ceramics but there was no way I was getting my 25-pound sculpture off the shelf and limping over to the table with it. The Man just wants me to rest nonstop and I can’t deal with that.

Wednesday, I spent 3.5 hours at the doc, between urgent care and eye doc, so I was in a lot of pain and exhausted. Iced, elevated, honestly cried a little, very frustrated. Eventually cut these out because standing? Not so much.

Scribble was so helpful.

Honestly, I moped for about 2 hours and then I’m like, what CAN I do? I can cut out all the stuff I’ve already traced and get a head start on that, tried to have a good attitude, took pain meds, went to bed, and it was better the next day. Took pain meds all day…stayed off my feet (watching student presentations)…and I was able to trace last night.

I’ve made it halfway through the 1100s. Yes, there are over 1400. But hoping to be done this weekend. Slight slowdown due to stupid body making demands.

I also worked on this, the first flower of 16 in the border of Homegrown (Sue Spargo).

I’ll be done in 2035. Maybe.

I got this from the doc’s office (on top of all the other stuff).

That’s mostly because of my mom’s breast cancer (which is fully in remission). But you know, I breastfed my two kids for a total of about 3.5 years, and I want to know what my discount is for that…because they always said it would reduce your chances of breast cancer. But this damn risk assessment model doesn’t give a shit about that. Annoying. I want my credits.

And guys, here’s my residency location from another view.

Oh man, can’t wait. I’m in the smaller cabin on the left in the middle. That’s a dock on the left by that tree. There’s a person sitting on it. Can you see me sitting there? I fucking can.

Also, I’d be there, but the crutches are slowing me down. It’s fine. I can handle it. Today, we are hopefully getting most of the presentations done (in my rolling chair)…solar system, planets, gravity, mass. Then home to ice and elevate and then trace some more. All day tomorrow hopefully…canceling pilates again (sigh). Maybe. Grading stuff. That will go away soon too. Never too soon. And it’s Friday, so that’s a relief. Short weeks aren’t necessarily easier.

An Impossible Task

Yes, it’s not Monday. I was supposed to write yesterday. I remembered a few times during the day, but was trying to do stuff. I was not well on Saturday, Sunday still recovering, probably still recovering today, honestly. Seems like my immune system decided it wasn’t gonna work last week. It’s fine; I got antibiotics Saturday and I’m pretty sure I’m OK now (taking ALL the antibiotics until they’re gone, because let’s follow directions, y’all), but when they tell you to go to the ER with certain symptoms and the meds cause some of those symptoms…it’s fun times, y’all. Also, like, what IS a fever? So a lot of second guessing and kind of what feels like a waste of a weekend, thanks body for that, but all a necessary part of the whole life game. Better now. Mostly. Didn’t get to hike. Didn’t get a lot done. Sigh.

I couldn’t fall asleep last night, brain just whirring along, dragging me along with it. Yes, I meditated. I counted to 10 with deep breaths about three thousand times. It was just an impossible task. Sleep because you know what the week brings. Nope. Not happening. Ah well. Move on and caffeinate.

I did trace, despite the illness. Meds helped. Originally, going into the weekend, I had this crazy idea that if I traced for 3 hours each day, I could finish tracing this thing. Or maybe 4 hours. Like I had nothing else to do. I mean, it turned out that it didn’t matter if I had other things to do…but…here’s Friday night.

Made it up onto her left arm…then Saturday night, after the meds kicked in…

Oooh, here it is with the light off…

That might have been Sunday night…oh wait, no, this is Sunday night…

That’s all the Wonder Under I’d traced so far. The three on the left are mostly full. I’m working on the one on the right. I forgot to take a photo last night. It looks the same, y’all. Every night, it looks the same…I just have more things drawn on the Wonder Under. I made it to the mid 900s last night (not done, not at all done). If I keep up the hour a night, I won’t be done until Saturday night. One of the things I thought about last night in the multiple hours I wasn’t sleeping is how far I would get on this piece before I left for Oregon, and the answer is, not far enough to come back and finish it and photograph it before the deadline I’m aiming for, SO. I will have to ramp it up. Knock on wood. Get more schoolwork done at school. Like I can wish for that, but making it happen is a different thing.

I did make it to ceramics yesterday, which is good, because I missed two Fridays in a row. The heart is out on the drying racks (they finally cleared a bunch of stuff off of them…still no room for the torso unfortunately). I’m trying to finish up the building part on this so I can underglaze it.

I added stems and leaves and decorated a bit.

One more arm and then it’s ready for underglazing. That’ll only take 300 hours.

This is where I’m at, but add the California primaries with 62 (?) people running for governor, and the top two Repugs are really disgusting. I mean it sucks being in the US right now with the government we have, but California has been a bit better…big enough to be its own country, and no perfect governor, but not one with his head up the orange ass. We voted on Monday. Glad it’s done, but it did not reduce my stress.

Deep breaths. We’ll know in a week who the top two are. If they are both Repugs, then fuuuck. Is all I have to say.

Then this…

There must be a better way to power AI. It’s not leaving. Can we get the great minds onto how to better use it and power it, so we’re not using human resources to power little boys putting girls’ heads on naked women’s bodies? Is that a thing? Can we do that? Probably not.

Here watch some baby owls learning to do things…

Cute, right? Loud. They fly away a lot these days and leave partially eaten rodents all over the yard. Bleck.

OK. The kids are doing a research project on the planets today, because my past self was trying to take care of this week’s self. Good plan, because I can hopefully grade while they’re doing that. Low-key week for the win. Plus only 4 days. Plus no science interviews, thank goodness (we did 9 last week? 8? I forget. Tired of hearing the same key words over and over again, especially the guy who pointedly looked at me and said he had learned all the new science tech stuff for teaching kids, including…wait for it…EXCEL SPREADSHEETS…like WTF guy…those have been around since I was in school. Nothing new there.). Plus more ceramics after school to make up for not going Friday, then grading and dinner and tracing, at least 90 minutes please. Maybe more. We’ll see. This is the end of May, y’all. The end is coming (of the school year…not the world…yet).

You Think You’ve Got It…

Hey ya…running through my brain…I guess I need a soundtrack to get going in the morning. And all day. Into the night. Actually, I never really have a problem with the staying up late part. I’m not good at the rest of it. I swear yesterday felt like Friday…it’s not fair to have another one. At least there’s no assembly today, right? A few more are suspended, a few more coming back (I think?). It feels closer to the end than it actually is? I keep having to tell myself I’m not done yet…I have to teach actual science for another three weeks. Like I told the kids: one more unit (short), one more homework, one more test. And a bunch of other shit. When you get to the egg drop, you know it’s time to stop learning science (and that’s three weeks out). Meanwhile, I’m still grading and lesson planning and cleaning up and copying shit and handling issues and managing time and interviewing a bunch of kids who have never ever taught before and wondering how they would survive my challenging school, and realizing I was one of them once. And I survived. 23 years of surviving.

It’s all good; we’re getting there.

I’m still tracing. I make a goal of 100 pieces a night. Sometimes 100 pieces takes me less than an hour, sometimes more. So really, it’s about an hour. Little pieces are faster and generally easier to draw. Big ones take longer.

Wednesday night, I got to the 300s…

With Scribble. Who had to be persuaded to lie on that part while I drew on this part. Here’s what we got done…

Last night, she mostly stayed out of it…tried to sit on it a few times, got moved, play-whacked me, moved off, came back, put paws under things, got bopped on the nose. They all learn eventually. I don’t mind her up there, but I have a job to do and she can’t get in the way of that. Kitten learned but loved to lie on the glass, but was also respectful and didn’t whack things. Or tear things. Or bite things (except pencils, which is allowed, as long as it’s not in my hand at the time).

I got to the 400s…so there’s at least 10 more hours, maybe 11 before I’m done. Some part of my brain is like, you have a 3-day weekend. You could do it. And I could, but I also need to do yardwork and grade and hike. So there’s always this balance.

See that bird? I forget they can do this crazy shit, holding onto trees without a branch. Need to draw one like that sometime soon.

Need to ask the Man what kind of bird that is (it was in his feeder).

This is so where I’m at.

The crows are definitely out and about these days. The crows, the owls. I’m in.

OK. Teaching the solar system (fast version) today. Lots of talking unfortunately. Then more science interviews. They get old, y’all. Yes, you recent grads can parrot all the vocabulary, but it’s silly asking them all these questions about stuff they’d do when they have no clue. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes today. No ceramics today; I won’t be done with interviews until after 5 PM and will probably be exhausted. I mean, I’m already exhausted. It’s not like today will be restful. Then I’ll be tracing later. I have a 3-day weekend. I do expect some art time, but there’ll be some other stuff too. There always is. It’s nice to have the extra day though. Appreciate that.

Focus on the Owls…

Midweek. Testing week. Warm week. Lots is going on. Science state testing. Science department interviews. Juggling doc appointments. Trying to fit everything in. Crazy to even try, right?

OK, I underglazed the heart for the ceramic sculpture I’m working on.

I still need to finish decorating the arms and then underglaze the torso, then get started on the head. There’s still nowhere to dry the torso, which is part of my problem. I might need to finish it before starting the head. Problematic. I have a neck sitting on the torso and am trying to keep it from drying out.

Meanwhile, I’m tracing the newest quilt…

It’s going well except for the part where Scribble tries to dive under it or sit on it and tore the drawing in three places.

Last night, I seemed to be able to persuade her to stare at geckos and attack her brother instead. Hopeful. Made it into the 200s last night. I’m going to be here for a while…1200 more pieces, to be exact. Also I’ve found at least 5 pieces so far that weren’t numbered, so I’m thriving. Really.

So I’m working on that every night, thank goodness, because it’s meditative and I need that.

The owls babies are all out and flying around the neighborhood, although there seems to be one that is always on the box. But I think there are three now. So check these videos out.

Definitely three…just don’t know if one is mom. I don’t think so.

Apparently they go to bed at about 5:30 AM.

So cool. Anyway, I have to run a short union meeting this morning. We have state science testing. The kids leave early. We get to go out to lunch, and then grade, and then interview. I have pilates. And more grading. And then tracing. It’s going OK, but I feel like I don’t get anything else done but that. So I might have to water some things and plant some seeds and weed a little. Also, I’m not sure the boychild is coming home today. Don’t tell the dog. Fires abound. It’s only May. Not enough rain. Focus on the owls, though. They’re pretty cool. I like to think I’m helping the barn owl population in my area. Which helps limit the gopher/rat population. Also good.

Tracing Things…

I’m supposed to be dressing like the 80s today…you know, neon, leg warmers, big hair…but I didn’t dress like that in the 80s. I was thrift shop, sewed it myself, leaning toward suburban punk. I don’t own 80s wear. So I’m wearing a Keith Haring shirt to commemorate all those who died of AIDS in the 80s…also wearing red, to protest my school district’s refusal to bargain. Fun day. They’re doing a Field Day instead of a staff meeting, because apparently we’re stressed and very busy and competition helps with that. The end of school is always such a crazy mess…this isn’t helping.

I dropped three quilts off for photography yesterday. I’m entering a show with them; we’ll see if they get in. I started tracing the next big one onto Wonder Under, but before I did that, I traced this little one that needs to go in a ceramic piece.

It won’t take long to make this little one.

I finished drawing the new big one Friday night…

I think I actually added stuff after this…

Oh yeah, a crow or two and some body bags.

I numbered it Saturday night…I thought it was around 1300 pieces, but no.

1454 pieces, assuming I didn’t miss any or double number things. I’ve done both.

Last night, I started tracing…

Exciting for Scribble apparently. I had to move her off the Wonder Under a few thousand times.

Barely started. A million pieces to go.

My piece for Soul Stories: Threads of Existence is at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA. It’s been there since mid-April, but they had the ‘opening’ this last weekend.

Mine is the blue one on the left. There’s some amazing work in this show. It will travel to Birmingham, England, in August.

Besides art, I ran a lot of errands this weekend. Fun times. Shit that needs to happen. Some of it was fabric-related. I did finally start stitching the border flowers on Sue Spargo’s Homegrown. It’s all sewn together, so it’s big and not great for taking to meetings.

It’ll take me a while to finish this.

The little dog and I hiked on Saturday. The weather was lovely.

The rattlesnake was not. It didn’t even warn us until after it had moved back into the brush.

I did pick up the dog. His eyesight isn’t great and I didn’t want him lunging after the snake anyway.

The baby owls are out and flying around the neighborhood (sorry for the noise, y’all).

Much faster getting out and about than last year’s only, who hung around for weeks. I think this is still their homebase though.

I obsessively check the weather where my residency will be. Not sure why. Planning anxiety. I did order a bunch of stuff for the trip over the weekend. But look at the 15th.

Somewhat disturbing. Otherwise, the weather is not a lot different than here a lot of the time. A little colder, but it’s over 4000 feet in elevation. So that’s why. Summer will be warm.

Simba is irritable that Bowie is in his spot. Bowie is actually in MY spot and I am in Simba’s spot.

Whatever works.

Here’s a plan for the day…and the world apparently.

And here’s another way-too-real message…

Followed by this one, for San Diego and the rest of the world.

Way too real.

OK. Today. Teaching the last of evolution before the state science test on Wednesday (math is tomorrow). Then I’m probably missing the field day for an eye checkup. Still getting flashing lights in the right eye, over a year after vitreous humor detached. Then hopefully ceramics? And some stitching and grading (not in that order) and tracing. Getting close to the end of this year…that’s a good thing. They don’t seem to be getting easier. The adult part…the kids are fine (well, as fine as they’ve ever been…they should put their phones down more often). Gonna need more caffeine to get through it all.

Depending on How You Look at It

Hey. It’s Friday again. It is a taco cart day (teacher appreciation is all about food…although I think we also get a sweatshirt…woo). It’s also an assembly day, which means we end with an hour of noise and nowhere to sit and did I say noise? Short classes all day; pros and cons to that. State science testing is next week, so I have two days left to impart all the knowledge. It won’t all happen, thanks to my school board getting us sued. Fun stuff. I’ll be handing out flyers to elect new school board members…these two are useless. So I can’t say I’m looking forward to the crazy that is today, but it could be worse. This unit is almost done. I’m not sure how much they got out of it…I wish I’d had another two weeks (oh wait, that’s how long the sex ed unit I had to move to before testing was). But oh well. Is it the end of the world? No. Do I want kids to look at the test and think, ‘no one ever taught me this’? No, but they will think that anyway, even if we DID teach it to them. So there’s only so much I can do.

Artwise, I’ve been drawing every night…

I did more on the top; it might be done? I’m not thrilled with the empty space above her head, but I’ll think about it, let it percolate. This ended with this happening…

Bowie tries to bully the girl cats, but Scribble turned around, bopped him, and chased him away. Just makes it hard to draw.

Last night was more chill…

I started working on the bottom, about redistricting and voting. I’m incredibly disheartened by the redistricting stuff in the South. This country, all those stupid white people, I’m just boggled. Rich white people. Throwing a maternal health conference and ignoring the maternal health of black women. FFS people. And losing even more representation in government…we haven’t taken a step back…we’ve fallen into a racist misogynist pit of the past. The vaccine stuff too, and the Vitamin K shots. WTF is wrong with people? So I’m not sure I can coherently get all my feelings about that into one quilt, but apparently I’m trying. It’s funny, though…I was really trying in the original drawing to find peace before school started last year, to draw something that wasn’t all politics and government (well, except for her head being on fire), and I’m not making that quilt any more.

I’m also thinking about 2027 residencies. I had heard about one that a fellow artist was going on and just got the prospectus…$9K??? Are you fucking kidding me? For two weeks. Yes, it’s cool and all, but I guess you have to be a rich artist to go. Not doing that one. Mine this year is free, except I have to pay for food and getting there. Not bad. It would be nice to have a stipend too to cover those extra costs, but we always go on some vacation each year and we’re doing that on the way up, and I would have to pay for food anyway. So it works out. Sort of. Mostly. Having to come up with extra money in the summer is always difficult (no, I don’t get paid in the summer), but I think I might be OK this year. We’ll see.

I did a little squirrel work last night.

We were supposed to have a stitching meeting, but we’re down to three of us and one is in Sicily or Italy or both and I’m tired and the other doesn’t like the drive, so we skipped. It’s hard meeting at night sometimes. We should work on some alternate times/spaces. In my spare time.

Ah yes, those damn files. They’re probably gonna be in the quilt too. Forcing women to have babies they don’t want…seems idiotic. Oh, also not helping them financially with said babies. Also stupid. I love returning back to the Dark Ages of women’s rights. And voting rights.

The baby owls are out of the box…there’s definitely two, maybe three (one keeps squawking from further away).

The lighter one is at 5:30 AM, which might be why I feel like I’m not sleeping. They are not quiet.

OK. Teaching something today…the end of the evolution unit. DNA? More rock layer stuff? Then an assembly. Then duty after school. Then ceramics! Yay! I got someone to take the afterschool meeting besides ME. Then unfortunately I have to cook dinner. I’m hoping to get my quilts photographed this weekend, but my photographer hasn’t answered. Also we’re going mattress shopping. Not sure how that’s gonna go. I will probably finish the drawing this weekend though and maybe start numbering it. That’s cool. Or crazy. Depending on how you look at it.

A Threat Call…

I woke up at 1 AM out of a deep sleep, heart pounding, dog growling, as the two adult barn owls screeched a threat call. I wouldn’t ignore that if I were another animal. I don’t know what was out there, but I do know the babies were back to squawking away within 20 minutes, so it must have been OK. Scared me though…and the dog. Maybe a barn owl needs to make it into this quilt too.

So this new quilt comes from a drawing from last summer, which I did at the first all-staff meeting (before kids showed up). They wouldn’t let us have our computers open and they literally read to us from the slides, so I drew. I had copied the drawing back in December or January, but got sidetracked by other things that needed to be done. Originally, I was just going to make it into a quilt, just the drawing, but the world impinges on that, so I added paper above and below, and started drawing a couple nights ago.

Yes, Scribble is lying on the part I was drawing on. Why do you ask? I got some stuff roughed out in pencil…

And last night, I inked that and added more pencil…

And last night, while I was trying to fall asleep, I took notes on a couple more things that could go up here. And more down below. Although I am enjoying branching out into the dye paintings, there is a certain sense of relief about going back to how I ‘normally’ make quilts. My brain likes it.

I also drew, inked, and numbered a baby quilt drawing…

It’s taken me a year to do this, I think. It’s supposed to go in here…

And although it doesn’t look like it’s the right shape or size, I’ve shoved the paper in there and it works, plus I added an inch all the way around for marginal errors. So that’s on my list too.

Monday, I made it back to ceramics…and decided I didn’t need to attach the heart…I could just lay it on there.

It turned out bigger than I thought, which is funny, because I literally had the torso there in front of me when I made it.

I added some veins to the fabric piece, and then flowers to the arm.

We have these punch things, not sure what they’re actually for…cookies? I’ve used the leaves before. I was going to make flowers, but these were more fun.

I made three. I’m going to go back and texture the centers and add stems and leaves and maybe bugs.

Fun stuff.

I was trying to finish my book…

My lap charges a premium.

Our school is doing teacher appreciation week this week. Yesterday was nachos, but they weren’t ready during my prep. I was supposed to eat them during lunch, except I can’t usually substitute like that. Oh well.

But yeah. Give me back my time, show up outside, do the things, follow through…please.

I’m in. Although I can’t really eat ice cream unless we hike three miles in the forest first. Hopefully you’re up for that part too.

OK. Today I teach rock layers. It’s really hard: the rocks where fossils are found usually form in layers. It’s sedimentary rock. The oldest rocks are on the bottom, so if you find fossils down there, they are usually the oldest. The newest ones are on top. There, I’m done. Y’all, it will take all period and some kids will never get it. I’m doing the speedy version, not the fun one where I give them cards and they have to figure out the layers. The state science test is in a week. I’m panicking a little. Oh well. I started planning next year, in that, I made a copy of this year’s calendar and I’m changing all the dates and holidays. That’s it. That’s what I can handle at the moment. It’s fine.

After school is a union meeting. I’m already tired. Tired of meetings and kid drama and adult bullshit. I should start a new book (seriously, I finished that other one last night, so I’m allowed).

What Day Is It?

I woke up in the early morning and panicked because I didn’t know what day it was. Would I have to be up soon? Could I roll over and not worry about it? What was I going to have to do today? It took me a couple of minutes to reconstruct yesterday, to realize today was Monday. I didn’t reach for my phone to check the day or the time. I let my brain get there, but then wondered WTF I must have been dreaming to wake up in such a time panic. Guess that’s where I’m at.

Grades are due today. Or tomorrow. Not sure. They keep changing shit. I finished grades Saturday afternoon, right when my boss sent an email saying there was no staff meeting today (Monday) so we could finish grades. Sigh. Thanks for that. Also, IT scheduled a bunch of maintenance for Saturday morning the weekend grades were due. I suspect they scheduled it ages ago and the principals didn’t tell them that they moved the grades to a totally stupid date. Honestly, there are times when I wonder how my frustration will allow me to get through the next three years of stupid decisions at my job (not to mention stupid decisions at the government level).

In other news, I finished the green head quilt. Named it. Named the other one, the pink one. Calculated time. They take notionally less time than my normal method…the pink one maybe not…maybe the same. The time I take on a quilt is compounded by the number of pieces normally. I guess the amount of embroidery on these. I embroidered around the bombs on Friday night…

I finished those on Saturday and added sequins, as promised.

I remembered last night that someone had suggested a bead as an earring on this one. I might add that tonight. It’s not going to the photographer until later this week. I love that I’m using my beads and sequins from crazy quilting days.

OK, to be honest, I bought more sequins last year to go to Quilt Con, for one of my classes, and then they didn’t come in time, but I already had a few sequins here and there from CQ days, but now I have a LOT and will have to use them all. Really. I already pulled four more dye paintings I want to work on next.

That said, I need to start the next big quilt, because I have limited time this summer for that. I’m not taking a sewing machine to the residency. Too big, too expensive for when we’re driving up. Too heavy. I had a drawing I copied back in January that I wanted to do as a lighter quilt after a few heavy ones. It was a drawing I did last August that I really liked. I’m not even sure why I was drawing that day…I could probably look back through the blog and figure it out. But it’s not political at all. It’s just nature. And a person. It was filling space. Oh, you know, it was probably a staff meeting. Or something like that. Anyway, I taped it together last night…

I had to make paper balls of the trashed bits I cut off to entertain Scribble to keep her off the drawing as I was trying to tape it. Then I added to the top and bottom, because this is a pretty idyllic drawing (although her head is on fire?) and the world is really NOT idyllic right now, so I can’t just exist in that space. I’m not sure how I’m going to express that in this drawing, but I am. Somehow. Without just being wishful.

So much for distracting the cat.

I went to an author event Friday night to listen to Martha Wells talk about Murderbot and other stuff.

This is the look she is giving the guy asking her all the questions. She was interesting to listen to. And inspiring, if only in the way that she made me think I could finish the book I started writing over 10 years ago. Plus listening to authors talk about their books and their thought processes is interested.

Shockingly, I stitched while waiting for her to show up. Bowie was not there.

I got the top of the acorn done.

Pretty good achievement, if you ask me.

Bowie is kind of cross eyed.

I always wonder if that explains some of his behavior. He’s a little whack.

I hiked 3.33 miles on Saturday. Not on purpose.

I mean, I meant to hike…just not that number. I was hiking behind someone, not by choice, pretty much keeping time with them. And I realized they were just gonna keep going the way I normally go and so I veered off on another path. There aren’t a lot of people on this trail usually and it was a guy, and I’m female, so I’m naturally always paranoid about that. Anyway, I turned around at about 1.5 miles, like I normally do, and was heading back, and there he was, heading back, must have turned back at exactly the same 1.5 miles. Ugh. So I didn’t follow him because now I was way too close (he must have gone into the bushes to pee), so I turned right and went up to where I normally stop, then turned around and was way behind him, although there were some places where my naturally paranoid brain thought, you know, someone could hide in there and jump out at you and you’d be totally unprepared for it, but here I was, preparing for it. Love that for me.

Yeah, this.

There’s been too many people lately.

Also this shit. So fucking frustrating.

We tried to make things better, a little bit, because shit’s not OK, and the people in charge are just dicks. Ignoring the voters, because you know, it’s not a democracy or anything.

And a lot of other arrested honestly. And war to stop and people to stop being illegally detained and that big old fat orange guy…needs to be gone.

It isn’t often that a Pisces meme/comic actually refers to me (I am an atypical Pisces), but this one felt appropriate.

That’s where I’m at. Also, here’s a bunch of owl videos…it’s definitely crowded in the box because mom’s been out.

I’m hoping I remember how to make them all public.

Lots of loud baby activity.

Last one…

OK, today. Giving a test on homologous structures based on the posters kids did last week in groups. Test is not a group thing though. It’ll be interesting. Then no staff meeting. I’m done with grades. I have to stay on campus for an hour, so I’ll try to figure out the next unit because I know my co-teacher is probably NOT done with grades. Then ceramics and I need gas (ah, Costco line) and to go to the other store and buy the yogurt and milk my store was out of and then pick up the dog and eventually think about drawing on those big empty pieces of paper on the top and bottom of my drawing. Something about voting rights maybe and the Epstein files and birth control and all that crazy shit. Fun stuff.

Red Sequins

ERG. Friday, yes. Kids driving us nuts. Also yes. Busy day. Yes. Trying to figure out where and when I get dinner. Or if I go home before 9 PM. It’s OK; the after school stuff is good; just maybe the timing is off. We’ll see.

So yeah, the students have decided summer is tomorrow and they don’t have to do any work, despite there being 28 days of school left. Luckily (for me), I was not the only teacher yelling at kids yesterday…so it isn’t just me (like some of them say). Like listen to instructions and then do what you’re asked to do. Don’t whine, don’t distract everyone around you, and no, you can’t pick your group because you’re literally incapable. We have one more day of posters and then next week, I made it something I could handle. Not sure what the fuck we’re doing after testing next week, but hopefully next week’s brain can figure that out. Because I’m trying to finish grades and the dumbassery in the classroom is not allowing me to get anything done. Honestly, the smartest, highest-level classes are the worst. The lower-level classes are doing the work. Mostly. Sigh. Anyway. I know it’s getting down to the end and it’s always somewhat chaotic, but it always seems worse than last year.

I did work on the green head the last few nights. I didn’t fall asleep one night and came up with the next part of it, then got that done in two nights…

Found fabrics, cut freezer paper for appliques, got one stitched on…then last night…

Stitched the other three parts and then stitched one sleeve down, which might have been a mistake, because now I want to do some embroidery and that thing is on top of the sleeve. It’ll be fine. I’ll just need to pay attention to what I’m doing. It’s close to done. Maybe. I think.

I mean, I do have a lot of red sequins.

I also started on the squirrel from Critters and Clover…

Didn’t get very far. But it reminds me that I have Rooted blocks done and should sew them together and put a binding on them. Maybe. I get distracted easily this time of year. I just need like brainless things that feel like I’ve achieved something. To make up for my country’s stupidity?

Highly possible.

Annie is visiting. She has been terrified of cats.

And wanted to sleep in the already full bed last night. Sigh. The boychild is hopefully coming home today to deal with all dogs. Because the dog is scared of the cats and the cats are scared of the dog and there’s just a lot of chaos and the Man is cranky about many things (just yelled something about the dogs not being trained and I reminded him of his cats and their obvious lack of training). ANYWAY. Holy shit. And grades are due. Stupid timing.

Today, the sweet dingbats finish their posters about homologous structures and I hopefully finish grades. Then I have a thing or twelve after school, including listening to Martha Wells talk, which I’m excited about, but the timing is rough. Hopefully my blood sugar complies. Ha! It hasn’t been. Stress levels have been high. And then a weekend…hey, mom, if you’re reading this, I emailed you about Sunday and you haven’t answered. I’ll try to call at some point between one place and another after school, but also, read your email :-). Wish me luck. Hopefully I won’t have to yell today. Ha.