I’m sitting here staring at the white screen of the computer. I do that a lot. I sit down and realize I have no idea why I’m there…or it’s morning and my brain is still nonfunctional and I know I write the blog because it clears my brain and keeps me motivated and moving forward on art, but I don’t know where to start. I need the sentence starters I give my students. And it’s only Wednesday, but I’m looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday. That’s a little pitiful.
So the quilt I’m working on (very slowly) now does not have to be done until late October, early November, but there was something else I wanted to make with the same deadline. I don’t think I’m going to make that one. I think I’ll skip it. I have another one with a deadline a month later that I think is the better choice. I like both ideas, both themes, I even already did a pre-drawing for the earlier one, but I just don’t think I can pull it off. Grading is sucking up a lot of my time, as is trying to be healthy and all that good exercise stuff. I actually like to exercise, but work gets in the way…all the works…school, art, and copyediting. Balance. I never get there.
I did make it to the gym last night, though, and I finished my book (finally…it’s due at the library on Saturday, so that’s a good thing), but then also graded assignments while on the elliptical. Kinda crazy, but it was an easy assignment to grade anyway.
I’m not quite done…but I got a good chunk of it done while ellipticizing. Or however you verb that. I do actually really like going to the gym. I just have to find the time to do it. This is one of the ways I can pull it off. Two things at once.
Meanwhile, I do have a lot of art wandering the world at the moment. Pam Rubert posted this picture of my quilt Untied with a design/illustration class touring the eXtreme Fiber Art exhibit. Very cool!
And I’m still waiting on all those shows I entered back in August and early September. Three have notified…two acceptances and one rejection. Not bad odds so far, but the harder ones are coming up…five more to go. I don’t expect acceptances on any of the five, but it would be nice. If not, then I enter more shows.
Meanwhile, here’s the piece that’s in progress. I’m slowly cutting things out. I’d like to say I’ll be done by the weekend…but that’s only an hour I got in last night…
I’m maybe halfway done? It’s hard to tell. That was after tutoring, going to the gym, cooking dinner, and cooking lunches for the next three days. Not the best food plan for this week. But it’s done. I didn’t start cutting until 11 PM or so. Really late. And I’m feeling it this morning. All of it. Ugh. Moving. Sucks.
Katie is the only dog here this morning. The other two went to my ex’s with the boychild. She wouldn’t go out to pee last night…she’s scared of the dark, especially when she’s by herself. I went out with her, with the flashlight, and told her to pee, and she’d run to the nearest dirt and then run back to the back door. Once she pretend-squatted for like 4 seconds…and then came in and peed on her bed.
Sigh. So at midnight, I ran laundry. You dork. She gets lots of pets but is especially neurotic.
Today I shop for small plastic animals that fit in a graduated cylinder, I teach a cover page (yay drawing!) about the Earth, I hopefully walk the dogs, I don’t have to cook dinner (double yay!), and I get to cut stuff out. I might have to grade stuff as well. Who are we kidding? I have to grade stuff. But balance. I think it might be impossible to achieve balance with this job. The school one. Maybe the other two as well.
*Linkin Park, Crawling
Kathy Nida 