It’s been a long week…and a short week. I will have gone to work all 5 days, but only 4 with kids. It has felt like a million though. How is my right eye already twitching again? Some of the stuff we get asked to do is boggling. In general, the kids are OK, they’re mostly listening and doing the things…but like we had grades due next Tuesday and someone higher up changed it and never told us it changed? I’m still doing grades this weekend, because I don’t have time to do them next weekend. I made plans, I have multiple meetings, I have things I’m doing. I have what might be considered ‘a life’. Mostly that’s cleaning things and trying to make art and finishing books, but that’s OK. Trying to find recalcitrant cats at 11 PM (he’s fine; he was hiding and wouldn’t come out when called…because he’s a cat…and either he’s sick or sulking, not sure which).
Speaking of 11 PM, I’m supposed to go to bed at 10:30, and I do try, but I’m also trying to finish grading everything and iron for more than an hour a night, and at some point, you run out of time. I finished grading the second academic assignment from December last night, and I didn’t run over my allotted grading time, but it was close. I think yesterday was a 10-11-hour day. Ugh. Just for school. Ironing was another 80 minutes. So apparently I was hallucinating the other day about being 300 pieces in…I wasn’t. I am NOW…a little over. The ironing of all the tiny things that all need to be a slightly different shade of gray? It’s taking a while. Here’s Wednesday night’s progress…
So slow…so many little pieces. I did a Chevron sign and a BP gas sign…some other stuff too.
And here’s last night…
I mean, I think I added 8 gray fabrics to the pile, but it doesn’t look like much more…I did the Exxon sign and some smokestacks, and a bunch of smoke clouds, but that’s about it, and it doesn’t sound like much, but I made it into the 320s I think. Lots of smoke. NO. I’m still not halfway. BUT I have a 3-day weekend (during which I have to finish progress report grades, finish the deck railings, replant some stuff, and move everything back) to finish ironing everything to fabric. I’m getting close to the large goddess figure, and I haven’t entirely decided how to color her. I have ideas. I don’t know which one will work. It requires more brain power than I have right this minute. Hopefully I’ll have it tonight or tomorrow.
Or not. OK, today, I’m teaching sound. I didn’t have the energy last night after 5 parents contacts and a bunch of other stuff to set up my classroom for today, so I need to go in and place the cup/string telephones and find cheap rulers for sound boinging and who knows what else I forgot. I remembered the packets. It’s been a very ON week, lots of me talking and doing. Eventually there will be more of them doing things, but we didn’t really get there this week. So that’s part of the exhaustion. I’m hoping to have the energy to go to ceramics after school so I can start glazing that bowl, because I have a cool artsy idea for what I want to work on next so I want the bowl done and fired. Then home, read, eat, iron. Pet a dog and some cats. Chill out for three days. Well, I need at least one hike in there. Maybe two. And some sleep…that’s been problematic all week. Need more of that. Always.
Kathy Nida 