I’m Back…Physically…

Hi. I’ve been gone a while. Well. I’m back. Not READY to be back, but what’s new, right? Still need to clean out and patch the tent, but the sleeping bags have been aired out and packed up, the man’s head has been shaved, and very little grading is done. In fact, yesterday, while I’m trying to sit out on the deck in the lovely (not windy) weather, ready (sort of) to power through some grading, the app that we use to sign in to all our other apps decided I didn’t exist…

OK then. I still needed to grade. Luckily my phone and iPad still let me in to the app I needed, but it was slow and fussy, so I didn’t get much done. Oh well! This was the view…

No gusty winds, no 10% humidity or less…sleeping in my own bed. All good. Travel is nice, but it’s also nice to be home.

I have a drawing in my head. This isn’t it. This is the drawing I did to remind me that what’s in my head is better. It may take me a while to get there.

This is the pile of science units that I did manage to grade over break…so that’s not a small amount.

But there’s still a ton sitting around here that needs doing.

I worked on this on the trip…got all the wool bits sewed on. It actually took a lot longer than I thought I would to do that.

And that hut is significantly crooked. But I’m OK with that.

Mostly I worked on those two not-so-crooked huts and the warthog, who just needs his tail finished.

The instructions were like “use the instructions from January to complete this stuff” and I didn’t bring those. I couldn’t figure the flowers out, but for the baby warthog, I just looked at his parents and figured him out. So I didn’t get much done.

I did drive about 2500 miles though and went to a bunch of cool places, which will pop up in posts over the next few weeks, because it will take me forever to find all the photos.

But today, I go back to school…I just spent 20 minutes actually talking to the girlchild in Madagascar, so that was cool. Nice to hear her voice. And now off to work. Hopefully my brain will follow.

A Title Would Be Nice

Not much time for writing these days. Internet is one of those things that many of us have easy access to (unlike the girlchild, who’s definitely missing it in Madagascar), but this trip has been out in the middle of nowhere for goodly chunks of time. Which is fine…we’ve been doing real-world stuff (well, some of it is NOT so real world), so the online world takes a back seat.

I think when last I wrote, I was sitting in a tent town that was a wheeled spoke of wooden walls in a KOA, which was a blessing against the 50-mph winds that mostly died down overnight. It was a rough night…being a light sleeper, road noise kept me awake, as did the wind kicking back up at 1 AM. There’s something about your entire tent trying to take off while you’re still in it that affects your ability to sleep. The plus is that we had to be up and out early, because we had a tour booked at Carlsbad Caverns that morning, and the elevators are currently out. Some poor souls were stuck in them for 3 1/2 hours last week and they’re still trying to fix them.

I just kept comparing the climb in (not what worried me) and out (somewhat more challenging) to Cowles Mountain, our local San Diego most popular hike for the non-hiker. 750 feet down in a mile and a quarter? Your knees will notice…

Going back up? Well they said there was food at the bottom, we were doing the Kings Palace tour (which ended up being very easy but totally worth the money for Ranger Mark’s story of the crazy-ass kid Jim White who discovered this cave), and then there was no food (being diabetic often sucks). But honestly? It wasn’t as hard to climb out as we thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong…there were quite a few happy dances when we made it to the top.

The caves themselves are freaking amazing. I have a ton of pictures, but it’s nothing like being there.

I suggest you go when the elevators are working, although the hike in is also a very cool experience. Those cave structures will definitely end up in some drawings…oh wait, they already have.

So after all that amazingness and natural splendor, we drove to Bottomless Lakes State Park to a very basic campground where the showers couldn’t decide on a temperature OR stay on more than 10 seconds at a time…we were the only tent in a sea of RVs and other smaller camping vehicles. And it was cold and windy…we gave up on cooking (no open fires with the wind) and ate out for the first time on our trip…

It was a cold night, but this is where I drew…fleece on, blanket wrapped around me. I get why no fires, but damn, fires are warm!

The next morning, it was in the 30s, so we packed up and went to breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe, where there was a taxidermied deer butt in the bathroom…

So I don’t remember ever being in New Mexico as a child (I must have been…I was almost everywhere else in the US), but here’s what I now know about this state: most popular vehicle: big white truck. Second most popular vehicle: any other color truck. New Mexicans run red lights with wild abandon. New Mexico is a lot flatter than I imagined.

And there’s a lot more Southern drawl than I expected. My phone thinks we’re in Texas half the time though, so maybe that’s related. Plus we’ve only been in the southern part of the state.

We were going to try to go to Cadillac Ranch in Texas yesterday, but decided to roll that into a future trip to Colorado…the thought of a day with 8 hours of driving was too much. So we headed back into Roswell for some alien fun.

Well you know…I like me some aliens…

And I think they like me too…

And then we headed for Santa Fe…more about that later, because today is all about Georgia O’Keefe and my WordPress app has decided I can’t see what I’m typing. Minor issue. Just know I’m alive and well and fed and showered and warm (ish…it is a high elevation here)…and more will follow.

Someone Let Me Drive…

So internet access has been sketchy at best…or when I have it, I seem to be doing other things, like driving, hiking, zoning out in a natural mineral spring, or sleeping. These are all good things, of course. I have no complaints. Well. Hmmm. The super high winds that greeted us this evening in Carlsbad, New Mexico, rumored to be anywhere from 30-50 mph gusts, well those were a little overwhelming, but true to my weather app, they have now died down to a reasonable breeze and my eyeballs appreciate the lack of dust pummeling them. As I type on my iPad, my new friend Mothra hanging around on my thumb, I smell an illegal fire in a nearby campground as bugs dash their tiny bodies against my clean face. Hallelujah for showers…I’ve taken three in the past 26 hours to make up for missing one Sunday morning. Hopefully the showers in the next campground will delight as well, because the elevators at Carlsbad Caverns are broken…so we hike in and out. At least it will be underground. In fact, that’s kind of cool. I usually hike up the mountains, not down into them.

I have about 3,000 pictures so far and probably not the internet to publish this (I’m gonna try anyway). Saturday, we drove a long way to Chiricahua National Monument (some bug just divebombed my wine…poor drunk little sucker), where we saw lots of birds, two deer, a skunk, three lizards, and the butt end of a coatimundi, just as we’d given up on seeing one. We did some hiking at over 6500′ and camped overnight in a gorgeous space that was unfortunately also peopled very closely by an incredibly loud family who said Shut up Don’t Touch That about 17 thousand times.

I’m trying to put photos in…who knows if it will work. It was an awesome place. More photos later when I have better internet.

We then drove to Truth or Consequences, NM, to Riverbend Hot Springs, where the draw was multiple soakings in mineral hot springs, based on a friend’s photo from last year…where I was like I Must Go There (I was right).

We spent time in three different pools, both in the evening and the next morning before leaving. Goodbye muscle aches from the hike…and a goodly amount of stress as well.

Our somewhat kamikaze trip continued today with a side trip to White Sands National Monument (never assume you can buy gas on a missile base) (I know how to coast a long way downhill). The wind had already started up by then, but not as bad as later, or we would have seen nothing…I’m pretty sure there’s white sand in everything I own right now.

It was REALLY WHITE…and soft, but not hot. Definitely glad we risked an empty gas tank on that. Really, I need a gas tank that realizes how much gas is left, looks at the map app for where I’m going, calculates my gas needs, and starts telling me about last-chance gas stations well before I need them…I’m imagining a high-pitched squealing voice getting louder and more hysterical until I can do nothing but pull over and fill my tank.

Until that happens, I will probably continue to space out on that shit until it becomes a desperate issue.

Then we drove over this pass that was about 8700′ and quite gorgeous…

And yes, about all I’ve managed is to finish one book, sew some wooly animals down, and attach 7.5 eyeballs. I don’t think we’re cooking much from here on out, so hopefully I’ll get enough sleep and downtime (ha!) to maybe draw. I’ve talked about drawing. It just hasn’t happened. And because the elevators are broken at Carlsbad Caverns (tomorrow’s adventure), we just added two hours of hiking up and down 75 stories to the day. I think the original plan allowed for one of those, not both. But what can you do, but put on your boots and rest when you need to? I’m looking forward to the equivalent of a Cowles Mountain hike, but down into a cave and back out.

When I’ve finished my glass of wine tonight, I’m going to head across to the very clean bathroom one more time in the dark…then consider tossing the ice chest back in the car for faster packing tomorrow. I’ll take a last look at the beautiful stars in the sky (there are way more than in San Diego…at least to my eyeballs)…damn, even all the moths have gone to sleep now…and then crawl onto the air mattress, bouncing my travel companion up and down at least 14 times until he cries for mercy, rolls over, and falls back to sleep. Seriously, this place isn’t Chiricahua, but it isn’t half bad when the wind stops.

The Weight of the Things That Remained Unspoken*

OK. So I have multiple to-do lists and to-take lists and I keep crossing stuff off but I’m still stressed. Boychild left on a week-long hike today for his Spring Break. Tomorrow, girlchild leaves for her independent study project, so we may not hear from her for a while. I have not finished anything for school. ANYTHING. Whatever. It will still be there when I get back. And today I’ve been to two grocery stores, the UPS place, my photographer’s, the gas station, Target, and I tried to deal with the two car issues, but one is something that needs ordering, and for some reason, my tire place is closed. Do they close for Good Friday? Not clear. OK. It’s all right. It’s just a faulty sensor. It’s not the end of the world. Nothing really is the end of the world.

I finished the quilt, I entered the show. I have no quilts in my head right now (not entirely true) that have to be done. I can draw with wild abandon. Like I don’t do that anyway.

Here’s Birthing the Gender War…

I think she’s one in a series…because there are more genders, and honestly, I’m at a point where I believe we should start over on the gender stuff. Just dump our preconceptions and argue for fluidity. Not sure how I’m gonna draw that, but give me time.

Kitten enjoying our Spring weather…

I tested our new air mattress…hopefully no backaches this trip. Calli approved.

She would have approved more if I let her on it.

Simba just wanted love. Poor dogs have gotten no attention this week.

So one thing I want to take with me is this…for embellishment. I have the top block on the right and the two blocks before it that are barely embellished…

But then I added the July blocks in the row below…I’m still trying to sew all the wooly bits down…

And then the last row is for August. Even more things to stitch down before I leave.

Realistically, I’m not going to get all those on there. Then again, I’m going to a show tonight that is supposed to only be an hour of playing, but it looks like I might be there for setup before. I can sit out on the deck there and do this, right? No one will mind? Yeah, it’s somebody’s house, but I sorta know him. Considering this…

So I shipped two quilts out today, one for a show and one commission.

We have piles everywhere of stuff for camping etc. I finally got my clothes packed this afternoon…I was kind of freaking out. The temperature ranges we’re dealing with are kind of drastic.

No snow, though…not like the boychild.

Here’s the girlchild with her Madagascarian troupe (well part of them anyway).

They all separate into their ISPs now for 3 or 4 weeks before they get together again at the end. I think she made an awesome choice on this trip…still worry about her constantly (and the boychild too…he’s hiking by himself, of course. Sigh.). And I miss both of them. Apparently the girlchild’s housekeeper/nanny/cook gave her a gift for mamanao, which translates to Your Mom. Wow. OK. That’s so cool. I can’t even really send anything back. I guess I sent her my kid. But sweet Gina, thank you…for feeding her and washing her clothes (and all the stuff I don’t do for her!). I appreciate it.

Anyway, I need some down time and I’m going to enjoy it, even when there’s no showers and we’re being stalked by herds of javelinas and coatimundi…I can stitch, draw, read, and hike. It’s all good.

*Maroon 5, Won’t Go Home Without You

I Work ‘Til I Ache My Bones*

Well I finished the quilt. On time. It’s at the photographer. I’ll enter the show tomorrow, before I leave…well before the deadline. Mostly because the deadline is while I’m gone. It’s weird, though…I’ve been head down, finishing stuff, for months now…and now I don’t know what I’m doing next. There’s some deadlines, but I think they’re all in June. So yes, I need to work on them, but I need to draw some stuff and decide priorities first. I have other quilts I could start, drawings that are already numbered and ready to go, but I need to spend some time staring at deadlines before I make that decision.

I honestly thought yesterday’s finish would be a piece of cake, that I’d be done by dinnertime. Ah ha ha ha. Yeah. Right. I got up and trimmed the quilt, and then went through my stash, trying to figure out if I had something that would work for the binding. Nope. Nothing.

Simba was barking all morning at bugs and birds…or whatever other ghosts he sees in the driveway…

I found a cat sleeping on all the stuff I haven’t graded for the last 5 days. Smart move.

Somewhere around then, I made the trip to the fabric store and bought some fabrics that might work for the binding. Two older ladies commented positively on my choice of colors, and the woman who cut my fabric recognized my name on the credit card and asked to see it (I think she was not really happy with the image). Weird that. Then I came back and realized I needed to wash the fabric, so I started that. Then I have three quilts that have to go out this week, so I put labels on two of them and then realized to ship, NOW WAS THE TIME to finally give in and buy pool noodles. So I did that. Exciting stuff. I had already bought boxes on the way to the fabric store…

So I packed up the quilt I needed to deliver to my mom, so she can deliver it for me next week. I did that and then came back to the binding. The stuff in the middle was because I liked it. The two binding choices are on either side. Those older ladies in the quilt store were asking me what I was looking for…I said, “the one that makes sense.” Turns out that was the one on the left.

So yeah, not a blending binding. I got it all sewn on and then made dinner, and then proceeded to poke many holes in my finger, because I was too lazy to get up and find the pads a friend gave me to stop that shit.

I finished the binding at 11:30 PM. Pretty good. Not before dinner, but still on Wednesday.

Then this morning, I started thinking about the trip necessities…they don’t make my sunscreen anymore (I’m allergic to most of them)…so that will be interesting.

Yes. Jellybeans are a necessity. I won’t eat the white or black ones though. They’re gross.

I also need to get this stitched down so I can take it with me for embellishment.

Plus I think I’m supposed to stitch it all to something else, which I should do before I deliver my sewing machine for service later today. I timed all this kinda crazy. As usual.

So what do I do today? Grade Shit. Lots of it. Packing. Organizing. Delivering. Packing up two more quilts to ship tomorrow. One still needs a label. Probably a million other things to do that I haven’t even thought of yet. Seriously consider what art is gonna be made next. That might be the most important task of the day.

*Queen, Somebody to Love

A Time to Rewind and Be Recorded Absent*

So. I realize after a million years of being myself that I inhabit stress regularly. Yes, it’s Spring Break, but I have too much to do and it’s wearing on me. My counselor was convinced that I thrive on stress…I think it’s more that I’ve had a lot of it for so long that I don’t know how to switch it off. But it’s also what allows me to finish a lot of things in a short period of time. This quilt will be finished today…easily…unless a nuclear bomb drops on San Diego, in which case, all bets are off. But I have about three thousand other things that need to be done in the next three days. Some of them need to be done today. And that’s heavy on my head.

I got back from returning that hellish sleep device and cleaned the floor so I could pinbaste this one…

Had to move all the camping stuff we accumulated in the entryway to do it.

There’s something we need to take on the trip that’s not on my list. I remembered it at 2 AM but didn’t write it down (I can’t write shit down at 2 AM) and now I can’t remember what it is. Fuck.

This is not a huge quilt…

That might be part of why it’s going so fast…quilting started next and kept going…

I was done with the outlining around 6 PM…perfect! Time to make dinner…

In the last week, I’ve done over 22 hours of artmaking, compared to 11 hours the week before…granted, I haven’t had to go to school. That helps.

I love this. I need a title though. Like before Friday.

Don’t help me. It’s OK…it’ll come to me.

Birthing the gender wars.

Maybe. We’ll see. Today? Today I trim and bind. I don’t know if I need to buy binding. I probably don’t have enough of anything that will work. I usually only buy half yards, and this would probably take all of that. So I’ll have to see. Plus I need to pack up a quilt and deliver it to my mom so she can deliver it while I’m gone. Because she’ll be gone tomorrow. Although I have a key. Duh. I could deliver it tomorrow even if she’s not there. See? Stress. Plus I need to grade an entire SHITLOAD of stuff before Saturday.

And then? Then I need to figure out what I’m making next. Can’t stop.

*Roots, What You Want

On a Dark Desert Highway*

Ugh. I was right. Wearing that sleep machine made sleep difficult. Plus I fell asleep with my glasses on. That’s impressive. Could not get comfortable. And my pointer finger is somehow swollen and stiff…from being in the finger thing? Who knows. I’m looking forward to sleeping without the device (and my glasses) tonight, that’s for sure. I feel drugged. Too tired. OK, honestly, it probably doesn’t help that I went to bed after 1 AM. I was on a roll, so I finished the stitchdown, and then my brain was in overload and needed to come down. What do I do when that happens? I organize my photo files. Seriously. It’s brain-deadening, I hate doing it, so it’s always backed up. Last night, I organized all the March photos from 2017 and 2014. Because the other years were already done. Don’t question it. 2014 was a bad year. So I did that until I was tired, and then hooked myself up to the device, and tried to sleep.

I am on track with the quilt though. That’s a good thing. I even got one class of science units graded while we watched dinner TV. Almost efficient! Not really.

I started ironing around 1 PM yesterday afternoon…

Got the other body in…

Then took a short break, 20 minutes…this stage is a lot of standing and staring. Plus puppies are cute.

Back to the ironing…that chick needs a face.

Both bodies in…another short break. Not sure why. Sometimes I hit the pause button to pee, and sometimes I don’t.

Torso behind the bodies is in.

This was really easy to put together. Oh that hair!

That was a great choice…

I always iron the eyes separately so I can place them so they don’t look stupid.

Nice colors on this…

And there we are…

Kitten watches from her Batting Mountain.

All ironed down. I had chosen a background fabric, but it didn’t make the image pop enough…so I went darker. I’m always going darker, it seems.

Then I ate dinner and graded the science units…with this on the other couch.

Finally up off the couch just before 10 PM…for the stitchdown. I wasn’t planning on doing it all last night…

But in the end, it was less than 2 hours to finish…

So I went for it. It means that today I’m all about sandwiching, pinbasting, and quilting.

From the back…

The machine is behaving nicely, so that helps…not a lot of thread nests or bad tension. Let’s knock on wood. I need that to continue.

I’m still basing all my time on the last quilt, even though it had 200 more pieces…it’s about the same size though. So another 14 hours? In two days? Still tight, eh? But I’m starting earlier in the day, so that will help…although I’m on dinner duty the next two nights. Ironing the whole thing together only took 7 hours…that’s 3 hours less than the other piece…which had all that fussy fabric in the spine. So maybe the quilting will be easier too.

Today’s goal: sandwich, pinbaste, and get all the outline quilting done? I can make that a goal. Even if I won’t make it…no problem. I’m totally finishing this one in time. Unless the machine dies or a tree drops on the house. Yup. You know how that goes. Spring Break Day 4…on task, on time. Don’t think about grading. Don’t think about grading.

*The Eagles, Hotel California

They Tell You It’s None of Their Business*

I’m running late on blogposting today. I’d like to say it’s because I slept in, woke up at a leisurely pace, and am still in my pajamas, wandering a quiet house, wondering how to spend all my free time (snort), but none of that is true. What IS true is that the dog kept me awake a good chunk of the night and morning, I got up and showered, had guacamole and chips for breakfast, and went to a sleep apnea appointment, so my doc could try to blame my inability to sleep on something in my nose/brain/whatever instead of admitting that I’m a shitty sleeper genetically.

I put the sleep apnea device box on the bed, so I’ll remember to put the damn device on tonight. Kitten was perturbed.

Yesterday, I managed to get my taxes done (hooray! but not in time to pay my property taxes, dammit) and go through all the camping equipment we have, so we could figure out what we’re missing. Calli hasn’t been to Grandma and Grandpa’s for a while. Grandpa throws her the ball on a nice flat lawn…

She’s an old lady. I stitched horizontal grass down…I will need to go through my stuff and make sure I have enough of this stitched down and prepped for the trip.

Can’t have nothing in my hands…that’s crazy.

Then I came in the studio, laid out the first 100 pieces of the new quilt, and started ironing…

I’m done with the first 250 or so pieces…

And everyone is flipping out over a penis. Seriously. No comments on blue pubic hair? Alright then.

My goal is to finish ironing today. Yes. Today. No, I didn’t grade anything yesterday. Whatever. My priorities are fine.

I also picked the last three quilts up yesterday from the photographer…

This is BirdFoot, which was started in 2007 and sat around as a top for a really long time. It’s done now.

Climate Goddess, which was started last June and then was filler in between a bunch of other things, until it was finished last month…

And the commission piece, which draws from the climate piece, but was commissioned by the mom of a scoliosis surgery teenager. Its title is She Was Given to Us Perfect, from a poem the mom sent me.

I think I’ll write more about the commission later this week, when I’m more awake and less worried about getting this next one done, but it was an enjoyable and different experience. It’s the largest commission I’ve done, but it was positive.

With that, I need to iron like the WIND. Or something. The HOT WIND. There we go. More tomorrow. After I’ve slept with that machine. Or not slept. However that goes.

*Adam Ant, Desperate but Not Serious

Two Minutes Left

I’ve got 9 minutes before I need to leave to pick up three quilts. It’s Spring Break, but busy. I couldn’t sleep this morning…my brain was on overdrive. So I got up and sorted the pieces for the new quilt…

It didn’t take long. I’m going to start ironing this afternoon.

I stayed up a little late last night to cut them all out. I had a period after watching a show where I didn’t feel like cutting more, but I realized I was behind my previously planned schedule. So I got a second wind! And finished!

On the last quilt, which had more pieces, it was 28 hours from here to the finish. I have four days…let’s see what I can do. Yes, I have other stuff to do too…like this.

That’s all the paper stuff that needs grading. Two of the piles are rubrics for online stuff. I finished one period of the giant units…that’s it. That was yesterday, about an hour and a half. Another pile today. Gonna stay focused. On task.

Well, I’m going to try anyway. I need sleep. I have errands to run. I have stuff that needs to happen. But I don’t have to go to school or tutoring or meetings before or after school. So there’s that. At least the ironing is meditative. It all is. Turn the music up loud, binge watch the new season of Call the Midwife, then on to some other sci fi thing, read my book in between (I think the library automatically checked out 4 books to me last week…it never rains; it pours). Attempt to walk dogs and get ready for our trip. All good. Probably talk to almost no one for days. Sometimes that sucks. Right now? Sounds awesome.

Two minutes left…

Sitting All Alone Inside Your Head*

I think right now, at 2:15 PM on Saturday, I finally have some sense of being on Spring Break. Mostly. I have a pile of stuff to grade, both online and physically on my light table (so the Golden Retriever can’t eat it). I have a quilt to finish. I took 290 or so people to the zoo yesterday with my teacher cohorts. Today, I marched in the March for Our Lives. I was exhausted all week. The last thing I wanted to do was get up this morning and march, but I did it. Because I had to. Because people aren’t listening. If I can be part of the mass of humanity that has to show the fuck up, stand out there, and keep yelling before the politicians hear us, then so be it. I will keep marching. I got up, made a sign, picked up my teacher friend, found parking, and marched. I am still exhausted. Let’s hope I get some rest in the next two weeks.

So here’s the last few days…well, actually, this is a photo of my significant housemate cat owner other. That guy who lives here. One of the band wives took this picture at House of Blues last weekend…one of his non-keyboarding songs. Nice lighting…

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OK, back to this week…zoo yesterday. I had a good group, which helped, because I made them go fast…

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I really love the new baboon exhibit. It’s fascinating to watch them.

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Especially the young ones…

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I wish they were all in open spaces…

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Because these fences suck for photography…

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And the penguin/shark exhibit is cool too.

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Hua Mei was out and awake…

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These guys! I had to laugh…

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So after the zoo, we came back, managed some crazy, watched a school play, and then cleaned classrooms for break, so they can redo our floors. I forgot to water the plants. Oh well. And then I came home for about 10 minutes and drove to an opening in La Jolla, where I forgot to take pictures, then more driving to gaming…where, yes…I did in fact cut out pieces for the new quilt.

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For #igquiltfest, the theme for the 23rd was stash. This is maybe a third of my stash. There’s more. It’s messy…I haven’t put everything back from the last quilt. I don’t usually do that until the quilt is done, in case I need to cut a piece, like if I lost one…

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Then I got up this morning, and made this sign…

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The gloves are to show I’m watching my politicians…except I forgot and left them in the car. Whoops!

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And we marched…

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Me and my quilt teacher, who also teaches in my district (and made the eyeball gloves)…

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It was a beautiful day. But it’s almost like I don’t want to smile or acknowledge the gorgeous weather, because I’m marching for something pretty damn serious.

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There was a lot of anti-NRA stuff…which I’m totally OK with. We have let political lobbies control too much of government.

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The only way to improve this situation is to start passing a LOT of gun control legislation. I’m lucky to live in a fairly liberal state, but my city isn’t liberal. And certainly where I live is not.

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The kids were out. The teachers were out. So yeah, as a teacher on the first day of Spring Break, thoroughly mentally and physically exhausted, it was very difficult to get up this morning and put on my boots and face all this. YES. I wanted to stay in bed and sleep in and lounge around in pajamas all day.

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But I didn’t. Because this. You need to hear us.

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So. Now I’m on break. Marching was something I had to do. I would love to go back to not needing to do that. But it doesn’t seem like that’s happening soon. And that makes me sad.

Today? I have grading and quiltmaking. For the rest of the day. Hopefully getting my head in a better place.

*Stone Sour, Through Glass