The Year Changed…

I somehow have lost a week. The year has changed. I have not posted my memories of 2024 nor my goals and hopes for 2025. I missed the boat completely. What happens to me if I do not consider everything that 2024 brought and 2025 might bring? I dunno, but I don’t seem to have the brainpower for it. Although I redid my big long huge CV/resume/whatever the hell it is yesterday and I know that I was in 12 exhibits last year and I made 6 quilts and 10 bug things that aren’t really quilts. I read that an art quilter I follow made over 60 quilts and I can’t fathom that, but probably she’s not working full time as a middle-school teacher. So that’s another reason I have a hard time with the review/gratitude part of the year ending. It makes me feel inadequate until I have some interior brain argument about what people are capable of and that’s why I picked a fucking retirement date last summer. Oh yeah. I remember now. So in 2025, I hope to make another 6 or so quilts and get into another 12 or so shows and keep messing around with clay and trying to keep my day job from inserting itself into my recharge time more than it already does. No change. I actually usually do resolutions in August, right when I’m about to go back to school. It makes more sense as a teacher to think about those things then rather than in the middle of a school year. I am glad I have next week off, because I have to get 6 quilts out of here in the next week or so for delivery to shows. So some of that will happen today.

I’m quite happily ironing the first big quilt of 2025 together now…

I forgot how fun and relaxing it is to iron stuff together. I had been putting it off because it seemed hard, but it isn’t. Time-consuming? Yes. Fussy as shit sometimes? Yes. Absolutely relaxing? Oh yes.

I’ve got the dirt done, with its furry beasts, body bags, bullets, and skull.

And I’ve done one leg. That’s it. Well, it has a snake on it. So there’s a lot to come. I’m well into the 200s…I’ll be here for a while.

Then I finally quilted this beast, which I started in January 2013.

No joke. Those bird blocks went to almost every soccer game in the girlchild’s last two years of high school. Two years ago I started quilting it, and then it sat. So here it is…

Just need to do the handstitching of the binding and sleeves, and it’s done. Twelve years. Impressive. Can’t say I don’t finish shit. I do eventually. This is Sue Spargo’s Bird Dance, by the way. I called it Bird Crazy for years.

I also needed to get to the next step on this one…trimming all the houses…

To the same size. A few are a bit short, as always. Wool stretches. But the center piece is definitely too small, so I’m not sure how I’m going to handle that. I have ideas.

That’s the layout. This is Sue Spargo’s Homegrown, which might have been started in…hell, IDK…wait! OMG. Started March 16, 2020. The day they sent us home for two weeks because of COVID. Little did we know. Oh my. I’m laughing. So this one is just two months’ short of being 5 years old. I did Folk Tales in between the bird one and this one. And there’s another bird one I did too, Chirp…both Folk Tales and Chirp are ready to be sandwiched and quilted, but this one needs to be put together so I can do borders, so it’s a good year out from being finished, if I’m lucky. Anyway, I have a Zoom tonight and I will sew things together and try to figure out how to solve the problem of the center being too small. It’ll be fine.

Right now, I’m going to pause in the writing (you won’t even notice) because I need to pick up a quilt and then head to ceramics and pick up meds because my online pharmacy ran out of insulin again (they did last year too). But I’ll be back and you won’t even notice I was gone for three hours. Like I said, here I am. Sigh. But in a fairly rancid mood…thanks to health insurance and pharmacies and ugh. It’s fine. I just lost an hour to whatever stupid shit happened yesterday that I didn’t do. I’ll have meds on Monday. The only medication I really freak out about is insulin. And that’s the one with the biggest issues. Ah well. Done now. I ate lunch and read for a bit, and that helped.

I found my SIL’s heart…she had asked for it back in November and then I ‘lost’ it (read, hung it up and put this drawing over it and completely forgot it was behind there…

In fact, I didn’t even see it when I first pulled the drawing down so I could iron on it. I saw it last night, because the Man came in and was talking to me, so I was actually facing that direction. Sad but true. So I need to finish that and mail it to her.

New Year’s Eve was a little low key. Nice fire in the fireplace. Tried to draw and watch a movie. The movie was horrible. The drawing wasn’t entertaining enough…

So eventually I went in and put the binding on that bird quilt instead. I did make it to midnight, no worries. Unless I’m sick or exhausted, I stay up that late on the regular…unless I’m working. Then I have to be up between 6 and 6:30 AM, so I need to start heading for bed at 10:30…although I haven’t been good about that lately. Huh.

I think he’s smiling.

But he’d had a 4-mile walk and a bath because he pooped on himself and then vomited on himself. I wasn’t there. He was certainly tired out.

I’m actually finally kicking this thing.

KNOCK ON WOOD. My sinuses aren’t completely clear, but mostly. I’m not coughing stuff up any more. Time to go back to school and get sick again, right? Sigh.

OK. Well I have a bunch of stuff I need to get done, mostly in the quilt realm. I added to my CV last night, but still need to finish and submit the application by Monday. Lots to do, lots to do. Looking forward to three art classes next week though. Fun times. I appreciate the time off, but it’s too bad the job is so hard that the time off feels so absolutely necessary. I don’t have a solution to that.

Dribble Away

The last Monday of 2024. Weird that. Why do Mondays have such strange power over us? I suspect if I had a different job, Mondays would be less ugh. I am a little over 1/3 of the way through my Winter Break. I still have a few things left to grade…a small pile of redoes that I can’t quite bear to look at…yet. I’ll get there. I’m in that weird molasses part of the year (break) where I don’t seem to get anything done. Although the boychild and I cut down part of a tree that was growing haphazardly. That was a thing. And I’m sure I checked some things off the to-do list, but as I do them, more take their place. It’s annoying. So then I check out and pull out a book and don’t get anything done in a day that seems really short anyway. I think every Winter Break is like this. I have a pile of labels to make and print, an art application to fill out, which means revising my resume with everything from this year…which sounds just like a lot of work. Good work. Work that needs to happen. But work nonetheless. I need to go trim some shit. I should just go do that. I’m tired, though. Trying a new medication to see if the visual disturbance goes away. It’s supposed to make me tired. I can concur. I am tired.

Or that’s just where I am right now. I also need to prep 5 quilts for shipping/delivery. Maybe later. Sounds like work.

I did restart quilting this, from two years ago.

It doesn’t take long. It’s lame that I haven’t finished it yet.

It’s Sue Spargo’s block of the month Bird Dance, which I started a million years ago. It took me through a lot of soccer games. I have about 1 1/2 columns left to quilt and then the border and then I can put a binding on it and it’s done. Then I can toss the other big quilt up there and quilt it too. While ironing another quilt together. It’s all doable. I just need to do it. Sounds simple. And complicated.

Thinking too hard at the end of the year.

Friday night, I was still trimming, but there wasn’t much left…

Saturday night, I finished…

A total of 18 hours and 49 minute of trimming…after 24 hours of ironing. I never documented the fabric range for this…but it was 189 fabrics…

I cleaned them all up yesterday, so I could reclaim enough boxes to sort the pieces…

No, he wasn’t helping.

It took 2 hours to do that. But I’m ready to start ironing together today. I’m ready to do a lot of things today; if only I had the energy.

The girlchild and I went to ceramics on Saturday…

She’s very intent on a few things. I’m making some random little things…

And this has been sitting around forever, waiting to be carved.

We’ll be back today. I did work on the big piece, in that I found a place on the drying shelves for the big one and the top of it is back on my shelf, waiting for me to figure out how to make the arms.

Finally made it out for a hike on Saturday afternoon.

Another energy thing.

Nice to get outside and exercise though. Even though my knees are complaining like crazy today.

It’s cold, y’all, but apparently not quite cold enough to cuddle.

Weirdos.

OK, I have a chonky to-do list still and it makes me feel better to check things off of it. Sort of obsessive in that way. Need to sort out some plant material…probably easier to do that before a shower, so do that first. Then shower and lunch and somehow the entire day will disappear and I’ll be at ceramics again. Seems fair. Nice to have days that can dribble away for once and not cause too much havoc.

What Day Is This…

Yo. What day is it? Yeah. We’re solidly in Winter Break then. My goal of finishing grades on Christmas Eve? Fucked. Well, I didn’t grade much on Christmas Eve because I realized people were coming over on Christmas and I hadn’t cleaned anything. In months. Welcome to teacher life. And the tree was still outside. I never got lights up outside. I found them. They are on the floor in the entryway. I put one whole ornament on the tree.

That tree needs to be planted after I’m done enjoying the cats playing with it in the house. It’s outgrown its pot. It was a volunteer I found in the yard years ago and I just kept upsizing its pot until it was big enough to be the Christmas tree. Not sure what I’ll do next year. I have 5 volunteer trees in pots but they won’t be big enough by next year to do anything. I’ll worry about that next year.

So I graded a tiny bit on Christmas Eve and a tiny bit on Christmas night, and then yesterday was going to be the finish day! Then I spent 3 hours with the neuro ophthalmologist so she could tell me again that they don’t know if the visual disturbance is in my brain or my retinas (because it would be in both). Did all the tests. Everything looks happily normal. Unlike me in general. So they’re going to try another migraine med to see if that solves it. It’s only really irritating at night, especially when driving. And sometimes I freak out because I don’t know what’s causing it. Aliens probably. Even the doc nodded her head at that possibility. So it’s mostly benign and not changing. She’ll see me in a year. Woo hoo. She’s nice and I like her, so it’s all good. She’s also thorough as hell; hence the 3 hours. I did finish an entire book in between all the tests and waiting. I guess that’s a good thing. The point being, my grades still aren’t done. I finished the packets (yay) last night. I have three more classes of an academic question, a pile of homework papers that need grading, and the late work and redoes. It’s probably 4 hours. Will I finish today? Maybe. I have other things I need to do, including replacing a crown. Ugh. No fun there.

I’m still making time to cut stuff out at night…which is good, because it feels like it’s taking forever. Because it is. This is Christmas Eve after the Man’s family party…

Then Wednesday night after my family’s Christmas dinner, which the boychild cooked.

My sole Xmas photo of my mom and the ex’s dog…

Then last night’s cutting…

I’m getting there. I still don’t see the bottom of the box of pieces. So maybe two more nights? Maybe three? Not sure. Same pile with Devil cat guarding.

There was some cat action last night as I was getting ready for bed. Also side view shows there’s quite a bit more in the to-be-cut box. Sigh. I need some consolidated time and I’m not getting it.

I did spend time on Christmas day finding the broken sprinkler…

I was hoping it was the riser, because that’s an easy fix. It wasn’t. It’s down in the ground. I need to trim more crap around it so I can get in there and dig further down to try to figure out how to fix it. Meanwhile, the owl box has bees, so I have to deal with that issue too…we’re supposed to be dropping the box and cleaning it out. Bees make that more complicated.

Bowie is still the most energetic living thing in the house…

Not like that’s hard. We’re all kinda tired. I want to hike, but I apparently mentally need to get past grading to get there. It doesn’t help that it’s cold and cloudy. Although yesterday was sunny and I didn’t feel it then either. This is probably why…

Maybe if I had enough caffeine? Also protein and less sugar would probably help…the post-holiday food has been a little lacking in healthy habit.

I’ve been doing some retirement stuff…mostly downloading crap and then sending it to my brother so he can tell me how fucked I am.

Although getting rid of the Windfall Elimination thingamabobby will help. I’ll actually get the social security I earned before becoming a teacher. What a concept.

I set a goal for reading last year of 95 books and I’ve read 108…with 4 days left, I should get at least 1 more done.

I’ve had some years where I hardly read at all…school just fucked me over completely (2020, I’m talking to you). But the last two years, I just didn’t let it stop me. I read in so many more places now. It makes me happy. So yeah, what goal do I set for this year?

From the most recent book, The Twisted Ones, which I really enjoyed (you gotta like horror though)…

The main character is a copyeditor, although it’s not a main part of the story…

So that part amused me. But also there’s a dog…and one of my rules is that the dog needs to survive dammit…and this one does.

Simba thinks the same thing. Throw in the pool guy.

Anyway. I need to go do some grading now. I really really really want to be done, so I don’t have to even THINK about school. So I’ll be working on that today, then reading another book while they work on my tooth (there’s so much down time when they’re waiting). And cutting more stuff out tonight. It looks the same every night…pro: it’s totally relaxing to just sit and cut while bingewatching TV. I do need to work on two quilts though…probably before I start ironing things together. But not until grading is done. I have one Spargo quilt that I started quilting two Christmases ago and I just need to finish it. And then a friend’s quilt, which was supposed to get done over Thanksgiving and then I was sick the whole time. So those will get peppered in. Plus hikes, dammit. I need more exercise. I need the outdoors. Plus that damn sprinkler and the owl/bee box and a whole host of other household and yard things that need to happen. Plus email this person about one thing and that person about another thing. Or grab the book and go hermit on the couch…tempting. January self needs me to get some shit done now though. So I’m respecting that. And I want to be drawing some too, and that hasn’t happened at all.

Ready or Not…

OK, I’m a day off. I got up yesterday and just started going and then didn’t stop. This morning, there’s gonna be a lot of the same, but I decided to start here. Because I knew tomorrow would be crazy too. What have I been doing on the first three days of Winter Break? Grading and cleaning, basically. I want the grading done early so I can enjoy the rest of my time off. I’m doing pretty well, although my goal of being done by noon today is probably not quite reality. I have one short academic assignment left that will take a couple of hours, one homework assignment that will take an hour or so, 2 classes of unit packets, an hour plus each for those, and a pile of redoes and late work handed in. That’s more time consuming, but maybe an hour? So that’s about 6 hours at the least. And it’s almost 9, I have to drive the girlchild to her dad’s, eat, finish this, get ready for pilates, leave the house at 1:40, then come back and shower for tonight’s party, AND wrap everything, prep the house for Xmas breakfast here tomorrow…OK, it’s just not happening. But I’m close. I think I can have it done on the 26th. So that’ll do. Because some of my to-do list really does have to be done by 5:15 tonight and some has to be done by 9:30 tomorrow morning. So there’s that.

I did take time yesterday to go to the ceramics studio with the girlchild and then forgot to take pictures. That was my down time. Plus I read a little bit here and there, because I need a break. I walk out to the mailbox because I need a break. I’ve tried the grading thing a bunch of different ways: do it all at the beginning, do it all at the end (that one is HARD), and do a little bit every day (you never escape it). This is the best way. Of course, the real best way is to have nothing to grade over break, but realistically, that doesn’t happen. And our progress report grades are due the week we get back, essentially, so unless I want to lose that weekend to grading, I’m going to do it all now. This damn job…sometimes…I really wish I had a job where I could shut the computer at the end of the day and walk away from it, rather than wake up to a teacher:student conversation in my head that I need to have with my students on January 14. Sigh. But there are pros to this job…like this…

They are not wrong. And they amuse me.

So. Art stuff. I mentioned clay. I’ll try to photograph later this week when we go back. Nothing monumental though. Fabric, I’m just cutting things out forever…Friday night…

Lots of letters. All of the letters.

Saturday night…

Tree parts mostly.

Sunday night…a big background piece and some other stuff…lots of weird eyeball things.

Monday night…more eyeball things, barbed wire, head on fire…

I’m in the 700s, working backwards from the 1600s. So more than halfway. Nine hours in. Crazy really. I’ve been staying up to my natural bedtime, which is around midnight. During school, I try to start going to bed at 10:30. I don’t like it, but I need the sleep, so there we are. I’ll cut out tonight, if I have time (see to-do list for reality check), but definitely the next few nights. Hopefully I’ll be sorting by Friday/Saturday and then ironing. Like I said, this one isn’t getting done in 2024. It’s fine. I’m not in a rush. Not on a deadline. Don’t have a plan for this one. The next one has a deadline, but it’s a ways out and requires some engineering I’m still considering in my head.

I think they finally approved our teacher job description (in the district where I’ve worked for 16+ years)…they took out the ‘traditional values’ bullshit, but added this physical abilities section that cracks me up…

Have they met my knees? Are they going to use this to remove some teachers? Because I know teachers with vision problems who adapt, those with hearing problems who adapt. Not to mention the rotator-cuff surgeries. Like who do they think will take our positions if we leave? There’s not a whole host of young teachers lining up, that’s for sure. Have I run, kneeled, squatted, twisted at school? Yup. And sometimes it hurts. Because I’m old. But not old enough to retire, you assholes. I could argue some of my knee/hip/neck issues are work-related too…so maybe consider the implications of going after people for that. Anyway. Fun times. They still have a ton of money lying around and won’t give us enough of a raise to cover the health insurance bump that happens every year. Please. Pay us less. We deserve it. As we run, twist, kneel through our jobs.

Sigh.

Same with teachers. Our lives matter less than that of a CEO. Don’t make money? Don’t matter.

In the same realm, this is very true.

Hell cat is also acceptable. And some book I just put on my to-read list has a sentient spider plant. I’d take that too. Or a bat.

I feel like I’ve posted this one before.

This is my goal at some point for break. And life.

I have totally done this…

I talked to the paperclips in the electromagnet lab. My students may think I’m nuts, but they don’t usually tell me that. Dammit, now I’m mentally back to the conversation I need to have with them in January. Like if you won’t read feedback and adjust to it, then you’re right, your science grade isn’t going to change. Sigh.

Girlchild and Simba love.

OK. Gotta do the things. Need food first. Need to get out of the way of Kitten and the sun (I’m in her spot right now). Then probably clean a floor and start wrapping. Then grade, exercise, shower, grade some more, and go to a party. Not really in a party mood, but the holidays come whether you’re ready for them or not, right? OK. Here we go.

Until I Can Relax…

My photo editing app is updating right now. Not sure when it thinks it will be done. Much like all of my students will be today…unsure of doneness. Yikes. It’s fine. I think I really felt like yesterday could have been Friday and we all would have been fine with it. At least there’s no assembly today…I don’t have the energy for that level of teacher. Just the finish-it-all and hand-it-in level of teacher. Although by 6th period, I won’t be sane any more. It’s fine.

I started cutting out the pieces for the new quilt. I’m using the new Wonder Under and an awful lot of pieces are releasing the paper as I’m cutting them, which is problematic. So far, it’s mostly the tiny or skinny pieces, but it’s enough to be abnormal (compared to the old stuff). I haven’t had a ton of time at night to do things, due to holiday crap and stupid school board meetings, so the first night, I think this is 30 minutes worth of trimming…

Not much. Last night, I got more time in, over an hour. I had worked on school stuff from about 6-8:30 pm, so it was time to quit. Couldn’t deal with cleaning house or thinking about decorating (I have no Xmas stuff up this year).

Those letters are gonna take a while. I guess I know what I’ll be doing for the next week on this quilt. I wish I could cut for hours a day, but I want to get all my grades done before Christmas. I don’t know if I can pull that off, but I’m going to try. I’ll have one homework assignment, one large academic assignment that half the kids haven’t done, another short one, two things to record only, because some app already scored them, warmups, and a relatively short packet. It’s doable. Crazy, but doable.

Yesterday, we made electromagnets. Fun times.

It’s kind of cool actually…although the logistics of supplies is a pain. What to do with all the half-used-up batteries? Who knows.

We half-assed decorated a door. That’s my Max and a student’s ornament.

This was me on Wednesday night…

I had to cook, but I wasn’t ready. So cats helped.

I suck at both.

And this, I am very good at this…

This guy speaks to my soul sometimes.

And this…

I still think they gave way too many to the gas planets. OK, there’s a scientific reason for that. Jupiter is being nice.

OK. Today. They answer an academic question about electromagnets (easy!). They put their packets in order and hand them in. They finish all the other shit they haven’t finished. I clean my room because fucking Winter Academy will be in there in January. Assholes. Teachers steal shit. It’s annoying. I finish grading the last of last week’s homework assignments. I set up as much of January’s stuff as I can. We have the first 7 days done…just need to admit the next two days are what they are. It’s fine. REALLY. Come home, collapse, then stand up and do shit. Or sit and do shit. Because there’s a lot of shit to do before I can relax.

Ah Sleep…

Humpday this year seems to be Tuesday instead of Wednesday. Hardest day of the week. This week, they’re all hard. I am tired. I know, it feels like I’m always tired. But I’m Friday tired this morning and it’s only Wednesday. Doesn’t help that the last two days have been LOOONNNGGGG. Ah well. Yesterday was a 12-hour day for school, which is a lot. Sat through part of a school board meeting to protest their paltry 0.5% offer, when they have 8 times the necessary reserve and a chunk of money from the state that would cover our increase and more. Our health insurance costs will go up more than that, so they’re essentially giving us a pay cut. But you want me to work more, work harder. Do it for the kids! I can’t do anything for the kids if I can’t pay the bills. Don’t they always tell you to put your own oxygen on first before you put on your kids? Anyway…this is after a bunch of people left, because they kept moving when public comments were…

There were more before. Outside even. There’s been more in previous meetings…it’s the damn holidays, we’re all exhausted, and the school board needs to see that we’re listening to how much they value us. My school has lost like 4 teachers mid-year, which almost never happens. They need to see that. Plus the 6th graders who went away three years ago (they sent them back to the elementaries), half of them are now coming back to our school, which has no empty classrooms. Crazy stuff.

So that was yesterday. Student IEP at 8 AM, at school by 7:45 AM, out of the school board meeting at 7:45 PM, home, on the couch…because I stood for 3 hours.

To Nova drooling all over my shirt. She was happy.

Art stuff: I finally finished ironing everything to fabric…I stayed up a bit late because I knew there wasn’t much and I just needed to get it done.

That’s 24 hours of ironing. Now I can cut things out. Kitten was trying to help…

Not very helpful. The night before was no art, but I did get this Bowie/Simba connect…

And I did some ceramics…

Some sort of mutant cat that was too soft to fix at that point. It’s not really going in there…it’s going on a knee, but it was a good place to store it to harden up a bit. I’m running out of room on my shelf, but all the drying shelves are totally full, so I can’t move her out. Yet. Give it time.

Yesterday’s early morning…

I got to sleep in 30 minutes this morning…tomorrow is another early start though.

I love this kid’s dino drawings…

They don’t know it yet, but I’m keeping this. Which I guess leads right into this…

Yup. I’m a crow. I admit it.

And this is really where I’m at.

I have so much stuff I want to get done before break so I don’t have to do it on break, but my brain is mostly nonfunctional. I got some homework graded in class yesterday and will aim for more tomorrow, but by 6th period, all I could do is stalk kids on our tracker app and add the sentence starters to the slides for them because they weren’t even doing that. That’s what we get for trying to do actual school work this week. What kind of dumbasses are we?

OK, notes about electric motors today, then finish the academic thing, because most of them didn’t. Pilates after school. I have to cook. I already emptied the dishwasher. I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open right now. Not good. Cut things out then sleep. Sleep. Ah sleep.

Rest Will Come…

So not ready…for any of it…school, the holidays, festive crap. We have our school holiday party after school today. Woo. That is the energy I’ve got for that. I have stuff that needs to ship, but I should have done some things yesterday that I didn’t (whoops), I did do some things that ended up being more expensive than they should have due to stupid rules about coupons, ah well. Today and tomorrow are significantly chaotic. It might calm down after that? But I can’t ship these two things without some input from me and others, so that’s problematic. The school years that take us right up to Christmas are the hardest…no time to prepare, get stuff done. And all the stuff I might have done over Thanksgiving just didn’t happen. That said, I rarely ship to the Seattle crew on time, so this is no different. Five days of school. I’ve gotta come home each day and be efficient.

Artwise, I did OK this weekend. I made time for it, at least, which is better than some weekends. I ironed all three nights and almost finished…this is Friday night…

Finished the word bubble and the brain thing.

Saturday, I got all the tree trunk and branches done. Ran out of some fabrics (they weren’t big enough), so I improvised. Hopefully well. You never know.

Last night, I did all the other tree parts: leaves, flowers, berries, stems. Plus some birds and a nest. Some owls. All I have left is a spaceship and a castronaut. Not a typo. Maybe 20 pieces though. I just was already running late and this week, it’ll be hard to be short sleep this week. Too much going on. Gotta get kids to finish shit. Ha! We’ll see how that goes. Ugh. I did finish grading all the late work. Amazing how many kids turn it in blank. Don’t read instructions. Don’t watch instruction videos. Just half ass it. Fun times.

So tonight, I’ll finish ironing the last 20 pieces and then start trimming. I’m about a week behind where I thought I’d be. I won’t be finishing this one in 2024, I’m pretty sure. Ah well. It’s fine. I’ll have an early 2025 finish instead. There are pros to that.

I didn’t go to ceramics on Friday, because (1) I was exhausted, (2) I needed to be available for someone, and (3) they were having a potluck when I’d be there and I wasn’t up for that. Someday I’ll be up and available for a potluck. Not sure when. So I went Saturday. I was the only clay person there…lots of glass people all off in the glass space. It was nice. I worked for about 2 hours…first to make a volcano (like you do)…

But mostly to put a shelf inside this piece, which is the base, so I’d have something to support the next level…and then to start the next level.

Kinda nuts.

That’s the tallest I can fit on my shelf…so I either need to put the base on the drying shelves (but keep working on it?) or…wait, that is what I need to do. But I need to make arms too and the upper torso. So I honestly don’t know how I’m moving from here, because I don’t have any more room on my shelf. I’m going after school today, so I’m gonna have to figure my shit out. Hopefully there’s room on the drying racks. Might need to let the top stiffen up a bit before I take it off and try to build off of it. Dry a little, but not so much that I can’t build. And the arms have to either rest on the knees or go around them. So that’s a challenge if I have two separate pieces. Yeah.

I worked on the coral as well.

Nice texture.

Friday’s shenanigans.

IDK who wrote that, but this is not the first person I saw sitting there (that’s my coteacher).

I could’ve sworn this was a book teaching cats to knit, but no…

Literally, it’s patterns of cats that you can knit. Still cool though. I don’t have that kind of patience. I have some kinds of patience, but not that kind.

This seems very real for the next few years. Or at least days.

Middle school kids. Ugh.

And this…really…should always be true.

Even if it is spelled wrong.

OK. (takes a deep breath) It’s gonna be OK. Kids are gonna start their academic thing about MRIs. I’m going to grade that pile of homework while they do that. My coteacher and I are gonna get the lab set up for Thursday and get the first week of January, maybe two, set up and copied. I’m going to go to clay and make some decisions. After the school holiday party, which is on campus and involves no lubricants. Then finish ironing, cook dinner, head to the airport to get the girlchild, who will be home for the holidays. Pro: the barky little asshole who was pissed about the raccoons on the roof and the coyotes in the distance can sleep somewhere else for a few weeks. Boychild is being laid off today as well for three months, so everyone is around. The house is a disaster, there’s no Xmas stuff up at all, and I don’t have the time or mental space for it until maybe Saturday. All good. Maybe Thursday actually…unless I’m still grading things (ha! Of course I’ll still be grading things. WTF are you thinking.). But for now, find a sweatshirt that’s dry and clean, make more tea, and go to school. The rest will come. Literally. REST will come.

Also Lovely…

Oy. Friday the 13th, you say? Full moon in two days? Middle school? You know what I should do? Be at a school-planned literacy training all day and not in the classroom. I mean, I’ve dealt with a fight this week, a kid saying the sub is a bigger bitch than me (ha! That’s funny…I think she’s the sweetest person ever), multiple meetings with adults that shouldn’t have needed to happen. Sometimes I wish I could just go to school and teach the things and never deal with all the crap (that is NOT what happens). I wrote sub plans and rewrote them, taking out the ‘good luck’ and ‘I’ll pray for you’ (I don’t pray, by the way). It’ll be fine. Next Friday, now that would be a shitty day for her. This Friday is only an unlucky number. It’s not usually a hard day for me…but there are things that will make it harder today. So I’m wearing my new super comfy sweats and bringing my book (which is really good so far, so I’d really just rather read it than do anything else). And I’m mostly hanging out with my peeps. Let’s hope it goes OK.

Artwise, it’s been a shit two days, which might be contributing to my mood, honestly. I needed to find, clean up, iron, and ship a quilt, so I did that Wednesday night…it took a while, so I got no ironing in.

I did get judged by my cat for not petting her more…

It’s getting harder to get her to come out of the batting cave for her meds and food…

I mean, I get it. Batting cave is warm. House is not.

Then last night, I stitched with friends and finished stitching down (not embellishment) of the March mushroom blocks (Sue Spargo’s Truffle Duffel or however she spells it).

They will look totally different once they are embellished, but at the moment, about all I can handle is stitching things down. Embellishment seems like a lot for my tired brain. This has a sense of doneness and achievement that helps, but is not too onerous.

These seem good goals for the day.

Probably unrealistic, but it’s a start.

Everyone still says I sound like I’m sick (I do!), but I am getting better. Antibiotics are finally kicking in. So. Yeah. Goals for today: lots of tea, getting shit done in the planning realm, NOT picking a fight about science curriculum (I’m not aiming for that…there’s someone else who might be), getting through it all so I can come home, read my book, eat leftover spaghetti, and iron fabric. SLEEP. That sounds lovely. Tomorrow is not a school day. Also lovely.

If I Had Time…

Definitely feeling the knee and the hip this morning. Cold. Worked out last night. Apparently walked a lot in class yesterday. All the things. That torn meniscus that refuses to heal and my insurance says will just heal (really? when?) is a bitch some days. Fun times. I’m rolling on exhausted. I try to go to bed early, but then dogs bark and people come to bed late and then at some point, a kitten whacked me in the face with a claw (no damage for once). So I put the blanket over my head and now my eyes are all swollen. I need to sleep for like a week. Still. It’s like I never catch up. I started this year trying to improve my sleep, and I feel like I’ve done my part, but adding a kitten to the mix didn’t help. Ah well. He is a sweetheart when he’s not whacking me in the face.

I can’t get the old lady Kitten to come out and take her meds in the morning. Too cold. Doesn’t want to come out of her cave of batting. Not sure I blame her. I talk to her and she slow blinks at me and I slow blink back and we can do that for 20 minutes…she still won’t come out. I can leave some of her meds in the cave and she’ll eat them, but the big pill isn’t going down her throat without help.

OK. I’m behind on shopping for Christmas, I need to pack and ship a quilt, I need to ship gifts north, I need time to deal with all this, plus do grades and exercise and maybe read my book, which will be returned to the library in three days. Hmmm. Prioritize all that. Book first, of course. Well. Maybe grading first.

I’m still ironing.

Lots of colors still happening. This was barbed wire and a fire around her head.

Last night, I started the visual disturbance section, which I am sort of psychotically trying to make accurate…something only I see…so like who would know?

I spent too much time trying to get my ethernet to work last night, so I didn’t get much done. I have about half of the 1000s done. It’s all visual disturbance. And I really need to pack that quilt tonight before I iron, so maybe I’m not grading tonight. Unfortunately. I’m on a roll and want to get it done. The kids are being remarkably clueless about what they need to complete to not have an F. Totally braindead. Fun times.

I did ceramics on Monday…

Getting close to having this base done and needing to figure out how to go up. Minor issue.

Normally, I’d go in on Friday, but they’re doing a potluck and really I just want to sit in the quiet and sculpt things, so I might have to do that Saturday instead, around a dental appointment. I’m sure it’s fine to go to the dentist covered in clay.

When I left ceramics, some footprints that weren’t there before appeared…

The footprints of a cat who hangs out in a ceramics studio, I think. I’ve never seen him on top of a car though.

This is how my knee is feeling.

I’m not sure if I’m the jackass or if the Man is. I feel like my pit crew should be more than just me? But maybe not.

And this…I don’t know why this is a problem.

I would be totally content in this room. OK, I’d probably straighten up a little. If I had time.

Gratuitous picture of Simba…

More magnet labs today; almost done, hallelujah. It’s been on on on for days. I need a break. I need them to just be working for once. Not a lot of that happening at the moment. Friday…but I have to sit through a training first. And I have two teacher groups I’m supposed to work with? At the same time? About different things? Yeah. That feels about right. I need a nap already. I have a meeting after school and I’m cooking dinner. Too many things. Pro! The bank figured out that I was inappropriately charged for someone else’s gym membership and actually refunded me the money. How did they figure that out? I told them. And then they told me I had to contact the vendor, so I spent too much time talking to bros in gyms. Even the boss was a bro. But it’s solved now and I don’t have to call the bros’ money launderers. Um. Whatever they are. That was a positive bit of mail yesterday. Yay! Kitten still hasn’t come out for her meds. Sigh. Maybe this is her next step of the decline. Double sigh. Heading off for school. Gonna pour a bunch of tea down my gullet and see if that helps.

Sitting All Weekend…

Yup. That weekend was short. I need more time. I need a day off. I did work all weekend, whether I was grading or sitting at a craft show (or both…at the same time). Pro: I finished grading that hellacious assignment. I talked to a lot of people who liked my art. It was fun, although long. Con: I got nothing else done. At all. Well, we grocery shopped last night. I think I’m ready to teach today…mostly. I need sub plans for Friday’s literacy training. I didn’t actually DO any ceramics on Friday or Saturday like I normally do. If I hadn’t had the grading, I might have considered it…but I really needed to get that assignment done. So I can do the next one, really. Sigh. For Winter Break, I’m somehow managing to give myself a pile of packets and two academic assignments to grade. Stupid. Oh well. I should’ve finished these over Thanksgiving, but I was sick the whole week. So there we are. Speaking of sick, I did telehealth on Friday (fuck that sub doc for saying wait a week or two…I was definitely going downhill again…dizzy, fatigued, ugh.). And this doc gave me more meds, told me to call again if I wasn’t better by Monday. I am getting better…again! Sigh.

So Friday, I came home from work, packed up ceramics, and made a price list (insane really). Then drove over to the studio and set up. Came back and made dinner, then ironed. In exhaustion.

I was still trying to catch up with all the stuff that is on or part of the body that is NOT the flesh colors. There’s a series of hands on her leg with scenarios. So I worked on those.

Then Saturday, I was at the ceramics studio from 9-4. Yes, mine is the tie-dyed table.

Honestly, I didn’t have much stuff…I was more doing this as a test, maybe an experiment. I thought it would be more like showing my work than trying to sell it. I didn’t sell anything and I’m OK with that. This planter that might have been a mug…almost everyone picked it up.

It’s got over 10 hours in it. It’s handbuilt and then sgraffito. Probably could have used more glaze in the skin-colored area, but I don’t mind it. Anyway. I didn’t expect to sell anything and I didn’t. I did grade both days (Sunday I was only there from about 1-4). This was my view…

The whole weekend. It was fine. It was more entertaining than sitting at home. I might have been more efficient at home, because I was always talking to people, but it was nice to get the kudos.

Quite a few people came through…probably a hundred on Saturday. Not sure how many on Sunday. And we were the furthest location out on the map, so that’s not bad. Anyway, I don’t know that I would do it again, but I’m definitely going to try to put some of my more sculptural stuff in art shows.

I need more time to do all the things I want to do.

So I ironed Saturday night…

I ironed a cat. And some other stuff…finishing up all the stuff on the leg, I think. Can’t remember.

Then last night, I spent most of the time ironing flowers…

There are so many different fabrics in this thing now. I definitely finished the 700 and 800s…or close to finished the 700s…and some of the 900s were flesh, so they’re already done. The brain too. So I think I’m in the mid-930s. More than half, but a solid 650 pieces to go. The brain/visual stuff, not sure how I’m going to go on those. I see some very specific colors in real life. We’ll see what I decide. Soon. Maybe tonight? We’ll see. I’m already exhausted. Someone was barking at 4:30 AM. Not a fan.

That would have been nice. Really, the more I grade now, the less I have to do over break.

Their grammar as well. Ah well. Can’t expect people to read after high school, right?

Sigh. So here’s to holiday prep (I have not done nearly enough), spending all weekend doing something you hadn’t really planned on (as usual), and finishing stuff so it doesn’t hang over us for weeks (like this last project). Yup. That. Teaching magnets this week. I think I can handle that. Ironing at night…unless I’m doing other things. I think I thought I’d be done ironing this thing by the middle of last week? No, this week. That’s not happening. I’m aiming for the weekend. It’s all good. I appreciate the hole I can dive into at 9:30 every night, the hole of fabric-choosing. It’s a good hole. Apparently I’ve spent over 16 hours ironing so far. All those fussy little details…makes sense. Probably got another 7 to go. One a night? Yeah.