Morning

Good morning. Or morning, as I prefer. I mean, maybe if I looked out my window and saw endless forest vistas and no humans, maybe that would count as a good morning, especially if I could roll over and go back to sleep, but that’s not really a common occurrence for me. Unfortunately. There are 43 days of school left. I did not accomplish much of anything this weekend except spending time with visiting family, which is a good thing…so there’s that. But I have no lunches prepared for school for this week (yet), I forgot to defrost my breakfasts so I’m eating cereal (at least I have that), I graded one assignment and posted one assignment, no two (it’s fine; I can do it during class), and I planned nothing for next week. That worries me a bit, but I’ll just have to work more during the week to get there. I also lost my mat cutter somewhere in the house, and I need to cut two mats. I don’t want to buy another new one. I know how to cut mats without it, but it’s a pain. So there’s that.

So WTF did I do? The Man’s band (Radio Thieves) had a show on Friday night…they opened, so I was home by 11 (good thing really…I was exhausted)…

I did not go to bed right away, though, because that would make too much sense. I taped more of the drawing together and added paper to the top and bottom for more drawing.

Went to bed way too late, then got up way too early (for my weekend brain) for the online SAQA conference. I did the morning coffee meetups, then took a shower, drove to the ceramics studio, and listened to all the webinars…well, in between people trying to talk to me. I did put a neck on the head and forgot to photograph it (I’m really bad at remembering to photograph things there)…then added grass to the bottom of the planter.

This was going to be a mug until I realized how big it would be.

All my home mugs have cracks in them right now. I’m waiting for them to leak. So far, so good. But I wanted to make a mug of my own. And since I don’t throw on the wheel, handbuilt is how it’s gonna be. I’ll get there. But this is a planter.

After ceramics, I putzed around the house a bit, trying to get my brain to function, then headed over to my parents’ because my brother, my SIL, and one of my nephews were in town to visit colleges, and we were gonna hang out. Which is what we did…both Saturday night, and then Sunday night, with a hike on Sunday afternoon as well. Lots of family fun and arguments about nipples. Don’t even ask.

Saturday night, after we came back, I finished the binding and sleeves on this…

It just needs a label and hanging slats and it’s ready for delivery on Saturday…but I need to frame the drawing; hence the need to cut the mat, so that’s a thing to figure out this week.

Here’s one hike picture…

And one nephew picture, with Simba…

Last night, we got home later and there was no art happening. There wasn’t much of anything happening except folding my laundry. So there’s a hefty to-do list this week, but it was worth it. Not sure how Kitten feels about it.

Yeah. I feel that way this morning too. Fill up the teacup a little more.

This sucks. I’m glad I was able to see some of her work in person in Los Angeles last year.

Her work was some of the first quilt work I saw that wasn’t traditionally pieced and seemed to tell a story. She was an amazing storyteller. The world will miss her insights.

Leaving you with this…

Am I the only one who wants to know what’s under that black rectangle? There are a lot of pictures of emotional support sharks on the internet. Who knew?

OK. School…kids are finishing up an assignment from last week that does not require a lot of my input, except for all the kids who were absent half of last week for Eid and other excuses, so yeah, that’s fun. I can hopefully plan some space stuff for next week (if the other teacher answers me) and post things for the rest of this week, plus write sub plans to be out half a day for literacy on Friday. Fun times. Then a staff meeting about state testing and hopefully ceramics studio time, plus yardwork, making lunches for the rest of the week (it would be nice to have something besides random food I found in the freezer), starting to iron that one quilt together or drawing the next big one. The sewing machine is awaiting parts with no estimate of when they will arrive. Frustrating, but I will survive. No, I don’t want to borrow other people’s machines. I hate trying to sew on other people’s machines. I will just do other things until I get mine back. Thank you. I’m so tired, y’all…I guess this is how we do the next 43 school days.

A Hole in the Middle

Hey. Am I glad it’s Friday? Fuck yeah. This week has been a mother. Not the good kind who takes care of you. The other kind. One more day of school…well, 44 more days of school. Had a third of my kids out yesterday, more like half on Wednesday. And yet we teach on! We’re so close to state testing that we can’t just stop. Since the start and stop of Ramadan are dependent on the sightings of crescent moons, some kids didn’t know when it would start (they should watch the news!). And some came back yesterday…but some said they wouldn’t be back until Monday. And then the other kids seem to be out in sympathy with them? Or? Whatever. Most of this week’s school stress has been adult-related or program-related or organizational-related. This whole year has basically been that. The kids are not horrible…they’re not great sometimes. There’s a lot of apathy that drives us nuts, but there’s no constant bad behaviors that make the days horrible, like last year. So that’s good. It’s just a lot of other stuff: do this, do that, now do this. Ugh. I don’t have time to do all the things.

Anyway, today they are working on a natural selection comic, which is pretty chill, so I can like grade homework or plan space…I should plan space. I’m teaching that a week away. I need to figure that shit out.

So exhaustion. Too many late-night wake-ups, not going to bed early enough. This morning’s blood sugar was high…because I was dreaming? I don’t quite remember what I was dreaming, but it was stressful. Environmentally stressful.

Keep making things. That’s my plan. So I had enlarged a drawing I did before. I had some ideas for a crone quilt, but these women are too young, but that’s OK. I think I can make it work like I want. I don’t like the middle head, so I’ll need to fix that. Anyway, Wednesday night, after pilates and working on school stuff, I started taping this thing together…

I did not finish. There’s a hole in the middle. There’s more legs. It’s going to be big. I’m OK with that.

I also started the handstitching on the binding last night…

I should be able to finish this over the weekend. The Man has a show tonight and my brother and part of his family are in town, but since I need to deliver this next weekend, it needs to be done. Also I need to find some decent matboard in my stash to frame the drawing that will hang with it. Ugh. Time.

Absolutely no clay has been touched since Monday. I was hoping for today, but I have to take two animals to the vet after school for regular tests/etc so they will continue to give us meds.

Luna looks like she’s about to attack Simba, and Simba looks like he knows it. The boychild is working part of the week, so Simba gets to sleep with us. He’s been pretty good.

I did have my stitching meeting last night, so I got this mostly done, except for the flowers…

Check out the book Kitten’s reading.

It’s a very visual way to figure out what things in nature are. I read through a bunch of it Wednesday night when I couldn’t deal with life. It’s always amazing how little we know. Fascinating stuff though.

OK. Watch them draw today, encourage them to be done drawing. Finish planning. Do the other things that need doing. Take animals to the vet, figure out dinner, then go watch the Man’s show, which thank goodness, is early. Then sleep, beautiful sleep. Or maybe stitch for a bit first. Then get a million things done this weekend. No problem.

The Now Feeling

Happy Eid! If you celebrate it. I have a chunk of kids who will be out for the next three days. Unfortunately, I can’t quit teaching for those days, so I’ll need to record some videos at some point to explain what they’re missing. Because it’s a lot of my high-level students. I’m not sure WHEN I’m going to record those videos because my to-do list for school hit epic proportions yesterday. EPIC. Ugh. I drove home in a daze, on the verge of tears just because I didn’t know what to do or ask next, so many threads to an uncontrollable ball. So I came home, had a snack, read my book for a bit, and called my mom to ask if I could come borrow her sewing machine. I hate sewing on unfamiliar machines…it takes longer to learn it than I want to spend…especially when I know this step shouldn’t take long. Mom’s isn’t the same as mine exactly…it’s the fancier version, two releases past mine, so it’s close enough. I quilted…

Lots of tiny things. I finished quilting in a little over an hour…

Then I trimmed it and put the binding on. I usually zigzag the edges after putting the binding on, but it would have meant replacing the plate, and I couldn’t find the zigzag plate, and I was tired and it was 8 PM and I hadn’t eaten and the day was a shitshow (well, not teaching…it was fine, successful even, but the adult crap just sucks), so I didn’t zigzag (don’t tell…I’m sure it’s fine and that’s some Type A shit I do sometimes when I sew and the quilt will be fine). I went home, started dinner, honestly I should have just reheated leftovers, but I didn’t eat that artichoke last week, and they go bad, and I love artichokes so I cooked it. Nova guarded the quilt…

I pinned it before I went to bed and will sew it starting tonight…

Progress! It has to be delivered next weekend, so it needed to get done.

Monday was the eclipse. I stole two pairs of glasses from the boychild because I forgot to buy them at the store, and pulled two of my classes out to see…

Some of the kids were like, oh, ho hum, and some of them were like WHOA. So that was good. I told them I’d meet them here for the next one in 2044. That seemed to jolt them a bit.

After the 2-hour staff meeting on Monday, where we had to be able to concentrate and read and take a test (not MY brain in the afternoon), I went to the ceramics studio for 90 minutes and made a head.

The chin is an issue, and I haven’t dealt with the top and the lips need some help, but this clay isn’t groggy enough for me to do much. I need to let it solidify a bit. There’s paper towels inside and I built a little cradle so it could harden up in a round shape. We’ll see how that goes, because I can’t go back until probably Saturday. Ugh. It’s too tall for my shelf now, so once I put the head on, it needs to be ready to go to the drying shelf. Which is crowded at the moment. It’s fine.

Monday, I also finished cutting these out.

I sorted them too…

So that one’s ready to iron together. Then I need a machine. I’m not used to having so many in-process things at once. My brain is not happy. I also need to start a new big one and I’m waiting to hear about possibly needing to make another one…I think some people don’t realize how long it takes to make my stuff. Especially when I’m teaching. And having surgery. And work on my house. And and and. Well, making clay too.

Anyway. Today. Gotta get things done. I’ll be binding tonight. I already know that. So that’s progress and it will feel good when it’s done. I like to check boxes. It makes me feel less like a chicken running around with their head cut off. Which is very much the now feeling.

55% Eclipse

OK. School. 48 days of it. With an eclipse today and Eid tomorrow. I think half our kids will be out for the first 2-3 days for one of those or some weird combination. We only get 55% of the sun covered today, so I’ll pull out the class that starts right after the peak…I’m not sure about the class before, because my prep period is the first 40 minutes or so…I don’t know that my 2nd period will be able to see anything. We’ll see. Also they are ‘fun’, so I’m not sure I want to deal with them outside.

East Coast gets an earthquake…we had a 7.something a week or so ago that I didn’t even feel. Californians. Seriously.

I did buy some weird plants last week…so we’re fucked.

Anyway, should be an interesting day…mostly an exhausted day…ending with a 2-hour staff meeting about literacy. Ugh. What are the odds that the woman in charge of literacy will have any interesting things to say today? I’m so not in the mood. Don’t know if you can tell. Pro? I slept last night. I don’t usually sleep well the Sunday before we go back.

OK, let’s do the art stuff. I cut stuff out Friday night but forgot to take a picture. Actually, I thought I had taken a picture, but it was not on my phone, so did it ever really happen? Here’s Saturday night’s progress.

And last night…I’m almost done.

I’m hoping to get my sewing machine back today or tomorrow so I can quilt that piece that has to be delivered in less than two weeks. If not, I’m probably going to Mom’s. I should probably tell Mom that.

I also finally remembered to take clay pictures. This was at the beginning of yesterday’s session…

The sponge was supporting the arm after I attached it. The wings are for support only. I have holes in the arms to support fabric wings I’d like to make. I wasn’t sure how big to make the supports in the beginning, so I erred on the side of way too small, so yesterday, I added more…

They’ll be hidden from the front by the fabric versions, which I obviously haven’t made yet. Let’s see if this thing survives the kiln first. And we’re weeks away from that happening.

Here’s the chest…

And the back…

I started a head/face, but I’m not sure about it.

It definitely needs a lot of work. And more head stuff. This clay is pretty soft and so I left it to harden up a bit. I’m hoping to go back today to work on it some more.

I also had started to make a mug and realized very quickly that it was way too big to be a mug, so now it’s a planter. I feel like that’s how clay works sometimes. That sculpture also started as a mug. So there we are.

It’s currently upside down so the lip on the top will dry mostly flat. Otherwise it starts sagging.

Those are clouds. The next clay I buy will have more grog in it. I already know that. Although I like how smooth this is. So there’s always trade-offs. The real trade-off at the moment is how much time I can do ceramics each week and still have time for everything else. Augh.

I found this while doing yardwork the other day…

Happy owl pellet.

We had Annie for 24 hours…

Yes, that’s a quilt she’s cuddling with.

A sighting of one of my sold quilts on social media…

Always cool.

And a Saturday evening hike…

Lots of water, lots of flowers…

An alligator lizard…

And some dumbass version of an alligator…

Why do we have to spray paint nature y’all?

Baby bunny not quite smart enough to realize we can still see it.

Does not bode well for its survival.

Well, we’re back. Mostly to crazy rat-race tendencies. Not enough time to do anything. Ugh. Gonna go take my meds, pack up my lunch, find a sweatshirt, make more tea, and gird my loins for the sleeping and whining and phones out and hopefully a cool eclipse experience and a chill staff meeting (ha…that last one). Then time with clay and fabric, and maybe sewing. Hopefully. Yeah.

How to Do Things…

Oh hey. Apparently I missed Wednesday. What did I do Wednesday? Talked to someone who is going to stabilize the stained glass near my front door (it’s big, it’s old, it needs help). Went to the ceramics studio and forgot to take pictures. Remembered why I like going places late at night so no one will talk to me. Why do older men always wanna tell you how to do things. And then they say, “I don’t want to tell you how to do it” as they go on and tell you how to do it. Sometimes that’s helpful, but dude, see the airpod in my ear? Only one, because I’m female and we don’t feel safe with both in? Well maybe I’m bringing both next time. Graded some stuff. Went to pilates. It was a pretty chill day, honestly; so chill, I forgot to write. I don’t do well without routines. Well, let’s put it this way, I use routines to get shit done. And sometimes I ignore all that and get nothing done. I did finish my book actually, so that’s a thing.

OK. So I’m officially panicking about school again, because yesterday did not feel productive except in the plant-buying department, and now I have to plant them, so that’s on today and tomorrow’s list. The buying has been on the list for over a year, so I’m doing well. And I didn’t get two I needed. Also doing well. But I finally got down to Native West Nursery, which is all California natives…think the stuff you see when you go hiking. So I picked up some native ceanothus and some other fun stuff that should appreciate my slope. And maybe then I can stare at the chain-link fence less and butterflies more. That’s my plan anyway.

The Little Barn is the retail section; it has native seeds too, but I was afraid of the checkout bill if I looked there too. So I didn’t look. So I can go back. Limited hours though.

That was yesterday…all the errands I never get to. I went to Freeform Clay in National City, because they’re not even open on the weekend, and I needed glazes. Buying them online just seems weird. So I did it in person. Hopefully I did a good job. So many decisions. I don’t have room on my shelf at the studio for them, so I will have to do what I see other people doing: carrying in boxes of stuff. It’s not like I’ll be glazing every time I go in. I did take one picture on Monday or Tuesday, whenever I went in before…

But now one arm is attached, the other hand has an arm, there’s another bug on the torso. So many changes. I was going to go in yesterday evening, but I was tired from all the driving around San Diego County, and then school whacked me upside the head. Fucking A. That will be the next 10 weeks. Begging for time for art. Anyway, hopefully today, I’ll get the other arm on and decide about head and heart. Probably need shoulders first. I can only build for about an hour before I have to let it harden up. I made a pot on Wednesday too, because I wanted to try it. This sculptural piece actually started as a mug that went wrong. I do want to make a mug, and that was the plan, but that new one would have been way too big…like think about pouring the whole teapot in and having to boil more. So it became a pot. For plants. I need to decorate it. I can still make a mug, although I’m running out of shelf space. Finish the pot, keep going on the sculpture, then make a mug. I can do all the things. I figure an average sculpture for me will take all month to build if I’m back at school. Two days a week. It’s OK. I’m going to be OK with it. I knew the next 2 1/2 months would be hard.

In art quilt news, I’m still missing a sewing machine. I called yesterday; they said ‘soon’. I’m like, ‘how soon’? No answer there. It’s fine. If it gets to next weekend and I don’t have it, I’ll go over to mom’s and use hers for the thing that needs to be done by the following weekend. With binding. It’s small. I’ll be fine. Although I should think about binding fabric today or tomorrow. Next weekend just got more busy with family coming to town. This weekend…I was going to go to my guild meeting, but the FEMA inspector is coming by. Hopefully with a check. OK, that’s not how it works, but I’m hopeful. Anything to make up the shortfall to pay for the carpet would be nice. I also need to finish my taxes so I know how much I owe. I’ve been slogging through the data on that. I’m getting there. Slowly.

But I am working on the third unfinished quilt for this Spring…I started ironing onto fabric Monday night…

Then Tuesday was a clusterfuck of doctor’s appointments (meeting with surgeon in late April, thing in eye is not discernable by anyone but my brain) and an opening of Trauma at the Hyde Gallery at Grossmont College…this is my piece Doctor’s Orders…

And me with my eyes dilated, trying not to squint too badly. Woo! Not a way to see an art exhibit, by the way. The show is up through April 18. It’s a college, so the hours are during the week.

Back home to iron more things…all the flesh. Side-eye provided by Kitten…

Stayed up late to do that. Like you do.

This is all that’s left after that, all the non-flesh, non-background things. It doesn’t look like much, but it took two nights to get through it…

Heart, cat, trees, etc. There’s everything used by Tuesday bedtime.

Then Wednesday…

More color!

Then last night, I finished it off…

A closeup of the pile that now needs trimming…

It took 6 1/2 hours to pick the fabrics…

Only 71 fabrics…and a cat head. In case you think there’s ever a time Kitten is not in the room with me. She’s here. Old and decrepit, sometimes smelly, skinny, needs pets. But here.

So tonight, I’ll start trimming.

I trimmed three trashcans worth of yard stuff Monday and Wednesday…found this…

Totally molded on those branches. I always feel bad removing them, but that plant needed major trimming. NEEDS. I didn’t finish. Maybe not today, because rain. Plus planting supersedes trimming. Also found this…

Looks like some predator bird lost hold of dinner. Sorry. I popped it off the branch and into the undergrowth for some small thing to eat. Ew gross though. Aged alligator lizard.

Some other notes. The Man. Asleep. But the sisters are being nice to each other!

Nova usually gets kicked off the bed by Luna, because Luna is a jealous asshole. But this went on nearly all day.

I trimmed the ferns and found a bunch of freesias underneath, and now they’re blooming, which is lovely.

I love freesias.

And this is my school self, lurking in the back of my head.

I know going back is going to be hard. But at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Speaking of light, there’s a thunderstorm that just popped up over us. Super dark and rumbly. Probably not a good time to go out and plant. It’s OK. I need to write warmups and posts for next week. And finish my taxes. And plant 11 things. And go do some ceramics. JAYSUS. That was thunder of the crashing type. Not so rumbly. OK. Maybe gonna unplug the computer. Make another cup of tea? Not a driving day today then. School? Ugh. I’ve worked almost every day on school stuff over break. Never done. We were supposed to go on more hikes and maybe a trip to a winery. None of that happened. Oh well. It is what it is. Survival mode again. Still need to go in and copy one thing for Monday. Not gonna wait until Monday and fight the copy hordes.

Here’s owl video…I’ve been hearing a baby at night…

And then it started hailing here…

Always fun.

Fun start to the day. Certainly makes you mentally redo your to-do list. Maybe that’s a good thing?

Clover…

OK. It’s official. My Spring Break to-do list is taking over the world and there’s no stopping it. It just gets worse every time I try to cross things off of it. I mean, right now, I’m staring out the window at a beautiful blue spring sky and the yellow clover flowers (are they clover? I don’t know. The bunnies like it whatever the fuck it is…it’s definitely a weed, but it dies off pretty easily, so I only pull it when it’s in the way of something else that’s trying desperately to grow) are covering the slope, and all I see are the new growth suckers that need to be trimmed off the ashes, and that one branch that seems to be broken and hanging toward the ground. UGH. So much yard work.

Last night, I sorted the Wonder Under pieces finally (didn’t have the brainpower on Saturday night)…it took a whopping 14 minutes, y’all. So I could have done it at any time.

And here’s why I put it off…I then needed to spend 90 minutes cleaning the office so I could pick the next quilt’s fabrics. I folded, I ironed, I cleaned up. Mostly. So tonight, I can iron. Sigh. I want my sewing machine back dammit.

Saturday night’s opening was busy and overstimulating. Here’s my piece, Damaging Earth’s Fabric in the Allied Craftsmen show at the Oceanside Museum of Art.

And me in front of a piece by William Leslie and Alessandra Colfi…

That was about all the energy I had for the night. It rained all day until we left (well, and then rained on the way up). I was tired. I didn’t make it to the ceramics studio in the morning like I’d wanted to. I ended up going after we got home from the opening. I was tired and irritable, and wanted to get to the next stage on this thing…there’s a fine line between too hard and not hard enough to support stuff. So I went in at 8 PM for about 90 minutes and got some more coiling done…

Made a cat butt…

And then added it to the thing…whatever it is. OK, it’s human, mostly female. I think. Think about my drawings made 3D in clay and that’s kinda where I’m at right now.

IDK if the boobs will stay put…everything was a little soft. Ha! Not really. We’ll see later today hopefully. I need to find out how tall I can go. The head might need to be separate. I also just signed up for an sgraffito class. So there’s that. Yes, I still love fabric. Yes, I’m still making quilts. I’m just side-obsessed. It’ll be fine.

Yeah that. Constantly. Mostly I’m OK with the awkward. Sometimes it’s awkward.

That’s not entirely true. I’m still grading things and trying to lesson plan. There was a cat in the way this morning though and the chair was in the sun, so I let her have it. I’ll do some later.

Here’s cat TV…

That moth was still wriggling.

OK, doc appointment (lots of those this week), then I need to do some of the to-do list, then go to the gym, then go to ceramics. Those are all good things. I can read my book at the gym. It’s a nice day out too. So some yardwork is called for. It’s a Monday but not a school day. I can enjoy that.

A Day Late…

A day late. That’s OK. I was in the mountains. I forgot it was Friday. Today is Saturday. If I keep telling you what the days are, maybe I will remember them myself. I have doctors’ appointments next week; I have to remember to go to them.

We were up on Palomar Mountain for a couple of days…one full day really. It was nice. It was cold. There was still snow up there. We had a discount to stay in a really nice yurt and it was cool.

These are nice yurts (Baileys on Palomar)…take advantage of discounts if you can. We had a mid-week discount. I’m pretty sure it’s snowing up there right now though, so I’m glad we came home yesterday.

Inside was warm, sometimes too warm. But nice.

My drawing brain was mostly out of it. This one isn’t going anywhere.

And this one might. Maybe.

We couldn’t get a fire started the first night…pretty sure the wood was wet from the previous storm. The second night, after 5 firestarters and some weird juju of frustration (the Man’s, not mine…or the fire’s, for that matter), the fire started and kept going…me drawing by the fire…

The Man telling me about something circular…

It was cold out. I think this was still firestarter fire, not real fire.

Eventually we got cold and came back inside and got violent and slappy with this game.

I won.

That was after hiking to Palomar Observatory, which I’d never been to. The hike wasn’t hard or long…well, it was 5.3 miles with 800 feet of elevation. So not too bad. Certainly my legs were feeling it yesterday.

Those are some really big acorns…

My app says Canyon Live Oak. Acorns and their caps fascinate me. I brought caps home. Dunno what I’m going to do with them.

It’s funny, I only saw the observatory once from the hike until we were on our way back.

It was cool. San Jacinto in the distance…definitely snow up there too.

It was a nice day to hike…mostly not hot, mostly not too cold.

Definitely at elevation snow. Not a lot by the time we got there.

I stitched a little too…finished this block.

I remembered a chalk pencil for the bike. Started another block while I was there.

Forgot the proof of life picture. Yes! We were in the same place together.

It happens.

We came back, cleaned up, I peed some dogs. The one on the right is hunting bees. Or bunnies. Hard to say which.

Stood in line for 3 hours at a quilt store that’s closing so I could use up my gift card and my mom’s too, because she showed up halfway through and handed me more. Then held my place in line so I could find more stuff to buy. She’s a good mom. I’m supposed to be at the ceramics studio right now but there was a full on flood-level band of rain that came through and dropped like half an inch of rain, so I didn’t drive in it. I will now, because I think that band is done and I can wait out the next one. There’s an art opening at Oceanside Museum of Art tonight, though, and that’s gonna be a slog if it’s still raining this hard. Ah well.

Last night, I suffered cats. Lots of them.

They missed us. And then I finished trimming this one…

Time to sort and then to iron. Meanwhile the girlchild and friend camped in the Northern California band of this storm last night. They were not washed away.

There is a tent under there. There is also a rain fly. The tarp is just extra. I wonder if there is a tarp underneath as well? Hmmm. Did we train her well? Maybe not.

OK. Art opening tonight. Ceramics studio for now: gonna see what came out of the kiln plus do another level on what I’m building…maybe start something new? I need to be back here by 3 PM I think. Ugh. I’m sure it made sense to sign up for things weeks ago, but today’s brain is not up for it. Typical.

Drippy

I think I finally feel like I’m on break. Even though I put in about 10 hours on schoolwork in the last two days. Had to take an asynchronous course on writing. Of course. Like you do. Passed that quiz, no problem. The other one, ugh. Retook it yesterday and passed. So that shit is done and I don’t have to think about it any more. Still working on vocab slides for when we return. I got two weeks of school planned minus the vocab, so that’s a plus. Need one more week done so I can print a table of contents. OR I’m gonna pull the space stuff and make it one packet. Not deciding that today. Today, I am packing for two nights in a yurt! Not far, just Palomar Mountain, but not HERE, and I think that’s a plus. Also the nasty rain won’t start until we get back. I miss our long 10-day camping trips…sigh. I can’t even plan for this summer because I don’t know when I’ll have to do surgery. Sigh. SIGH. And I feel like I’m not getting quilt stuff done. It’s fine. This is just a short break until we go back and I get through this year that sucks and do things that make me happier. Speaking of…I went in early to my last ceramics class yesterday and worked on my piece, and some of the regulars were in there talking about the classwork, and the one they were talking about was MINE, which is still not dry, so hasn’t gone into the kiln yet. Which is fine, because I need to buy glazes for it, I think. I cannot decide. Next week, I will go to Blick and check out what’s there. I’m distracted by too many choices. And expense!

Then, we had glaze class, which was messy and overwhelming. Here’s all my fired pieces…

The cool cups and cactusy-looking things are NOT mine. Mine are all the weirdo things.

And then I glazed. Randomly. Because everything looks red and most of it will not be red. Which is confusing.

And the big ones were very drippy and messy and I think I tossed a toilet brush of glaze at one point. I am a klutz, in case you don’t know that.

The one on the left has three glazes on it. We’ll see how it goes. I suspect I may need to tone down glazing a bit if I’m actually going to do fabric pieces inside them. We’ll see though. They’ll be out on Saturday. Woohoo! Then I can try some fabric things. Three of those are actually pots that plants will go in. There’s a small tray. The two bigger ones are for fabric. I think. And the one that’s not fired yet.

Then I finished tracing the newest quilt. I’m gonna have so much stuff to finish when I get my machine back.

It took a little over 4 hours to trace that. I started trimming last night…

Got a lot done in just under two hours. It’s amazing how fast small quilts go. I still want to draw a big complicated one over break though…break that is disappearing as I write. Right? Ah well. I’ll get there.

In dog news, Simba had a rough day on Monday…very mopey, kinda sad, a bit flinchy, like he was in pain.

Poked all over him and couldn’t find anything wrong, and he seemed fine the next day.

Annie was quite glad to see me for her peeing event.

She has mellowed out a bit; she’ll be visiting us next weekend. Hope Luna is ready. No bullying!

Check out the owl video…

I keep forgetting to go out at night and listen for a baby owl again. I was so sure the other night, but maybe it was just mama? I don’t think so though. The moon is in exactly the wrong place for a lot of the night…it blows out the camera function, so it triggers from movement, but we either get fog or bright light and nothing else. It’s weird.

I was just looking at how many hours I was spending on art stuff in the last month and realizing I need to keep track of the ceramic hours if I want to be able to price anything I make. I’m not really planning on selling pots and trays…I do need to make some things for the house though. But the ones that eventually get fabric, it would be cool to be able to show them in an exhibit, although shipping them could be difficult. We’ll see. Keeping track of the time is something I should do for a while though. Just for info. More info good.

So it seems Medicine Tribe might be a band, which is fine…it was the skull on the back shelf that got me.

Anyway, I need to eat and pack and read my book (oh wait, that’s not required to get us to Palomar…just desired). And get more greenery in the trash cans. And probably do some other stuff I haven’t thought of yet. Hoping for trees and fires in firepits and peace and quiet and no to-do lists for a few days. It’s not much but it’ll help my brain fog…which has lifted a bit since Saturday and Sunday, so that’s good. Maybe I’ll grade something else today so that I’ll have less to worry about when I get back, yeah? Maybe. I’m not feeling motivated to do that at the moment, but I know next-week’s self would appreciate it. So there’s that.

I Can’t Do All the Things…

Look! It’s a Monday and I’m not at school! I don’t even need to go to school tomorrow! Well, I kinda do because I left a couple of things and need to get them. But no kids! No work stress! Just home stress! I’m trying to cut down on all that. Certainly today’s blue skies help, although the pool is doing things, my eye is doing things, there’s still the boob thing floating around, I have a doc appointment today where she will once again tout the Mediterranean diet that I sort of follow anyway, but not really. I also got the door code to the ceramics studio so I can go ANYTIME. And I went and meditated with clay on Saturday.

I made a thing.

It started as one thing and then became another. So now it’s an in-process thing. I’m hoping to work on it a bit tonight before my orientation (required) and then I have my final class tomorrow, which is about glazing. I always had issues with that part. It’s weird. Painting. I don’t like shiny things really. Not big shiny things. So there’s that. And glazes are expensive, so I’ll need to figure out what I want to do about that. My studio provides some, just not the stuff I like. And I want all the colors. And that’s not a thing. Unless you’re rich.

Anyway. More clay over break…that’s my goal. Put it in the calendar with the gym etc.

I did grade yesterday. I didn’t bring home much, but I did bring home some. “Bring home”…it’s mostly on the computer. I have one paper homework, one academic digital assignment I haven’t started, and one academic digital assignment that I still had two classes left to grade, plus warmups, last week’s digital homework (graded itself!), and another digital assignment. Plus all the kids turning in late work. So I did the warmups, one class of the academic digital thing, input the other digital things, and got a goodly chunk of the late work graded. Still have a few hours of grading to deal with, but also need to spend some time (hours) planning for after break. I need a table of contents for the Monday we get back and I have about one week of three planned out. Then we start test review, which worries me (it’s kinda boring), then a quick egg drop, then sex ed, and we’re out! It sounds fast, but it’s not fast enough. You know? I did appreciate this…

Be safe! There’s my sink, my eyewash, my doc cam, my rulers, my stick-figure body. All accurate.

I also took in my sewing machine on Saturday and it wasn’t a quick fix. I was hoping it would be. Ten days. No, I don’t have a backup machine. I can go to my mom’s house if I get desperate, but it made more sense (don’t question this) to start something new. I did want to spend Spring Break drawing a big new piece to get me through the end of the school year, but my brain is like mush at the moment and all I could do is pull one of those 12 drawings I copied back in December or whenever and start tracing.

It’ll be fine. The crone quilt is building itself in my head. We’re going out to Palomar Mountain for a few days later this week to stay in a yurt. I’m hoping to get my head around a drawing out there. There is too much crap to do here for my brain to back the fuck off and stop the to-do list.

So tracing Wonder Under makes sense right now.

Meanwhile, two shows opened this weekend with my work, one in Wayne, PA: Art Quilt Elements…

My piece My Body. My Choice. is on the far left…

And here, on the right…

I always have to scroll through Facebook looking for images from the shows.

Here’s one, Sweet Delicious, in a gallery in Japan…

Between the two women.

Interesting flyer…my info is the only stuff in English.

Also I guess that’s my name in Japanese?

It was a little scary to send stuff off to Japan, but now I know the two guys in charge of this show (they’ve been in my studio at least), so I feel better about it. I send work off all the time to people I don’t know, but it’s almost always been to a venue that has regular shows. Somehow that seems better. I don’t really know why.

I’m sitting around waiting for ophthalmology (I cannot spell that word correctly the first time for the life of me) to call me back, but I also need to take a shower before my doctor appointment, so I feel like as soon as I get in the shower, they will call. Right? Yeah. But I have a book to read (or 17), art to make (but not finish, because no machine until next week), a house that is never clean or functional, a pool guy to replace (seriously sick of this guy), and who knows what else on the list. But I’m not at work, and that’s the plus. And ophthal…fucking-A can’t spell it…called back and they don’t think it’s an emergency unless I see flashing lights or a veil over my eye (oh my). So next week for that. Ugh. During my opening…guess I won’t make it to that. Or I’ll be late. Whatever. I can’t do ALL the things. I just can’t.

Why?

Omigod omigod omigod, Spring Break is finally here…well, in 8 hours and 8 minutes, except I have to do duty after school and then set up or clean up or something, so a little bit more than that. Yes, I’m still sick, but not as bad as the two I live with were, so that’s a plus. Knock on wood. I met with a contractor last night who will start fixing the things that caused the flooding in January (or at least caused the shit ton of rain to come in the house…I don’t doubt we will have more instances of shit tons of rain, unfortunately). It won’t be cheap. There isn’t much I can do about that. It won’t be a quick fix either; we’ll be doing stuff in the summer too. Ugh. My summer already is problematic. Ah well. It’s not summer yet.

I was planning on finishing these two small quilts in the next few days. On Wednesday, I pinbasted the one I need for a show at the end of April…

And then continued stitchdown on the one that’s been hanging around for a while.

My machine needs service, a good cleaning. I had it on my list to call today after it was being fussy the night before, and then last night during my stitching Zoom. I had done about 35 minutes on it and then walked away to eat my dinner.

Usually the machine powers down if I don’t turn it off (and I didn’t want to reset everything, so I didn’t power down), but when I came back, it would turn on, it would beep, but the touch screen wouldn’t turn on. I restarted, I unplugged, I googled, but it looks like who knows WTF is going on, and I can’t sew dammit. REALLY? WHY. WHY. WHY. Deep breaths. OK. Calling them during my prep period. It’s fine; I can start drawing tonight instead, but My Goodness. Universe, you suck.

In better art news, they made personalized marketing for two of the upcoming shows…this is awesome!

Turns out Stitchpunk will be in Oregon in summer 2026. Plan that trip now in my head at least. Warn the Man it’s coming.

Nice choice. Fierce Planets isn’t coming close yet.

There’s still time.

Interestingly, I only have to teach advisory and two classes today, due to the dumbass planning of the literacy team. I’ll be in the library for the rest of the day. Planning things. Sounds lovely, eh? It’s pajama day too, so I’m enjoying that. Although I would have sewn up this pocket in my PJ pants if the sewing machine wasn’t on strike.

This is for my absent co-teacher…

Who talks about dinosaurs and space in equal amounts.

I actually finished coloring a cover page for once…

Penis-shaped volcanoes. Fun times.

And this…if you remember, I posted an appropriate version earlier this week. Although weird in the end (like how does that stick baby get out?)…and then there’s this one, from one of my not-so-sweet ones.

Seriously? Must have opted out of sex ed last year. I feel for his girlfriend, who I also have in class. Ignorance is real, y’all.

Anyway, gonna go do the things for as long as I have to, drink lots of tea, get as much schoolwork done as I can so I can do less over break (I already know I will have to come in to print things and set up), then get the fuck out of there for two weeks. Seriously. This year needs to knock it off. I’m done. Peace out though. Spring Break is a much-needed and appreciated respite.