Roll Into the Hole…

I really didn’t want to wake up this morning. It’s silly, because there’s no NOT waking up. There’s animals (one is barking his head off right now for no reason…OK, it’s probably something, but really…wait, that was his happy yip so the Man must be back from the dentist), there’s neighbors, there’s neighborhood noise (damn neighbor with his saw…you’d think he’d sawed all the things, but no…there are more things to saw). Really, I should go to bed at a regular time and get up at dawn and work then. Except that’s not how my brain works, especially for the first week or two after I get out of school (it hasn’t even been a WEEK)…I’m a night owl through and through. This morning shit is not fun (yes, I’m aware it’s barely morning at this point…I’ve been up for hours). I didn’t want to wake up because I started cleaning the office/studio yesterday and it’s in that stage when it looks like it will never be done and you will never find a home for all the things you’ve unearthed. I did, however, find the book I’ve been searching for since Thursday (it wasn’t in here, by the way…it was in the girlchild’s room, of course), but I have not found the frames I feel like I have somewhere. Maybe I don’t. Maybe I bought a set of 4 and will need to buy another set? Sigh.

So yes, I am still in the braindead flailing part of Summer Break, where I stare at AI-generated videos of cats diving into swimming pools and wonder why people like war so much. Like if we’re really gonna worry about nuclear capability and bomb people over it, why are we picking on the bottom rung of the ladder…

This is from a video comparing nuclear stashes, and Iran isn’t even on the list. Now, it would be stupid as hell to bomb Russia…and I don’t want to bomb anyone, but seriously, how lame is it to go after a country that was under control until the current president backed out of a deal that was keeping them under control. Idiots. Absolute idiots. But if we’re looking at this, we’re not looking at the protests and ICE and breaking laws left and right and stupid ugly bills, are we.

It’s a lot.

So I had started my next quilt drawing and began inking on Friday night…

You can’t quite see it, but in pencil, on the left, there’s a hand stopping a missile. I inked that Saturday night, after the bombs dropped on Iran.

Added an American flag to it, because it’s ours. The Statue of Liberty was already penciled in. Last night, I inked the ICE swamp…

Because that’s what it is…a swamp of people wearing masks and maybe being legal sometimes? But mostly racial profiling and who knows if some of the people out there are actually ICE or not? They apparently don’t have to tell us. Need to add some swamp trees. Decide what’s happening under the arm underneath them. Oh yeah, added a bomb and an explosion. This drawing is evolving with the current situation. Not sure where I’m going next. Into space? Seems reasonable.

I did some clay glazing on Friday. Very peaceful.

I did the red.

And some flesh.

I keep breaking the left hand off. Frustrating. It’s a level issue…it’s lower than the rest of it. I might need to make a base for firing. Hoping to be back today or tomorrow. We’ll see.

Saturday was the opening of In the Land of… at the downtown library. It’s on the first floor.

It’s super hard to photograph things in glass cases. Here’s the front of mine with part of Jennifer Spencer’s piece…

And here’s the back…

There will hopefully be a video of me talking about the piece and maybe a video of the whole show. I’ll post if I see them.

I’ve also been trying to applique all the flowers on the borders of the Homegrown quilt…

It’s time consuming. But I’m almost done with the top and bottom ones, so then I can do the side flowers. Until then…

Plus doing a lot of escapist cleaning and reading to try to manage my brain. I have a biopsy set up in 2 1/2 weeks. There were two things they found in the MRI that didn’t show up in a mammogram. Better safe than sorry, but it did ramp my anxiety up. Also, the last biopsy wound hurt for a good 6 months. So it’s fun when they say oh no, it doesn’t hurt. Such bullshit. Then last time, when I called after three weeks, they admitted, oh yeah, it might hurt for a while. But it isn’t the pain I worry about, of course.

OK, today. Finish cleaning this disaster of a room. Getting my hair cut (it’s way too long). Trying to find a dress for a wedding Saturday. I had one ordered, but it was too small in the boobage, and I don’t think the replacement will get here in time. Ugh. I hate shopping for clothes. Oh well. Whatever. Then do some drawing, maybe finally get the binding on that other wool quilt, pack up two quilts for delivery for another show coming up in San Ysidro area. Yardwork of course. Try not to roll into the hole of nuclear bombs and children dying and people being deported who came here and followed the rules.

When AM I Reading Today?

I love that I said I’d be cleaning my classroom this week, because that hasn’t happened. At all. And it’s not likely to any time soon. I’m teaching, talking all the time, for the next three days, then we have a day of practice and crazy antics, then actual promotion. By the end of the day, hell, by prep period, I’m out of it. Today. Today I will use prep period wisely. I will. I swear. My coteacher and I will go get all the stupid signatures we need to check out. That’s my plan. The last of the to-be-graded assignments are due at 3:30 today. I have a union meeting after school, and then I’m grading. I came home yesterday and graded while on Zoom with my stupid school board meeting. Fun times. I had pilates (finally, I got in…I need the exercise and the time to concentrate on something besides school, something that’s good for me), so I didn’t go to the board meeting, but my stalwart coworkers stayed past 8 PM. It’s never an hour with this board…it’s always three or more. No efficiency there. We went to Belmont Park with the whole promoting class yesterday…my coteacher and I rode the roller coaster early (it gets chaotic after that).

Look! Real smiles! Seriously love me a good roller coaster. I didn’t go last year for some stupid reason. It does make for a long, exhausting day though. We combined our classes for the last two periods and watched Into the Spiderverse. We didn’t even start it over for the last period; just kept watching. For the last 30 minutes, there was a big ice cream celebration for most of our kids. We kept 7 and sat in the dark air conditioning. I don’t really know how I managed to stay functional during grading for an hour or so and then pilates, but I did.

The pro is that I’ve had some time to stitch in the evenings. I’ve been trying to get the flowers on the Sue Spargo Homegrown borders finally. It’s a lot of little pieces on a giant thing. During book club on Monday, I worked on her Rooted quilt…

Here’s the June block on top of her Tinsel quilt, which I’m finishing for my mom. It’s taking forever…

Teeny tiny binding requires tinier stitches. I’m finally on the sleeves, so hopefully, I’ll finish tonight. I have two more Spargo quilts to finish up. I did have a drawing pop into my head during pilates last night (don’t ask…it’s how Art Brain works…I’m trying not to fall over and it’s creating shit). I’m not saying I won’t start some art thing before finishing the two Spargo quilts…I haven’t made any decisions, because I literally don’t have the brain power for that.

Monday was ceramics…I painted the torso for the fourth time…this time, I actually covered everything, but I had to reattach that damn hand again.

I saved some of the mix of underglaze to patch the hand…smarter than usual. Friday, I’m hoping to start glazing more of the other bits, which will take forever. At least.

The base has been bisqued, but the colors were a bit much, so I finally decided to underglaze over them. I also want to do a wash over it all, but I can’t wipe that away without wiping the glaze away, so I’m going to have to fire it again. Expensive. That said, this piece has so many freaking hours in it, I’ll never be able to sell it. At this point, I just want to be able to finish it.

The crazy stuff I do for fun.

Here’s a sampling of kid stuff about sex ed…

Made me laugh.

A lot.

Sigh. That one. Literally they had a chart to help them fill this out. I mean, he’s not entirely wrong.

Anyway. I’m putzing along with all the things. I have a lot of things unfortunately. I did book my flight up to San Francisco to see the girlchild and all the art that’s up there, including my piece at Sebastopol. So my two summer things are planned. The rest of the summer is managing all the shit at home and getting things cleaned up and gotten rid of and painted and fixed and trimmed and planted. And sleeping and reading and making art. Maybe not in that order. Maybe sleeping first. For a week or two. Not that the living things (or my body) let me sleep for long. I would rather be reading my book today than teaching about sexually transmitted infections, but that’s not an option. Union meeting after school. Then grades. Then stitching of some sort. Wait. When AM I reading today (most important question ever)? Good question. Always.

Eggy Weggys

Today we drop eggs. It seems wasteful, even anathema, to drop eggs, but the kids do learn some important stuff. Like slow it the fuck down. Make sure it’s padded. Don’t make it fucking heavy. Today they will learn that their designs will bounce…and that’s a bad thing. They also (probably more importantly) learned to research design issues and work together to create a design on a time crunch. And that if they don’t do any work, they get no choices as to who they’ll be working with…they’ll be stuck with the other kids who didn’t do any work and if they want to participate, they’ll have to start working. Also pretty important. Some of the most important stuff kids learn in school, honestly…the stuff nonteachers probably don’t even think about. For me, I’ve been shaky for two days, but improving…part of it is that food is not something I want to eat right now. My body is still undecided about the necessity of food and lets me know that it’s problematic on a regular basis. But it is getting better. I’m keeping it pretty bland. Which is boring. But I don’t wanna eat anyway, so it works. I do need more energy today to manage this drop. I’ve been doing a lot of sitting, not walking…although yesterday was better. I hit my steps yesterday even though I sat a lot. We’ll see. I’d like to go to ceramics today, but that’s probably overreaching things. Maybe tomorrow, when I don’t have to put out a bunch of energy just to get through the day. Might be better.

I have no photos between the crash and about 48 hours later. This is Monday night, before the food poisoning hit…I finished cutting everything out.

And then nothing for two days. Last night, I came into the office and set up the ironing board again, put away all the stuff for the cat, and got everything ready to iron tonight.

It won’t take long. It’s not big. It’s not complicated. The next big one is rolling around in my head, not solid enough to come into existence yet. It will. Soon. So ironing tonight I hope.

I’m still working on the Quilt National post…it has most of the photos, but missing lots of writing. I’ll get there.

This is what coming back to school after being gone for three days is like.

She cleaned it up, but not before everyone started yelling about inertia. I’m not sure HOW it’s inertia? It was a balance thing. I guess once it was off balance, it was inertia, until the table stopped it. I’m actually highly amused they used science to try to explain it. You’re not sure you have an effect, and you do. Strangely.

My daughter got me a clay stamp with my initials in an eye…very cool.

I haven’t been able to go in and try it yet, but it looks awesome. Way easier than my chicken scratch current version.

Simba was very cranky the other night. I get it dude. I’m with you.

This was a good book…just finished, by A.G. Slattery.

And too real. Especially now. Some ideas from this book are percolating for the next drawing.

OK. Need to go in and get ready for this onslaught of egginess. And energy. I usually have a lot of energy for this…not so much today. I did finally manage some grading yesterday (I did a ton up until Monday night) and some planning. Sex ed starts next week and the packets are here but there are chaotically incorrect amounts of them. All the things are happening at once…we run out of days and everything has to be done, whether you like it or you’re ready or not. Pros and cons to all of that. I think I’ll be OK with some more rest and some more food. I’ll manage to get everything done or throw it out. There’s two packets with some throwaway possibilities. Yeah. We get by, teachers. We don’t have a choice. So many unqualified and inexperienced people telling us how to do a job we’re quite good at when left to do it. OK. Eggs. Eggy Weggys.

The Aargh Part of the Year…

Aargh. Yes. Officially the Aargh part of the year. Head up! Off the desk! Wake up! Yes, you have to do the work. Sheesh. Trust me, dude, I am also done (except I’m not unfortunately). So much grading. How did I get so behind? I tried to have a life (ha! Stop that.). It’s fine. I’ll get caught up. Also I keep reading my book when I get home as a reward, and then I read for too long and I should have graded some things. And some things take longer to grade…all the late and makeup work takes forever. So I got through about 9 of those last night…9 kids who turned in work late or redid something. I mean, I didn’t do NOTHING yesterday. I had to record a video (in three pieces) and try to make all the pieces go together. Minorly successful. The app I use was being weird and I didn’t have the time or patience to figure it out. Next time. Maybe. I also went to an author talk: Matt Dinniman of Dungeon Crawler Carl fame. I’m through book 4, all on audio book, which for once, I can keep track of the story (mostly) in my ears. The reader is good. Here he is, waiting for the next question…

He seems like he’d be fun at a party. A chill party. One where we dress as we like and eat pizza. I found my book club friends when I was there!

I haven’t seen these guys in person for a while; we zoom as a book club. One I had never met in person. So that was really cool. Plus I was sitting in a random one seat in front of them (my introvertedness meant I didn’t contact them before the event) and the guy next to me kept showing me cool things in his books, which was awesome. Weird community vibes, but good. The talk was supposed to be at Mysterious Galaxy, but there were over 500 people, so they moved it to the Air/Space Museum in Balboa Park…much better parking and actual seats! Totally cool. I enjoyed it, although I was glad the books were presigned, because I was number 192 (two friends were numbers 1 and 2 WTF) and I was too tired to wait in a line for two hours.

I did finally pick something new to start, art-quilt-wise. I have this drawing that doesn’t even have a date on it. I think I drew the bottom strip and numbered it in 2020, but it was drawn before that. And I like it. It’s simple but to the point…BOOM.

So I started tracing it. You can see the bottom drawn bit there, above, with the date upside down.

It’s only got 130-some pieces, but I’m not tracing super fast at the moment. I’ll finish tonight and start trimming. I still need to clean up my friend’s mom’s quilt…just haven’t had the energy at the end of the day. Maybe tomorrow? I have an in-person SAQA meeting tomorrow that’s an hour away though. I always think these things are a good idea and then the thought of driving that far throws me. It’ll be fine.

So this is my school district’s financial report…

Love that. Especially since they now want to implement a dress code for teachers, so we’ll have to buy new clothes with our -5%. Also no ‘unnatural’ hair colors. That was a fun discussion. I wish I were protesting tomorrow, but I already had the other thing RSVP’d. Planning on one in June, though.

Nova looking for geckos.

There weren’t any that night. She’s patient. She’ll find them.

This stuff is so bad. There’s some woman in Georgia who was declared braindead and has been kept on life support for three months so the fetus that was 9 weeks when she became braindead can be born, because of the anti-abortion laws there.

So expensive. The family hasn’t commented on what they want, except that the baby might not even be able to survive when born. And they have borne the costs of the hospitalization as well. Crazy shit. Maybe some rich person should donate money to that family to help them with that.

I know. That side isn’t seeing reason most of the time. It’s frustrating.

Much like school! Ah well, today is the last day I try to review any more science before next week’s state science test. Then we do an egg drop and then sex ed and then we’re out! Woo! I’m excited. Really. Trying to make summer plans that will help me refresh.

OK, gotta go to the day job, maybe fit in some down time to grade the unit packets covering my desk, plus find a copier that works to get ready for next week. Sounds awesome. Then clay, then home and grade and cook dinner and then trace some more. Oh, probably read a chapter somewhere. I’m allowed. I don’t work all these hours to NOT be allowed to read and make art (and sometimes sleep). Right?

I Could Be Reading…

So state testing has started. Some years, it’s easy, the kids are into it, it’s chill. Some years, it’s not. This year? Not. Fun times. Today will be worse…it’s the performance task. Some kids will just skate through it. Some will pretend and then hit submit after writing one sentence. Some kids will just repeatedly lose their minds that they’re being asked to test at all, to sit still, to be quiet, not disrupt those around them, not bang on the table or pile up all their snacks and drinks (that did really happen yesterday. All of it.). So by the time 12:15 comes around, all my patience for the day (and possibly three or four days afterwards) is gone. Not great, because we’re testing again today. And I still have to teach for days until the end of the year. One kid was already like, why do I still have to do work? Because they know they’re promoting (probably) or not and they think we’re done. We have 29 days left, dude. Don’t stop now. Sigh. My stress levels are high…my face is breaking out…my blood sugar is a mess. And today is my 500th pilates class! Not sure it matters. It’s not like I’m stopping now.

OK, artwise, I’m in a weird place. I did finish the book piece. I managed to construct it properly…

The first two pages are shoved into that envelope of the last two pages. There’s certainly a few things I would have done differently, but it’s done now.

I need official photographs so I can enter the show, but I’ll do those when I’m home in daylight.

Eventually, I’ll have my photographer take photos, but I don’t have time for the thing it’s being entered into, which has a tight deadline. If it gets in, it’ll be in the downtown library for 5 months. I’ll let you know.

So what next? Well, I don’t have my head around the next big quilt, although I know there will be one over the summer. I was thinking of doing something smaller just to keep me mentally going through the last weeks of the school year. I haven’t figured out what that is yet, though, because I’m trying to finish my friend’s mom’s quilt. I was diligently working on it in January and February and then a random deadline popped up and I got sidetracked. I mean, I did purposely put this one away to finish the other thing. So I’m finishing this…I’m almost done anyway. Well, for some definition of ‘almost’.

Her mom made the quilt and sandwiched it, but unfortunately was unable to quilt it before she died. So it’s here and I’m quilting it. I’m in the outer border at the moment, with the rest done. I think. Honestly can’t remember if I finished the center panel. I think I did.

I did. So I finished outlining the symbols in the blue border and will overall quilt that starting tonight. Then I need to outline the reddish brown and black borders. Some things have happened to this quilt over a long time (fabric replaced, not by me, possibly already partially quilted? I just don’t know). And then I’ll put the binding on. And hand it over. And then, like I keep saying, not offer to help ever again (which is really not in my nature…sometimes I say no and then go back and say yes; please don’t take advantage of that). So when I’m done with this, I’ll start something new. Or maybe in between. We’ll see.

Clay is going. I made most of a priest and 3 handmaidens on Monday…

I was thinking when I went in next, I could start underglazing, but no. I still need to give him a cross and a head. Most definitely a cross. Head? Hmmm.

We watched the first episode of Season 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale last night…made us both cry. Good times. So Friday, I’ll go in and try to make a head. And a cross. And THEN I can start underglazing.

The bees left yesterday. I figured they would. I came home and washed the composter lid and side, then sprayed it with citronella, hoping it will cut the bee pheromones. They keep coming back. Not sure what to do about that. I have a bee-friendly yard…maybe a bit TOO friendly. And no, I haven’t fixed the damn sprinklers. I think I need two solenoids now. I don’t know. Maybe I need a new controller.

I had two cats on my lap in rapid succession last night. Luckily the chonk here didn’t stay long.

He’s a year old now and solid. Sometimes sweet, sometimes not. Like all calicos. I have a hole in my right hand from his morning whack. He’s harassing the old lady, who basically needs to be carried into the litter tray and food multiple times a day. She can get there, but he attacks.

OK. Testing. Afternoon is science planning. I’ve managed to grade quite a bit so far, so that’s good. I had to get a loaner computer Monday after school because my screen just went black when I was at lunch. Fun times. So Monday was stressful. I guess the good news is the eye with the vitreous humor detachment is fine (as fine as anything with a big blob rolling around in it is), but she thinks the other one will detach too. Except the right one has always been worse, more nearsighted, with an astigmatism. The left isn’t as bad. So let’s hope it doesn’t. She does think the blog will wander south with time and only show up when I first get up in the morning. Sounds good. Somehow I found the energy to go to ceramics after all the running to the IT department (not at school) and getting a new computer. After school, I have a telehealth appointment with my doctor where she will tell me I need to get my numbers down and I will ask her how to do that and she won’t have an answer. So there’s that. Then my 500th pilates class and book club. And someone else is cooking dinner. I’m already exhausted because I didn’t sleep well, so I’ll be quilting after that and going to bed. Oh! Also trying to finish my book before the library sucks it back from me. I went to the gym last night to help me finish it, but I’m at 86%, less than 100 pages. I’m up early to go to the meeting my principal just canceled. I could be reading. I should be reading.

Will They Want Mine…

It’s kind of amazing how much I think and dream and talk about sleep when you consider how bad I am at it. 1 AM, 2 AM, and 4:44 AM. All good. 4:44 was something scrabbling on the roof though…so that was a dog response and that woke me up. Not sure what the others were but I don’t appreciate them; don’t appreciate starting the work week on low energy. Not that I slept much this weekend either. It was a busy weekend; I need another day to just relax. And finish my book club book. Ha! That’s gonna be a miracle if it happens. Miracles do happen though.

So Friday, I went and spent over an hour putting shit back together that slipped/broke/fell on Tuesday when I was putting it back on the shelf. I felt some things go but I needed to get out of there.

I added another burnt out building and part of the head. Not sure what’s gonna happen with that. Just know that the head can’t bump into stuff on the shoulders, so I’m trying to figure out what that looks like. The base came out of the kiln. There’s a crack in the bottom that will be hidden. I’m trying to decide what to do next. The gray is stronger than I thought it would be…so I might do another layer? And oxide it? That’s not a verb.

Need to think about it.

I managed to cut out all the page pieces…with a little doggie help.

It didn’t take long to finish the last two pages.

There were a lot of things I should have done over the weekend. I did pick up a quilt from the photographer. Haven’t dealt with that yet. Plus went to one of two meetings I was supposed to go to (too late for the second one), but it was also SD Book Crawl, so Saturday afternoon, I went to four bookstores and Sunday, I went to one. Here’s the baby haul…

I say baby haul because my coteacher did this as well, but made it to all 14 stores and has a real haul. I tried to pick books I hadn’t heard of, although the bottom one is the second in the 3-body problem series and I have read the first. It was fun, but it does take a chunk of time to drive around and park and wait in lines. I thought it was well-managed though. I’d do it again…that said, it’s always this 4th weekend in April, when I have two other meetings. Ah well.

Last night, I ironed the cover page together…

And then ironed it onto a background.

Seems relevant. They did say politics was OK, but IDK if they’ll want mine. We’ll see. I’ll turn it into a comic strip if it doesn’t get into the show. Like four panels in a row. In my spare time. Yeah. Right now, I’m kind of at a push to get this done. Wish me luck. Maybe I’ll blow off grading for a week and a half.

I’m hoping to get a page done a night, maybe more. This one took an hour. The others are more complicated. Although the next one has fewer pieces, so maybe it’s not more complicated. Hard to say. Then stitchdown Thursday, all of it, sandwich and quilt Friday…oh wait, the Man has a show Friday night. Fuck. Um. So Saturday/Sunday? Yikes. Deadline looms. I got this. Here’s the ex’s dog, complicating the couch…

Today though…today, I teach three classes…they’re finishing one thing and starting another. Hopefully. Then the other two classes are a mini-assembly about sex trafficking. Fun times. Then two staff meetings. More fun. Come home, finish reading book club book. Yup. Then iron. Maybe sleep. Big maybe on that one. The last 7 weeks of school are always a challenge. Nothing new this year.

On the Next Step…

January is flying by. It always does. So does February with its built-in shortness and double holiday whammy (for us anyway). Then March lasts for 3 months. It’s weird that way. Having a Monday off is nice; it gives me some extra rest/relaxation time, although I mostly suck at that, unless you count reading, which I do. And making art, which I totally do. I’m progressing on all art fronts, although slowly…which is fine. If I don’t hit deadlines, and I probably won’t…let’s be realistic…it’s not the end of the world. So…I’m still working on my friend’s mom’s quilt…I’m more than halfway, but there’s still a good chunk to do. I’m going to have to pull it off the machine tonight though so I can piece the backing for the final iron down, and then stitchdown after. I’ll do another 30 minutes on the background before I do that though.

The art quilt I’m working on is getting there…I ironed half the tree parts Monday night…

The tree goes from winter to spring to summer to fall (right to left)…so last night, I ironed summer and fall…

And then the last two little bits…the spaceship…

And a catronaut.

Castronaut? sounds painful. Anyway, on the dark background, she’ll show up just fine. Although she has kind of some disco tendencies too. I think. Tonight, I’ll piece the background and iron the whole thing down. Hopefully.

I have a piece in a show at Road to California in Ontario, CA, this weekend. It’s part of the SAQA SoCA/NV chapter’s New Pieces.

It is apparently at waist height. Hmmm. I apologize now for you having to bend over to see the details. I don’t enter Road any more because the lighting and hanging aren’t great, but this was my group and I wanted to be supportive. I feel like they need to accept fewer pieces and hang them with space between and not double hang. But I didn’t hang the show…so there we are. Also, there’s boobs and a uterus, so that will make some people clutch their pearls. I’m OK with that. I’m not going to make it up there…I have two art meetings already this weekend. It’s messy.

I went to clay on Monday and got more details put on the upper torso and started arms.

Still not entirely sure how I will dry/fire arms, but it’s in progress.

I do like the heart and lungs though. So far.

Side view, she’s leaning a little further forward than I’d like. I have to store the two pieces separately due to the size of shelves. The bottom is mostly drying and the top is mostly mushy still, so it’s a challenge. I haven’t even figured out the head yet. I need more clay and the boss has been away at a conference. I don’t actually have anywhere to store the clay, although someone in my shelves is storing it all on the ground. Which they told me was not OK, fire marshally stuff, also I can’t reach my shelf due to all the crap on the ground. Minor issue. I’ll be back there on Friday and hopefully get more clay. Or? Not sure. I was expecting her to be there Monday unfortunately. That does mean I’ve used almost 20 pounds of clay in this so far, minus a few things the girlchild and I made. Fun times.

I’m reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher…I find it amusing.

Sometimes I chortle out loud even…

Lizards sounds painful.

I grew two bell peppers this summer. I waited too long to harvest them, of course.

I don’t mind feeding the animals…

This is the new government by the way…

So first of all, I’ve never heard of large and small cells to define egg and sperm. I’m not sure why they didn’t use those words (because they are scary???). Second of all, they are idiots. If only it were that simple. But it’s not. I have a 3-hour sex-ed curriculum meeting tomorrow at the district and a prep-time meeting tomorrow. Sigh. I’m tired of being in charge of things, but I honestly can’t trust the world to be smart about this stuff. I’m still off the regular social media. Still trying not to watch the crazy-making shit. Except I saw a conversation between teachers about what to do when ICE shows up on school campuses. Sigh. And our Newcomer population is growing crazily, mostly I think because they’re desperately trying to get here before they’re not allowed to. Such a hateful government. Really disappointing.

With that, I’m low-fi teaching today…just means I’m not directly teaching. It’s review. And finish the things. Tomorrow is an academic assignment. I’m really trying to be mostly hands off this week. Last week was all on, and it was tiring. OK, not gonna lie, but yesterday was also tiring. Ah well. Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep and then once I was finally there, kaboom! Cat fight under the bed. Fun times. Loud. Someone was pissed off. And then the little cat (who is not so little anymore) was up and about before my alarm went off. Squirrely bastard. Pilates after school (already tired)…then quilting, ironing the whole thing down, and hopefully starting stitchdown. We’ll see how that goes. Good to be onto the next step.

Incognito Year…

I’m running on crazy time now, y’all. I was going to write on Monday, but oops, stomach flu or food poisoning…and then this morning, the rescheduled appointment from early Monday morning, and now it’s almost 10 PM. But hell, it’s still Wednesday. When I get off schedule, I get really off apparently. So yeah, how are things going? Ha! Can’t get the bees out of the owl box…all the bee peeps are on Winter Break. Can’t get the house or yard done because I spent Monday completely out of it with the remains of the whatever-the-hell-it-was, Tuesday much of the same. Today I’ve been better (food helped), but felt like I had to do EVERYTHING and that everything took FOREVER to get done. Not really of course, but days seem to go much faster over break than they do in real life. Which starts Monday. With a vengeance. A possibility of an 11-hour day. Fun times, y’all…fun times.

So Friday night, I ironed…I think that was the first leg. Nah. I straight up have no idea what I ironed, but my app says I did? No photos either. I also did a little clay, underglazing mostly. And put this this together with all the requisite borders.

No, it’s not done. There’s 16 big embellished flowers for the borders. Bowie thinks he might climb it. This is Sue Spargo’s Homegrown, a block of the month I started in March 2020. No joke. Last night, I pinned some things down to it, also with Bowie interest.

Back to the other quilt. Who the fuck knows what I did on it Friday night. On Saturday, I did nothing on it, because the Man’s band played the House of Blues and I was there from 7-11 PM.

Sunday night, I ironed the lower half of the other leg…

Monday night, I was half dead, and last night, I did the other half of the leg…

It remains to be seen whether I’ll get any of it done tonight. I’m knackered. Not sleeping well, worried about the bees and the world and fires and going back to school. Not halfway yet. And I start three days of Zoomie art classes tomorrow, so that’ll fuck with my ability to get art done. Plus my bro is in town again. So family stuff. It’s all good. It’ll get done eventually.

I did finish the binding and sleeves on the bird wool quilt today. I’ll have to take a better photo sometime and post it. That’s the 12-year finish.

Clay stuff…been glazing some small things, then working on the second level of the crazy sculpture I’m making…

I made boobs today. Although they need some forming. I needed them to solidify slightly before I started banging on them.

Also, just like in real life, they are top-heavy. So it does fine here with 12-15 pounds of clay holding it up, but on its own, that piece just falls over. Right now, it has a roll of paper towels holding it up. Hoping to get back to this on Friday or Saturday. Need to pack up four quilts first, plus take classes each day.

Here’s the day I was sick. I got up, thinking I could make it to the doc appointment, even took a shower. Crazy. Not going anywhere. Slept until noon, when I tried to drink Gatorade…

Not sure it went uphill from there. I think I managed 3 bites of rice at dinner. Anyway. I’m mostly recovered now, but my stomach still wants me to remember. So small bites and not very much of anything. But better.

These two enjoyed three weeks together, but now she is gone again and he is bereft.

Oh wait, no he’s not. He has the boychild.

This old lady has had a hard week. No one medicated her when I was sick, and her body doesn’t do well without her meds unfortunately.

She seems better today.

She does like a sunny chair. Might be a fight for it tomorrow.

Woke up after Monday with questions, lots of questions.

I don’t think that’s changing all year. In fact, I’d like to set up an incognito window for me for the entire year. Maybe I can just watch from the sidelines and pretend I don’t have a horse in the game? I realize that’s totally and completely not possible. I have thousands of horses in the game, dammit.

The current book I’m reading briefly mentions the town I lived in for a year…

Found that amusing. It was in the boonies, that’s for sure.

OK. So. I’m tired. I have lots going on tomorrow…and the next day and the next day. I do want to iron, though. Tough call. Also classes will be in here, in my studio, so stuff has to be cleared up enough for that to happen. Hmmm. There’s also some chance class will be rescheduled. Our teacher is not in a fire zone, but the wind has caused internet and electrical outages. The fires in Los Angeles, by the way…my goodness holy crapitude. I remember seeing fires up in the hills above where we lived when I grew up south of Pasadena. I know Eaton Canyon, hiked it and other areas up there. It’s hard to watch all of it burn. Damn wind. Climate change. WTF is Trump saying about letting the clean water run? Man is on crack. Maybe he needs the incognito window more than I do.

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.

Get Out of the Dirt…

Well I just finished womanhandling a raw turkey into a trussed-up state of now-you-will-be-cooked-you-bastard. Yeah, I know most people did this yesterday. It shouldn’t surprise you that I’m doing it today instead. The plus to doing Tday on the Friday (or the Wednesday; we’ve done both) is that the stores are open for when you forget the damn one ingredient you need. I’ll be going out again after this. I’m lucky…I only have two things to make. The girlchild is doing the rest, or at least most of it. Yesterday, we went to the Man’s fam’s turkey day. They have more vegetables (and more people). It was nice, but I didn’t feel fully well. Right this second? Right now (as I start coughing again), my sinuses are actually mostly clear and I feel OK. Not great…just not about to collapse on the couch. All good. Getting there. That said, there’s only three more days of antibiotics…I’m hoping this kicks it so I can be well for December. This many days (weeks) of sick is just yuck. Done with it. I can get stuff done, but not at the rate I wanted to. Ah well. Shit happens. You gotta roll with it.

So I did get the office/studio clean and started ironing Wednesday night. This is the fun part.

That’s all dirt at the bottom of the quilt. Last night, after Tday dinner, I did more dirt, but mostly the stuff IN the dirt.

I didn’t quite finish: a fox, some missiles or bullets (either works), some body bags. Got a human skull and some bunnies next. Then out of the dirt and into the main figure. Which is me, by the way. Lots of the human figures I do aren’t me, but this one is…although there’s not enough chub on her and I’m probably not that tall and I do actually have hair. Not important though.

Girlchild has calmed the wild beast we call Bowie.

Honestly, he loves everyone, but young women seem to scare him at first. He loved Grandma right off. So this was cool.

I’m reading Babel…good book. If words are your thing (with a side of fantasy and magic), I recommend it. I haven’t finished it yet, though, so maybe the last half sucks.

It’s set in the 1830s or so…

But I appreciate many of the sentiments. The author is R. F. Kuang…young (my kids’ age) and female and Asian. Born in China and raised in Dallas, Texas…she has a history background, which definitely shows up in this book. So historical fantasy fiction about words? Sounds lovely. I’m enjoying it. It’s the third(?) book I’ve started over break. I read an entire (short) book yesterday. It was weird: Hurricane Girl. Don’t recommend. If you want to read it, tell me quickly before I donate it to the library. Even ignoring the head injury, that woman needed a major assist. Not a fan.

Mine is in the oven…

Thank you, dinos.

This is us with our students on the regular.

But also, the rest of the dumbasses who think they know all the things…I don’t know all the things, fully admit it constantly, and I teach science. Doesn’t make me a fucking expert.

Absolutely…watching the bird flu do its thing and wondering about our future.

And we joke about this…

But why are we nominating people with zero experience in that field to make major decisions? Why do we not ALL see that as a controlling power asshole move? Godlike behavior does not a god make. Sigh. I just read a really good article about book banning too…that’s the next piece I need to make, need to start thinking about (I have an image in my head…it’s just the details and the ‘how’ that’s throwing me at the moment). Realistically, I’ll be working on this big one for the next month…and I’m OK with that. It’ll take me a good 20 hours to iron to fabric, so that’s probably next weekend. Then 10 hours or more to trim all the pieces…so that’s into the last week of school. Start ironing together, but Christmas is in there too, so maybe it’s ironed together just after? Stitchdown and pinbaste and quilting and binding. I’d be surprised if it’s done in 2024. Early 2025. Then the book ban piece.

I actually love a big project that is all-encompassing like this. I also love book series like that. Quick bites are just that…quick and a relief sometimes, but I like to hunker down. Don’t ask me about grading right now though. It’s been a rough week. I’ve been doing the easy stuff. Not the hard stuff. It’ll happen. Sometime. Not sure when.

OK. The turkey is in the oven. I need a shower and some breakfast. Someone bought the swiss cheese and an orange for me; presumably, they’ll be delivered later. The Man wants to mattress shop today (I’m not saying we don’t need one…I’m just not a fan of Black Friday shit). Then dinner later this afternoon at the ex’s house with my family. I will try to photograph people. I’ve been trying to remember to always photograph people. And read. I want to read a bit. And iron some more…get out of the dirt.