Nobody Knows Me at All*

A short and quiet song to start the day…because it’s Monday and whatever the music app plays sets the tone for the day. Sometimes. This morning it’s quiet and a little folksy and guitar and pure voice. That might get me through the day.

As usual, I didn’t get everything done. I never do. It’s the wonder of being a teacher and an artist. There’s never a stopping point. There are marks I aim for, stopping points. Progress checks. I did finish the outline quilting last night, and then started the background, of which there is very little. I wanted to be done with the quilting yesterday, but school took up the entire afternoon. I have two days of training this week, so I had to prep for the sub. Ugh. Two days of sub…I’m going to come back to chaos. Not looking forward to that.

I had everything done up until the last figure’s head…the biggest head in the piece…

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And then the clouds above her head, where disasters reside.

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Quilting a rift in the ground, a bomb, that mushroom cloud, a burning church…she’s got plenty on her mind…

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Done. Upside down. Because I’m starting the background quilting right there…I think. I was debating using the same color thread as what I outlined with, which sometimes works…

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But when I tried it against the background fabric, there was a lighter color that worked better. I don’t have a full spool of it, but honestly, I don’t think I need a full spool. And I have two others that have a little bit on them. So I went for it.

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I should easily be able to finish the quilting today. Now binding is the issue. I always need supplies in the middle of the night, because that’s when I work…so I’m better off just pulling it off the machine this morning and taking it with me, so I can hit the fabric store after school. That will guarantee my ability to put the binding on whenever I finish quilting. And I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting to be this far ahead. But I am. Good thing. There’s two for October (not as complicated as this)…and I’m so far behind in grading, I’m starting to panic. But it will be fine! Ha.

I’m a little stressed out.

From the inside of the house, this guy looked like a stick insect. But no…that looks like a praying mantis…not a pretty green one, but I don’t think we get pretty green anything here in dry desert world.

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Kitten would have been excited by that. She really likes lizards too.

This quilt is almost done. Mind-boggling. I really didn’t think I could get it done in time.

*The Weepies, Nobody Knows Me at All

And I Told You to Be Patient*

Sigh. Hallelujah for Fridays. I have so much schoolwork to do, I feel like I can’t breathe. But I also want to finish quilting. Plus spend time with humans (well, a little). Three meetings yesterday kind of buried me. Today should be better. I need to get my grading focus on and get some shit done. Then come home and quilt.

I thought yesterday would be a no-art day, and I was right. There wasn’t any energy left at the end of the day. I went out for dinner and a drum circle (like you do)…the view from dinner (if you looked up and back)…

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Turned out to be an electronic drum circle, and less about drums and more about electronic. There were brief moments of “Yeah, that!” and then some doofus would drop in his shit and it would all fall to hell.

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It was nice to get out and do something different though.

I came home, sat down, and immediately had both dogs vying for attention…which I gave them…they were kissing each other at some point (well, boisterously licking faces anyway, which is new)…

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And then it devolved into crazy in-my-lap psychosis.

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Always fun (that big dog is upside down in my lap and the little one is trying to stomp her).

It seemed logical to just go to bed and hope today was more productive. It should be. I probably should walk the dogs this evening, but hopefully that will just be a short 3-miler. And then food and sewing. Grading. Ugh. I don’t like the last part, but it needs to be done.

And I just saw this…and interview by HollyAnne of String and Story. Go check it out and then wander through the rest of her website…

*Bon Iver, Skinny Love

Some Nights I Call It a Draw*

I’m quilting! Yes, even though the union meeting went until after 6 PM and I had to blow off book club for about the 4th month in a row (I  even read the books and then don’t make it to the meeting…even more lame)…I still managed to quilt for almost three hours last night. I’m not even sure how I did that. I think I got into a zone and didn’t come out until I realized I had two meetings this morning and actually remembered to set my alarm early. A miracle, surely.

I’ve been getting a few messages from Chattanooga attendees, at the shop and the show. I appreciate all the little protests going on. There’s a few people here wearing the pins around, even at school (it’s in cursive…the kids can’t read cursive. It will be our new old-people secret language). I really can’t waste any more energy on their crazy. ALL their crazy. But you should go to the show and appreciate the SAQA quilts that are there, and check out the rest of it, and then head out to Spool to see my two and Melly Testa’s piece as well.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to get the next quilt (without a penis in it) done in time. And mentally work on the next two projects at once.

Not the easiest thing to do. Kitten still resents my taking her chair. Look at her face. Won’t even meet my eyes.

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I booked all the way through the rest of the rocks and the water and up both sides through the land sections, and then did the boat…

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And I started working on stuff in the boat, but that’s when I looked at the clock.

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I only have about 3 1/2 hours in…and most of the detail is in the center section, where the three larger bodies overlap, so that’s the next step. I don’t think I’ll get much done tonight…I’m going to a drum circle thing. You know, like you do on a school night. I hate thinking of it as school nights and not being able to do stuff, but that’s the reality of it. I can’t blow off teaching because I was out late…and for me, it’s usually just staying up late making art. But it is looking more and more like I’ll get it quilted this weekend. I can’t ignore the pile of Unit 1 science packets staring me in the face, though. They need grading, because we just started Unit 2. I made a mistake on the cover, but we’re teaching kids to recover from that shit (because they’ll have to), so I rolled with it. I was drawing and thought H 2 O. So that’s what I drew. An H and 2 Os. Duh.

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I think the molecules look like spaced-out frogs.

I really should go in early, because I’m not even prepped for today. I had a meeting after school yesterday and didn’t think to do it during 8th period. Ugh. I hate that. I used to have early prep and that helped, but this midday stuff is mostly useless. Sigh.

*Fun, Some Nights

‘Cause I Like Giants*

Sometimes raising a puppy is  a lot like teaching middle school. This morning’s lesson? Don’t eat caterpillars. Yeah. It could be relevant for either group, right? It’s OK. The big black fuzzy caterpillar was moved to a safer environment.

I survived Back-to-School night. A big hot cup of tea helped my voice make it through. The 10 minutes of head on desk helped me get through the rest. And then somehow I managed to come home, make dinner from scratch, and pinbaste the quilt. And I went to bed early (I was really tired…still am this morning)…I hate it when we have B2S night early in the week. It’s better on a Thursday because you only have to survive one school day afterwards. Instead of three. Ugh. Union meeting today. This week is kicking my ass. And all the social stuff I had on the calendar for this week got kicked due to the cold. Double ugh. Whatever. October will hopefully be better.

I’m trying to kick the week’s ass back.

So after dinner, I pieced a back out of a couple bits and pieces (I really don’t care what’s on the back), taped it down to the floor, and started pinning…Simba was not helpful…

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Mostly he would grab a toy and try to climb on some part of my body while I was pinning. I think eventually he figured out that I really didn’t like that. Because when he’s biting at his toy, he inevitably bites me too. Which sucks.

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So eventually he went and laid down on the floor with Calli…my view from the pinning.

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It didn’t take too long to do this, if you forget about the fact that I’d been at school for way too many hours, standing for way too long. It’s really not a huge quilt. A huge quilt would be twice as wide as this (like the last one I did).

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Anyway, it was still relatively early, although I was tired, but I wanted to at least start the quilting…

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So I did. For a while. I’m a little bit relieved to have gotten that done last night. I didn’t think I would have the energy.

Meanwhile, I’m planning part of the next project that needs to be done via email. Collaboration when you can’t meet. It’s OK. Our brains work. Eventually we’ll get into the same place with a bunch of materials, a glass of wine, and a plan. It’ll work.

Now I just have like 20 hours of quilting (or less? I’m beyond figuring that out for this quilt…)…OK, it should be less. The two giant quilts I’ve done in the last year that were twice the width of this one? They were 21 and 22 hours of quilting and there were significantly large background areas. This one has barely any background and it’s half the width. I originally thought I needed to be quilted by the 23rd, but now I’m thinking I might be able to get it done by the 18th? And then bind it and email the photographer.

Well there’s a plan. Now let’s see how I can fuck it up and still get done in time.

*The Dresden Dolls, Shores of California OK, so I’ve been picking the song that was playing when I got to the end of writing, but honestly, I don’t know what quote I’m gonna pull from this song. I love the song itself, but eek. Let’s see what plays next. Kimya Dawson, Like Giants Still a weird but lovable song.

You’re Gonna Find Yourself Somewhere, Somehow*

So it’s been a little over a month since the imaginary penis surfaced, and the blog has finally calmed down; the emails have reduced to a manageable amount. Ironically, AQS QuiltWeek Chattanooga opens tomorrow and my quilts won’t be there. They are currently hanging at Spool Quilt Store in Chattanooga, which is awesome. It did suck when I got the Friday SAQA email to see the line that said the People and Portraits quilts would be there…oh well. In response, I entered another show last night. So there.

Meanwhile, in AwesomeSauce news, I finished stitching the newest piece down last night…

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Straight up, though…I did not come home and start sewing. I was exhausted when I got home. Taught and then had a 2-hour staff meeting. All I can say about those is hey! I get a lot of grading done. Anyway, I laid around on the couch like a potato for at least an hour before I was functional. The cold is improving, which is good, but it was still a long day.

I took a break to eat dinner and came back to Kitten inhabiting my chair again. For some reason, she won’t sit in the other one any more.

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See that look? She’s not pleased with my taking the chair. She even tried to sit behind me, which really doesn’t work on this one…it slopes at the front, so I fall off if I try to share it with her.

I stitched for a while and then entered the art show and then stitched again.

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This was where I realized I only had the head in the clouds left and it was still a relatively reasonable hour (OK, it was after 11 PM).

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So 5 hours and 44 minutes in and I was done. And I found an appropriate piece of batting, so I (knock on wood) should be pinbasting tonight. I say knock on wood because it is Back-to-School night tonight. I’m at school until 6 PM and it’s high energy. Usually, on a good year, I’m dead tired afterwards. Being sick going into it is a little worrisome, but perhaps I will just sit on the couch for another hour or so when I get home before getting up to be the good little (crazy) artist.

I saw The Oatmeal’s comic yesterday about How to Be Unhappy…and it really resonated. I don’t walk around naturally happy. I am content or pleased or satisfied or sometimes ecstatic or passionate or involved or whatever. But I’m not unhappy all the time. I’m challenging shit all the time, my own, other people’s (especially people who don’t signal or toss their cigarettes on the road, let me tell you), society’s, governments’, whatever. When I was in high school, there was some movement to Question Authority. Yeah. I have that gene. I don’t know why. But I can’t just sit still. Or not think about how to change things for the better. Well, except when I’m quilting, and even then, my brain is going 700 miles per minute. It’s not HAPPY per se at that moment. It’s DOING STUFF. And there are times when I look at other people’s existences and wish I had more of that, whatever THAT is, but I think in general I’m OK with where I’m at. There are things I want to change, but that’s normal for me. And I think it’s OK. And it’s even more OK when I’m making stuff. Which is why I do it so much.

*Corinne Bailey Rae, Put Your Records On

I’m Going Down Just Like a Pill*

Oh yeah. It’s a cold. Not a cute little one, but a phlegmy scratchy-throated sweaty beast of a cold. Whatever. I rested a few times yesterday, because going to the grocery store wasted me. I really do worry sometimes about getting older and living alone. I can see how some things, some days, just would get to be too much. I had to go shopping because I didn’t have any food. Imagine being really ill and by yourself. I guess I will need to make sure I have a good support system by then. I mean, if I were REALLY sick yesterday, I wouldn’t be getting up and going to work today, and I could have forced myself to eat the leftover frozen waffles the boychild left (see, that’s a sign of how sick I am…will I eat the waffles? No. I will not. Not so sick then.). I even cooked for the week last night…lunches and a couple dinners. Chicken Tikka Pizza on pita bread. It’ll get me through all the lunches at least.

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The chair I use when I sew at the machine…I bought a new one this year, because the old one (which was older than my kids) was no longer staying together when I sat on it. But Kitten really likes this one. So I have to move her a lot. I used to perch on the edge and sew, but it hurts more now that I’m old, so I just move her.

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She is never particularly happy about that.

Simba was my couch companion whenever I needed to sit and rest in between cooking tasks.

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After finishing a bunch of school work and errands, I managed to start stitching this down. I really wanted to be done today, but…sigh.

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And this is the first quilt I’ve stitched down on this machine, so there were some adjustable moments. Like when I realized the bobbin was misbehaving.

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Dude. Don’t waste thread.

I felt better after I ate. A little. And luckily, this is sitting down. So less strenuous.

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I set some goals. First I just said I’d sew until 10, because I didn’t feel good. But at 10, I felt much better. And plus, wow, once you’re going, it’s hard to stop. So I kept going. And I said, I’ll just get to the bottom of the boat, but then I kept going. So I said, both sides of land, and then I kept going. So I said, just finish the boat. Then go to bed. Um. Yeah. Finished the boat. Then I said, just the lower torso under the hands.

And that’s when the machine stepped in for me…because the foot wasn’t on tightly enough (I think) and I broke a needle all over the place, but not before I got most of the lower torso done. I found all the sharp bits, and luckily, none of them hit my face this time (I do wear glasses…but maybe my glasses-free friends should consider sewing goggles), but I figured that was a sign from the goddess that I should go to sleep.

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So I cleaned up, restarted the thread and got everything tied up, and then went to bed. An hour early. So I got three hours in, and honestly, I think I might be able to finish it in another three. Except I’m at school all day, which will kick my butt (stupid 2-hour staff meeting) and I’m supposed to go to a science thing tonight, but I’m too sick for that. NOT too sick to sew, honestly. The timeline is tight.

A bunch of us teachers are sick. What was funny was the one (male) teacher who emailed last night that he was running a high fever, so he had called a sub. I was thinking to myself, I’m pretty sure if I had a working thermometer, I would also be running a high temperature. But it’s probably better that I’m ignorant of that. I do have a pretty low-key day planned for school, so that helps…but I rarely take days off because either we don’t get subs, or they don’t do anything we ask them to do…so it’s easier to go in and bully through. Sad state of affairs really.

*Max Frost, Withdrawal

There Is Freedom Within…*

Yeah, a late post from me. But the dog was barking from 4:30 AM on, so I was barely alive this morning, and I chose to spend about 5 hours of nonawake time trying to finish up the feminist coloring book I’m putting together for one of my art groups. It’s ALMOST there. Holy fuck, it has taken a ton of fussy little changes, probably things only I would notice, and there’s still one issue, maybe two, I can’t get to go away (I hate you, Word)…and I apparently need to color the cover…or part of it…but it’s almost done! Yay!

I didn’t iron last night. And I’m coming down with a cold or something, so I feel like warmed-up crap at the moment, but at least now I know why I was having those really violently scary hot and cold flashes Thursday…I thought menopause or the diabetes were going haywire, but no…it was just my body trying to beat the virus into submission that some kid gave me as a special gift. Thanks kid. I so rarely get sick…I guess that shows how stressed I’ve been.

So I ironed this afternoon. I was on a mission. I needed it done. I just wanted to see it all together…so I finished all the little tiny pieces in the clouds…

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Then I ironed the upper torsos to the last figure’s head…

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And I positioned the land/water pieces on either side of them…

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It got a little fussy when I tried to fit the lower torso in. It’s never perfect, but you can stretch things a bit and make them fit.

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I try to build in enough overlap so that there won’t be holes, but sometimes there are. I’m not perfect. So then the bottom piece went in…

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And then I laid it out on the background fabric and tried to get it ironed down flat. I have to iron it twice…once to get everything placed right, and twice to spray it with water and really try to get it to stick. It doesn’t stick forever though, so I will be stitching it down. I wanted to be doing that today, but I haven’t felt well all day and I’m also really tired (thanks, puppy).

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She’s taller than I am. But all ironed down.

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I think she’s about 42″ wide by about 77″ tall. Remind me to check my batting stash. Actually with a long skinny one like that, odds are I have a random piece that will work. It’s the big, mostly square ones that are the biggest issue.

Hallelujah. Stitch down tomorrow and maybe sandwich. I don’t know…I have a bunch of school stuff to do as well, so I have to kind of analyze and prioritize my time. I probably should have (for work) stayed home last night, but for my sanity, sometimes I do go hang out with humans. Time is still tight on this piece. I can’t afford to waste time. But I really like it too. I’m glad. It’s nice when I like them.

So now I just have to stay well enough to be able to sit and sew. At least I’m through the standing stage…that will help. Over 17 hours, by the way, to iron it together. When did I start? Sunday? Oh yeah, but I had a holiday in there. That helps. I may be blowing off some social events this week. Maybe. Thinking. My priorities…

*Crowded House, Don’t Dream It’s Over

Save Tonight*

Gotta write this fast…totally forgot about a meeting this morning. I don’t like those early meetings. They throw me off. I need a certain number of minutes to function well, and it’s not enough unless I get up earlier, which I of course forgot to do, because when I finally made it into the room where all the art occurs (OK, there’s more than one room where that happens, but just go with it for now), I didn’t want to leave until I was done. But NO…those tiny pieces were not ironing together quickly (duh), so there was no way I was finishing last night, even though I worked for two hours.

I did finish the face first…I always iron the eyes separately, so I can make sure they aren’t wonky when I put them on…and as for the Tlingit imagery, I was born in Alaska and have this weird sort of overwhelming reaction to their art, to the graphic nature of it. I wonder if it was being held up to totem poles and lodges as a baby that sort of imprinted on my brain. Plus I’m not a religious person, so when I think of protective spirits (which she is), I think outside the box of what most Americans think of as protection. So the thought of a protective spirit animal of sorts, of the connection to nature as well…I’m more inclined toward those images than the standard Christian images of Jesus and/or God. Or any god really. Those are very masculine images and feelings, and that doesn’t feel protective to me…which is interesting if you look at the rest of this quilt, because the protective figure in front of this one is in fact male…but not very Jesus-like.

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So there she is, ready for the clouds behind her.

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It’s hard to see them on a white background, but they’re there…

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And then I made all these tiny things, like this woman in a gas mask, to go in them…

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And that’s where I gave up…with about 50 pieces to go. Seriously. So close to done.

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But it was late and I was tired and honestly not feeling totally well. Sore throat this morning, dammit. It could just be overuse…or some form of allergies, because I do get that every Fall, but I don’t have time for that shit.

Some nuclear power plant towers, an oil spill, three graves, and a river full of pollution and dead fish. You know, like you do.

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More tonight.

These came yesterday. My dad funded their purchase, because mom wanted one. And he wants me to send one to my brother, who describes my quilts as vjuilts (vagina quilts). Not in a bad way.

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I’m happy to have these…even happier to have the extra BadAss Quilters Society pins she sent. Woo hoo!

OK. School. But you know what I’m doing tonight.

*Eagle Eye Cherry, Save Tonight

I’m Not Gonna Crack*

Unhhhnhhh. That’s what this morning feels like. Maybe a little Arrrggggghhh as well. But mostly Unnhhhnhhhh. The whole day feels like that when I do that morning review of what I need to do. Sure, the first cup of tea has not been ingested yet. That might help. Was it yesterday? Did I not get enough done last night? Did some hellish things happen? No. That’s not it. I did a ton of school stuff and went to the gym and then started ironing. Pretty damn effective. No sitting on the couch and staring at a TV or a phone.

I would have liked to get more ironing done, but I think that’s always the case. I laid out the 1000s, but I haven’t finished the 900s…I finished the last figure’s arms. Shit. I didn’t even do 100 pieces last night, I think. Sigh.

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Then I took the other two figures and ironed them into the center of that circle. That was a bit fussy. Sometimes I have to uniron things and move things around a bit. Even stretch fabric to make things fit. And it’s hard when the piece is bigger than the ironing board. I’ve been known to iron on the floor. Explains why the floor is damaged, I guess. So that’s three torsos right there.

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I thought about trying to fit that onto the lower torsos last night, but it was getting late and that sounded complicated. I didn’t have much brain power left at that point. It was late.

So I started on the fourth figure’s head. I didn’t get super far. Well, those trees had a goodly chunk of pieces in them. She looks uber-creepy without a face. Who knows…maybe she’ll look just as creepy with one. So that’s all that’s left…her face, the clouds (with 100 pieces of stuff going on in them), and then iron the big pieces together and onto a background. Piece o’ cake. Haha.

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I would have gotten further if I hadn’t done all the school work, but honestly, I can’t blow all of that off every night. My prep periods are getting eaten up by planning for the next unit, so I can’t get anything else done. It’s really time-consuming. Plus next week is crazy for school, so I’m trying to get ahead of it. And that’s amusing, because as a teacher, I’m never ahead of it. I can run as fast as I can, and it’s still right there, underfoot, tripping me up. September really is a survival month for teachers. Like June, but without vacation at the end of it.

Trying to keep my head above water. The plus is that hopefully I can get this thing ironed down soon…maybe trying to get it done tonight is a bit much, but certainly tomorrow? Then the stitch down. This is big, but not huge. Big quilts take about 10 hours to stitch down. So less than that. I think I might still be able to get it sandwiched this weekend. I should check my batting stash though. I know I have enough to piece a backing, but batting for something this long might be an issue. I feel like I just bought a chunk of batting though. So maybe that problem is already solved.

So I’m almost all the way through the first cup of tea and it’s still Unnhnnnh. Laughing to myself. Because today might be a bit of a challenge at school…lab day. You give them equipment and sometimes stupid stuff just happens. Like I told my co-teacher, at some point yesterday, I’m like “Drop everything and step away from the lab table…hands in the air,” because you put this stuff in front of them and their brains stop working. All they can do is play with the stuff. “Put ALL the rulers down. Now. Before someone gets hurt.” I remember about 10 years ago when I was in a teaching program where we had to videotape ourselves teaching and I went back and watched the lesson and EVERY kid had a ruler and was doing something with it besides measuring something or drawing a straight line with it. I don’t know what it is about them, but they twirl them and try to bend them and flail around with them, and if you watch the video, you wonder how anyone teaches anything to middle-school kids EVER. Because that. I’m sure they wonder why we get so crazy about their behavior. I need a room spray that helps them focus on something besides pencil leads and lab equipment. None of them will remember how to USE it today after yesterday’s lesson. But whatever.

So that’s what today will be like, and hopefully I can keep a sense of humor about it (it would help if I were less tired)…because honestly that’s how I survive most of what they do. I think to teach this age group you have to be just a little bit nuts.

*Nirvana, Lithium

Try as Hard as You Can*

I do most of my artwork at night. Occasionally I can work on a weekend afternoon, and during my breaks from school, it’s more common to find me working during the day, ironing or cutting or tracing. But in reality, I’m a night owl. Mornings are not productive for me. It takes me about 2 hours of being awake before I’m ready to talk to people (I talk to animals at all hours). Being a teacher means I usually have to talk before I’m really ready, but that also means I really understand those kids who are at half mast in 1st period. I also flail in the afternoon…basically from 2-6 PM, I’m mostly useless. Except I can still teach. Because you have to, I guess. I can iron then. Sew sometimes. Mostly I start artmaking after dinner and then go until I should really be asleep…until all of you are asleep. The thing is, I suck at falling and staying asleep too. Although I think the latter is sometimes only noise-related. I’m a light sleeper. And my brain doesn’t like to turn off for sleep. Melatonin doesn’t work. It’s art brain. It’s not happy that it gets tuned out during the whole workday. It wants more of my time.

I try to give it big giant chunks. Like last night, I had a plan, but it got side-tracked. And then it was 10 PM. So I did almost two hours, but then I have to head to bed or significantly suffer the next day. Art brain whines. Ugh. I tell it I will give it more tonight. It’s sulking. I give it more tea. It wants to go back to bed. I’m with it. I also want to go back to bed. But that’s not an option, because work. The other work. The pay-the-bills work…that I totally blew off last night. I need to do a vocab page plus grade shit, and eh. Last night? No way. But I am so tired this morning…and I know I slept better than the night before, when Simba barked with his brothers, the coyotes, for a good 45 minutes. Asshole. Seriously. That’s one of his nicknames…Mr. Barkypants and Asshole. Too bad for us that he is also sweet and adorable on occasion. Last night he tried to eat soap. Apparently it did not taste good.

So starting at 10…I gave the second male figure a head, hands, and the other arm (but not a penis). Those hands were easy.

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Then I started ironing the arms of the last figure, number 4, who is behind all the others…mostly hidden.

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It was easier to do that with the rest of the ironed bits out of the way. I have two of these big teflon sheets for ironing. They’re not cheap, and I have to keep them away from the cats who like to chew plastic, but I have definitely used them enough to make it worth it. Some tools are just non-negotiable.

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The hands were a pain because the fingers overlap. It will be easier to see that when it’s stitched. But you can see where the other part I just ironed will fit right on top of that. And then the lower torsos will go underneath, with the land on either side and the water below. So I currently have 5 large pieces of the image ironed together. Really, all I have left to do is the top right part of the arm, then the head of the 4th figure, and the clouds above her head (which have about 200 small pieces of stuff in them). And then iron it all to a background.

I’m not finishing tonight. There’s at least 300 pieces…that’s at least three hours. And I need to go to the gym tonight. But I can get a lot of it done tonight and then hopefully finish tomorrow? Maybe? I got nothing else going on (please don’t look at the pile of stuff to be graded…which will be significantly worse next week when Unit 1 gets turned in). Aack. Yeah. Be efficient at work today.

The dogs were rampantly annoying last night. I love them, but sometimes they are very needy beasts. Calli was adamant that this bone was hers…and hers alone.

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I played fetch for a while with Simba, but then Calli wanted to play. That worked for a while, until Simba wouldn’t bring back the other ball…he would just race after Calli. And then Midnight wanted attention (she doesn’t fetch). So I’m sitting on the floor with three out of the four house animals.

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I know I’m the only person here, guys…but maybe you could get attention one at a time.

Anyway, you’ve heard my plan for getting this thing ironed down. Seriously, though, people always ask how I get so much done. Well, first of all, besides the furry beasts, I live alone most of the time. And I don’t socialize much. Hermit! But even when the kids were home all the time, I always set goals…quarterly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, daily goals. Part of my sitting here and typing every morning is a way to tell myself what I want to…what I EXPECT to get done today. And then I don’t mope around when I don’t get it all done…I just set a new goal. Adjust it. I have high expectations…and failure is normal. It’s a minor blip. OK, so I didn’t iron for three hours last night…but I did two. That’s more than most people.

With that, I need to get off to the other job. And finish this cup of tea, because I still don’t feel awake. Remotely.

*Depeche Mode, Shake the Disease