Lots of Green

Yo. Still in Seattle. I have not moved here. Winter weather scares me. But the trees and green and flowers are nice. I will never get those in San Diego, it’s true.

I didn’t write this morning because it was day 2 of get the fuck up early and get out of here to beat the crowds hiking. We were pretty successful at that. I haven’t done much else: read a lot, stitched a little, drawn a little. Too many distractions. Too easy to zone out. Plus lots of driving. And hiking.

Did you know Seattle has a sugar tax? Weird but intriguing. Not sure it would stop my students from buying soda. They’re pretty hooked.

So what have I been doing? Damn good question. Graduation party for the kid of a friend (really proud of him for getting through). Hanging out with the niece (a bit) as she gets ready to go back to a dig. We set up two tents and determined that (1) her new cot would not fit in the smaller tent and (2) my bro has a way nicer tent than I have. All good.

I drew a little more on the second drawing, not much.

There was a dog in the way. I turned around and turned back and then there was no more drawing.

I also drew before dinner last night…didn’t finish, but this is a rough start to the next quilt.

Needs to be bigger. And more complicated.

Sunday morning, we were up early and headed out to Little Si for our first hike. It was good we got there relatively early, because both parking lots were full when we got back.

This wasn’t a hugely long trail, but there was some up. We are out of shape…two people in physical therapy at the same time for a variety of ailments…

Hiking in Southern California is so much hotter and browner and drier. We appreciate the green, the ferns, and the moss.

Wait. Look. It’s us. We think that’s Mt. Si behind us. We didn’t hike that one. It was too high.

Lots of green. And a bench.

5.12 miles. Lots of up and down. Lots of people. It was nice though for most of it.

Then today we got up early again to hike to two alpine lakes, Talapus and Olallie. This was a longer hike, 6.25 miles.

Lots more trees…not as hefty a climb.

Cool bridge.

Cool lakes…

Olallie…

And Talapus…

That is not the same log jam.

Also, a toilet with a view.

So tomorrow we are taking a break from the hiking, I think. Maybe spend the day drawing and stitching, with a walk down to the water for fireworks. Maybe a longer walk with the dogs.

We are trying to relax. And get more sleep. We suck at the latter.

I feel like we need a down day. A book day. A drawing day. Also, though, I need more milk.

Dumplings of Fury

Still in Seattle. Trying to be relaxed and all. Apparently I suck at that. If you know me, you know that already. I have been drawing…at first, just a little bit every day, just because there wasn’t time. But after everyone left, there was more time. And normally I would have written yesterday, but I’m off. No clue what day it is.

Wednesday was graduation chaos.

Wednesday night (?) I managed some more on that drawing…might have been in the afternoon, now that I think about it. I stitched a little on the Sue Spargo Homegrown block at graduation. I finished one the day before, and then started this one.

I worked on it yesterday too…I feel weird sitting in the house when the cleaner is here, so I sat outside and stitched.

I finished the bottom part of the house…still need to do the roof and the tree, plus I missed a flower. Whoops. Not sure how much of this will be happening over the next week. I don’t usually draw when there’s an audience…I can handle the Man, but not a lot of other people. So once they all left, I could draw. So here was what I added Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, everyone left except me, so I planted myself on the couch and realized that’s where the dogs like to be too, and I drew some more.

I also went for a walk…

It’s so light here, late at night, at 4 in the morning. I’ve been sleeping with a pillow over my head.

This drawing isn’t done. There’s a blank space in the top right. But another one popped into my head, so I started drawing it yesterday.

Also not done. Summer break has had some issues so far that make me feel like I’m somewhat out of whack, maybe even incompetent or out of of it, so working through that? In drawing?

Saw some friends last night…and this place…

Dumplings of Fury. Perfect.

So today is my friend’s son’s graduation party (she’ll tell you it’s her party), so we’re going to that. My niece will be showing up at some point to pick stuff up. We’re planning hikes for the next two days before it gets super hot here. Not sure what happens after that. Hikes? Touristy stuff? We’ll see.

It’s a Dream

Made it to Seattle, where it’s a different level of chaos for a few days. Lots of family interactions, which is alternately nice and overwhelming. I stayed up late last night just to read for a while…I think this last school year, or at least since January, reading every day has allowed my brain to rest, to stabilize. This explains the number of books I’ve been able to bang through so far…this current one is 900+ pages long, though, and there are a lot of people here and very little down time, so I’m behind on my reading…hence spending time with my book last night at midnight. Like a weirdo.

I did some quilt planning at the airport while drinking awful chai tea.

I mostly read on the plane. It’s not a hugely long flight, so it’s not worth it to pull stitching out, although I did draw, just to be doing something different with my brain and eyes.

I feel like complicated drawings that fill all the space. So that’s what I did.

Yesterday was busy with people and errands and talking, so I managed some relaxing stitching. I can never just sit, y’all. I need something to do.

I finished one block of Sue Spargo’s Homegrown and started another. I’ll probably take one to graduation just because there’s so much sitting-around crap and see above: I don’t sit around well.

I drew last night after everyone went to bed, watching some Alaskan reality show. I just needed some down time.

It’s not done. It needs more stuff. I’m not sure what.

There’s dogs that need walking.

And lots of pets…

Anyway…..gonna go shower and walk the dogs, then read, draw, and/or stitch through graduation. It’s pretty chill here, except for some interrupting school stuff that has caused some stress storms here. Next year will be um different. I’m channeling positivity from somewhere. Tomorrow is a bunch of trips to the airport with Zoom science teacher interviews interspersed. Then hopefully a chill afternoon and evening with just me and the dogs, plus a retirement webinar…I’m not retiring yet, but the level of insanity school has become is why it’s so much on my mind. I’ll probably still have to work after I retire from school, but I’m hoping for something I don’t have to bring home every night, that doesn’t dominate my weekends, and that I can actually take a vacation. It’s a dream.

All New Places

Well today is already crazy and that will continue for a few days…I leave in a few hours for Seattle to hang with family and then the Man. My nephew is graduating high school, which is the ostensible reason for going, but it’s also nice to have a change of scenery in summer. This house needs so much work. I’ve filled so many green trashcans with weeds and trimming and there is so much more to do. Things keep breaking and needing a small tiny part and more hand strength than I have to fix them. That said, I have been making art and reading books for my sanity…plus making wontons, because I never have time during the school year and I like them. Actually, I think I like the sauce more and the wontons are just a delivery system.

I’m not fully packed yet, because some of my pants are in the sun drying right now. Although the Man fixed the dryer, the part has already failed, so yesterday’s laundry got put (late, unfortunately) out on the line…which used to fit by the garage but someone (me) needs to trim the bougainvillea for it to fit now.

Doordash was probably amused. Not me, the boychild. I’ve never doordashed.

So I’ll be packed in an hour, whether my jeans are dry or not. I’m also trying to finish a book, an actual physical thing, so I don’t have to take it with me. I have a 900-page book on the iPad for my airline perusing. I dropped the parentals at the airport earlier, stopped to get my labs done so my doc will stop bugging me, then picked up Katie (the parental dog) and all her crap and delivered it here, put a bunch of stuff away, dealt with the greenery trashcan, watered some (still need to do more). Yeah. It’s been a little chaotic. It’ll be fine. Although I have to wear my hiking boots through TSA and on the plane because they won’t fit in my luggage. The Man can’t fit his hiking poles; mine fold up into thirds and his only half. It’s OK…my brother has that shit in Seattle.

Change! It’s weird. Good and hard all at the same time.

I did get the quilt to where I wanted it…Friday afternoon, I finished up Venus and started on Earth.

Who is up here and upside down.

I haven’t honestly decided which way is up, although now that I’ve said that, y’all will chime in. Just know whatever decision I make will be because I see it, not because you’ve voiced it. I’m not one of those who does the whole art critique stuff or group decisions about my stuff. I have a vision in my head and when it slots in correctly, my brain tells me. Art Brain doesn’t care about the rest of it.

That’s a Mars Rover on her hand…

Saturday was an art meeting and then we wandered up to the Phes Gallery to see this show…

That is Dinah’s Green-Eyed Dog piece…

And this is Nancy Lemke’s piece…forgot to write names down. Wait, the internet is my friend…this is The New American Crucifix…

Yeah. Disturbing. It’s a good show in a nice space. I didn’t take many photos, oh well, you should go see it anyway. It’s open until July 9, I think. Check the website.

Then we came back and I ironed Mars…

Which left putting it all together on a background last night…

Yup. I like it. I’ll finish it the week I get back.

I’m taking my sketchbook and some stitching with me. Hoping to solidify a plan for the next piece, hopefully a big one. If not, I have some smaller drawings that are already numbered and could step in to be made until the big one materializes in my head. So many things to consider for the next one. Maybe it will be another conglomerate of topics.

I’ve been mindlessly appliqueing pieces from Sue Spargo…can’t remember the name of this block of the month…Forest or Tree something obviously.

It soothes me to do this.

This poppy pod was fascinating.

I may add it to a drawing.

Still waiting for the caterpillars to move in to the milkweed meadow we made.

Most grown from seed. I have more in the fridge to be planted in early August. They won’t self seed here…doesn’t get cold enough for long enough.

OK. I have 84 pages of this book to finish, lunch to eat, packing to finish, watering to finish, and then I’m out of here, leaving the cats and dogs and plants to the whims and vagaries of the men. I’m looking forward to seeing most of the fam (niece is at a dig somewhere in Oregon?) and getting some stitching, reading, and drawing time in without the pressures of being at home with a dryer that needs fixing and weeds that need pulling and neighbors yelling all the time. I will miss the dogs and cats and probably my bed, but also looking forward to hikes in all new places.

All Up in My Head…

Hey. It’s Friday. But it’s not a work week for me, so what does that mean? Not much, except for the people around me who are working are doing their stuff, so I guess that affects me. It’s a nice place to be finally, although yesterday tested my summer break self on the first day I actually felt like I was on break. It’s still all up in my head, so I’m going to do my best today to dispel it and do the things I want to do.

The quilt is progressing, although let’s just ignore yesterday, because progress yesterday was nil, nada, nichts, nothing.

The previous day, I sorted all the pieces…

Super fast when there are only 500 and something of them. Then I started ironing it together…

As always, although my numbering seemed logical at the time, in reality, it’s a clusterfuck. I can’t fit all the background swirls on at the same time, so I did most of the 0-100s and then laid out the 100s for the next bit, but that was where I got tired and couldn’t do any more. And last night was not conducive to doing any art, so hopefully today will be a million times better, because I wanted to be further along than this.

Part of yesterday’s issue is that I took the dogs out for a 3-mile hike to try to tire them out before a Zoom call I needed to be on (mostly the puppy was the issue, but it turned out that Simba barked during the whole thing).

It was a nice walk, not too hot, mostly breezy.

The dogs were much better after the first mile.

Although trying to keep the puppy on her side was an issue. We were all tired when we got back, but Annie did sleep for most of the Zoom, so that was good.

Yes. On the bed. Where else? Oh yeah, also here.

After that, things just kinda went downhill. So I’m not focusing on all that doom and gloom (except I say that and my brain doesn’t like to leave those things alone), It’s not the end of the world. Everything will be OK in the end. We’ll all be dead in the end, actually, but it should get better significantly before that. Meanwhile, I’m on break and I don’t have to think about all the things right now. There are books to read and wontons to make.

The girlchild made it to San Francisco, by the way…here are the two days with her dad helping.

If you want to know about the crickets, Google Ekko, Nevada. Then be glad you’re not there. She went into her job in person finally (she’s been on Zoom for weeks) yesterday. Big changes. She needs to find a real place to live and get settled. Easier said than done, yeah? Her dad comes back today to pick up the puppy. We get two days off from extra dogs, and then my parents’ dog comes while they are in Seattle (and coincidentally, me too…wait, not a coincidence…my nephew is graduating from high school). So I won’t be here for most of Katie’s visit.

Find the cat.

Nova has not been thrilled about Annie’s visit. Luna has chased Annie down the hall two or three times, so she’s living her real thug life, but Nova is just hiding.

OK. Shower. Make wontons (my reward for existing right now). Eat wontons. Save some for later. Pick up ex from airport, pass over dog. Iron some quilt pieces while watching British murder mysteries. Maybe do some more weed whacking, find the art for tomorrow’s meeting (if I can get my head around it…yesterday, I couldn’t. I tried.), read my book some more, don’t think about things that suck. Oh yeah! Go see an art quilt exhibit that has been on my list for a month. That’s my treat. Doing that.

Quiet Unfocusing

Slowly banging my way through this to-do list. One of the things on it is “weed whack” though and that’s a few hours of crap. The stupid battery on the weed whacker lasts a whopping 15 minutes, so that limits the time I can whack…pros and cons? The yard will never be done, but I can hopefully get two trash cans filled by tomorrow’s pickup. Last night, I was trimming in the backyard and kept hearing this weird mechanical sound. Finally looked up in the sky and saw a drone hovering over me. Flipped it off…continued flipping it off…it finally flew off, probably with its 10-year-old owner laughing his ass off at the old lady brandishing clippers.

I started cutting pieces out on Sunday, did a bunch Monday…

That puppy is totally unhelpful most of the time. Keeps trying to put her nose in everything.

But when she’s out, it’s fine. Last night, I cut for three hours because I just wanted to be done…

Annie still was so helpful. At one point, she got her nose under the tray where I was collecting the trash and tipped it over. But then zonked out.

Just under 8 hours to cut it all out. I am ahead of my original plan…which is good. I leave for Seattle on Monday. I’m thinking maybe I can get it ironed down to a background before I go? Maybe? I can get a good chunk of it done anyway.

Girlchild is in Nevada, hopefully getting to San Francisco tonight, since she has to be at work physically tomorrow. Crazy trip.

So today we need to walk the dogs, I need to fill another trash can with weeds, I need to sort the pieces I just cut out and start ironing this quilt together, I need to pick up cat meds, do the rest of my laundry (which means reattaching the vent because the Man fixed the dryer but pulled the vent partially off in the process), and read more…maybe eat food. Certainly I’m not sleeping enough because the puppy is not good at mornings. Anyway…it’s break. And I can tell that some people are irritated that I get time off and they don’t. Well yeah, I worked 12 months (probably much more) of hours in just 10 months…so it’s like when I did 10-hour days for 4 days a week so we could have a 3-day weekend (pre-teaching years). But I get that it feels unfair in the moment. Just remember all the nights and weekends I was working and you weren’t and maybe it will seem more equitable. Sigh. There’s a lot of unfair shit in the world…I’m just trying to appreciate the quiet unfocusing of a teacher summer.

Dysfunctional

My computer doesn’t seem to want to work right today. I’ve restarted it multiple times and it just gets slower and slower. It won’t do what I need it to do. My brain is having similar issues. I’ll be in the middle of a task, leave the room to get something related to that task, and I’ll start a whole new task without even thinking about it. Finish that and then remember the earlier task. It’s school-break brain. Or recovery brain. I’ve written a ton of things down so I don’t forget them…because forgetting is all I do at the moment. Plus there’s just a shitload of things that need doing right now. All the things I put off because I was teaching and there wasn’t time for much else.

Also I’m still so tired. Not sleeping well. Not sleeping long enough. I’ll get there. Just not there yet. Took a nap Friday. Considered it Saturday and Sunday but didn’t have the chance. And right now, I have a dog behind me and a dog next to me. Seems unlikely.

So Friday night, I started ironing Earth…

Saturday, I managed to finish ironing all the Wonder Under to fabric…

I’m pretty sure at some point (not that photo) I organized all the fabrics. But didn’t count them or take a photo (see note about brain above). Oh wait. I did take the photo at least.

Counting though. Hmmm. Could do that now. 114 fabrics. Very few greens. Because it’s in space? Space is not so green? At least in my head it’s not.

Then last night, I started cutting them out.

Didn’t get super far. Was hoping to be further along. Oh well.

Meanwhile the Man is trying to fix the dryer. Cheaper than getting some repair person to come in.

Can’t dry the laundry until he finishes. The part comes in today. Let’s hope it works.

Girlchild is driving across the US, moving from Boston to San Francisco. I’ve been tracking her and her friend Alessia, who is getting her to Denver.

Then her dad is meeting her and helping to drive the rest of the way.

Sorry, Cleveland.

I’m curious how being scared in a gas station bathroom is not a personal record. They’re currently in Nebraska…it’s going to be nice having her in the same state.

Yesterday, we headed over to the parentals for dinner and I actually remembered to take a photo.

There was this weird conglomeration of a 100 or more crows being really loud and flying around the neighbors’ house. Mom and I walked over and the crows were attacking a juvenile hawk. There were two of them. We stood around and eventually the crows left, so now we are crow enemies forever, right? They’ll remember us? The two hawks made it into a tree, but the one that was being attacked was making its I want my mommy cry.

Very strange to see so many crows involved. Nature can be so vengeful. Speaking of…

Seems legit.

OK well I’m on the couch with the ex’s puppy because he’s on a plane to meet the girlchild, I have 78 thousand things to do and can focus on nothing, and I have a webinar in less than two hours. This blogpost has taken forever to write on the iPad (finally gave up on the computer). Puppy has her nose on my arm. So sweet when she’s not trying to eat shit and/or escape. I’ll read for a bit, maybe nap, then be productive in some way. Maybe.

It’s Good to Move on…

Well I have a few more hours left of the school year. I have to go in and put the last three things away and then be officially checked out by admin. I’m not allowed to put my name on the checkout list until 10:30, so I’m not rushing over there right now. A mylar balloon hit a power line near school yesterday and blew out electricity, A/C, and wifi, plus there was a weird burning smell, so lots of chaos. That was AFTER graduation. But it’s good to say adios to this school year. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think in November I really thought I just wasn’t going to survive it, and I did, but I’m exhausted y’all. Looking forward to just one grade level of science next year with way more supports than this year. But that’s a couple of months away. Today it’s shut the door, lock it, walk (or dance and sing) away.

Some photos from the graduation thing…I suck at taking photos, I realize. Me and my co-teacher with our mascot (who is one of my kids)…

One of my favorite and top students this year (and last, honestly)…

Her outfit was amazing.

And another of my favorites, who like me, hates having her picture taken. I’ll miss her…

Also she was wearing combat boots. So cool. She gave me flowers, which I appreciate…

And so does Kitten…

I have to hide the flowers from the cats so they won’t eat them.

The day before was promotion practice and then a carnival all afternoon…I spent most of it here, yelling ‘Ready Set Go’ and/or ‘Wait!’.

It was strangely fun. Fun to see them having fun.

Meanwhile, I did get the sun ironed Wednesday night…

Lots of yellows and oranges for that…

And then last night, after graduation, electrical issues, getting all the kids off campus finally, going to our end-of-year party, then driving to get my quilt from the photographer (I’ll post pictures later), then home, then Zoom meeting, I somehow managed to iron Venus (the planet) together.

The planets are actually human-like figures in this quilt…well some of them are. I couldn’t do all of them without making it massive and being unable to finish it for the deadline. I started on Earth (with the blues), but was so exhausted I just went to bed. I didn’t sleep well because of the dog, who was growling and barking at these babies…

But over the next few days, hopefully I’ll start to catch up on the sleep and feel a little more human. Maybe. I’m certainly going to be ironing a lot. Although today is chaos…need to pack up two quilts for shows, one to deliver and one to ship, plus check out of school, and take the dog to the vet. Plus IDK what else, because I walk through the house and it’s a disaster (it always is at the end of the school year). Cleaning, getting rid of stuff, organizing stuff, but also reading and artmaking and a little bit of travel. That’s the goal.

Yeah I guess I’m woke then.

OK, gotta go back to school now. Wearing my unicorn NOPE shirt. You know, I might only have 6 more years of this. Maybe 7. Depends on the money. It alternately sounds like not much and way too much. It depends on the people and the work load. I am lucky to have the people…just gotta work on the other part. Peace out 2022-2023 school year. It makes me cry a little to say that, out of lots of relief and some joy and some sadness…but it’s good to move on.

It’s Not Broken…

Hmmm. Wednesday. Long week so far. So much chaos. A 3-hour school-board meeting last night full of crazy misinformation. Y’all, apparently I am performing trans surgeries in class, and that is why the people hate my curriculum so much. I’m also grooming all my students out of the cis-gender status that their parents made them and want them. AND I do not appreciate the American flag enough. I am boggled. Oh yeah, and I do not espouse East County values, which apparently align with white supremacy. So yeah, I guess they were right about that. Giant Ass Sigh.

Otherwise, we’re getting ready to graduate a bunch of kids who I hope listened enough to take care of their own bodies, be kind to others, work hard, be responsible, relax, chill out, reduce drama (unless they’re on stage), and maybe think about climate change and not buying food at places that espouse racist ideologies. But probably they didn’t get all of that.

On top of all that, the Man’s company laid off like 20% of their staff yesterday (not him! because holy crap, that was scary when he didn’t answer for a few hours), so he’s a mess and stressed while I’m actually mostly chill. Except when some dumbass is claiming I am a groomer. One parent said we (the teachers) are here for “ABC, 123, and plus/minus.” You will NOT learn multiplication! It is not allowed! OK, well, that was funny. But no science? No history?

Today is promotion practice. Not graduation…promotion. We line up in a really long line and march the kids in…the two words are SPACE and PACE…at which point, my kids were confused, not THAT space (the one we learned about in science). The one where you’re not climbing up the butt of the kid in front of you. Last year, they practiced all day, because the chairs weren’t set up right, and we all peeked out our windows at our boss throwing chairs in the quad. Fun day. It is long though and we are not allowed to bring a book (well the kids can, but I can’t). I’m not a fan of sitting or standing around for hours, but that is what I will be doing. Outside. In the UV light. Sunscreen, hat, at least it’s not supposed to be hot. And repeat tomorrow for graduation.

The afternoon is a carnival for the 8th graders, which sounds fun and I hope is, but the teacher who was supposed to be covering my class or the other 7th-grade class didn’t know about it yesterday. So that’s fun. Yesterday’s chaos continues.

I’m glad to have an exercise class today and a chance to read my book later? Maybe? We’ll see. Plans for later this week? Check out of my classroom, take the dog to the vet, ship a quilt to Virginia, and get the dryer fixed. Also fun stuff.

I haven’t gotten much ironing done, but it’s not unexpected. This is Monday night, after I finished (well, actually, not all of them) grades.

I ironed some planets and some asteroid belts.

Last night, I only had 30 minutes to iron because I didn’t even get home until 8:30. Blood sugar crashing. Irritated by “East County values” and the other bullshit. So my 30 minutes was another planet…

Slow progress. Maybe more tonight. I actually finished grades Tuesday at the last minute during my prep period because I had like 7 toothpick bridges still to test. I’m bringing all the broken bridges to the bonfire on Saturday night for a burning ceremony of some sort that I promised the kids I would record. One of my co-teachers is doing the bonfire…we bring the question cards from sex ed and burn them after reading them out loud. It’s cleansing.

Nova had an issue with the chair last night…

I missed the best of the wibbly wobbly.

She’s a chub. But a cute chub.

And although the owls don’t seem to be hanging out on the owl box much, here was one checking out their old home nest…

They are still here and screeching at each other. For a few more weeks at least.

Well, I don’t feel prepared for all the outside that today will be, but at least I’m not teaching. All the teaching is done. It’s just clean up and graduate them and get them out of here. 7th grade has their field trip today, so my 4th period will have double the kids…all the 8th graders who should be upstairs with the teachers who are on the field trip. Luckily, both classes are small. We’ll just finish the horror movie (I found one that was PG-13) that we started yesterday. Unless practice takes too long and then it won’t matter. We’ll go straight to lunch. We can hope for that. Pros and cons.

Then pilates after school with lots of deep breathing. Fix dinner, chill out, iron some planetary shit. Got it. Still one day at a time around here, but it’s working at the moment, so don’t fix that. It’s not broken. It’s just inefficient.

Work I Love…

Yo! Last Monday of the school year. Am I done with grades? I am not. I’m hoping they are due tomorrow and not today. I should find that out. Tomorrow. Whew. I just thought of that. Nothing like going until the last minute. Trust me, I WOULD have been done by now, but we haven’t tested all the bridges yet and some kids forgot to turn shit in and I don’t even know what to do with the kid who at 2 PM on Friday, with an 11-day assignment due at 3:30, was begging for more time, and then STILL didn’t do anything. Sigh. So yeah. This is the crazy week. All the grades and awards and parties and promotion practices and actual promotion plus clean your room and lock it up because summer school will be in there and they will use all your shit.

Yup. Almost there. I can taste it. Almost. This week is actually really long. Friday night and all day Saturday I was convinced I was getting sick: massive headache, sore throat, achy all over, felt like crap. So I started with the immune protection stuff, emergen-c, and drank a lot of it. All day Saturday. I felt OK yesterday and this morning, so maybe I kicked it? Or? It will come back with a vengeance on like Wednesday, when I have to be outside all day. Yeah. Still taking vitamins just in case. Even if it’s all in my head. There are lots of things in my head. If it keeps me from getting sick right now, I’m good.

So Friday night, I sorted the Wonder Under…

It didn’t take long.

Then Saturday, I ran errands, bought a background fabric (two actually, but one was better than the other for this), and cleaned the office/studio…which started out like this.

I put all the fabric away, and then mopped the floor. It had been a while. It was driving me a little bonkers. But that’s all I got done in here.

The Man had a show on Saturday night and I was feeling well enough to go. In fact, there are times in my life when I feel like going out and dancing has kicked a virus out of my system. This may have been one of those occasions.

Also they played really local, which made it an easy decision to go.

It was a good time. They are taking a 6-month break because one member is having shoulder surgery and another one just needs to rest his shoulder, so this was the last show for a while.

They opened for Sonic Moonshine, which is also a good show.

Especially with the bubbles.

Sunday, I set up my ironing space…

Laid out the first 100 pieces of Wonder Under, picked the first fabrics…

And started ironing to fabric.

That’s where I’ll be every night this week, I think. With a few exceptions.

My post-eating stitching for the evening is still this Sue Spargo thing.

Brainless and easy. That’s what I need right now. Plus purple. Always good.

Simba agrees.

It rained AND his boy is gone. Very traumatic.

So traumatic that he was lying on my bedspace last night. Really, I think I was supposed to curl up at the foot of the bed, based on this arrangement.

I made him move. He was OK. Ever hopeful for that space.

The owls are wandering all over our little neighborhood, driving all the neighbors bonkers probably. Last year, they just hung out in our yard. This is a wide-ranging group. Which means we rarely see video of any of them on the owl box.

But we hear them constantly.

OK. Today I need to get through a whole lot of bridge breaking…Period 2 may be nigh on impossible. I think I need to do 7 of them in a short period. We’ll see how I do. Finish science and classroom orders, plus a staff meeting, finish grades. My quilt isn’t ready for pickup yet, unfortunately. I really need it by Thursday and I have limited time for pickup before that. Sigh. Ah well. Worst case, I’ll pay the extra for the ‘late’ entry (it’s not late, but there’s a cost break for ‘early’). I’m pretty sure I’m cooking (something) tonight, but there’s ironing at the end of it, which seems like more ‘work’, but it’s work I love. So that’s a good thing.