Fabric at the End of It…

I’ve officially survived one day with kids; it was notionally a chill day but felt like a lot, which isn’t surprising. I had to put back a lot of things I put away so the Winter Academy could be in our classrooms (I’m not done with that yet), plus deal with a lot of kid stuff (they were pretty chilled out except for that one…there’s always that one). It’s just a lot…going full on for the whole day, so much stimulation, so much talking, so much ON. It’s exhausting. We have a 3-day weekend coming up, which is nice, but grades are also due, so double-edged sword there. I came home after running errands and graded and had an art Zoom meeting and graded some more. So this ALL ON thing doesn’t stop when I get in the car and go home. I realize it COULD? But then I’d have to be at school even longer, and I had to really force myself to stay the extra 10 minutes last night to finish one class of late turn-ins. I have three more classes of those to go; it’s not a lot…it’s just details. I should be able to finish them today. And yes, I came home and read my book with a kitten for a while because I needed that.

Monday, after 17 thousand meeting things (I got nothing done that I needed to get done on Monday…seriously, I left after 4 PM with a half-assed table of contents copied and not much else accomplished), I went to ceramics for the first time since before Christmas. I always think, oh, it’s a break, Imma get SO MUCH clay done. And then I don’t. It’s frustrating. And with this quilt deadline hanging over me, I’m hard-pressed to spend a huge chunk of time there at the moment anyway. I did pick up my frames…

I like them, although one of the greens burned out a lot on both frames…and it looks like they shrunk a lot more than I thought they would. A 4×6 photo fits in the top one if you trim the corners…you’d have to trim it a lot for the bottom frame. I should be better about measuring things. But I’m not. The final satin glaze was definitely more successful than the last few I’ve done. I’d consider reglazing some if I didn’t think it would be an exorbitant cost. But now I know.

And then I worked on the bowl some more…luckily it’s been pretty humid and wet, so it didn’t dry out too much.

I know I had some specific plans at some point, but I don’t remember what they were.

It’s not perfectly round; it’s definitely handbuilt…and even though I used a mold, it’s still not really even symmetrical.

I’m OK with that. I think I’m just going to start underglazing it. I have an idea for the next big art piece and I want to start it.

The quilt is progressing slowly.

I mean, I’m getting lots ironed at night, but it doesn’t look like much because it’s all tiny things mostly. Except for the ground and the water. So it doesn’t feel like much progress. I am trying to iron more than an hour a day. My goal is to be done ironing to fabric this weekend.

Scribble follows me at night (when she wakes up), so she’s in the studio now, checking out progress.

This is after last night’s 90-minute session. I did iron a tiny Scribble-like cat, but then looked at her more closely. Her coloring is complicated. I need a bigger cat to iron to get her facial details to work. A 1″ drawing is not a good place to start with her.

I finished the first 300 pieces plus a few out of the 300 box. So not halfway, but I probably will be tonight. Lots of fussy details in the next 100 pieces too though, so maybe not. Lots of buildings and logos. Sure enough, our school district is pushing teachers using AI in planning, and I’m pushing back. I do use it occasionally, but it’s not as useful as they’d like it to be.

Scribble sometimes comes to bed with me…

But she’s not always ready for actual bedtime. Unlike me. She’s a pretty gentle kitten though. She looks evil and vicious, but is not even breaking the skin. Just gently holding my hand in her mouth and paws. Sweet baby.

I appreciate the cuddles.

This is my medieval animal, apparently.

Seems appropriate.

OK, meeting this morning (ugh), then teaching about waves (ocean first, then sound…sort of? Not entirely sure what I’m doing today…will figure it out as I go). Hopefully my voice holds up…it was shaky yesterday. I’m still holding mucus from the flu…can’t shake it completely, so that doesn’t help. Lots of tea and throat-clearing. I may give in and take cold meds. Then pilates after school (I’m already tired) and I’m cooking dinner tonight (leftover lasagne I was smart enough to cook and freeze over break). Plus grading and then ironing. LONG day. This is what being back to work is though. LONG days. Fabric at the end of it. Good thing.

Head on Straight…

OK, officially a school Monday, but no kids today, just 3+ hours of listening to people talk about stuff that doesn’t help me get my classroom ready for tomorrow. It is an easier start than going right back to teaching, though, so I appreciate the afternoon, where I can make sense of shit, especially all the shit I didn’t finish. I actually did OK. I didn’t grade two assignments. Everything else is in the gradebook. Considering the number of days I was out of it with the flu, I did well. I didn’t really get a break from school entirely though, because I graded almost every day…just a little, but I did grade. I’m sure there’s a way to avoid all of it, but I mostly suck at that, so I’m glad I had time to get some art done…definitely spent more time than usual on that over break, although I only made it to ceramics once. Which sucks. Not sure what the status of my bowl will be when I get there after school today. Ah well. And I never saw my frames come out of the kiln. Hopefully they’re OK. It would suck if they weren’t.

So I spent a goodly chunk of time Friday night and Saturday cleaning up the office, moving stuff around, trying to make space. I did pretty well, although I distracted myself with culling through the two orange drawers and one of the three red drawers. I go through the fabrics I’ve been collecting since 1990 and if it’s something I haven’t used much of, I chop a fat quarter off of it (I usually buy 1/2 yards) and put it in the donate bag. Then when I have enough (whatever that means), I box it up and ship it to a couple of charity organizations. Gives me room for more fabric and more choices. Plus I get to see everything I have in the stash, which is sometimes surprising. Then I tried to put away all the fabric from the last quilt.

So everything gets messier for a bit and then I can see straight and can start ironing fabrics for the next quilt…which I started Saturday night.

I hung the drawing and started setting out the Wonder Under in numerical order by 10s.

And then I start ironing to fabrics.

Top left is the background fabric for this quilt. I’ve mostly been doing dirt and some water so far. A volcano. Some oil spills. I’m still in the 0-99 box, but I’ve pulled from the 100s too. It’s been a slow start, but it often is. There are lots of little details that all need to be different colors. But I’m doing it now…just hope I can be done with the ironing to fabrics sometime next weekend. Tight deadline for this one.

In other news, my 6 quilts made it to Virginia to the quilt museum in Dayton. That show opens later this month and I’ll be there for the closing activities in March. Put it on your calendar!

In other awesome news, despite having to paint in the rain, the cold, the humidity, and the wind, the boychild and I finally got the new railings on the deck.

I need to do some touchup, and then all those plants go back up against the railing (so I don’t have to look into my neighbors’ yards. I started this plant bonanza during COVID to block the view (and sounds) of my neighbors…at the moment, it’s a little out of control, so I need to do some more work in the next couple weeks to replant and move stuff around a bit to make it more organized. But the railings are done! Ish. Mostly. You know how that goes.

This lasted about 2 minutes.

Scribble wants to cuddle, but the big cats are hesitant. It’s cold here at the moment (well, it’ll be 79 degrees later, but it’s in the 40s at night), so they are more conducive to cuddling, but mostly with humans and not each other.

Yeah this.

My ICE quilt will be in Virginia. It’s not the first quilt that I’ve put ICE in…it probably won’t be the last. It also probably won’t be the last quilt with a tattered American flag and a body bag in it. Unfortunately.

This is also too real…

My district today is pushing us to use more AI for planning. Wasting more water and electricity…plus dumbing us down. Don’t get me wrong; it can be helpful. It’s just problematic in more ways than it’s helpful.

OK. 3+ hours listening to the things. Then working with my co-teacher to get the next two weeks planned out (hopefully, because I need to copy a table of contents for tomorrow) and making sure our classrooms are put back and functional after Winter Academy co-opted our rooms. Then run some errands…my store had no yogurt and no deodorant for me (ah, allergies), and I need more paint. Then ceramics! I’m hoping I have the energy…last year, I took a nap after this first work day. I’m cooking tonight and I should probably grade some of the two assignments I didn’t get to…and then I’m ironing, hopefully into the 100s and further. The nice part about the next 6 weeks is that we get three 3-day weekends…and then March is a vast expanse of hard work until Spring Break. Progress report grades are due next week too, so that’s a little stressful. But the extra Mondays off do help. I’m hoping they help me get this quilt done. And keep my head on straight. Ha! Well, I can hope.

Cocooning…

Friday. Last Friday of Winter Break. I’ve been really out of it this break…not sure why, although I can blame some of it on being sick for the middle third and then feeling like I never caught up. I’m never ready to go back, so it’s a moot point to say it again, but here I am. In terms of classwork, I have one class of packets left to grade, one whole academic assignment, and two smaller one-class assignments. Plus I need a worksheet done by Thursday and my notes from December make no sense. So there’s that. Fun times. I might figure that out this weekend. Or not. I’m not really motivated to get ‘er done in terms of school, except to finish the grading because progress report grades are coming up. Soon. And I have this quilt to finish, plus the deck railings, which are taking forever to paint. It’s been wet and cold and nothing is drying until today, when it’s still cold, but there’s a breeze and that’s helping. So I have three coats plus primer on 3/4s of the sides and I need to do the other side. I was hoping this project would be done by this weekend, and that’s not happening. It never does. Seriously. DIY is torture. School feels the same way sometimes, and so does housecleaning.

I did manage to finish trimming all the Wonder Under; honestly, I finished the first large chunk of it in the first day, then the last little bit last night.

Scribble slept through most of it.

Then after I finished trimming last night, I sorted them all…

At this point, Scribble was less than helpful…she kept seeing shadows under the bins and shoving them apart to get to them.

Fun times. I managed to get it all sorted despite all that.

I also bought background fabric, so I’m hopefully ironing down to fabric starting tonight. The office is a bit of a mess, and I need to fix a pair of pants first, plus put away fabric from the last quilt and move some stuff out of the way so I can get to the fabric bins. But it’s not a lot to do. Hopefully I’ll finish ironing to fabric in the next week and start trimming. We’ll see how that goes with going back to school.

I went out to meet stitching friends last night…this one is almost done.

It’s the 9th tree in Sue Spargo’s Rooted, so the last of them. Plenty left to do on it.

You’d think when it’s this cold that all the cats would be curled up. This was only because Bowie wanted the blue blanket and me.

And Scribble was already there.

Babies sleep a lot.

Anyway. Next step in the quilt. Scribble tends to follow me, so presumably she’ll be in the office while I iron. She’s set herself up before in the sleep spot Kitten used to frequent.

I wish I had something insightful to say about the ICE shootings in the last few days, but it’s beyond me. I just finished an ICE-related quilt with a body bag in it, not because I can see the future, but because people had already died in ICE custody. This is heinous. It’s not law enforcement, it’s not making my world safer. My world is not safe at all, and I’m an old white lady. I can’t imagine the fear and anxiety being a person of color or someone in the middle of the immigration process must feel…I just know it’s wrong.

There are a lot of wrong things in the world right now…some of them have always been there, but we’ve made some attempt to make them better. And now that’s not even happening.

This one applies to so many things…

Back to vaccinations and health recommendations. So many idiots. So much not learning happening.

Anyway. If you like my work, odds are your brain is going through the same confused contortions mine is. With no solution in sight. So many lies. So much bad information. So disheartening.

It’s late in the day…I need to go buy some cat food and figure out where to get one skein of DMC floss. Then grade some stuff and clean some stuff so I can iron later. Read a bit. Eat something healthy…or not. Resign myself to going back to work in a few days. Fight for the time to have a life outside of my job. Go back to ceramics…it’s been two weeks since I’ve been there. Sucks. Work on getting the gym back into my selfcare regime. HAVE a selfcare regime that isn’t just about cocooning in the house with sweats or pajamas on. OK, maybe that’s not a bad thing.

Go Read a Book…

Hey there. I’m convinced Nature doesn’t want me to finish the DIY project I started Monday with the boychild. It poured this morning. I’m not sure it’s done pouring. I painted this morning. Fun times. It was lovely and sunny as I painted and then it was pouring. And then WordPress wants to charge me a million bucks for more storage. Did you know I’ve had a blog since 2004? And been on WordPress since I think 2014? Or something. There are things I can do, but they require time and brainpower. I’m debating things. Also, the last two months have been really expensive…nah, the last 6 months or so. I’m not ready to drop a shit ton of money this month. Or next month, to be honest. So it must be January…when all these things are in my head, plus grades are due in a couple of weeks (no, I haven’t finished grades) and I need to get this quilt done and I was sick for a week and now I stabbed my finger with a cactus spine and it hurts to type. It’s fine. Really. All of it. It will all get done. I don’t think I’ll finish painting today though. That’s a reality check.

OK, so I finished tracing Wonder Under pieces last night…

It took about 11 1/2 hours to trace it all.

Last night, Scribble woke up when I had about 30 pieces left and was quite insistent…at one point, putting her foot/claw through the Wonder Under as she realized it was not solid and she was over the edge of the light table. She caught herself on my hand.

In general, she’s not super bitey and scratchy, so that’s fine. And the hole is manageable…I’ve dealt with worse. So there’s the 4 1/2 yards of Wonder Under I now need to trim. Which I guess I have time to do with the wood needing to dry out again. Plus I’m not entirely sure it’s not going to rain again. Sigh. It’s progress at least.

My piece is still hanging at MOCA in Connecticut…

They posted this yesterday…

Which was cool.

This is not cool.

Whole milk and red meat. I guess it’s too much to hope that certain key politicians follow these guidelines as well as the vaccination schedules and succumb to the reality of that. Yeah. I thought so. I guess more people will have heart attacks. I do worry about the kids…I can’t understand why we wouldn’t want kids to have everything they need to survive. Mind-boggling.

Yes, I got my measles update. I have Hep A and B (I’m a teacher). I have all of them except the updated TDAP (sensitivity to the T part means I can’t get the DAP part). OK. Well. I’m going to get some painting done today…I got the first three sides of the primer on. Was about to flip it for the fourth side. Then I need probably three coats of actual paint. Looks like we’re installing Friday…so much for a quick job. Ha! I have some grading to do. And I can start trimming Wonder Under. I’m sure there are 78 other things I can do as well…I just don’t want to. Not shocking that. I go back to school on Monday and I will never ever be ready. It’s nothing new…happens every year. Get your shots, all. Eat healthy. Don’t let the brain worm take over. Read a book! Did you see the data that the majority of Americans didn’t even read one book last year? I read 120. I shouldn’t be making up for the rest of you. Go read a damn book (I know; my readership is probably not the problem).

Ramp It Down…

Well. I just realized I haven’t written since 2025. OK, it’s only the 5th of January, but normally, I would have written on Friday…Friday was a shitshow. It’s fine. It was also the boychild’s 30th birthday, so in true son fashion, he disappeared and did his own thing. I love that for him…considering it for my birthday this year too. It was actually a health insurance issue, which in the end, worked out (well, apparently), which is better than all those sweet people trying to find affordable health insurance at the moment. It is one of the things our district does right…provide good insurance…although they keep threatening to make it cost more (it costs more every year almost, so it’s an empty threat). In general, though, the coverage is good. Except when they fuck it up…which is what happened on the 1st. Anyway, it made the day stressful for me, but eventually I got my meds and went to the knee doctor (good news…it’s not weak, it’s not ligaments…it’s just old. Still.). Back to physical therapy for me. Whoo. I’d rather do that than surgery, so there’s that. Anyway, I’ll blame all that and the remainder of this damn virus for making me forget to write. Saturday and Sunday were all about packing quilts up for the Virginia show, and then shipping them today.

In between all that, I’ve finished grading one whole assignment (only two to go…but both are big) and more importantly, finished the next drawing and started tracing. That’s been fun…tracing with a kitten in the house? Between Luna (attacker of paper) and Nova (eater of paper) a few years back and then Bowie (PARKOUR!), it’s been a bunch of kitten incursion into my artmaking over the last 5 years. Scribble is no different in her love of the process. So I wait for her to fall asleep…and then she wakes up anyway.

Here’s sometime last week, when I was still drawing…some cat (probably Nova) took a bit out of the drawing.

Scribble denied it. I have a system in which I cover the drawing when I’m not actually working on it so no cats can attack, tear, or eat it. Because they’ve done all those things.

Still drawing…this is last Wednesday night…so the same day as my last post. New Year’s Eve!

Everyone in the house but me went to bed early. I didn’t even make it to midnight, because flu. Thursday night, I finished drawing…

I have a size limit…and a time limit. It looks complicated (and it’s not NOT complicated), but not huge, so only about 760 pieces. I numbered it that night too…

About 6 1/2 hours to draw it, then another hour to number it. I think that night went past midnight…finally starting to feel well…ish.

I started tracing it on Friday night.

In this photo, Scribble is under the drawing. Makes it hard to trace.

That said, she’s not scratching, attacking, or eating it, like the other three did, so win-win situation here. Bowie is definitely tempted here.

He also knows now that it’s not allowed. I say that like it matters to him.

She’s cute. That might be what saves her. There’s Bowie, thinking about it again.

He definitely argues for equitable treatment. Sigh. Scribble is easier to pick up and move than the chonk Bowie though.

And she wanders off and plays with feathers in between.

Anyway, I’m more than halfway through the tracing. This one is on a super-tight deadline. I’d really like it traced in the next couple of nights. But also, I can’t just do this. The boychild and I are replacing the deck railing. We bought wood today and I spent a couple hours this afternoon trying to move planters for access. During COVID, I put up all these shelves and planters on the deck so I wouldn’t have to listen to/see my neighbors’ kids all the time. It’s gotten pretty overgrown. I accidentally broke two pots today; one was an Xmas gift, so I feel shitty about that. I still need to go back out there and deal with one shelf, a couple of pots, and an entire planter. I needed a break though.

Other stuff: we had a bunch of rain again and Simba doesn’t like to get wet. He has a raincoat. I’m not sure it helps, but he looks cute in it.

Scribble sleeps like a kitten.

Plays hard, zonks hard.

Then again, there’s been a lot of cat snarliness over that blue blanket.

Bowie covets it. Nova doesn’t care. I don’t know why none of them curl up with each other when it’s cold…except for the two sisters.

The boychild found a baby bird.

It’s a bushtit. We panicked a little and left it for mom…

It unfortunately did not make it and is now buried in the backyard.

I tried using Google Translate live to translate a video I was watching…not so effective sometimes.

Although maybe that is what she was saying (seems unlikely).

I find this amusing.

I tell it to fuck off constantly; same with Gemini. Like just go away. I’m using my brain now. Make Copilot clean the ceiling fan blades. I did that and wished I didn’t have to.

This is also too true. Damn US, the political bullshit in the last week has been nuts.

I’m not ignoring it. I’m just still processing the damn Epstein files. And the ACA. And Jack Smith. And now bombs? And kidnapping? I’m boggled. Also someone please tell Erika Kirk that we don’t need to do another round of Phyllis Schlafly. She was an idiot the first time around. Anyone who can’t see the parallels in this bullshit with Serena Joy in The Handmaid’s Tale? Either you want to stay home and be a freakin’ trad wife, or you want to have rights…you can’t have it both ways. Unless you want to be a feminist? I highly recommend it personally, but if you want the trad wife life, do it. Just don’t make the rest of us come along. We have brains that work too…and we want to do different things. Right now? I want to curl up on the couch and finish my book with a cat or two and a fire in the fireplace and a nice cup of tea. But no, I need to go finish hauling shit around on the deck and then probably stand and trace for a few hours after grading some shit. So there’s that.

Anyway. I’m thankful for a week that has mostly no plans (except the to-do list) and time to recover fully from the flu (I’m still coughing up a lungful of mucus) before I have to go back to the crazy. Although if the rest of the country could ramp the crazy down a bit, I’d appreciate that too.

A Good Book and a Warm Kitten

Well hello, last day of the year. I am alive. Although still shaky on that front. Not really. Just not feeling 100% yet. Although I managed a pilates class today, plus two whole stores! And a shower! That was fucking amazing. I should do that more often. No really, I (and the girlchild) came down with some coughing feverish extravaganza on Friday night that downed us…well, like I said, I’m mostly functional today, but felt exhausted by having to break the meat up for the lasagne sauce. Yesterday, it was the walk down the driveway to the mailbox. I’m mostly upright today, but still need a rest…past the napping and fever though, but some coughing still pops up occasionally, mostly in the middle of the night, when I’m trying to sleep. Fun times. Got the old guy sick too, but mom, boychild, and ex seem unscathed. Trying to take it easy seems the best plan. Then Man overextended himself into another day on the couch earlier this week. It does seem like lost days, not getting anything done (because it is)…but I read three books? So that’s something? And slept a lot. And communed with cats and dogs.

Good Scribble, keeping mommy warm. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

I did start drawing a little on Sunday…or maybe Friday. I’m not sure. The days are a bit blurry.

Oh yeah, that was Friday. Then there was a massive blur of time on the couch in pajamas and some crazy stuff like going to get my labs done (shocker, my white blood cell count is low). You know, I had a damn flu shot. Fucking RFK and his minions.

Monday night, I inked a little and then had to lie down again.

This was in two batches on Tuesday. More standing, but then got nauseous. Nauseated. Yup. That.

Gonna do more tonight. Don’t know if I’ll finish, but it’s raining here and we don’t go out on NYE unless we have to (and we don’t), so the lasagna sauce is simmering, my drawing is waiting for me, and the Man might let us watch something that’s not just his choice (hard to say; he’s definitely still recovering but went to work yesterday for a half day).

Look, it’s Scribble on my lap again!

I always feel so bad when I have to stand up to do whatever. I mean, nothing is as important as being a cat couch, right?

Poor dinos get their extinction blamed on everything, don’t they? The poster in my room blames their not reading.

Seems fair.

Trying not to think about this…because I haven’t done much of it. I was doing OK and then the plague happened.

Fun times. I had to redo my year in books for Goodreads…they calculated it 5 days ago, before the plague forced me to finish four more books.

Forced me. Ha. I don’t think I’ll be finishing one tonight, so that’s it. Not bad. The most pages I’ve ever read while documenting on Goodreads. Not that it means much…when I was a kid, I read a lot. It does make you wonder though…I read to escape. Maybe too much escaping this year? I managed to make 6 full-size quilts too though, which is one of the other things I look at for sanity. So yeah, 2026…ugh. Please make us healthier, let us read and make art as needed, cut back on the day-job crazies, make the home life smooth and lacking major repairs (I already know that’s fucked). And all the best to y’all as well. May you have the equivalent for you of a good book and a warm kitten (oh wait, here’s where I admit that three of those four books weren’t that great). Ha! Happy New Year…if that works for you. If not, I suggest tucking into bed early with a nice meditation recording and hopeful thoughts.

Set Them…

OK. Five days. Anyone can do five days. Tomorrow will be the longest day, because apparently Tuesdays are now the longest days instead of Wednesdays. Not sure why. A 2024 school year thing? Who knows. I feel pretty good about the weekend; I got the things done that I planned to get done. I could have done more, but that is always the case. I feel prepared going into this week (well, mostly), unlike almost every other week since Winter Break. I’ve taught this before; I know what it looks like. It’s not all direct instruction. I get time to grade the two weeks of homework I haven’t gotten to yet. All good. Plus the quilt progress is ahead of where I thought I’d be, so that’s awesome.

I ironed on Friday night…

Got a good chunk of the second figure done. Saturday, I finished her…

And Sunday, I had picked a background fabric that was big enough, but when I unfolded it to iron everything down, there was a square chunk out of it in exactly the wrong place…it wasn’t going to be big enough (it was just big enough in the first place), so I picked a different one. And then ironed it down…

I’m glad I had another one that was big enough…although this isn’t a huge quilt really.

Then I started stitchdown…

I got a good solid start…did all of the torso on the more complicated figure. I should be able to finish tonight or come close to it, then pinbaste and sandwich tomorrow night and start quilting. This one is on a deadline. Hell, everything I’m working on right now is on a deadline. I need to prep the embroidery I’m taking with us on our trip too. No worries. Just got two Zoom meetings at night this week and packing to do, plus keep up with school stuff. Although I’m mostly caught up (breathe…knock on wood).

I also went to the ceramics studio on Friday. It was delightfully empty. A bunch of people are at a ceramics convention, but Fridays have been empty lately. I finished (for reals this time) the underglazing on the base…

It’s currently drying. It’ll get bisque fired soon. When I think it’s dry. I started the base on November 4. I wasn’t working on it all that time…I needed it to put the next level on to make sure they’d fit and work together. I should have underglazed it sooner, but I was distracted.

The back is not as exciting.

This is the second level in progress…

I think I started it in January. It’s solidified nicely, but is still pliable enough to attach more things. And attach more things I am doing. Probably for a while. Yes, there will be a head…haven’t figured that out yet.

Still horrified by the stupid shit my government is doing. Everything they do hurts almost everyone but rich white boys.

I’m amused that they’re butthurt about Tesla protests, but not about the racist/sexist protests of the Proud Boys and their ilk. Their protests where people died. I still see people claiming January 6 was Antifa. My lord, people. Read. Please. I’m just waiting for more of those pardoned assholes to commit more crimes. They’re ‘good people’, my ass. I had to shop once this month with Amazon (wedding registry…no way I could deal with it otherwise)…but I’ve been avoiding any brand with MAGA ties. I can’t say it’s easy. My local quilt store. Target. Staples. Honestly, I just don’t buy things that normally I would buy. I guess that’s another way of saving.

I spent 7 hours on Saturday doing my taxes. I wish I could say I’ll be better this year and document things as they happen, but I know I won’t. After doing all of it, I remember what the notes meant that I took last year. Maybe I’ll be proactive this year and set it up properly for next year. Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully.

I’m with you, spoon. Got your back.

The Man took this picture of his three cats all in the same place and not moving (a miracle that)…

Luna, Nova, and Bowie. He’s a big boy. Almost a year old now. Still cross-eyed.

OK. School. Punnett square project. It’s Eid, so a bunch of kids will be absent (end of Ramadan). Pro: they will be eating normally again. Con: I’ll have to get them all caught up tomorrow or Wednesday. Pain in the butt, but can’t stop teaching right now. Too close to the end of the year and testing. Then staff meeting, possibly another meeting, then hopefully clay. We’ll see. I need to start going to the gym again…so I’m trying to save Tuesday for that. Progress on the quilt…maybe finish stitchdown. That’s the goal anyway. Set them, meet them or break them…it doesn’t matter as long as you set them.

I Am Neither

There’s a very vocal crow up early this morning. I don’t usually hear them in the morning at all. It’s close to dark and I can even see one of the crows (there must be more than one) on an electrical line out my window. The other one, the loud one, is in one of my trees…cawing away. It’s usually super quiet here in the morning…the occasional trash truck or neighbor slamming a car door, but the lower neighbor doesn’t seem to go to a job anymore (on his motorcycle, which was fun at 4 AM). Quiet is nice.

There are 8 days of school before Spring Break. I’m trying to get everything copied and planned for next week and the week we come back, so I don’t have to worry about it. Grades are due right after we come back (of course they are), so I’m also trying to make that an easy thing too. Normally I’d collect packets before we go on break, because kids lose them or parents throw them out, and I’m not doing that. I’m not even done grading the last packet (it takes a while…I stayed late after school the last two days to get two classes done; I’ll probably do the same tomorrow and Friday). I know I’ll have two academic things next week that I won’t be able to finish before break…ah well. They will survive. Because you should always get your oxygen first before getting oxygen for the people around you. I need to take care of myself to take care of the kids around me.

With that, I’m trying to get this ceramics piece done…I think it actually is done. I’m trying to deal with some persistent cracks, but I think the underglazing is done.

Don’t worry about the inside. A quilt is going in there. I darkened the peach up a bit. Or brightened it. I’m probably going to use some oxides on it later. I think this one will go in a glaze fire as well as a bisque. We’ll see. I’m going to have to get through the other two parts first before I figure that out. Anyway, I covered it up and I shouldn’t have…it needs to fully dry so I can stick it in the kiln. So Friday, I’ll start working on the upper torso again…see how the arms are literally holding up. No head yet. Not sure how I’m gonna do that. I started this base on November 4.

In quilting, I was really feeling behind, like I was never gonna finish, and then all of a sudden, staying up 20 minutes late, I was done trimming pieces…

That’s 7 hours and 55 minutes. Last night, I sorted them…

Luna watched…

Tonight I’ll start ironing them together. I need this thing fully ironed together by the end of the weekend. Then stitchdown early next week, and sandwich it before I go on Spring Break. When I come back, quilt and bind it. Start the next one. I know, I packed some deadlines…and hopefully I can pull both of them off. We’ll see. I also need to get my taxes done in the same time frame. That’s harder. I spent another hour last night going through charges on the credit card and Amazon invoices for art, copyediting, and school stuff. Collecting the info takes longer than putting it in. Pro: this year, I seem to be on the refund side instead of the payment side. Con: that’s because I didn’t sell as many quilts last year. Ah well. It happens. I feel like I’m barely making anything lately (I know, the last one was big and took a long time). Sigh. School. There are less than 50 days left of school. It’s still a lot, but that’s usually when I start counting. Honestly, I’m counting less these days…not because it’s easier…because I can’t look that far ahead without panicking.

We are going camping over break…although honestly, mostly we’re NOT camping…

And that story is way too true. A whole family of them.

Because of when we’re leaving, I can’t march in this…

And I would. In case you’re wondering. I haven’t been using Amazon (except to print last-year’s invoices and to buy one video I showed my students). I’ve been trying to shop independent stores. I’ve watched the dismantling of everything with a sense of dystopian horror. My retirement funds have crashed (ah well, that happens). The next four years of school will probably be problematic. My partner is depending on social security for his retirement and is currently dependent on federal and state funds for his healthcare. I can’t afford to take care of him AND me. I may not be able to retire in four years, or I may get fired before that. Eggs are still expensive. Avian flu is out there and we’re hearing nothing from the people who are supposed to inform us. The idiots are trying to start wars with some of the most peaceful countries out there while allying us with one of the most dictatorial countries. I’ve signed up with a few groups that protest, although I haven’t gotten to one yet (that whole day job thing). I’ve sent money to funds that will hopefully protect the people who need it most. I’ve watched some people spew some of the most idiotic stuff; I guess they don’t realize it will affect them in the long run. It’s not going well. It’s stressful to read about it and watch it, and it’s hard to know what to do. So I’m buying some postcards and writing some letters. I have an app that helps me call my representatives and let them know they need to be louder. I won’t be marching on the 5th because I’ll be driving, but I’m hoping to find a way to protest anyway.

A few of you might not agree. Some of you are probably even related to me. Ah well. I guess I’ve read too many dystopian novels to see this working out well for any of us except the supremely rich and arrogant. And I am neither.

Same As Always…

I know it’s not uncommon for teachers to not be able to sleep well on a Sunday night. It’s just annoying. I know it’s a busy week, probably a stressful week, based on the last few, and I need all the sleep I can get, but no, brain…no, you won’t let me sleep. Up three times in the night, awake well before the alarm. Not appreciated. I had to be up early for a parent meeting today anyway, so I think that’s a total of three meetings before and after school today. A few more hours of sleep would have been nice.

I did manage to get some things done this weekend…we figured out that our tent was moldy as hell (I suspected that) from the last trip, I got some of the bulbs planted, I dropped that last big quilt off with my photographer finally, and I got some ceramics time in. I was supposed to go Friday, but I was still fighting that halfassed cold that seems to have wandered mostly off now (knock on wood), plus I forgot to bring my glaze box, and the whole point was to get the base glazed so I could get it in the kiln fire before anything else cracked or broke. So I went yesterday instead, on the way back from the photographer…

Almost done. I want another layer on the flesh…I want it a bit darker. Then I can work on the upper torso for a bit. I started this in November…it’s taking forever. I did do some other stuff in the middle though.

I also cut things out for three nights, although I didn’t get as far as I wanted…never do.

Let’s see if we can see the progress…this is after Friday night…top left is cut out, top right is trash leftover trimmed pieces, bottom is what’s left to cut.

Here’s Saturday night…

All those flesh pieces ready to be cut out now…and after Sunday night…

Definite progress. I’m still in the fleshy bits, but the grays of the other figure are showing up and the box is noticeably emptier. Still got two to three nights though, unless I get some extra time in. Unlikely, because I’m really trying to grade all the things now. I don’t want to grade over break. I’ll have to, but I’m trying to keep it minimal. Best I can. Even rewriting one academic thing to make it more obvious…easier on my end.

Hoping to get to the ironing together part before the weekend. We’ll see how that goes. I’m behind on my original plan. No shocker there. I do have two Zoom meetings this week; I’ll be cutting things out then. I also have a book I’m about 85% done with, and I’d really like to finish it too. I didn’t get to hike this weekend, but I did a bunch of yardwork. Still trying to clean out the outside entryway from the flooding last year. I have a broken sprinkler that I don’t know how to fix. There’s about 3000 weeds in the yard that need pulling. I did some of the entryway…it’s mostly filling up a bucket with dead leaves and/or dirt and walking it down the stairs about 4 thousand times, maybe more. The dirt gets to go in the wheelbarrow and get dumped in the front yard. The leaves go in the greenery trashcan. Fun times. Then I need some gravel and a new replanting plan. I started some of that. I also started my taxes, which is a lot of work and time and needs to be done before we leave on Spring Break. I’m looking forward to getting the fuck out of here though, because I didn’t do it last year and I paid for it later. It’s a mental break that’s necessary to get through the rest of the school year. Looking forward to it. Need a plan for somewhere cool to stop between here and Humboldt though…we have hotel rooms for the drive up. Just want somewhere to go see, walk around, that might be cool. I know there’s some flower fields north of LA that I want to try to find. We’ll see. Anything better than Dateland (on the way to Phoenix).

Here’s Nova the other night…cuddling with me as I cut shit out.

And here’s some owls…

At some point, one of the owls has an animal on top of the box and then almost drops it.

Pretty sure they get it into the box later. We don’t hear babies yet…but this is a pretty good sign that mom is sitting on at least one egg. Fascinating stuff.

OK. School. Parent meeting in the morning. Teaching DNA and chromosomes. Two staff meetings after. Book club tonight (yes, I read the book). Lots of cutting things out. Finish that damn book. Grade some stuff. Same as always.

Ride It Out…

Ah yes, finally typing this on a computer. Not everything is fixed and back to normal, but I am no longer fighting a 10-year-old computer that is slowly (very slowly, because it’s the only speed it had) dying. Yes, it’s taken like three weeks to get functional again. There are some things that I just can’t easily do on a phone or an aging iPad (also needs replacing this year). The boychild was a massive help, although in the end, we didn’t use the backup service I’ve been paying for for years…so fun that.

This weekend was another in a series where I don’t get 1/10th of the stuff done that I wanted or needed to. It’s just my life, maybe? Hard to say. I did some grading and some school stuff but mostly didn’t. I spent time in Home Depot (must be spring) and digging a hole that probably isn’t big enough. I finished one book (actually two) and started another. I made some art and went for a hike. I don’t feel ready for the week. I’m fighting a cold…I’m hoping I can hold the worst of it off, because we have a field trip this week. I’ve drunk a lot of Vitamin C this weekend in hopes it would boost things enough to kick this thing that’s trying to sneak in. Who knows.

OK, art…I ironed a lot this weekend…

I did like three sessions on Saturday…there’s the setup with one computer backing up, one being set up, and the one I was actually watching stuff on…

Too many computers…there’s the beginning of the flesh fabrics, which I spent most of Saturday ironing.

Got through the whole pile…they were interspersed between the 200s all the way to the 600s, so I officially have no clue how far I am in the ironing. But I got the actual flesh done and then still need to do all the eyeballs and the heart and lungs and all those fussy bits that aren’t flesh colored.

I really wanted to be done Sunday, but that didn’t happen. It took too long to do everything on Sunday. I don’t even think I got an hour in, unfortunately.

More of the bits and pieces though. I suspect I’ve got another three nights before I’m done. We’ll see. I have a ton of schoolwork to do as well. As always.

I’m underglazing the base in clay…with Bart’s help (not really…he was wet from outdoors and tried to headbutt the part of this that keeps breaking off).

It just takes forever to do this stuff.

Coral is done, some other bits and pieces in that color range. I’ll be back at it tonight.

We hiked Saturday…got the full 3 miles in this time.

With two coyote sightings…

Broad daylight…

Went out for dinner…

I did draw…just totally forgot to photograph it.

Ah, falcon payments. This lasagna thing was from the book for The Electric State, which was very different than what the movie seems to be.

But lasagna…

The next puppy I get…

This is maybe too real and also applies to my quilts…

Lastly, in cleaning up hard drives all over my office, found this from around 2001 (not 1994 like the time stamp says)…

One of the best pictures I’ve ever taken of the kids.

OK. School today…with an impending incipient cold. And still tired. But hopefully a chill day. Turn the things in, y’all. Then staff meeting (ugh but short) and ceramics (yay). Then home, grading, and ironing (more yay!). Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate (most of whom aren’t Irish in the slightest). And may the government fall into a deep hole it can’t get out of (we’re close, but not quite). I checked my retirement funds over the weekend. Thanks to the billionaires in charge, I’m now down a significant amount…well, we’re gonna ride it out y’all…just let me retire when I need to.