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.

Dribble Away

The last Monday of 2024. Weird that. Why do Mondays have such strange power over us? I suspect if I had a different job, Mondays would be less ugh. I am a little over 1/3 of the way through my Winter Break. I still have a few things left to grade…a small pile of redoes that I can’t quite bear to look at…yet. I’ll get there. I’m in that weird molasses part of the year (break) where I don’t seem to get anything done. Although the boychild and I cut down part of a tree that was growing haphazardly. That was a thing. And I’m sure I checked some things off the to-do list, but as I do them, more take their place. It’s annoying. So then I check out and pull out a book and don’t get anything done in a day that seems really short anyway. I think every Winter Break is like this. I have a pile of labels to make and print, an art application to fill out, which means revising my resume with everything from this year…which sounds just like a lot of work. Good work. Work that needs to happen. But work nonetheless. I need to go trim some shit. I should just go do that. I’m tired, though. Trying a new medication to see if the visual disturbance goes away. It’s supposed to make me tired. I can concur. I am tired.

Or that’s just where I am right now. I also need to prep 5 quilts for shipping/delivery. Maybe later. Sounds like work.

I did restart quilting this, from two years ago.

It doesn’t take long. It’s lame that I haven’t finished it yet.

It’s Sue Spargo’s block of the month Bird Dance, which I started a million years ago. It took me through a lot of soccer games. I have about 1 1/2 columns left to quilt and then the border and then I can put a binding on it and it’s done. Then I can toss the other big quilt up there and quilt it too. While ironing another quilt together. It’s all doable. I just need to do it. Sounds simple. And complicated.

Thinking too hard at the end of the year.

Friday night, I was still trimming, but there wasn’t much left…

Saturday night, I finished…

A total of 18 hours and 49 minute of trimming…after 24 hours of ironing. I never documented the fabric range for this…but it was 189 fabrics…

I cleaned them all up yesterday, so I could reclaim enough boxes to sort the pieces…

No, he wasn’t helping.

It took 2 hours to do that. But I’m ready to start ironing together today. I’m ready to do a lot of things today; if only I had the energy.

The girlchild and I went to ceramics on Saturday…

She’s very intent on a few things. I’m making some random little things…

And this has been sitting around forever, waiting to be carved.

We’ll be back today. I did work on the big piece, in that I found a place on the drying shelves for the big one and the top of it is back on my shelf, waiting for me to figure out how to make the arms.

Finally made it out for a hike on Saturday afternoon.

Another energy thing.

Nice to get outside and exercise though. Even though my knees are complaining like crazy today.

It’s cold, y’all, but apparently not quite cold enough to cuddle.

Weirdos.

OK, I have a chonky to-do list still and it makes me feel better to check things off of it. Sort of obsessive in that way. Need to sort out some plant material…probably easier to do that before a shower, so do that first. Then shower and lunch and somehow the entire day will disappear and I’ll be at ceramics again. Seems fair. Nice to have days that can dribble away for once and not cause too much havoc.

What Day Is This…

Yo. What day is it? Yeah. We’re solidly in Winter Break then. My goal of finishing grades on Christmas Eve? Fucked. Well, I didn’t grade much on Christmas Eve because I realized people were coming over on Christmas and I hadn’t cleaned anything. In months. Welcome to teacher life. And the tree was still outside. I never got lights up outside. I found them. They are on the floor in the entryway. I put one whole ornament on the tree.

That tree needs to be planted after I’m done enjoying the cats playing with it in the house. It’s outgrown its pot. It was a volunteer I found in the yard years ago and I just kept upsizing its pot until it was big enough to be the Christmas tree. Not sure what I’ll do next year. I have 5 volunteer trees in pots but they won’t be big enough by next year to do anything. I’ll worry about that next year.

So I graded a tiny bit on Christmas Eve and a tiny bit on Christmas night, and then yesterday was going to be the finish day! Then I spent 3 hours with the neuro ophthalmologist so she could tell me again that they don’t know if the visual disturbance is in my brain or my retinas (because it would be in both). Did all the tests. Everything looks happily normal. Unlike me in general. So they’re going to try another migraine med to see if that solves it. It’s only really irritating at night, especially when driving. And sometimes I freak out because I don’t know what’s causing it. Aliens probably. Even the doc nodded her head at that possibility. So it’s mostly benign and not changing. She’ll see me in a year. Woo hoo. She’s nice and I like her, so it’s all good. She’s also thorough as hell; hence the 3 hours. I did finish an entire book in between all the tests and waiting. I guess that’s a good thing. The point being, my grades still aren’t done. I finished the packets (yay) last night. I have three more classes of an academic question, a pile of homework papers that need grading, and the late work and redoes. It’s probably 4 hours. Will I finish today? Maybe. I have other things I need to do, including replacing a crown. Ugh. No fun there.

I’m still making time to cut stuff out at night…which is good, because it feels like it’s taking forever. Because it is. This is Christmas Eve after the Man’s family party…

Then Wednesday night after my family’s Christmas dinner, which the boychild cooked.

My sole Xmas photo of my mom and the ex’s dog…

Then last night’s cutting…

I’m getting there. I still don’t see the bottom of the box of pieces. So maybe two more nights? Maybe three? Not sure. Same pile with Devil cat guarding.

There was some cat action last night as I was getting ready for bed. Also side view shows there’s quite a bit more in the to-be-cut box. Sigh. I need some consolidated time and I’m not getting it.

I did spend time on Christmas day finding the broken sprinkler…

I was hoping it was the riser, because that’s an easy fix. It wasn’t. It’s down in the ground. I need to trim more crap around it so I can get in there and dig further down to try to figure out how to fix it. Meanwhile, the owl box has bees, so I have to deal with that issue too…we’re supposed to be dropping the box and cleaning it out. Bees make that more complicated.

Bowie is still the most energetic living thing in the house…

Not like that’s hard. We’re all kinda tired. I want to hike, but I apparently mentally need to get past grading to get there. It doesn’t help that it’s cold and cloudy. Although yesterday was sunny and I didn’t feel it then either. This is probably why…

Maybe if I had enough caffeine? Also protein and less sugar would probably help…the post-holiday food has been a little lacking in healthy habit.

I’ve been doing some retirement stuff…mostly downloading crap and then sending it to my brother so he can tell me how fucked I am.

Although getting rid of the Windfall Elimination thingamabobby will help. I’ll actually get the social security I earned before becoming a teacher. What a concept.

I set a goal for reading last year of 95 books and I’ve read 108…with 4 days left, I should get at least 1 more done.

I’ve had some years where I hardly read at all…school just fucked me over completely (2020, I’m talking to you). But the last two years, I just didn’t let it stop me. I read in so many more places now. It makes me happy. So yeah, what goal do I set for this year?

From the most recent book, The Twisted Ones, which I really enjoyed (you gotta like horror though)…

The main character is a copyeditor, although it’s not a main part of the story…

So that part amused me. But also there’s a dog…and one of my rules is that the dog needs to survive dammit…and this one does.

Simba thinks the same thing. Throw in the pool guy.

Anyway. I need to go do some grading now. I really really really want to be done, so I don’t have to even THINK about school. So I’ll be working on that today, then reading another book while they work on my tooth (there’s so much down time when they’re waiting). And cutting more stuff out tonight. It looks the same every night…pro: it’s totally relaxing to just sit and cut while bingewatching TV. I do need to work on two quilts though…probably before I start ironing things together. But not until grading is done. I have one Spargo quilt that I started quilting two Christmases ago and I just need to finish it. And then a friend’s quilt, which was supposed to get done over Thanksgiving and then I was sick the whole time. So those will get peppered in. Plus hikes, dammit. I need more exercise. I need the outdoors. Plus that damn sprinkler and the owl/bee box and a whole host of other household and yard things that need to happen. Plus email this person about one thing and that person about another thing. Or grab the book and go hermit on the couch…tempting. January self needs me to get some shit done now though. So I’m respecting that. And I want to be drawing some too, and that hasn’t happened at all.

Ready or Not…

OK, I’m a day off. I got up yesterday and just started going and then didn’t stop. This morning, there’s gonna be a lot of the same, but I decided to start here. Because I knew tomorrow would be crazy too. What have I been doing on the first three days of Winter Break? Grading and cleaning, basically. I want the grading done early so I can enjoy the rest of my time off. I’m doing pretty well, although my goal of being done by noon today is probably not quite reality. I have one short academic assignment left that will take a couple of hours, one homework assignment that will take an hour or so, 2 classes of unit packets, an hour plus each for those, and a pile of redoes and late work handed in. That’s more time consuming, but maybe an hour? So that’s about 6 hours at the least. And it’s almost 9, I have to drive the girlchild to her dad’s, eat, finish this, get ready for pilates, leave the house at 1:40, then come back and shower for tonight’s party, AND wrap everything, prep the house for Xmas breakfast here tomorrow…OK, it’s just not happening. But I’m close. I think I can have it done on the 26th. So that’ll do. Because some of my to-do list really does have to be done by 5:15 tonight and some has to be done by 9:30 tomorrow morning. So there’s that.

I did take time yesterday to go to the ceramics studio with the girlchild and then forgot to take pictures. That was my down time. Plus I read a little bit here and there, because I need a break. I walk out to the mailbox because I need a break. I’ve tried the grading thing a bunch of different ways: do it all at the beginning, do it all at the end (that one is HARD), and do a little bit every day (you never escape it). This is the best way. Of course, the real best way is to have nothing to grade over break, but realistically, that doesn’t happen. And our progress report grades are due the week we get back, essentially, so unless I want to lose that weekend to grading, I’m going to do it all now. This damn job…sometimes…I really wish I had a job where I could shut the computer at the end of the day and walk away from it, rather than wake up to a teacher:student conversation in my head that I need to have with my students on January 14. Sigh. But there are pros to this job…like this…

They are not wrong. And they amuse me.

So. Art stuff. I mentioned clay. I’ll try to photograph later this week when we go back. Nothing monumental though. Fabric, I’m just cutting things out forever…Friday night…

Lots of letters. All of the letters.

Saturday night…

Tree parts mostly.

Sunday night…a big background piece and some other stuff…lots of weird eyeball things.

Monday night…more eyeball things, barbed wire, head on fire…

I’m in the 700s, working backwards from the 1600s. So more than halfway. Nine hours in. Crazy really. I’ve been staying up to my natural bedtime, which is around midnight. During school, I try to start going to bed at 10:30. I don’t like it, but I need the sleep, so there we are. I’ll cut out tonight, if I have time (see to-do list for reality check), but definitely the next few nights. Hopefully I’ll be sorting by Friday/Saturday and then ironing. Like I said, this one isn’t getting done in 2024. It’s fine. I’m not in a rush. Not on a deadline. Don’t have a plan for this one. The next one has a deadline, but it’s a ways out and requires some engineering I’m still considering in my head.

I think they finally approved our teacher job description (in the district where I’ve worked for 16+ years)…they took out the ‘traditional values’ bullshit, but added this physical abilities section that cracks me up…

Have they met my knees? Are they going to use this to remove some teachers? Because I know teachers with vision problems who adapt, those with hearing problems who adapt. Not to mention the rotator-cuff surgeries. Like who do they think will take our positions if we leave? There’s not a whole host of young teachers lining up, that’s for sure. Have I run, kneeled, squatted, twisted at school? Yup. And sometimes it hurts. Because I’m old. But not old enough to retire, you assholes. I could argue some of my knee/hip/neck issues are work-related too…so maybe consider the implications of going after people for that. Anyway. Fun times. They still have a ton of money lying around and won’t give us enough of a raise to cover the health insurance bump that happens every year. Please. Pay us less. We deserve it. As we run, twist, kneel through our jobs.

Sigh.

Same with teachers. Our lives matter less than that of a CEO. Don’t make money? Don’t matter.

In the same realm, this is very true.

Hell cat is also acceptable. And some book I just put on my to-read list has a sentient spider plant. I’d take that too. Or a bat.

I feel like I’ve posted this one before.

This is my goal at some point for break. And life.

I have totally done this…

I talked to the paperclips in the electromagnet lab. My students may think I’m nuts, but they don’t usually tell me that. Dammit, now I’m mentally back to the conversation I need to have with them in January. Like if you won’t read feedback and adjust to it, then you’re right, your science grade isn’t going to change. Sigh.

Girlchild and Simba love.

OK. Gotta do the things. Need food first. Need to get out of the way of Kitten and the sun (I’m in her spot right now). Then probably clean a floor and start wrapping. Then grade, exercise, shower, grade some more, and go to a party. Not really in a party mood, but the holidays come whether you’re ready for them or not, right? OK. Here we go.

Until I Can Relax…

My photo editing app is updating right now. Not sure when it thinks it will be done. Much like all of my students will be today…unsure of doneness. Yikes. It’s fine. I think I really felt like yesterday could have been Friday and we all would have been fine with it. At least there’s no assembly today…I don’t have the energy for that level of teacher. Just the finish-it-all and hand-it-in level of teacher. Although by 6th period, I won’t be sane any more. It’s fine.

I started cutting out the pieces for the new quilt. I’m using the new Wonder Under and an awful lot of pieces are releasing the paper as I’m cutting them, which is problematic. So far, it’s mostly the tiny or skinny pieces, but it’s enough to be abnormal (compared to the old stuff). I haven’t had a ton of time at night to do things, due to holiday crap and stupid school board meetings, so the first night, I think this is 30 minutes worth of trimming…

Not much. Last night, I got more time in, over an hour. I had worked on school stuff from about 6-8:30 pm, so it was time to quit. Couldn’t deal with cleaning house or thinking about decorating (I have no Xmas stuff up this year).

Those letters are gonna take a while. I guess I know what I’ll be doing for the next week on this quilt. I wish I could cut for hours a day, but I want to get all my grades done before Christmas. I don’t know if I can pull that off, but I’m going to try. I’ll have one homework assignment, one large academic assignment that half the kids haven’t done, another short one, two things to record only, because some app already scored them, warmups, and a relatively short packet. It’s doable. Crazy, but doable.

Yesterday, we made electromagnets. Fun times.

It’s kind of cool actually…although the logistics of supplies is a pain. What to do with all the half-used-up batteries? Who knows.

We half-assed decorated a door. That’s my Max and a student’s ornament.

This was me on Wednesday night…

I had to cook, but I wasn’t ready. So cats helped.

I suck at both.

And this, I am very good at this…

This guy speaks to my soul sometimes.

And this…

I still think they gave way too many to the gas planets. OK, there’s a scientific reason for that. Jupiter is being nice.

OK. Today. They answer an academic question about electromagnets (easy!). They put their packets in order and hand them in. They finish all the other shit they haven’t finished. I clean my room because fucking Winter Academy will be in there in January. Assholes. Teachers steal shit. It’s annoying. I finish grading the last of last week’s homework assignments. I set up as much of January’s stuff as I can. We have the first 7 days done…just need to admit the next two days are what they are. It’s fine. REALLY. Come home, collapse, then stand up and do shit. Or sit and do shit. Because there’s a lot of shit to do before I can relax.

Fabric Is Calling

So where am I at in the Thanksgiving Break/recovery from school and a sinus infection? Ugh. On new meds…they’re working, but slowly. I occasionally breathe normally. But still sound like (what did my PT say?) Zooey Deschanel. I do not think this is true. I think I sound like someone whose head has been filled with snot for 5 weeks. Not pretty. I’m still sleeping a lot, napping, resting. I did pilates this morning for the first time in 10 days. I did OK. I napped this afternoon though in response. That seems fair. It does seem like a hike is not happening tomorrow morning, as is my Thanksgiving preference. Hmmm. We’ll see. I might feel more energetic tomorrow morning. Right now? Not so much. I have finished four books (to clarify, I had already started and was ensconced in three of them, so don’t freak out). Wait. Shit. I finished five books. OK. So there’s that. I finished cutting out Wonder Under, which wasn’t that hard, because it all happens sitting in front of a television…

It took 10 hours and 4 minutes to do that. Not bad. I started Friday and finished Monday night. No, I wasn’t feeling well for most of it. Good choice to be able to do that. Last night, I sorted all 1606 pieces (there’s more because I missed numbering some, but I didn’t count those…they’re all ‘a’s of other numbers))…

Sorting took an hour and 15 minutes. Now the next step is ironing to fabric, which requires me (a) to clean my office, which is a fucking disaster of partially done ceramics pieces and fabric that needs to be put away), and (b) to be able to stand for extended periods of time. Questionable today. We’ll see. I might have a run of energy later. Right now I’m in nap aftermath and it feels tiring. Tired. Headachy. There’s meds for that. I should take some. I am So Tired of taking meds.

I also started grading (finally!) last night. Not a lot. Just a little. Nothing hard. Ugh. I don’t want to not get the hard stuff done now, when there’s a lot of silence and time to space out…I don’t want to have to do it in December, when things are loud and rushed and overwhelming and stressful. I realize I might not have a choice.

I have this video of my two pieces in Glendora at Citrus College…

Thanks to Lydia for taking the video. Not sure I’ll be able to get up there when the college is open.

I managed to make it to ceramics on Tuesday morning, finally…9 days of not doing that. I picked this sweet pot up…

I also worked for a couple of hours on this thing…which is a beast.

It’s big and heavy and this is only the bottom half. Or third.

It’s time-consuming. And delightful because of that. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go back…holiday season is complicated. Maybe Saturday? We’ll see.

Also I have another piece in a museum in Florida…

It’s on the far right behind the coat. This is Ft. Pierce, Florida. The other piece I have in Florida is there through December 20, I believe, in Miami. All good. More work than I’ve ever had in Florida at any one time, I think.

Requisite photo of girlchild and Simba…

He is very good at laps.

That’s my lap. Good dog.

I’m currently having a messaging argument with my cable company who offered a higher price service that would still be intermittent instead of giving me a solution to the problem. Give me a discount assholes. Tell me what the problem is and when it will be solved. Don’t offer me hotspots…I’m on a damn desktop. WTF. What if I were fucking disabled? What would you do then? Not everyone can take their device in the car to another location. Stupid companies. This is not getting better in the next four years. It’s not.

OK. It’s not worth the irritation. Make tea. Consider your views on climate change.

I love Greta. I don’t love Amy. I really don’t want to make another Supreme Court quilt y’all.

OK. Well. Make tea, try to clean office/studio enough so that I can start picking fabrics. Wait. I don’t have a background big enough. Or do I? I might. I’ll have to clean to find it. Maybe I should go read my 6th book instead. Or take another nap? Not sure. I should definitely post this before the internet disappears again. Tomorrow is the Man’s Fam’s Thanksgiving, where I just show up and try to be coherent (questionable right now). I do need to get my turkey into the brine soon. Our Thanksgiving will be Friday. I’m in charge of the turkey and the green beans. And not much else. Ugh. Take headache meds. Drink the tea. Fabric is calling.

The Power

Hokay. Wednesday. I’m a little tired, I must say. Not sure why. Rejiggering my lesson plan for today, I think. Some catchup, some kids finishing stuff up, instead of starting the next thing. I may do a piece of the next thing, but I have two classes that need to finish yesterday’s thing still. It’s OK. It’s fast. But I hate having classes on different things. It’s just easier when they’re all in the same range of stuff. It’s Back-to-School Night tonight…set for 5 PM, which makes more sense for parents, but it means I have 90 minutes after school where I’m just there. I have grading to do and will do it, so I don’t have to bring it home (the first batch of progress reports are due next week, which seems really early). I have a lot of work to get through. I really just want to finish my book though. And finish another one by Monday for book club. I had to finally buy that one, because it was still 5 weeks out at the library.

Artmaking is going slowly. I am not giving myself enough time because of grading, unfortunately. It sucks. I hate it. I guess I lose Sunday afternoons? I don’t know any other way to do this. I feel like I lose half the Saturdays too. UGH. So I traced the two little pieces onto Wonder Under, which took almost no time at all…

And last night, I cut them out…

Superfast. Hopefully I’ll have the energy tonight to iron them to fabric. I’m not holding out much hope, but some.

Monday, I worked on glazing the mug still…

Anybody who’s thinking, oh, Nida will make a bunch of these and sell them…HA! My god, they take so long. Which is fine. I’ve always been more about the process than having a product to sell…obviously.

This already has 10 hours into it.

Consider time, materials, firing fees…

Completely unaffordable. Sorry y’all. This is not going to be a second (third? fourth?) income generator for me. And I’m OK with that.

Enjoy the video in the round.

That long thin quilt is going to this show…

In Miami, Florida. As soon as it’s back from the photographer. It still needs a name, but I think I had one somewhere. I just need to figure out where.

OK. School. Ugh. Redo plan for the day. Get the kids working independently for at least half of class time. Grade things. Prep for next week. Try to figure out how to efficiently grade the thing the other teacher fucked up. Sigh. Spend more of my prep time not prepping. Yesterday started badly with a last-minute switch of two resource kids who need support into a class with no support, literally 2 minutes before they were supposed to show up to my class. They needed seats, they needed to be added to my Google Classroom, they needed to be told not to delete themselves out of the other classroom until I graded things. FUCK. And no support? So that put me over 20% resource kids in that class, so after my complaints and reminders of how shit should work, I have support in there today. But the long string of emails leading up to that last one? I could have been included. So I would’ve known. But no. Not important. So my mindset during prep was to put on loud music with lots of swear words and grade all the makeup work so it was off my plate. Pro? That last bit.

Anyway. Today will be better. I command it. And I don’t have to try to cook after pilates, like last night, cooking after 7:30 PM. Tonight the Man cooks and I collapse. With my book, hopefully.

Relaxing for Me Is…

I love a good day off. A three-day weekend. We’re only three weeks in, but it’s appreciated. And my crazy school board has added two more three-day weekends to the fall. Why? I don’t really know. The board claims parents requested it for travel with their kids…and yet, I have four independent study contracts in the works for September, three for parents who are traveling with their kids…possible a fifth one coming up. I think it’ll be a pain when we get to June and have to add those extra weekend days on, but I don’t think anyone asked the teachers. We also know that the week after a 3-day weekend, it takes twice as long to get kids back on task, and by the time we do, the week is almost over. But I…I still appreciate the extra day. It gives me time to not stress about school. Today I’m going to make some scones for breakfasts for the next couple of weeks, I’m going to go to the ceramics studio (I would have done that anyway on a Monday), I’m going to read my book, and I’m going to rip the tape off all of the painted hallway. Oh yeah, I also need more paint from Home Depot. Ah well. I knew that might happen. I did finish painting the hallway…mostly. There’s some texture stuff I still need to do in the new drywall area, but otherwise, we’re good. I should touch up the ceiling, and I definitely need to sand and paint all the doors, but that’s not happening right now. Right now, I’m putting the art back up. One step closer to putting away all the crap that got spread out by the summer carpet extravaganza. I rolled two coats yesterday and used up every drop of paint. It’s good.

I sort of realized I needed to have this little piece shipped to arrive by October 1, so I spent some time with it this weekend. Friday night, I was still cutting things out. It felt like a lot.

Saturday night, I finished it, so it must not have really been a lot…and then I sorted it all, because I knew it would only take like 20 minutes or so, but half the time, I was trying to keep Bowie (the kitten) from knocking all of them over…no picture, because of that. Cut…

and sorted…

Remember this piece is small…less than 400 pieces. All small pieces too…then last night, I started ironing them down.

Got it more than halfway done. That’s over 2 1/2 hours of ironing. Little pieces are not always easier to iron than big ones. My goal is to finish tonight? Maybe? Stitchdown this week…I don’t have a ton of nighttime stuff this week. Get the damn thing quilted by the following weekend? Then decide what I’m doing next. I have lots of thoughts.

Friday after school, I went to the ceramics studio for a couple of hours. I forgot my glazes, so I couldn’t work on the mug…but I am trying to use up the last bits of the 25-pound bag I bought and the part of a bag that was a freebie. So I made a random bowl that I will sgraffito, and I again tried to slab build a mug. And again, it was way too big. IDK why I keep doing this. I did want to try to round the bottom with darts, and that worked pretty well.

But I’m thinking it’s going to be another plant pot. Which is fine. Everything else is drying…seriously, I have four things drying? I’m going in today and will remember the underglazes. Hopefully. I still have a little bit left of the clay on the right…I was saving some for a handle…for the teacup. Tea tureen? It’s huge. It doesn’t need handles. It might need a lid. No. Maybe I will make a little picture frame. I don’t know. Sometimes with clay, I have a plan. Right now, I’m trying to finish the plans I have and make a decision about what clay to buy next, but I don’t actually have room for any clay in my cubby until everything is on the drying rack. So there’s that. I’ll be carving for a bit, I think.

I finished a drawing at dinner on Saturday…I’d barely started it the previous Saturday when they brought the food, uber fast.

This place was slower. Good? Bad? It was busier. Eh.

We have a new friend to make Simba bark like a maniac.

There is no shortage of wildlife in the yard. Which is a good thing. Speaking of wildlife…

Cats in weird positions for the win.

OK. It’s nice to summarize when I don’t have to go to work. I need to shower, make scones (maybe not in that order), prep the crockpot (not sure there’s room for that in the fridge…could be problematic), do a little bit of school stuff so I’m ready for tomorrow, fold my laundry, go to ceramics and play around, iron some more, check art entries, pull some tape, hang some art. See, it’s a day off and I’m still busy! But some of it is stuff I really want to do and most of the rest is stuff I’d have to do around work if I were going today…which is why I’m writing this at 10 AM and not 7. It’s all good. Also go for a hike today. That’s important. OK. Gotta go start the process. I think I really am more about being able to check things off a list than sitting by a pool all day. I will sit and read, don’t get me wrong, but relaxing for me is the making art part…so if I get to do that for a few hours during the day, it’s all good.

Slipping Off Slowly

I just realized it’s July. I missed that. Hello July! It’s the only full month of break that I get. I have a ton of things to do still, but I’m doing a good job of feeling like I’m on break. I’m doing lots of art and reading books. These are good things. I’m feeling the burnout slipping off slowly. This is awesome. I need to do more of that. I need to focus on forcing that into the new school year. I can’t do this every year. I need my day job to be only a day job…not an every-moment-you’re-awake-and-even-when-you’re-trying-to-sleep job. The less my day job allows me time, the more I think about retirement from that job. This is also the month I don’t get a paycheck…somewhat stressful.

Am I also stressed about American politics and the Supreme Not Court and the possibility of 40 more years of Trump? FUCK YEAH. Will that show up in a future quilt (or 10)? Oh my, yes. Right now, the big quilt I’m working on has a ton of war, especially Gaza and those affected by that war, and reproductive rights, which have been a constant issue in my head for a looonnngggg time. And thanks to those who can’t stay in their lane and get out of other people’s uteri, that’s not stopping any time soon.

Meanwhile, I do a little bit of that big quilt a day…

I thought I might be done Monday night, but that didn’t happen…Tuesday night, it did.

Almost 22 hours of trimming pieces, and I didn’t do the smallest pieces. I don’t cut them out until the last minute so I don’t lose them. So up next? Sorting them. That’ll be a couple of hours. Gonna wait for that part of the house to cool down to do that. It’s the sunny side right now.

I also sandwiched and pinbasted the two smaller pieces that have been lying around.

This meant crawling around on the tile with my kneepads on, sweating my ass off.

Small quilts don’t take as long…

There’s the second one…

Both ready for quilting now. Won’t take long. Just need to get my act together to get them done. And my act is on summer break. So there’s that. I had a plan this morning and it already got exploded, but for a good phone call, so I’m OK with that. Real life often gets in the way of plans.

I wanted to get to the ceramics studio this morning. I got there yesterday and happily had the opportunity to put iron oxide on my piece…

And then I started to wipe off the excess iron oxide…

I have some more glaze that needs to go on…some satin clear in a few areas, and I’m going to update the cat’s white fur. I tried to avoid the iron oxide there, but that’s kind of impossible. Well, that’s not true. I’d need wax resist and I didn’t have any, and I really didn’t think of it until today.

This back picture is a better view of the color…

And it will brown out a little when it’s fired. So ideally I would go in today and finish that up so she can be glazed. The other pots are probably ready to go in the bisque fire, but I’m getting totally into the glaze being perfect, which is silly. Anyway. Maybe today.

I’ve also been working on the upper torso of the world figure. The plan with this one is to make a quilt that hangs behind it and comes down under it. The winged piece above will have feathered wings over the ceramic ones and some fabric coming out of the top smokestacks. That’s the goal anyway.

I added the second hand and did some carving on the face and the ‘hair’ and the shoulders…

This one will have mostly underglazes, I think. That’s the plan. It may change with time. I also picked up some more groggy free clay. Some Texas clay. I’m apparently a clay slut. I’ll use anything. I do know that what I’ve been using is not great for sculpture; it slumps a lot. So this will be good.

So what else? Reading. I’m so behind on gardening/yardwork and housework…the fixing part. I was waiting on the contractor to come in and finish the window, which he did yesterday. Now I need to sand some major areas before the carpet goes in next Monday. So that’s a deadline. We also have a heat wave coming in…they’re saying Friday and Saturday, but my weather app is showing Monday and Tuesday will be even hotter. Joy. Not.

I finished the Period book…fascinating stuff. New ideas, new science, about an ancient biological process.

“Require sterilization”…holy crap. That’s a thing? That’s so disturbing. I can’t even think of a reason why that makes sense biologically.

And this was the end of the book…kind of how I look at what I do in my quilts.

Lots of social media memes/graphics about our current political mess…

And this…

Our current Supreme Court is a joke.

I dissent.

In local news, it’s a good thing we moved all that furniture last Friday, because the boychild’s been working this fire for a few days now and will probably make it home for one day, maybe.

It’s east of here, and somewhat under control.

He’s still out there though. So Sunday night, I’ll have to empty dressers and move a few things, strip two beds Monday morning. Not too bad though.

Remembering this for the upcoming school year.

The last one seems relevant.

And lastly, Nova has found the roll of quilts that normally lives under the bed…now it’s 4 feet higher, but she’s still lying on it.

This is why they’re all covered in sheets.

OK. I’m watching the Stitchpunk Textile Talk, three artists whose work is in the show. I need to go to the ceramics studio. I need to get some greenery trashcans filled…although I just realized they won’t pick up until Friday because of the holiday. I need to buy a box to ship a quilt…the one box I have is buried way way back in the dining area…no chance of getting to it. And I need to ship the quilt that is currently on my worktable so I can start ironing the big quilt together in the next few days. I’ve got pilates, I’m almost done with my book (90%! So hard to not just read it right now), and I need more tea. Definitely slept better last night…the night before, there was a skunk or raccoon that set Simba off, and then two loose dogs around 2 AM that made us get up, our upper neighbors get up, Simba lost his mind, and it was just generally not sleep-conducive. The one dog got trapped in my yard and couldn’t figure out how to get out, so he just kept barking, and the other one was running around, all upset. He eventually got trapped in the upper neighbor’s yard, more barking. Scared dogs, so no persuading them toward us. We finally just opened all our gates and went back in, hopeful they would figure it out. And they did. Hoping also that they made it home, wherever that is. OK. Make a plan. Even if it’s reading and napping (sounds lovely, doesn’t it?).