Middle of the week. Already. Getting through the workload. Sort of. Dog is feeling off…needs the vet. Meeting this morning…parent realized after three months that their kid is doing nothing and ditching classes. Fun stuff. Ironing is still happening…I think I hit the 2/3s mark last night.
Monday night was all about an arm…
OK, two arms. Put the code on her arm and then started building the other one. The code stands for something. It’s written down somewhere. Binary for something.
Then last night…
Fingers with lots of rivets, plus a pigoon. A what? Ask Margaret Atwood…but they’re smart.
I’m in the 1000’s…about 30 left of them. So about 500-550 pieces to go. Maybe ironed down by the weekend? Or ON the weekend…which is already booked up. I was looking at last year at this time, and I had time for the SD Book Crawl and a hike and lots of art. The Man was up in Kennedy Meadows, working, getting ready for his hike. I was making art and who knows what else. This year feels much more hectic, which is funny, because last year was pretty rough due to block scheduling and having the same kids together in all the same classes all year. There is no normal any more.
I had the dentist yesterday, then had to buy some fake fur for school, for a lab (they always ask you what it’s for, so I told them). And then went to visit the ex’s new puppy again…she’s hyper as shit.
But also cute.
Meanwhile, poor Simba feels like bleck. So I’m calling the vet when they open, on the way to the parent meeting that is a waste of time (sigh). I can’t find the paper examples I used to have for what I’m doing in 8th grade; luckily my co-teacher had a pile, but she doesn’t remember doing it (she must have, because I don’t recognize any of the kids’ names). Mine must be in the classroom somewhere; I just don’t know where. One more place to look. I don’t know what I’m doing in 7th grade…oh wait, the thing we finished yesterday. Yes, that’s how it’s rolling here.
OK, gotta go to school, do the things, hope for some ironing tonight.
Well. It’s Monday morning and I’m still in my pajamas (I couldn’t do that over the weekend; had places I had to be)…I need to do this at least once over break or it doesn’t feel like time off. I did grade stuff on Sunday and will do more today, just because it has to be done and I’d rather get it over with than have it looming over me at the end of break. No matter what I do, something will be left until the last minute and the Sunday before we go back will be panicky, but I can do my best now to make it better. Future self will appreciate it.
I also did a bunch of art stuff, so I’m feeling OK at the moment. The yard is scaring me with its overabundance of shit growing out of control and needing maintenance, but I feel like that’s an annual thing and this year is just a bit worse because we’ve had so much rain. The weeds, man, there are weeds for DAYS. But I have four days before we leave to go camping, so that’s time that needs to be utilized wisely. So far in the last three days, I have sent a few emails out for something I’m thinking about, the Man and I planned food and made lists for camping, I made it to one exercise class and one meeting…I’m doing amazing! Oh yeah, finished a book and started another one. I am feeling a little panicky actually because my to-do list is a bit overwhelming. But I think it’s a lot of little things that can be banged out quickly. I hope.
So the quilt pieces got sorted on Friday night (I was really tired)…
That was after going out and listening to a friend’s dad’s band and playing some meme game…
Yeah, that’s me reading the cards. So it’s no wonder I was tired when I got home…we also stopped for food on the way home…
I don’t often go out on Friday nights…too tired. This time, it was the first Friday night of Spring Break, so it felt doable. Last year, I got on a plane and flew overnight to see the girlchild…who got a new job yesterday! She’s coming back to the West Coast, so that is lovely. And hopefully this job will be better. It feels like everyone around me is getting new bosses in the next few months…including me. Change…is good sometimes.
Saturday, my quilt guild had their 3rd birthday party (yes, we started right when COVID started). The birthday cupcakes had an issue with spelling…
I worked on this while sitting there…
Wait, I have video…
I’ve been working on this since 2020, I think. It is not fast stitching, but it’s meditative.
So after that, I ironed the newest quilt together…got a chunk done before dinner…
Then came back after dinner and did more…
And on Sunday, got the main figure done…
And started working on the doctor’s lab coat…
There are a lot of pieces in this coat. Today, hopefully I’ll finish the ironing and get it ironed to the background so I can start stitchdown. My goal for the week is to finish stitchdown and get it pinbasted by the time we leave for Arizona. I think I can do that…until I start thinking about all the other things that need doing. Yeah! Woo!
New puppy Annie (Anwen) at my ex’s house…Simba is still not enamored of puppy behaviors.
That is HIS pillow. Poor puppy. She’s adorable.
OK. Boychild says I have lots of yardwork to do. My to-do list has a lot of art and house stuff on it, as well as yard stuff. I think I need to take a shower and get out of pajamas, unfortunately. Although I think I’m going to do one school thing first. I finished 2/3s of something yesterday and I’d like to get the last third done. Then start checking shit off the list. But also read and pee when I want (teacher dreams!) and eat when I’m hungry and not as fast as I can. And take deep relaxing calming breaths because I can. Thank you, Spring Break, for giving me some peace and quiet.
I think I am going to go to sleep tonight and wake up sometime next Wednesday. And hopefully all the things I need to do and/or have forgotten to do will magically be done and I will feel refreshed and ready to take on the last 9 weeks of school. Damn, that sounds long. Not as long as 38 weeks, but long. I’ve managed to grade a ton of stuff in the last three weeks, so I will go into break with two academic assignments, a couple of effort questions, and (so far) 4 classes of packets. I’ve finished one of the 8th grade packets; they’re small and easy to grade. 7th grade is probably coming home with me. I have to clean my room enough so that they can clean the floors (finally! last cleaned in August), and there’s a 90-minute talent show assembly today, so both of those things are exhausting. But doable. I can see the light! At the end of a long tunnel. It’ll be fine. Bad news the other day was bad. But not devastating. Ah well. Change. It’s neverending. Just keeps happening. Roll with it. Maybe roll over on your back and look like a dead bug, but roll nonetheless.
Artwise, the break is looking awesome. There’s a show I want to go see, I have two quilts ready to iron together, one of which needs to be done by the time break is over, I’m going to have time to draw the two quilts that are hanging out in my head at the moment. One of them is school shootings again. Because you know what? They haven’t stopped.
When I have problems falling asleep or falling back to sleep at night, I imagine where I am in the current quilt and walk myself through the next steps. My counselor said I could also think about the next quilt. That might have been a mistake. I drew an entire anti-gun/pro-kid quilt in my head the other night and now I have to draw it for real.
So much truth. And this one is heartbreaking.
Certainly I think about whether I’ll get to retirement without living through a school shooting at my own school. I think all teachers probably do. It’s exhausting on top of everything else we do.
So there’s all that, and then there’s making art. I actually have a second quilt that drew itself in my head in the last week, so I have some drawing to do at some point.
Wednesday night, I cut stuff out.
I was feeling close to done, and sure enough, last night, I finished.
It took 6 hours and 45 minutes over the last week. Tonight I’ll sort them and clean up in the studio a little bit so I can iron. I don’t know if I’ll have the energy to start ironing, but if I don’t tonight, I will tomorrow. Because I don’t have to grade anything tomorrow or lesson plan anything. I will need to at some point during break, but it doesn’t have to be tomorrow. Looking forward to a break from all that work, every day, nonstop, panicking regularly about what the fuck I’m doing in 8th grade. Don’t want to normalize that.
I find this funny, but I don’t think I’m either. There’s a regular disagreement about silverware, but whatever.
Oh yeah! One of my students painted me this…
She also wrote me a long note on the back and that helped me get through a long day. Kids are good. In general. Even the annoying ones (which she is not).
Another kid I’ve had for almost 2 years now actually showed up in my classroom after school and asked for help (!) after never doing that before, and then she went home and did the thing and emailed me she was done and I am so damn proud of her for doing all that. She’s super shy and quiet and honestly anxious maybe frightened and I’m so happy she got to that point. A good day if that’s all I look at (I should learn to just look at that and not the annoying tiresome bits, yeah?).
Simba has a new friend…
My ex got a new dog, a puppy. Anwen is 14 weeks, so this is a good comparison for the future when she is full grown next to Simba, who is middle-aged at this point. She’s adorable and sweet and I’m looking forward to seeing her grow up.
OK. It’s the final countdown. Eight hours until they are gone and I am finalizing my disaster of a room. Spring Break is a reset button. Get back to eating healthy and more exercise. REST for fuck’s sake. Let my teaching brain have a break. It’s time.
Ah the blur of midweek. Feels significant, but really, there are three full days of kids and seemingly coercing them to continue to work even though Spring has infected their brains. Or something has. Insects maybe. Not sure. Certainly the last two academic assignments I’ve graded seem to be affected by something. Not sure the excessive rain helps. Excessive for us, anyway. Over an inch yesterday. Ah well. Moving on.
I had an opening last night…exhausting day/time for those, but it’s at Grossmont College and the college receptions are always during the week for obvious reasons. I have a really hard time with the Thursday night ones, but Tuesday seemed doable. I made it an hour! Impressive, eh? OK, just under an hour. It’s a good show! You should go see it. It’s at the Hyde Art Gallery on the Grossmont College campus. Walk-ins from 10-4 Mon-Thur. I know! Hours I can’t actually go see the show, so there we are. Sigh.
This is all work by Feminist Image Group artists. It’s very colorful and varied in style and material.
I have two pieces in the show, ironically the same two that were at Liberty Station last year. I had dropped off 5 quilts (he wanted to choose) and had even made a new one for the show. Here’s Beyond the Concrete…
Which was made for a show it didn’t get into, and then went to Quilt National.
And You Pollute Me, which has been all over.
It’s OK; I have a show for the other piece. Well, I’ll enter it anyway. It probably won’t get in because it has a dead (Earth) baby and that’s a library show. Sigh. Ah well. And that’s the show I’m currently making a piece for anyway. Probably neither will get in, but they will eventually get in somewhere.
I do have pieces that never get in anywhere. This is one of them…
Connected at the Hips. No one ever accepts it. Ah well. And it has aged out of most entries, I think. I finished it right before COVID hit. That shit happens (the never getting into shows part; not the pandemic part…although that DID happen).
I’ve been good about grading at night AND getting art done. Brain is back to tired but functional instead of tired and NOT functional.
Sunday night, while not sleeping, I decided the main figure should not be flesh-colored because she was like a protective Earth Mother and the people she’s holding need to stand out, so if they’re all flesh-colored and she’s NOT, then that will happen. So I made her light blue. Like you do. I picked out all the fabrics and then spent most of the hour plus on Monday night trying to find all the pieces that were her flesh. Started at 37 and went up into the 300s, I think.
I ironed the first set and then went to bed…and then last night, I ironed the rest of them…plus a bit more.
So I’m somewhere…well, IDK how far I am, because I’m still in the under 100s on some things. All the little figures and then all the stuff on the main figure that wasn’t flesh: heart, lungs, hair, arteries, etc. So more of that tonight. I’m honestly hoping to be done by the weekend. I have goals in my head: finish this one as quickly as possible during Spring Break, finish quilting the Sue Spargo bird quilt that’s been under my machine since January (is that for real?), then start ironing the cyber/bio punk piece together. It’s waiting patiently. Then I have one more big one to finish by mid-July. Insane much? Yeah well. Fuck work. It’s hard. I need the art to keep me sane. Plus I know I’ll be gone for about 6 days in April (camping and hiking, if my body can handle that) and then about 10 days in June/July (Seattle, baby!). So I need to be efficient or something. Back to my old healthyish self. Being sick like that sucks. I feel like I lost three-plus weeks.
In other news, I’m way ahead in my Goodreads reading challenge for the year. I planned for 60 books this year and I’ve already read 20. I’m not sure how I’m being so efficient in reading, but I’m powering through books like a crazy woman. Sign of the year. Need the fantasy worlds to get me through. I stayed home a little later yesterday to finish another one. Also I’m now in TWO book clubs (crazy, right?), so that is motivating me. Also I love to read. So there’s that. My goal for next week? Add the gym back into the mix. I’ve been doing pilates and not a lot else. Body needs more. But the blood sugar issues from the meds they gave me for the scarlet fever have been part of the problem, and the numbers are finally getting better. Which is why I’m feeling better. All good.
Not sure why the boychild took him out during the worst of the rain. Certainly Simba also probably wonders that. It was raining so hard yesterday that at the end of one of the classes, they came on the intercom at school and told us to hold kids for a few minutes until it calmed the fuck down. OK, not the words they used, but certainly the sentiment.
OK. Parent meeting today that I think will not go well (not the parent’s fault…the kid…who knows, he might step up). Then forcing one group to write and the other group to think and then write. Labs and simulations tomorrow. Then field trip on Friday (ugh…this one is not my favorite and I have to come back and teach the other group). Looking forward to the weekend, even though the number one thing on my to-do list is my taxes. Hoping to tip the numbers the other way or panic greatly. I could use a check from a piece that sold two years ago any day now. That would be nice (it’s not happening for a while, unfortunately). Ah well. Maybe something else will sell soon. Or my taxes will miraculously figure their shit out. I guess that’s my job. Sigh. Hurts my brain.
Pilates after school, then cook an easy dinner (Wednesday self thanks Sunday self for that plan…although I have nothing for lunch tomorrow and tomorrow night’s dinner is a challenge…a tasty one, but still…). Then maybe grade more stuff and definitely iron more stuff. Get through the pile of little peoples. That’s the plan.
You know, I have two alarms that go off to get me up in the morning. Not because I’m a deep sleeper; I’m totally not, but because sometimes one or the other doesn’t go off, and if both of them didn’t go off (it happened once, power outage plus phone hiccup), I wouldn’t make it to school on time, because this is too early for my body to naturally want to wake up. Truth. This morning, the one that is more likely to wake me up didn’t go off, and then I had slept so badly in the early parts of the night that I didn’t wake up for the second one. I would have eventually, but it’s not meant to be the main alarm, so it’s quieter and easier to ignore. So my third alarm went off. The Man going “hey”. Well there we are. THREE alarms. Ugh. I could do without this inability to sleep unless I’m exhausted crap. Normal people fall asleep within a reasonable time after they get in bed and then stay asleep. At least, I think they do. It seems to work for a variety of people I know. Not me.
So the pro is that I got a lot of art done this weekend, because I refused to work on Saturday and I didn’t work ALL of Sunday (just most of it). Did I finish it all? Nope. Never will, so there’s no point in freaking out about it. I graded 4 assignments for both grades. I have a lot to go. Ah well. Never changes really.
Friday night, I graded 3 of those assignments…but then I traced some more…
I didn’t quite finish, but I did stay up way too late. Sigh. I really am a night owl by nature.
On Saturday morning, I got up and finished tracing (I really only had about 30 minutes more to go), and then my quilt guild had a sew-in at my local library, so I figured if I went there, I wouldn’t feel like I had to grade or do yard work or clean house, so I would get the cutting part done.
Here’s all the pieces…told you it was a relatively small piece.
That’s a little over 5 1/2 hours of tracing.
Then I spent a few hours talking to one person and cutting stuff out. Then came home and cut the rest out after dinner, and then sorted it.
I also napped after doing some yardwork (man, I’m still out of shape)…so did the Man.
He’s recovering from a bad cold. We had all the cats at some point…
Then last night, I started ironing to fabric…
Have to lay all the pieces out first…then pick fabrics…
Solid start. Slow but that’s OK.
Simba is no help with any of it, school or art.
But he is good for couch cuddles.
These two are friends again. Sort of.
Because it’s cold, I think.
Ugh. I am so not ready for school. Mentally or physically. I’m trying to plan lessons I can mentally handle. Which isn’t much at the moment. Everyone is about to leave the house, for work or jury duty. Poor puppy to be left alone all day (or at least until someone gets released from jury duty…it’s not me!). Then home tonight to work some more on school stuff, but also to iron some more, which is all good. Oh wait, I also have book club. They moved it to Mondays and I’m still confused about it (it’s been months). So yeah. I’ll need to be semi-awake for that. I’m feeling a nap at the moment. A serious one. A girl can dream.
My goodness, we have reached the end of the week. I’m still napping every day after work. Yesterday, I had to do something after work (deliver a bunch of art to an upcoming show), and that was the max of my physical ability. I was supposed to go to a stitching meeting after that and totally had already canceled, which is good, because I drove home and fell asleep for an hour. Listening to the body. Best I can.
I got to talk to my real doc yesterday (video visit). They tried to reschedule it into 4th period 3 times…seriously, they kept calling and saying, “the new time is…” and I’d say, “I’m teaching then…”. Very frustrating. But finally got 15 minutes to go over all the crap that happened and confirm that I will be tired and recovering for at least another 2 weeks. Uh huh. OK. Trying to process that and all the shit that needs to happen. Please don’t expect me to clean house or perhaps even cook? We’ll see. I’m supposed to cook tonight. I have cooked in the last week. Once. Twice. Well, does avocado toast count? Probably not.
Needless to say, although it was my 56th birthday yesterday, we did not really celebrate or party. Really, I persuaded the Man that I needed cooked food instead of pizza (yes, pizza is cooked, but…), and I read my book a bit, slept a large bit, then watched some USS Discovery while figuring out a Seasons activity for the kids next week. Yup. 8th grade is officially planned through…drum roll please…TUESDAY. Fuck me. Maybe Wednesday. Do not recommend.
Hopefully I will be rested tomorrow and we can go out to dinner. Maybe. Because now the Man has a nasty cough and is going to Urgent Care this morning. Ah well. ‘Tis the season of yuck.
I am still in the cutting world…
Wednesday night…lots of green and some skin stuff in there.
Last night, honestly, too much napping and working, so I only had about 35 minutes to cut things out…
Working on some little creatures and eyeball flowers…
It seems like I’m in the 200 and 300s, but I know I flipped the pile at some point, so I think I have more than that left. But I am getting close to the bottom.
I have a bunch of show deadlines coming up. Some of them are frustrating, very little info given; another had a restriction that work had to be made in the last year. Fuck me. Do you have any idea what the last year has been like for teachers? I’m lucky to make 6 pieces a year, and many of those are currently in a show. Plus it’s a themed show? I guess they think I can make a new piece between now and May 1. Maybe? Probably not, the way the day job has been sucking up the moments. Guess I won’t be in that show. We asked for a time extension. I guess not. We want FRESH work. Then you need to pay my bills so I can make art full time.
Simba would appreciate my being home (and awake) more.
The cats too…this is Luna and Nova stalking a bird or a bunny, not sure which.
And this is one of the freesias I planted two years ago because I found them lingering in the garage from IDK how long ago.
Finally enough rain for them to bloom.
Nice image for Friday. We got through the photosynthesis lab yesterday, which is good, because it’s supposed to rain today. We have an in-school field trip for one grade level today. Hoping I don’t collapse from exhaustion until I get home. And then more couch time. The next step on this quilt requires lots of standing, so I need my energy back, dammit. Hmmm. Maybe another nap.
Somehow I lost a week. It happens. Right? I think it happens when we’re really busy. It also happens when we’re sick. I’m still recovering. The skin stuff turns out to be some scarlet fever and THEN a massive allergic reaction … to … something. The strep? The original doc thought it was the meds I’d been taking. The second doc guessed a reaction to the strep in my system. I don’t really care…well, that’s not true. The next time I get a cold, I’d like to be able to take cold meds without being paranoid they’re gonna knock me out in a bad way. Whatever. On the road to recovery. Still got another 5 days of meds I need to be on, and then we’ll see. Definitely the basic shit tires me out, so my team and the Man were sort of hammering me to take another day off work, but my stress levels about work are already through the roof. I need to see what I have in the classroom. I need to see the papers that are copied. I need to get the chaos reigned in. I will also need to sit a lot. And come home and maybe nap. Or read my book. Which sounds delightful right now.
I didn’t sleep at all Thursday and Friday nights. At all. Not kidding. No microsleeps. No dozing off. Wired to the fucking hilt. Turns out some details about my meds earlier in the week would have been helpful. When and how to take things together. So Saturday morning at 7:40 AM found me here again…
Urgent Care. So many days in Urgent Care this year so far. Because if I didn’t sleep for a third night, I was sure I’d kill things. Anyway, talked about meds, gave me a new one, explained the allergic reaction best they could. Came home, worked, because you know what? Grades are due. I worked on grades all day Friday (prone, on the couch) and all day Saturday, but by then, I was almost done. There are a couple of things I have to do today, but then they’re done. Miraculously. Can’t say kids will be pleased, but hey, Trimester 2 is always rough.
I also did some staring at flowers…
Which I find very relaxing.
I also read a lot. I attempted one nap for 30 minutes. Probably took me 27 minutes to get close to a nap state. But I felt better. Less vibrating of the mind.
There was some cutting stuff out each day…Friday night…
Simba is very supportive.
I like comparing the piles each night. Left pile is cut out, middle is trash, right pile is to-be cut.
Saturday night you see a ton of pink pieces at the top of the to-be cut bin on the left…
And then last night, I gifted myself another hour of cutting instead of another hour of planning.
Harder to see here, but a lot of the pinks are cut out and in the top bin, and I’m down in another layer or so in the to-be cut bin underneath.
So there’s progress. I saw some 900s in the cut-out pile, but I’m mostly going backwards at the moment, so maybe more than a 1/3 done? Really hard to tell at this stage. I’m about 8 1/2 hours in, though. I would’ve been further if I hadn’t gotten sick, but that is what it is. There’s always something. In fact, you should just put that in the to-do list:
buy dirt
set up vet appts
something
Might as well be realistic.
Sleepy puppy. He’s been a pain at night lately, in bed. Very barky. Last night very Lie All Over Me. His boy is in Boston with his girl, until tonight, when I pick the boychild up from the airport and hand Mr. Barky over to him for sleeping duties.
He sleeps just fine everywhere else.
My sleep? Still problematic. Skin is not my friend. Largest organ of the body! Currently the most annoying.
Gotta keep the nose warm.
OK. TAKE IT EASY. That’s my mantra this week. I will probably suck at it, but I will keep saying it until something sticks. Come home, read, rest, make art. On the couch. Definitely feeling every second of my age this last week. Thankful to be better, looking forward to Really Better. Also wearing a bra when you have prickly skin is THE WORST. Stupid day job. Can’t really NOT wear one to middle school. Ah well. I haz the prickly boobs right now.
Forgot! Great quote from the book I’m enjoying at the moment…
So ironic. Written by a woman. That’s a man doing the search. I laughed a lot.
Yeah it’s been a while, although I think I blogged Monday. In retrospect, I should’ve found the energy after school to go to urgent care then. Ah well. It was strep…even better than strep! Scarlet fever! Hey the only adults who get that are those who have or work with kids. Lucky me. Also this shit knocked me out. No food for days, everything still tastes bad or weird, even tea, and I love tea. Still have a sore throat but I can swallow now…nice change. Could do without the rash…kept me up all night. Also the meds make me see weird things when my eyes are closed but not asleep? Like strange upside down 3D black and white landscapes but with these flashes of really bright colors at random intervals. I bathed yesterday but haven’t had the energy to shower. Gonna do that today. Although I might do an oatmeal bath too…before bed. Damn prickly annoying rash. So I’ve spent about 6 days fighting this, not eating, writing sub plans with what little brain power I’ve had, mostly prone. Even now, I’m writing this lying on the couch, resting up for the shower. First one since Monday. Should be exciting.
Me in bed. Cats. Luna left, Kitten right. Getting out to pee was hard.
Luckily the sore throat was so bad, I wasn’t drinking anything hardly at all, so who needs to pee? Honestly not the best choice.
I managed cutting pieces out on Monday night for about an hour.
Then nothing until last night, a little over an hour…
So the top left box is everything that needs to be cut out, the top right is what little I’ve done, and the bottom is the trash. Lots to do. And grades are due Tuesday. I’ve done none of that. I don’t have a lesson plan for 8th grade past Monday. MONDAY. Yeah. I’m fucked. But I will figure it out. Those thoughts were what forced me to eat and drink yesterday. You know what the only things that taste normal are? Gatorade and Froot Loops. Thanks by the way to the men in my life who take me to Urgent Care, take me to the pharmacy, and do not question the texted grocery list. Although the fridge needs cleaning out, the compost needs to go out, and I’m doing laundry.
This guy, Simba, has also been a champ, although I’m sure he thinks I’m really boring. But also nice for cuddles.
Ok. So with improved health on the way and hopefully less prickly skin soon, I’m going to continue the rest of March. I was out of it when it started and I don’t know what actual day it is now. It’s a long month but the end of it brings Spring Break and I think I’m gonna need it. Probably sooner than it comes. Gonna go take that shower now. And then rest again.
Didn’t sleep well last night…wind was blowing. Some weirdo winter storm out here, bringing snow (hopefully not to us) and rain and wind (obviously, from last night). I don’t sleep well through storms. Even rain wakes me up. Plus three animals in the bed who all wanted to be touching me (or on me) and then school brain, which needs to shut the fuck up when I’m not actually there or working on school stuff. Seriously, just be quiet so I can have a life. Yesterday was stressful. Lots of strange and not-so-strange things going on. I did come home and finish some stuff I’ve been trying to get done for next week, though, so that was good. Then I can plan the next unit, which will be fast and furious. Reminds me of some of my students.
Preparing for more of the crappy bits today. Hoping for some moments of clarity, where kids explain the things and I can see they’ve been thinking. That’s mostly 8th grade at the moment. A small portion of 7th grade, but mostly not. I think the crazy outweighs the thinking in there unfortunately. Wish me luck with all of that today…I’m already tired. Also, today’s self wishes yesterday’s self had gone to pick up the cat meds, because today’s self remembered she is cooking dinner and the meat needs to marinate for an hour. Uh huh. Well. Yesterday’s self just wanted to put pajamas on and read her book for an hour before starting to work again, so that’s where we’re at.
Maybe today’s self will just NOT work after school (not sure I can afford to do that at the moment). Maybe she will just iron after dinner. Because I have maybe 200 pieces left. It’s close. 26 hours in! Yikes. Crazy.
Here’s Monday night…
Here’s Tuesday night.
I actually pulled all of the pieces out of the box looking for one (which I never found) because I was trying to match something. Gave up on it. It’s not that important.
Lots of fabrics. Lots of colors. I keep adding more. I have a little left to do on her head, plus another arm, two birds, and some giant eggs. Then I’m done and can cut things out for a week or three. Hopefully not three. I’d like to finish another smaller one in there somewhere. Probably not happening. It might, though. We’ll see.
Sleepy Simba last night…
Finally stopped barking.
So on the weekend, after the Skirball and a night in Pasadena, we drove to Riverside to go to the Cheech. The exhibit was of work Cheech had collected over the years. Fascinating, lots of color, artists I didn’t know about, even though I grew up in Los Angeles and got an art degree in Orange County. We didn’t see a lot of local art (we should have) or art from people of color or even art by women…the art history book we used had no women in it at all, but my professor added some stuff. No internet back then, so it was hard to find anything out. Even my Frida Kahlo class was more about Diego Rivera than Frida herself. Truly annoying.
So let’s see how many of these I can add to this post before I have to go to work for a parent meeting.
This is a woodcut, which is pretty amazing. It’s also big. Bietenaladxi naa (Remember Me) by César García Gutiérrez.
When I can find artists’ websites, I’ll link them. Beautiful detail of the skeleton.
These pieces were actually part of a different exhibition in the front of the Cheech, but they caught my eye. This is Rebuilding by Priestly Henry.
This was a fun little piece…
This is the piece that made me want to come to the Cheech…Frank Romero’sArrest of the Paleteros.
Huge and beautiful. You can follow him on Instagram. Here’s a detail…
It’s not just beautiful; it’s political, about arresting the street vendors in LA.
OK, that’s all I can do today. More next time. I will get through them all. I love the use of color in all of these pieces (well, even when I get to the black and white ones).
I’m not ready for today. The weather is whack. My brain is whack. School is whack. But there’s ironing at the end of it all.
I am very lucky to have today off. Well. Luck. I will still be working. I’ve worked the last two days; why not continue? I’m sick as well, a minor cold at least, but enough to make the working harder than I’d like. Mostly Saturday. I fell asleep on the couch, which is a perfectly healthy thing to do, even when you’re not sick. I need to grade a couple of higher-level thinking things today, plus plan more for the rest of the unit, because I feel like I’m really far behind and can’t get my head around any of it. As usual. Ugh.
So let’s think about things I do have control over (or do I?)…ironing! I’ve managed that despite the cold, although this weekend has reminded me that in the past, I could’ve ironed ALL weekend and done fuck-all with school because it didn’t take up this much of my life. So there’s that.
Friday night’s ironing…
I ironed a small green fishboy. And an embedded phone…in a leg.
Then Saturday night…
We did not go out. I wasn’t feeling great. I don’t remember what I ironed at all. There’s a bunch of little details going on all over this thing.
Sunday night I remember!
The incubator with everything in it and attached to it. I had to recut three pieces out of Wonder Under because I had numbered really badly with the overlapping tubes from the uterus to the incubator, but it’s OK. It’s done now. Some of this is just difficult to figure out in terms of what colors and how to portray what I want to show. But all that is good for me. It would be easier if I didn’t have to also figure out what to do with the light waves portion of the current unit and then next unit about space, which I haven’t even looked at. Yeah. Freaking out about some of that for sure.
So much better to think about what I’m ironing next, which is a flask (glass) with liquid in it, always problematic…reflections and all. Ironically…just like what I need to teach next. Yeah. OK.
I’d really like to be done with the ironing this week. We’re going to LA/Riverside next weekend and I’d like to be cutting things out (much more transportable)…although I have enough to cut out that it doesn’t matter if I’m done or not…I have plenty to take with me. It’s more a matter of needing to finish this one so I can move on to the next two.
I lost this piece. Then found it. Then lost it again, spent 10 minutes looking for it, couldn’t find it, decided it didn’t matter, then found it again.
It’s fucking tiny. In the scheme of this quilt, it doesn’t really matter, but the fact that it’s reappeared more than once means it does matter. So I know exactly where it is right now and will be ironing it down to something immediately before it gets lost again.
Simba guarding my leg…
Kitten rubbing her head all over things I’m grading…
She was doing the same thing a year ago. A year ago, I went to QuiltCon, which is not happening this year, because it is much further away (Atlanta). Too bad. I’m still debating Quilt National…it’s a long way, a pain to get to, expensive (the biggest issue), and during the school year. Near testing. Ugh.
These guys are friends again.
It’s nice when they’re friendly. Sometimes they’re not and it sucks. It’s mostly Luna having issues. Nova is pretty chill.
This is one of my students. She’s an English-language learner, but it turns out a lot of them don’t know what Dry January is…
Which is a good problem to have, I guess. Not sure if I should just ignore this and move on, or…?
Yeah that. Explains middle school appropriately.
OK, well the car is at the shop for an oil change and some other crap that may or may not need to be done, the boychild is officially laid off for at least three months (CalFire is weird), I have a shit ton of work to do (nothing changing there), I have a dermatology appointment so they can tell me I should’ve worn more sunscreen as a child (there wasn’t really sunscreen when I was a kid…it was SPF10 and lasted 5 minutes for a paleface like me). And I’ll be ironing later tonight. Again. For the happy foreseeable future.
Kathy Nida 