Let It Percolate…

Deep intake of breath. It’s only Wednesday. (laughs hysterically) OK. Well. The pro is that because I finished grading stuff last week, I have come home from school the last two days and done NOTHING school-related. The con is that yesterday was probably the last day I could do that. TWO DAYS Y’ALL. I made it two days. Better than I’ve done all school year, actually…well, when we went camping…nope…I didn’t make it two full days then, did I. Sigh. Last week, which I had OFF, didn’t make it two days. I did also read yesterday, though. I’m reading a really good book, at least it is so far, and I’d rather do that than a lot of things. I’m looking at today, with a two-hour sex-ed curriculum meeting after school, and thinking…when the fuck am I going to be able to read my book? Important question. Maybe lunch. That could work. I’m feeling antisocial.

Artwise, not having to work at night has meant a little more art time. Although yesterday was a cluster, because I had pilates, then had to pick up cat meds (again, my fault, picked up the wrong ones on Monday), then came home and packed up the dogs because the males are back from the UK and all dogs go to the other house on Tuesday! Yes, I slept dog free last night. It was delightful. Although cats can be just as annoying. Also, I’ve been having really vivid, very strange SCHOOL dreams, not about being a teacher, but about being a student. Ugh brain. Why.

Anyway, rejoice in the ironing! Even if it is slow. Because my brain is sluggy mush. Monday night, I finished cleaning up all the fabrics in the studio and started ironing…first, I lay out 100 pieces. And there’s often an animal in there with me. Annie did the typical ‘lie in the middle of the floor so Kathy has to walk over her a million times’ thing.

Good dog. I didn’t get very far on Monday…

Lots of color, but tiny little pieces mostly.

Last night, I did a little better…

I went all out on the water…

Sometimes I pick fabrics because (a) they bring me joy to see and (b) they’ve never been used before. (b) is not true for that hand-dyed fabric, or for the ones on the top right or top left, but the other two were untouched. That’s one issue with having a LOT of fabric is that you tend to reuse the same ones over and over again, and then buried in the back of some bin is some glorious thing that you’ve forgotten you owned. I’ve been culling fabric to donate and have found some very interesting stuff. That’s a good thing. No, I’ll never use it all up. That’s not the point. The point is having all the choices.

I swear, someday I’ll go on an artist retreat and I’ll only be able to bring one suitcase full of fabric, and it will kill me to create that way. OK, not really…it just feels that way.

Anyway, after all that, I don’t even have the first 100 pieces ironed. I’m slow this week. On many things. Although my crowning achievement this week is finally successfully using the new reimbursement system our district has implemented…despite the instructions having no basis in reality. I’m feeling good about that. Finally getting reimbursed for stuff I bought in August. September is next! Don’t laugh. I might cry.

More ironing tonight…I’ll finish the island and then move on to the main figure…I haven’t decided what color to make her yet. I have some crazy ideas. Not feeling the flesh tones at the moment. Too many of those in the last quilt…although the goddess made out of the earth tones was fun. Won’t necessarily work for this one. We’ll see. Let it percolate all day. See how much energy I have at 6:30 when I get home.

This is what the dogs do when I am not home…

Smart really. Not today, though…it’s all cloudy and cold. OK, need to finish breakfast, make lunch, get out of here to copy a bunch of stuff for next week. Then talk about electricity all day, something I barely understand. Good stuff. Well at least I am learning new stuff, yeah? Lab tomorrow, hopefully. Although also another 2 hours of sex-ed curriculum meetings. Ugh. Almost done with those. They say. Not sure I believe it. Then read some of my good book and iron some stuff. Yeah, I know I said I would work after today’s meeting, but I suspect I’ll be in one of those ‘damn school already took up too much of my time today’ moods. Yeah. Wouldn’t surprise me.

And the Next Day…

I’m trying very hard to eat my breakfast, type this, and babysit a rambunctious puppy before I go to school today. I’m not ready for school…mentally. Physically, I can do today. And then I’ll think about the next day. And the next day. Which makes it hard when your boss wants a lesson plan for some Thursday and he probably wants it earlier than the morning of. Or the night before. Which is where I’m at right now. I have stuff planned out in order, but no clue how long most of it will take, so who the fuck knows what I’ll be teaching on the day he wants to observe. I mean, I’ll know on the day. I hate not being planned better, but it’s physically impossible right now to get there. Again. For the fourth year in a row. So completely done, y’all. PRO! I finished grading things, so I have a few days of leeway before I have to get back on that. I really wanted to be fully planned out for the next three weeks, but it didn’t happen. I have a rough plan for two of them…some decisions need to be made, and otherwise, I just need to let it play out to get the timing right. Absolutely no help on that from anywhere. Sigh.

Moving on. So I finished tracing the quilt on Friday night…

It’s been really fast compared to the last one. Then Saturday night, I cut all the pieces out.

Luckily Annie slept through all that, although she did just about knock an entire box over when she woke up to Simba’s barking.

Yeah. All of them. It was about 4 1/2 hours. Delightful. Last night, I sorted them all…

It took a whopping 18 minutes. So funny. The last one was over 2 hours. I do love a big complicated quilt, but sometimes this is a relief, to do a smaller, less complicated one.

Then I started trying to clean up the studio, putting fabric away so I can start ironing to fabric tonight. I’m not done cleaning, but I’m not cooking tonight and I have no grading (just planning) to do, so hopefully I can spend a little more time in here tonight and actually start ironing to fabric. We’ll see.

Friday was also our Thanksgiving dinner, with my family…just the parents and the Man. The kids are still in the UK…actually, I think the girlchild is back now.

Mom is not fazed by dogs…even very in-your-face dogs.

She’s ripping borders off a quilt duvet she made so she can turn it into a king-sized duvet instead of a queen. Pain in the ass…

Dad also had a dog…

They were very patient with my turkey issues…it turned out fine, but took an hour longer than I had planned. As usual.

Kept it pretty simple. Yes, the dressing turned out great. Second time.

Small group. Lots of cooking and cleanup, but nice to see them otherwise.

This is a first…Nova and Simba on the bed together.

It didn’t last long. It’s like the bed is neutral territory and anyone (but Annie) can be up there together. Weird.

Also weird that we still have caterpillars on milkweed that is still blooming.

We’ll see if any of it survives to next year.

OK. Three weeks of school until the next break. That’s 15 days. Fifteen days with 1 assembly, 1 observation, 1 literacy meeting, possibly 4 sex ed curriculum meetings, 3 staff meetings, 1 union/principal meeting, at least 3 parent-teacher meetings, at least 4 labs, and who knows what else that I just don’t know about yet. I think I can do that. Maybe. Also a quilt to finish, hopefully sooner rather than later. We’ll see how that goes.

Thoughts and Prayers…

Ah Black Friday…when I rarely leave the house. Mostly because this is the day I do MY family Thanksgiving. At least this year. And last year. Anyway. So I’m cooking. And recooking, because I fucked up the first time. Send thoughts and prayers. It’s OK…I was making a half recipe anyway, so I had all the stuff to do over.

I don’t have a second turkey though, so let’s hope I don’t mess that up. I’m missing my two foodie children, who are much better at reading recipes than I am. It’s OK. I kept it simple. The stuffing/dressing just fucked me up a bit. The recipe actually has ‘simple’ in the title, but I was trying to rewrite an incomprehensible (not simple) electromagnet lab at the same time, and that didn’t help. Right now, everything is in waiting mode, although in 15 minutes, the turkey needs to come out of the brine and get rinsed and ready. Remind me next year to do a dry brine instead. So I might not finish writing this before I go womanhandle the bird.

I did finish grading everything, even the redoes, although most of them were absolute crap. I wonder sometimes why I talk in class or make videos, because no one listens to me. I meant to finish lesson planning on Wednesday and then not do any more schoolwork until Sunday afternoon. Yeah, that’s fucked. I didn’t start lesson planning until yesterday and the lab today is not even half written or rewritten. Some things on Teachers Pay Teachers are so convoluted and yet missing the most important crap. Much like my coteacher. Sigh. It is what it is. If I think too hard about it, I’ll lose my mind. But I do need to plan some more this afternoon so I won’t be too buried in the next three weeks. Because those weeks already look so bad.

I have been tracing each night…staying up way too late. As usual.

Annie checking out what I’m doing. I think she’d climb up there if I didn’t shoo her away.

Then last night, I got close to the end, but realized I hadn’t numbered one section, so I guess I have about 80 pieces left to trace. I couldn’t stay up THAT late. But I should be able to finish today and start trimming them.

There’s a dog in that picture too. Then I can go buy background fabric tomorrow. Finish trimming in a couple of nights, start ironing to fabric. In between lesson planning and too many meetings and trying to figure out Christmas. Ugh. Chaos. I did manage some of the chaos in the last few days: I planted all the baby succulents that were hanging out on the kitchen counter, I switched compost bins (it’s been on my list since September…welcome to the day job fucking up my existence), I got a bunch of pine needles and leaves swept up into the recycling bins, I moved the old trellises against the fence to keep the dogs from slamming into it to ‘greet’ the boxers on the other side, and I cleaned out the freezer (stuff in there from 2020 y’all…bad deal). I also cleaned off the table so we can actually eat there.

I still need to sweep and find appropriate dishes and finish the damn lab instructions and a bunch of other stuff. Mostly food related. But the quilt stuff is in there too.

We walked the doggos yesterday…

The weather was supposed to be cooler but there was a definite warmish tinge to all of it.

Then we went to the Man’s family’s house for Thanksgiving 1.

The food was good, and they decorate! They had Xmas up already. Oh my. I can’t deal. Nice people though…

They have more variety of foodstuffs than we will…more people too. More vegetables. I appreciate their gatherings because they are low-stress for me.

We came home and napped off the turkey and the hike.

She’s half in my lap.

The kids and their dad are at the wedding in the UK now…I think…

I mean, I know it’s today. They might still be at the festivities. They clean up well. I do miss the kids, but they’ll be here at Christmas, so that’s not too far off. And my Thanksgiving 2 is about 6 hours off. In fact, it’s turkey time. Wish me luck. Send more thoughts and prayers. I’m gonna need them. And then art time. Maybe more napping. Only three days left of break before I am back in the grind. Not ready. Never am.

No Cap…

‘Tis morning. There will be no sleeping in with a puppy. In case you were wondering. She thinks it’s time to get up way earlier than I do. Unfortunately. Ah well. Here’s Simba and Anwen (aka Annie)…

As you can see, she’s grown from the last time she visited…and Simba is not really a fan. She is a sweetheart but hyper and into stuff and sometimes doesn’t know her own strength. Plus she turns a year old next month but doesn’t act like it. And she’s an early riser. Ugh. It’s a good thing she’s cute and a sweet baby. Cuz she’s currently in my studio here trying to eat all the things.

Although she does slow down eventually.

Not a bad way to spend a little time.

A few people have commented how I went right into making the next quilt. Well a couple of things are going on there. First of all, I have a tight deadline coming up. So there’s that. I really didn’t expect the Supreme Court quilt to take quite that long. I was thinking it’d be done mid-October; I had a show I was thinking of, but then school was a bastard again and took up way too many weekend hours, and there was no way I was making any deadline of October. Plus it sold anyway, so there’s that. No deadline there.

Anyway, the second part is that I actually LOVE making art. I love it more than my day job (which has morphed into my every-night job and my all-weekend job as well). So if I take a break from art, then really I come home after doing the day job, do more of the day job, and don’t really have anything that feels fulfilling at the end of the day. It sucks. I’ve done it for short times before, and I’m sure people are like, hey lady, just RELAX and hang out with friends and family, but I do that anyway, and I find making art the BEST KIND of relaxation. I mean I love hiking and reading and traveling, but artmaking is what I need the most. I’m not even really a fan of social interactions…don’t get me wrong, I like hanging out with friends and talking etc, but if you said, hey Kathy, you can EITHER make art every day OR hang out with your friends every day, my artistic introverted self would choose the art. Every Time. So there’s that.

Anyway, I finished drawing the new piece (which is much smaller and less complicated) on Monday night…

And I numbered it too…

Only 464 pieces. I had another piece this year on a deadline…only 5 weeks to finish it, so I had a guideline of how many pieces to aim for. Although while I’m drawing, I have no clue how many pieces it will be. I just limited my desire to add more details to everything.

Simple. For me.

My second goal with this is to spend more than an hour a night working on it. I have way too much to do this week. I’m trying to get caught up on grading, because I know what the next three weeks look like and it’s hellacious. I also need to lesson plan; I have the first week planned out (mostly) and the next two weeks are still hellacious and I can’t guarantee I’ll have time to lesson plan. So I’m panicking a bit. I do have a goodly chunk of the grading done so far…need to do some more today and then start planning. The yard is a mess; I did some things yesterday, but there’s lots more. AND that whole Thanksgiving thing…I’ll be cooking Friday for that. I’m also trying to get some stuff fixed around the house; yesterday I replaced all the batteries in the rain gauge (found two spiders living in it, one quite large…I’m hoping that’s why it didn’t seem to be working), plus fixed a toilet. I need to do some plant shopping; not sure when that’s happening. I went to the gym yesterday; that was on my list, as was dealing with Simba’s eye (weird growth). I’m still hoping this stained-glass guy can come over and repair my window. Not sure when that is happening. So crazy busy for a week off (it always is).

BUT, I did manage more than an hour on the quilt each day…last night, I spent two hours tracing Wonder Under…

Tonight will hopefully be more of the same. I’d like it all traced by Friday. Seriously. I’m not kidding. I’m not sure if I have a background fabric, so I might need to get that on Friday (in between turkey cooking and whatever). I need to use the free (FREE…ha!) time I have to get ahead. On everything. Otherwise everything is rushed and frantic, and this time of year is kinda like that anyway. I’ve barely done any Xmas shopping. The girlchild comes home before break starts for me, so her room needs to be cleared by then. I’ve been packing up fabric to donate; I’d like to ship those out Friday or Saturday to get them out of here. It’s all good things…there’s just too many of them.

By the way, I’ve got this down.

Hopefully I’ll have time to cull some of that before I actually die, but hey, if not, the boychild will probably burn it all anyway.

The three of them (boychild, girlchild, and ex) are now all together in the Londonish area…but girlchild sent me this cool photo.

I hope they’re having fun.

OK, today unfortunately includes a trip to the dentist to deal with a failing filling, but then pilates. And artmaking. But I need to finish grading this one assignment and a bunch of redoes on another. Plus brine the turkey. I’m debating doing that tomorrow morning, since we aren’t doing turkey day until Friday. Can’t decide. I feel like this afternoon is just going to be way too busy. As usual. Well eat first. Then grade stuff. Or shower, then grade stuff. It’s nice to have some choices. Plus being able to pee when I need to. And to drink lots of tea and not worry about being able to pee when I need to. Plus it’s mostly quiet here. No kids calling me bruh and telling me no cap. That’s a plus.

Too Far Out…

Yeah. Friday. Friday with a field trip: pros and cons. Pro: a day off (well half a day) from teaching. Con: I’m already tired and it’s a walking trip. They’re all walking trips, though, so that’s nothing new. It’s Old Town decorated for Halloween, so hopefully that’s cool. We’ll see. Hopefully some people are absent today and a bunch go home right after the field trip…except there’s a dance, so hmm. I went to all the dances in middle school. They were awkward. Nothing is new for that, I think.

So I’m still doing stitchdown. I’m 5 1/2 hours in. I still think my 8-hour guess is good. Wednesday, I had finished those pedestals and the legs up to the knees, plus everyone under the umbrella.

Last night, I finished the legs, the Supreme Court building, and the umbrella, and had barely started the justices on the left (all of their shoes and ankles are done).

So I need to do the justices, the Earth Goddess from the torso up, and everything on her arms. Sounds like 3 hours (at least) to me. I was hoping to be further along. I’m not sure I’ll get anything done tonight. Tomorrow is kind of a mess…art meeting plopped right in the middle of the day plus a shit-ton of grading to do. Ugh. I’m really hoping to get it done this weekend. I wanted to be pinbasting Sunday. It might still happen, but a lot of other things would have to disappear for that to happen. Unfortunately. I’m also panicking about school…I haven’t really planned the next unit. It’s rough. I’m trying to fix some stuff from last year. I’m trying to incorporate stuff from the newbie, but it’s disparate and I need an overarching story or idea and I don’t have one. Ugh. I think I won’t ever get 8th grade under control. I have this year, which is not going to be the year it all makes sense, then next year, and then I go back to 7th grade. Which does make sense. And will probably feel like a relief after this shit. Seriously. At least I know what I’m doing in 7th grade and can do it without any assist. Things to look forward to? Too far out. Doesn’t get me through the next week. Ha.

I think I posted this last year…

Still relevant. First trimester ends in a week. One third done. Two thirds left to kick my tired ass.

Here’s a video of the California Fibers’ show in Los Angeles…

I did not drive up for this meeting…it was a Sunday and it would have been an 8- to 9-hour turnaround. Talk about not having time for any of that shit. They’re doing a closing reception kind of thing in December. Not. I’m not driving up there. Too far. Too long. I don’t have that many hours to disappear to driving. Not unless someone else is driving and I’m grading or lesson planning the whole time. Not happening.

This week. The shit in Maine? More deaths because a whole state wants to carry guns without permits? I have family sheltering/locking down in Maine. This is fucked up. I keep updating the news sites, honestly hoping the mentally ill asshole with guns has killed himself. Sad but true. Meanwhile, Israel/Gaza/Hamas…we are the worst at humanity, y’all. We just suck. Take care of people. Help people. Care for people. Don’t kidnap them, kill them, bomb them, shoot them, stab them, or terrorize them. Sigh. I know, it’s simplifying a very complex issue, but that’s where I’m at. I can’t begin to understand all the sides (and I have friends on all the sides), but I can care for those who are being traumatized. On all sides.

So yeah. Meanwhile, in the US, Scholastic Book Fairs are back on my OK list after a brief WTF.

Let parents choose, not school districts. Because we’re talking about bringing these back at my school, or some equivalent. And I don’t want my school board to have any say in the books my students choose.

I actually got (forced) some stitching time last night that was not under pressure…

I love how crooked it is. It’s wonderful. Yeah, I should have been grading, but I was on Zoom with stitching friends, so I couldn’t grade and chat. I could barely stitch (needed to read instructions out loud, my brain was so fried). So it was a good break from all the things. Yes, I graded afterwards. Duh.

An uneasy truce.

Luna is saying, “Why the fuck did you put that dog on my bed?” I’m thinking, “Where the fuck do I go?” It worked out. Everyone furry ends up in the middle, sometimes uncomfortably. Last night, Simba was quiet. So that was good.

OK, field trip, survive last two periods of day by putting on a movie and trying to grade shit. Then duty at the light (no fights today…there’s a dance…priorities). Then going to a book signing tonight, I hope. Then home and maybe some stitching, if I can sit up that long. Tomorrow is a mess. Ah well. Survive it, get shit done, etc.

Unchaos

Oy. It’s Wednesday. That was quick. I’m getting not much done on anything. I mean, I must be doing something…I just don’t see a lot of progress on any of it. Ah well. I do like progress. I like to check things off boxes and cross things off lists. I like lists to get shorter. Probably shouldn’t have become a teacher then…they don’t get shorter until summer. At some point this week, I will get more efficient. Just not sure when. I got one lab set up, another one put away, then another one set up. I have sub plans for the literacy afternoon tomorrow, but not for Monday’s knee doctor. That could be problematic. I think I can do that one as an EdPuzzle, but it’s gonna take me an hour just to set it up. Grades still due. Evaluation paperwork still not done. Can’t even get my head around that one. Sigh. Whatever.

Art stuff has been limited this week too. I did finally finish cutting things out on Monday! A miracle. 21 1/2 hours of miracle.

I finished during book club. Like the Christmas socks? My feet have been cold at night. Nothing else is.

Then I set up the sorting chaos…

I guess it’s really the sorting unchaos. That box on top is all the pieces I cut, and then I sort them by 100s to make it easier to iron them together. Can’t imagine shuffling through a box of over 2000 pieces to find one. I spent almost an hour getting to this point.

Sorting the little tiny pieces takes forever. I put a pile in my hand and just sort one by one. This table is actually missing three more boxes sitting off to the side for the 1800s-2000s.

Last night, I went to the gym, which was good. I also finished my book and cooked dinner, and tried to grade a little, but yeah, was not efficient, so I didn’t start sorting until after 10 PM. Not great. I still have all these to sort.

It’s probably 30-45 minutes worth of sorting. So that’s tonight. I have pilates but I don’t have to cook. I do have to grade first. But I’ll set an alarm to remind me to stop. I swear.

Here’s a video tour of all the boxes except those last three…

This is boring, I must admit. I get tired of standing there and sorting. It does serve a purpose though. Makes the next step a million times easier.

So yeah. Getting there. Not there yet. Don’t see a big chunk of time in the next week to work on this. Will demand my Day Job Brain allow for an hour a night. Day Job Brain is freaking out about workload. Shhh. Nice Brain. Be good. It’ll be fine. We’ll grade like the wind. I just looked at Saturday’s schedule. Ha! Fuck. OK. It’s fine. It’s Wednesday. I could be super efficient between now and then.

Forgot this picture…when I got home yesterday, all the animals were in one room. It was weird. They don’t really socialize much. It’s usually one in this room, one in that room, and one that follows us all over.

I guess my homecoming was exciting.

Anyway, so I’ll be finishing the sorting tonight and then coming in here to the studio to try and straighten up enough that I can iron. I have two boxes of fabric I need to wash because of the cat…maybe I’ll start that tonight as well. Who knows? I could be amazing tonight. Last night? Nope. Was not. Not at all. Finished a book, though. That’s a thing. I’m allowed to do that. Should do more of it.

Do the Things…

There’s an old cat behind me, rubbing her head on my back, which is why I will have cat hair on my back and not even know about it all day. It’s OK. She’s old. I don’t know how much time she has left and she’s become pretty antisocial, except with me. And sometimes even with me. I didn’t see her last night until bedtime. She has a new hiding place, which I know about, but if she won’t come out on her own, it’s sufficiently hidden enough that I can’t get her out without dragging her out. And there isn’t usually a need for that. So I’ll be cat-hair lady today.

I got a goodly chunk of trimming done on Monday night, after grading a whole class of unit packets. I even started reading a new book.

I was so efficient. Shorter staff meeting, I guess. I copied stuff after school, but was still done by about 4:30. Yesterday, I went to the gym. So pro…I got a lot more reading done on that book, plus I exercised. Con…I didn’t get as much trimming done. I did grade another class unit, though. Two more of those. Hoping to get a chunk done in class today while walking them through a thing I’ve never done before, so that should go well. Ha! Only 30 minutes of trimming last night…

Lots of bigger pieces down there left to cut. I think I’m close to being in the swamp and the earth on the other side. Lots of 200s and a few 300s still. Getting there. My goal really is to be fully trimmed in the next two nights. I think I can do it. I also need to pack for camping, though. And get school stuff ready for next week.

School. Ugh. Kinda lost my mind yesterday. You know how you take on stuff, and then more stuff, and then the stupidest tiniest thing gets added on, and that’s it, that’s the one where your brain is like, NOPE. Can’t do it. Can’t make me. Not gonna. Yeah. Well that was possibly over the weekend and then yesterday. It’s fine. I CAN do it. I’ve been trying to push stuff out to the other teachers so I’m not doing so much. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. So then I’m losing my prep period again to something that wasn’t planned. Plus I don’t really have someone to plan my curriculum with. It’s not working well. It’s just sort of a repeat of last year’s scramble, except with new stuff, but then I see my kids not getting it, or it’s just a boring fill-out-the-worksheet thing…again…and I’m like, nope, can’t do that, revise again with my kids in mind, they need hands-on and repeats, and I think here I am in September and it feels too much like last year and last year sucked.

I turned yesterday’s worksheet into a table competition and it was awesome. Sometimes my planning brain is really good.

So I’m trying to revise all that in my head and having a hard time with it. My team wants me to ask my principal if he can evaluate me another year, that I have too much on my plate. I’m not sure whether it matters. I’m also not sure I won’t cry at our first evaluation meeting because I’m still straight up dealing with the shit from last year in my head. I had hopes for this year, and they’re not gone, just on hold, which is what I keep telling myself. You can do this little bit. It’s not a lot. Just keep forcing the issue of responsibility back on others. My team wants me to let the others flail, but I can’t do that. All those 7th graders will be on our teams next year, and I don’t want to deal with the fallout if I let it all go. Certainly the thought of having to reflect on what I need to ‘progress as a teacher’ and then finding the time to apparently DO THAT? Yeah, that’s gonna make me cry right now. I’m a little too much still in survival mode.

Too much to think about. What I really need to do is go in today, do the things, meet with the people, do what I can, go to pilates, come home and grade, then cut things out. Read a little. Start packing for camping. Take a deep breath. Or ten. Thousand.

Here’s a happy puppy.

That said, he was a total barky asshole last night. So sleep would be nice tonight as well.

Cutting of the Tiny Things…

Hey. This week. Yeah. I am in pajamas today for pajama day, but it’s a bit warm and I have a meeting after school and 17 errands to run, so if I’m smart, I’ll pack a pair of pants that isn’t flannel for later. Am I smart? Sometimes. I feel like this is a practical thing though, and I’m OK with those.

I’m not sure when I will get home tonight, but I do know I will be cutting things out tonight. Late. And tired.

I got the good news this morning that my newest quilt will be going to the SAQA Fierce Planets exhibit. Good news, since I made it for that one. Two for two! I make them and they leave.

OK. So this was Monday night’s cutting of the tiny things.

Top box, to do. Middle box, done. Bottom box, trash.

Then last night’s…

Flipped top and bottom. I still have a few 1300s to cut out, but mostly I see 1200s and 1100s. So maybe 700-800 pieces done? I’m definitely into Amy Coney-Barrett (her pieces, not the person…definitely not into the person), but I still have some of Ketanji Brown Jackson to go. I ironed pieces going from bottom to top; I’m cutting pieces from top to bottom. I’ve been cutting for 7 hours and 44 minutes. So yeah, it’s going to be at least 15 hours. That’s half the ironing time though.

Boychild left, Simba does not understand. He just barks and barks for the first night, every time.

The girlchild is coming this weekend, and he doesn’t understand that either. To his credit, he slept through most of the night, although I think everyone was awake at 3 AM for some inexplicable reason. I could do without that shit.

This is too true.

OK. Teaching, meeting, teaching some more, another longer meeting, then cat meds, watering the parents (they come home tomorrow, hallelujah), Home Depot for slats, trash out, cook dinner. Sounds like a lot. It is a lot. I could do with less. Then more cutting. I graded last night, a lot. I feel like today it’s not happening. I mean, maybe in class, but not at home. Not after all that.

Must Be September.

Apparently I woke up to the alarm this morning, exclaiming OH MY GOD. It didn’t feel like long enough. Also I didn’t sleep well, which often happens on a Sunday night. Pre-school Oh-Shits. Although I’m still adjusting to just one thing that I’m teaching, I need to often prep for two things. Like all last week. And this week. This week is meeting hellacious. Two hours today…thought it might run shorter, but no…literacy in the second half. It’ll go until the end of the 2-hour mark. Then union meeting on Wednesday (2 hours), sex-ed curriculum on Thursday AND Friday, plus Back-to-School Night on Thursday (many hours total). Not sure why this week has to be hell. And the girlchild is coming to visit this weekend, which is awesome, but her room is a disaster and it’s all my fault. And the parentals are coming home. It’s just chaos. Today after the two hours of meetings, I have three places I have to go to pick up mail, buy slats, etc. Art to deliver over the weekend, need to get it ready. And it feels like nothing got done this weekend.

Must be September. My brain knows that by the end of this month, routines will be better, all the extras that school likes to throw at you will have adjusted, and the weather will probably have calmed the fuck down. It was hot yesterday. However, the end of this month is quite a ways away and I’m not sure I will get there unscathed.

Did I mention I drove to LA on Saturday? Yeah, it was our California Fibers’ Influences/Influencers exhibit at Craft in America. I had one piece in the show and all everybody could say was, “That’s the smallest piece I’ve ever seen of yours.” Well, yeah, it’s 16×20″. But it has over 800 pieces in it.

Obligatory selfie…

Wall of pieces: Doshi on the left, Marilyn McKenzie Chaffee, then Charlotte Bird, then me.

So you can see it really is small. I gave her two or three other choices that were bigger. It’s OK…it’s a cool piece.

It was a busy opening eventually. It’s a pain driving to LA though. I left at 10:30 AM, sat in a cafe and graded for a bit, then after the opening, got home at 8 PM. Lost day, really. Felt exhausted by the end of it. I know the LA members of our group love shows up there and I can see why: all their friends and family can come. Ah well. It’ll be up for a while…through December 2. You should check it out!

Around all that, I cut stuff out. Not a ton, but an hour and a bit a night.

Friday night…doesn’t look like much.

Saturday night looks like more…

Two episodes of something instead of one. I’m rewatching the Sherlock series Elementary, because I don’t think I saw them all. I was watching Madam Secretary, but the real politics are too close and I needed a break after the first season. In the middle box are all the pieces I’ve cut out. The bottom is what still needs cutting. Because I put them in there in the order I ironed them down, they are pretty much in backwards numerical order. So I can kind of keep track of how far I’ve gotten. That’s the Supreme Court building I see there.

I got all of that cut out last night, along with most of Roberts. Not his robes…all the robes are further down. But that’s Sotomayor’s hair right there. So I’m somewhere in the 1400-1500s, but the robes aren’t done yet. So maybe 500 pieces cut out. Cutting out is usually faster than ironing. I don’t have to think deeply about cutting out…I just do it. Ironing requires thought. Well ironing to fabrics does…ironing it together, you just follow the pattern and the numbers.

I spent about 6 hours working for school yesterday. So yeah, things aren’t settled or pretty yet. Not sure when they will be. It’s my fault, because I could just copy shit the way it’s handed to me, but I know how my kids learn, and so I’m editing from that perspective. Which sometimes means retyping stuff. I did (not) have help…

Thanks Nova. I think she knocked down my very important post-it too.

Sigh. Feed me dinner, lady.

OK. I will. Get up off the couch and do the things (this was Friday night. I napped when I got home.).

Today. Long. Cutting things out sits at the end.

Honeymoon Over…

Whoa. This week. Exhausting. Doing labs every day is one part. The second part is that we are two weeks in, so the honeymoon period is OOOVVVEEERR. Oh yes. First fight, first referrals, first inability to listen during a lab, then a helicopter and police shutting us down into secure lockdown right before class gets out. Mayhem, y’all, fucking mayhem. And that was just Thursday. We still need to get through Friday. I blame the blue supermoon and also well it’s middle school and this is how we roll until we don’t. During the secure lockdown, parents were calling kids because the school sent out a call and yeah, parents, could you NOT? Your kid is fine. They are locked in a room with a tired teacher and your patience is noted. Also some kids have a sense of entitlement with their phones that can only come from their parents. One told me it was “after hours” so she could have it out (we literally kept them 4 minutes after the bell…FOUR minutes y’all). I hope these kids figure reality out at some point. But since their parents haven’t, it seems unlikely.

Anyway. I also made about 25-30 short videos of everything we’re doing in the labs so the absent kids and the kids who didn’t finish CAN finish…I downloaded and ordered them last night, although iCloud was being a cranky bitch, so I didn’t get all of them, plus realized I’m missing some, so I’ll get those today. Last-year’s self wanted to do it but never found the time. Next-year’s self will be happy with me. This-year’s self is fucking exhausted.

That said, I did iron. I peeled myself off the damn couch, stopped watching cat videos, and walked my ass in here to iron. I think I got 49 minutes last night. I also didn’t cook dinner. We ate all our leftovers instead. Seriously, I do like food, but at some point, it’s just fuel and I could swallow a pill and keep going and I’d be fine.

Wednesday, I ironed Alito down and started Thomas…

Well I laid out all the parts and ironed his shoes and shirt and tie. I gave him red shoes. Each justice has their name on their robe, and I made the names in rainbow colors because I can and then matched the tie. So far, all the baddies are men. Amy will need something. Yes, I am just ironing justices for DAYS. One a day, to be clear. And also yes, that’s two cups of different kinds of tea. Don’t ask. It was necessary.

Close-up of box…

Seriously just adding about 50 tiny pieces each night to the pile.

So last night, I finished Thomas’ face and then laid out Kavanaugh.

Did the shoes, his name, his shirt, his tie. Didn’t get to the beer bottles because I was really tired at that point. And I realized I was gonna have to figure out what fabric I used for the previous beer bottles. Didn’t have the brain energy for that.

I gave him dirty socks. Seemed legit. I have 22 hours into the ironing so far. Slow. I keep saying that. I’m in the 1100s though. And some of the 1200s are done. And once I pick the 5 face/flesh fabrics, it’s easy to iron that down. I’d like to think I’ll get a goodly chunk done tonight, but I’m going to a social thing and that does not bode well for energy this evening. So assume Kavanaugh’s face will get done and Coney-Barrett’s stuff will get laid out. And I’ll do her shoes and her whatever is under her robe (let’s not think too hard about that). Then I have three days off. Yes, I have a shit-ton of work to do. Yes, I am tired. But also, yes, I want to finish the ironing so I can spend a few weeks cutting all these tiny pieces out. I started ironing down on August 13, right near the beginning of school. It’s time to be done. So that’s my weekend goal…about 800 pieces. I can do that. Can’t I? Ugh. Also, I can’t do a bunch of the school work unless my other co-teacher uploads all her shit so I can start making sense of things.

I visited Annie yesterday…

She’s still a spaz.

But I like her.

OK. Lab day. Probably will lose my prep to subbing a teacher who’s been out all week for a totally legit emergency, but they never got a sub for him. Then social thing. Plus dealing with parental stuff. Haven’t heard from them, so presumably they’re fine. Hike on Saturday…required! It’s been getting cooler, so that should be good. We could even do it Sunday with the Monday off. We’ll see. I’d rather do two if I could. Lots of yardwork. Wondering if spiders are smart enough to realize their web in a particular area (the middle of the damn path) gets knocked down a lot so maybe they should move it? Not sure if that level of natural selection and/or Darwinism works with spiders. It’s been real this week. Hoping a lot of kids are absent today for the long weekend so I don’t have to deal with the crazy level we’ve been at. It would be a plus. Some chill please.