Tag: drawing

Fighting Broken Thread…

Solar guys are here early to hopefully finish the job. Did I go to bed early last night because I knew they were coming? Fuck no. I was too busy fighting broken threads on the current quilt to go to bed early. The parrots were also here this morning, migrating their asses all over my trees, squawking their green little parrot songs. Things I can’t sleep through: rain, wind, parrots, men stomping on my roof and screwing things down through metal. It’s actually a longer list than that…includes Calli licking her paws and Kitten cleaning her butt. Plus coyotes and TVs and light…can’t sleep when it’s light unless I’m dying of some illness…which luckily I’m not at the moment.

Every day right now is about how to get more energy and time for artmaking…and still get shit done. Yesterday was replacing the black boots that finally died…with the girlchild. Plus grading one class of the larger assignment. Honestly, though, if I only do one a day, I may never finish all the things I need to grade, so I might have to step it up to two a day. I don’t know. Sigh. Do you stuff a day full of grading? Or do a little bit each day? It’s hard to know which hurts less. Which annoys less. But at least one period will get done today. The girlchild needs her eyes checked, so that’s on the list. Continuing the drawing a day and quilting some more (hopefully with fewer breaks) is also on the list for today.

Kitten sisters love each other, but in a semi-violent way…

There’s a lot of play fighting that goes on here.

Calli only gets upset when someone tries to take her toy…

Calli was watching me grade stuff. Plus she was nervous about the weather, which is gone today! Beautiful blue skies…cold, but clear. We’ll take it! Tomorrow, we’re hiking…hopefully not in snow, but who knows? A lot fell in our mountains.

In the afternoon, post shoe-shopping and grading, I finished the stitchdown on this never-ending quilt, and then pieced a backing. I’m still using up what I have, best I can…

I ended up using some of the blue from the front and a piece of gray/black that I’ve had for a really long time…I think it was a hand-me-down from somewhere, but honestly, I don’t remember. I cleaned the floor just in time for the kids and dogs to leave…

And then pinbasted it…it’s not huge. I’m not sure what’s taking me so long right now. Best to let the brain do what it needs to do. Stop worrying about it and just do it.

I thought this was going to be an easy 2019 finish…but I think it’ll be the first quilt of 2020.

I generally finish about 6 decent-sized quilts a year…this one would have been number 7.

I still might finish it in time for it to be a 2019 quilt…but for show entries, it’s probably better to finish in 2020.

I need thread for the background…I don’t have that color of blue, I think. I will need binding at some point as well. And I need a decision about the next deadline.

I took a break for pilates and dinner and some TV plus drawing, which is hard to do with a kitten on your chest. But she was insistent…

So I dealt…until she started batting at the pen. Off my dear. Love you. Go somewhere else.

Bone garden…

The man went to bed…too many festivities, not enough sleep (he handles it by sleeping…a smart move, I must say)…and I started quilting. The thread broke at least 10 times in this little space. I changed the needle, rethreaded a million times, applied thread conditioner, changed the tension.

Then gave up and went to bed because who needs that? And sometimes it figures itself out overnight. I’ll try again today.

Here are my Instagram colors from 2019. That’s a lot of blue…

Interesting…because my photos are a lot of art and a lot of hiking and animals. That’s about it.

Plans for today? Shower. Ignore stomping on roof. A drawing, some quilting, grading an assignment, eye doctor with girlchild, thread purchasing, possibly Costco (is it too soon? It might be too soon…but I need stuff. Not a lot of stuff. It can probably wait until next week. I don’t like people right now. The grocery stores on the two days before Christmas were probably enough people for the next three weeks.). Introverting? Maybe. Might be at a show tonight, later. Just don’t know. Art though. Make art.

Not This Year…

Two days off from writing…as always with this time of year, it’s busy. I’m really tired too…not sleeping well. Last night was the sound of rain…isn’t that supposed to be soothing? It was a lot of rain. Over an inch. And wind. Not so soothing. I feel like yesterday was the end of all the not-sleep and over-activity. The family stuff is done (well, mostly) and the holiday crazy is over, so now I can just focus on art and sleep (maybe?) and getting work done. Perhaps some down time? That might be a good plan.

Monday, I packed up 4 quilts…some needed slats, some needed labels. It took a good chunk of the day to get my fuzzy holiday brain on task and get it done, but then I shipped them all on Tuesday morning, which was the good thing. Four fewer things to worry about.

Then we went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (no longer the Wild Animal Park) with the man’s family, on one of those safari caravan things, where you get to feed the animals. That was way cool…

I suck at names, but this giraffe is female and very food-oriented.

And only a little in your face…

I think we all enjoyed the tour…

We also got to feed a couple of rhinos and ask lots of questions…

Apparently I win on questions. Not suprisingly. I told her I was a science teacher.

Casual. Giraffe over shoulder. Plus the tour guide went through the master’s program with my co-teacher…small world.

Baby rhino!

Rhinos are the weirdest looking things…

I didn’t know about the prehensile lip thing…

I’d never seen one this close…

I kept asking about everyone’s teeth. The animals…not the people. Anyway. It was a very cool thing to do, followed by food and wine and then coming home and being too exhausted to do anything but space out and go to bed. So I didn’t draw on Christmas Eve. I thought about doubling up yesterday, so I would still get my 24-drawing count, but it’s not meant to be a law like that. So I let it slide.

Christmas Eve, we moved the tree off the hearth, because it was supposed to be cold on Christmas Day and we wanted a fire…

I think she can sit in the entryway for a couple more years before we have to plant her out…although she might want to get out of that plastic container before then.

Christmas morning, the kittens and Kitten were all in the same space without violence…

That’s a good sign…we’ve seen a few instances of co-existence. There’s hope for the old lady.

Christmas Day was a lot of presents and a lot of food…my mom and the girlchild giving Simba all the loves…

Which he totally deserves, yeah? He even got a present…

The animals all get presents, although we think someone ate a catnip mouse. Probably someone large…

Hmmm. Maybe.

My dad sits on a chair behind the couch and surveys the room…

It takes a while. We eat the foods. We clean up. Then we all do our own thing for a while…some cook, some sleep, some walk…

Some put cat trees together…

Stronger minds than mine…

I even sat down at the machine again…trying to finish the stitchdown so I can get this quilt done.

Realistically, the other January deadline I had is not gonna happen. Not sure what happened in late November/early December, but I kinda lost the creation mojo. Too tired, too overwhelmed with all the stuff that needed to happen. Not surprising. It’s fine. Someday this week I’ll reevaluate where I’m at and decide whether I’m going to just blow off deadlines or make something for something.

Christmas dinner was nice…girlchild did a good job…

I started a drawing while waiting for dinner…and added a bunch of leaves afterwards, mostly because I couldn’t think of anything else to draw. The wonder of a tired brain…

Weird dogs. OK, maybe just the one on the right.

After the drawing, I finished grading one assignment and input five into the online gradebook. It needed to be done, it’s brainless, and this one was asleep in one arm while I did it…

Sweet baby.

Today is one more family thing, and then I’m hoping to finish the stitchdown, pinbaste the quilt (which means cleaning the entryway floor), doing another drawing, SLEEPING. Yeah. Not. Because the solar people are coming back tomorrow morning, so they’ll be here early, stomping on the roof. Sigh. I do sometimes go back and read past years on the blog to remind myself that it always takes a week, easily, to get relaxed in winter. It’s just chaos until after Christmas. But this quilt will get done and another started, and the grading will get as far as it gets, and I will be ignoring that parent who wants me to call them until I actually go back to school, and then I will be happy to call them. Although it’s going to be the same shit I told the kid twice now, so I’m not sure where the conversation will go from there. I’m going to read some of the 17 books I got for Christmas and maybe do some yard stuff and some hikes and some drawing. It’s good. I’ll get there. The family stuff was good…it just doesn’t leave much energy for anything else. This year, anyway. Some years, I’ve been ironing Christmas Eve and quilting Christmas afternoon…but not this year. No judgement. Just reality. Hope everyone had the holiday they needed or wanted, and if not, you now are getting to do something you do want to do. Or feeding a giraffe…because that was pretty cool.

I’m Useless Right Now…

I’m tired. I had to get up early for jury duty. Once I was there, I panicked. They had three trials lined up with panels of 40 for each. I don’t think there were 120 people in the room. So I rescheduled for April, and will reschedule again for the summer after that. The nice woman said I could do that. I was afraid I’d get stuck on a jury for the next three days (minus Christmas), and we have big family stuff for tomorrow and hopefully hiking on Thursday. Whatever. I will still be irritated by jury duty in the summer, but at least I won’t be as limited or planned out then. I find the whole mess annoying, but whatever…at least I wasn’t the guy yelling, “This is fucked up!” in the jury lounge. I mean, I could’ve been that guy…

I made it to the grocery store again, this time with the boychild. Yesterday was the girlchild, but we didn’t get all the things. As it is, I still need one more thing. But it’s cold and rainy and I’d like to stay put for a while. Maybe I’ll go to the gym later. If I wake up.

Yesterday was a lot of errands and prepping stuff and now I need to pack up a bunch of quilts and ship them…gonna do that next. Absolutely NO PROGRESS on this damn quilt. My brain is off. Welcome to the teacher on break! My co-teacher is diligently grading quizzes, because she’s leaving the country in two days. I’m not…so I should make a plan for grading things, but my brain is fuzz. I have one assignment partially graded and another one mostly graded. Welcome to inconsistencies! Woo hoo!

OK, I plan to finish both of those today, as well as shite…am I making dinner tonight? I don’t remember. Fuck. The holidays kick my ass. NO. I am NOT cooking. Phew. OK, I also will pack up the three quilts that need to ship and the two that need to be delivered next week, which means I need to do two labels I think, and then put labels on the other one that needs to ship and just ship its ass outta here too.

Then maybe I can stitch down the current quilt. Or sleep in. Or something.

I’m still doing a drawing a day…this is Saturday night…

First time I’ve drawn pussy willows? Nah. I think my Sightlines quilt from a million years ago has pussy willows in it.

There are lots of kittenish things going on, mostly with them sleeping…

Because otherwise they are moving too fast to photograph.

Blurry. This went well until Luna sneezed.

I need to sleep more.

Dinner at the parentals last night…apparently Simba likes limes.

He made a face but went back for more…freak.

Tree is finally decorated. Sort of. I’m done with it anyway. Kitten is never done with it.

She’s on the lookout for needles to gack up.

OMG more sleeping…

They are cute. And entertaining. Even when they want to stand on the things I’m doing…which is really more Luna than Nova. Nova was watching the pen move.

I almost fell asleep many times while drawing this…

Which might explain a lot about it.

Anyway…more drawing tonight, lots of organizing stuff to ship this afternoon. I spent a chunk of time looking up all the Expanse novels I hadn’t read. Apparently I missed one. I have no idea how I did that. Right now? More caffeine please. And less rain. Eventually. Maybe a nap. Sheesh. I’m useless right now.

The Relaxation Part…

3 AM wakeup worry: need to make sure kids know tectonic plates don’t float on water. (Shut up, Teacher Brain!). It takes me a few days to get my brain to realize it’s on break. Sometimes it take it a whole week. I need a grading plan. I need a quiltmaking plan. I need a sanity plan. I brought home a huge pile of stuff. It’s unfortunate but necessary. This job…

I got home from a long day (it was gonna be long, no matter how long it was)…and there was an envelope from CraftForms with a catalog-type thing and a certificate, but also a check! That was nice. It took me a while to figure out what it all meant, which is funny…

My brain was not functioning. I should have just read the certificate. Could not focus. I’m taking all the awards I’m getting from now on and dumping them into the remodel account…because my studio is one of the rooms that needs work. Not a lot of work…well…I have ideas, but not all ideas that I can afford.

I went to pilates after…it was great. I am really liking the control and relaxation that comes with pilates. Weird, I know…and I still need hikes and the gym, but this is also good.

I didn’t grade anything at all last night. I often do on Fridays, because my brain is already in school mode, so it’s easier to bang out one assignment or class and get it out of the way, but I was too tired. I wasn’t the only one who was tired…

He ran around a lot yesterday at the other house…the solar got started today, but it’s not done…so the boychild kept him at the other house and he tired himself out.

Kittens are both lap cats…here’s Nova…

When they want to sleep, they want to be on you…I got Luna…

They nap for about 20 minutes, and then race around again.

After that, I started my Winter Break drawing practice, a drawing a night (or day…no judgement here). I don’t think too hard about these…it’s really just about the practice.

I did this last year and really enjoyed it.

So there’s 12/20…this is a 9×12″ sketchbook. And I really do just like to fill spaces, in case you’re wondering. So that’s 24 days of break (well, I included last night…there’s only 23 days), so 24 drawings. Sounds exciting!

I went to bed early. I was tired. I always give Simba special pets and then crate him (it keeps him quieter at night…he’s a barky asshole sometimes)…but Luna followed me down the hallway and then sat on his crate…causing perturbed puppy…

He’s like, um…mom…there’s a cat up there. I don’t like that.

The kittens haven’t been down the hallway to the bedroom much…so even Kitten was perturbed…

Hmmm. Well, at some point, the kittens probably won’t be crated at night and the bed will get more crowded, based on what we’ve seen so far. They are very people-oriented cats, which is nice.

So today is Saturday. I need to pick up a quilt, pack up three more for shows, then clean the girlchild’s room because she’s coming home tonight. I want to finish the stitchdown of the quilt. I will be doing one drawing. There’s a bunch of cleaning that needs to happen. I need to decide how much decorating I’m doing on the tree etc, and then put the rest of the stuff in the garage. I need to make a grading plan for the next three weeks. I have jury duty Monday, so that fucks things up. I have pilates tomorrow, grocery shopping for a holiday week, and the girlchild has a hair appointment that I usually go to as well. Dinner with the parents? I need to make that phone call. And Tuesday (hoping I don’t get on a jury) is a trip to the Wild Animal Park and then holiday party. Wednesday is the normal family stuff. Holy shit, that’s a lot! Yeah. This time of year is hard. There’s a lot going on. So I need to make time for the stuff that I find fun and relaxing. I have a book to read too. That’s important!

Hope you all are managing your time well, especially the relaxation part. That’s the harder part for me. Always. I’m working on it. Kitten pets and purring helps.

One of Those School Dreams…

So I was trying to fall back asleep around 4:30 AM, like you do, and then the Man’s alarm was going off and I realized I was dreaming about school, sort of, because it’s never really your school or work or whatever. It’s tweaked. But I’m running (RUNNING) home from school because I forgot to take a shower (WTF Nida) and I had my teacup and my bag and I ran into one of my current students and she had a big platter of Christmas goodies she wanted to give me (this shit never happens in real life) and she really was worried and wanted to do it right then (kind of realistic actually) so we went into a tea shop and I put my stuff down and took her goodies and thanked her and all that and then RAN home, but for some reason, I never got there; I was running toward school, except it’s that dream school I have that looks a lot like the high school I went to, but not quite, and then I’m still trying to take a shower, but realizing I left my teacup and bag in the tea shop, and I keep looking at my watch (I haven’t worn a watch in years) and ONE minute has passed and then ONE MORE minute has passed, and there’s only a shower in the science department, but they just had a huge meeting (we only have maybe 9 teachers max in our ‘science department’) and they’re all breaking up and using the bathroom, so the time is getting later and later and I still haven’t had a shower and my TEACUP is not here; it’s in the tea shop. I don’t even know what I did with the treats from that kid and then my alarm goes off.

For Fuck’s Sake, brain. You could be more creative than that.

Yes, today, everywhere, teachers will be teaching with their hair on fucking fire. Just think good thoughts. (I showered, by the way.) Send treats. Find my teacup.

My solar is being installed today. It was supposed to be Monday, but it’s supposed to rain a lot, ironically, so it will be today. I won’t be here. Hopefully they won’t fall through my roof.

I am going to go to school and try to make 164 kids (oh, who the hell are we kidding…at least 20 won’t show up, maybe more by the end of the day) finish the essay (it’s SEVEN whole sentences y’all) they started yesterday, and turn all their shit in, so I can spend break grading it. Uh huh. It’s a stupid system. Not sure how to improve that part.

We have an assembly at the end of the day, which should be a lot of standing and eyeballing kids doing stupid shit (that’s the audience). It’ll be fine. Then I hand out progress reports. More fun. No really. And clean my room so the custodial staff can clean my room. And pack up a pile of crap to grade.

Which is why, last night, I stayed up grading an assignment instead of doing art. I needed at least one more gone before break started. Which is also why the only photos I have are of kittens.

I went out for a drink after work, which I almost never do…and it was Thursday, so then my brain thought it was Friday (it wasn’t). I came home and we had dinner and I graded an assignment in between being a Kitten Landing Zone…this is Luna…

And this is Luna chewing on her sister Nova’s ear. In my face.

This did not end well.

But eventually they came back and settled and purred and slept and then the Man made me get up to fetch dinner…

I graded more, which was fascinating to cats because paper makes crinkly noises and pens are just fun to play with. But eventually they offloaded onto the Man…

Which made it easier to grade.

They are cute. And fascinating. I finished grading one assignment, which took a long time (probably because I was watching the new season of The Expanse, which is also fascinating). And then I went to bed. And today I gird my loins and go off into battle. Then I spend the next three weeks avoiding all those assignments, and DRAWING EVERY DAY. Yes, I’m doing that again, starting tonight. Looking forward to letting my brain spill out on paper every day. Wish me luck.

Portland in Review

We’re back from Portland. I haven’t slept much. I’ve been awake since 4:42 AM. I did go to bed early, so I think it was about the same amount of sleep. It was a fun trip, too short of course, but I think I might be able to handle the rest of this week. We’ll see. Perhaps the sub notes will send me over the edge. Certainly some of the student emails I got over the weekend might. I’m getting a shirt that says “It’s not fair…” and then something pithy. That my students won’t understand. Like most of my shirts.

Anyway, we picked Portland just because. We had to use a flight before the end of the year and we didn’t have much time, so we didn’t want to spend it all flying. Portland was a good distance, had some entertainment stuff we liked, had some friends we liked, and the man had never been there. Plus we might do a camping trip up there sometime. A ways out. So this was just kind of checking it out.

My ex-San Diego friend Susan (she’s not my ex-friend…she moved to Portland recently) picked us up and pretended to be our Lyft driver. We fed her lunch, which we don’t do with our Lyft drivers…

She then dropped us off at our Airbnb…with a stop at a grocery store for some supplies. We did talk about the street art and the homeless population…comparing Portland’s treatment to San Diego’s…

No spiky rocks planted there to keep them from camping out…

It was a longish day of travel…we were up early…so the man crashed out for a couple of hours. He needed it.

I graded stuff and drew and read my book. I’m good at entertaining myself.

Our Airbnb was up a huge hill, right next to Forest Park. Pros: right next to Forest Park and great views. Cons: huge hill.

We did walk down for dinner. The cold is not something we’re really used to, but we layered up. Ate dinner. Decided not to walk back. I would have. The man called a Lyft.

We got up at a reasonable hour the next morning, ate breakfast, and walked the half block to the first trail…

This was cool.

It’s been a while since we’ve hiked together…and it was good. Lots of dogs and misty rain and runners and green, so much green.

We went out Wildwood Trail for a good 4 miles or so, and then hiked down to the road coming back. It was shorter on the way back, but a healthy start to the day. Then we did a bunch of stuff that involved two Lyft drivers, wandering through Powell’s Books mindlessly, some chicken wings and cider or beer, plus seeing an old high-school friend, his wife, and their dog (dog is sweet), plus more walking, some more cider or beer and some food, plus this…

That’s from a dollhouse in the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium…

Which reminded me a lot of an alien museum in Roswell, NM, that we enjoyed…although I wanted to file a complaint about this…because that’s not needlepoint.

So there.

Drawing in bars…my specialty…although this was a bottle shop…

This was a painting outside a food co-op…

And this was the drawing I finished on Friday…

Sort of out of order. Here’s Saturday’s drawing…

finished in the bottle shop. I persuaded the man to walk back to the house! I know. He probably had a bit too much beer in him, but we made it! I think that was 7 miles total.

Sunday, we got up, ate, packed, and our lovely not-Lyft driver took us to the airport…on the plane, we saw the first sun we’d seen since we left San Diego, plus one of the volcanic majesties around Portland. We saw two, so this might be Mt. Hood…it might not.

Someone knowledgeable will tell me. Drawing 3 happened in the Las Vegas airport, surrounded by people with hangovers…

And then we were home…the man left to go get the babies, who got spayed last week…and are quite recovered. They look sleepy there, but that was after 3 hours of rampaging around the house…

They are officially ours now…paid for and our problem.

I consoled the old lady, who missed us. Maybe.

She helped me grade more stuff. It’s always good to go on a trip right before grades are due. I really only graded in airports, except for the 2-hour nap thing. No, I’m not done. I’m close though.

This morning, babies are up and crazy again…

Stitches my ass. They are not feeling it now.

OK. Gotta go to work. Teach kids. Ignore the whiny It’s Not Fair crew. Grade some shit. Give a test! Whatever. Hopefully art this week, beyond just drawing…not that I don’t like to draw. I truly enjoyed giving myself that time this weekend. Keeping that in mind for the future. Oh yeah, Portland…we’ll be back…maybe with a tent and more hiking time to spare…

We Survived…

Today we take a bunch of kids to the zoo. Hopefully we don’t lose or damage any of them and they all come back with us. Well, you know, our classes are big this year…we wouldn’t miss a few of them. No really. It’s usually a good field trip, one I enjoy, even though I currently feel like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck. My team rocks, though…they’ve handled a good chunk of what’s going on today, which I appreciate. I, however, will be carrying about 17 epipens and inhalers in a backpack, along with 149 permission slips, just in case we have to call a parent or guardian about a kid. I feel like that could be automated, but what do I know. Nothing, by the way…I know nothing.

I stayed late last night for an hour-long parent meeting, plus the last bits of field trip stuff. Came home way too exhausted to deal with going to the gym (too bad…I really wanted to this week). Plus I was supposed to make dinner, so timing was an issue.

I started grading the horrible assignment last night…made it through about three of them before my brain shut down. One of those three was actually pretty awesome. One could have been awesome. The third one was the ouch. I’ll keep working on them. I need to get through them before next week. I don’t want to take my computer with me at all. And grades are due about 36 hours after I get back.

This weekend is busy. Not horribly so, but enough. I’m tired. I’m always tired though. The holidays are demanding. I’m looking forward to the girlchild coming home and having a lot of time for art. I will have grading to do, of course, but hopefully it won’t be too bad.

After dinner, after talking to the girlchild on the actual phone, after doing some work, I sorted the quilt pieces…only 8 boxes because there are only 800 or so pieces in this one…

This part doesn’t take long usually. I had some assistance? Not really. Luna is incredibly curious about Kitten.

Kitten is less interested…

Although she didn’t do as much hissing as before, and I played with both of them at the end of a long ribbon. So there was some staring at the little one, who played like a kitten. And they’re all fascinated with the Christmas tree. So I think there’s hope. We’ll see.

It took about 48 minutes (which included cat interactions) to sort all these…

Then I came into the office and cleaned up a bit so I could iron. I made it through part of the first torso and all the stuff behind.

That’s about an hour’s worth. More tonight, hopefully, after the artist talk I have to go to. It’s going to be a long day.

Here’s some of the drawing stuff I’ve been doing for school…I did a worksheet for a video and website we wanted the kids to go through…

I don’t know if doing this is ever worth the amount of time it took.

This is an assignment we have them do with lyrics of a song about the layers of the Earth…

And I finally got the cover page colored…

Space cat! Yes, I needed a lot of coloring time this week. It’s good. Next week is a lab and then more coloring, and then I’m ditching school for a day. Hopefully I will be well for that, because I’m surrounded by sick people at the moment. I can’t afford to get sick. I don’t have time. Nobody ever has time…that’s when it’s mostly likely to happen.

Wish us luck. This could be newsworthy. Hopefully not. Last year? Oh, last year, when our bus driver took the wrong turn (she was a newbie) and couldn’t figure out how to get us on the freeway without getting hit…oh shit, it was scary. We survived.

I Like to Color…

Another early morning. The parent didn’t show yesterday. I got an angry parent email this morning. Yesterday I called a parent and now I will be meeting with them after school with their kid so I can explain all the stuff that’s in the email we send out and that she gets, but she needs to see it (I’m actually totally OK with that one…it’s just the timing that’s rough). The meeting today is with the principal, so as long as he shows up mostly on time (he’s got littles), I’m good. At some point, we need to finalize the field trip stuff today…yesterday at 9:00 PM or so the texts started, trying to get groups fixed and wondering how we aren’t gonna end up burning the whole zoo down and letting all the animals go. I think I know which chaperoned group will do that too. They’ll have my phone number. Minor issue. I can almost guarantee one of the teachers will be making their group race across the zoo to grab that one kid who can’t deal. It’s possible all of us will.

But it’s the zoo! And outside. And not in school. So tomorrow should be cool. Once the buses leave school, a sense of relief hits and you know you can get through the rest.

Until then, things are tense. I have a good team. They help. I need another brain, but that’s not a team thing.

Here’s the current unit cover page in process…

I need to color it today. Plus the other thing we did yesterday. Lots of coloring at the moment. I like to color.

Yesterday after school, I went to a neighborhood gathering…the house above me finally sold (again). They’re retiring to Mexico and a young family with a baby is moving in. So we’re surrounded by screaming. The boychild and I will respond with music and whatever else keeps us sane. We’ve said all along that house is not kid friendly…and I wonder how a young family affords it, but I guess I was a young family here 21 years ago when we moved in. That makes three families with kids…as they get older, maybe they’ll be able to dog-sit. You never know. My neighbors call me an enigma because they never see me. I imagine they are all talking amongst themselves at tea parties and cocktail parties while I work into the late hours. Plus I don’t garden much.

Anyway, it’s change. No more cigars! I hope. That smell. Ugh.

OK, so after all that, I graded the rest of an assignment (grades are due again in less than two weeks) and then cut out the last of this…

FINALLY. I’m so frustrated with the lack of progress on this. But it’s OK. It’ll be fine. It probably won’t be done until Christmas. It’s not the end of the world. It took almost 12 hours to cut out all the pieces. I started on November 26 and finished last night. I really wanted to be done the week of Thanksgiving, plus have the whole thing ironed together that week. HA! Oh so funny. I will sort pieces tonight and hopefully start ironing it together. Friday night is questionable for that…got an artist talk plus it’s our anniversary of meeting each other, me and the man, so we’re going to celebrate that. Then his holiday work party is Saturday. I’m hoping to get some ironing in on Saturday anyway, but there is still a major assignment looming over me. Sunday has us moving a tree (don’t ask). Next weekend, we’re in Portland. Strange timing…but it’ll be fine.

There was lots of kitten activity last night…Nova is totally about to attack Luna’s tail…

They play really well together…

And then we had Luna sleeping on Simba…lots of belly rubs for Simba so he didn’t freak out.

We had a cat, Midnight, who he just loved, so we’re hoping he can love these cats too.

Calli is bigger and clumsier…but she also sleeps a lot, so she’s been walked on a bit…and sniffed.

She’s still pretty scary though…which is funny, because she doesn’t really care about cats. She is a little bit frightened of their sharp bits, I think.

You have to watch where you sit, walk, stand, step, and lie down right now. There are kittens everywhere.

Anyway. They’re nice. Although we all have stab wounds at the moment, mostly from Luna. Kitten still hasn’t really warmed up to them…although they mostly stay in one half of the house and she mostly stays in the other half.

OK. Meeting. Need to make lunch. Need to figure out all the pieces for tomorrow. I know I’ve forgotten something. Need to take deep breaths. Need to make art at the end of it.

Move On and Make Something…

Reflection is both the savior and bane of being a teacher. Constantly reviewing what we taught, how they learned, how it went. Oh god, that was horrible. Hey, they really got it! And all the places in between. We don’t always know the WHY of the good or bad…sometimes it seems like our success is dependent on the moon phases (seriously, every teacher knows when it’s a full moon), but it means we reflect on ourselves often too much and too harshly as well. The days after a weeklong break are semi-doomed. We’re tired, they’re tired, they think it’s already Winter Break, we wish it was already Winter Break. There’s a definite feeling that I need to Gird My Loins and hoist my scabbard skyward to survive the next three weeks. The plus is that it is only three weeks. I feel like I can grab onto those 15 days physically and just hold them…unlike the vast expanse of time that is March or May…where days drag on for…well…days. Longer days? I just don’t know how to explain it. They’re longer. They are!

So reflecting on my week off. Well. Yeah. The pros: I played a lot with kittens, I exercised mostly well, and I finished grading the large assignment from hell. The cons: I did nothing else. Really. So little art created. I’m frustrated by that, but that means I’m frustrated by myself, because it really was about mindset more than anything else. I didn’t make time for it. I was a lot of braindead. I suspect I needed to be a lot of braindead, but I also know I needed to make the art, because I can feel it today. It’s an ache of not doing. I should have tried harder.

Ah, those should haves. All I can do is try harder now. When I have so much on my plate. It’ll be fine. It always is somehow.

We walked the dogs on Saturday. You can’t really see it, but there’s snow out there, way out in the distance.

And brand new green stuff on the ground. Saturday was a lot of grading…

Sunday was chaotic. It always is. Started with pilates. Then groceries and schoolwork to prep for today and prepping breakfasts for the next three weeks and organizing my brain for the same three weeks. I think most people have no idea how much prep teaching takes…especially on Sundays. I send the parent email from my whole team, I try to prep warmups for the week (I made it through Tuesday…whoops), set up any online posts that aren’t set up already, answer emails etc. I did do art stuff though. I entered a show yesterday. I was hoping I would hear from another entry before I entered this one (rejected pieces are good for new shows, right?), but ironically, I had just hit SUBMIT and then the other show results came in. Oh well. Frustrating. But I did get in to the first show with one piece, so I can’t really complain.

It was busy. But I did get the last bit of the grading done on that project, so that was good. Oh yeah, I drew Saturday night. I made myself. I was exhausted. But there’s a piece in my head that happens to be next on the list. This is a very rough start to it…

But it is a start. More hopefully later this week.

The kittens are getting more comfortable with hanging out on the couch with us.

Of course, this was after an hour or so of tearing around like maniacs.

Last night during dinner…the blue-eyed beast kept trying to sample off my dinner plate. Her sister was more interested in a nap.

About 10 minutes later, they were racing all over the room again.

This guy wanted to play too…

He’s a little nervous about the kittens still, but he’s a good boy.

OK, so it’s school. Followed by two meetings. Ugh. Then get my hair cut before the holidays start for reals. Honestly this was when she was available. I don’t really care what my hair looks like. I care that I can get a brush through it. Then come home and do some artmaking. Maybe I just make more when I’m too busy not to. Or something. Down time is not my friend? Who knows. I can reflect on it or I can just move on and make something. Going for that.

A Better Person…

I want to be done. With schoolwork. With grading. With worrying about Christmas presents. With worrying about school. I want to take a year off work (ha! So funny. So financially not happening) and make art for a year. Every day for a year. Doesn’t that sound lovely? It does. OK, I wouldn’t talk to anyone probably for that year, but hey…that might also be a good thing.

This attitude will not help me get through the next three weeks of school. I need a better one. I need a long walk today. Outside. I need to finish the grading today…well, the major assignment anyway. I need some artmaking today. Those are all good goals.

I wrote a public post on Patreon today…mostly because I thought I owed my patrons a post and then I realized I didn’t. So I made it public…I keep trying to encourage people to support my Patreon. Because otherwise I’m copyediting during my breaks to try to make up the extra cash I need. Or worrying about how I have nothing really on my Etsy and I could finish some things and get them on there, why am I not doing a Shop Small Saturday thing? I’m small. Sigh. Because it takes too much time and energy for where I’m at right now. I had this great idea last week about what to do with some of the smaller unfinished stuff I had, but it requires time and energy I don’t have right now to do. Yes, they might sell. Yes, they might clear out some of the little pieces I have lying around. But is it worth it right now? Or should I spend more time drawing and working on the current quilt? Those are probably a better use of my time.

I’m constantly second-guessing what I’m doing. Maybe less of that.

So Thanksgiving…I did go to pilates, which was good. I’m appreciating the slow exercise and meditative aspect of it, but focus on the core. At some point, I’ll have to find a better balance with the gym, hiking, and pilates, but I committed to three months of twice a week, so that’s through January…which is easier, because there are a lot of holiday days in there, so it’s easier for me to fit in exercise. We had dinner with the man’s family, short and early…I forgot to take the annual photo of food, but this was pretty…

We came back, did some more family stuff, ate leftover homemade pizza for dinner, felt sleepy, all those things.

Awww. So that’s Luna…used to be Sue-Bob. She’s the bigger kitten.

I also took apart that turkey I cooked, bagged it up for turkey sandwiches in December. Then I finished grading all the kid videos for the project I’m grading. It’s boring, so I have to do something else while I’m doing it…so I drew my November Patreon drawing…

Lots of holiday stuff in that…kittens and holly and snow.

Friday was all about grading. And kittens.

I can’t say I was efficient. I wasn’t. I’m on the last phase of grading this project though so I’m motivated to get it done.

It’s such a pain in the ass. I don’t know how to make it better though.

Oh look! It’s a puppy!

He’s been my companion as well.

Somewhere in the middle of this, I got sick. It wasn’t too bad. Everything came up. I felt off for a few hours. I seem to be OK today. OK then. Food rejection.

This is Nova. She’s the smaller kitten. In this photo, she’s staring at MY Kitten, who is so NOT a kitten, just named that.

It’s a little tense. We’re hoping it gets better. If not, Kitten has me and the kittens have each other.

So no progress on the quilt in two days, which sucks. But it happens. Today will be better. But first, my electricity is going off so they can install the thing that makes the solar panels work with my electrical company. I didn’t know this was happening, so I guess it’s a good thing that I’m home to turn all the electrical things off first. Woo hoo! Art today. Later. I swear. It makes me a better person.