Crafty People…

Well I’m still trying to kick this cold, but that’s all it is. It makes me tired, but so do lots of things. Coughing up an occasional lung is fun. I have two. It’ll be fine. I did go out and do a few things this weekend and then came back and slept on Saturday. Not Sunday. I really am better…just not healthy yet.

Quiltwise, I finished the pink head embroidery Friday night…

And Saturday night, I sewed the sleeves down and did 4 out of 5 sets of bug legs…

Last night, I did the last set of bug legs…

Now I need to prep the canvases I sew them to and get that done.

And I started embroidering a third dye painting.

I’m not sure I can finish this one in time to get it photographed for the show I’m entering, but I figured I’d try.

It was the SD Book Crawl this weekend. Saturday, I got up and made it to two stores that were close to each other, walking distance actually. Then came home and did the only SAQA conference Zoom I could do (the others were during the work day). Then went to two more stores…came home and slept. Then we went out to dinner next to a 5th store. Then Sunday, after pilates and grocery shopping, I went to the 6th so I could get the patch. That was all I could deal with. Most of these were already on my TBR list, so that’s cool.

In fact, one of them is a book club book I need to finish in the next few weeks, which I couldn’t get from the library in time, so I was glad to find that at the last store. Especially because I had already looked for it and NOT found it, wandered around the store and tried again, and it was magically there, just one copy. Woohoo!

Do I need more books? Yes. Yes I do. Shit week last week. I get to sit through a meeting today because girl drama (not a kid and not MY drama). I love listening to people tell me how hard they work and totally ignore any work I have to do. It’s great. Really my core response to all the drama is…go get therapy. This job will not get easier with that level of shit. I mean, this job never gets easier, but I am definitely in my FUCK OFF era at the moment. There’s tons of things I will do for kids to get them through, but enabling parents and enabling teachers drive me nuts. Both need to do their jobs.

So there’s that. I didn’t finish grading things (when do I ever? Oh, in June I do.). So there’s more of that.

I totally skipped that thing in my 20s. I was already doing my own thing and have only cared less and less about people’s opinions since then? Yeah well. If I’d cared, I wouldn’t have kept making art.

OK. Today. Stupid contentious meeting that I have to be calm for. Right now, I’m calm. Boss hasn’t actually sent a meeting invite yet…wonder if he knows how? Not my problem. I have work to do; real work. Whatever. We’re done teaching sex ed! It was hellish this year. I hate the new curriculum. All I do is read. And doing it two months early sucks. Now we have to grab all these kids back into doing academic stuff because state testing starts next week. Ugh. 37 days left. Back to natural selection and evolution though…fun, but not a lot of hands-on activities we can do. Not enough time. Just gonna do our best (not to go nuts). Staff meeting after school and then hopefully I have the energy for ceramics. I don’t right now, but who knows. Book club meeting tonight too, but on Zoom, so I don’t have to be particularly functional. Then more work on the green face. I need to find a local yarn store too…might Google that later, like during the staff meeting. I think there’s one locally near my ceramics studio. I need something specific looking. Of course I do. I do have yarn. I just don’t have the RIGHT yarn. That’s how it is with us crafty people…we’re either setting spells on you or trying to knit a hoodie for our dog (I really think he’d like one, but I don’t knit that well).

Not Just a Hot Flash

Last night, I considered what it would take to call in sick today. I am actually sick. I wasn’t sure yesterday during the day, but by 8 PM, when I took my temperature, I’m like, well, yes, that is a fever…not just a hot flash. A hot flash of a different kind anyway. Today is the last day of the sex ed unit, I can’t move it, I have 30 kids opted out who need to come back on Monday. It’s also a wishy washy day because I only have one packet left and it doesn’t take all period. I don’t have time to preview a lovely video (although maybe I can find one related to the unit we had to pause to teach this). I’m not feeling well, so whatever it is, it needs to be easy for me. Writing sub plans is a pain. I’m not that sick. I slept yesterday afternoon, woke up to feed the dog and go to my stitching Zoom meeting, ate a small dinner, stitched a bit, and went back to bed. I’m mostly functional.

Here’s what I stitched on…

Almost ready for the ants. Very slow getting this done.

The last two days, I added beads to this…

There were often animals involved…

Which is complicated when you are using little tiny things cats like to play with.

There’s at least one sequin and one bead lost permanently in the couch. Not my problem. I tried to save them.

I suspect I’ll be done soon. Then I need to make some decisions. I need to get these two dye paintings photographed, but it would be good if I could get one more done. It’s taken me forever to do this one though. Not sure why. And if I start something new, what is it? I had one back in December that was ready to go for the next one and then I had to finish one for the group I’m in and these are for another group I’m in, and I know I need two new ones for next year for those two groups, but I’m not ready on one and the other, I don’t have a true deadline or size yet. So do I do the huge weird one I’ve been looking forward to doing? I think I do. I think I try to finish the other dye painting first. And when I get to like May 15, I get whatever’s done photographed. It might be 2; it might be 3.

This feels too real.

The day job I have is sometimes so irritating and fills all the times and energies. In good news, it looks like grades aren’t actually due this weekend. I think. Even though this is halfway through the trimester. Apparently the principals met and changed it two weeks later. Which is definitely not halfway. No logic to it at all, and since we are lowly teachers, we get no say. It’s gonna be pretty hard to bring a grade up after May 17 is what I’ve gotta say. Hardly any academic stuff after state testing. Also, we can’t send grades home on the 17th; it’s a Sunday. I’m not even sure where all these random dates come from. It’s just so stupid.

Wanna see the owl daddy (?) delivering food to the babes and mom (I’m assuming mom is still in there).

I had to get a new camera because the other one finally died. Now I’m working on trimming some of the plant material. The big tripod I was using had a weird connector that was rusted out, so the camera is a little low. Maybe I can work on that this weekend. Not sure how to retrofit the old, taller tripod so it’ll hold this camera. Definitely two babies at the moment though. Exciting stuff.

So here I am, sick, but not REALLY sick, definitely tired, trying to decide what to do with the kids today. I found the microphone yesterday because my voice was shot. That helped. I really need a video or something. I thought I’d do a blooket game, but that’s way more interaction than I can deal with right now. Damn, I wish this job was better about making it easy to be out. It’s not. I’m teaching goal setting today; then some random thing I haven’t decided about yet. I’d like to go to ceramics, but don’t think I’ll have the energy. Unfortunately. Maybe Sunday afternoon? I think sleep tonight, although I’m also supposed to be cooking (fun times). I feel like I was just sick a month ago (because I was). Immune system not at its best.

There’s Always a Back…

It’s another Wednesday where my brain keeps skipping ahead to Thursday. Surely I’ve lived through three workdays by now. Only three more days of sex ed and then back to the normal shitshow. Which isn’t planned yet. Minor issue. I’d really like to be planned out more than a few days…more than a week would be nice. It’s a constant scramble and that’s part of the exhaustion. Plus grading on top of it. I’m going to have to start grading a test tonight that I gave yesterday. Not sure if it’s going into the progress report. I’m not that on top of things yet. Never am really. Don’t want to spend the whole weekend grading. So we’ll see where I get.

I finished the embroidery, for some definition of embroidery, on the quilt. I think.

You can barely tell in photos. Then I started adding beads last night…

You can barely tell…I mean, the larger ones are obvious. I’m not done. It’s more about catching the light with those.

Also adding to the texture. It’ll be way different in person than in a photograph I guess. I’ve been told my work is anyway, so there we are.

I added to the ceramic piece on Monday…

Pounded out a slabbish piece and kind of squished it up and laid it over her arms.

Hopefully it will hold up. This thing is getting heavy. Gonna do some arm decorating, fix up the fingers with some details, and cut a hole for the neck. There’s still no room on the drying racks. Might need another plan at some point.

My co-teacher gave the kids pipe cleaners for their nervous fingers during sex ed. I found this outside.

Not particularly accurate. To our credit, 7th grade teaches anatomy; we just teach what happens if you use it. Pretty iconic otherwise. The orange is disturbing though.

Melania does think AI can do my job.

This is the problem though. Melania needs to read more dystopian fiction.

I love this…it’s so true, and at some point, when I was answering a question about abortions, I mentioned that non-science people shouldn’t be making laws about science they don’t understand (ectopic pregnancies cannot be transplanted, you idiot politicians)…

Also the kid who wanted to know why he had to learn about pregnancy…HE. I congratulated him on his decision never to have sex with a woman. Yes, the boys are driving me a little bonkers at the moment. Today is STIs. Scary stuff, but less scary than when we taught it. It’s all less scary. Videos of childbirth are good because it scares them. The animation they make for pregnant moms, which is what we have to use instead, is very vanilla. This whole new curriculum is just a lot of teacher reading and not a lot of good interactions. I might have the energy to do something about that someday, but not today. The LONG email I sent with corrections still hasn’t been answered. Sigh. Whatever. Highlight the damn words that need to be written so my low readers can FIND them, you assholes. Sigh. REALLY SIGH this time.

OK. Like I said, teaching STIs today. Preventing them tomorrow. Then goal setting and we’re done. Hallelujah. Then back to natural selection and then state testing and I can’t believe we’re getting to the end of this shitty year. Only 40 days of school left and one of those is promotion. One is a field trip. Four are testing days, which are hell in their own way, but the kids leave at noon and then it’s quiet. I have pilates after school and then I will come home and weed or grade or both and then play with more beads. I did weed a lot yesterday too…hoping to get enough done to scatter the wildflowers (aka fancy weeds with flowers) the boychild gave me. May the planning and grading go well. May I be less tired than yesterday. May my voice last the entire day (questionable). Oh shit, I’m doing test corrections at lunch. May the kids remember to turn over to the back of the page. There’s always a back. Just sometimes it’s blank.

Distracted by Actual Squirrels.

Hey ho, why is there so short a time to write this morning? I guess I did things, and then I watched the squirrels running up and down the tree (they’re young ones, so they’re kinda funny about who goes first on the branch thing. But not sure how it got this late. Also I have no photos of said squirrels. Sorry.

So. The weekend. Seemed short. I did things, sure, but not very many things. I planted 5 things, 3 ceanothus (one that had been sitting in a pot for two years) and 2 milkweed. I weeded. I’m always weeding these days. I confirmed that my owl cam is dead (weather damage) and ordered a new one. I bought new deodorant! This is a big thing because I have to go to a different store than the grocery store and it takes me forever to get errands like that done these days. I was on a Zoom for two hours. I went to an art exhibit. I hiked only two miles because the dog wasn’t ready for the third mile. I did some art. I had a mammogram. Ouch. Hopefully no biopsy this year…knock on wood. They don’t find that shit in the squishy mammo…they find it in the MRI. So that’s in July, I think. Fun times.

Artwise, there’s finally progress, although it still doesn’t look like it (there’s three squirrel babies, by the way, and I am distracted). All photos with cat interference.

This was Saturday night…with Nova. I didn’t do anything Friday night because the Man had a show and we didn’t get home until midnight or so. I finished the pink though and then had to search through my stash for a good purple. That was chaotic because I pulled it from something I haven’t finished stitching yet and I have to remember where it goes when I’m done.

Now with Scribble. I have a few blue-green bits I need to go back and do and then I’m going to figure out what beads and/or sequins I’m going to use. There better be less cat interaction with those.

Friday night’s music stuff…

A friend had a 50th birthday party and the Man and his former singer did the last three songs of the night. They did actually sing and not just posture.

Saturday afternoon’s hike with the pup.

He’s old and gets tired easier.

The art exhibit is at Art Produce; it’s a protest show. This is Linda Litteral’s, one of her Don’t Shut Up pieces about childhood sexual abuse.

This is Nicholas Danger’s work,

Tool of the Trade (the machete) and The Orange Monster. The hat says ‘maggot’. Legit.

Back of the machete.

This is Michelle Montjoy’s Bluebird of Happiness.

She must embroider much faster than I do (yes, I know she didn’t do the birds).

We went to dinner afterwards and I was fascinated with the light on the brewery tanks.

Did you hear that San Diego wants to cut almost all funding to the arts and libraries? And give it to the cops instead?

Frustrating.

And ignorant of what the arts and libraries do for the community. Speak up! I don’t actually live in the city, but this will kill the arts in this county. And remember this.

You CAN do both.

I don’t think I had that. I had about 10 minutes when I realized I had planted and watered the 5 new things and then I realized how much more needed to happen and I only had an hour and spent most of it walking from one part of the yard to another with a shovel.

This is the reality.

Except I cleaned nothing; I only did yardwork. Well, I did do the grocery shopping and the laundry. And I made lists. And I graded, because I am always doing that. I also went to ceramics Friday night and I don’t think I took photos? Or did I? No one knows.

Finishing up teaching about pregnancy today, then preventing unplanned pregnancies, then staff meetings blech and finally ceramics, where hopefully I really will take a photo AND find room on the drying shelf for my piece so I can start the head and the owl. Ha! Hasn’t been space for weeks. Then home to dinner, grading (ugh), and more embroidery…woo hoo! That’s a plus.

I’m a Big Girl…

Hey. It’s Friday. I say this once a week. I saw three squirrels cavorting on the slope this morning. I’ve only ever seen two at a time, mostly one. This was definitely three. Fun times. I definitely have the trees for it. And the one I’m watching right now? Definitely a young one. Not super tiny, but not an adult. Cool morning focus…on nature (even destructive nature) rather than the shitshow that is school right now. Behaviors have ramped up in all the classes, and I don’t think teaching sex ed early is helping. The baby squirrel went up one of the trees and is now coming down another one. Adorable little beast. Unlike boys during sex ed. I shouldn’t say ALL boys, because it’s not. But it’s a healthy number of them. Speaking of not all boys but way too many of them…

I mean, I guess I’m alternately shocked and not surprised at all that a ton of men checked into an online rape academy. Certainly I’m holding other men responsible for shutting that shit down if they ever get a hint of someone they know visiting that, but also, why is it allowed to exist? I’d love to have all those men outed. Names published. Fired from jobs. As we teach sex ed and little boys write on the question cards, “how many holes on a girl can I put my dick into?” Seriously disturbing sometimes. Also there has been a huge thing on consent, with parents monitoring kids’ phones and the kids saying they don’t have their consent, (and my laughing my ass off, because who pays for your damn phones and phone bills, you sweet dingbats), and then I explain how you can’t give consent under 18. And you know, it’s always the boys yelling, Bill touched me without my consent; can I hit him? Can I sue him? And the girls are sitting quietly in their chairs. I do mostly clump boys together on one side, girls on the other. Kids get to choose one person to sit with and there are some boy/girl combos. One set is dating and I warned him; usually I don’t let them sit together, but I think this pair is OK. The other pairs are friends and that is their support system. But one (annoying) boy noticed yesterday (on Day 4) and yelled out about it (because apparently we have to yell everything out), and one of the girls answered, “Maybe we just wanted to sit with our friends so we don’t have to listen to you,” and I’m with her on that. I’m kind of done with it, and we’re not even halfway through. My voice is shot; my patience is heading for the basement level. Deep breaths. It’s Friday. I can do it. I’m teaching pregnancy today. That should shut them up.

Artwise, I’m still embroidering. I have a lot done (it doesn’t look like a lot though)…

I finished that blue-green color and the lighter purple, and started the bright pink.

Then I need to find a proper purple; then sequins and beads. Another week? I may pause and do bug legs for a few days. I was too tired for them. They require thought and I’ve been doing yardwork every night and then grading and barely starting embroidery at 9:30 PM and hardly getting an hour in. Ugh.

I did go to ceramics last night because I have physical therapy for my knee after school today and then a show tonight (UGH).

She’s got two arms now and roughouts for hands. I’m trying to do hands differently…put something in them and then carve the fingers, because the fingers are always breaking. We’ll see how that goes. I have to make sure it doesn’t dry out too much so I can’t carve it, and my original plan for the arms changed mid-arm and then I still don’t have enough shelf space available to dry this or start the head and originally there was going to be a barn owl on the head/shoulders and I’m not sure how to pull that off. SO. Yeah. I’m rethinking.

She looks like she’s doing a low row in pilates. ANYWAY. I’ll get there. I don’t plan much in ceramics. That’s the point for me. Brain loosey goosey.

Speaking of loosey goosey, here’s Scribble.

She’s a sweetheart. But still kitteny.

Hey so I finished my taxes a week or so ago and I’m still pissed off that I’m paying for a war. And ICE. And those dumbass goons in the government who quote random shit and say even more random shit. Also my right eye started twitching today and I blame all of this: school and world.

Unfortunately, the monkeys are mine. Every day. In class.

Another photo of my piece at the No Boundaries exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum.

And my Stitchpunk piece at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. I always forget that they’re traveling around, although hopefully I’ll see this one in Oregon this summer. Or is that Fierce Planets? I can’t remember.

Woman 3.0. Hopefully dealing with fewer stupid men online.

Leaving you with Simba AFTER I stopped rubbing his belly.

No judgement in that face. I did rub his belly for a long time (not long enough, lady).

OK. Teaching pregnancy today. No videos of women giving birth, unfortunately. The school board thinks that’s too much. I think it scares them and it’s useful. Plus it gives me a break from talking. I talk NONSTOP for this unit with the new curriculum. Yesterday a boy yelled out, “Pregnancy, Why the fuck do we need to learn about that?!”. I calmly said, “well, I guess you never want to have sex with a woman then.” Fun times, y’all, fun times. After teaching that all day (it’s OK, the one class that got to the anatomy review yesterday shut up SO FAST…it was joyful), I will get my knee poked and prodded again, then remember to pick up my insulin (if I forget, it’s OK; I’ll be back tomorrow for the boob squeeze, version 1). Then the Man said I should NAP for the show tonight. Four hours long. But there’s a taco truck. But the three songs he’s in are the last of 43? So holy crap, bring my book and go read in a corner? We’ll see how I feel. Currently I feel like crawling into a pillow fort, but that’s not an option. I’m a big girl and I need to do all the things.

Not a Natural Haven on Purpose…

‘Tis Wednesday, yet feels like a later day in the week that is not yet Friday. OK, that only leaves Thursday, but honestly, sometimes it feels like there is a full week between Monday and Wednesday alone, and then you get to Thursday (finally) and it just wings by into Friday and you’re done. Sometimes, though, you’re teaching sex ed and the boys are being such wingnuts that you get through the day and their stupid shit and even though you have a ton of grading to do that you don’t want to do on the weekend, you can’t find the mental energy to do any of it. Yeah. That was last night. Granted, I did do a higher level pilates class after work and then came home and weeded and trimmed, because my yard is a natural haven but also a disaster (so not a natural haven on purpose and maybe even a little dangerously so), and then I collapsed on the couch and read three chapters (I might have read five) and then got up and made dinner. So it’s really no surprise that at the end of it, I had zero energy for grading late work.

So quiltwise, I’ve been embroidering on the pink head piece…I just want to get it done.

It’s not that I don’t like this piece…I actually love this piece. It’s just that the embroidery is SO SLOW…you slow stitchers, I’m used to getting done faster. I do realize that’s the point, but I feel like I’ve been showing y’all the same thing for weeks now. Because I have? I mean, it changes minutely each night.

Anyway. I’m working on the purples and pinks now. Then beads and sequins. Getting there. Not fast. It’s fine.

Remember above? It’s not just me.

It’s a thing. As is this…

And this resonates after yesterday…

And mine are largely taller than I am…not so young. But sometimes, just shite. The girls have been awesome so far. They usually are. I have one class with only 6 girls in it, huddled in a corner, and I go thank them sometimes for being a sane island in the seas of testosterone. They giggle uncomfortably OR say, it’s OK Ms. Nida; you got this. Stuff like that. Which makes you cry a little.

Today I am teaching body image and decisionmaking (fun times) and then I have a union meeting after school and another greenery trashcan to fill with the overgrowth at my house. And then I will absolutely need to grade some things (I’m getting very little done at school…these sex-ed packets are all talking, all the time, no fucking down time, ALL fucking day, it’s exhausting.) and make dinner and then I’ll be looking for a brighter purple thread in my stash (I know it exists; I just don’t know where it is). And maybe think of more stitches than chain, stem, backstitch, feather, and French knot. I think I did a herringbone too. Or just do something and get it done so you can get onto the beads. I don’t know. Also someone needs to clean the windows here…they’re all gross and hard to see out of. It’s a lovely day out and I’d like to SEE it. Also, that’s a squirrel. I have those now. They bit through the cord to the owl camera from the solar panel charging it, which is why it kept disconnecting. I replaced it and tied up the cord…they’d have to jump up to get it now (and they might, little fuckers). I know the owls are there; I hear at least one baby. I just like to see them too.

OK, I really need to go to school and grade shit. Ugh. And hide all the pencils so that one class can’t break them and throw them at each other, because that’s easier than talking about consent and boundaries. Seriously, sweet demons, that’s all we’re talking about now. What’re you gonna throw when we get to STIs? Sigh.

Art Will Be at the End of It…

It seems to be Monday again. Some cruel joke. We start sex ed today, a full 6 weeks early, and I am so not ready. I have 32 kids opted out (I think…something like that)…I have one class that only has 6 girls left (girls opt out more than boys). I clustered them in a little pod, like wagons circled together for protection. Occasionally a girl wants to sit with a boy. Some make total sense, and one this year is a couple…I don’t think they realize how awkward it will get when we start talking about how pregnancy happens and STIs present. I don’t usually let the couples sit together, but we’ll see how this works. Big class. Not a lot of places to put him.

So there’s that. I’m totally behind in grading because I did not have any time this weekend for it (or motivation; let’s be real). I’ll need to be a little more on top of it this week. Somehow. Ugh. I’m too tired for all this shit.

So what did I do this weekend? I picked up quilts and went to an art group meeting and went to dinner at my parents because my brother is here visiting and that’s really it. I was out of it for most of Saturday, even though I did things. Stitching-wise, I worked on everything. I finished the edges of the 5 bugs…

Now they all need legs…well, except the ladybug. She’s got them already.

Pink or green legs? I’m thinking lime green.

This one looks really weird without the rest of its leg parts.

Some of them also need antennae. Maybe that’s tonight’s project.

Then Saturday, at the artist meeting, where I saw an artist’s studio that would be lovely, yes thank you, I would like that much room…I worked on this…

I took an improv quilt class last January? Or the year before? Finished the top and went, eh, I’m not really an improv quilter, what am I going to do with this? So I started stitching on it last summer, put it down after that residency, but picked it up for this meeting and did some more stitching. Because my brain is all over the map at the moment. Proof of that: last night, I was working on the pink head again…

Scribble is not so helpful. But I did pull out all the beads and found the sequins. I’m still doing thread stuff right now though. It takes forever.

The ceramic piece got more stuff on the front…

As I watched this…

Which was awesome and awe-inspiring and all that good stuff. Unlike the rest of everything.

Ok. I am really tired still. Blood sugar has been crashing at night, so I’m reducing my insulin to see if that helps. It’s exhausting to deal with. I didn’t get any yard work done this weekend, so hopefully I will later this week. I’ve got some ceramics time built in. I’m going to need to grade stuff. I need legs for the bugs and more embroidery all over the place. This week is less busy than last week…well, at least at the moment, so that should help. Today is just the intro to sex ed, so it’s mostly my telling them how all the things work and how not to piss me off while I’m teaching it (fun times, y’all…some of the boys lose their freakin’ minds). There are a couple of kids I won’t mind not seeing for two weeks, honestly, so that’s a plus. Anyway…art will be at the end of it and that’s always a good thing, even if I’m jumping all over the place with projects. There’s a reason for the jumping and I’ll get all these little projects done eventually and get onto a big quilt…hopefully by June. Which is a long way away unfortunately. Sigh.

Completely Unprepared

Late start to writing; so much to do. Brain explodes and is replaced with AI…which doesn’t know where to start, how to prioritize. Still laughing about Melania’s AI in the classroom. Obviously the woman and her people have never stepped foot into a middle-school classroom. I wouldn’t mind a little robot assistance just for the stupid questions: “What are we doing?” “Do we have to read the whole thing?” “There’s a back?”. They could also do the copying for me and maybe input grades (can I trust it for that?) and answer parent emails…oh wait, no…I had to tell Chatty to be less kiss ass on one response to a parent because she was bending over backwards for one kid in a class of 33 with 7 SPED. Like IDK what drugs she’s on, but it needs to be possible for humans to do the things…I for sure know SHE couldn’t do it. It would take 7 or 8 robots to do all the things she suggested. I only tried Chat for a response to a parent email because I was fairly sure the parent had also used it to write their email and I wanted to see what the response was.

So there’s that. Today, so far, I wrote one warmup, I checked the weekly email doc and contacted my team to make sure everyone had written their paragraph by Sunday, I ate breakfast, took my meds, calculated the Man’s grocery costs for the week, went through my to-do list and transferred the things I hadn’t done to today and Saturday (and next week, honestly, because let’s be real), considered an email I got and wondered if it was passively aggressively suggesting I needed to do something and decided I would make them actually ask, read some of my book, drank two cups of tea, marinated the meat for dinner, put all the extra dishes away, started some eggs hardboiling for lunch, tried to write another warmup question but there was a feisty cat in the way, remembered the blog, oh wait, I also went to pilates and considered gas costs. So yeah. And showered and changed clothes and opened windows. Doing well. Not great…just getting little things done. Considered cleaning floors, but I have to eat before I go to yet another dentist to see if I lost a filling? I don’t have a filling there but something happened and IDK what and maybe I hallucinated it. I don’t think I’m finishing this post before I have to go eat and then leave. You won’t know the difference. I will.

I made it to ceramics yesterday. Picked up my new bowl, which I love, wonkiness and all…

Here’s a video of it…

Complicated to hold and film. It’s fun. I meant to make like a soup/pasta bowl, but it’s too big. It’s serving bowl size. Which is fine.

Then I finished the ribcage on the back of this one.

Also pretty cool. Lots of work left on this though.

I started the embroidery on the second dye painting…which is almost invisible in this picture.

But I’ll keep going. I want the texture. I’m adding beads and sequins at some point too.

I had Scribble on my lap for most of it.

She also hung out when I was grading things…

She might have missed me.

I didn’t have much free luggage space in my bag, but I bought a few fabrics (and napkins I will be using as fabrics).

Not a lot. And two t-shirts. And a bag and a cross stitch pattern. Which looks really hard to read. Fun times.

I saw this…related to my most recent quilt that will be at the New England Quilt Museum, opening in a couple of weeks.

There’s been a lot going on, as always. Go Christina Koch!

I’ve been in this space a lot the last three days…

As it should be.

Ready for this. I have a cat ready to go. Maybe four of them.

And I’m now following Amanda Oleander just for this, because I thought I was the only one doing this.

Mostly I swirl them up and make little galaxies (and then throw them in the trash), but sometimes make faces. Maybe I should worry about my hair falling out more, but eh. Seems real.

OK. So I ate, I have 17 minutes until I need to leave to find out about the tooth. I might go to Costco to figure out why my card won’t work and the app won’t verify me. It keeps asking me which street is near mine and none of them are, which is just really weird. So I have to go in person, which sucks, but I also need gas, so maybe I kill both those things. I don’t really want to waste time on either task, but whatever. I’ve got taxes to work on (STILL) and stuff to grade (FOREVER) and cleaning and yardwork (UNENDING), but will end the day with stitching. Need to find the sequins…not something I say often, but it happens. And this is the last official day of Spring Break…I don’t really count the weekend, because it’s the ramp-up to going back (so incredibly not-never ready). I got almost nothing done over break, so there’s that. Going into the last piece of the school year completely unprepared with my hair on fire. Nothing new.

Accept the Fuzz…

Hey. It’s Spring Break. I’m exhausted, overwhelmed, buried, and woke up sick this morning. That squirrel is back on the fence, running along…he hasn’t figured out how to get to the bird feeder yet (the Man moved it). I’m waiting for the Mark Rober adjustments to the feeder if he does figure it out (if you’ve never watched Rober design systems to foil squirrels, it’s definitely a squirrel hole to fall down some day.). I leave early Wednesday morning for Virginia, and every time I turn around, something else gets added to the to-do list. The oil light came on in my car yesterday after driving to Long Beach and back for an art meeting (hardly any traffic, luckily). Hoping I don’t get all those people sick. But I felt fine yesterday…just tired. And I’m always tired. Here’s to hoping my middle-school-teacher immune system kicks in (and my flu shot) to make this thing go away quickly. I don’t have time to be sick. I don’t want to be sick on a plane either. Sigh. OK. Need to buy/find masks now.

Did I finish my taxes on Saturday? Nope. Not even. I packed and shipped a quilt that will be at the New England Quilt Museum as part of the Soul Stories exhibit opening there around April 14. It will travel to Birmingham, UK, and then to International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, in November. I can’t go to any of those shows, I think. Ah well. The quilts travel more than I do…always.

I have the closing reception for the Fantastic Stories exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum this coming weekend. We’re doing demos on Friday and then an artist talk on Saturday. If I had a car and more time, I’d then drive up to the Art Quilt Elements opening at the Wayne Art Center; I have a piece in that show as well. The opening is from 3-5 PM. It’s about a 4-hour drive from where I am in Virginia, I don’t have a car, and I’m planning on going to museums in DC on Monday. I’m not making it to the opening. I couldn’t do the 8-hour roundtrip drive plus rent the car. Money is tight. I’m appreciating the museum finding us a place to stay while we’re in Virginia and transporting us around. Saves me a bit of money I don’t actually have.

But this is the artist’s life…I could never afford to be a fulltime artist and feed my kids. The paychecks are not regular (or honestly big) enough. One quilt selling from this show would cover my expenses easily, but my stuff does not sell easily unfortunately. I probably don’t market well either. In my spare time! Anyway, if you are in Dayton, come see the show. If you miss it this week (it comes down Saturday night), I’ll have a piece in the No Boundaries exhibit that opens right afterward, on March 31.

I did finish the smallest of the dye paintings last night. On Friday, I finished all the embroidery so far and was considering threads for the hair.

Then Saturday night, I started working on the hair…

This is the smallest of the pieces I’m working on…

This one is about 20″ square…smaller than I usually do. And last night, I finished up the purple in the hair…

And sewed the sleeves down on the bottom edge (I waited to make sure the embroidery didn’t catch in the sleeves).

I don’t usually make pieces this small…trying to see if this is faster than the other way I make quilts. For something this size, it’s not.

Official photos will have to follow. I have a piece about this size that I did last year, in my normal technique, and it’s about the same number of hours. Interesting. It’s still a worthwhile process though, for a different type of image. I’m not giving up on it. Certainly, I make more work by adding the embroidery, but that was part of what I wanted to do. Moving on to the next one tonight. Might be some bedazzly stuff going on with that one.

I really wish they’d pay TSA. Getting on a plane and going to DC is somewhat nerve-wracking, now helped by long lines and ICE agents.

Such a frustrating system we have at the moment.

This was not surprising, unfortunately. Men in power. Strength and love to Dolores Huerta.

But true. I don’t want anyone in the Epstein Files to be in power anywhere. Don’t care who they are. That’s the difference.

Going back to the Dark Ages, y’all.

This is how men control the story. Take the meds away…I don’t see anyone removing Viagra or its equivalents. Of course not. Not making men responsible for their bodies and what they do with them. Birth control is mostly hormones…interestingly, hormones men have as well.

This is what I always feel like at the beginning of Spring Break. Except when I’m sick.

But it does feel like a good morning despite the headache and sore throat. I’ll try to stand outside in the sun for a bit. Just stand. Then go back to prepping for this trip, trying to grade stuff, trying to finish taxes, trying to keep up with all the stupid stuff I’m supposed to be doing in the next two days. I’d like to get to ceramics today too…maybe later. Brain is very fuzzy. Spring Break fuzzy? Sick fuzzy? General old age fuzzy? It probably doesn’t matter…accept the fuzz.

Watching Squirrels Sleep…

Hey I usually do more of a countdown to Spring Break, but I haven’t even had the mental space for that…it starts today! At 3:30 PM…but it’s also Eid today, so I’m guessing I’ll have at least 40 students missing, just based on what got turned in yesterday. We normally miss a bunch the Friday before a break, but with a massive religious holiday…it’ll be a lot more. We all planned for it…easier to plan for it at the end of a unit, right before a break, than for the beginning of a unit, right after a break (that was last year). So I’m not expecting a lot of stupid shit today, luckily…hopefully quiet, watch Bill Nye while I grade, be quiet, turn your stuff in. Meanwhile, I made a grading list and it sucks. My fault of course, but whatever. I only have four days at home before I leave for Virginia, and about a million things to do, so that should be interesting.

Survived field trip…

Had to explain what the metal string things were for and that the seagull was not making a nest there and dropping its eggs into the water.

Meanwhile, embroidery takes forever. Wednesday night…I got the speech bubble etc on…

I may have embroidered more around the heart…and then last night, I did embroidery in the speech bubble and more around the heart.

Better. The heart itself needs more. Then the hair. Probably outline the speech bubble. Doesn’t sound like much but I probably won’t be done until next year. Ha! No…it won’t take THAT long.

My brain fuzzed out last night for a bit so I have a lot of memes expressing my frustration with the world. Well, this is not a meme…just a direction to the drones that are not really over California, looking for places to drop bombs.

I love California most of the time. Not all of it. But in general.

Keeping up with the political theme of Why TF are we at war and everything costs so much.

Plus deportations still happening, people dying in custody, little kids separated from their parents. People trying to be legal about immigration and that doesn’t matter. DACA recipients ffs. They pay taxes, you idiots.

The damn SAFE Act is just fucked up. I did check my passport last night, just for giggles (is it giggles when it’s necessary?). I never changed my name though…I also checked that I had my birth certificate, and I do. Thanks mom for smuggling those out of Alaska. I really do think we’re in an alien dystopian movie at the moment.

There’s also this though. I do this all the time.

That’s an anxiety thing. Fun. And this…

I know I’m going to have to be up early on Sunday to drive to an art meeting in freakin’ Long Beach. Ugh. I wouldn’t be going if it weren’t Spring Break, but even then, I don’t have much time before I leave and I WANT to: finish grading, have my taxes done, get a bunch of yard work done…and I NEED to: pack everything, set up demos to take with me, make sure I have food (we have a kitchen…I just found that out). So I’m doing all of that. OH. And get to ceramics on Tuesday or Monday so I’m not leaving my piece for too long. Plus get the damn toilet fixed. It’s been months.

This amuses me…because it is also true. But today is Hawaiian shirt day (for Spring Break), so I’m wearing a bulky men’s shirt that buttons on the wrong side and isn’t my thing at all.

Just like a middle-school teacher. I brought a shirt and flip flops to change into later for ceramics.

I need to grade all of Per 5 and 6’s Unit 5 packets, because I’m bringing home Unit 6 today. Sad but true. I also need to copy all the stuff for the first week back; I have the first day copied and that’s it. So that’s my goal for the school day. Plus be chill (my A/C sort of works?) and not go off on anyone (I already did last night, but it was semi-justified…maybe could have worded it as a suggestion instead of a rant, but I don’t have that in me right now). Do my afterschool duty in 97-degree heat (seriously?) and then go to clay and then go home and eat leftovers and maybe grade some shit because downtime is rare and I’m on a mission to clear the second week of break from school shit (ha!). SLEEP. Maybe. Because hot and the Man yelled out “Text him” the other night in his sleep. Plus a cat hit my head and I was bleeding…luckily under the hair and not on the face. I’m currently watching a squirrel run along the fence between my yard and my neighbors…thinking of getting a squirrel box and putting a camera inside so I can watch them sleep. Seriously. Google it. It’s funny.