New Babies…

OK. Mondays. They are just hard. I’m awake. The alarm took care of that. And the shower. And the first half of a cup of tea. Plus it is daylight. Some neighbor is already making gardening noises, so if I weren’t back to work, I’d be irritated by how early it was. But it’s supposed to be hot today and right now it is overcast and cool, so I get it. I’m an evening gardener as opposed to a morning gardener. It’s just my thing. I’ve been planting cuttings from a few succulents that have gotten too large and fallen over in the last week. One yielded about 15 large cuttings; the other, only 4. Plus I think there are two more floating around somewhere. I love succulents for their ability to regrow, to just lie around for a while and then find the dirt. Some I had just lying on the ground, ready for transplanting, but I waited too long and they rooted there. Whoops. Makes it easy for those like me who are not GREAT gardeners. I water. Sometimes I fertilize. Sometimes I forget to water, although I find it meditative to wander around the yard, checking on plant status, looking for caterpillars or new growth.

Like this one…broken off the main cactus, which was grown after I carried a piece back during COVID, filled my hand with stickers because it LOOKED smooth. I put this little piece in a pot months ago and it curled over and broke and I’m like, well that’s it, it’s going to rot away now, but NO. The joy of new babies.

Check them out. That’s exciting. One of my weird old lady habits now.

So. I know, I just posted, but I wrote that Friday morning. Then somehow walked away from the computer (probably panicking about time) and didn’t post it. It was missing a title and a photo and that was it. So here’s Friday and the weekend.

A 3-hour staff meeting…but I forgot my sketchbook. I meant to drop it in my bag, but no. And they logically made us put our computer lids down. So we could answer questions and talk to each other. OK. Well I don’t function well under those circumstances, so I drew all over the question paper.

With the only color I could find in my bag.

These would make cool little quilts. I don’t have time for that right now, but someone remind me later, eh? Because I don’t have a million little drawings lying around. Ha! Here’s the one from Saturday night, which I started last week somewhere…

It’s still not done. I don’t draw fast enough or they bring the food too fast. No, I don’t know if they’re being shot out of cannons or planted in toilet paper tubes. Hard to say. Is that grass or fire on the right? Unknown.

Friday night, I finished cutting all the Wonder Under.

It took 11 hours and 38 minutes. I stayed up too late to do it, because I had an opening to go to before. Then Saturday night, I sorted all the pieces…

That was 2 hours and 11 minutes. And 21 boxes. Significant.

Then last night, I picked my background (luckily I had enough of something that worked, because I forgot to go to the quilt store) and cleaned the studio, putting all the fabric away from the last quilt. I laid out the first 100 pieces and started with the volcano.

I hang the drawing up so I can see it. Yes there’s some chaos going on below the drawing. I don’t know what to say about that except I need more storage or to clean up what I have, but time for that takes away from time for this.

And I have limited patience for that. Barely a start there, but a start. Looking forward to the next probably 25 hours of ironing these…hopefully more than an hour a night, or it will take me until September. Ugh.

Friday night’s opening was at the San Diego Downtown Library, in their 9th-floor exhibition space, which is very nice. My crooked photo of the blurb.

And there’s my piece, Doctor’s Orders…

Plus me! After a very frustrating day at work managing a lot of other people’s stuff instead of my own. I came home, showered, changed, and left again. With more tea in me. This show was mostly Allied Craftsmen, but a few other people added in.

I made an Instagram reel of this video of me rolling around my very undone room. It might be better with the music.

Many people were like, it looks great! Good enough! The only thing I had done was open/unlock cupboards and move the tables and chairs. Literally nothing in the eyes of what needed to be done. All those boxes needed to get OUT of the prep room so we can use it.

It’s OK. This was after three hours on Saturday…

I also went in Sunday and mopped the prep room floor because it was disgusting. Plus made a bunch of copies because they needed to be made. Today, I have two meetings and hopefully I’ll get a big chunk done. Hoping. Saturday, I was feeling very stressed about all of it. I’m still having issues. Also, the A/C isn’t working. So it’s warm. Not great. Supposed to be in the 90s this week.

And I also did a reel of this, so you could see what 2 hours of sorting pieces looks like. The plus of the reel is not listening to whatever I was watching I guess.

For each one, I’m looking at the number and finding the box with that number. Sometimes with the little pieces, I put them in my hand and pile them up by number, which is a little faster.

Sunday, I also cut out pieces for a revision of a tattoo quilt I’m doing.

We did a short hike.

The Man’s back is bothering him.

Plus it’s hot. But check out that thundercloud! It did not make its way to us, unfortunately.

And Kitten this morning. 15 years old. Definitely slowed down. Poor old lady.

Yes, she has taken over that drawer of blue fabric.

Anyway, that’s it. And I have to be at school in 30 minutes. Need meds, brush teeth, etc. More tea! Totally more tea. One meeting this morning, then one this afternoon. Hopefully my room will be presentable by 1 PM for that one. Or not! Then home after a couple of errands, to maybe go to the gym with my book, definitely ironing to fabric tonight. Definitely.

Wishing That…

Late again, lost my days. Not many left until every week is prescribed, Monday this, Tuesday that. So it’s OK that I lost one? Maybe. I was doing something else, posting for an art group I’m in…and then had to drive forever for a meeting for another art group. I have more of that to do today for another art group and some organization for yet a third art group. Volunteering is hard.

I’m still tracing, but I’m close to done.

It’s funny, because I’ll comment on social media on things, like this necklace…I knew I was making it harder for myself by drawing this, and one part of my brain thinks it’s stupid, but I know I can do it, so it’s OK, but people are like rushing to give me alternatives. It’s OK.

I know what the alternatives are. I chose to do it this way. My brain already had that conversation. I guess people just want to help…and I’m help-adverse. Independently minded. Nope, I’m good.

I traced just under 2 hours on Thursday, because we went to a concert that afternoon/evening. Then Friday, I did a few more hours.

This is where I’m at…in the mid 1700s, so about 300 pieces to go. I’ve finished the justices except for Ruth and all of the Supreme Court building. I’m up into the goddess and all that stuff. Almost done. Maybe today? Who knows. Today’s to-do list is massive.

One of the things I need to do is get this piece of a jade plant that broke because it was too heavy into the ground, probably in pieces.

Poor thing.

Annie getting pets after being peed…

Only a couple more days I can do that I think before I go back.

I walked Simba one morning, but it was already too hot.

I had water, kept him in the shade as much as possible, and kept it short. He was so excited though.

I also want more walks but am too hot. Not as hot as he is though. So I’m careful with when and where I take him.

Nova guarding the Wonder Under box.

Also there’s a breeze up there on the light table.

Simba excited about bedtime for some reason.

Or maybe just excited to be him.

So the concert we went to was Danny Elfman…

Yeah, he’s old. And it did show in what he could do, but it was still fun. We were invited by the Man’s brother and SIL to join them in box seats, which were pretty awesome.

Space around us, nice padded seats, drink service, etc. Nice touch. I’ve avoided the big stadium-like shows for years, but this was very nice.

They played some Oingo Boingo, some from his new album (which was eh), and lots of musical scores from movies and TV shows, with clips, which was cool.

I didn’t realize all the things he’d done music for…

I really want to watch all the video behind him again…there were some truly inspirational things going on, very surreal, sometimes not so nice, but some very cool stuff. I’m sure they’ll make a video/movie/doc and I can watch it again then, right? Anyway, we had fun, but I think we’re still tired from it, two days later. Because we’re old. And I don’t sleep.

OK, it is Saturday. I’d like to walk the dog (and ourselves) later. I need to get that jade plant in the ground, and then get some things crossed off the to-do list. I have a quilt guild meeting first though, so I should do that, with more caffeine. This is my last Saturday before I go back to school. I don’t feel like I have it in me this year, but I’ll figure it out. I never get particularly rah rah about going back anyway, but it would be nice if it didn’t take me 2-3 hours to fall asleep every night. Yeah. Wishing that for myself.

Lots of Green

Yo. Still in Seattle. I have not moved here. Winter weather scares me. But the trees and green and flowers are nice. I will never get those in San Diego, it’s true.

I didn’t write this morning because it was day 2 of get the fuck up early and get out of here to beat the crowds hiking. We were pretty successful at that. I haven’t done much else: read a lot, stitched a little, drawn a little. Too many distractions. Too easy to zone out. Plus lots of driving. And hiking.

Did you know Seattle has a sugar tax? Weird but intriguing. Not sure it would stop my students from buying soda. They’re pretty hooked.

So what have I been doing? Damn good question. Graduation party for the kid of a friend (really proud of him for getting through). Hanging out with the niece (a bit) as she gets ready to go back to a dig. We set up two tents and determined that (1) her new cot would not fit in the smaller tent and (2) my bro has a way nicer tent than I have. All good.

I drew a little more on the second drawing, not much.

There was a dog in the way. I turned around and turned back and then there was no more drawing.

I also drew before dinner last night…didn’t finish, but this is a rough start to the next quilt.

Needs to be bigger. And more complicated.

Sunday morning, we were up early and headed out to Little Si for our first hike. It was good we got there relatively early, because both parking lots were full when we got back.

This wasn’t a hugely long trail, but there was some up. We are out of shape…two people in physical therapy at the same time for a variety of ailments…

Hiking in Southern California is so much hotter and browner and drier. We appreciate the green, the ferns, and the moss.

Wait. Look. It’s us. We think that’s Mt. Si behind us. We didn’t hike that one. It was too high.

Lots of green. And a bench.

5.12 miles. Lots of up and down. Lots of people. It was nice though for most of it.

Then today we got up early again to hike to two alpine lakes, Talapus and Olallie. This was a longer hike, 6.25 miles.

Lots more trees…not as hefty a climb.

Cool bridge.

Cool lakes…

Olallie…

And Talapus…

That is not the same log jam.

Also, a toilet with a view.

So tomorrow we are taking a break from the hiking, I think. Maybe spend the day drawing and stitching, with a walk down to the water for fireworks. Maybe a longer walk with the dogs.

We are trying to relax. And get more sleep. We suck at the latter.

I feel like we need a down day. A book day. A drawing day. Also, though, I need more milk.

Dumplings of Fury

Still in Seattle. Trying to be relaxed and all. Apparently I suck at that. If you know me, you know that already. I have been drawing…at first, just a little bit every day, just because there wasn’t time. But after everyone left, there was more time. And normally I would have written yesterday, but I’m off. No clue what day it is.

Wednesday was graduation chaos.

Wednesday night (?) I managed some more on that drawing…might have been in the afternoon, now that I think about it. I stitched a little on the Sue Spargo Homegrown block at graduation. I finished one the day before, and then started this one.

I worked on it yesterday too…I feel weird sitting in the house when the cleaner is here, so I sat outside and stitched.

I finished the bottom part of the house…still need to do the roof and the tree, plus I missed a flower. Whoops. Not sure how much of this will be happening over the next week. I don’t usually draw when there’s an audience…I can handle the Man, but not a lot of other people. So once they all left, I could draw. So here was what I added Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, everyone left except me, so I planted myself on the couch and realized that’s where the dogs like to be too, and I drew some more.

I also went for a walk…

It’s so light here, late at night, at 4 in the morning. I’ve been sleeping with a pillow over my head.

This drawing isn’t done. There’s a blank space in the top right. But another one popped into my head, so I started drawing it yesterday.

Also not done. Summer break has had some issues so far that make me feel like I’m somewhat out of whack, maybe even incompetent or out of of it, so working through that? In drawing?

Saw some friends last night…and this place…

Dumplings of Fury. Perfect.

So today is my friend’s son’s graduation party (she’ll tell you it’s her party), so we’re going to that. My niece will be showing up at some point to pick stuff up. We’re planning hikes for the next two days before it gets super hot here. Not sure what happens after that. Hikes? Touristy stuff? We’ll see.

All Up in My Head…

Hey. It’s Friday. But it’s not a work week for me, so what does that mean? Not much, except for the people around me who are working are doing their stuff, so I guess that affects me. It’s a nice place to be finally, although yesterday tested my summer break self on the first day I actually felt like I was on break. It’s still all up in my head, so I’m going to do my best today to dispel it and do the things I want to do.

The quilt is progressing, although let’s just ignore yesterday, because progress yesterday was nil, nada, nichts, nothing.

The previous day, I sorted all the pieces…

Super fast when there are only 500 and something of them. Then I started ironing it together…

As always, although my numbering seemed logical at the time, in reality, it’s a clusterfuck. I can’t fit all the background swirls on at the same time, so I did most of the 0-100s and then laid out the 100s for the next bit, but that was where I got tired and couldn’t do any more. And last night was not conducive to doing any art, so hopefully today will be a million times better, because I wanted to be further along than this.

Part of yesterday’s issue is that I took the dogs out for a 3-mile hike to try to tire them out before a Zoom call I needed to be on (mostly the puppy was the issue, but it turned out that Simba barked during the whole thing).

It was a nice walk, not too hot, mostly breezy.

The dogs were much better after the first mile.

Although trying to keep the puppy on her side was an issue. We were all tired when we got back, but Annie did sleep for most of the Zoom, so that was good.

Yes. On the bed. Where else? Oh yeah, also here.

After that, things just kinda went downhill. So I’m not focusing on all that doom and gloom (except I say that and my brain doesn’t like to leave those things alone), It’s not the end of the world. Everything will be OK in the end. We’ll all be dead in the end, actually, but it should get better significantly before that. Meanwhile, I’m on break and I don’t have to think about all the things right now. There are books to read and wontons to make.

The girlchild made it to San Francisco, by the way…here are the two days with her dad helping.

If you want to know about the crickets, Google Ekko, Nevada. Then be glad you’re not there. She went into her job in person finally (she’s been on Zoom for weeks) yesterday. Big changes. She needs to find a real place to live and get settled. Easier said than done, yeah? Her dad comes back today to pick up the puppy. We get two days off from extra dogs, and then my parents’ dog comes while they are in Seattle (and coincidentally, me too…wait, not a coincidence…my nephew is graduating from high school). So I won’t be here for most of Katie’s visit.

Find the cat.

Nova has not been thrilled about Annie’s visit. Luna has chased Annie down the hall two or three times, so she’s living her real thug life, but Nova is just hiding.

OK. Shower. Make wontons (my reward for existing right now). Eat wontons. Save some for later. Pick up ex from airport, pass over dog. Iron some quilt pieces while watching British murder mysteries. Maybe do some more weed whacking, find the art for tomorrow’s meeting (if I can get my head around it…yesterday, I couldn’t. I tried.), read my book some more, don’t think about things that suck. Oh yeah! Go see an art quilt exhibit that has been on my list for a month. That’s my treat. Doing that.

Survival-Level Info

Well we are back to everyone in the house trying to leave in the morning. I’m not sure Simba realizes he’ll be alone all day today. The boychild is back to work this week, so schedules will be weird. Mine won’t. Mine is reliable through the middle of June, and then I’ll be home for a bit and then gone for a bit. Hopefully there won’t be any fires while I’m in Seattle or it will get complicated. It’s always complicated. I remember driving Calli to my ex’s every day so she wouldn’t try to run away, and forgetting she was in the back of the car until I got to work. She’d sigh and I’d go, DAMMIT Calli, why didn’t you tell me you were back there. Silly old dog. I miss her.

This week is the last week of state testing…math and science. Stressful. I’ve never proctored the science test…and I’m going to feel bad if they don’t feel like we taught them what they need. That said, I also know the state tests put stuff on there that is not in the standards, which is just irritating as hell. Ah well, hopefully the next principal does not obsess over data. The test covers 6-8th grade science, and 6th grade for my kids was the COVID hybrid year…or the Zoom year, for me. So they don’t remember much, unfortunately. That said, they didn’t remember much from last year either. I gave them some review questions on states of matter and chemistry…sigh. Ah well. What can you do? I would rather have them be able to think and figure stuff out than to know the differences between the molecules of a solid and those of a liquid. Although it’s cool info, I’m not sure it’s survival-level info.

There was a bunch of art stuff I was supposed to do this weekend, but for one, I never saw the invite info, and for the other, I ran out of time. I’ll make it to the other show next weekend hopefully (have an extra day!). Not sure what happened with the other one.

Instead, we did our usual late-afternoon hike, showers, and then dinner. But Friday, the Man had a show. I quilted a little bit before I left, but was out most of the night. It was hard to get a decent picture of him: he was in the dark corner.

Their lead singer was easier to get…

This was after dissecting frogs at the end of the school day…

I only saw one obvious female in my two classes…

The table that got her was very excited. Maybe a little TOO excited (they cut all the organs up in a really destructive way to get at all the eggs). Glad to be done with that lab. It’s cool, but exhausting. Luckily, I now know that my 7th graders will respond to CLASS CLASS (if you don’t know what that means, consider yourself lucky).

So I dissected with those kids, did my afterschool duty at the corner light, got my classroom ready for this week, came home, and napped. Seriously zonked out for 30 minutes. Then ate dinner, changed out of frog/teacher clothes, and drove out to Ocean Beach to watch the Man play. I was in bed around midnight, exhausted. He came home around 1, and then I felt the larger of these two earthquakes…

Late night partying in the tectonic-plate world.

Saturday I managed to get organized enough to run errands, including buying binding for this quilt, so I can finish it this week, hopefully. We hiked…

After I sent 42 emails to parents/kids about failing grades and the trimester cut-off date in less than 2 weeks. Down from 60 emails in April. Getting there. It’s been a rough year for my 7th graders. Or me. Not sure which was worse.

Tiny pink flowers that are a pain to photograph. We’ve been trying to do at least 3 miles a weekend; next weekend, we’re going to do a longer hike. My physical therapy is probably coming to an end, so we’re testing the knee out. I suspect my knees will always hurt, but at least I can get up the stairs at the moment. The Man is supposed to be hiking the trans-Catalina trail in October with a pack; he’ll need to start training for that soon.

He’s still recovering from a pinched nerve in his shoulder/back area…and talking about lightening the pack. Probably a good plan.

I did manage a good chunk of quilting on Saturday night…

I got the pigoon done and the rest of the wing/arm, then up into the fourth arm (three is NOT enough)…

And got the bird done as well. Went to bed a little late, and then last night, I did the head with corresponding eyeball tree (not the first, won’t be the last)…

And then started quilting the background.

I’m over 9 hours into the quilting, and there’s at least a couple more to go. There’s a lot of background filler in the upper half of the quilt, plus the borders around the bottom. So ideally, I finish tomorrow night, then trim it Wednesday, get the binding on, maybe ready for the photographer this weekend? Then on to the next one, which will be a difficult finish. I have a complicated idea in my head, but don’t have the time for the whole shebang before the deadline. Might have to tone down the complication.

Luna thinks that’s crazy.

But it might be what has to happen.

I asked my students a question about why National Parks were important…this kid…

Which is better than the girl who just wrote that she didn’t really care. Yeah. We know. Neither does half the planet. We’re aware. It’s obvious.

Anyway, we try. Yeah, I’m trying to brainwash your kids into caring about the planet more than I’m grooming them to be homosexual or trans. I still think the best answer to the teachers brainwashing kids thing is the fact that we can’t get them to turn any work in. I mean, that’s where I’d start. It would make my life easier, for sure, if they would just turn shit in. Stupid politicians.

OK. Today. Review for three classes, finishing up all the things with the other two. We had to juggle the schedule slightly. It’s fine; this is easier. It’s OK to make things easier sometimes. Then staff meeting, run to Home Depot afterward to get a sprinkler and some stakes for the lemon tree. Some more dirt too. Can never have enough dirt apparently. Then book club tonight…just finished the book on Friday, I think. It was good: When Women Were Dragons. Then quilting after that. Hopefully a chill day. That would be nice.

Or Not…

Monday mornings. I didn’t do enough schoolwork this weekend because I just couldn’t. I had other priorities and I will pay for that today, I’m sure. I have curriculum done for 8th grade through Wednesday, probably. Not ready for next week at all, not even close. 7th grade is fine except for the fact that we just barely got approval for the sex-ed program last week, sent letters Friday, and start next Monday. It’s good but it’s less time than we usually have to prep for it, so that’s stressful. Plus frog dissections this week and collecting a bunch of stuff…so yeah. I’m not prepared. I hate that; usually this is the time of the year where we can step back a little from the crazy. We’ve taught sex ed enough that it is a known entity. There are some stressful bits, but mostly the kids are engaged, unlike in math or whatever, so that makes it easier. I’ve spent most of the year, though, with 7th grade curriculum being the known, the easier (the actual kids in the classes are not)…so that’s been the only saving grace to teaching two grade levels. Otherwise it’s been a stressful shit show. I’m not sure how the other members of my team are so chill about it. It’s been nuts. 23 days left.

My goal this weekend was to get the quilt pinbasted. Which meant finishing the stitchdown. Which meant blowing off most of my schoolwork.

Friday night, I didn’t get far…

Pigoon, legs, stopped at the arm, hadn’t finished the torso.

Saturday morning I did some before going to a baby shower…

Maybe 20 minutes. At that point, I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to finish…

Came back from the shower and hiked…I promised my physical therapist I’d hike every weekend until I saw him again to test out the knee. Lots of ravens on the hike…

Came back and went to dinner, date night, drawing with no plan…

Not sure why it ended up being a dog…but last week’s was even weirder…

Then I did stitchdown for about 2 1/2 hours. At some point, I was just thinking it needed to be done. That if I went to bed and did the rest the next day, I wouldn’t be pinbasted until Tuesday and that would suck.

This is the back, by the way, never to be seen again.

I scan the back, looking for mistakes, stuff I’ve missed, didn’t stitch down. I’m seeing one right now. It’s OK. I can catch them in the quilting.

I guessed 6-7 hours on the stitchdown and I was right…6 hours and 45 minutes.

Then Sunday happened. Chaos. I was ready to clean the floor, and then remembered I hadn’t checked for batting. So I did that. Went through the whole pile…nothing’s big enough. Dammit. Drove to Joanns, which was mostly empty (Mother’s Day?), came back, washed the batting, dried the batting, but in between, found another pile of batting I’d set aside after the last time I bought batting. Pretty sure it would’ve been big enough. Giant ass sigh. That’s where my brain is right now…in not-very-efficient panic mode. Also I cleaned the floor and taped the backing down that I had pieced, then remembered the batting wasn’t dry yet and we were running out of time to leave for the parentals, so I pulled it back up, didn’t finish before we left. See, that was the plan…finish pinbasting before we left so I could do school stuff when we got back. Or not. So I went to dinner at the parents, forgot to take any photos because my brain. Fuzz. Then came back and laid it all back out, this time with dry batting.

Then pinbasted while watching the first episode or two of Queen Charlotte.

Kneepads and all. I think I’m in love. With the show, the quilt, and the kneepads. And now I can quilt. Well, after I go to school and try to plan the rest of the week during a staff meeting. It’ll be fine.

This is very true of the classroom, except we skip the spraying it black part. Today we are doing embryos in 8th grade (embryology as part of the theory of evolution) and human impact on national parks in 7th grade. On Friday, I heard that The Way Out won Honorable Mention at Form, Not Function.

It’s still a very relevant piece. Unfortunately. Nice to get an award for it.

When you live with an artist, there are always things all over the house that remind you of that. I found this in the hallway. Not sure how it got there…on an animal butt? or my shirt? Oh yeah, and I’m the artist.

I do know what it’s from, at least. Seriously miles away from where I was working.

No yardwork this week either…

I don’t actually have a pile of dirty dishes OR laundry, but there are definitely things piling up that are driving me nuts but that I don’t have time to deal with. Ah well. I will get to it all eventually. Or not.

Quilting tonight though. I’m figuring the quilting will take 16-20 hours. There’s a shitload of details in this thing. Plus a healthy chunk of just plain background. It won’t be quick. So an hour a night this week? Maybe a little more. I don’t have a ton of meetings this week like last week. And my weekend is more free for once. I’m still not expecting to be done this week. Next week. Yeah. I have some deadlines I’m dealing with. I’ll be fine with this one; it’s the next one that’s questionable.

Anyway. Mother’s Day was stressful (school and my fault with the batting) but ended well. Saw my mom (she looks good), talked to the girlchild (she also looks good). Got some nice gifts from the kidlets…always nice when they get me stuff, because it’s not stuff I would have gotten myself. Appreciate that. Hoping to hear at school about a new science hire plus our principal for next year…hoping the district is not populated by total idiots. You know how that goes. And I get to quilt tonight. I love that. I can’t watch Queen Charlotte while I’m doing that, but I’ll figure that out. Worst case it’ll be listening to music or podcasts. Meditative. All good.

If It’s Important…

You know when you wake up in the morning and you’re not sure what day it is? And your brain is scrambling a little…what are the clues? If the alarm goes off at 6:15, it’s a work day, unless you maybe forgot to change the clock and it’s really Saturday? It’s not Saturday. You just did a Saturday, so it must be a work day. Did I go to work yesterday? Well I did work yesterday, lots of work, grades due and all, yes but did you get in your car and drive to SCHOOL, ma’am? No. No I did not. So it must be a Monday if I didn’t do that yesterday.

My brain is mush in the morning. Really, it’s often mush in the afternoon too. It’s Monday. Confirmed. Looked at my phone. Which, as long as it’s charged, seems to know the days AND the dates. Really should rely on it more for those things. And cat videos. Good that.

I did work a lot this weekend. Grades due. Last progress report of the year. The next one is the last report card and then no grades until August some time. What a relief. Almost done with this year. It’s been a year. Still trying to figure out sex ed and the school board idiocy. Find a workaround for the right-wing dumbasses who think we’re grooming their kids for homosexuality. Sigh. If I’m grooming them for anything, it’s regular use of deodorant and no pregnancies or STDs until you’re older. Or ever. Do parents really object to that? Because homeschool your little asshole then. Or opt them out, because you can do that, and then you can brainwash them yourself.

So yeah, grades are done. I’m not really ready to teach anything, minor issue, but we start state testing this week, so we have two annoying days that are shorter and less teaching, more babysitting and tech issues than anything else. Pros and cons. I have two kids in my class who might drive me bonkers, but the rest will be fine. I didn’t do seating charts though, dammit, so I need to do that before class starts. And count the packets we need for 7th grade. Today. Doing well. Doing well.

Hey, at least I remembered before I got to school, right? Some chance I’ll remember once I get there.

I also ironed this weekend, only an hour a night though. I miss the weekends when I could do art for 4 or 5 hours straight because there was nothing crucial. Ha! Not this year. Not even last year. Sigh. Not since early 2020.

Finished the butterfly…

Then worked on the head…realized I had to get up the next morning to deal with the 17 thousand things I needed to do, so I didn’t finish the head…

And Saturday night, finished the head and the fourth arm…

They’ll get attached to the body when I lay the whole thing out.

And then last night, I ironed the last bit until I iron the whole thing down…

Which should be tonight. I have to piece the background and iron it; then I can iron everything down. Really looking forward to seeing what she looks like on the dark background. Then stitchdown! Hoping that anything that needs grading this week can get done during testing so I don’t have to bring anything home. Would be nice to have more than an hour for artwork. That said, I have a school Zoom this evening, science teacher interviews tomorrow, union meeting AND book club on Wednesday, stitching meeting Thursday, had to push pilates to Friday. Not a chill week in the evenings. Ugh. I need this quilt done sooner rather than later. Based on previous quilts, I probably have another 25 hours to do on this quilt. I can’t take 25 days to do it, though. It needs to be done before the end of the month, preferably well before the end. Huh. Not sure how I’m gonna pull that off. OK then. So there we are. Have goal. Figure it out.

I did make it to one of the two meetings this weekend, but only for an hour…

I also ordered more rocks for the yard, plus went to the water conservation garden sale…and saw this wonderful creature…

That’s a male. Our male is definitely still delivering food to the owl box, but I haven’t heard the baby in over a week. Maybe it’s dead? And mom is on a new egg? I don’t know. Or maybe it’s quiet because mom is in there. Hard to know.

We also hiked.

Only three miles; it was all we had time for.

Kitten speaks. She was actually yawning. Much like I am right now.

More tea. Seating chart. Count packets. I’m sure there’s something else but IDK what it is right now so I’m moving on with my life. If it’s important, someone will yell at me for not doing it.

Everything She Needs…

Weekends just aren’t long enough for all the things. I suspect some people do some of the things during the week, but all I do during the week is work on school, work on art, eat, sleep, and occasionally exercise. A few social things on Zoom or in person, but not many. Today I have a 2-hour staff meeting and a drive to my photographer’s after school, so it will be a long day. Ironically it is a short teaching day. Ah well. I’m giving an assessment (quiz?) in one class and showing a movie in the other. Should go fine.

What did I do this weekend? Lots of school work, a hike, dinner out with the Man, an art meeting almost an hour away (lots of drive time in the last week for art), groceries, laundry…maybe 50% of what I needed to get done. As usual. It is what it is. I did read my book too, so that’s my time. And pilates. Necessary but my time.

I ironed all three nights…not getting enough done on this thing. Haven’t had enough time on the weekends to spend a few hours ironing, unfortunately.

I had these tiny little overlapping veins/arteries to deal with on Friday night. They were a pain in the butt.

And then I had filled up the teflon sheet, so I was going to need to move the whole thing off and reattach it, which is always a bit scary.

Plus I ironed an incubator. Gotta be way easier than giving birth. Although not very portable. Should’ve put a handle on it.

Added an in-leg phone with apps, plus a fleshy knife pocket for dangerous situations.

Tried to consider all her needs.

She’s got some sciency experiments going on.

Some are turning out fine. Some maybe not so much.

Some protective breastwear.

Last night, I ironed the little froggy boy plus some additional tech for her arm.

Really she’s got everything she needs…except maybe a body fridge for storing sandwiches and drinks. Didn’t think of that until just now.

Really enjoying this piece, which is nice. It’s a little twisted and dark but fun. Political, but some wouldn’t see that. Not like most of mine, which bash you in the face with politics. And I have hit the halfway mark…which just means I need to go faster. I really need this one done sooner rather than later. Sigh. Ah well. There’s 12 hours into the ironing, probably 12 more to go.

And it finally warmed up enough at night to switch flannel out for the quilt I started a million years ago and finished last year.

Still need to make matching pillow cases. Haven’t done that. Have the fabric, have tons of the fabric, but time…that’s another issue altogether. I have a baby shower coming up and there’s no way I’m going to be able to make a baby quilt. Sigh.

We hiked at one of the local spots we regularly do, but haven’t been to since December.

The water moved the bridge a little off…it’s meant to move. There’s a lot more water than normal.

Lots of flowers…

We keep doing these close to sunset due to all my stuff during the day. It’s nice out, but we expect to see more coyotes and don’t. Not sure why.

Then dinner out and the drawing I started last week and couldn’t finish.

It got weird. So did the Man.

Kitten’s hiding space behind all the things.

A friend got me this…

Totally appropriate. I can’t sew with shoes on. Or slippers. The Man thought she had gotten this specially made, and I’m like no, this is a thing…I’m not the only one. I still don’t think he believes me. Finding space for it in here…

Starting the week out tired. I know, what’s new. I got a lot of 8th grade stuff done yesterday and then realized how far behind we are in 7th grade stuff. Whoops. Plus grading. I can’t lesson plan AND grade, and progress report grades are due next week. I didn’t grade any of the late work or redoes…didn’t have time. I don’t know when I will have time. I have dueling meetings this Saturday. Can’t be in two places at once. Oh well. Plus I’ve gotta fit that hike in. 33 days of school left. Getting there. Losing my mind on the way, but getting there.

More Work…

Yo! April is almost over. That was fast. May is coming…one of the longest months of the school year. A vast expanse of days with testing and kids’ brains already on summer, plus grades, hurtling toward the end of the year, which alternately comes too fast (not enough time to get everything done) and not fast enough (please make it stop). Much like my weekends.

I did start ironing the quilt together…fun stuff. I did some Friday night and a goodly chunk on Saturday, which made up for only 32 minutes on Sunday. Long day there. Friday night in the dirt…

Saturday started in the green…

Got the rakunk done…

Reference to Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood…here she is with the whole dirt area…

So that was Saturday afternoon, followed by Saturday night, when I did a few of the DNA bugs I drew…

Sunday I finished those and added a few more bugs and one of the skull flowers.

Definitely progress.

We also hiked on Saturday…we hadn’t been to one of our regular hiking spots since December, and the rains had definitely affected it…lots of flowers, for one…

The path being covered by water, also a thing…

Ducks in there as well. So we wandered around to find the crossing.

And then wandered through the rest of the overgrowth…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tarantula at the reserve. I’m sure they’ve been there…just not so obviously.

Lots of flowers…I said that…

And caterpillars…

All in the middle of the path for some reason.

And as we were coming back, there must have been some moisture reflecting rainbows in the clouds…

Hard to get photos of rainbows with an old phone camera. But it was there. Just a piece of it though.

Last week, there was an artist talk at the FIG Climate Reckoning show. I couldn’t go because it was during my school day. But my work got in the photos from the talk. There’s You Pollute Me, next to Cindy Zimmerman talking about her work.

And Beyond the Concrete near Jennifer Spencer discussing her piece.

That show comes down next week, so if you want to see it, you should go this week.

Kitten trying to see the dog next door…

Back in her cave.

This describes school and life all too well.

I didn’t sleep well last night. Couldn’t fall asleep. Couldn’t stay asleep. Every Sunday at the moment.

Yeah, I’m a little like this.

Maybe more than a little. Ugh. Gonna go crawl in a hole with my book. My book that is due in two days, so I need to finish it.

This is just damn disturbing.

I don’t know what the fuck we’re thinking at the moment.

Followed by this.

Too many attempts to control women, but not guns. I know what the bigger problem is. Unless the plan is to make women have more babies so we can shoot them? Is that it? Seems silly.

OK. It’s Monday, y’all. Monday with the week stretching out in front of me. Lots of work. Lots of meetings…one art meeting yesterday. It’s where I finished grading all the week’s homework (a plus). I panicked about school a lot over the weekend, mostly lesson planning 8th grade. After Tuesday night, I’ll probably be panicking about 7th grade too, thanks to the idiotic school board members. Dumbassery. Yesterday, I went to the art meeting, which was about 45 minutes away, so drive time and sit time. It’s a good group of artists though, so it’s nice to have that in-person connection again. Then came home and worked on school stuff, took a break to make lunches for the week, more work, then made dinner, more work. Was going to go iron and remembered one thing I hadn’t done for school that I needed for this morning. Damn. More work. Then a bit of ironing.

Today is work then meeting then Zoom book club. I liked the book, so that’s good. Plus more work in there somewhere, because there’s always more work. Plus I need to finish reading that other book. It’s big and I’m only at 78%. A challenge! I like those.