Doesn’t Look Like Much…

Well it’s humpday. My brain is confused by days. As a teacher, I should have this down. What day is it? I write it on the board every day. You’d think I’d have a clue. This week is weird, though. I’ll be out on Friday, so I need sub plans and a video explaining shit. Plus packing and laundry and grocery shopping. No worries. Two meetings tonight. Not sure how all this will get done.

I have two more periods of grading this hellacious assignment. Grades are due Tuesday, less than a week away. I’m in Portland for three days. Grading will happen on the plane and in airports, but I don’t want it to happen once we get there. There honestly won’t be time. A stressful trip but hopefully a fun one too.

The sunset last night from the chiropractor’s office…

It was prettier in person of course.

The kittens went off to their spay surgery location last night…spay today; we’ll see them on Sunday night (well, the man will see them tomorrow night). Apparently one really didn’t want to get in the cage at the foster location. Awww. We are no longer fostering by the way…they’re ours. Because they were gone, though, Kitten came out to explore her favorite thing this time of year, the Christmas tree. Yes, it only has one ornament on it. I’ve been busy.

Really, she just wants to eat pine needles and throw them back up. It’s a strange ritual.

I graded until about 10:30 PM. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that today with the two meetings. We’ll see. Maybe I can grade some in class, but I doubt it.

Then ironing…I so want to be done with this step, but life is busy. I got everything ironed except the last head…

And the center bit…and I laid out all the 800s…but to keep ironing would have put me well past 1 AM, so I stopped at midnight. Ish. Sleep is a thing I need. So I have a head to do, the center bit, and the space cat, about 72 pieces. Then I need to figure out the background, which is a bigger deal. Because I have no idea what I’m going to do about that. Maybe give up and go shopping on Thursday after work. I wanted to piece this background and this was going to be the perfect piece for that, and it might still be, but I haven’t had the time to see if I can pull it off. Too much time being responsible and shit.

Oh yeah, she’s headless…

Here’s some loose bits that will hang out around the women…

A spaceship and a monarch butterfly. You know, like you do.

Look! That’s all that’s left…

Doesn’t look like much because it’s not. I might not go to book club tonight. I might do this instead (shhh). Or I might get out of the first meeting too late anyway to traipse all the way across town.

It’ll all get done eventually. Even decorating the tree. Cleaning the girlchild’s room (she’s coming home in 10 days, 15 hours, and 18 minutes. Give or take. Winter Break. It’s soon too. All good. Really. OK. Off to NeedyTown. We play a game today. It’ll be OK.

I Killed an Iron…

Happy Monday! I know. It’s Monday. I’m trying a positive attitude. I actually did OK this weekend and am feeling OK about going into this week. Not awesome, but OK. As always, I’m tired. I’m behind in grading. And the floors are dirty. What’s new? I know, right? It’s not raining. That’s a plus. Today’s classwork is a known thing. Also a plus. The lab is tomorrow. That will be harder, but it’s a pretty easy lab. I’m only working 4 days this week…at school…because I’m ditching school for a day to go to Portland. Why Portland? No good reason. We had a free flight that needed to be used before the end of the year, so we picked somewhere relatively close. Honestly, if we sit in the Airbnb for the whole time, it will be OK.

So I did a lot of artmaking this weekend…I think that’s why I’m feeling OK about it being Monday. This was Saturday afternoon…

It was a delightful afternoon. I gave myself about two and a half hours to iron.

It’s a great form of meditation…

Kitten break. They finally got big enough to be spayed…it’ll be this week, mostly while we’re gone. Poor babies.

These are the 200s, all laid out for ironing.

This thing is going together pretty easily. Here’s the start of Figure number 2…

Saturday night, we had the man’s work party, on top of a downtown building again.

It was OK. Snacking food is hard for a diabetic. There was gambling AND a murder mystery AND a masquerade. Seemed like a lot. The man won pizza socks. Lots of them.

Sunday was slow-moving, like my dad in his truck, carrying a lime tree from a friend’s house that is about to be sold to my house where it will live in the ground quite happily. Hopefully.

I grocery shopped, did laundry, and even graded. But I ironed for another 2 hours. I actually killed my iron last night…

I’ve dropped it multiple times, super-glued the base back together twice, but this was The Death of It. Seriously, pieces went flying. Everywhere. It’s gone.

Luckily, I keep a spare.

Kitten interaction in between things…

That’s my leg, Luna.

Kitten (the real Kitten) likes to hang out while I iron.

Sometimes right in front of the screen. There’s Figure 2, getting ironed…

Then she has eyeballs and she’s right side up.

The hardest part of this quilt might be deciding which way is up. This will be the third quilt this year where I’ve had that issue.

Starting on Figure 3. That’s where I had to go to bed.

I won’t be done tonight, but I’ll be close. Stitchdown by the end of the week. Then hopefully quilting next week.

Here’s my top nine on Instagram for 2019. Interesting…two aren’t quilts and two are old quilts. But that’s OK.

And one has no face. That’s just weird.

OK, today is the festive (not) forced holiday party at work for 2 hours. Shoot me now. Then I can come home and iron to my heart’s content. Well, I have a grading goal, but THEN I can iron.

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.

Damn Eyelid

Hmmm. Well. I sorta forgot to write for a couple of days. I mean, I usually blow off Sunday anyway, but I’m pretty sure yesterday was Monday and today is Tuesday. In my defense, I’ve been busy and out of a normal daily routine, which is probably why the writing didn’t happen. I haven’t hit relaxation mode yet, and honestly, probably won’t over this break. I just have too much work this week.

In good news, there’s lots of kitten interaction, if only to try to figure out where they’re hiding or to introduce them to the other furry beasts in the house. And I should sleep more on a week off. I really should. Oops.

OK, so Saturday, I ironed for a while…this is Figure 3…all done.

Saturday night, I went to watch the man’s band…and two more bands…

Lots of 80s punk…and the man playing as Exene from X.

Like you do. I was tired after all that and went to bed early. Can’t get the sleep or the eating under control this week so far.

On Sunday, I had tons to get done. Unlike some…

Sundays are always too much stuff. But then I got most of Figure 4 done…

At some point, I realized it was well after midnight…that’s a lot of fabrics…

I was almost done, but it would have taken a lot of time to really get done…that’s it. That’s all.

So that would be Monday.

Monday started at the DMV. I needed to get my RealID and I figured now was better than waiting until the last minute…although I made the appointment two months ago, and this was the earliest I could get in. When I got there, they told me one of the pieces of documentation I had wouldn’t work, even though it was on the list they sent me. Luckily, I had another piece in the car (that expired the day before, but apparently they didn’t care about that), so after 45 minutes or so, I was done. I read my book. Good use of time.

A really good use of time was the 4.3-mile walk we did with the dogs…

We missed one trail but eventually found another one heading the same way…well, not that one…

That was the most relaxing thing I’ve done so far.

Outside. With dogs. And boychild. Plus no grading.

The grading is stressing me out. I keep thinking I’ll just do one part of the larger assignment a day, but that’s not necessarily working. And I won’t have enough days…because I’m assuming Thanksgiving through Sunday are lost days due to family gatherings and travel. I really don’t want a lot of these assignments transferring over into December. It’ll be hard enough to get through those three weeks. Plus grades will be due again. SIGH.

Better to be outside.

And it was a good day for it…supposed to be rain starting tomorrow. Lots of it.

Back to kittens…

They have totally different personalities. And they still need appropriate names. Apparently Sharp and Pointy are not options.

This bag was very exciting…

I just watched for a while and drank my tea.

Back to grading, I persuaded Kitten to come out and be sociable, and then she saw the kittens.

She’s still not a fan.

We lost kittens a few times yesterday. They climbed into the drawers from under the table.

That’s now a thread AND kitten drawer.

I finally made it into the studio around 10:30 PM…with the last bit of the ironing to do.

But I got them all ironed down…

Almost 14 hours…the chaos of fabric piled up…

I stayed up way too late.

There we go. 134 fabrics total. The box on the bottom right is the four different flesh runs.

Going for some variety. Every figure got their own red heart fabrics too. Anyway. The next step is to cut them all out. I also have over 3 hours of videos to watch today…not kitten videos, but students. It might kill me, but I’m aiming to finish it…in between buying snow chains and a turkey and making it to my pilates class. The right eye has finally stopped twitching, but I’m still grinding my teeth. Deep breaths. And more exercise. Wait. Dammit. That eyelid just started twitching again. Aargh.

The Good Meditative Stuff.

It’s my first day of nine days off of school. There’s about 40 hours of grading in there, but let’s ignore that for now, eh? Honestly, all I really want to do at the moment is avoid human interactions. People. Anything needy. Well, except for kittens. Kittens are needy but fun, so I’ll deal with them. And I can deal with a few people. OK, maybe one. At a time. But not before 9 AM. So far today, I’ve done a pilates class (actually talked to three different humans. Maybe four. No, five. But most of it was short and sweet. Take my package. I had knee surgery. My name is Kathy.). I need to go sign all my paperwork for the loan to put solar in. That’s exciting. I will probably need to speak to one person for that. I need to buy milk. No need for speech, y’all. There should be an introvert line at the grocery store. No Need to Ask Me If I Found Everything OK. Seriously. Don’t speak. Yes, there’s self-service in some of the stores, but I’m aware of that taking away people’s jobs, so although I personally prefer the self checkout, sigh. Please just don’t make them talk to me.

After signing papers, I have hours of alone time with my grading and my ironing. Gonna do both. Might have to talk to people tonight. Or not. Maybe not. I just don’t know. I’m OK with not.

So I finished Figure 2 last night…and all the bits in and around her. I’m ready for Figure 3 this afternoon.

Then Figure 4 on Sunday, start cutting out. Be done by Tuesday? Night? Then start ironing together. I’d really like it all ironed together by the time I go to Lake Arrowhead on Friday. Sigh. Then I can draw the next one while I’m in Arrowhead. Get it ready. Because time…it flies. Erratically, yes, but flies.

My right eyelid is still twitching from last week. And people. People are making it twitch.

Sometimes I’m OK with people. I worked on this on Thursday night at my stitching meeting…started the lion…

And finished the tree…

This is Sue Spargo’s Folk Tails 2015 Block of the Month. Yeah. I’m slow. This is September’s blocks. I’m getting closer to done. There were three people there. They were fine.

You’re always getting closer to done if you keep working.

I spent some time with kittens and my book this morning…my toes are fascinating.

Then again, everything is fascinating when you are a kitten.

They love to play…

It’s hard to get good pictures because they are always moving. We are still mulling over names. This is hard.

How do we climb the curtains?

Devious little beasties.

They met Simba. There was fear and confusion all around. A little bit of hissing…

Hopefully they will all get along.

OK, off to the bank. Then back here to grade and iron. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Well, minus the grading, but let’s just understand that it has to happen. I’ll fit in the good meditative stuff around it. Make that eye twitch go away.

Reading to Kittens…

Ah Friday…Friday before 9 full days off from the neediness and the having to be ON ALL THE TIME. Nine days of peeing whenever the fuck I want. Nine days of grading, yes, that too, but at least I don’t have to do it all at night after working all day. Or if I’ve been working all day, it’ll be on my quilt. I do have a shit-ton of grading to do. It’s a pain. It’s not fun. And we’re not fully planned for the next unit either, so that’s panicking me slightly. We’re close. Not there yet. And then we need to plan the NEXT one. Sigh. This job. Sometimes. Is just so hard and so much.

OK, so think about kittens and art instead.

I got home and went in to the cat condo to let them out and run around…we have them sort of (not really) contained in one room in the house, but it doesn’t have a door, so it’s a problematic thing. A baby gate wouldn’t help…they climb right up the cat condo walls like it’s a tree. So you distract them. I read to them from my book.

They were fascinated, but mostly by the light. And things that move. I should put cat TV on for them. They do spend a chunk of time in the large cat condo while we’re gone…

And sometimes when we’re here, because you have to keep eyes on them constantly and that’s exhausting. I did play a lot with them though before I came in to play with MY kitteh and iron some shit.

She still likes me. I take her in to see kittens and she doesn’t really like it, but I hope she warms up to them. Sigh.

So this is Figure 2 getting ironed down. I’m pulling a run of 7 fabrics for each of them.

Trying to make them all different. Might have to rethink my background options though. They might be too dark. We’ll see.

So the box in the middle is the two runs of flesh. Then everything else of course.

I still need to do all the funky stuff on Figure 2…hair, eyeballs, heart, etc. Then on to Figures 3 and 4. This is a good place to be in for going into a long week off…I predict getting it all ironed together and hopefully stitched down by the time I go back to school. OK. Wait. That might be a little too much for me to be able to do…but I probably should get that far. OK. It’s a busy week. No matter what.

For now? I’m going to school and hoping the kids continue to be as good as they have been (although two periods yesterday pushed me a little over the edge). Then they can turn in the million things I have to grade and I will finish the worksheet I’m drawing (yeah, that’s a little crazy, but whatever). And then it will end with an assembly and I can come home and read my book to the kittens again. Sounds good.

Hoping It’s Chill…

I know. You don’t care about anything but kittens. I barely hung out with kittens yesterday. Just scared the crap out of Sue-Bob (OMG that name. I’m so sorry if that’s your name. I mean I’m a Kathy…along with 75% of my generation) by trying to introduce her to Calli, who snorted excitedly and suddenly I had a tiny thunderstorm with claws in my hand. Speaking of thunderstorms, we had a tiny one yesterday afternoon…best part? Listening to my students scream because…lightning. I don’t understand the screaming. Not at the thunder, a big booming scary sound, but at the light. OK. They were outside. Still. I would understand screaming because of thunder. It’s amazing how loud 400 kids can be.

Anyway. Yes. Storm. Kids don’t come to school because of storms. And then we’re getting CLOSE to a week off, so some kids just leave early and then they’ll be back eventually, sometime in December. The kids who are still here are being remarkably chill (except when there’s lightning, and I think we’re done with that).

I didn’t see kittens much yesterday because I had book club. I rowed my boat (not really, but definitely hydroplaned very slowly) across town and enjoyed the company of some very well-read women. I should do more of that, since my local quilt group is having a hard time getting started. That group also has a crafty group, but they mostly knit I think. I guess I already hang out with knitters. Although I just looked on the app and those meetings disappeared. Huh. I guess I could try doing it with them? Like being the organizer? Maybe after the holidays. I’m overwhelmed right now. I actually wrote curriculum before and after book club…

He was not helpful in any way, shape, or form.

At some point, I ironed. A little earlier than previous nights, but not a lot.

It’s going slowly. I’m tired. I got a rocket ironed, plus the sun, plus all the things in Figure 1 (heart, hair, eyeballs, etc.)…

Calli had post-thunderstorm anxiety and stayed with me.

Yes, I have to step over her multiple times. It’s good exercise.

Here’s where I’m at so far. Lots of sun fabrics there.

I did a cloud too. On to Figure number 2 tonight. Although I have another meeting. It’s a busy week.

I have not been home much. Hopefully there will not be a lot of rain to negotiate tonight while driving. Last night’s excursion was a little crazy, although the people on the road were being mostly careful. Some TOO careful maybe, but better than than kamikaze.

Oh yeah, I signed up for a class in Palm Springs in January. Weird, I know, but it’s something I saw and it sold out and now there’s another one and it intrigues me. I’m not usually a class-taking person, but I guess I took one class in 2019. This will be my one 2020 class? Who knows. OK, off to school and a rewards breakfast for kids…hoping it’s as chill as it was yesterday.

Almost Relief

Well. That’s done. And a relief. Too many people in my classroom, my poor kids stressed out (OK, well, some absolutely blossomed with that many adults in there, good to know for next time). Super long day, a million steps, very tired, they canceled tutoring (oh hallelujah), but I had a meeting later…which was fine, except I’ve never ever seen that Starbucks that full, so we had to sit outside and it was raining (it was covered but cold and dampish). And I was able to come home and finish grading Unit 2, although that was more difficult than you would think due to kittens.

But I can go into the last three days of school before a week off with almost relief. I guess there’s still a shitload of stuff to do. It’s just less high stress. We even got the field trip lunches ordered, so that was a miracle. I’m feeling pretty chill. Knock on wood. Because that never lasts.

I’m back to insomnia though…at least the falling-asleep kind. Brain won’t shut up. Hopefully a week off will help with that.

Until then, there will be lots of kitten photos. Because they’re cute. This is Diva. She’s super cautious and not Diva-like at all.

I suggested calling her Frida. She seems the thoughtful painterly type.

This is Sue-Bob. She is aggressive and boisterous and adventurous. We both have accidentally called her a he, which says more about our social/cultural shit than it says about her. She’s a strong, opinionated female.

She should maybe be called Gloria, but since these are not mine to name, and people names on cats is a little weird, we’re probably not going to do that. I suggested Pussy. That did not go down well.

Oh yeah, here was my outdoor, slightly damp seat at Starbucks, waiting for my meeting, while fixing the holes in my sweatshirt.

We’ll see how it holds up.

By the time I got back, the man was cooking and the kittens were locked up, because they needed a nap.

Oh yeah. Cute.

The man goes to bed lots earlier than I do, so he asked me to supervise the little beasts until I was done. I had grading to do, so I sat in there and tried to grade with the little twerps.

They chewed on units, my fingers, and my toes. Sue-Bob tried to escape about 15 times. Diva almost went down the back of the desk into the never-never land behind. They tried to grab my pen and my phone, and definitely went headfirst into my tea. I forgot what babies are like. Holy Shit.

Uh huh. Thems my toes.

When I was done, I put them back in their giant-ass crate (seriously could fit 50 more kittens in there) and they mewed at me and I felt bad, but Kitten was waiting for me in the studio…

She’s being standoffish. I take her to watch them play or sleep. She’s not keen on this. I’m hoping she warms up to it. Because I think we all might have already bonded. Oops.

I didn’t get a lot done…there are four figures in this quilt and each one will be slightly different. I did all the flesh tones…

I still need to do the heart, hair, uterus, and all that floofy stuff.

I have book club tonight…hopefully I’ll get some ironing in after that. We usually meet outside, so I’m not sure what will happen with that. Not my problem.

OK, need to get to work. It’s raining. Just lightly for now. The downpour comes later. Makes the old lady dog nervous, makes the roads dangerous. Also waters the plants. I’m good with that. I think today is a Plant My Butt on a Rolling Chair Day. We’ll see if that really works. Hopefully.

Nida As Is…Plus Kittens!

Today is a crazy day. But once it’s done, I think things will just slide into a week off (a week off that includes lots of driving and grading and all that stuff, but still a week off, dammit).

My classroom will be full of people today…I had to pick kids to teach during my prep, just to show politicians what science looks like these days. I love that two of the science classes they’ll be going to are focusing on environmental science…because that’s a thing. I’m hoping it goes well…I’m just going to teach like I always do. They keep saying dog-and-pony show, but I don’t dog OR pony well, so they’ll just get Nida as is, maybe minus my commentary on “It sucks to be you.” Or not. I did cherry-pick my class…so it’s way smaller than any real class I have and no one is an asshole. It’ll be interesting. I’m not a fan of this crap, but these are the people trying to figure out how ESSA and NCLB will work, and they need to see real kids in action. So maybe I should have cherry-picked some of the more challenging kids, true, but…my sanity is part of this picture.

Meanwhile, back home, we are fostering two kittens with the plan of adopting them…

They are dilute calicos, which means they have more recessive genes than they know what to do with…both girls, sisters in fact. For now, they are residing in this kitty condo so we don’t lose their tiny bodies in this house, plus dogs and other cat have a chance to get acquainted.

One tiny kitten already voiced her objection to Simba, thus crushing his dreams of being their bestie. That might change.

Kitten has visited them multiple times without incident…

She was the real worry…we want her to have good years as the oldest cat in the house, but we also hope she will love them and play with them. She used to play with our oldest cat back in the day…so we know she has it in her. And with Satchemo dying, she’s been out and roaming the house and playing and running around, and we want that to continue…that’s kinda why we picked kittens, plus we want them to have someone to play with no matter what, so sisters is also good.

They have lame names. We haven’t figured that out yet. This is Diva…

She’s more shy and retiring and cautious.

This is her more aggressive sis, Sue-Bob. No really.

She’s into the love. Likes pets and playing like a maniac, plus pushing her sister out of the way. So I guess there will be a lot more kitten pictures. We haven’t let them out into the house yet. These are the man’s cats really, so he is taking the day off work to bond. Really just to play with kittens.

I did grade last night…just one more night of the big project is left, and then I have about 9 hours of reading CER essays (claim, evidence, reasoning). Then I ironed for an hour. An hour a night is better than nothing, and this was an easy hour…continuing around the background, I did the hills and the mountains.

The hardest part was finding all the pieces, because they were in three different boxes.

Next I start with the first female figure…each one will be a different flesh run, so that’s complicated. But not yet. I think I have to do the clouds and sun first. Can’t remember.

Anyway. Gotta go to work. Yesterday, I got to school and as part of the prep for these important folks coming to our school, they “cleaned” our rooms over the weekend without telling us. All the tables, chairs, technology, anything that was on my teacher desk, and all the lab materials we’d left out on Friday were all shoved in random places. It took me 40 minutes to put everything back. My co-teacher had a morning meeting, so she didn’t have that time. Let’s just say things got managed, but it was a clusterfuck. I didn’t get the stuff done in the morning that I needed to get done, unfortunately, so I’m still behind and I have field trip stuff that has to happen today. And I don’t have a prep today. It’ll be fine, but it’ll be better when the day is done. After tutoring. Plus I have an evening meeting. So a little nutso today.

Ironing tonight though…I hope.

Four more days.

A Weird Wind

A weird wind came through yesterday afternoon, and now I can see too much of my neighbor’s house (leaves fell off the two trees that normally block most of my view). I guess it’s good because I get more light in here, but I’m not a fan of seeing the neighbor’s house, so there’s that.

I haven’t been sleeping well. Can’t fall asleep, brain is in overdrive, could be school stress, could be life in general, could be hormones, could be caffeine, although I haven’t changed my intake, so why now would it keep me awake? I dare you to send me another article about more sleep and health. I’d do it if I could…I just don’t do it well. Maybe the hot flashes and weird blood sugar numbers are on their way back in with the insomnia. Who knows.

I did an artists’ talk on Saturday afternoon, after a different art group’s meeting…

One of the bathtub quilts…gotta do another one of those. I have no idea what I said. But I said it.

Saturday night was mostly grading stuff, but also visiting these two babies…

We’re fostering them as of tonight, I think. One of them is more extroverted than the other…

Hey. Play with me. Now.

Hopefully it will all go well with this old lady…

who was caught with her head in the handle of this plastic bag. We’re hoping she wants to play with kittens more than plastic bags. Let’s see how it goes.

We got another campsite booked for our Spring Break trip. I call this the Easy Bear Access campsite.

Right down that hillside. No, seriously…it’ll be a good time. No showers for 5 days, but that’s all good. Dad’s like recommending more campsites after this, and I’m like, 5 days? I’m gonna need a bed. An actual bed. Never mind the shower.

I graded a lot this weekend. We went to dinner at the parentals and I made lunches for the week (that’s one thing less to worry about) and finally, around 11 PM, I made it to the studio to iron stuff. This is where I realized that all the water, hills, and mountains behind the figures should be all the same fabrics, so I numbered stuff illogically. This pile is all the water, and includes pieces from the 100, 200, and 400 boxes.

That’s not annoying to do at all. So I’ll be continuing to do that tonight. Searching through boxes looking for 7 specific pieces. Hopefully. Got two more classes to slog through on the big grading unit.

All the 100s laid out…will move on to hills and mountains next…then the body starts in the 40s, I think.

Something like that.

I’m watching Mars…which goes back and forth between reality in 2016 and fiction in 2033. I’ve been trying to take notes for my students, blurbs they could watch…but it’s hard to do that AND iron.

I should recruit Kitten as my secretary.

My goal is to get everything ironed down by the end of the next weekend, then cut it out and start ironing. I don’t know if I can do that. I already have way too much to do next week.

I’m not really a fan of Thanksgiving week. It’s always full of work and driving. But at least there’s no kids or labs or politicians traipsing through my classroom (that’s tomorrow). And I can pee when I want. That’s a thing. Seriously. Maybe I can even sleep in a morning or two. That’s a thing too.

OK. Five more days. Head held high. Food healthy. Deep breaths. Maybe try to remember to meditate in between the panicked moments.