Set Them…

OK. Five days. Anyone can do five days. Tomorrow will be the longest day, because apparently Tuesdays are now the longest days instead of Wednesdays. Not sure why. A 2024 school year thing? Who knows. I feel pretty good about the weekend; I got the things done that I planned to get done. I could have done more, but that is always the case. I feel prepared going into this week (well, mostly), unlike almost every other week since Winter Break. I’ve taught this before; I know what it looks like. It’s not all direct instruction. I get time to grade the two weeks of homework I haven’t gotten to yet. All good. Plus the quilt progress is ahead of where I thought I’d be, so that’s awesome.

I ironed on Friday night…

Got a good chunk of the second figure done. Saturday, I finished her…

And Sunday, I had picked a background fabric that was big enough, but when I unfolded it to iron everything down, there was a square chunk out of it in exactly the wrong place…it wasn’t going to be big enough (it was just big enough in the first place), so I picked a different one. And then ironed it down…

I’m glad I had another one that was big enough…although this isn’t a huge quilt really.

Then I started stitchdown…

I got a good solid start…did all of the torso on the more complicated figure. I should be able to finish tonight or come close to it, then pinbaste and sandwich tomorrow night and start quilting. This one is on a deadline. Hell, everything I’m working on right now is on a deadline. I need to prep the embroidery I’m taking with us on our trip too. No worries. Just got two Zoom meetings at night this week and packing to do, plus keep up with school stuff. Although I’m mostly caught up (breathe…knock on wood).

I also went to the ceramics studio on Friday. It was delightfully empty. A bunch of people are at a ceramics convention, but Fridays have been empty lately. I finished (for reals this time) the underglazing on the base…

It’s currently drying. It’ll get bisque fired soon. When I think it’s dry. I started the base on November 4. I wasn’t working on it all that time…I needed it to put the next level on to make sure they’d fit and work together. I should have underglazed it sooner, but I was distracted.

The back is not as exciting.

This is the second level in progress…

I think I started it in January. It’s solidified nicely, but is still pliable enough to attach more things. And attach more things I am doing. Probably for a while. Yes, there will be a head…haven’t figured that out yet.

Still horrified by the stupid shit my government is doing. Everything they do hurts almost everyone but rich white boys.

I’m amused that they’re butthurt about Tesla protests, but not about the racist/sexist protests of the Proud Boys and their ilk. Their protests where people died. I still see people claiming January 6 was Antifa. My lord, people. Read. Please. I’m just waiting for more of those pardoned assholes to commit more crimes. They’re ‘good people’, my ass. I had to shop once this month with Amazon (wedding registry…no way I could deal with it otherwise)…but I’ve been avoiding any brand with MAGA ties. I can’t say it’s easy. My local quilt store. Target. Staples. Honestly, I just don’t buy things that normally I would buy. I guess that’s another way of saving.

I spent 7 hours on Saturday doing my taxes. I wish I could say I’ll be better this year and document things as they happen, but I know I won’t. After doing all of it, I remember what the notes meant that I took last year. Maybe I’ll be proactive this year and set it up properly for next year. Maybe. Maybe not. Hopefully.

I’m with you, spoon. Got your back.

The Man took this picture of his three cats all in the same place and not moving (a miracle that)…

Luna, Nova, and Bowie. He’s a big boy. Almost a year old now. Still cross-eyed.

OK. School. Punnett square project. It’s Eid, so a bunch of kids will be absent (end of Ramadan). Pro: they will be eating normally again. Con: I’ll have to get them all caught up tomorrow or Wednesday. Pain in the butt, but can’t stop teaching right now. Too close to the end of the year and testing. Then staff meeting, possibly another meeting, then hopefully clay. We’ll see. I need to start going to the gym again…so I’m trying to save Tuesday for that. Progress on the quilt…maybe finish stitchdown. That’s the goal anyway. Set them, meet them or break them…it doesn’t matter as long as you set them.

First Figure Done

I was sure yesterday was Friday. Also Wednesday was Friday. Today is Friday. There are 6 school days until Spring Break. My house has reached that state where everything needs cleaning and reorganizing and pitching and I need a new bookcase. Don’t tell my kid…he’ll tell me to get rid of books, which is harder than getting a new bookcase. He’s probably right, but…all is not right with the world if there are no books.

All is not right with the world anyway, but that’s another story. Teaching stuff is going OK, because it’s Punnett squares and they’re not super hard and they’re kinda fun. I finally finished grading all the packets from the last unit and almost finished the last academic assignment, so work is only feeling slightly overwhelming (oh, give it time…I’m sure it’ll ramp back up) instead of overwhelmingly overwhelming. And I’ve made progress on the quilt! That has to be done in like three weeks and I’m gone one of those. Uh huh.

Tomorrow is ironing and taxes. Probably not in that order. The good ironing…not that crazy shit where you make your clothes look nice. Fuck that.

This kind of ironing…

Above was Wednesday night…below is last night…

I finished the first figure and made it through the first 200 pieces. 460 to go. Hoping to do about 100 tonight on the second figure, then finish tomorrow. Knock on wood. Taxes are gonna take a solid chunk of time. Unfortunately. I wish I could be more organized during the year so this wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass, but I’m not. I guess I choose to sacrifice four hours on a Saturday rather than bits and pieces all year. Not entirely logical.

I needed this last year around this time…

I still do.

OK, ceramics after school today too. I do need to set up for Monday, which has me filling a bunch of paper bags with pink and blue slips of paper. Like you do. I’m still doing some direct instruction on Punnett squares today, and then they have to finish digital things that help them understand, but some of them are total assholes about. So many will watch a video and refuse to put headphones on to hear the content, and then get an absolutely shitty grade on the assignment…yelling out “Is it academic?”…like why would you watching a video that has the answers in it and then giving me those answers be academic? I have officially reached the irritable stage of teaching. It’s fine. And I will hopefully get a chunk of the academic stuff graded next week. Hopefully. I’m not taking the rest with me. It’s tempting, because I like to get it over with. I’m more likely to do work at the beginning of break than at the end. Ah well. Whatever. Seriously whatever. I think I have to cook tonight too. Ugh. It’s fine. It’ll be fine. I’ll listen to my book. Or watch ceramics videos. Both are fine.

March. It’s almost over. Weird. Super fast for one of the longest months.

Fly By…

Some weeks just fly by and you realize you didn’t get anything done. Some flow sticky like molasses, and guess what, you still realize you didn’t get anything done. This was a fast week, but I’m trying to get real progress on this quilt and I feel like I’m behind. I wanted to finish ironing to fabric over the weekend, and I didn’t get there until last night (4 nights beyond the prediction). That said, I know why…it’s got a lot of complicated details that take longer to pick fabrics for…I have to think harder about a smaller set of fabrics than normal.

Wednesday night’s ironing…

So close, yet not there yet. I got most of the 500s done. The 600s were fast…that was last night.

There’s not actually a lot of color variety in this piece compared to some. This doesn’t really show what it will look like though. It might have a lot of the colors on the right and just a few of each of the others. Here’s just the fabrics, which I will count eventually because it’s one of the weird things I keep track of…

I do like to put them in order colorwise. And then here’s the box I’ll start cutting out tonight…

It took 12 1/2 hours to pick fabrics for about 700 pieces. That’s a lot. I don’t know how long they will take to cut out, but usually less than an hour per 100 pieces. So 7 hours…early next week, if I can pull it off. Then start ironing together. That’ll take a while. I want a solid chunk of this done before I go on Spring Break. I’ve got some tight deadlines coming up. Trying to stay on task. Ha! Day job plus being minorly ill is not helping. Field trip today to the Midway Museum (big aircraft carrier). Lots of walking and stairs. My knees are thrilled.

I haven’t been buying stuff lately…probably a good thing.

I owe kids food though and I keep flailing on buying more. The Ramadan kids don’t want food, which complicates things. I’ve got a reward thing I ordered over a week ago, but it’s not Amazon, because I’m trying to stay off Amazon, and it’s taking forever to get here. Need to find another option locally. Harder to do.

This is absolutely me…

Yesterday, I was putting stuff in the composter and heard a bird song I’d never heard before; turns out it’s a bird that is considered rare in my area, according to the Merlin app. Intriguing.

Kitten is still here. Scrawny and squawky, has to be carried to the food bowl and litter tray.

Still happy to be around though. And I’m happy to have her.

Simba got stuck with me last night instead of his preferred bed partner, the boychild.

I had my meditation wind down running and I forgot that this one has yipping foxes in it and he lost his mind. Then there was something on the roof (probably raccoon) and he lost his mind for that. There was something else at 5:30 this morning. I did not sleep well. He looks traumatized.

OK. Today is gonna be different, interesting, possibly painful. Behaviors at school are nuts at the moment. Plus the field trip, then coming back and having two periods of kids to deal with. I’m hoping to put on a movie and grade through it while they behave appropriately. We’ll see how that goes. Then I’m hoping to have the energy to go to ceramics and maybe finish underglazing that beast. The Man is trying to get me to do a long early hike tomorrow and I’m thinking I don’t have that in me, but we’ll see. This low-level cold thing is not great. I feel like rest is kind of important. Anyway, it’s all up in the air for now…

Coloring…

Some days are nice and easy at school…and home; some aren’t. It’s the same for all of us, I’m sure. Monday was difficult because I needed them to turn stuff in; yesterday was easy peasy because we colored and listened to music (it was slightly more complicated than that, but not much). There are times when I wonder why we can’t just color and listen to music every day, but I know I’m supposed to be a teacher and not just an SEL monitor, so we go on to science and reading and writing. That’ll be today. But I can hear (and feel) their need to just sit there and zone out while filling stuff in. It’s hard. Harder because the other big local school district is going on Spring Break next week and we still have 2 1/2 weeks to go. There’s so much I need to get done before then too, both in school and at home. I just want to go to the studio and make things and not think about school too, but that’s not an option right now. That said, I did a lot of art yesterday, which makes up for how little I did on Monday.

Yes, I’m still ironing. Yes, I wanted to be done. Yes, I’m frustrated because I’m not…

I did the lungs and a heart. Might have done something else. Can’t really tell. Also, this is kinda like coloring, so that’s why I like it.

Then last night, I made it through the complicated butterfly etc…

So I finished all of the stuff on the flesh through the 400s except for one flower, so I have about 15 pieces in the 400s, another 10 in the 500s, and then most of the 600s. I think it’s probably less than 150 pieces, which is an hour or two. Hopefully tonight? Maybe. I’m at almost 10 hours for just under 700 pieces. It’s a complicated quilt, though, with lots of discrete details, so that takes longer. Anyway. I’m almost done. However you look at it.

I made it to ceramics last night and worked on underglazing the waves and the bones…took me over an hour just to do that.

I’m getting there. Probably another hour or two before it can go in the glaze fire. Then I can keep going on the second level. Hope they fit together. Which they might not. Fun times.

So I am finding time for art. Demanding it. School pays. The house is a mess. What’s new? It’s always like this in March.

The girlchild tried to FaceTime me when I was at the ceramics studio…there were other people there, so I didn’t pick up.

It’s OK; I called her back later. I have a friend who is always adamant that her kids don’t talk to her like that, but this actually made me laugh, especially because the video had no sound and she was bitching me out for not answering. If no one else had been in the studio, I would have, but it’s rude otherwise. Some people need to be told that.

I love that last line. From the book I’m reading.

OK. Today is genetic traits. Kids get to look at each other and figure out their traits. Fun times. They love it when it’s all about themselves. Pilates after school. Still rocking a low-level almost cold. Not sure what it going on with that, but I don’t have the time or energy for a full-blown cold, so it’s fine. Then I get to iron stuff after all that. Probably need to make dinner too. Ugh. OK. Fine.

Ride It Out…

Ah yes, finally typing this on a computer. Not everything is fixed and back to normal, but I am no longer fighting a 10-year-old computer that is slowly (very slowly, because it’s the only speed it had) dying. Yes, it’s taken like three weeks to get functional again. There are some things that I just can’t easily do on a phone or an aging iPad (also needs replacing this year). The boychild was a massive help, although in the end, we didn’t use the backup service I’ve been paying for for years…so fun that.

This weekend was another in a series where I don’t get 1/10th of the stuff done that I wanted or needed to. It’s just my life, maybe? Hard to say. I did some grading and some school stuff but mostly didn’t. I spent time in Home Depot (must be spring) and digging a hole that probably isn’t big enough. I finished one book (actually two) and started another. I made some art and went for a hike. I don’t feel ready for the week. I’m fighting a cold…I’m hoping I can hold the worst of it off, because we have a field trip this week. I’ve drunk a lot of Vitamin C this weekend in hopes it would boost things enough to kick this thing that’s trying to sneak in. Who knows.

OK, art…I ironed a lot this weekend…

I did like three sessions on Saturday…there’s the setup with one computer backing up, one being set up, and the one I was actually watching stuff on…

Too many computers…there’s the beginning of the flesh fabrics, which I spent most of Saturday ironing.

Got through the whole pile…they were interspersed between the 200s all the way to the 600s, so I officially have no clue how far I am in the ironing. But I got the actual flesh done and then still need to do all the eyeballs and the heart and lungs and all those fussy bits that aren’t flesh colored.

I really wanted to be done Sunday, but that didn’t happen. It took too long to do everything on Sunday. I don’t even think I got an hour in, unfortunately.

More of the bits and pieces though. I suspect I’ve got another three nights before I’m done. We’ll see. I have a ton of schoolwork to do as well. As always.

I’m underglazing the base in clay…with Bart’s help (not really…he was wet from outdoors and tried to headbutt the part of this that keeps breaking off).

It just takes forever to do this stuff.

Coral is done, some other bits and pieces in that color range. I’ll be back at it tonight.

We hiked Saturday…got the full 3 miles in this time.

With two coyote sightings…

Broad daylight…

Went out for dinner…

I did draw…just totally forgot to photograph it.

Ah, falcon payments. This lasagna thing was from the book for The Electric State, which was very different than what the movie seems to be.

But lasagna…

The next puppy I get…

This is maybe too real and also applies to my quilts…

Lastly, in cleaning up hard drives all over my office, found this from around 2001 (not 1994 like the time stamp says)…

One of the best pictures I’ve ever taken of the kids.

OK. School today…with an impending incipient cold. And still tired. But hopefully a chill day. Turn the things in, y’all. Then staff meeting (ugh but short) and ceramics (yay). Then home, grading, and ironing (more yay!). Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate (most of whom aren’t Irish in the slightest). And may the government fall into a deep hole it can’t get out of (we’re close, but not quite). I checked my retirement funds over the weekend. Thanks to the billionaires in charge, I’m now down a significant amount…well, we’re gonna ride it out y’all…just let me retire when I need to.

No Power

Power’s out. Some car crashed into something. The road sounds closed; I don’t hear cars down there. It’s cold…and I need tea, so I’ll be leaving for school soon.

I did finally get the studio cleaned up…

It took two nights…it was a lot. And I started ironing last night.

School was a little rough, but it’s been like that for days. Kids are fighting; not sure why. Hard to get them to work. I’m feeling underwater on getting stuff done. I guess that’s nothing new.

Dumbassery abounds. Ok I think it might be bright enough in the bathroom for me to take my meds and get out of here to school, where it will be warmer and I can make tea. I’m making a lot of art this weekend…yes, I need to grade too, but art is large on the agenda. That and getting my computer to work. Sigh.

Hidden Away…

How is it not Thursday yet? I don’t get it. It feels like Friday and a half. I even looked up the date of the next full moon, trying to find an explanation for the crazy we saw yesterday, and nope, it’s not for another two weeks. Ugh. Today feels long and difficult already. Meeting this morning; I was at the school board meeting yesterday (with 6 people, not counting the actual school board) until after 6 PM. I had to speak briefly about the sex ed committee, and then I listened to the rest, grading the whole time. Then came home and managed to cook dinner and eat it.

The quilt progress is slow. This thing is big and complicated. I finished the stitchdown on Monday night; it took just under 6 hours to do. I love seeing the back of the quilt top at this stage…

And then it gets hidden away inside the quilt sandwich forever. I do actually check for things I’ve missed at this stage too. Although I don’t catch them all sometimes until I’m quilting.

Then last night, exhausted, I found and pieced fabric for the background, cut the batting, washed it, and tossed it into the dryer before I went to bed. Tonight, I’ll sandwich it all.

I’ll have to clean the entryway floor first. So clean floor, iron top, sandwich it, pin it all together. It’s moving, but slowly. Somewhat like me. At least mentally. I managed to cobble together something I worked on in 2023 for the filler day we need at school tomorrow, but we lose our prep periods today for the walk-to-the-high-school thing. Take the kids over there (it’s not super far), have them do the rah rah thing, see all the sports and clubs, talk to people, then try to corral them all back to walk back before 3rd period. My biggest concerns? Well, a couple of kids, but whatever. Also I usually eat and pee during 2nd period. This is important! We’ll figure it out. I had a packet of nuts at school for such emergencies, but I needed it last night at the board meeting. I maybe need to stop at a grocery store on the way to school…if I have time before the meeting.

In other school news, this was deposited on my notebook yesterday. So I recycled it. Ah no, it was the behavior contract of a student who was having a day…and continued having a day. As you can imagine.

It was rough for the rest of us as well.

So bee/owl box update. I noticed the bees were ‘gone’ the other day/night, so I pulled the box off, and then had the boychild help me move it about 15 feet away, with the plan to install the new one the next evening. I figured they’d left to find a better place to hang out. Went to install the new one and saw this.

Um. Guys. It’s over there. So yeah. Not sure what this was about. Where were they the night before? Anyway. So. When bees swarm on an unprotected spot, they usually leave within 48 hours, so we waited. We also cleaned out the old owl box and found what looked like possibly 1 or 2 baby skeletons (matches up to the two separate babies I heard last year), and what looked like part of an adult. Bigger feet, adult feathers still attached to part of a wing.

Baby on the left? Maybe? Barn owls aren’t actually that big. I know it just looks like a pile of feathers and stuff, and now that carcass on the left has been dragged off by something last night. I knew that would probably happen. There were still some bees in the owl box, but not much honeycomb…not enough for them to have killed the barn owl (they can do that apparently) back in spring, when I last heard the second baby, and then built a hive. It’s all very strange. ANYWAY. Last night, the bees were gone off the pole, so we’re gonna try again. I have a bee repellant spray that is supposed to be arriving today that I’m going to spray on the pole and around the owl box. It’s natural, not poisonous. I was trying to get a natural bee repellant I could put inside the box, but it’s not an easy thing to find in California. It’s late for mama to be building a nest, but I can hope.

This is the 2nd tree in the Sue Spargo Rooted quilt. I started the embroidery during book club on Monday.

Actually, no, I started the embroidery in my Allied Craftsmen meeting on Saturday. Embroidery is not fast, y’all. But it’s relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing…

Bowie at 8 months (9?) is almost as big as his aunties. He is still being a teenager, harassing everyone in the house. My old lady cat does not like him and lets him know that…and she has a new scratch on her nose that is probably from him. He’s very curious and wants to know about her, but she’s not having it. I’m carrying her out of her cubby in my room to the food and the litter tray, but she does come out without me sometimes.

OK, besides the walking tour of the local high school, the rest of the day, we’re reading about light rays and writing about them. Fun times. Then pilates and hopefully installing the owl box. Then sandwich and pinbaste the damn quilt. After washing the floor. It’s a lot.

Not Muddied by Exhaustion…

Oof. Well we got rain. Good thing, because that fire is still out there south of us. Definitely more in control with the rain and humidity coming up a bit. And we needed rain. Hoping it wasn’t so much that there were mudslides in fire zones. Just enough to give the plants some water and help put fires out. That would be good.

I wanted to be done with stitchdown last night, but I spent a bunch of time on school stuff yesterday instead of art. It needed to be done. This week is a little chaotic and it’s easier for me to do some of the grading with a clear mind, not muddied by exhaustion or kids talking. So I started it Friday night after finishing the ironing down to the background…here’s the whole thing…

Then the stitchdown start…

I did about three hours on Saturday and another hour last night…

I just have the head, that visual disturbance stuff, and the space cat. Not much…not even an hour’s worth, I think. Tonight though. Then sandwich and pinbaste and quilt.

In other quilt news, there’s my piece on the far left at Form, Not Function, where it won Honorable Mention.

And here’s one of mine on the banner of a show that opens next Saturday…

Now that’s cool. A boob out in public.

I’ve been glazing some little animals I’m going to try to make into pincushions…

This is going into the glaze fire with a clear satin coat.

I still have one that’s going into the bisque fire; its tail may not last. We’ll see.

The reddish one is the girlchild’s trinket dish. Hopefully the glaze doesn’t run too badly.

It’s actually supposed to turn out a blue green with a hint of brown. Glaze colors are weird that way.

And I’m just stitching wool down for another Sue Spargo quilt. Neverending.

My fault. I enjoy making them so I keep getting more. This tree one looks fun though.

This was Friday’s sun through the fire’s smoke cloud as it floated over us.

I drove a little bit west and I was out of it. But it smelled like smoke, like fire too. Like I said, that one is under control and I’m sure they’ll get it out in the next few days. More rain is headed in today, although not a lot.

OK. Today the kids will need to take notes on their own (ha! That’s funny) while I grade stuff. We’ll see how that goes. I’m tired still. Ugh. Not sleeping well again. Meetings after school, although I’m supposed to have a team meeting and all of my team except me are in another meeting. So yeah, IDK how that’s supposed to work. I will meet by myself? Probably. Then home to finish stitchdown. Oh yeah! The bees have mostly left the owl box; we moved it away from the post yesterday. Hopefully sometime this week we can put the new owl box up and invite owls to stay there (owl airbnb?). I’ve heard barn owls recently. I hope they didn’t already pick somewhere else. I hope they’re lurking around and waiting for this one.

Also, I’m back on FB and Insta…not ready to let the fascist tech overlords take over everything. I’m still on Bluesky though…I’ve got people on there too, so I’ll stay there unless it seems like a no go. We’ve had a bunch of different apps pop up and disappear over the years. You never know what will stick.

Most of the Time…

Bless the Fridays for they come once a week and release us from 12-hour days. Mostly. This weekend is overly busy, although it was supposed to be 3 meetings, and it went down to 2, and one is on Zoom, so I can do school stuff at the same time. Good thing. I have a run of busy weekends coming up, mostly because of art and/or quilting, so hopefully good times, but also increases stress because lots of driving etc. Hard to keep up on school stuff when I lose chunks of the weekend, because some chunks of the weekend, I just have to sit and read with a cat. Last night, after a 12-hour day (well, 15 minutes short of that), I sat and read with a cat. Finished one book and started another…

Nice sleepy Bowie. I finally ate dinner at 9 and did some ironing. The night before, I worked on my friend’s mom’s quilt, finishing up all the white background quilting so I could take it off the machine at a good stopping point…

There’s a border around the edges that needs quilting still, and the kokopeli in the middle needs background quilting, but otherwise, I’m getting there. I just need to get my quilt done.

I pieced the backing on Wednesday night…

Dark and impossible to photograph. Fun times. Last night, I got everything tacked down in the right place with the iron…

And tonight, I’ll make sure it’ll all stay stuck until I stitch it down.

Some steamy ironing action. Exciting Friday night. It is exciting, actually, to see her ironed onto fabric. When I’m ironing it together, the teflon sheet is light colored, so I can’t really get the effect of it all until this stage. Hopefully tonight I’ll start stitchdown too, although the ironing will probably be another hour. We’ll see how much energy I have.

I saw this on the way to work yesterday…had to think about it, analyze it…

Do they shoot people in wheelchairs? Ah no…they are a disabled person with a gun. Splendid. Big red truck, driving like an asshole, but it’s OK…they’ve got guns. (Kathy changes lanes)

Today in school, Nida will be teaching vocab in a high-energy manner (will she though? She will. She doesn’t know where it will come from, but she’ll find it). Then making kids write, using those vocab words (it’s like she’s insane, doesn’t even know it’s a Friday), and then make them take notes about light and how it works. Sounds fun. My headache started before I got up, by the way. Our weather has been warm during the day and super dry (hence the fire south of us), but tomorrow, we’re supposed to get much-needed rain (fuck you, fire). That rain is coming just when I’m supposed to be walking across Balboa Park to a meeting, but that’s fine. I’ll take it. Put the damn fires out and water the fucking plants. Plus make it so my hair stops being so staticky. Fucking hate that. OK, wait, I hate other things more, but in the moment, my hair in its flyaway annoying state makes me want to scream, and it doesn’t help that my government leaders are a joke. So there’s that. But hopefully I’ll have the energy to go to ceramics after school, then cook dinner, then finish the ironing. Will there be some reading with a cat at some point? I can pretty much guarantee that will happen. I’m not insane, y’all…most of the time.

On the Next Step…

January is flying by. It always does. So does February with its built-in shortness and double holiday whammy (for us anyway). Then March lasts for 3 months. It’s weird that way. Having a Monday off is nice; it gives me some extra rest/relaxation time, although I mostly suck at that, unless you count reading, which I do. And making art, which I totally do. I’m progressing on all art fronts, although slowly…which is fine. If I don’t hit deadlines, and I probably won’t…let’s be realistic…it’s not the end of the world. So…I’m still working on my friend’s mom’s quilt…I’m more than halfway, but there’s still a good chunk to do. I’m going to have to pull it off the machine tonight though so I can piece the backing for the final iron down, and then stitchdown after. I’ll do another 30 minutes on the background before I do that though.

The art quilt I’m working on is getting there…I ironed half the tree parts Monday night…

The tree goes from winter to spring to summer to fall (right to left)…so last night, I ironed summer and fall…

And then the last two little bits…the spaceship…

And a catronaut.

Castronaut? sounds painful. Anyway, on the dark background, she’ll show up just fine. Although she has kind of some disco tendencies too. I think. Tonight, I’ll piece the background and iron the whole thing down. Hopefully.

I have a piece in a show at Road to California in Ontario, CA, this weekend. It’s part of the SAQA SoCA/NV chapter’s New Pieces.

It is apparently at waist height. Hmmm. I apologize now for you having to bend over to see the details. I don’t enter Road any more because the lighting and hanging aren’t great, but this was my group and I wanted to be supportive. I feel like they need to accept fewer pieces and hang them with space between and not double hang. But I didn’t hang the show…so there we are. Also, there’s boobs and a uterus, so that will make some people clutch their pearls. I’m OK with that. I’m not going to make it up there…I have two art meetings already this weekend. It’s messy.

I went to clay on Monday and got more details put on the upper torso and started arms.

Still not entirely sure how I will dry/fire arms, but it’s in progress.

I do like the heart and lungs though. So far.

Side view, she’s leaning a little further forward than I’d like. I have to store the two pieces separately due to the size of shelves. The bottom is mostly drying and the top is mostly mushy still, so it’s a challenge. I haven’t even figured out the head yet. I need more clay and the boss has been away at a conference. I don’t actually have anywhere to store the clay, although someone in my shelves is storing it all on the ground. Which they told me was not OK, fire marshally stuff, also I can’t reach my shelf due to all the crap on the ground. Minor issue. I’ll be back there on Friday and hopefully get more clay. Or? Not sure. I was expecting her to be there Monday unfortunately. That does mean I’ve used almost 20 pounds of clay in this so far, minus a few things the girlchild and I made. Fun times.

I’m reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher…I find it amusing.

Sometimes I chortle out loud even…

Lizards sounds painful.

I grew two bell peppers this summer. I waited too long to harvest them, of course.

I don’t mind feeding the animals…

This is the new government by the way…

So first of all, I’ve never heard of large and small cells to define egg and sperm. I’m not sure why they didn’t use those words (because they are scary???). Second of all, they are idiots. If only it were that simple. But it’s not. I have a 3-hour sex-ed curriculum meeting tomorrow at the district and a prep-time meeting tomorrow. Sigh. I’m tired of being in charge of things, but I honestly can’t trust the world to be smart about this stuff. I’m still off the regular social media. Still trying not to watch the crazy-making shit. Except I saw a conversation between teachers about what to do when ICE shows up on school campuses. Sigh. And our Newcomer population is growing crazily, mostly I think because they’re desperately trying to get here before they’re not allowed to. Such a hateful government. Really disappointing.

With that, I’m low-fi teaching today…just means I’m not directly teaching. It’s review. And finish the things. Tomorrow is an academic assignment. I’m really trying to be mostly hands off this week. Last week was all on, and it was tiring. OK, not gonna lie, but yesterday was also tiring. Ah well. Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep and then once I was finally there, kaboom! Cat fight under the bed. Fun times. Loud. Someone was pissed off. And then the little cat (who is not so little anymore) was up and about before my alarm went off. Squirrely bastard. Pilates after school (already tired)…then quilting, ironing the whole thing down, and hopefully starting stitchdown. We’ll see how that goes. Good to be onto the next step.