Hope Is a Wonderful Thing

Ah September. You have held off on horrible days of heat…just a few here and there. I actually needed a blanket last night. Have I mentioned that the hot flashes have wandered off? Knock on wood. Don’t let them come back (I know they will). But as always, school is kicking my butt and making me feel like I have to pack in NON-school stuff to keep me sane. Oh yeah, that’s why I make as much art as I do…otherwise, I’d go bonkers in this job. Yesterday was a slog…getting most of the kids to understand what I was talking about (this pilot curriculum sucks balls, to quote my co-teacher)…but also realizing that about 30% of them were totally and completely tuned out. Sigh. SIGH. Direct instruction. And the teacher who sent a kid down in the middle of that and wanted me to find papers? WTF? Like call first. Seriously. No. NO. I have a student who yells no all the time and I can totally bond with her over that. It might get her to stop too, because I think having something in common with me is her biggest fear. I don’t blame her.

Today they write me 7 whole sentences showing me they understand the standard. On the one hand, I’m kind of looking forward to finally seeing how they write. On the other hand. FUCK. It’s gonna hurt my brain. And depress me.

It’s OK. Sunny smile! I can’t grade them until after next Thursday. That’s the due date. I have a week!

But seriously, I’m so behind and confuzzled and overwhelmed and please don’t ask me to do anything else, but I have two meetings at the same time this morning and I don’t know how that is gonna work. At all. And a 2-hour meeting after school about this pilot curriculum. Really, I’d rather be throwing the Navy UFnotO videos up and having the kids write about that. Totally. Fuck the curriculum. Let’s talk about aliens!

I did go to book club, which was totally fun and interesting. We all loved the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, 4 novellas, and she’s coming out with a full novel in May next year (yay!). It was a good mental release to go hang out with a bunch of smart women and talk about the world and how to escape and books and movies. I really appreciate that group, even though the trek out to Point Loma is so freakin’ far.

I managed to cut stuff out for about 30 minutes before I went to bed.

I have about a yard and a half yet. I’m hoping I have the energy to finish tonight. Hope is a wonderful thing. It’s not hard. I was just really really tired.

Calli was making a really funny face, but stopped as soon as I took her picture.

Of course.

OK, off to the two overlapping meetings. We’ll see how that goes. Yesterday someone sent me a donut and I ate it. It was not a good day for food, that’s for sure, but my blood sugar has stayed OK. Mostly because no more hot flashes, eh? I wish my medical coverage thought sending a diabetic to an endocrinologist who actually knew what they were talking about was a good thing. Or even had a diabetes education program that was useful. They won’t answer email. I have to go SEE them. What kind of old-school world are they living in? Not mine. I need to be able to Skype them in the car on the way to the chiropractor. Anyway. Art tonight! I must!

Quilting Will Be Nice…

Even my computer is moving slowly this morning. It’s thinking about perhaps opening that tab, but um maybe um maybe OK there it is. Whoa. Much like my 2nd period will be today probably. Which should be fun, because I’m gonna make them think again. I made them build stuff yesterday, which was mostly OK, with a few notes, like don’t buy really wimpy spaghetti noodles, because it makes it REALLY hard (although still doable, so there’s that)…

And also you will have those three boys who just can’t sit still and you will already be telling them forcefully on the second day of school what having their parents sitting next to them will feel like. Sigh. Today I will sit with those boys and try to work on the supportive relationship that will make or break labs with them for the rest of the year. This group is ready to roll and we’re gonna have to roll with them in some way, shape, or form. I think today is rolly-chair day. I’m really gonna roll! My favorite. Also I need to get the nurse’s office to stop calling and wanting to have long convos during class. Short and sweet, y’all. I don’t got time for all your words! Oh yeah, and the two kids who will miss my class for 20 minutes every day? Um. OK. Not sure what to do about those.

Moving on. I came home and went to the gym like a good adult woman in charge of her strong body and the mind that wanted to read a good book. (It was a good book…the first of the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Now I gotta get the other three…) While at the gym, I think I had 3 different school-related conversations going on. Until I was reading, and then I ignored all of them.

I didn’t have to cook last night, which was nice. This week has been a lot of people not around at home or my changing schedules, so I’ve kind of been eating the same thing for days, it feels like. I worked a little bit on this…

which is So Close to being done! After that, I quilted for a little while. I didn’t get a ton done, but I got some…

Most of the land parts and the legs…

Just those mountains left, then the torso, arms, head, and sky. That’s tonight. Hopefully. And the background. So I can buy binding tomorrow and get this puppy done. I have No Freakin’ Clue what I’m working on next. I know I said that before. I’m saying it again. Oh yeah, I need to put a Patreon video up this weekend too, but I’ve gotten pretty good at editing them now, so it’s really only figuring out which of the 15 videos I recorded to use. The Man is playing in two shows this weekend, one of which I can’t go to anyway and the other one, eh, I’m good, I have a lot to do…but it means I’ll barely see him this weekend. I guess I will get a lot of work done, including some copyediting and maybe even schoolwork, although I’m kind of putting the quilting first so I can get it to the photographer early next week. It’s all good! I’m also debating teaching a class, just real short, introduce people to how I make stuff…I got asked to do it. I didn’t search it out. I have been going back and forth about whether to do it or not. It’s paid…but that’s not why. I wonder if it’s something I would want to do. That’s all. So I said yes. I think. Sheesh. I’m crazy. It’ll be FINE. Seriously. OK. This day. This weekend. Quilting will be nice.