Boggled

I had to leave for school yesterday with only 9% of my book to be read. I think it said 18 minutes. Good book; wanted to know how it ended. Day job. It’s fine, I read during my prep period and then continued cleaning things and putting them away. I have a giant paper cut from all that, which I don’t appreciate. And a few bruises of unknown origin. Always fun. But yesterday was that great day when you get to the end, walk next door to your coteacher, and say, wait…what do we do with ourselves? Grades are done. Everything is set up for the next three days (well, besides whatever clusterfuck we don’t know about yet). I’m supposed to be at an awards breakfast in 25 minutes (ugh…that’s just for setup). But school is mostly done, besides the surviving part. And cleaning. It’s amazing. I’ve almost survived it. I don’t have to go home and prep, plan, or grade. A joy. Almost a joy. Still teaching today.

I still haven’t started a new art piece. I need to start drawing, and to do that, I need to not be exhausted at the end of the day. Haven’t gotten there yet. Wednesday night, I finished the Tinsel quilt for my mom…

It needs hanging stuff and I need to handsew the label.

Only 2 1/2 years. I thought it was less. Oh well.

Last night was my monthly stitching meeting with friends, so I worked on the June Rooted block.

Progress. This one has a lot of fussy little things in it. I’ll be here a while. This stuff is very relaxing though. I came home and kept stitching on the bits and pieces of the Homegrown borders, which have been sitting around and waiting for a good long while.

These are all Sue Spargo blocks of the month. I find them relaxing and fun to work on in between other stuff. I’ve got two of them to quilt as well, so I might do some of that in between other things this summer. We’ll see. At the moment, I can’t see past today, so there’s that.

Too true.

Dragging the Man out to a protest march tomorrow. I’m boggled by the crazy out there…not the protesters…the government. The lack of forethought for their behaviors. Yes, if you arrest all the farm workers, there will be no food, you idiots. One of my coworkers said they were only arresting criminals. You know who doesn’t go to immigration interviews? Criminals. People who are following the rules do. There’s no due process here, no checking to see if people have legal status. Hell, they keep throwing congresspeople to the floor. No questions! It’s terrifying. Mindboggling. Anyway. So I get to go to school today, sit through one promotion lineup, dump my kids off to turn in their Chromebooks, teach the rest of the day about goal setting (something no one is doing right now), handing back time capsules, then hopefully going to ceramics. Protest tomorrow. Two more days of school next week, mostly outside in the sun. Which reminds me, I need sunscreen for today. That’s important.

When AM I Reading Today?

I love that I said I’d be cleaning my classroom this week, because that hasn’t happened. At all. And it’s not likely to any time soon. I’m teaching, talking all the time, for the next three days, then we have a day of practice and crazy antics, then actual promotion. By the end of the day, hell, by prep period, I’m out of it. Today. Today I will use prep period wisely. I will. I swear. My coteacher and I will go get all the stupid signatures we need to check out. That’s my plan. The last of the to-be-graded assignments are due at 3:30 today. I have a union meeting after school, and then I’m grading. I came home yesterday and graded while on Zoom with my stupid school board meeting. Fun times. I had pilates (finally, I got in…I need the exercise and the time to concentrate on something besides school, something that’s good for me), so I didn’t go to the board meeting, but my stalwart coworkers stayed past 8 PM. It’s never an hour with this board…it’s always three or more. No efficiency there. We went to Belmont Park with the whole promoting class yesterday…my coteacher and I rode the roller coaster early (it gets chaotic after that).

Look! Real smiles! Seriously love me a good roller coaster. I didn’t go last year for some stupid reason. It does make for a long, exhausting day though. We combined our classes for the last two periods and watched Into the Spiderverse. We didn’t even start it over for the last period; just kept watching. For the last 30 minutes, there was a big ice cream celebration for most of our kids. We kept 7 and sat in the dark air conditioning. I don’t really know how I managed to stay functional during grading for an hour or so and then pilates, but I did.

The pro is that I’ve had some time to stitch in the evenings. I’ve been trying to get the flowers on the Sue Spargo Homegrown borders finally. It’s a lot of little pieces on a giant thing. During book club on Monday, I worked on her Rooted quilt…

Here’s the June block on top of her Tinsel quilt, which I’m finishing for my mom. It’s taking forever…

Teeny tiny binding requires tinier stitches. I’m finally on the sleeves, so hopefully, I’ll finish tonight. I have two more Spargo quilts to finish up. I did have a drawing pop into my head during pilates last night (don’t ask…it’s how Art Brain works…I’m trying not to fall over and it’s creating shit). I’m not saying I won’t start some art thing before finishing the two Spargo quilts…I haven’t made any decisions, because I literally don’t have the brain power for that.

Monday was ceramics…I painted the torso for the fourth time…this time, I actually covered everything, but I had to reattach that damn hand again.

I saved some of the mix of underglaze to patch the hand…smarter than usual. Friday, I’m hoping to start glazing more of the other bits, which will take forever. At least.

The base has been bisqued, but the colors were a bit much, so I finally decided to underglaze over them. I also want to do a wash over it all, but I can’t wipe that away without wiping the glaze away, so I’m going to have to fire it again. Expensive. That said, this piece has so many freaking hours in it, I’ll never be able to sell it. At this point, I just want to be able to finish it.

The crazy stuff I do for fun.

Here’s a sampling of kid stuff about sex ed…

Made me laugh.

A lot.

Sigh. That one. Literally they had a chart to help them fill this out. I mean, he’s not entirely wrong.

Anyway. I’m putzing along with all the things. I have a lot of things unfortunately. I did book my flight up to San Francisco to see the girlchild and all the art that’s up there, including my piece at Sebastopol. So my two summer things are planned. The rest of the summer is managing all the shit at home and getting things cleaned up and gotten rid of and painted and fixed and trimmed and planted. And sleeping and reading and making art. Maybe not in that order. Maybe sleeping first. For a week or two. Not that the living things (or my body) let me sleep for long. I would rather be reading my book today than teaching about sexually transmitted infections, but that’s not an option. Union meeting after school. Then grades. Then stitching of some sort. Wait. When AM I reading today (most important question ever)? Good question. Always.

Free Food…

I wake up to gloomy Juney skies in Southern California, with 7 days of school left, at least 3 of them are chaotic evil, OK, maybe neutral, but probably not good. Today includes two staff meetings, maybe three, with one optional but is it really? I mean, they sent an email at 9:30 PM about it. Last night. Fun times. Free donuts though. How do you get teachers to show up early on a Monday morning? Yeah. Free food. We’re sad. We had this discussion that our appreciation week this year was pretty sad…the wonder of no PTA and IDK what else. It is not ideal.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to make a case for sending the National Guard into Los Angeles, after not deploying them during the January 6 insurrection. I mean, if there were ever a time to use them (since 1960), that would be it. And to ignore the governing bodies already saying, “We got this”…nah, let’s escalate it. After arresting tourists and US Marshalls and kids in or on their way to school and people who have been going through the legal process, paying taxes, contributing to the community, sometimes for YEARS, let’s deport them. Immigrants pay $96.7 billion in taxes each year. They’re not freeloaders, unlike some billionaires.

This picture was all over the internet yesterday…some of my extremely right-leaning friends posted it.

Claiming it was part of the ‘riots’ in Los Angeles. Problem is, that’s not a current picture. It’s from 2020. It doesn’t help when the elected politicians are part of that fraud.

Liars. That’s how they start riots. Lying.

Exacerbate the issue. Make California the problem. Bring in the military. Many of whom are people of color, immigrants. In fact, y’all, most of us are immigrants here. My lily white people weren’t born here. We came from somewhere else. Most of you did.

I’m so irritated by the government’s flailing at the moment, so scared for my students’ families, so worried that those who are apparently in charge will be making things so much worse. Power. Greed. Money. Not empathy, not taking care of people, not making sure things are safe. No Kings protest on Saturday. No dictators. No rich people in charge please, unless they get it. Unless they donate books to schools or homes to the homeless. Donate a significant part of their income. Pay their damn taxes. Pay their bills. Then they can be in charge. Not these bloated idiots.

Sigh. It’s not surprising I can’t make new art right now. Between school ending and all this shit, how could I? I did finish the in-between Boom quilt…

Friday night. Nova not helping. At all.

My mom had given the Tinsel quilt back to me after she finished the snowflake embroidery…

I think she gave it back to me in November, and then it’s been sitting around. I finally quilted it…just luckily had the right colors of thread. Good thing, because I don’t know where to locally get thread any more.

I mean, it’s not like Joann had regularly stocked thread in the last couple of years anyway.

I appliqued stuff, mom embroidered, I pieced it together and added some pieces over the edges, appliqued the snowflake bits on. We changed the borders. I didn’t like the way it was in the pattern, and someone else had done a nicer version, so we did that instead.

Last night, I put the binding on and made sleeves.

I’m not done with the handstitching, but I probably will be tonight.

Trying to do all that while the dumb government attempts to take over the state. I’m willing to stop paying federal taxes…they don’t pay for anything I want at the moment. No education, no USAID, no saving people’s lives with cancer research, no NOAA, so what am I paying for? Teslas? Starlink? Gold toilets? Nothing I want. Nothing I need.

I’m still teaching sex ed. This is a legit concern.

Four more days of that. Today is pretty chill. Gonna test them. Then grades are due Thursday, so I did a bunch of that this weekend, but I won’t be done until Thursday.

This is also legit. Above and below.

She’s an immigrant.

Sigh. I’ve got to get through this week. So many meetings. So much stressful crap. Hoping LA holds it together, but stands their ground. Hoping the pressure of 22 governors against the feds will back all this shit off. Mass deportations. The people who voted for that don’t understand what it really means. Also, tourism is down. Shockingly. You can’t give aid to the fire victims, but you’ll pay for this. You won’t help people hit by tornados or hurricanes, but you’ll pay for this. You won’t send the Guard out to protect people in the Capitol, but you’ll do this.

OK. School. Meetings. Free donuts. Grading. Cleaning the classroom. Trying NOT to build a pillow fort and hide in it for a year or so.

The Stage We’re at…

Oooh. Friday. Thanks for coming. Nice to see you. Eight days of school left. Finally out of the totally dry sex ed teaching and into the meaty stuff of pregnancy and parts (they forgot all of them) and diseases (they think it’s all Herpes). Definitely at the document-the-shit-out-of-your-behavior time of year. So the really annoying ones can get out if they can’t behave. Also second Eid came early this year, so a ton of kids will be out today. Oh well. I was missing 9 kids by Period 6 yesterday. My coteacher had 10 kids total in her classroom. Lots of opt-outs on her end, parents who opt their kids out of the curriculum…which is FINE, if they do it on schedule, which large numbers of them did not, increasing our stress levels. Fun times. It’s the end of the school year; it’s always stressful. With the adjustment to a Tuesday end instead of a Thursday end, the grade file doesn’t open until Monday and it’s due Thursday…not sure when the heck I’m supposed to get all that done (well, after school, in the evenings, no duh) AND clean my room up to close it out. There’s a field trip Tuesday, then promotion lineups and next week, I think we’re barely in the classroom, which is fine, but usually grades are due after a weekend. So I’ll get everything I can done this weekend, but the early part of next week will be yucky. I guess at least I know it’s coming.

Art is slow right now because of all that. I did manage on Wednesday night to trim the quilt and get the binding machine stitched on…

Smaller quilts are nice because I don’t have to try to go out and shop for binding. I never have enough of any fabric for binding a big quilt.

Then last night, I sewed the sleeves on and started the handstitching…

Didn’t quite finish; I will tonight. Then I’m going to start trying to draw the next big one. Wish me luck.

I made it to ceramics on Wednesday finally…it’s been almost two weeks. The girlchild gave me a stamp for Mother’s Day and I finally had a chance to try it…

Very cool. She had it made from one of my eye drawings apparently. So fun. Much easier than the crappy carving of my name I’ve been doing.

I glazed, after fixing one thing that broke and breaking two more things, because that’s the stage we’re at.

This color is much better, so I started glazing other things, like bombs and tires. Hopefully I’ll be doing more of that tonight.

My banned book piece will be in this show, opening up in a couple of weeks at the downtown library.

It’ll be on the main floor, I think…

The opening is June 21 from 12-2. I have a dental appointment at 11, so I’ll be rushing a bit.

Liars. Also this…

I don’t want to pay federal taxes any more. It’s not doing me any good.

Here’s Nova again, trying to be ON my lap while I read. I’m literally holding her head as she tries to smoosh her entire chonky self under the iPad.

Sweet but demanding (and shedding fur all over the place).

OK. Teaching how to prevent unplanned pregnancies today (aka birth control). More cleaning of the room, although not during classtime, because classtime is all talking, all the time, no rest for the wicked. Or me. Then clay, then finish the quilt. Sounds OK. Sounds doable. No more late work can be turned in after midnight tonight (well, it CAN, but I won’t grade it), so that’s a hard line. It means that in a week, there will be no more grading. I love that for me. No planning either, except for some bits and pieces of stuff I keep tossing out there. My coteacher and I have two days for planning for next year set up already, for the beginning of July…gives us time to mentally reset, but works around our summer schedules. I’m jealous of her travel, but also want to stay home and make art. And I’ve been finding and ordering supplies for the week of artmaking in July for me. Going to do some painting on fabric and some fabric manipulation and some threadpainting. I have avoided Amazon and Target and Walmart and Hobby Lobby and all the other lame companies. I feel good about it, excited even. Not excited about cleaning the garage out, but it is also on the list. So is painting the shed. Fun times. Not. Maybe I’ll even get the sprinklers fixed finally. Ha!

Mushroom Spiraled

Oh. My. It’s been fun y’all. Really. This week? I’m sure it’s the 7th Thursday this week. Yes, I know it’s not really Thursday. Or the 7th Thursday in a week. It just FEELS that way. I haven’t cried yet (knock on wood, growth mindset!), so either that’s a good thing, or the meditation and ashwaganda are doing their jobs. Maybe. I might just be in shock.

So, there’s 10 days of school left. Time enough to teach pregnancy and unplanned pregnancies (aka birth control) and STDs. And grade everything? I think kids have stopped trying to fix their grades. Mostly. I’m OK with that. If you haven’t figured it out by now, you’re unlikely to. It’s absolute chaos. Nothing new there. So just strap in, hold on, and scream, and eventually it will be done.

Art! I have a ton of things going on in my head. I’m trying to cull down the things I want to try during the residency to a reasonable number. I can’t do ALL the things in a week…I think. Trying to make sure I have stuff to prep and to do the things. Need materials and some bases to work on. So I’ve been pulling books off of bookshelves and searching up materials lists. That part is fun. I’m also sort of halfheartedly working on this piece, which really really wanted to be made for a long time.

So I quilted her in two nights.

She’s seriously uncomplicated, unlike me. Trim her tonight, put a binding on?

Then what? Then I need to start drawing. Or do something else small and uncomplicated. I’ll have to figure that out.

It’s been this for DAYS.

Like BRING IT. Rain plasma down from the heavens! OK, no, we don’t want fires. RAIN from the heavens! But no. It’s just humid and thick and uncomfortable and you don’t even get the excitement of thunder and lightning, very very frightening me.

This is fun. And so true. And why men’s sperm counts are down.

And we don’t know how to get rid of them. Also, fuck Southwest for putting Gulf of American on their flight tracker. FUCK THEM. Like arrogant shit much? Sigh.

This is so incredibly true. I just moved a huge pile from one place to another…

I SHOULD READ SOME OF THEM. True really. I should. It’s not like I’m not reading; I totally am, every day, for probably too long. Considering all the other shit I should be doing that I’m not. Procrastination? Not really. Just. OK. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, I’d rather read a chapter about demons and vampires than weed whack the slope or replace the solenoid in the sprinkler valve. IDK what my issue is with that, but my brain is just like screaming NO at me. OK brain. Chill. I won’t make you screw the thing in and attach the wires.

OK. Today I am teaching about body image and things. I remember this being a stupid lesson, the way it’s designed, not the learning of it. I didn’t design it. All this was designed by a committee. Yes, a committee I was on, but trying to explain to parents what the average middle schooler will and won’t do in a classroom is torture, plus other teachers are much more wholesome (read: not cynical) than I am and think kids WANT to draw little pictures representing themselves for 20 minutes at the end of the year…I mean, SOME of them do, but I’ve got a whole group of rancid fermenting boys that just want to yell PENIS and run around like chickens with their heads cut off. So yeah. That’s today. Meeting this morning. Somewhat stressful. Lots going on. Could do without it, but it spiraled. Or mushroomed. Or mushroom spiraled. Then after school, I swear I am going to ceramics. I’ve been SO TIRED. But I’m going. I need to. It’ll be fine. I don’t have book club tonight (it got moved) and I’m not cooking, so there’s no rush. I can just go and glaze and listen to my audiobook and chill out. Hopefully. That’s my plan. The rest can go fuck itself.

What Are the Odds…

Uh huh. Twelve days. Unfortunately, two full 5-day weeks, which sounds hard, because it is at this stage. Trying to grade everything, do awards, get ready to teach sex ed, we don’t have the right number of packets of anything and it’s all talking, all the time. Still recovering from food poisoning, thought I was fine, then Saturday kicked my butt. It’s fine. I’m just getting through it all a bit at a time, but I spent probably 4 straight hours Sunday afternoon doing just that. No clay, no nothing. I’m tired of that shit.

I did make art, not a lot, just a bit. I ironed the smaller piece together, with the help of Annie on my feet…

Dogsitting weekend. Almost wrote dogshitting. Still valid.

Small pieces go together quite quickly.

Saturday night, after being mostly off for hours in the afternoon, I stitched it down.

Sunday, I sandwiched, pinbasted, and started quilting…

I also stitched this down…

My SIL claimed it back in November and I promptly lost it for a few months. Found it! Not sure how I’m finishing it yet.

Way too many animals here this weekend. Both dogs helping me read my book Friday afternoon after a very long day of 45 egg drops and a principal meeting.

Sigh. I don’t really want the new principal who’s coming. He doesn’t have great reviews. Ah well. Should be a shitshow of a year.

We had Annie because her daddy was coaching soccer up north.

She has mellowed out. She’s also scared of cats and we have four of them.

And sometimes they like each other.

Boychild was at a fire and gone an extra day for that…

So Simba barked nonstop and the Man and I sent memes about dogs barking back and forth.

Totally Simba.

And when Simba gets going, Annie sometimes joins in, mostly out of nervousness of being left out, I think.

Survived the egg drops, although many eggs did not.

It seems anathema to sacrifice so many scrambled egg breakfasts in the name of science, but we did. It was good.

Happy Pride Month!!!

Maybe I’ll get my flag up this month. Might need an assist on that.

This is my answer to my local school board about everything.

Also that last bit, louder for those chatting in the back.

Want some owl video?

There’s definitely a baby. I hope there’s more. Even if they’re loud.

Yeah. The next quilt isn’t fully in my head yet. Not surprising, considering all the juggling and balancing going on right now. Two Zooms (emergencies!) just popped up in my email last night. Sigh.

Yup. That’s what I do. In rainbow colors (not just Pride…all the time).

OK. Teaching the first day of sex ed, where we talk about nothing. Fun stuff. Then a two-hour staff meeting where we might meet the new principal who we’ve already vetted with all our friends who work at the school where he’s not allowed back. No joke. It’s been a good run, y’all. I’ve had decent principals for about 13 years or so. I guess its’ time. OR. Maybe he learned his lesson after the last one, will turn over a new leaf? What are the odds. THEN, I get to be on an emergency Zoom while driving to drop art off downtown, because, yes, I got into the library show. It opens June 21, Saturday, from 12-2. I think I have a dentist appointment right before that, so I will be running late. Ah well. At least I got in. Then maybe I can come home after all that. Not sure when clay is happening. Tomorrow? Ugh. Midnight? Maybe.

Wherever There Is…

Oh my. I know it’s Wednesday. It’s the nonstop day. I have one of those a week, it seems. Might be two or three this week. Next week…next week will be crazypants. Going to Quilt National! Haven’t been since 2017. Looking forward to it. My quilts were there without me. Not this time…

Artwise, I’m not doing much. It’s not because I don’t want to…or I’m burnt out on art. I’m not. I just needed to finish a big quilt for a friend, and now it’s done. I need to dehair it, because cats, and I think there’s one seam I need to fix, for some definition of fix. And another one that needs something, some restitching. But otherwise, it’s done.

I got the handstitching done in two nights.

Cats love it when I’m sitting on the couch for hours. Me too sometimes. It’s relaxing. Meditative. I just watch some show and stitch. Ideal.

I did some clay on Monday night…

Gave the priest a head…

And a cross. But as I was putting it away, I felt something fall off. AGAIN. It’s fine. I’m glazing as of Friday; I hope. Glazing will be a challenge. There’s a lot going on. And I’ll probably have to fix some things. I’ve found that’s been a constant with this piece. I’ve been working on this piece since November…mindboggling. I might actually finish it this summer? Maybe? And hope it all goes together and doesn’t fall over. Ha! Need to get better at modular building. Or working smaller…oh that’s not gonna happen.

Anyway, tonight I’ll be thinking about the next art piece and probably sorting some fabric out for donations…to make room for new stuff too. It’s been a while since I’ve done that. Today is busy, so we’ll see how all that goes. The left eye is twitching now. Last week, it was the right eye. Yesterday, I had a blood sugar incident. I’m trying to follow doctor’s orders for more protein in the morning, and my body is just not happy with it. It’s also harder to make dietary changes when I’m teaching because of the fallout. Ah well. I’ll get there, wherever there is.

My quilt War Zone got into the International Fiber show at Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

It does cost money to get in. I was debating the opening, but I have another one the day before here in San Diego (assuming I get in) and if I go up to see my daughter, this is a long way on a Sunday for her. I don’t know. I’m waiting for all sorts of notifications to make decisions about things for the summer. So this is one of them.

And this is real.

With a pillow over my head to kill the light and the noise. I really don’t see sleep in my future. Maybe late June.

OK. More testing today, not state, but district. It’s what kicked my blood sugar butt yesterday. Trying to do it differently today. Then more state review (ugh). Then union meeting and pilates (fun times) and grading and counting supplies for egg drops. Wait, that’s earlier in the day. More tea, for sure. More chaos. More grading. READING A BOOK. Or three. Because that’s kinda where I’m at right now. Don’t ask how many I have checked out from the library right now. It’s bad. I have some plane rides next week though. I could finish a book or two. Maybe. Art. I’m gonna work on something new. That’s fun. Exciting. Deep breath in and deep breath outting. All good.

Review Time

Monday already? It’s mindboggling how quickly the weekend is over sometimes. I look at the two days and think, but what did you get done? I mean, I entered a show after photographing the pieces (they’ll go to my official photographer later; I didn’t have time for that). I went to dinner with my parents (forgot to take photos). I went to an art exhibit out in the boonies (also forgot to photograph any of it). So I’m low on photos. We were gonna hike but it was 95 degrees, so that didn’t happen. I had to go to the dentist. That was fun (not). So yeah. A weird weekend.

Oh yeah, the Man had a show Friday night…a little different since the band’s singer is either on hiatus or never coming back. So they all filled in and got some other band lead singers to come in and sing a bit. They did OK. The Man had 3 or 4 songs…he was definitely nervous.

Which is weird, because he sings all the time, sometimes up front. I guess it’s different when it’s just you and no one else. It was for a friend’s birthday party…and even his wife came up and sang. She was definitely nervous. No way in hell I’d do that. Sorry. My teacher voice means singing in public is a mistake. I can’t hit all the notes…voice gives out. Like this week, I think all we do is talk every day. Ugh. Hate that. Especially when they’re so checked out. Sex ed is like that too, all talking, but they’re not as checked out at least.

I finished quilting my friend’s mom’s quilt. The last border was in need of ironing…in fact, I might need to iron it again once the binding is done. I got permission to use black fabric for binding (another color would have been confusing there), and I had a big chunk in my stash from another friend who moved and decided she didn’t need all her fabric. So that was easy. I got it sewn on with the machine, and now I get to sit and watch TV for a few days to get it all stitched down.

It’s not the most beautiful quilting job in the world, but it should hold up. I’m rolling art ideas around in my head. I’ll get there. Not a lot of brain power right now for creativity. Mostly stressed out by the end of the year stuff.

This is my favorite picture in the baby album. It’s the most dresses I’ve had in my closet maybe ever.

I look pretty discombobulated by it all. Anyway, happy mom’s day to those who need it.

OK. Today. Ugh. I really hate reviewing for state tests. It’s torturous. This is my third attempt at it in three years. IDK if it’ll be better. Probably not. Ah well. It would help I guess if I thought state testing were important…but I don’t. It’s something we have to do, and the expectation that kids will remember three years’ worth of science content is nuts. Plus we’re doing some district testing Tuesday and Wednesday in our advisory classes on top of it. Double ugh. Not three hours of testing, but long enough. Then short classes after the kids are braindead. Recipe for disaster? We’ll see. Maybe it’ll be awesome. There’s a 2-hour staff meeting on the calendar, but the boss pulled the literacy component, so maybe it’ll be shorter? It has to be shorter. Then ceramics tonight, put a head on the priest and then start glazing. Come home and stitch a binding. I can handle that. Maybe I should grade things too. I’ll think about it.

In Between Time

Up early again…this week has been difficult for sleep, across the board. As I got more and more exhausted, I did a better job of falling asleep and staying asleep, until it gets light, which unfortunately is earlier and earlier. Ugh. Also state testing really messes with kid and teacher rhythms. We’re all off. It’s Friday! I’m not sure what day it feels like. Next Wednesday maybe? Unclear. Anyway, yesterday went OK except for the advisory class discussion on drop shipping as a current job choice. (No, they don’t know what tariffs are.) Like, dude, no one will hire you to sleep all day. Not happening. Anyway. There are 27 days of school left. Yesterday was also the pep talk of “you aren’t done yet.” Difficult for all of us. Today we start state test review for science…hard hard hard…all talking. Ugh. I may need some alternate stuff by the end of next week. Also, I thought I would be so efficient and get caught up on grading. Nah. Did not. Lame.

In art news, since I finished the banned-book piece, which I still need to photograph, I’m sort of in a stasis mode…by choice. I have a friend’s mom’s quilt I really need to finish, so that’s what I’m doing with my normal art time. It’s fine…it’s still quilting. I am doing a bit of embroidery (honestly, when I should be grading) on Sue Spargo’s Rooted blocks…this one is really nice.

Bowie wanted to smell this one in progress.

And I took it to my stitching meeting last night and kept working on it.

I think I have four blocks done of nine. We’ll be here for a while.

Then here’s the quilting…

I’m in the outer borders. There’s definitely something weird going on in the last border that I’ll deal with when I’m done playing thread chicken with the light blue thread.

I only had two small spools of it and finished one of them in the beginning of the third border, so unless I do a lot more squiggling stitching in the last two borders, I should be OK and not run out in the last two inches, but you never know. Then quilt around the corner blocks (fast) and the two outer borders just need outlining, and then I can trim it (it’s fucking huge…not sure how I’m doing that) and then putting binding on.

Meanwhile, here’s Kitten. She did not have a good day yesterday. It involved a ton of laundry and a bath. She’s looking pretty good considering all of that.

She was pretty mad at me at the end, but still loves me. So that’s OK then. It’s hard to know when it’s time. I keep thinking we must be close and then she rallies. Poor old lady. A lot of her current issues are because of the little boy cat, who doesn’t understand sick old ladies. Sigh.

OK. I’m waiting for solar to show up and turn off the electricity, probably soon. Then school, turn in huge packet (which I then have to grade), teach how to take a test (Step 1: stop freaking out. Seriously.). Then hopefully ceramics. Rescheduling telephone call with doc. The Man has a show tonight. I’m exhausted, but it’s a friend’s birthday party and I know the band is all freaked out because their lead singer may or may not have quit or taken a hiatus, so they’re all singing tonight. Well, not all of them. So I’ll go to that and see how much energy I have for it. Small confined space with lots of loud music and people and alcohol and whatever. Right now it sounds kinda hellacious, but sometimes it’s OK. Friday nights are rough though. Looking forward to going to sleep tonight and NOT having to get up at 6 AM tomorrow. For once this week. I did finish my book by the way. I know you were worried. I wasn’t.

I Could Be Reading…

So state testing has started. Some years, it’s easy, the kids are into it, it’s chill. Some years, it’s not. This year? Not. Fun times. Today will be worse…it’s the performance task. Some kids will just skate through it. Some will pretend and then hit submit after writing one sentence. Some kids will just repeatedly lose their minds that they’re being asked to test at all, to sit still, to be quiet, not disrupt those around them, not bang on the table or pile up all their snacks and drinks (that did really happen yesterday. All of it.). So by the time 12:15 comes around, all my patience for the day (and possibly three or four days afterwards) is gone. Not great, because we’re testing again today. And I still have to teach for days until the end of the year. One kid was already like, why do I still have to do work? Because they know they’re promoting (probably) or not and they think we’re done. We have 29 days left, dude. Don’t stop now. Sigh. My stress levels are high…my face is breaking out…my blood sugar is a mess. And today is my 500th pilates class! Not sure it matters. It’s not like I’m stopping now.

OK, artwise, I’m in a weird place. I did finish the book piece. I managed to construct it properly…

The first two pages are shoved into that envelope of the last two pages. There’s certainly a few things I would have done differently, but it’s done now.

I need official photographs so I can enter the show, but I’ll do those when I’m home in daylight.

Eventually, I’ll have my photographer take photos, but I don’t have time for the thing it’s being entered into, which has a tight deadline. If it gets in, it’ll be in the downtown library for 5 months. I’ll let you know.

So what next? Well, I don’t have my head around the next big quilt, although I know there will be one over the summer. I was thinking of doing something smaller just to keep me mentally going through the last weeks of the school year. I haven’t figured out what that is yet, though, because I’m trying to finish my friend’s mom’s quilt. I was diligently working on it in January and February and then a random deadline popped up and I got sidetracked. I mean, I did purposely put this one away to finish the other thing. So I’m finishing this…I’m almost done anyway. Well, for some definition of ‘almost’.

Her mom made the quilt and sandwiched it, but unfortunately was unable to quilt it before she died. So it’s here and I’m quilting it. I’m in the outer border at the moment, with the rest done. I think. Honestly can’t remember if I finished the center panel. I think I did.

I did. So I finished outlining the symbols in the blue border and will overall quilt that starting tonight. Then I need to outline the reddish brown and black borders. Some things have happened to this quilt over a long time (fabric replaced, not by me, possibly already partially quilted? I just don’t know). And then I’ll put the binding on. And hand it over. And then, like I keep saying, not offer to help ever again (which is really not in my nature…sometimes I say no and then go back and say yes; please don’t take advantage of that). So when I’m done with this, I’ll start something new. Or maybe in between. We’ll see.

Clay is going. I made most of a priest and 3 handmaidens on Monday…

I was thinking when I went in next, I could start underglazing, but no. I still need to give him a cross and a head. Most definitely a cross. Head? Hmmm.

We watched the first episode of Season 6 of The Handmaid’s Tale last night…made us both cry. Good times. So Friday, I’ll go in and try to make a head. And a cross. And THEN I can start underglazing.

The bees left yesterday. I figured they would. I came home and washed the composter lid and side, then sprayed it with citronella, hoping it will cut the bee pheromones. They keep coming back. Not sure what to do about that. I have a bee-friendly yard…maybe a bit TOO friendly. And no, I haven’t fixed the damn sprinklers. I think I need two solenoids now. I don’t know. Maybe I need a new controller.

I had two cats on my lap in rapid succession last night. Luckily the chonk here didn’t stay long.

He’s a year old now and solid. Sometimes sweet, sometimes not. Like all calicos. I have a hole in my right hand from his morning whack. He’s harassing the old lady, who basically needs to be carried into the litter tray and food multiple times a day. She can get there, but he attacks.

OK. Testing. Afternoon is science planning. I’ve managed to grade quite a bit so far, so that’s good. I had to get a loaner computer Monday after school because my screen just went black when I was at lunch. Fun times. So Monday was stressful. I guess the good news is the eye with the vitreous humor detachment is fine (as fine as anything with a big blob rolling around in it is), but she thinks the other one will detach too. Except the right one has always been worse, more nearsighted, with an astigmatism. The left isn’t as bad. So let’s hope it doesn’t. She does think the blog will wander south with time and only show up when I first get up in the morning. Sounds good. Somehow I found the energy to go to ceramics after all the running to the IT department (not at school) and getting a new computer. After school, I have a telehealth appointment with my doctor where she will tell me I need to get my numbers down and I will ask her how to do that and she won’t have an answer. So there’s that. Then my 500th pilates class and book club. And someone else is cooking dinner. I’m already exhausted because I didn’t sleep well, so I’ll be quilting after that and going to bed. Oh! Also trying to finish my book before the library sucks it back from me. I went to the gym last night to help me finish it, but I’m at 86%, less than 100 pages. I’m up early to go to the meeting my principal just canceled. I could be reading. I should be reading.