Whole Days Turn into Holes in My Mind*

I keep staying up late to get art done, and then in the morning, my brain is mad about me for that, like it didn’t know about it last night? I think I just need some mornings that are 8 or 9 AM and not 6 AM. I’m really not a morning person. At all. I mean, I can handle the animals because they’re not too demanding really. They just want their breakfast and pets, and I can do that without too much effort. Plus the petting makes you feel nice and loved. Which is much better than how middle-school kids (and some of their teachers) make you feel during the last week of the school year. The plus is that we’re done with the sex ed. Today is a field trip (which is tiring and exhausting and sometimes stressful) and then movies in the classroom after. Thank god that psychotic principal who wouldn’t allow any videos isn’t here any more. “EVERY MOMENT IS EDUCATIONAL!” OMG dude, then put your ass in my place today after these kids get sugared up for 4 hours and sit in a classroom with them. Seriously.

The hardest part about today is that we have an award ceremony after school, so I’ll be there until at least 5:30. I might need a nap. Thinking about bean bag chairs for my room so I can sleep in there. Like I have time for that most days. Murphy bed in the prep room!

Yesterday after school, I did all the things. It took 30 minutes to find one file from two years ago on my computer. I’m not sure why. I must have been staring at it for ages and not seeing it. I need to run an updated budget to see what I can afford for a newer car. This one is about to start being really expensive. Which is unfortunate. But whatever. It got me through the college years. I also patched one teacher-friend’s jeans and cut and sewed alternative necklines on two sweatshirts for another teacher friend. And I cooked dinner.

After eating, I was working on that cow-like thing. I think it’s an African buffalo.

I finished him, whatever he is. Next on to the house.

And then I started cutting stuff out…

It was late. I didn’t finish. At some point, I did remember that I had a really long day today that is largely caffeine free (might be a mistake). Damn bowling alley doesn’t sell tea. There’s not much left to cut out, so that’ll be tonight…and hopefully sorting it out too. Then I can iron tomorrow, if I have any brain power left.

Speaking of brain power, it’s taking like 4 brains at a time to get stuff done. Here’s science and history…

Yeah, we buy matching shirts. Although only two of us know the rules about how to stand to make your waist look better. I like that my NOPE is the bigger one. We did get approved for both proposals for paid work this summer, though, so that’s cool. I do think my team is mostly awesome. It makes it easier. This is not an easy job. It’s not even always rewarding, which is why people say we do it for not enough money…but there are good people with good intentions, and this time of year, you see pictures of former students graduating with honors and that makes it all good. We know how shitty 7th grade can be for a lot of kids.

Anyway. I should go to work. I need a lot more caffeine and a chiropractor visit, but otherwise I’ll be good. I got my peeps.

*K.Flay, Giver

As We Drift into the Zone*

It’s the weirdest thing. You turn in your last grades of the school year, and all of a sudden, you come home and you don’t have any schoolwork to do. My brain panics a little. Wait. What do I do after work? I don’t have more work? (I mean, I do, but not like grading stuff, which is a never-ending thing along with planning for the whole school year and part of the summer.) I joined this teacher group for the year to try to cut some of my work hours, to streamline the shit so I can enjoy the not-shit more, and so many teachers are already on break and wondering why they can’t get going, why they’re still sleeping in the morning, still in pajamas at 2 in the afternoon. It’s called recovery. And I’m not there yet. My classroom is still a disaster. I’m still teaching sex ed today, plus there’s a school teacher breakfast, so I need to be in early. And then I also have a field trip tomorrow and another award ceremony, and then the sweet horrible wonder of the last day of school. I’m almost done getting everything put away in the classroom. Today I’m typing up the list of hazardous stuff we need to get rid of, so hopefully it can get picked up before they put summer school in my room.

Yesterday was exhausting. This whole last month has been exhausting. Frustrating. Stupid people stuff. Dumb adult drama. Too much work. Soon. Soon it will be done.

So I went home and walked dogs…

We went to the more open space…

The plants are changing color…

It’s been dry and hot in the last week. I had to put the sprinklers back on at home.

They scraped the road…it’s a fire break, so that makes sense. Less chance of getting ticks too, unless you’re the little boy and need to pee by standing on a bush.

No sign of coyotes…although you know they were there.

I know there’s cleaning to do. I need to sew some stuff (quick) for a friend. I need to do my second Patreon video. I found the videos I already recorded and downloaded them. Then I got distracted by something else. Easy to do when the brain is still so overloaded. The men around us teachers keep asking why we’re so irritated, emotional, distant, whatever. Um. So it’s really hard to explain how much emotion and care we put into our jobs. We think about kids nonstop. Not always with irritation! With worry. With sadness. With joy. With hope. So this week, we’re kind of a mess. Come back to me in July and I might have recovered. Mostly.

But I didn’t grade after eating dinner. I worked on this!

I haven’t been working on this at all, because I’ve been doing the embroideries. Which needs to start up again, but I have to do drawings first. Maybe later this week. I have one I want to simplify already. He’s not done, by the way. He needs nostrils and eyes and something on his horns.

I also started cutting stuff out…

I actually did one whole yard and the smaller piece, so I’m more than halfway done. I might be ironing to fabric by Friday. That would be cool. This could be a really fast piece. Of course, that means I’m forgetting all the other stuff that is going to suck up my days in the next week or so. But it’s OK to forget all that right now.

*Weezer, Island in the Sun

Shed Our Skin, Let the Sun Shine In…*

Hello Monday. You woke me up several times during the night, trying to fake me out. Tellin’ me it’s morning when it’s really still the middle of the night. You wouldn’t let me sleep that last half hour at all. And now you’re all gloomy and pissing down spit (which I am totally OK with, so you didn’t get me then…). I don’t feel like I got a weekend at all. But OK. It’s that time of year. I’m about to get some time off…much-needed time. I just need to bully through.

We did go to my parents for Fathers’ Day. I told him all the things at my house that were broken, because that’s what fathers want for Fathers’ Day, right? I also made him chocolate cake. That might have been nicer.

Here’s my guy (not my dad) looking for UFOs after throwing the ball a thousand times for Calli while I was grading…

Seriously. Hours of grading this weekend. And the kids trying to turn stuff in late.

Katie was being weird.

There was a coyote out there…we saw it go by the house on the road, into the driveway and then the lower yard, and across another property. You can just about see it below. Maybe. Middle right…

Scary. We came home and I graded some more and eventually stopped and made art. It’s not that I was done with grades…they are due today, but I can’t do any more until after 2nd period…

I had about 200 pieces left to trace, so I did them. Yes, that means I stayed up too late. Why do you ask? My brain was wired by then. I was wide awake and totally stressed out. I finished tracing…only two yards and a small bit…

It took me about 5 1/2 hours to trace them all. Almost exactly 100 pieces an hour, which is my usual estimate. Tonight I’ll start cutting…because you know why? Tonight I won’t have any grading to do. Because it will be done. For the year.

Then I can start to wade through my gigantic to-do list, but also on that list is the art stuff. So that’s a good thing. Today? Today getting there will be a bit hellacious…but it’ll be good once it’s done.

*Ivy, Edge of the Ocean

As It Should Be…

I am still exhausted after 9 hours in bed. Of course, too much of it is moving cats, pulling sheets on and off during hot flashes, and a brain that won’t shut the fuck up. It’s OK. I’m almost done with school. I will get there. To the sleep place. I honestly feel like I need to just start running (I’m not a runner any more, thank you knees) and keep going until the computer and school can’t find me.

I graded a ton of stuff yesterday, made it through all the makeup work, went to a graduation party in the middle, still exhausted, then came home and graded the opt-out assignment for the kids who aren’t in sex ed. That thing almost killed me. I guess “don’t copy off the internet” really means “copy your ass off.” I would like to thank the kids who really took the assignment seriously, and maybe thank the kids who didn’t turn it in, because I didn’t have to grade yours at all.

Weird-ass spreadsheet and hash marks keep me organized on this thing, I guess. I made notes on our planning calendar for next year…hopefully I’ll have the brain power to make those changes for next year. They’re not hard. And no one will be graduating in the middle of my last month of school, so that should help. I hate that my job makes it so difficult to travel outside of our prescribed breaks. But it is such a hassle. So stressful.

I also hate seeing kids who blew off turning in that last assignment, when that’s all they needed to pull their grade up. This group was pretty good, especially compared to last year’s crew. We know it’s a fluke, so as a teacher, you’re always trying to decide how to better motivate kids, what to do about that one kid who you totally flailed on (not your fault, but you still blame yourself). That’s the part that keeps me awake at night.

Anyway. That’s done. I still need to do the final grade input and finish up with homeroom, and then I’m done. Plus laundry, grocery shopping, the last parent email of the school year, and Father’s Day stuff.

This was Buddy yesterday at the graduation party.

Everyone wanted to pet him, but it just makes him anxious. He did allow me to scratch his back and behind his ears right before we left.

I came home and graded for another few hours. It’s a lost weekend. No art. No art. Maybe tonight?

Friday night, my stress kept me up way too late watching a stupid movie, but I also did a summer to-do list. I don’t want it to be super long. No matter what, I won’t finish most of it.

That’s the way it always goes. But I’ll try. It’s a place to start. Plus there’s art stuff on there too. As there should be.

So Happy Fathers’ Day to those to whom it matters…

My dad is kind of a dork, but he knows how to fix all the things. I’ll be asking him about an electrical thing tonight. Isn’t that how all Fathers’ Day events should go?

Elephants and Memes

It’s hard to find the time and energy to make art every day. I know I feel better when I do, but sometimes, things conspire against me. I did not make art yesterday, first time in a long time. I did go to book club and enjoyed the discussion. I loved the book…The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander…

Elephants…radiation…how can you go wrong? My book club is sci fi and fantasy, though, so at first, I was like…wait…did I get the wrong book? It’s not really either…just alternative history, which I guess is sort of fantasy? But not really. Anyway, it’s short, so I might just read it again, and then I’ll probably read Radium Girls just for the fun of it. After I read the YA version of The Martian and the actual book (not the graphic novel) of City of Ember, so we can teach them next year. My co-teacher and I just wrote a proposal to get our team paid for planning cross-curricular units based on the two books. Looking forward to it! Hope it works out.

Anyway, before I ever left for book club, I was sitting on the couch grading…

Grades are due Monday. I’m close to caught up…except for the makeup work. I figure that’s Friday and Saturday. It’ll get done, but I’m not sure how much ELSE will get done. I have a team breakfast this morning and I’m supposed to bring cookies tomorrow morning for the office staff. Today is a clusterfuck of time…pick up quilt from photographer, stitching meeting, make cookies while grading? Or something. I’m already tired. I forgot to sign certificates. I need to remember where I hid the medals. It will all be fine. Eventually it’s all done and you walk out of your classroom into the summer. Kitten was helping me deal with email here…

I think I was putting my Patreon link on my Linked In. Long story, because I don’t really use Linked In. But people do. This weekend, I need to work on the next video for my Patreon. I have a couple of videos of my working on the last drawing, but I want to record the simplified one as well. And I have video of tracing Wonder Under. And the amazing video of me mopping. Very exciting stuff. It is actually. Exciting to me anyway…possibly less so to Kitten…

The assignment I was grading included the kids trying to make a meme about school…

I actually was amused by a few of them. Mostly they just copied from the internet, but a few kids actually used a meme generator or made a meme of their own.

I’m somewhat amused and/or irritated by the kids still trying to turn in late work. All of it was due last Friday. I’m just watching it trickle in and thinking, WTF were you thinking? It’s true I think that a lot with this age group, but especially at the end of the year. You can see why I make so much art…it’s literally a balm to the crazy. A salve for the insanity. A peaceful space in the overwhelming chaos that is my day job. Exactly.

I made my own meme last night after the man came back from his night with the guys and guiltily admitted…

Like holy crap, Batman. What were you thinking? Sigh. He knew he was in trouble already when he said it. I don’t even have time to watch movies right now.

It’s fine. I’m not dying over it. (cough Avengers Endgame cough) I’m really looking forward to having the time to think a little more clearly, plan better, get my hair cut, pee without having to time it, read a freakin’ book! without worrying about whether I can “waste” that time, Sleep IN (hell, sleep at all, because that’s been an issue all week…sleeping like shit right now, hence exhaustion). I was so tired last night that I called Tinder Timber…which I actually think is a much better name for it.

OK. Gotta go feed kids. And then manage the questions about deep throating. And do other things. I will be stitching later though. That’s a plus.

Ducking and Weaving…

I’ve reached that time of the school year when I can’t sleep at night. Especially Sunday nights. Or it’s the damn hot flashes, because they’re back with a vengeance. Could just be that it’s been warm lately. Hard to say. Seems to be stress on some level though. I do all the things you’re supposed to do to alleviate that, but it’s not even enough right now. The quilt got done in time; that was good. I’m not done with grading, but I got a chunk of stuff done this weekend…not a big chunk, but a chunk. I do have a ton of meetings this week, so that will make getting more done a challenge, but it’s a challenge I’ll have to meet. No choice for that.

Even the puppy is cranky right now.

We’ll get over it. In about 9 school days.

So the opening of Indoor/Outdoor was Saturday night. Here’s my favorite wall…with Asa Kvissberg’s Girl in a Suit I, II, and III, my Bigger in the Outside, Helen Redman’s Monster Mama, Moya Devine’s Summer and Rootbeer and Snake Charmer, and Cindy Zimmerman’s Oklahoma Girl in California World…all the colors and shapes seemed to rock together.

I’ll post the rest of the show later this week. It runs through July 2 at the Athenaeum in Barrio Logan. My shirt matched my quilt…not on purpose.

This is Phil, waxing poetic about a stick.

Selfie with my art and a stick. At least we amuse each other.

That cleaning thing. This table. It’s driving me nuts. But I don’t have time to deal with it. This is me trying to calendar the week.

I think I got it sort of under control. Ha! Never say that. The universe hears you and comes after you.

This succulent has never bloomed. This year, it did. And wildly.

There will be more!

Too many dogs. We had a morning respite and then they were all back and in my personal space.

I like dogs. It’s OK. Except when it’s hot. It’s not super hot here, but I seem to be running up the temperatures with my own body. Ugh.

I drew this thing that stuck in my head the other day.

I’m going to draw a simpler version of it for an embroidery pattern, I think. MUCH simpler.

Sleepy cat.

I didn’t sleep well. Ugh. It’ll be fine. I’m just going to be tired until late June. Then maybe I won’t be. We’ll see.

Someone I know visited my show in Pittsburgh and took this picture to show me the subway station…so all these people walk past them every day.

I hope some of them stop and look.

I got the first email from a student this morning begging for extra credit. Ye who did not do your missing work? Oh hellz no.

OK week. You can’t get me. I’m ducking and weaving.

Letting Them Choose…

I’m getting antsy for the end of the school year. I need it. There’s only 9 days left with kids and I have a thousand things to do, but I can feel it now, tickling at my brain. And you know what’s it’s saying? CLEAN. You need to CLEAN. Seriously, brain, WTF. I don’t have much time for cleaning and getting rid of stuff during the school year, it’s true. Other things get priority. So the kitchen table is a freakish disaster. So is the desk near my light table. The office is OK at the moment. I did a purge over Spring Break, but it always needs work. I bought an organizer last summer to help with that. Ha. Laughing. Because it’s still empty and there are piles around it. Uh huh. Oh yeah. One more time. Cleaning is not my favorite. But too many piles bug me. So I’ll have to.

I have to reign my brain in, remind it that there is a ton of grading left and I need to get a bunch of other stuff done and I still need to fix the sink. Sigh. OK. I HEAR YOU. I also want to get a chaise lounge on the deck and lie out there with the birds and the sun and the dogs and just draw, dammit. A lounge chair and a little table. I have both somewhere. I need a pad for the chair. And ROOM for the chair. I can do this. And plants everywhere. I dream of lounging!

First…grades. Grade, woman. You need to grade.

Good news…I spent 4 hours last night trying NOT to fall asleep (I was so tired) and hand-sewing the binding on. Normally it wouldn’t have taken that long, but I was really tired.

I hate all my hand-sewing needles. I broke my needle threader, so I need a new one. These holes are too freakin’ small. The larger-holed needles are too thick and don’t slide through easily. Ugh.

But I finished. It goes to the photographer today. A week early! I rock.

I bought all these when I bought the binding.

I can’t just buy one. It’s impossible. I never do. I try to think about what I need, what I lacked in the last one, when I buy stuff. For the sleeves, I used up that really dark blue on the bottom…it was from the background of some other quilt. I didn’t have enough of the backing or the background on this quilt for the sleeves. I do try to use stuff up. It’s always my goal.

Tonight is the opening of Indoor/Outdoor at the Athenaeum in Barrio Logan…my piece Bigger in the Outside will be there…

I’m looking forward to the show. First I have to find food to take with me though. The Barrio Art Crawl is happening this weekend too, and there’s a trolley you can ride around the area to get to each of the shows. I’ll probably have to hang out with the exhibit, but it sounds like a good opportunity to see what Barrio Logan brings to the art world. I’ve certainly spent a lot more time down there since the artists left downtown and Hillcrest areas due to landlords upping the rent. Seems like they’re doing that in Barrio Logan now too, with a couple of art spaces closing due to increasing rents. We bring in the peeps and then y’all decide it’s a good place to be and up the rent and kick out all the art spaces. Seems stupid. Annoying. Capitalism needs the arts…some day maybe it will figure that out.

But for now, we’re still able to exhibit down there, so come down! There will be another opening of the Swedish contingent of this show at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park on the 23rd from 2-4 PM. And there’s a printmaking workshop, Patchwork Made of Graphic Art, to be led by one of the Swedish artists, Cecilia Uhlin, Thursday, June 20, from 1-5 PM. I’m still teaching that day.

I’ve been refraining from signing up for art workshops. My brain wants feeding, apparently. But does it need it? At $1000 for the workshop, plane ticket, place to stay, food? Nah. Probably not. But I signed up for one local workshop in July. One is good. I want to branch out this summer, try some new ways of making. Just because. I think it’s good to stretch. I also want to make a big quilt about abortion. But before I do that, I’m making a smaller piece. My Patreon community will be picking which one of five I’ll be doing. I’ll know by Sunday night. Here’s some detail shots of what they’re deciding…

Basically I can’t decide which one to do next. My brain is fuzz.

If you want to help decide, be a patron. Only $1 a month would let you see this post and video. The link is here.

I could do any of them.

That one is backwards. I don’t even know how.

Yes, I have this many things lying around, waiting to be made. So it’s kind of cool to not know what’s coming next.

I entered another show last night…and there’s some others coming up. I probably should look at that to see if I’m interested. Although I think I want a break from prescribed themes. I want to just make my stuff. So I’m going to do that.

Anyway, I’ve got errands and I need food and I need to get this quilt ready to go. Here’s Calli getting brushed last night.

She’s not sure she likes it. They all have knots and extra fur and ticks and just crap in their furbodies. So we’ve been dealing with it. Makes me want to shave my head. The ticks especially. OK. Need to get going. Enjoy your weekend! I’m going to enjoy at least part of mine.

The Life I Left Behind Me Is a Cold Room*

Yesterday was a really long day, but it’s interesting…I felt much more relaxed about it than usual, because we had a nice leisurely lunch…one of the pluses of the testing days is that we can go get lunch and then eat it together and hang out, instead of rushing to pee and eat and get ready for the next class in about 25 minutes. So going from an 8 AM meeting to the end of a 6 PM meeting was doable. Although that later meeting had some weird shenanigans. You know there are some people where I spend way too much time trying to figure out their motives and probably I should just hope they get fired, because that would make more sense. But besides that, it was a fairly productive day. I mean, I could have graded more things during testing, but I was focused on clean up, so I sorted a pile of the paper cash we use for kid awards. I did some other things too, but mostly clean up instead of grading. I will always be behind on grading, until I’m not, because the school year is over. So that’s a thing.

When I was leaving the district office after the last meeting, I wanted to walk. I have my parents’ dog here right now, and she is a needy beast. The boychild had already left with the other two dogs, so it was just going to be me and Katie, which is fine. I leashed her up, and we went out, and there were two incidents with dogs off leash. I don’t care how awesome your dog is…unless you have control over it, please don’t let it off leash. Mine is leashed for a reason…she’s an asshole on walks. Better than she used to be, but she’s aggressive. So she’s leashed. Sigh.

Because we both needed a walk. There were tiny baby bunnies frozen everywhere.

Blurry because it was a ways away, but frozen!

It was late…I didn’t leave until 6:20 or so. But the sun goes down later than it used to. This is a walk I do from the house, so it’s really just wild areas in between housing. It seems safer when it’s closer to dusk…less likely to run into a coyote.

Right after this picture was when I realized a pit bull was stalking us. I yelled. He/she left. Good one.

So I made it home and the pug who attacked earlier was inside this time (sigh). I made dinner and the girlchild called and then I was reading email and saw this picture…

This was pulled from video…that’s a bobcat. On the street behind us. Where I was just walking Katie. Nice. Well, we don’t hear about bobcat attacks much around here. Mountain lion and coyote, sure…and I’ve seen two bobcats since I’ve lived here, but not near the house. Well. Nature finds a way to survive. Always.

Anyway. Then I trimmed the quilt…

I hate quilting more than I need to…this was a fussy size. I hate it when things have to be an exact size. I’m always sure I’m going to fuck it up.

So I measured about a million times. I sewed on the binding and sleeves…just need to sew it all down by hand. Tonight probably. And finish the Patreon video, so I’ll know what to work on next. Because I’m going right into the next one. This stuff is stress release at the moment as well as artmaking. First, though, there’s dropping off the car for some brake work and teaching unplanned pregnancies and not having a relaxing long lunch and probably grading some stuff. I’m looking forward to the weekend…I will get a lot done and sleep in and have an opening with one of my pieces. All good.

This song has been stuck in my head since last night…I’m not sure why, but just gonna let it roll.

*Sarah McLachlan, Sweet Surrender

Come and Open Up Your Folding Chair Next to Me*

I am so close to done. With a quilt. Not school. That’s why I stayed up late (again). I finished the quilting last night. I can’t show it to you yet. But it looks cool. Tonight I’ll trim it and put the binding on. I’m emailing the photographer…right…now. OK. That’s done. Now I have to finish it. I love forced motivation. OK, I really do want it done, because I want to work on something I can SHOW you.

Plus, I’m looking forward to having my Patreon pick the next one. I edited the video together last night and just need to add some titles or something. Every time I do this, I learn something new about video editing. This time, it was how to rotate the video. I still need to figure out how to fill the screen with it, but that’s tonight maybe. Well, let’s be honest…I have math testing again today, and this time, I get back the hellion who’s been gone the last three days of testing, and then I have science curriculum training for 2 1/2 hours after school. Which currently sounds semi-torturous, but maybe I’ll feel better about it at the time. Unlikely.

Last night, I had a union meeting. I was filling out a lease application to co-sign for the girlchild at the same time, and wondering yet again at when I might be able to stop paying for my kids. I think the answer is a long time from now. As I’m staring at the hole in my kitchen counter and trying to figure out how to fix it long term. No stress. So the house needs work. I literally cannot deal with that right now. Remove old grout, caulk between the sink and the counter, find tiles that will fit, trim them to really fit, adhere, and grout. Not happening until June 21st. Well. I can do some of that before then, but it needs to dry out, and that’s not happening either.

I’m going to try to finish the Patreon thing tonight…but it will probably be tomorrow night, posting Saturday morning. So that’s a little behind my self-imposed schedule, but the reality right now is that school is kicking my butt.

And then there’s these guys…

That’s Katie…my parent’s dog. They’re in Seattle at my nephew’s middle school graduation. Calli is never really sure about Katie. In this photo, Katie is yowling. Really that’s the only way to explain it. She sings. In dog. She’s very excited when new people come home. Or go to the mailbox and come back. Or get up in the morning.

She’s a good guard dog, although very nervous.

Will you come back? Will you? We always do, Katie. We always do.

I am totally holding dog treats in my hand here.

Because otherwise, they’re throwing their doggie bodies all over the place. This makes them pay attention.

OK, there’s 11 days of school left. I will be done with grading at some point (I did a bunch of that yesterday too). I will have my sanity back at some point (it usually takes a week or two after school gets out). Today will not be that day. At all. But I have an early meeting today, so let’s start with that and get on with the rest of it.

*Regina Spektor, Folding Chair

And Then It Got Better…

Well. When your stress levels are high? Organize your photo files. Seriously. Your brain will start to shut down and refuse to stay awake. It’ll be like, this is the most boringest thing EVER. Which explains why my photo files are NOT organized. Like from 2014 on. It’s patchy. The J months are a mess. I mean, I organize every day I download stuff, which is pretty often because of this blog. But then they stay in those daily folders. I prefer to have all the photos of a quilt together, all the animal pix together, etc. But then when I’m looking at a photo of a box of trimmed quilt pieces from 2014, I have no freakin’ idea which quilt it is sometimes. So then I’m staring at the quilts I finished that year and trying to figure out which one I was working on in June 2014. Pain In The Ass. Then again 2014 was kind of a fucked up year. And then it got better.

That’s my mantra for the last 13 days of the school day: And Then It Got Better.

Staff meeting. Shorter than usual. Slightly stressful to think about some of the stuff for next year. Back to no food or peeing for 3-plus hours in the morning. Not ideal. Sigh. Although my co-teacher has to run across campus twice in that time, so I guess at least I don’t have that. It will all be fine. It’s a long way away. (Not really) The plus is that the meeting got done early, so I could kamikaze to the quilt store and buy binding. It’s in the dryer, so I don’t have a picture. I remembered to turn the dryer on at 12:30 AM. Electricity is cheaper then anyway. I hate our new electricity usage plan. The times I’m home and awake are the most expensive. It totally fucks over anyone with a standard day job. It’s not even cheaper on the weekends. So I’m constantly doing laundry at 9 PM at night. And I can’t cook dinner except during those hours.

So I got binding fabric…because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to go until Friday, and even that might be questionable. I did quilt last night…although I had 17 thousand things to do first. As always. I hooped this one…

She’s going to travel with the store for a while. You can get her pattern (and others) at Global Artisans…rumor has it that kits are also available. I’m designing 6 more over the summer.

Oh yeah, before I ever did that, I walked dogs…and myself…and the boychild.

The weather was a lot cooler than I had expected…

This dove…just sitting there.

The plants are still crazy tall…

But not tall enough to hide the two guys getting naked in the brush. Um. Guys. There’s poison oak down there. Hmmm.

Well. We tired her out.

That was while I was quilting. I only have one section left to quilt and then the background…not much. I should be able to finish tonight. Then trim and bind. This week! The next three days are full of school work though…four different meetings before and after school. Ugh. (And then it got better)

Here’s the quilt waiting for me…

Morning light on the backing. First I’m going to go teach the remainder of the pregnancy stuff, plus do tutoring. Then I’ll get the rest done. Last night, both eyes were twitching. Too much. Too much. Breathe in and out. Deeply. Slowly. Shit. I don’t have a plan for homeroom. Fuck. OK. Off this and onto the job stuff.