But Not Right Now

It’s morning. Early. OK. Brain not functioning much…enough to make lunch and breakfast and feed animals and even shower, which includes shampoo and conditioner in that order. At some point during the night, someone (or thing? Creepy) scratched a long red mark on my arm. I don’t remember doing it (Kitten?). Who knows. I do know I didn’t sleep well…second night in the last two weeks when I’ve laid there waiting for sleep to come. Adjusting the body, thinking it’s a comfort thing. Maybe if the position is right, sleep will wander over. Nope! I think most teachers don’t sleep well the night before we go back after a break from school. Running lesson plans over in your head, trying to keep everything straight, remembering your routine, what do I have to do in the morning? That’s me anyway.

The awesome news is that the quilt is done. I can deliver it tomorrow to the photographer and get it back and make the deadline.

I do have a painful bit on my middle right fingertip at the moment. I remembered a thimble finally (and even found one). I finished both sleeves by 11:30 PM. I don’t have a total time yet…will figure that out tonight, as well as what I might be doing next. I looked up a few deadlines…one is a definite, but I need a size range. The other two are still up in the air. I do have two wool quilts that need quilting…I can work on those until my head figures out the rest. I can draw. I can embroider on the body piece that’s been lying around for years. I can finish that hand applique piece that’s also been lying around for years. Plenty of stuff that pops up when the to-do space empties out.

This was a tense moment. Simba is not always pleased by cat attentions. This one makes him nervous. He loved Midnight, but for some reason, Satchemo is nerve-wracking.

It was cold, though…they eventually settled, but only briefly.

This guy. I don’t post about him much, but he’s about to start 12 days of work with no break, and I suspect that smile will be gone. He does allow his niece to braid his beard at family gatherings…except for the one time when he had shaved it off…she was so disappointed.

Here’s to mostly tolerant guys who (and I’m quoting an artist’s husband here) put up with the crazy quilters in their lives. It’s gonna be a rough 2 weeks for everyone in this house (well, except the furry beasts and maybe the boychild). I’m looking at early starts every day this week, as all the parent meetings in the world got scheduled this week.

But art. I’m looking forward to maybe just drawing tonight. That would be nice. I think I have to stitch two fish eyeballs on the quilt tonight (OK, it’s not QUITE done). And there’s plenty of school stuff to deal with…always. I think I graded 6 things over break, but I have a ton of lesson planning still left to do. It’s just gonna suck for that stuff for a while, until we get through piloting new curricula. Blech. Not a fan. And I’m not even really piloting this. I keep thinking I should dump it and run for the project-based-learning hills. Next one. Totally not doing the next one. I think. Sigh. I don’t know what I’m doing next.

OK, well it’s only 3 weeks and then a break again. We can do 3 weeks. But I always have a big project for over break, so I’ll need to figure that out. But not right now.

Better Than Pie

Things that keep me up at night: wait. Happy Thanksgiving first. Happy day of eating and family and friends and eating and maybe football or whatever. And sleeping and drinking and avoiding political discussions like the plague.

Things that keep me up at night: my kids. Seriously. They do. Where they are and whether they will survive. Also worrying about whether or not I have enough batting to quilt the damn quilt that is trying to get done. Because today is a freakin’ holiday, duh, and I should have checked that yesterday and gone out and bought batting if I didn’t have enough, because I’m probably going to get to the sandwich stage today and delaying until tomorrow to wait for the store to open (on Black Fucking Friday, oh god) and then buying it and washing it and drying it and THEN sandwiching, and I’ve lost half the day right there.

Damn. Well. I should check now if I have enough, because maybe all that worry is beside the point. I should have maybe gotten out of bed at 3 AM when the rain woke me up (ah beautiful rain, thank you for existing) and done it then.

So the answer is sort of. I have lots of long narrow pieces of Warm and Natural, which is what I prefer to quilt with. I just checked JoAnns hours and they’re really not open today. Tomorrow at 6 AM. Which implies sales and crazy-ass people lining up like loons. So back to the sort of answer. I have a batting remnant that IS big enough…I just don’t know what it is. I used to take classes way back in the day and they would recommend batting types and I would try them out, but I love the W&N because it sticks and I don’t have to quilt super close together and it’s not super lofty. This is not W&N. It might be bamboo, because I remember someone saying how wonderful it was for wall hangings and maybe I bought a small one, and if I did, then I used a piece of it for a smaller quilt, because there is a piece gone. No labeling at all, of course.

On January 10, 2014, I also pulled this piece of batting out (yes, I’m mining the blog for answers to my brain right now)…and I chickened out and didn’t use it, because unknown results! I hate unknown results when I’m on a deadline. It has a weird edge, plus a scrim or something inside it.

OK, I officially skimmed the entire blog for mentions of random batting (I talk about batting a lot), and there’s nothing. I also checked for the word “bamboo”, but apparently I use the word “bamboozled” a lot, so that was unhelpful. So I’m gonna use it. Seize the day! Even if it might fuck up everything! Of course, I’m not actually ready for it yet. Plus, it’s batting. How bad could it be?

Yesterday, I rolled up the bottom bit and put it aside for a while so I could deal with the head and resultant plumes from that area…

Head start. Ah ha ha ha.

Plume to the right is done…plume to the left is started…

Working on a net full of fish…

And a boat…most of the plume is done here.

I did eventually find all the eyeball parts that were missing, but never found the fish part, so I had to recut it. I also found a missing tree part from the 200s…so I inserted that as well. No waste! Well. There’s waste.

And ironed her down…before dinner even. It was a productive day. For art quiltmaking. Not for life in general. It took 13 hours and 46 minutes to iron her together. Not bad.

She’s ready for stitch down. But first some grading…two assignments down and input into the system, plus a sleepy puppy. And I brined a turkey and hard-boiled a bunch of eggs. But that was earlier. I even put a bra on and went to the store, where I forgot the Miracle Whip but remembered more cheese.

Cheese is always good. Turkey is in the fridge in the mop bucket. It’s clean (plus it’s in a plastic bag for the paranoid among us). Then I started stitch down. No wasting time! Must finish!

I got a good 2-hour chunk of it done. My goal is to finish the stitch down before I have to be presentable for social interactions with other humans.

Besides the two antisocial beasts I live with. You know. They ignore me anyway. Oh, I made deviled eggs this morning. Because I wanted them. So there. Tomorrow I will make turkey and some other stuff so I can have turkey sandwiches for a couple of weeks (I freeze it…don’t panic). But today, I stitch down and hopefully sandwich and pinbaste and maybe even start quilting, if the tryptophan doesn’t kill me. That’s the goal anyway. Better than pie. Well. Pie is pretty good if it’s apple pie.

I Suggest You Switch Your Mind State*

Well, my perfect-laid plans of finishing the ironing yesterday and starting the stitch down did not come true. A shock! Holy crap, is it Wednesday already? Sheesh. This quilt. Life! It takes time, doesn’t it? I’m debating a longer hike for Friday morning, but realistically, it depends on how much I get done between now and then as to whether I can do that. Sigh. Deadlines. Grades. Stuff.

Yesterday I ironed for close to 5 hours. I also graded one assignment and recorded another one that a program graded for me. We walked the dogs. I picked up two of my quilts. I didn’t do a lot of things.

Ironing this quilt has been a challenge. I numbered it in logical order for ironing Wonder Under to fabrics, but it doesn’t iron together in the same order. Hence having to iron the feet (in the 400s) into the 100s of the landscape. So that continued as I ironed upwards from the ground…I got the legs done up until the hips…

And then started working on the rest of the hill to the right…

Bobcat and mule deer…

Some manzanita. And Satchemo…asleep in the sun. He’s there again now.

Wait. I didn’t iron the cat.

The hill…minus the poison oak.

The poison oak went in, bridging the hill to the leg…

Then some dog walking…we did over 3 1/2 miles…

Mostly trying to tire out the little one…

Back to the ironing. So when I got to the torso, it was all in the 500s, but the plume of water and trash coming out of the chest is in the 800 and 900s. I couldn’t make sense of trying to iron the whole body without putting the plume in, so I started pulling from the last two boxes.

And then continued the body above that plume. So I’m about halfway through the 600s, plus I’ve ironed all the 900s and about half of the 800s…although there are a few of those still floating around. Haven’t figured out where they belong yet.

And I’m missing parts of two eyeballs. Plus a piece of a fish. Huh. Well, hopefully they’ll show up sometime today. So I think I have about 200 pieces left to iron. I think. Honestly, it’s hard to say. I’ve been ironing it together for 9 1/2 hours…at least 2 or 3 hours left, I think. So I should be able to finish ironing today and start stitching down. That’s the plan anyway. Plus grade an assignment or two. And maybe an errand. Sigh. I really don’t want to do anything else…but there’s stuff that needs doing. Hate that. Oh well. Moving on.

*K.Flay, So Fast, So Maybe

Not Sold on That…

Seventeen things on the list for yesterday. I think 5 got done. Not bad. Love the kid who is currently complaining that I haven’t finished grading her late work yet. Nah, I’m doing the on-time work first…all 8 assignments of it. Strangely, every time I finish a task, it seems two more jump up to take its place. I need to be serious about ironing today though…so maybe I do that first. I know from experience, though, that if I do that, I rarely get anything else done. Sigh. Quilt must get done. Grading must get done.

I just read my blog from last year’s Thanksgiving week, and I’m not going to Costco today. I did it last year on this day. It will be hell. It was hell. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe I’ll do a drive-by. We need toilet paper. But not that bad.

Calli wants something here. You can tell by the way she’s looking at me.

So I ran errands and graded on and off, and then I went to the gym, so the day just sort of slips by. And then I made dinner, but at some point, I started ironing a coyote together. I think it was pretty late, actually. Like after 9 PM.

I got the hill done behind her…well, not all of it. There’s more on the right. I just decided it would be easier to iron some leg parts in there first.

Coyote landscape. Fire. Yeah, I drew this before all the fires last week. California fire season…

Unfortunately inevitable…but not that bad. Not as bad as it was this year.

The other bird. A hill…

And then I started ironing legs. Up to the knees…actually, I think I got up to the hip on one side, and then realized I hadn’t cut out the other side. I have no idea how that happened.

Kitten is surveying it all…this was bedtime. After midnight.

That’s why I’m tired. I go to bed late and then people and animals are up early, and it’s hard to sleep. But late at night is when I get a lot done.

Today I will iron. I will grade one assignment. I will go pick up my quilts. I might take the car in for an oil change. I might go to Costco. But I’m not sold on those two at all.

More Adventure, Less Grading

A friend texted me last night and reminded me that I hadn’t updated some of the pages on my website for a LONG while…for the Recent Work? Since March? So I fixed that. Hey! I made art this year! I had forgotten. I guess this school year is really kicking my butt. Not sure why. And then I updated the Current Shows page as well, although it doesn’t look like Quilt National did a lot of traveling this time around. I’m actually expecting some of my stuff to be heading home soon. And then a couple head out to a new home, which is always nice.

So we’re leaving this morning for Chandler, Arizona, where the Things That Matter exhibit will open in its entirety. I don’t usually drive 5+ hours for an opening, but I really want to see it, plus it’s doable, and I have 9 days off of school (although not 9 days off of working for school, nope, not that, I made a list of what needs to be graded and planned and fainted dead to the floor…in my head, anyway). That’s also 9 days to finish a quilt that is not even halfway done, I think. Hysterical laughter ensues. At the least, there’s a good 30 hours left in it…but I think it’s more. So yes, I am taking the tail end of it with me to cut out in the car. If I drive half the time, that gives me 5 hours of cutting time, at least. That should do it. I hope. Come home Sunday and sort the pieces, then start ironing its ass together.

But here’s Not Less Than, which will be in Arizona for a while.

More specifically, it will be at the Chandler Center for the Arts, Visions Gallery, Chandler, AZ, from November 8-Jan 6, 2019. Then it will travel to the St. George Art Museum, St. George, UT, March 23 – July 6, 2019. I might be in Utah while it’s there too…I just realized. Huh.

I did cut things out for a while last night. This was fun…

It WAS actually. I’ve done just over 11 hours of cutting. This is not a quick quilt. But I only have the stuff in the bottom left box to do. It’s not a huge amount…it’s not a small amount either, but I think I can get it done. I need to get it done.

So it’s going in the car.

Then when I was in Boston, I did a little embroidery, all on the plane though. So I guess NOT in Boston, but on the way there and back. Oh wait, I also did some at a soccer game. It’s easy to do while watching videos…keeps my hands busy. But I had finished all of this block except the owl and the hut, because the owl apparently needed eyes and I had forgotten to put them on, so last night, I made eyes and put them on. Now I can embroider them and the beak.

Now he looks weird because of the no-beak. I didn’t have the hut instructions, because they were from a different month, but it turns out, I had those instructions shoved in my bag because it’s the road instructions as well, and they get used every month from here on out. So silly me.

My dog view. Not my beer.

This one is adorable when he’s not barking at random shit.

Anyway. I have a drawing in my head that wants out, so I have a sketchbook, although it’s the small one and I suspect the drawing is large, but I can do a smaller version of it. I have my book, because one should always have a book (or 7) while traveling. I have my bullet journal/calendar thing, because my head is swirling through to-do lists and I can’t handle not writing shit down, I have my embroidery, my quilt being cut out (traveling to yet another state), and hopefully clothes and meds and maybe some food or soap. Leaving in 23 minutes. I should eat. Ready for adventure! There should be more of that in life. Less grading.

Figure Out the Insanity

Normally, I’m totally aware that a break from school is coming up. I’m all talking about it the week before, making lists of what I’m gonna do, planning for it, getting ready. Yeah. Well. It starts today at 3:45 PM and I’m just now realizing it. I’m so buried in school stuff, I’m having a hard time getting my head up to see the calendar. Plus, doesn’t it feel like Thanksgiving is early this year? It does. I’m not ready. I’m really not. I actually want to stay at work for another week, so I can be more ready to take time off. Sounds crazy, but all the planning and grading that I could get done in another week? I’d be more prepared to take time off. As it is, I’m going to be working my butt off next week on art and school…which is fine, because I got to go to Boston and I’m going to Arizona tomorrow…that’s more traveling than I usually do.

Boston, by the way…

Well, that was Waltham anyway. Guess I left just in time, if being cold was an issue. Sorry, Northeast…it’s still pretty warm here. Not at night, but even at night…it’s still warmer. My heat has been kicking on in the morning, so the house is under 65 degrees. I know, stop laughing, but when I left the gym yesterday, it was a smack-in-the-face cold that I wasn’t expecting. It was probably 10 degrees warmer at my house. Weird.

So yes! I made it to the gym. Gotta keep that habit going. But then dinner was haphazard and late (need to plan better) and then I was trying to create lessons for after break, and I was missing one file, maybe two that I needed. So frustrating sometimes to try to do this. I’m not piloting the curriculum, but I’m trying to stay on the same page, so once we get OUT of the pilots, we’ll be in the same place. It makes me want to bang my head on a table sometimes.

It was almost 10 PM when I realized…it’s almost 10 PM and I was going to cut out all this stuff. Sure you were. I got about an hour in and realized my head was nodding and my eyes were closing. This is not working. I am nowhere near done. Well, I’m closer than I was an hour ago, I guess. Think positively!

That pile on the right still needs cutting out. I’m going to work on it tonight and then maybe take it to Arizona with me. This quilt is so frustratingly LONG at the moment. I know it’s me, though, so that’s even more frustrating. Sigh. It will be awesome when it’s done. If it’s done. I honestly have NO IDEA what I’m working on next. Laughs hysterically. OK. I know there are some shows I was interested in, and I have a deadline in like April? For something I haven’t even thought about. So there’s things I can think about, but not for about 2 weeks. I have less than 2 weeks to finish this. Fuck. OK. It’ll be fine. It’ll get done, one way or another.

For now though? I need to go to my day job and persuade kids to finish all their work before they take a week off, because they don’t want to work next week any more than I do (I will be working next week…catching up with grades and planning). I am looking forward to long hours of artmaking though. Ironing and stitching down and quilting. At some point, I will have the guts to look at hours from a previous quilt and try to figure out the insanity of next week. But not now. Now I’m going to school.

Shut Up and Let Me Art

Adjusting still. My body has no idea what time zone it’s in, so it’s just randomly hungry and tired. I wasn’t in one zone long enough to adjust totally. The plus is that I’m wide awake when the alarm goes off in the morning, because it’s always later in my brain than it really is. I’m sure that will readjust soon, probably painfully. The hardest part about coming back to school after being gone is trying to remember all the stuff you’re supposed to do. I have piles and piles of stuff to figure out. I did some of it yesterday during the union meeting after school and then after dinner. Today I’ll figure out the 3 or 4 kids whose projects need assistance, call the two parents who want meetings (before break? Not happening), and I’ll try NOT to think about all the grading this unit entails. Piloting new curriculum mostly sucks right now, especially with looking forward to another 3-4 weeks of it. I’m hoping the next one is better, but my kids won’t have access to the online component, so maybe I should just drop it and do some version of what we did last year. Aargh. I don’t even know if it will fit. Anyway.

So I did cut out a bunch of pieces for the new quilt while I was in Boston. I didn’t take everything with me, though, because I knew I wouldn’t finish, and the larger pieces are harder to transport in ziplock bags. But I thought I had a significant chunk done…and maybe I do…it just doesn’t look that way. I spent an hour and a half cutting stuff out last night, and this is where I’m at, with over 8 hours into the cutting…

Nice cat. Top right is the bag of trash. Bottom left is everything that’s cut out. Bottom right is the gigantic pile of what still needs cutting. It looks huge. Tonight I will come home, hopefully go to the gym, do some grading, and then cut like a madwoman. I want to be done with cutting and sorting before I leave for Arizona on Saturday morning. I also want a chunk of grading done and out of the way. That’s a bigger joke, honestly. I can’t get anything done in class, because the unit we’re teaching is just plain old direct instruction, where I talk ALL the time and I hate it.

Calli does too. I got home yesterday and planted myself on the boychild’s bed, and he sent me some dogs (and one of the cats just showed up, like he does).

Simba needs lots of attention too.

Although apparently he got to run around a lot yesterday. He likes that.

OK, so hopefully today will be a little less direct instruction (ha!)…sigh. I’m having a hard time. Soon I will be ironing this quilt together and it will feel better. I’m going to be working on it all day every day next week. Looking forward to it. Just everyone shut up and let me art.

Worth It…

I’m pretty sure these pictures are all gonna be backwards, but I can’t deal with that right now. I’ll see what I can do. Going from phone to computer and back is problematic. I’m posting from Boston. It’s 11 PM and one college kid is in bed while the other 4 are presumably at the same party, or maybe another one is on her way to a party? I don’t know. I opted out. My introvert self needed some quiet time and some mental space to catch up with some grading and then this and maybe some drawing, if I feel up to it. Or maybe I’ll just READ. I finished a whole book yesterday. It was exciting.

So first of all, this is Quilt+Resist at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois, which opened last night. You can see my anti-gun quilt Rooted in America in the far back.

Looks like an interesting show.

So yesterday, I flew across the country to visit the girlchild in her senior year at college in Boston. I haven’t been here since she moved in Freshman weekend, so it seemed time. Plus it was my Christmas gift from last year. I read a lot on the plane, but also watched a video or two and stitched for a while. It was a trouble-free flight, which was nice. She picked me up from the airport and I’m sleeping in her bed, which is comfortable, although she is still messy. I can’t really judge. I am too…messy, that is. This is the view from the bed…with the quilt my mom made her (and a few more, because shee-it, it’s cold here, and that radiator doesn’t come on).

Then this morning, I had persuaded her that it was OK to go to a job networking conference on conservation employment, which was at Harvard. I sat in Tatte, a cafe that is anathema to diabetics (holy crap, I forgot to post the food picture…damn…), but makes a decent cup of tea…or in my case, 4 cups of tea. Yeah. Well. I needed it, because 3-hour time difference not in my favor. I graded National Park assignments for a good three hours. Ugh. But it’s progress. And it was an interesting place in which to do it.

Floor. Feet.

Then I wandered all over Harvard looking for a bathroom, because 4 cups of tea and line at Tatte was horrific if you don’t have a penis (I don’t), and Harvard doesn’t seem to want the masses to pee. I don’t blame them, but eventually found the science center and a bathroom. Partay! Seriously. These things are important. Harvard, as always, is beautiful and old school America, plus it’s Fall and it stopped raining (did I mention last night’s rain? More than Southern California has had since last Winter, basically, in one night)…so it was really cold and beautiful, once the sun came out.

Then I tracked down girlchild’s friend in the Student Center (I just happened to be there eating my second bagel of the MONTH in the last two days, because Boston easy food is bagels and cream cheese…everything else was sugar)…and we went to the Museum of Fine Art, oh so fine, yes. I absolutely sucked at signs and figuring out who made what art, but this was cool…

And the one on the left is styrofoam cups.

Plus is that a Bernoulli? I know it’s a Van Gogh on the right…

And an exhibit in the contemporary section had this beautiful old weaving…

Here’s the contemporary part, although the video kept moving across these giant batting knots and it was making me ill. This piece is by Cecilia Vicuña; I know that. These knots hang from the ceiling. They are not small.

Girlchild twirling like a Fall leaf.

We were at a fundraiser after that, and then hanging out. I graded for a while. Two full assignments down so far. I know we have stuff planned for tomorrow, so I’m not planning on getting much done…although I need to send the parent email. Maybe I’ll do that tonight. I did get some pieces cut out for the new quilt last night…while we were watching (deep breaths) a Christmas movie. In November. And not even after Thanksgiving. OK. I can hang. There was wine. I’m going to attempt to stay up for another 30 minutes, maybe reading my book, maybe drawing, and then to sleep. Sleep is a good thing. My brain is confused by the times I eat and sleep right now, but I can handle that. It’s nice to be with her. Totally worth the chaos I will return to at school. I say that now! No, really. Worth it.

You Would Share Your Last Jelly Bean*

Another shooting. Racists in government. Here in lovely East County, we elect a racist and indicted man who luckily can serve in prison, instead of using our brains. Deep breaths. There were wins. The shooting…none of it will stop unless we change something. Something about guns. And that doesn’t look promising at the moment.

Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to visiting my girlchild this weekend. I haven’t seen much of her since last January. I basically will be following her around as she does all the shit she does, so that will be fine. I will rejoice in her presence. OK, that sounds goofy. I’ll enjoy being around her and maybe sleeping.

Unlikely to be sleeping.

Long day at work. This curriculum is painful. Sigh. Love piloting new curriculum. Not. I was the only 7th grade science teacher at my school during the last curriculum adoption, so I just picked the best book for my kids. Now it’s complicated by all the tech supports (or not, in this case). I wonder why they think middle-school kids don’t need visuals.

I came home and worked for a while. Always. Then ironed. Late. I’m close to done…but not done. This is all the plastic waste that’s in the water plumes…

It looks pretty benign there.

Puppy love. Much appreciated.

Calli is still really happy to have her toys back. She hasn’t even destroyed this one. I think it’s because she really loves it.

So the pile grows. I keep shoving them down in the box. That’s a lot.

I’m still debating taking them with me to cut out. I probably should. Traveling with this stuff is always nerve-wracking though. What if I lose part of it? I can’t put it in my checked bag…I’m totally paranoid they’ll all disappear. Can you imagine? I’ve only flown with pieces to cut out once. And I put them in my carry-on. But I know I’ll have a lot of waiting time, and yes, I could read a book and grade videos and embroider on my Sue Spargo piece. I’m going to do all those things. But it would be good to spend a few hours cutting these out too.

I think I just persuaded myself. Hopefully TSA won’t want an explanation. It’s OK…I’ll put the scissors in my checked bag. I’m not crazy.

This is all I have left to iron. Hopefully tonight?

It’s not a lot of pieces, but it’s a turtle and a squid and a sea otter and a jellyfish. Plus a boat and a net and some other fish. Not uncomplicated stuff. That’s why I quit at midnight.

Kitten was there too.

OK. To work. Another high-maintenance day. And school drama. Always. But leaving tomorrow.

*Zero 7, Somersault

‘Cause There’s Beauty in the Breakdown*

You’d think after a day off, I’d be all rested and stuff, but apparently not eating for the first 6 hours plus of the day throws my body off. It’s still complaining. It will get over it. I did manage 4 hours of ironing and a dog walk in between all the work stuff I did…I wrote sub plans for the two days I’ll be in Boston, I graded half of the videos I needed to watch, I set up at least one post for today, and I finished next week’s warmups (which I have to remember to post while I’m gone). A lot of remembering will need to happen while I’m gone. If I’m smart, I’m going to calendar that shit so I don’t forget. I can schedule things on Google Classroom, but only one class at a time, which is a pain. I might do that anyway, though, because I don’t trust the remembering part of my brain to do it on time. That would be disastrous. The sub would hate me.

So the ultrasound seemed to be a lot of Hold Your Breath and the nice radiology lady wishing my ribs were not where they actually were. I’m only a little bruised this morning. It’ll be fine. I figure they’ll try calling me at work tomorrow and we’ll play phone tag all day, and I won’t get a hold of the doctor until I’m boarding a plane. So there we are. The blood tests have ruled out some of the scarier diagnoses so far, so I’m still betting on an alien. It hurts in exactly the same place it did when I was really pregnant with the girlchild and she was using my organs as soccer balls. (No, I’m not pregnant. That’s not happening. But aliens might.). Anyway. Waiting sucks. As you all know.

So ironing…fitting the flesh pieces together. There isn’t much of this fabric left.

Then after the ultrasound and FOOD and water, we took the dogs out. It gets dark so early…

Where the sun is…that’s where Calli and the boychild are…beating me up the hill.

Calli’s tongue hanging out all over the place…

So we’re on the way back and there’s this hawk facing away from us, but I start talking to us and it turns its head all the way around to look at us. Piercingly. Thinking WTF is that woman doing.

Talking to you. That’s what I’m doing. Pretty bird. I don’t think I knew they could do that with their heads, although it makes sense.

I came back, did some work stuff, alphabetized purple and white pieces of paper so I could grade that section of the National Park Project more easily. Then made it back in here for another 2 hours of ironing. I finished all the innards (mostly) before the ultrasound…so then I started on the water plumes that are all over. Mostly I just did the water bits though. There were lots of them…

This is all the stuff that’s IN the water or ON the water (oil slick etc.) that I haven’t done. That’s tonight, I’m hoping, although it’s a lot to do in one night. Lots of fussy little details.

Plastic bottles and bags and fish nets and fishing boats and I think there’s a Humboldt squid in there as well. So that’s not a small amount of things that are left. I know I laid out all the pieces through number 991. I know I ironed down all the way through the 700s, and then a goodly chunk of the 800s and 900s were water, so they’re done. That leaves maybe 100 pieces? So maybe I can do it tonight.

Here’s the chaotic pile of stuff I worked on yesterday, plus everything that’s ready to be cut out.

Then I organized. Much better. Deep breath. I can find stuff again. More color now. You can almost see my left brain fighting with my right brain over this stuff. My left brain wants to go back and organize better by color. My right brain says there’s no point, because we’re going to pull a lot of them back out tonight and mess it up again.

Hi Kitten. You’re in my chair.

Like she cares.

Simba is with the boychild, at the ex’s house, so Satchemo was free to sleep in Simba’s bed. The crate is open…I try to remember to check for Satch before I put Simba in there at night…

Apparently it’s the best bed ever.

OK, high-maintenance school stuff today, waiting on results, tired already. Need to pack, need to finish prep for being gone, need to finish ironing.

*Frou Frou, Let Go