Short Week…

Woo Wee what a week. Short week. Kicking my butt. I’m currently on crutches, just scheduled another brain MRI, waiting on podiatry, and dammit, I need to go take my antibiotics…hold on…be right back. Luckily, it’s Eid, so half the school has been gone…a few more came back yesterday, and we’ll get a few more back today (and lose a few more because it’s Friday…certainly some kids are NOT gone for Eid, just based on their last names). A couple of kids I think believe school is already done, because I haven’t seen them in two weeks. Fun times. I wonder how they function as adults sometimes. I hope they figure it out…and I know sometimes it’s parents making those lovely decisions. Sigh.

Anyway, to summarize, on antibiotics for a UTI (haven’t had one of those since I was pregnant with one of the kids who are now late 20s, early 30s), then woke up in the middle of the night unable to put weight on my left foot (probably a really bad flareup of plantar fasciitis; haven’t had that for 20+ years)…here’s my cankle at urgent care Wednesday evening…

I don’t think it ever got swollen when I had it before. Not like that. That warranted crutches. Probably need a boot…found my old one and it’s definitely very worn and has way too much velcro and padding. Sigh. Acupuncture? Frozen bottle of water? Tennis ball? IYKYK.

Also, Wednesday morning, I had this weird visual disturbance (weirder than the one I’ve had for two years now) and ended up on the line with the nurse triage, who originally said go to the ER, but then the symptoms stopped, so she said, uh, contact the neuro-opthalmologist you saw before, so I emailed. Got to work, got a call from my primary doc telling me to go to the ER until I told her symptoms were gone and I’d contacted the eye doc. Eye doc called during Period 1 and scheduled me for the end of the day, so I went for 90 minutes of testing to find out I had a typical migraine aura without the headache (damn lucky there) and the retinas were still fine and there were no weird things that weren’t already weird in there. Then down to urgent care for the crutches (x-rays show bone spurs…woo! I think it’s the other foot though, different from 20+ years ago). MY GODDESS. CAN WE JUST NOT. Apparently my body is ready for summer break; it’s gonna take me out for the last few weeks. Dudes, we have 2 1/2 more weeks…14 days of actual school, 4 of those are not teaching days. I just need to be able to walk and make art and see. And pee when I need to. (UTIs are common for teachers…I’ve been lucky).

The foot was better yesterday. This morning was a little hinky, but I’m sure being on crutches to get to the bathroom is OK (really rather not, y’all. Really rather not.).

Tuesday night, I traced. The foot wasn’t as bad Tuesday night and I have a pad I stand on and I really lean on the light table when I’m tracing anyway, so very little weight on the foot.

I iced and elevated for 2 hours before that. I wanted to go to ceramics but there was no way I was getting my 25-pound sculpture off the shelf and limping over to the table with it. The Man just wants me to rest nonstop and I can’t deal with that.

Wednesday, I spent 3.5 hours at the doc, between urgent care and eye doc, so I was in a lot of pain and exhausted. Iced, elevated, honestly cried a little, very frustrated. Eventually cut these out because standing? Not so much.

Scribble was so helpful.

Honestly, I moped for about 2 hours and then I’m like, what CAN I do? I can cut out all the stuff I’ve already traced and get a head start on that, tried to have a good attitude, took pain meds, went to bed, and it was better the next day. Took pain meds all day…stayed off my feet (watching student presentations)…and I was able to trace last night.

I’ve made it halfway through the 1100s. Yes, there are over 1400. But hoping to be done this weekend. Slight slowdown due to stupid body making demands.

I also worked on this, the first flower of 16 in the border of Homegrown (Sue Spargo).

I’ll be done in 2035. Maybe.

I got this from the doc’s office (on top of all the other stuff).

That’s mostly because of my mom’s breast cancer (which is fully in remission). But you know, I breastfed my two kids for a total of about 3.5 years, and I want to know what my discount is for that…because they always said it would reduce your chances of breast cancer. But this damn risk assessment model doesn’t give a shit about that. Annoying. I want my credits.

And guys, here’s my residency location from another view.

Oh man, can’t wait. I’m in the smaller cabin on the left in the middle. That’s a dock on the left by that tree. There’s a person sitting on it. Can you see me sitting there? I fucking can.

Also, I’d be there, but the crutches are slowing me down. It’s fine. I can handle it. Today, we are hopefully getting most of the presentations done (in my rolling chair)…solar system, planets, gravity, mass. Then home to ice and elevate and then trace some more. All day tomorrow hopefully…canceling pilates again (sigh). Maybe. Grading stuff. That will go away soon too. Never too soon. And it’s Friday, so that’s a relief. Short weeks aren’t necessarily easier.

An Impossible Task

Yes, it’s not Monday. I was supposed to write yesterday. I remembered a few times during the day, but was trying to do stuff. I was not well on Saturday, Sunday still recovering, probably still recovering today, honestly. Seems like my immune system decided it wasn’t gonna work last week. It’s fine; I got antibiotics Saturday and I’m pretty sure I’m OK now (taking ALL the antibiotics until they’re gone, because let’s follow directions, y’all), but when they tell you to go to the ER with certain symptoms and the meds cause some of those symptoms…it’s fun times, y’all. Also, like, what IS a fever? So a lot of second guessing and kind of what feels like a waste of a weekend, thanks body for that, but all a necessary part of the whole life game. Better now. Mostly. Didn’t get to hike. Didn’t get a lot done. Sigh.

I couldn’t fall asleep last night, brain just whirring along, dragging me along with it. Yes, I meditated. I counted to 10 with deep breaths about three thousand times. It was just an impossible task. Sleep because you know what the week brings. Nope. Not happening. Ah well. Move on and caffeinate.

I did trace, despite the illness. Meds helped. Originally, going into the weekend, I had this crazy idea that if I traced for 3 hours each day, I could finish tracing this thing. Or maybe 4 hours. Like I had nothing else to do. I mean, it turned out that it didn’t matter if I had other things to do…but…here’s Friday night.

Made it up onto her left arm…then Saturday night, after the meds kicked in…

Oooh, here it is with the light off…

That might have been Sunday night…oh wait, no, this is Sunday night…

That’s all the Wonder Under I’d traced so far. The three on the left are mostly full. I’m working on the one on the right. I forgot to take a photo last night. It looks the same, y’all. Every night, it looks the same…I just have more things drawn on the Wonder Under. I made it to the mid 900s last night (not done, not at all done). If I keep up the hour a night, I won’t be done until Saturday night. One of the things I thought about last night in the multiple hours I wasn’t sleeping is how far I would get on this piece before I left for Oregon, and the answer is, not far enough to come back and finish it and photograph it before the deadline I’m aiming for, SO. I will have to ramp it up. Knock on wood. Get more schoolwork done at school. Like I can wish for that, but making it happen is a different thing.

I did make it to ceramics yesterday, which is good, because I missed two Fridays in a row. The heart is out on the drying racks (they finally cleared a bunch of stuff off of them…still no room for the torso unfortunately). I’m trying to finish up the building part on this so I can underglaze it.

I added stems and leaves and decorated a bit.

One more arm and then it’s ready for underglazing. That’ll only take 300 hours.

This is where I’m at, but add the California primaries with 62 (?) people running for governor, and the top two Repugs are really disgusting. I mean it sucks being in the US right now with the government we have, but California has been a bit better…big enough to be its own country, and no perfect governor, but not one with his head up the orange ass. We voted on Monday. Glad it’s done, but it did not reduce my stress.

Deep breaths. We’ll know in a week who the top two are. If they are both Repugs, then fuuuck. Is all I have to say.

Then this…

There must be a better way to power AI. It’s not leaving. Can we get the great minds onto how to better use it and power it, so we’re not using human resources to power little boys putting girls’ heads on naked women’s bodies? Is that a thing? Can we do that? Probably not.

Here watch some baby owls learning to do things…

Cute, right? Loud. They fly away a lot these days and leave partially eaten rodents all over the yard. Bleck.

OK. The kids are doing a research project on the planets today, because my past self was trying to take care of this week’s self. Good plan, because I can hopefully grade while they’re doing that. Low-key week for the win. Plus only 4 days. Plus no science interviews, thank goodness (we did 9 last week? 8? I forget. Tired of hearing the same key words over and over again, especially the guy who pointedly looked at me and said he had learned all the new science tech stuff for teaching kids, including…wait for it…EXCEL SPREADSHEETS…like WTF guy…those have been around since I was in school. Nothing new there.). Plus more ceramics after school to make up for not going Friday, then grading and dinner and tracing, at least 90 minutes please. Maybe more. We’ll see. This is the end of May, y’all. The end is coming (of the school year…not the world…yet).

You Think You’ve Got It…

Hey ya…running through my brain…I guess I need a soundtrack to get going in the morning. And all day. Into the night. Actually, I never really have a problem with the staying up late part. I’m not good at the rest of it. I swear yesterday felt like Friday…it’s not fair to have another one. At least there’s no assembly today, right? A few more are suspended, a few more coming back (I think?). It feels closer to the end than it actually is? I keep having to tell myself I’m not done yet…I have to teach actual science for another three weeks. Like I told the kids: one more unit (short), one more homework, one more test. And a bunch of other shit. When you get to the egg drop, you know it’s time to stop learning science (and that’s three weeks out). Meanwhile, I’m still grading and lesson planning and cleaning up and copying shit and handling issues and managing time and interviewing a bunch of kids who have never ever taught before and wondering how they would survive my challenging school, and realizing I was one of them once. And I survived. 23 years of surviving.

It’s all good; we’re getting there.

I’m still tracing. I make a goal of 100 pieces a night. Sometimes 100 pieces takes me less than an hour, sometimes more. So really, it’s about an hour. Little pieces are faster and generally easier to draw. Big ones take longer.

Wednesday night, I got to the 300s…

With Scribble. Who had to be persuaded to lie on that part while I drew on this part. Here’s what we got done…

Last night, she mostly stayed out of it…tried to sit on it a few times, got moved, play-whacked me, moved off, came back, put paws under things, got bopped on the nose. They all learn eventually. I don’t mind her up there, but I have a job to do and she can’t get in the way of that. Kitten learned but loved to lie on the glass, but was also respectful and didn’t whack things. Or tear things. Or bite things (except pencils, which is allowed, as long as it’s not in my hand at the time).

I got to the 400s…so there’s at least 10 more hours, maybe 11 before I’m done. Some part of my brain is like, you have a 3-day weekend. You could do it. And I could, but I also need to do yardwork and grade and hike. So there’s always this balance.

See that bird? I forget they can do this crazy shit, holding onto trees without a branch. Need to draw one like that sometime soon.

Need to ask the Man what kind of bird that is (it was in his feeder).

This is so where I’m at.

The crows are definitely out and about these days. The crows, the owls. I’m in.

OK. Teaching the solar system (fast version) today. Lots of talking unfortunately. Then more science interviews. They get old, y’all. Yes, you recent grads can parrot all the vocabulary, but it’s silly asking them all these questions about stuff they’d do when they have no clue. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes today. No ceramics today; I won’t be done with interviews until after 5 PM and will probably be exhausted. I mean, I’m already exhausted. It’s not like today will be restful. Then I’ll be tracing later. I have a 3-day weekend. I do expect some art time, but there’ll be some other stuff too. There always is. It’s nice to have the extra day though. Appreciate that.

Focus on the Owls…

Midweek. Testing week. Warm week. Lots is going on. Science state testing. Science department interviews. Juggling doc appointments. Trying to fit everything in. Crazy to even try, right?

OK, I underglazed the heart for the ceramic sculpture I’m working on.

I still need to finish decorating the arms and then underglaze the torso, then get started on the head. There’s still nowhere to dry the torso, which is part of my problem. I might need to finish it before starting the head. Problematic. I have a neck sitting on the torso and am trying to keep it from drying out.

Meanwhile, I’m tracing the newest quilt…

It’s going well except for the part where Scribble tries to dive under it or sit on it and tore the drawing in three places.

Last night, I seemed to be able to persuade her to stare at geckos and attack her brother instead. Hopeful. Made it into the 200s last night. I’m going to be here for a while…1200 more pieces, to be exact. Also I’ve found at least 5 pieces so far that weren’t numbered, so I’m thriving. Really.

So I’m working on that every night, thank goodness, because it’s meditative and I need that.

The owls babies are all out and flying around the neighborhood, although there seems to be one that is always on the box. But I think there are three now. So check these videos out.

Definitely three…just don’t know if one is mom. I don’t think so.

Apparently they go to bed at about 5:30 AM.

So cool. Anyway, I have to run a short union meeting this morning. We have state science testing. The kids leave early. We get to go out to lunch, and then grade, and then interview. I have pilates. And more grading. And then tracing. It’s going OK, but I feel like I don’t get anything else done but that. So I might have to water some things and plant some seeds and weed a little. Also, I’m not sure the boychild is coming home today. Don’t tell the dog. Fires abound. It’s only May. Not enough rain. Focus on the owls, though. They’re pretty cool. I like to think I’m helping the barn owl population in my area. Which helps limit the gopher/rat population. Also good.

Tracing Things…

I’m supposed to be dressing like the 80s today…you know, neon, leg warmers, big hair…but I didn’t dress like that in the 80s. I was thrift shop, sewed it myself, leaning toward suburban punk. I don’t own 80s wear. So I’m wearing a Keith Haring shirt to commemorate all those who died of AIDS in the 80s…also wearing red, to protest my school district’s refusal to bargain. Fun day. They’re doing a Field Day instead of a staff meeting, because apparently we’re stressed and very busy and competition helps with that. The end of school is always such a crazy mess…this isn’t helping.

I dropped three quilts off for photography yesterday. I’m entering a show with them; we’ll see if they get in. I started tracing the next big one onto Wonder Under, but before I did that, I traced this little one that needs to go in a ceramic piece.

It won’t take long to make this little one.

I finished drawing the new big one Friday night…

I think I actually added stuff after this…

Oh yeah, a crow or two and some body bags.

I numbered it Saturday night…I thought it was around 1300 pieces, but no.

1454 pieces, assuming I didn’t miss any or double number things. I’ve done both.

Last night, I started tracing…

Exciting for Scribble apparently. I had to move her off the Wonder Under a few thousand times.

Barely started. A million pieces to go.

My piece for Soul Stories: Threads of Existence is at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA. It’s been there since mid-April, but they had the ‘opening’ this last weekend.

Mine is the blue one on the left. There’s some amazing work in this show. It will travel to Birmingham, England, in August.

Besides art, I ran a lot of errands this weekend. Fun times. Shit that needs to happen. Some of it was fabric-related. I did finally start stitching the border flowers on Sue Spargo’s Homegrown. It’s all sewn together, so it’s big and not great for taking to meetings.

It’ll take me a while to finish this.

The little dog and I hiked on Saturday. The weather was lovely.

The rattlesnake was not. It didn’t even warn us until after it had moved back into the brush.

I did pick up the dog. His eyesight isn’t great and I didn’t want him lunging after the snake anyway.

The baby owls are out and flying around the neighborhood (sorry for the noise, y’all).

Much faster getting out and about than last year’s only, who hung around for weeks. I think this is still their homebase though.

I obsessively check the weather where my residency will be. Not sure why. Planning anxiety. I did order a bunch of stuff for the trip over the weekend. But look at the 15th.

Somewhat disturbing. Otherwise, the weather is not a lot different than here a lot of the time. A little colder, but it’s over 4000 feet in elevation. So that’s why. Summer will be warm.

Simba is irritable that Bowie is in his spot. Bowie is actually in MY spot and I am in Simba’s spot.

Whatever works.

Here’s a plan for the day…and the world apparently.

And here’s another way-too-real message…

Followed by this one, for San Diego and the rest of the world.

Way too real.

OK. Today. Teaching the last of evolution before the state science test on Wednesday (math is tomorrow). Then I’m probably missing the field day for an eye checkup. Still getting flashing lights in the right eye, over a year after vitreous humor detached. Then hopefully ceramics? And some stitching and grading (not in that order) and tracing. Getting close to the end of this year…that’s a good thing. They don’t seem to be getting easier. The adult part…the kids are fine (well, as fine as they’ve ever been…they should put their phones down more often). Gonna need more caffeine to get through it all.

Ramp It Down…

Well. I just realized I haven’t written since 2025. OK, it’s only the 5th of January, but normally, I would have written on Friday…Friday was a shitshow. It’s fine. It was also the boychild’s 30th birthday, so in true son fashion, he disappeared and did his own thing. I love that for him…considering it for my birthday this year too. It was actually a health insurance issue, which in the end, worked out (well, apparently), which is better than all those sweet people trying to find affordable health insurance at the moment. It is one of the things our district does right…provide good insurance…although they keep threatening to make it cost more (it costs more every year almost, so it’s an empty threat). In general, though, the coverage is good. Except when they fuck it up…which is what happened on the 1st. Anyway, it made the day stressful for me, but eventually I got my meds and went to the knee doctor (good news…it’s not weak, it’s not ligaments…it’s just old. Still.). Back to physical therapy for me. Whoo. I’d rather do that than surgery, so there’s that. Anyway, I’ll blame all that and the remainder of this damn virus for making me forget to write. Saturday and Sunday were all about packing quilts up for the Virginia show, and then shipping them today.

In between all that, I’ve finished grading one whole assignment (only two to go…but both are big) and more importantly, finished the next drawing and started tracing. That’s been fun…tracing with a kitten in the house? Between Luna (attacker of paper) and Nova (eater of paper) a few years back and then Bowie (PARKOUR!), it’s been a bunch of kitten incursion into my artmaking over the last 5 years. Scribble is no different in her love of the process. So I wait for her to fall asleep…and then she wakes up anyway.

Here’s sometime last week, when I was still drawing…some cat (probably Nova) took a bit out of the drawing.

Scribble denied it. I have a system in which I cover the drawing when I’m not actually working on it so no cats can attack, tear, or eat it. Because they’ve done all those things.

Still drawing…this is last Wednesday night…so the same day as my last post. New Year’s Eve!

Everyone in the house but me went to bed early. I didn’t even make it to midnight, because flu. Thursday night, I finished drawing…

I have a size limit…and a time limit. It looks complicated (and it’s not NOT complicated), but not huge, so only about 760 pieces. I numbered it that night too…

About 6 1/2 hours to draw it, then another hour to number it. I think that night went past midnight…finally starting to feel well…ish.

I started tracing it on Friday night.

In this photo, Scribble is under the drawing. Makes it hard to trace.

That said, she’s not scratching, attacking, or eating it, like the other three did, so win-win situation here. Bowie is definitely tempted here.

He also knows now that it’s not allowed. I say that like it matters to him.

She’s cute. That might be what saves her. There’s Bowie, thinking about it again.

He definitely argues for equitable treatment. Sigh. Scribble is easier to pick up and move than the chonk Bowie though.

And she wanders off and plays with feathers in between.

Anyway, I’m more than halfway through the tracing. This one is on a super-tight deadline. I’d really like it traced in the next couple of nights. But also, I can’t just do this. The boychild and I are replacing the deck railing. We bought wood today and I spent a couple hours this afternoon trying to move planters for access. During COVID, I put up all these shelves and planters on the deck so I wouldn’t have to listen to/see my neighbors’ kids all the time. It’s gotten pretty overgrown. I accidentally broke two pots today; one was an Xmas gift, so I feel shitty about that. I still need to go back out there and deal with one shelf, a couple of pots, and an entire planter. I needed a break though.

Other stuff: we had a bunch of rain again and Simba doesn’t like to get wet. He has a raincoat. I’m not sure it helps, but he looks cute in it.

Scribble sleeps like a kitten.

Plays hard, zonks hard.

Then again, there’s been a lot of cat snarliness over that blue blanket.

Bowie covets it. Nova doesn’t care. I don’t know why none of them curl up with each other when it’s cold…except for the two sisters.

The boychild found a baby bird.

It’s a bushtit. We panicked a little and left it for mom…

It unfortunately did not make it and is now buried in the backyard.

I tried using Google Translate live to translate a video I was watching…not so effective sometimes.

Although maybe that is what she was saying (seems unlikely).

I find this amusing.

I tell it to fuck off constantly; same with Gemini. Like just go away. I’m using my brain now. Make Copilot clean the ceiling fan blades. I did that and wished I didn’t have to.

This is also too true. Damn US, the political bullshit in the last week has been nuts.

I’m not ignoring it. I’m just still processing the damn Epstein files. And the ACA. And Jack Smith. And now bombs? And kidnapping? I’m boggled. Also someone please tell Erika Kirk that we don’t need to do another round of Phyllis Schlafly. She was an idiot the first time around. Anyone who can’t see the parallels in this bullshit with Serena Joy in The Handmaid’s Tale? Either you want to stay home and be a freakin’ trad wife, or you want to have rights…you can’t have it both ways. Unless you want to be a feminist? I highly recommend it personally, but if you want the trad wife life, do it. Just don’t make the rest of us come along. We have brains that work too…and we want to do different things. Right now? I want to curl up on the couch and finish my book with a cat or two and a fire in the fireplace and a nice cup of tea. But no, I need to go finish hauling shit around on the deck and then probably stand and trace for a few hours after grading some shit. So there’s that.

Anyway. I’m thankful for a week that has mostly no plans (except the to-do list) and time to recover fully from the flu (I’m still coughing up a lungful of mucus) before I have to go back to the crazy. Although if the rest of the country could ramp the crazy down a bit, I’d appreciate that too.

Say Yay?

I’d say yay Friday but I have such a huge pile of things that has to be graded this weekend that I’m not really looking forward to it. I’m not even sure how I’m going to pull it off honestly. It seems impossible. But grades are due in a short time and I have to give these kids a chance to fix their mistakes, although I was significantly frustrated with the last batch of redoes. I don’t know how many times I can explain evidence vs inference. ALL the times, actually. With some people, it just straight up doesn’t seem to matter. So I’m a little frustrated, because I have kids who want Principal’s Honor Roll so they need all As but they don’t always do A work. Or be quiet, which is the citizenship part of it. Sigh.

This school year is a lot. I’m thinking they’re all a lot right now. That might be saying something right there.

Artwise, I’m struggling to keep the hour a night…still. Usually by October, I’ve got this, but October is almost over. So I’m tracing every night, but I think last night was the first time I managed an actual hour. And it’s because I stayed up late. And made myself stop working at 9:30 PM even though I wasn’t done with that class. My brain keeps screaming about balance.

So tracing…Wednesday night…

Which looks a lot like Thursday night (except I obviously made it out of the 600s and into the 700s).

The bathtubs are done; the figures are done. That snake is next and then all the bits around the bathtubs, minus the two rugs that are already done. I think there’s about 250 pieces left. So I could finish it this weekend…but also, there’s grading. Frustrating. Really really frustrating.

I’m there, y’all. Also here…

‘Tis witchy season.

From Interpretations…Betty Busby’s Subterranean…

So much handwork.

How does she get it all done? I love this type of stitching and want to do more of it.

Also Claire Passmore’s Anchored is fascinating…

The construction…the thought process behind it…

So cool.

We had to trim the eucalyptus trees. It makes me sad. The birds! The shade…

Poor things. The neighbor’s roof now visible. Bleck.

Owl pellets so far from the entryway.

I’m going to put them in a ziplock baggie for my neighbor’s kid when he comes trick-or-treating (he wants them…I’m not being a mean neighbor).

And here’s where I’m at.

My inner raccoon, more like it. But possums are also cool.

OK. I really am just surviving day by day and looking for the moments that sustain me. Yesterday was a bit much at school. I could do without it. The teaching was fine. The other stuff. Ugh. Make it stahhhp. So today is supposed to be an independent assignment so I can grade shit. We’ll see how that goes. Based on previous experiences? Yeah. Not so much. We keep trying though. Then after school, I finally got my wash for the ceramics pieces. I remembered gloves and brushes…there were no gloves last time. I’m going to do the washes and consider glazing. Then home for dinner and grading and tracing. I can stay up a little late tonight, but had to shuffle pilates, dentist, and groceries to tomorrow because Sunday is a meeting up in the OC. All day for that. Plus trying to grade. I’m not driving this time, so that should help. But one assignment has to be done on computer AND paper. So is my phone a hotspot for that? Or do I just take all the paper stuff. SIGH fucking SIGH. I did get an email from a coteacher last night who saw my banned book piece at the library. That was cool. I don’t know her very well, so it was a nice connection.

Anyway, send good thoughts into the air for your teacher friends. It’s a week from Halloween and the staff drama is just as good as the kid drama. Plus I can’t find last year’s costume and I don’t have the time or money for a new one…so there’s that.

Another Dimension

It was a busy weekend, even though I canceled/missed three things. The next two weekends seem to be just as bad…lots of meetings, driving, going to things, getting things done. I feel proud of the 20 minutes of yardwork I managed yesterday. I can’t keep up, for real.

So let’s do the tracing stuff first. Still doing it. Thought putting that yellow post-it on the drawing marking where I’d last been, writing the next number to trace on there, that’s smarter than I have been in the past.

Mostly I would just document the number and approximate location of the next piece in my phone and then spend 2-5 minutes the next day trying to find that on the drawing, which might be a reflection on my late-night ability to describe positions of things.

You would think like “left bathtub” would be enough, but is that left when it’s right sides up or upside down, how I trace it? I just never know. So the post-it seemed awesome…until I lost it last night as I flipped the drawing.

Super problematic since I hadn’t documented the last number I traced in my phone, so I had to stare at it for 5 minutes, trying to figure that out. I still couldn’t find the post-it. It flipped somewhere into another dimension. Fact is, I managed to get to piece 500 last night, so I’m almost halfway through. I’ve been finding it hard to even get an hour a night, which might still be a problem this week. I have a ton of grading to do…still…always…and this week does not bode well for big chunks of grading time unfortunately. So much of what I need to grade is deep-thought grading. I actually have to be mentally present to get it done. And it’s time-consuming. Of course. Anyway. Day job.

I had a moment Friday night about the No Kings protest…and made a last-minute decision to march…canceled myself out of two other things and made a plan to make it to the last thing that involved parking two miles away from the march, walking in, doing the march, and walking out. So it was over 6 miles in the long run.

Pro: I felt good about the march; it’s a plus to see so many like-minded people with a goal, when the news is so hell bent on the shit show (literally, if you pay attention to our president wannabe king). Also, I got plenty of exercise. It was all uphill on the way back though. I did go by myself, but you’re never really by yourself in a crowd of 80,000 people.

Yeah, I love my country and I don’t want it ruined by racists and people who say they’re Christian but don’t behave very Christian. And they are ruining it right now. In so many ways.

The Man and I went to a new place for dinner. It was fancy. You know how you know? I took a picture of my plate…

Yeah, if I did that every week, you’d see a lot of standard burger plates. But this was pretty.

Speaking of pretty and cool and fascinating, I went to the Visions Interpretations artist talks after the march. I was hoping to see a friend, but thanks to the military and Vance and probably the Republican party, they closed the freeway so they could shoot things over it, and many people had to leave early to miss that. Thanks to the government. They dropped shrapnel on a CHP vehicle. I find that amusing only because no one was inside and no one was injured. Maybe don’t do that again dumbasses. I’m sure that expenditure was warranted. Like the ballroom. And the parade.

I did meet an artist, Eden Quispe, whom I’d only known online. Our work has been in shows together but I’d never seen it (or her) in person. So that was cool. Here’s her piece, Grandma Pearl, made from linens from her grandmother.

She has a truly fascinating process.

I want to be more freeform in my work, but I never really get there. Maybe when I retire.

I took about 3000 pictures of Diane Nunez’s piece Multifaceted…

I took a lot of pictures because it was fascinating.

Also because I couldn’t take pictures of some of the stuff I wanted to because people were standing in front of them.

That is one of the issues with artist talks…too many people.

Although I do enjoy hearing the artists talk about their work.

Unfortunately, I’m running out of time this morning; I’ll have to post the other photos I took later this week. I’ll leave you with this sweet baby…

Ah Nova.

And this almost daily donation of an owl pellet on my front steps…

And this life truth.

Although the new system does not work the same…I actually have to think ahead about what I might want to read next, and that is truly annoying. I cannot make more decisions than I already am.

OK. School. Reviewing net forces and then sending them off to do the things without my help. Ha! Like that’s gonna work. And then dinner out with a book club group that I rarely see in person anymore. Then grading (well, grading before and after) and tracing. Then hopefully more sleep than last night (ha! more funnies) and do it again, slightly differently.

There Needs to Be Balance.

When the texts came in at 11:30 PM and continued at 6:30 AM and somewhere in there, your new diabetes sensor decided your blood sugar was low even though it really wasn’t because it takes it a while sometimes to behave appropriately (much like oh so many people I can think of at the moment), so it kept buzzing until you put it on the floor, and then you know you have a difficult meeting in the morning, and one of those texts told you something that explains a lot of the bullshit at school and now you’re PISSED, ffs, why why why. Well it’s not the best way to start a Friday. But it IS a Friday. My weekend is too full and I have feels about the No Kings protest and I’m in a place in my head where protest is legit and so is self care and promises I made to people and I’m trying to do all of the things and probably semi-failing at quite a few of them. So I’m processing all that and potentially editing the weekend to-do list to manage that.

How can I be the best American this weekend? Still working on that.

I’ve been tracing every night…well for the last three. Big time.

Not. I’m still in the 100s, although I’ve traced some of the 200s. Probably a mistake that. Might end up with an extra traced bug somewhere. But the bug parts are small and it’s easier if I trace them and cut them all in one space so they don’t get lost. Makes sense to me anyway. And the big pieces of water are a pain to trace. I remember now from the last bathtub quilts. I like how it looks but it’s a pain to make.

Ah yes, so if you don’t know, I think this is the fourth bathtub quilt, definitely a series. It’s actually the 6th drawn bathtub. I was looking at Frida Kahlo’s bathtub painting and then George Bush Jr did one and I don’t know, it hit me as a way to document a life. Or in the case of this quilt, a life and an unalive. All four bathtub quilts will be at the Virginia Quilt Museum January through March, along with a few others. I will be there the last weekend in March too, along with the other artist in the show, Lena Meszaros. Should be interesting.

Yesterday, I underglazed the tree, which miraculously did not break again.

It took an hour.

Which is crazy. This is going on top of the head that hasn’t been glazed yet. I also signed up for a handbuilding/slab sculpture class in November. It looked interesting and I need more tips on building stuff. I always feel like I’m doing it by the seat of my pants…because I am.

Um I should probably send this to someone in particular. But it’s true! We need to vent. Especially if your job is a whirlwind of crazy all day. Because that shit festers.

Our trees were trimmed this week and the guys somehow broke like 6 pots and full on disappeared some with plants and I’m upset but I get it. I moved the ones I thought they’d hit and they full on hit others instead. So I’m also sad. It’s OK; the tree guy is paying to replace pots but there was this adorable little succulent that had just bloomed and it’s just gone and I’m sad about it. I’m also sad about my kitty being gone, even though it’s been two months. Bowie keeps coming in here looking for her, and I’m like SAME dude, I keep looking for her too.

Oh my. So sucky meeting in the morning, teaching net force all day with a simulation; let’s see if the day chaos can NOT. Then errands woo hoo love errands ugh no I do not. Then dinner and grading and tracing and deciding what I can deal with this weekend. There are things I WANT to do and things I NEED to do and things I HAVE to do and there needs to be a balance. And I don’t know what it is right now. Peace and love to the protestors and the marches across the country. Because this shit is crazy and needs to stop and yes, it’s easy to say that and as always, I struggle with the how to make the crazy shit stop and/or make sense (that’s not happening). We need a Day of Remembrance for our democracy, for empathy, for American values, because this ain’t it.

Today the Oatmeal Exploded.

Monday was burning oatmeal. Today was exploding oatmeal, all over the side of the bowl, where it will stick like concrete. Fun times. And yesterday kinda felt like that. Or maybe Monday. Or both. The workload is a challenge. Too many parts to it. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to have some literacy thing done by the 27th but they haven’t provided a calendar for it, so it’s just not gonna happen. Or they’ll tell us on the 20th that it has to be done by the 27th (‘it’ being something where you schedule admin to come watch you do it), and that’ll be the end of me.

Teaching-wise, the content is fine, the kids are OK (except for the dingbat who couldn’t shut up yesterday about all the reasons she didn’t want to sit where she was put). I just can’t get far enough ahead to not feel like I can’t breathe. Might be a me problem.

Monday, I made it to ceramics, where both pieces were out of the bisque fire. I tentatively put them together (it’s a little wobbly, hence my hand)…

I go back and forth about what to do next. I know these colors won’t survive a glaze fire, so the plan is to iron oxide, darken it all up in the crevices, and then use a satin matte glaze on some areas for color. Or all areas. I don’t know.

The only crack in the upper torso is where that finger attaches to the breast. And the crack in the bottom piece got smaller in the second bisque firing.

I fixed this, which will hopefully go on top of the head. Scary to get to the point where I have to put it all together.

Not sure where to store all the parts at the moment. I don’t have enough shelf space for any of it at the moment. I could move the head out, but there probably still wouldn’t be enough room for more than the base. I’m hoping to go Thursday to underglaze the tree and maybe put the head in the bisque fire.

Meanwhile, at home, I finished drawing the big piece…added that target and a few other things.

Numbered it Monday and Tuesday night…it’s a little over a thousand pieces. Not bad for trying to keep it simple (ha!).

And then last night, I started tracing…

I didn’t get far. But that’s OK. I’ve got fewer meetings at night this week. Should help. Although I’m trying to catch up on grading still. Always.

We got a chunk of rain yesterday…my app had been saying 0.04″ so I wasn’t really prepared for being sopping wet after school…just walking to the car.

And at home, checking all the new gutters (one had an issue) and digging a trench…in the rain. Fun times. Then pajamas on and finally finishing the book I had left in the morning, under duress.

So many uses for this.

I stayed late at school yesterday to document all the behaviors from the beginning of the month on our digital system and to call two parents, one of which didn’t answer and his voicemail was full, so I texted, used our parent communication app, and sent it to the translator, so there’s no question of their understanding the issue. The other one tried to say “you know he’s ADHD” as an excuse. Ah ma’am…I raised one of those, and you better stop enabling that shit right now. I always counter with, oh yeah, I raised one of those.

I love Gemma Correll’s drawings…

And they feel very real at the moment.

Especially that…I’m thinking of some specific buildings. Empty of humans of course.

I feel like I post this every year. And it’s true every year.

OK, trees are being trimmed today (stress!) plus I think I have to come up with something for the kids to do for the last half of the period, because I’m ahead of my co-teacher. Or not. Just have them finish their cover pages. There we go. Simple. Then pilates and grading and tracing. And reading. All good.