Dolls!

     I have been struggling a lot lately. I have been super exhausted and unmotivated. I don't seem to be getting much done. It's all sort of making me a bit crazy. Finally I am just a little bit less tired than I have been. Functional tired is something I can deal with. And we really only have about a month of school left. I think I will make it. 

    So the other day I was working on cutting out a bunch of doll clothes and I looked at my old, sad shirt pattern, which has been taped together so many times, and I decided I needed to just make myself a new one. So I did. Sooner or later I will wreck this one too, but at least I have a nice one for a little while. 

       I also made some good progress on a couple of hoodie dolls. I really do like hoodie dolls, even though the hoods get in the way of just about any hairstyle. But they are cute and definitely perfect for barn scenes or anything else that is just casual. And definitely perfect for playing with. I know I have said it before but I really am thrilled that so many people have been playing with their dolls!

      Yesterday was the last day of the math MCAS and we have 2 weeks before the bio MCAS. I have 2 different bio classes this year and I have no idea if any of the kids will be ready. Some of the MCAS questions are really tricky, and I am not even sure why. Sometimes it seems there really is no clear right answer but a couple of possible right answers. I guess because not enough kids have testing anxiety... anyway, done with state testing for a couple of weeks and then bio is only one day. We can do this. 

     There are only 19 days left in this school year and then I have 3 weeks off before summer school starts. I still have no idea where they will put me for that. It will be interesting to find out. I hope it ends up being cool. 
 

It’s Snowing

     There was almost not a post today. I am super busy (shocking) and I almost didn't have time for a post. So you'll get a bit, but likely not much.

     Yesterday I took a personal day for another IEP meeting. It was a super productive meeting and it sounds like we have some good plans in the works for Travis's last year of school. That makes me super happy. The team seems to finally get that we are not looking for our hopes and dreams, we are looking for realistic and what will make Travis happy and successful. That really is the ultimate dream isn't it? Successful doesn't need to mean making piles of money, I don't care if the only thing he does is volunteer stuff or group outings. If he is happy, and part of it, that will be success to me. So now we are in crunch time with only a year left of school for him. Time to focus. 

     My new can of (super expensive) matte finish showed up yesterday and I was really pleased. I wasn't expecting it for at least a couple more days and potentially another week or so. As soon as it arrived I brought my custom out to get some more finish on him. Which sucked a bit because it was snowing! It was full bright sun, 80 degrees, and snowing (pollen). This little piece landed on his WET nose! I was not pleased. So I carefully picked it off and sprayed some more finish and I think he is OK. There may still be some pollen in his finish. Not cool. 

      After the IEP meeting and spraying the horse I cut out and got several doll outfits sewn and then headed out to do the laundry. Normally I don't have time for any doll work on Mondays because of laundry, but the time off gave me time to work on dolls, get the laundry done earlier than normal, and get back into the doll work. After Travis and I went to do some errands. I saw my friend Felica in the parking lot of the grocery store, and that was fun. It's always nice to run into friends out in the world. 

     So like I said, this post almost didn't happen. Today I am still super busy, though I guess I could have done less yesterday. But working on dolls (which I get paid for) seemed like a good idea. I do love the blog but it is one more thing to fit into my very busy day. I am tired. I am often tired. If you want to buy me a coffee, I would be grateful for it. I hear that ko-fi is coming out with some new options soon. Something about subscriptions but I don't have any details on that yet. Anyway, MCAS today. Not looking forward to that. 
 

Major Progress

     I managed to fix the body color on my custom horse. I really like it now. Most of the graininess is gone and he just overall looks better than he did. I thought for a minute I had ruined him, but I managed to get him fixed up. I also ran out of matte finish, though I got 2 coats on before that happened. I have more coming and as soon as it arrived I will get several more layers on him. 

     He is definitely looking a ton better and I am pretty pleased with him. It was time to get back at the details, now that I wasn't hating his body color. 

      I touched up the black on his mane and tail and started on his socks. I have 6 layers on and I might need one or two more. Or 10 more, who can tell with white. 

     And look, an eye! I have painted eyes before but I don't really remember how to do it without looking. So I went back to the Braymere blog and found an eye tutorial from Isaac Brushett. I did not have every single color recommended so I had to wing it a little bit. But I am really pleased with this horse eye!

      I may have a few more layers of white to put on and then I need to check my horse over and see if he is done. As soon as my matte finish comes in I will get him properly finished, let him cure for a day or two, and then he will be ready for tack! But he is coming along well and I am pretty please with him. 
 

$40,000

     Yesterday was a really good day. We had temperatures in the high 70's, lots of sunshine, and I got a lot done. I also got to wear $40,000 of jewelry. If I was a different kind of person that might have actually been more exciting than it was. But it felt exactly the same as wearing good quality costume jewelry. The ring was $20,000, and one of the other customers in the jewelry store said I needed to try it on (the store I go to is a lot of fun. The owner is a big part of why we go there). So I did. Fit perfectly. Then the owner walked by and draped the $20,000 bracelet over my wrist. So I laughed and asked if I could take a picture, which of course he said I could. I don't like the ring at all (I am not a fan of yellow gold) but the bracelet is pretty. Still, I don't need a $20,000 bracelet. I happen to be very fond of Swarovski bracelets (totally Crystal's fault) and those are much more affordable.

     The reason I was in the jewelry store was I decided I needed to finally get my rings resized. They have not fit in over a year and I miss wearing them. They were just way too loose and I was always afraid of losing them. Tony (the owner) said they would be done the same day, go do our errand and come back. So we went and did the errand, came back and the jeweler was still working on my rings. He said the platinum was so hard and it was taking extra time. Well, worth it. But it did mean waiting in the store for a bit. Which is dangerous. So sparkly! Anyway, I got to wear $40,000 of jewelry and I can wear my rings again. Good day. 

     I also did some more work on my custom horse (photos coming soon) and starting finally uploading some pics to Why the Chicken Crossed the Road photo show. It seems that June 11th is a super popular day. That is the last day to enter photos for the Breyerfest Best Customs contest, the last day to enter photos in Why the Chicken Crossed the Road, and the first day to start entering photos into Breyerfest Open. I better get moving on all of the things I need to finish!
 

Finally

     The seasons are changing again. That has to be part of what is wrong with me. I am exhausted a lot of the time and highly unmotivated. This doll took me 4 days to finish. There is no way a casual/working western doll should take me 4 days at this point. But I was tired. And unmotivated. 

      I did have some other things going on this past week that took some of my time, but honestly, a lot of my usual doll-work time was spent reading. There may have been some catnaps as well. I really have been super sleepy. 

      The end of the school year is always a little rough. There is so much testing, everyone is trying to cram in all of the last minute things that the kids need to know (or might need to know) on the state tests. We have been doing our best all year to keep the kids engaged, or even get them engaged, and remote learning is hard. Hybrid is even harder. A lot of the kids that really need to be in school are all remote, all the time. All of it makes me tired. 

      This doll should not have been a challenging one to make. I have made lots and lots of casual western dolls, plenty of removable chaps, and even a whole lot of removable helmets. Yet this doll took me a long while. I was not focused at all this past week. 

    But the doll is finally done and on her way home. It's also finally the weekend. It's supposed to be beautiful weather. I should see if I can find enough energy to go hiking. It would for sure be a nice weekend for being out in the woods. The forecast for next week looks really nice too. It is definitely Spring and is likely to lean towards Summer fairly quickly. But I am not cold and I am OK with that. Now if I can only adjust to the new season and stop being so sleepy all the time that would be amazing. 
 

I’ve Been Flocked!

     Every year the National Honors Society does a fundraiser with flamingos. For $15 you can flock a friend. For $20 you can buy flock insurance to make sure you can't be flocked. Who would want flock insurance? As you all know, I love flamingos. They are silly, tacky-cool, and usually pink. What's not to love? As soon as I knew it was possible to get flocked I wanted it to happen. I considered flocking us myself. I told several people if they wanted to flock me for my birthday that it would be an amazing gift. Then I sort of forgot about it. Sort of. 

      Wednesday night I got a text from Brandi, who is the NHS advisor. She said her husband was trying to find our place to bring the flock. No one can find the trailers in here. The order makes no sense to anyone. I've been here 18 years and I still probably can't tell you where certain numbers are. But we were found, and flocked. Brandi made sure that no pink birds came here, just to make it easier not to mix up our birds and the visiting birds. This is awesome. 

      I had to reteach some genetics the other day. I really like genetics and I am usually really good at teaching it. I still HATE remote teaching. It's also a lot harder to teach when you get zero participation. I know that every teacher who has worked during the pandemic understands this. Zero participation in person is a bit easier to deal with. You at least have the kids in front of you and they are not muted. Anyway, I think today is a continuation of that reteaching. We'll see how that goes. 

     Today is also the day my visiting flamingos will leave me. It was really fun having the extra ones here! I hope next year I can get flocked again! Or maybe I will just expand my own flock...

     Did I mention the visiting birds all have googly eyes??? And today is Crystal's birthday. Happy Birthday Crystal! I miss you!
 

Tired

       I have been super exhausted for the past several days. A doll that should have taken me a day to make has now stretched into 4 days. It is not a challenging doll, I am just struggling to get home from work and get back to work. It's been tough. Tuesday we did also take some time after school and go look at another program for Travis for when he ages out of school. Very worth it, but it left me with very little time to get the doll finished. I will get there sooner or later. I just feel like a slacker for continuing to promise a finished doll and have it not happen. Today for sure.

      I did make a tiny bit of time for my custom horse. I was not super pleased with how his color was coming out so I went over all of him with a bit more burnt sienna shade. It lightened the dark parts and darkened the lighter parts. And now he looks better. 

     Then I sprayed him with gloss again because I am running low on my matte finish. It is also super expensive so I want to be a bit sparing with it. I think most of the graininess is gone and he does actually look pretty good. Not in this photo, but in person. 

     I definitely like his face and neck a lot more than I did. I want to add a bit more gray on his muzzle and around his eye and then do more layers of matte. Then back into details now that I like his body color again. I have one layer of whites on his socks, I am thinking about maybe a star or small stripe (not sure yet), and he really could use an eyeball. Or two. It's almost the weekend and I should be able to take some time to get some more work done on him. Maybe even get him finished up. That would be excellent!