creative.mother.thinking

I did get enough sleep last night, hurray! (Yes, I know, the way I’m obsessed about sleep is a little weird but you would be too if you were as fatigued all the time.)

Yesterday was a very good day, I spend about half the day reading and working on the Sophie’s Universe blanket while drinking tea:

And the other half recording the songs for my mother’s birhtday present at the last minute:

My voice was completely gone by take two of the first song but I just kept going. I don’t want to know how I sound but I will have to listen to the whole thing today anyways. Because I still need to select the takes I’ll use, and then I will have to mix the whole thing, something I don’t quite know how to do (but I’ll ask my husband for help who is the much better sound engineer).

I had two times when the computer told me the hard drive was going too slow for recording, and the program crashed on me four times but I persevered. I have to say I have come a long way, I am now able to record without much drama (well, apart from a whole day lost to procrastination, and a week or two of going all „I dunnwanna“ about the whole thing). I didn’t even lose my temper when one of the best takes of the last song got lost because of a software crash. (And that was an hour after my usual dinnertime.)

All of this tells me that I really need to do something about my misbehaving laptop. It’s not all that bad but it’s clear it’s failing. I did a bunch of research yesterday, and am now hoping that the troubles are due to the cheap battery I bought off ebay years ago. I have ordered a new one (that’s not as cheap but will probably perform better), and will put that in as soon as I have it. Changing the battery on the kind of laptop I have is pretty easy.

If that won’t fix it the next suspect would be the logicboard which would be trickier and more expensive to replace, and if that’s not it it might be the hard drive but I don’t think so. This is a new one that I bought from a dealer specializing in Mac parts.

The other thing I bought yesterday (why yes, I seem to be in a consumer mood at the moment) is a craftsy class about bra-making. It came recommended by a friend on ravelry. I’m still not sure if I will actually sew myself a bra – so far I have lots of plans to sew all the things but am not actually doing anything – but it seems like something I would love to be able to do because bras in my size are extraordinarily expensive, and then they don’t really fit all that well anyways.

I keep dreaming of custom-made clothes, and since I don’t have the monies to pay someone for it I need to be the one making my bespoke garments. One of these days I will have a whole wardrobe full of clothes that I love, and that fit me. Including underwear that doesn’t pinch, ride up, and is in need of adjustment every other minute.

But first I need to get a thing or two done before I can focus on sewing. What with novel-writing month coming up.

By the way yesterday was another day that proved that I feel much better when I do a lot than when I’m sitting around all day relaxing. Recording vocals is pretty hard work, and I was rather exhausted at the end but not as tired, fatigued, and cranky as I would have been after a whole day of nothing.

So today I will listen to what I recorded yesterday, teach quite a few students, and go on a short run soon. Also my mother-in-law is going to the hospital to get her heart checked out. We are all hoping that there isn’t much wrong with her, and that she’ll be back soon safe and sound.

Looks like it’s going to rain right in time for my run. Lovely! (Well, on the bright side there are usually less dogwalkers around when it’s raining.)

Yay, I actually managed to sleep in! Until eight o’clock!

Last night’s concert was great but I’m no longer suited to going out, I actually dozed off towards the end. Ahem. My usual bedtime doesn’t mesh with things like concerts. At least my husband was nice enough to prod me before I started snoring.

Yesterday was pretty good, even though I didn’t actually do anything on the novel. I did think about the characters and scenes for the next one I want to write, so that’s good, and I managed to clean the house (well, parts of it) for the first time in weeks. Phew.

Now I’m really looking forward to the weekend.

Today I have planned to run 10K (not quite sure if my inertia will allow me to do so), and to record the songs for my mother’s birthday present (of course I’m a little sniffly with a slightly sore throat, figures). I will also have to squeeze a grocery run in there somewhere.

Speaking of mothers, while my mother is still in the hospital recuperating my mother-in-law actually fell down yesterday morning as well. Fortunately she didn’t break anything but she did go to the doctor because she was concerned, and so she will go to the hospital on Monday to get checked out. Fun times.

This is one of the few occasions where we wish we had a car so we could drive her but then she will just take a taxi. Which is more convenient and cheaper in the long run anyways. It’s just that my husband and I felt that we should drive her.

At times like these I’m very happy that she lives upstairs, so we can check in on her several times a day.

So today will be rather busy, I guess, we’ll see how that goes.

So for once I had a satisfying and productive day. I went for a run, I helped making lunch, I played the piano and sang briefly, I recorded the next podcast episode, and wrote the shownotes, and I looked at the songs I want to record for my mother. Phew. And on top of that I went to bed on time. And didn’t bing-eat.

And the most interesting thing is that I was not all fatigued all day. I’m starting to think that I do better when I do more. Well, up to a certain point.

My husband told me yesterday that he thinks I have too many projects in the pipeline, and that I should drop something. He was rather confused by all the podcasting that’s happening. Well, I did record two in a row because the English episode doesn’t really fit into my schedule.

He also is not looking forward to me doing NaNoWriMo – which I can understand – but not really because I want to write that much but rather because, „And then you’ll do all kinds of things with people and are on the forums all the time.“ Which I found rather interesting because it didn’t feel like that to me. Well, I am on ravelry all the time but that’s different. That’s not a November-thing. And I bet I will have to spend less time there next month so I can spend more time writing.

Last year I really would have wanted to meet fellow NaNo-writers in person even but I didn’t because I felt I couldn’t spare the time. And I bet this year will be the same.

As I said before I am showing admirable restraint because I did not start another podcast (though I really want to), and I also haven’t signed up for a craftsy class in bra-making (even though I really want to), and I have indeed set aside quite a few projects because now is not the time to work on them.

Today should be a rather busy and full day as well, there will be the cleaning of the house (yeah, finally!), and the making pizza with my husband, and the teaching, and then there will be a very quick sandwich for dinner before my husband and I go out to see another free improvisation concert. Which will surely throw me off like crazy tomorrow. Better to plan for that in advance.

Yesterday went pretty well, I ran all the errands, went to the tea shop, the bakery, the post office, the health food store, and the regular supermarket, I sold the now obsolete old router (well, three months old), wrapped it up and sent it off, I bought a new binder for the printed manuscript of novel three, and found that I don’t have enough shelf space for all the printed manuscripts. I need to finish things so that I can throw the print-outs away. Soon.

I also decided on what to work on next. I think I’ll go through novel one again and pull out all the song lyrics. I love them, and they are rather atmospheric but then letting them in would be a pain because I would need to get the rights, and pay for them. So I’ll better write my own atmosphere.

I acutally forgot to practice. Which shows you how scatterbrained I am at the moment.

I did hear from my mother but she still has no idea what’s going on. I think small town medical care is not my favorite thing at the moment. This is a thing that might contribute to me being scatterbrained. Somewhat.

I didn’t clean anything but I finally managed to change the sheets on my bed, so there’s that. Progress.

Today I will go for a run, teach, start working on novel one yet again, and maybe clean a thing or two. Oh, and not forget about practice. And maybe find the energy and time to get the songs sorted that I have to record on the weekend. The problem with my energy levels at the moment is that while I have an hour or two in the evenings where I could get stuff done I’m usually so brain-dead and fatigued by then that all I can do is sit and read. Or stare blankly into space. And eat.

This definitely needs to change. Also the low-level headache I’ve been having for almost a week now.

I’m really looking forward to that doctor’s appointment…

No, really, nothing. I spent all day yesterday sitting around, reading and knitting and crocheting and faffing around on the internet.

Now you’d think that would be totally relaxing, and I guess it was, but in the end I realized that that kind of day doesn’t do me any good. Unless I’m sick or something. I was in a bad mood most of the day, and ate way too much chocolate. By dinnterime I was snapping at everyone around me.

So I need to remind myself for next time that I don’t actually enjoy days where I don’t do anything.

Fortunately there is lots to do today, and I’m already feeling a little better even though I woke up too early yet again. Not drinking alcohol doesn’t seem to make a difference in regards to sleep. I do feel a little better, though. It’s only been a week so far but it’s clear that drinking less does me good. Which is not that unexpected.

Today I will run and teach and practice, and help cooking, and deal with laundry, and do stupid small things that need to be done, and hopefully go to bed early again.

The weather is still gorgeous, and I’m really looking forward to running.

Much better than sitting around all day.

And I would never have thought that I would be the one saying that. When I was in my twenties my idea of the ideal weekend was staying in bed reading, only to get up to buy cake in the afternoon.

Yeah, people actually do change occasionally.