Archives for October 2017

So yesterday I basically spent all day doing absolutely nothing. I did have a headache, and felt nauseous so maybe I was having a low-grade infection (and I did feel a little under the weather the days before as well) which meant I allowed myself a complete day off.

Which always feels bad in the end. Like sitting around all day waiting for the day to be over.

At least I went to bed at a somewhat reasonable time. Of course that meant I woke up at 5.22 this morning. One of these days I will get enough sleep but not last night. Though one could argue that if I wake up without an alarm I should be well-rested. Funny enough I’m not. I’m shuffling around all day, every day, yawning all afternoon, my brain foggy, and my energy low. Since I stopped taking my anti-histamines weeks ago they are clearly not the reason for this.

I’m waffling if this is worrying enough to see a doctor but every time I think that I also think I should try getting enough sleep for several days in a row first.

I started reading „Why We Sleep“ yesterday. Really excellent book, also pretty scary. The things that happen to you when you don’t get enough sleep, even just an hour less than you need. The author describes all kinds of experiments where healthy, young people were made to sleep for only four or five hours for a few nights, and then their immune system got compromised, they became pre-diabetic, their arteries calcified, and their focus and memory went down the drain. Terrible.

I know that I’m going on and on about the importance of sleep (and I’m rather desperate because I find it so hard to get enough quality sleep these days), and I meet loads of people who tell me they only get five or six hours a night but that they’re totally fine.

Well. They’re not. They do feel fine. They get used to not functioning well. But they don’t realize that they are taking years off their lifespan, and are ruining their health. Makes me shudder just to think about it.

Tonight I will go to bed too late for sure because I am supposed to attend parents’ night at my son’s school. First we get to be told what awaits our kids this year, and then we go to the classrooms to meet some of their teachers. And we elect a parents’ representative and such. I really hope this won’t go on for too long.

Then usually when I come home from things like this I need about an hour or so to calm back down. So that will be fun.

If I were sensible I’d just take a hot bath immediately after coming home but since I’m not (and the bathtub is filthy) I’ll probably rant to my poor husband for an hour before reading to quiet my mind.

Fun!

So today started with the laptop acting up (so that I couldn’t write this right after breakfast as usual), me being really, really tired, and rain like crazy outside.

On the other hand it is a day off, so there’s that.

Yesterday was a good day all in all. While the switch to the new internet thing happened around ten I was strong, and went running first before attempting to configure all the new gadgets. Then my husband made lunch without my help for a change, and I sat down to get the new modem/router/phone running. Things went with only very minor hitches which was great and unexpected.

The boy had come home early while my husband and I had been running and greeted me with, „There’s no internet!“ to which I said, „Yeah, the company switched but I have yet to connect everything.“ I’m pretty sure he thought I should have done that first.

I then taught my students, hung up a load of laundry, configured voicemail and recorded a greeting (three times), practiced a little, and tried singing the songs I want to record for my mother’s birthday which was, let’s say, interesting. Seems I need to put some more work into this. I can totally see myself just buying a book at the last minute instead. Have I mentioned that my voice sounds a little rough at the moment? I think I might have a cold of some sort.

The boy and I ate dinner in front of „Star Trek: The Next Generation“ because my husband was teaching late, and then I lounged around the kitchen table procrastinating about novel-revision (sum total of revision yesterday: four minutes and eleven seconds – oops). And then I saw that it was time for virtual knit night in the very nice ravelry group where I spent most of my time, and so I decided to try my very first google hangout.

It was really great talking to my friends in the computer. I was uncharacteristically quiet because I was so tired. My computer shut down with only two seconds warning at the end. (It said, „Your battery is running low.“ and while I was grabbing the cable and trying to plug it in – poof! – the computer shut down.

So I went back into the hangout only to tell people that I was too tired and needed to got to bed.

I’m sure that must have felt weird to them because by that time it was only 4 pm where they were but for me it was already 10 pm. Which I know most people don’t consider to be that late but, trust me, by that time I’m barely conscious.

I went to bed an hour later, and am longing to go back to bed even now, right in the middle of the morning.

In all that exicitement I completely forgot to wish my brother-in-law a happy birthday so that will be late.

I also wanted to write a few words about the day of German unity but I guess that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Yesterday was a rather nice and quiet Sunday. I participated in a reading event-thing, and If you want to you can read all of it over on my author blog. As you can see I’m still not quite sure what to do with that blog but I’ll work it out eventually.

So there was a lot of sitting around (only 500 steps), a lot of reading, some music, some strength training, some crochet, and not a lot more.

The most interesting thing was that we made spätzle with lentils for lunch. Making them yourself is a little mess but not too much work, and they were delicious. We’ll be having the rest of them with cheese today or tomorrow.

Today we’re supposed to get switched to faster internet and a different kind of phone which was the reason I didn’t sleep well. Yes, I know that’s silly. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow you know why. Especially since tomorrow is a public holiday.

I’m pretty sure I’m being unreasonable but there you are.

So all in all yesterday was a pretty good day.

I didn’t get enough sleep, that was not so good. And then I did everything pretty slowly and did not start working on the novel right after breakfast, and I was almost convinced I had screwed up the day.

But then I went on my 5K run, and found that 5K is totally doable. I did not manage to run all the way without breaks but my walking breaks were short, and I never gave up. Funny enough it was easier to keep on running because I knew there were no walking intervals coming. All I had to do was just keep running. Well, trotting. My husband was pretty surprised that I came back home after a mere 45 minutes. But the idea is to start small and build up to 21K over time.

Now I only have to figure out how to do this without hurting my hip like I did the last time.

We had wonderful lunch, and then I took a break, and that’s usually when my Saturdays get derailed.

Not this time, though, which was great. I even managed to play a video game for half an hour and then stop.

In the afternoon I practiced a little, and got the podcast ready for publication with shownotes and everything, then I decided which songs to record for my mother’s birthday present, something I had been procrastinating about for ages, and then the boy and I had dinner in front of TV.

Afterwards I even managed to work on the novel for half an hour (phew!), prepared my bullet journal for October, and then I went to bed almost on time.

Now I only need to do the same thing again today. Well, with no running but a bit of strength training.