Archives for December 2017

So I actually slept longer than usual today, my husband got up early and did not build a fire in the wood stove and all of that results in a slightly later daily blog post (shrugs shoulders).

I am still trying to wrap my head around 2017 as a whole, and failing. I’m also still not writing, no idea why. I am completely low on energy all day so that might have something to do with it.

I am contemplating all kinds of things like restricting social media (I have the suspicion that my feeling of „It’s all too much!“ stems from consuming too much social media at least in part.), or not eating sugar and drinking alcohol until my weight is back down where I want it to be, or like doing loads of challenges.

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions but I am doing goals this year and I might write my goals down and put them on the side of the fridge even. We’ll see.

Yesterday was spectacularly unproductive but I’m completely okay with that. No idea if I will write any words today or not. I am still thinking about how to develop a daily writing habit, though. Not for the blog which is going rather well at the moment but for fiction. I have been thinking about the fact that I spend some time every morning writing several hundred words for the blog, and have also been thinking that I might use that time and energy for fiction but right now the solution of just spending less time online reading stuff and more time offline writing stuff seems more attractive.

Today will be mostly a normal Sunday, there will be leftovers for lunch because we have a ton of them, and we are planning to make cheese fondue tonight (not a normal Sunday activity). We will all do our thing during the day, and in the evening we have planned to watch some „Star Trek“ together, and maybe some concert videos (we started recording conerts this morning at 6; there is „Pop around the Clock“ on TV again, and the ones that really interest us are all on in the early morning), and of course „Dinner for One“.

There might be champagne in the fridge. I might decide to go to bed before midnight even. I remember that last year the whole thing stopped being fun somewhere between 10 and 11, as it always does. But the boy told me I’m not allowed. We’ll see.

I ran out of yarn on the crochet blanket which means I will be ordering tons of yarn today. And I almost bought a book even though I have new rules in place. (I’m trying the “buying way less books“-challenge yet again.) But then I found that the book is available in a German translation as an ebook at my library so I’ll be reading that in German for a change.

I don’t think I will be able to think everything through that I want to in one day so I’m giving myself another week or so for that.

2017 on the whole was a rather full and interesting year, that much is clear.

Going out for lunch was actually as nice as I hope it would be, definitely a highlight of the day.

The boy set an alarm for him and his friend so they showed up for breakfast at ten. I really appreciate that but I do feel a little bad for them because that meant they didn’t get enough sleep. His friend stayed until noon and left just before we went out for lunch.

In the morning I did clean the house. Well, I always feel rather bad saying that I „clean the house“ because what I do on Fridays (if everything goes well which it doesn’t always) is I clean the mirrors, empty the dustbins, wave a duster over most of the furniture, do a quick vacuum in the middle of each room, wipe down the sink and toilet and that’s it. I did not vacuum the outside hallway which would really need it, I did not wipe down the tub (couldn’t be bothered), I did not clean the cabinet under the bathroom sink or under the kitchen sink, both of which look rather horribly dirty.

But at least after that cleaning session the house looks somewhat nicer than before.

I finished just in time to get dressed for lunch. The restaurant was pretty empty. It’s usually rather packed, especially on Fridays at lunchtime but that’s with people who go to lunch from work. Right now between Christmas and New Year’s a lot of people don’t work. The waiters there are super-nice, and we talked with many of them. And we had rather decent food, and then we got three complimentary ouzos and that basically made me unable to function for the rest of the day.

We went to the grocery store, all three of us which is something we never do and got some more food for New Year’s, and then we walked home, talking all the while. Then the afternoon slump hit me, and just two hours later I managed to record the podcast episode. Be forewarned, it is an extra chatty one.

After that I felt unable to write. I was tired, and tipsy, and without energy.

We skipped strength training again, I know, bad move, the boy and I watched two episodes of „How I Met Your Mother“, and I went to bed early. Slept like a log until 5.30. My sleep tracker tells me that I had more than four hours of deep sleep which would be a lot. I do feel pretty rested, so who knows.

Today there will be running, and writing, and reading, and I want to publish the podcast this afternoon. And the usual daily stuff. I don’t remember everything but I made a list last night so I’m good.

The bad: skipped strength training, skipped recording the podcast, had too much to eat and went to bed too late.

The good: wrote 2,800 words, went running, had a fabulous lunch.

The best feeling yesterday was that I managed to write my first 1,000 words before breakfast. Of course I only did that because I woke up way too early but there was no helping that.

The morning went by with nothing much happening. We started cooking our whole chicken right after breakfast, and I went running somewhat too late. Since we had that huge chicken my husband had asked his mother to join us for lunch, and this time she was actually not nervous, and eating and talking was rather nice.

After lunch I barely managed to do the dishes and then entered the slump. For more than two hours. I did manage to write 500 more words but then the boy wanted my help. He had a friend over for a sleepover, and needed money to go and buy frozen pizza and potato chips, and needed bedding for his friend. He also vacuumed his room, and cleaned his toilet without me saying anything.

His friend showed up at around six as planned, I made them the pizza and talked a little with them, and then we went our separate ways. They had been planning to do a „Dr. Who“-marathon in the boy’s room. Meanwhile I watched an episode of „Dollhouse“ while spinning.

And then I had more beer and more chocolate, and wrote a little more but not as much as I wanted because I was too tired.

I really need to change my ways, if I continue like this I will be fat again in a year or so. And that’s something I definitely don’t want.

So today I want to do all.the.things. Clean a little, write about 3,800 words, do strength training, go out for lunch with my husband and the boy for Greek food, make music, record the podcast, not eat too much, and go to bed on time. We’ll see how that goes.

This morning I woke up at four with a leg cramp. The good thing is that I managed to fall asleep again. At four in the morning it seemed very reasonable to make plans to spend all weekend sewing, by the way. Especially New Year’s Eve, I mean what do you do on a day like that? I was informed by the boy that I will need to stay up until after midnight, so maybe doing a lot od sewing is not the worst idea…

Well, I just had too much planned for yesterday. That always leads to not getting anything done.

After my husband’s breakfast I took a hard look at what I wanted to do in the morning, and then decided to skip the run. Especially since the boy went to school for his science project and needed to eat lunch at 12.15. There was no way I could run errands, go grocery shopping, and run before then.

So I walked around to the post office, health food store, and grocery store, then had lunch, and then spun a little more while watching instructional videos.

Then I started waiting for the boy to come back, surfed the web, played a video game, and procrastinated about writing. Which was my main occupation througout the rest of the day. I did enter the books I read up until September into librarything but that was all.

Had cheese and chocolate for dinner, watched Star Trek and such, did the dishes, and wrote about 600 words. And went to bed too late.

Today I woke up at 5.30 which means I will be really overtired today yet again. That will be fun for sure.

My plans for today are to run, help making a whole chicken for lunch, record the podcast, do four pomodoros of writing, spin, make music, and go to bed on time.

The boy has a friend over tonight for a sleepover so I’ll watch something without him then. Maybe „Dollhouse“. I started re-watching it some time ago. Didn’t get far if I recall correctly.

All of this sounds rather boring, doesn’t it? Doesn’t feel boring, though. Well, apart from the procrastination. That is pretty unfun. Yet I keep doing it. As if writing were a horrible thing to be avoided.

So I was really looking forward to getting things done yesterday morning, And I even started writing right away. Only 124 words but it was a good start.

Made breakfast, found that the banana was not looking good but edible, wrote my blog post, meditated, and was done with all of that at 8. Of course my husband did only get up after 8.30. And of course I didn’t start the fire for him regardless.

Worked on the crochet blanket, and found that I’m only eight rounds away from finishing. Also found that it takes me about four days to finish a round so that will take a while. And I’m down to doing weird color combinations because I’m running out of yarn. Should be enough to finish, not enough to make it pretty.

We were early enough with everything that I even did my singing warm-up before lunch. And then we made pork cutlets for lunch – a rare treat – with potatoes, peas and carrots.

And then my day went sideways. The boy wanted me to hold his hand while he ordered the parts for his new gaming computer. Which I did, of course, even though I hadn’t planned for it. That took about 1 1/2 hours. And afterwards we dressed in something different than sweat pants and fleece shirts and went upstairs to my mother-in-law’s to talk with my brother-in-law and his four kids.

And whoosh, there went the rest of the day.

I did finish plying the rest of the advent calendar yarn, and then I decided on what fiber to use for the hat I want to make for my husband, and I divided the fiber, and looked for all the bobbins I need. I had watched Sarah Anderson’s spinning video again, and had decided to make a cabled yarn for that hat. My husband is pretty hard on his wool things, maybe a cabled yarn will help to make the hat more durable, and warmer.

So there was no playing of the piano, no playing of the ukulele or guitar, only very few words written, and no sewing. I did find the pattern for the Dottie Angel Frock and read the first part of the instructions, though. And I spent quite a bit of time yesterday looking for my fineliners and drawing notebook – I haven’t found those, though.

Then the boy and I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special while eating potato chips and truffles. We were both a little meh about that one, unfortunately, even though it does have its moments, and then I sat down and wrote another 500 words. And went to bed a little late.

When looking at my bullet journal afterwards I realized that we had forgotten strength training. Completely forgotten about it.

And my teeth hurt again. The gingivitis has been getting better over the last week, but the antibacterial mouth wash I’m using makes me lose most of my sense of taste. The only thing I can taste is sweet. Everything my husband cooks tastes really, really bland, as if he weren’t putting any salt on it or spices. While everything is riddled with delicious herbs and spices and everything. When we had dal  the other day the only way I could tell that it was hot with chili was by the way my lips were tingling.

I had hoped that I could stop the mouth wash soon but now it seems as if the whole thing isn’t gone yet. Meh.

So. Today is another day, I’m having high hopes for. If I manage to write 3,000 words a day until the end of the year I can still finish this first draft in time. I will also be running today, doing errands and grocery shopping, practice all the instruments, and spin a bit. Bonus points for starting on the Dottie Angel Frock muslin.

I would complain about how free days always go sideways but that just feels ungrateful and sad.