Archives for January 2018

Well, the best thing about yesterday was that I turned out the lights before ten. Hurray for getting enough sleep.

Other than that the grocery shopping kept me pretty busy, not only did I walk to two grocery stores, I also went to the bakery and the tea shop.

After lunch I spent a little time listening to the boy attempting his presentation. There’s still a lot of work to do on that one but he did hold it in class that afternoon and got very good feedback. His mates did cop out, so he was the only one presenting.

Then I spent an hour on housework, dishes and laundry and such. And did a little cleaning. Since I never seem to get the cleaning done on Fridays these days I thought I’d try the „a little bit each day“-approach again. I need to really push myself to do it, though, because otherwise I end up with a really dirty house. (Who am I kidding, I alreay ended up with a really dirty house but I’m trying to remedy that.)

The days are always shorter than I would like, that’s for sure.

Since the muslin I’m working on is driving me crazy I decided to get a start on sewing new t-shirts by printing out the first page of each pattern. So I can measure the test squares and then print the patterns out and glue the pieces together. That always takes ages.

So today I want to run, do a little strength training, teach, practice, spin, crochet, read, write, and go to bed early.

Wish me luck.

I might be extremely tired because the boy has a presentation today. Meh.

So yesterday went pretty well in the beginning, I ran (almost early enough), and then I actually tacked ten (okay eight) minutes of strength training onto the end, and helped a little with making lunch, and took a shower. Then I even pulled out the sewing machine, sewed two seams, tried transferring marks from the pattern to the fabric, and found that I didn’t have the patience for that, and packed everything away.

I practiced, I taught, I tried installing new firmware on my camera and failed, found that all the batteries for it need recharging and gave up on that for the day. (I think I might have a solution for my problem with the firmware, though, it might work if I use the very old computer I still have sitting around. My OS might be the problem.)

I put new strings on the travel ukulele that had been sitting there without strings for two days. That is good.

I still haven’t managed to make a complete to do-list and it’s driving me crazy.

After dinner the boy said that he needed some things printed out for the test presentation for next week’s science fair. Not a problem, or so I thought. Turned out that the printer wasn’t printing colors. And that it had dried out. And that I needed to self-clean it a gaziliion times. And change the ink. Repeatedly.

Two hours later I finally had something that worked. All the while my husband was cranky because we had disturbed his evening routine, and he couldn’t make music with all the hullabaloo in the annex.

I went back to the kitchen after that and ate everything that wasn’t nailed down. Bad move.

Then I decided to not write that evening because it was too late.

Then I decided to not let a thing like that stop me, and wrote anyway, almost falling asleep while typing.

And then I actually dozed off several times before getting up from the bed again to brush my teeth and wash my face, and then I remembered that we didn’t have any bread for breakfast, and I went down to the basement and got some out of the freezer, and then I went to bed way too late.

Next time I should write first, and save myself some weight gain and an hour less of sleep. But then that’s what I always say.

So I might be a little tired today. I also will go grocery shopping, and make music, and maybe attempt to install the firmware, and make progress on the muslin, and write some more. I am very close to finishing the novel in progress.

I have a feeling that this will be one of those days where all I do is think longingly of bed all day, and then in the evening I sit in the kitchen for three hours before tackling the dishes. (Guess what is looking at me right now? Last night’s dishes. My husband even started doing them because I was busy with the printer but then the boy decided to start taking a shower, and doing dishes while someone is in the shower is just cruel.)

With one word – meh.

Onwards and upwards.

So that was interesting.

It turned out that the writer’s meeting I went to yesterday was not exactly the kind where you exchange business cards, more the kind where people show up for the first time saying, „I really want to write this novel but I have no idea where to start.”

Let’s say that I stuck out yet again, and not only beause I was knitting a sock.

On the bright side, I did manage to turn a heel. And I managed to mostly shut up and not talk all the time which is a miracle and most unusual.

People were nice, and the one who organizes these meetings was trying to be helpful for each of us. I am having the impression that the German writing scene might be at the point where the English-speaking one was five years ago but maybe I’m wrong. And I am, of course, writing in the wrong language, not keen on getting an agent or a publisher, and therefore I must appear extremely odd.

But then there was a guy there with two traditionally published books under his belt that are doing pretty well, and he has to work in a day job that he doesn’t like. Funny that. But he is very happy that his publisher is taking care of all the pesky technical stuff and marketing.

Yeah, right.

So I’ll keep writing in isolation, I guess.

It is a bit disheartening because I’ve been looking for like-minded people for a long time now, and I never quite fit in anywhere. It is getting on my nerves at the moment. I am very lucky to at least have my husband.

I did manage to write my 500 words right before going to bed which is good, and then I realized that I do seem to have a certain intrinsically drive what with the blog, and the podcast, and the writing.

I mean, I found myself saying things like, „When I did NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2006 it took me about two hours to write those 1,700 words but now I’m mostly writing 2,000 words an hour.“ And only afterwards did I realize what I just said. It wasn’t even bragging because most of the time I can write 2,300 to 2,500 words per hour. But not all the time.

I had to say something because Mr. Expert at the meeting told the newbies about NaNoWriMo by saying „50,000 words in a month“ which is correct, and then the „roughly 1,700 a day“ which is also correct, and then he continued with, „and for some people it takes up to five hours to write those“. Might be true but I bet there aren’t all that many people who have five hours a day to spare. And as far as I know most people can write at least 500 words and hour if they set their mind to it.

So right now I’m really grateful for the internet, and the fact that I can learn about things from all kinds of sources.

In an attempt to destress my day yesterday I skipped running, and counted the bike ride as my exercise for the day. I’d say that two rides of thirty minutes are alright for that. And they were rather enjoyable. Knitting a hat that I can wear under my bike helmet was one of the best things I did in the last few years.

Today I’m planning on doing a lot of nothing, reading, writing, knitting, crocheting, making music, watching something on TV, sewing, and maybe, just maybe, some strength training.

I’m looking forward to getting a little rest before starting a brand-new week.

So that was not the best day ever. Not the worst either.

It was one of those days where I’m all anxious and down for no apparent reason. Complete with binge-eating almonds and cheese in the morning and eating way too much chocolate in the evening. I did stop after one beer even though I really, really wanted another one, and I’m counting that as a win.

Feeling like that, and all paralyzed made it somewhat hard to get everything done, of course, so I only did about half the cleaning. And as usual once I had forced myself to move the vacuum around the house and change my sheets I felt instantly better. I even knew this beforehand. I sat there munching away instead of tackling the dust bunnies and thought to myself, „Dear Susanne, you really should start the cleaning because that will make you feel so much better. Stuffing your face won’t.“ But I didn’t listen to myself. Yet again.

At least I did get the writing done, and I sent the podcast out, so there’s that. Without pictures because I actually forgot to take those. I hope to remember today or maybe tomorrow morning. Mornings are really the only time I can get somewhat decent pictures this time of year.

I did quite a bit of spinning on the burgundy merino, and am starting to enjoy spindle-spinning again. I try not to think about how much spinning I will still have to do before finishing this, I’ll just chip away ten minutes here and there until I’m finished.

In the meantime I started a few extra squares to add to my Sophie’s Universe crochet blanket, and the yarn for the boy’s crochet blanket finally arrived so I’ll work on that the next few months as well.

Today there will be running, and leftover lasagna for lunch, and then I’ll go to a writing meeting I’ve never been to before. I’m not quite sure if I want to take the bike or the train to that, we’ll see. Biking is usually way more fun. The paths are rather muddy but I can also just use the paved bike path next to the big street. It’s less nice but faster and way less muddy, of course. Or maybe I’ll take the scenic route on my way there and the less scenic one back when it’s starting to get dark. I’ve been meaning to get myself a stronger light on my bike for ages now because with the one I have it is really dangerous to ride after dark. I can be seen but I can’t really see anything.

And then I’ll spend a nice and cozy evening at home which is exactly how I like it.