Archives for June 2019

Well, if I’m honest with myself getting a grip on my life will probably be an ongoing project for the rest of my life. That doesn’t mean my life is out of control, just that it is something that will need constant adjustment.

I did wake up at 6.30 and only faffed around a bit before meditating and working on the novel for 25 minutes. Phew. Getting back to writing after a week off is always a struggle. Then I had breakfast and had already started reading and knitting before my husband came over. (I’m reading „Part-Time Gods“ by Rachel Aaron, the second in the DFZ-series. I’m loving it.)

Having worked on the novel for a bit made me feel rather happy. I would love to finish this novel by my birthday but that would mean writing about 1,500 words every single day until then. Might not happen. Hadn’t happened in a long time. I think my current average is something like 500 words per day.

When I manage to write first thing in the morning the most important task of the day is already taken care of before I meet anybody else. However the day goes, at least the writing is already done. Now I just need to do this every day for the upcoming five weeks. Which means turning my alarm back to 5.30 again. Fun.

So there was knitting and conversation and waiting for the boy but I still did some yoga before helping with making lunch:

I played a bit of piano and did my singing warm-up. And then we made an actual recipe for once. Polenta smalzada trentina:

The boy got tomato sauce and mozzarella on his instead of anchovies and no salad. He is looking much better already but still not back to normal.

I had great plans for the afternoon but we did that thing where every time I am gearing up to write or start something my husband walks into the room and asks me something. In the end I just locked myself in my studio. And wrote for almost an hour. Which means I have 1,000 words in the bank for one of those days that I can’t be bothered to write.

I did want to sew but felt rather drained after all that writing and just wrote a letter to the neighbor who had offered a grand piano on loan. I also thought about the newsletter for a bit and did my plan for the upcoming week. School is starting again and I want to get back to regular exercise and regular writing. I’m also thinking about what I want to achieve over the next quarter, what went wrong the past few months and what I can do better.

The boy and I watched some Star Trek and then I went to bed early.

Today there will be running and teaching and the writing of the newsletter and laundry. All the good stuff.

I woke up at 6.30, lounged about but at least meditated for a bit. I had breakfast and knitted and read.

I wanted to start the day a little earlier than the last ones because I still wanted to clean the house and go running as well. And I knew that I wouldn’t have time for anything in the afternoon.

The boy was rather late for breakfast but we did the dishes anyway. I started cleaning while my husband went to the health food store. With the boy not being able to chew just yet we need lots of things we don’t usually store. Then he went running and I cleaned some more. I was just finished when he came back from his run.

I also ordered a USB-microphone for podcast recording because I’m tired of all the technical difficulties. I’m hoping that that microphone will work better than my current setup.

I decided to start preparing lunch before heading out. I was too late for my run and considered skipping it again but I had been skipping too many lately. So I got out and ran:

My husband had said that it was windy and cold but I have to say that I really love the cooler weather.

We had lentils for lunch and they were yummy:

I did the dishes right away and finally took a shower. The others had had to wait for me with lunch so no shower before eating.

And then I had a lovely virtual knitting meeting with Eliandhra.

After that I was waffling about watching soccer with my husband while spinning or retreating to bed with a book. As often bed and book won out.

Today is a day for yoga and maybe sewing and sitting down and planning what to do next week. It’s supposed to be really hot so it might be a good idea to finish that summer dress that has been hanging around half-finished.

Hijinks continue.

I woke up early but again did not manage to do anything worth mentioning until after breakfast. My husband showed up ten minutes after his usual time on purpose because I had been so late the day before. I was late with breakfast but not that late.

I knitted a bit and it was clear that my day would be packed to the gills. The plan was to clean early so that I’d be done in time for the boy’s doctor’s appointment, then to eat lunch, teach a potential new student and then to record the podcast because my husband’s student was due an hour later.

But then I got a message from another student that she wanted a lesson that afternoon. Which was great but meant I had to move my schedule around.

While I was thinking about all the things I wanted to do my husband was agonizing about the fact that he had to call the roofer back again. We need a quote for insurance and he said to contact him again if he hadn’t sent it by Wednesday. Fun.

So I recorded the podcast in the morning, then went with the boy to an appointment where I wasn’t needed, walked back home, went grocery shopping because we were totally out of yogurt and some other things and then I ate lunch:

The boy had cauliflower soup instead. Puréed, of course. And eaten with a teaspoon. His pain levels are moderate but he still has a hard time opening his mouth. And chewing might be a bit too much.

After lunch I let myself get sucked into playing a new game on my iPad, then I did the dishes and didn’t have enough time left to do anything podcast-related.

I taught the potential new student and seem to have made a good impression because she is planning to become an actual new student starting in two weeks. I really liked her. She got a little dizzy from a combination of excitement and my studio being rather hot. I did finally haul the fan from the basement at least.

Then another student, starting to work on the podcast and then I watched some Star Trek with the boy.

I am rather fed up with my podcast setup. After cleaning out my Thunderbolt sockets and freeing half the hard drive I tried recording everything on the new laptop again. Which worked fine until it didn’t. The recording stopped five minutes before the end. So I spent about an hour researching USB mics that afternoon. I think I want to invest in that. I’m not thrilled with the sound of the current microphone and connecting via two adapters is not working so I might have to spend some money on this problem before it is driving me crazy.

When starting to work on the video portion of the podcast I also found that sound and image were out of sync on the QuickTime video. Which made synching the audio file to the video a bit challenging.

When we were watching TV I found that we had two messages on voice mail (I get a message on my cell phone when that happens)  which basically meant more stuff to deal with.

One was an old school friend of my husband’s who wants to get together today which would be nice if we had the kind of life where you sit next to the phone waiting for someone to call and the other was the offer of getting lent a grand piano until the owner has enough space to keep it himself. Which sound wonderful, especially if you play piano and have longed to have a grand piano for ages. Until you realize that a) you need enough space for the piano, b) you need to pay for getting the piano to your place which would be several hundred euros at least, c) when the piano is in your possession you need to pay for tuning and maintenance which can cost you a fair bit and you still own a piano that needs tuning and maintenance, and d) you have no idea if this is even a good piano or what condition it is in.

I guess I’ll call her, thank her for thinking of me and decline because we don’t have enough space. Which is true.

And then I worked some more on the podcast, published it and went to bed on time at least. Okay, almost.

And this is how I somehow never got around to cleaning the house.

Today is rather packed as well, I want to go for my first run in ages, take a shower and have lunch, then I’ll meet a friend in the afternoon and I have no idea what else but I’m sure I won’t sit anywhere twiddling my thumbs with no idea what to do next.

And I totally get why my husband dislikes phones so much.

I woke up late, after seven, not enough sleep again. My good habits keep deteriorating. I ate breakfast around the same time as my husband which threw us both off.

The boy came downstairs pretty late too with rather puffy cheeks, seems all the cooling does indeed make a difference and when you don‘t cool for many hours throughout the night that makes a difference too. He was feeling better, though, and we did start the cooling regiment right away.

He had yogurt with honey for breakfast. We all had a rather slow morning. Apparently that was what we all needed.

I prepared recording the podcast but otherwise I spent most of my time finding out all about the new iPad mini. Funny, how a new ne works differently than the seven year-old one.

One of the things that didn‘t work anymore was my blogging software. I use MarsEdit on the laptop and really love it but the app I used to use on the iPad doesn‘t exist anymore. So I needed to find a new one. Which is the one I‘m currently trying out while typing this. I want one that works in airplane mode as well as when I‘m online.

So far it is little weird but workable.

We made pasta e fagioli for lunch, the boy got his without the pasta and pureed:

After that I was set on recording the podcast. But first I had to do the dishes and take a break and care for the boy and help my husband sort his equipment problem and play some more with the new iPad. And around 4 pm I finally admitted to myself that I just didn‘t feel like recording a podcast episode, all I wanted was a day off.

So I did that.

Spent the rest of the afternoon reading and taking a shower and doing nothing much.

Today there will be cleaning and a short trip to the oral surgeon and teaching one, maybe two students. I am starting to think about routines again and what I want to achieve over the next three days until school starts up again but it seems I do need some time off still.

I woke up around 6.30 or so and just read stuff on the internet again. Once of these days I need to get back to more productive ways. I had breakfast and just when I was finished the boy appeared. He had set an alarm at eight because of his wisdom teeth extraction at ten. Shortly afterwards my husband showed up.

The time until surgery went by fast and we were headed out right on time. Okay, a little early. I can’t stand being late and I like to leave a bit of extra time for things goin wonky.

At the dental surgeon’s office we had to wait for fifteen minutes and then the boy was led away. He was all set up with music on his cell phone and earphones. I waited for about 75 minutes making great progress in the current novel („Swanhild, die Blutige“ by Andrea Instone, weird title but good book so far) until I was told everything went fine, he had cysts on three of the teeth and the fourth one had a connection to his, um, maxillary sinus (at least that’s what the dictionary says; Kieferhöhle in German) so good riddance. When I was allowed to see him again he was sitting upright in a dim room connected to a pulse meter and that thing they put on your finger to measure the oxygen in your blood. And he was very, very sluggish.

We had opted to pay for a form of sedation that makes you forget everything while still being conscious. He behaved a little like he was drunk. And he did everything he was told but not much more. I received instructions for what to do after surgery and made two follow-up appointments and then I led him back him. He didn’t like it that I was gripping his arm but when I tried loosening my grip I found that I had a little trouble steering. I was a bit worried he’d just walk into traffic. I found myself scanning the ground like when you’re out with someone who has trouble walking, announcing every small obstacle and making sure to only cross the street when there was no car in sight anywhere.

We did arrive home safely but then I needed my husband to look after the boy while I was getting his medications. Nasal drops and ibuprofen. Of course, my husband was in the shower when we came back.

I did manage to get everything and install the boy in the master bedroom which is much cooler than his own room right under the roof.

Then I helped making lunch. My husband was rather weak at that point, running in hot weather hadn’t helped a bit:

The boy had mashed potatoes and pureed sugar peas. He was still a little off and had to use a rather small spoon because he couldn’t really open his mouth still.

My husband and I did the dishes and then I went off to teach two students in a row. Every time I checked the boy was sleeping.

And then I started waiting for my new iPad. I helped taking care of the boy a little more and waited. And waited. And waited.

I know that that’s not a productive use of my time but well, I couldn’t help it.

Then I went to the grocery store for cold cuts and yoghurt and waited some more.

We had dinner. Scrambled eggs and sandwiches for me and my husband and scrambled eggs and sort of porridge for the boy. He only ate a small portion but he did eat and used ice packs all afternoon to keep the swelling down. Other than that he sat in bed and played with his new Nintendo Switch.

And then, about an hour after midnight my new iPad mini arrived. Hurray! So I played with that a bit, made sure that the boy took all his medications and went to bed early.

Today I’d like to go for a run, if possible, and record a podcast and not much else. It’s a public holiday here because of Corpus Christi. I’m expecting the boy to be bouncing back quickly and am hoping that things will return to normal around Saturday. Of course, that’s when Pentecost break will be almost over. Well, it is what it is.