Archives for June 2019

Woke up from the alarm and promptly fell asleep again, so no writing. But morning pages and meditation.

Had a late and lazy breakfast already a little tense because of the doctor’s visit and the trip. Husband was still overwhelmed from the whole hail damage-thing which is rather understandable.

I only knitted a little bit but finished the t-shirt’s body. Did the dishes and went running. It was great but I walked way more than I ran:

It was pretty gray but dry.

You can’t see any of the damage from here but the tree line looked rather ragged and there were leaves on the paths everywhere. Someone must have gone through an cleared the paths, though, so everything was passable.

Then I fell into a bit of a slump which meant I started making lunch too late. Still, I did get showered beforehand and lunch was good and on time. Might have been a little better if the potato salad had time to sit a little longer:

Then the boy and I went to the dermatologist because of his acne. He got prescriptions for things to try and we went to the pharmacy right away. And then he had to go back a second time in the evening because something was not in stock.

We wandered back home via another supermarket, I wanted to get more scrunchies but there weren’t any I liked so we bought some licorice.

I took a break and then started packing for real. I’m taking too many things. The laptop and all the electronics, a new knitting project, the ukulele but only one outfit besides the one I’m wearing on the train.

The boy and I watched some more Star Trek, I tried writing a bit and went to bed.

Today I’ll spend most of the day on a train, leaving here at 10.30 and arriving at 6.30 with 45 minutes in Hannover. Maybe I’ll find a scrunchy there.

So I’m expecting a lot of time for reading and knitting and not much else.

I didn’t sleep well. Something fell from the roof around midnight and that had me sitting in bed wide awake. In addition to that there was also a weird low sound reverberating through the house. I wandered through all the rooms until finding out that that sound was the dehumidifier in the basement.

The plan for the day had originally been to go grocery shopping in the morning and write in the afternoon between students but that got a little derailed.

I got up late, had breakfast, talked with my husband, did the dishes and the boy was still not up. So I went out to the bakery, the butcher, the post office and the health food store. There were a lot of people out in the streets cleaning all the leaves and twigs from the sidewalks. There were side streets full of debris. And we heard the sirens all day. That hailstorm was a doozy.

I got everything I needed and sent off the taxes (yeah!) and then found the health food store closed because of hail damage.

So I walked back home and decided to go to the supermarket as well.

The rest of the family had already started the cleanup. Even the boy was outside putting shingle shards in containers.

We had an easy to cook lunch:

We took a bit of a break after that and then it was time for me to teach my first student.

Afterwards I went outside and helped raking leaves until it was time to teach my second student of the day. Everybody I met talked about the hail and what things broke or didn’t break. My mother-in-law had talked to insurance and had found out that we need a quote from a roofer next, so my husband called the guy who did our roof the last time. He’ll come by some time today and look at it.

And then it was dinnertime, the boy and I watched an episode of Star Trek and I went to bed pretty tired. I walked 16,500 steps that day so that might be part of it.

Today I want to go for a run, go to the dermatologist with the boy, pack for the trip and go to bed early. Writing might be a good idea as well.

That was exciting. Everything is alright, though.

I did wake up shortly before the alarm and started the day by lying in bed unwilling to wake up. I had just watched a video about the importance of starting the day right for motivation and that was definitely not the right way.

Still. After three days of not writing I was pretty set on getting some words down. I started by writing morning pages because my mind was still reeling after talking to my mother, then I forgot to meditate and then I forced myself to write. After a slow start I managed to keep working on the novel for almost an hour, so that was good.

Then breakfast. My husband showed up late so I could finish another novel and switch to „Storm Cursed“ by Patricia Briggs. I worked on the Crazy Tee and managed to finish the body. Well, almost, there is some ribbing to knit and then the sleeves.

We were pretty late again but managed to go running anyways:

It had rained before but the run was nice and dry:

And then we made lunch:

After that I did the dishes right away, took a break, then a shower and then proceeded to finish the taxes.

Not my favorite thing to do. But I did it and found out how to do everything and after about two hours of work I managed to send it all off. We still need to sign the paper copy and mail it but apart from that we’re done for the year. Phew.

Just when I was about to hit „send’ and felt like celebrating my husband came into my studio asking me if I had seen the weather and that there was a big thunderstorm coming. I had already seen that the sky was all dark and a little yellow and that this would be a doozy. I finished the taxes and sat there in front of my laptop when there was a rather weird sound coming from outside and right after some big things hit the roof. I thought, „Hail,“ and turned around again when the noise became so loud and the hits so hard that I fled the room because I was afraid the hail would come through the skylight.

This was what we saw when we looked outside:

Those are shingle shards from our roof. The hailstones were about as big as a golf ball. My husband almost wept when he saw the devastation in the backyard. This is our porch, those poor cucumber plants were razed off:

There are holes in the rainwater barrel where hailstones went through a bush, then through the water in the barrel and still punched through the plastic wall of the barrel.

At least the skylight held for which I am rather grateful, for a moment there I imagined what I would do if both my laptop and my piano would be ruined:

The tarp over the skylight got ripped half off and has holes all through. The small roof in front of the annex door is cracked, the greenhouse roof is broken and about half the plants are dead.

While we were still looking at the damage the doorbell rang and our next-door neighbor was there asking us if we were alright. Which was rather sweet. Apparently nobody was hurt. One of the boy’s classmates was out there riding their bike and ended up with bruises and cuts all over their hands.

So it seems we will spend most of the day accessing damage and documenting it so we can get everything back to order. Fortunately we do have insurance against hail damage, my parents-in-law saw to that after the big hailstorm in the eighties.

Still. It feels like half the maple tree ended up on the lawn but fortunately it is only small branches and a lot of leaves.

So I guess I will skip my short run today. The boy has already started helping my mother-in-law with cleanup. There will be more of that later and also a grocery run. Since the boy and I will be gone for most of the week we don’t need as much food as usual, though. And I have two students coming in despite Pentecost break.

We’re all a bit shaken today.

I woke up from the alarm at 5.30, hadn’t slept enough and stayed tired all day. Picked up my phone to look on social media and that was it with the day. Bad move,

I did get out of bed on time to make breakfast but had forgotten my thyroid meds so I had to wait half an hour more. Most of the day was spent waiting for the day to end so that I could sleep and recharge.

I did call my mother around noon and had one of those slightly surreal phone conversations. Her memory has never been the best but it’s starting to get worse. She didn’t remember that I don’t like strawberries, also that I don’t eat rawr tomatoes (both things that have been true for many decades now and that she used to comment on because people who don’t eat strawberries are obviously totally crazy) and more stuff like that. She was sure that we’d be visiting from Thursday (or maybe Wednesday) through Tuesday. She was so sure that I looked it up in my calendar and – I shouldn’t have bothered because I have been planning this for weeks – the boy and I will step on the train on Thursday and get back on Monday.

My husband had a great idea for lunch after I mentioned the cream about to go off in the fridge:

I spent a lot of time knitting on my Crazy Tee because I’d like to finish it before starting a new sweater.

I also spent a lot of time pondering if I should start the new bullet journal this week even though there are still ten pages left in the old one. But I don’t want to take two notebooks with me and it is nicer to start a new journal at the beginning of a week instead of midway through.

In the end I set up the new journal. Having that will make my life marginally easier. I didn’t transfer all the collections and such yet but did set up all the essentials.

I had planned to spend the day mostly writing but that didn’t really work out. My husband wandered by my room, there was Instagram, and a novel I really needed to read and the boy.

I did do yoga but rather late. The boy wanted to play piano again after a hiatus so I started teaching him a new piece and we got to talk about music theory as one does. He told me that he had already made a pile of drawing supplies he wants to take with him on the trip. I was all proud that he was already thinking about packing. My son!

Of course I did start making my own packing list. I’m only half-sure what clothes to take, I’ll wait for the weather report but I already made a list of all the electronics and such. And yes, I could probably pack for a trip to my parents in my sleep and have it all done in five minutes but I like the planning and scheming and it makes me less anxious.

I also looked at video tutorials for easy updoes because I’m still contemplating wearing my hair up for five days so that my mother doesn’t realize how long it is. She did complain that the way I pull my hair back is not soft enough so I was actually spending time and thought on this.

On the other hand the boy’s hair and clothes and everything will totally grab her attention; maybe I can stay under the radar, long hair or not.

For these kinds of situation there are two strategies that work. One is camouflage and pretending that you do what the other person wants and the other is going strongly in the other direction, doing everything they hate with a vengeance. The second route often shuts the complaints right up as well.

And yes, I am totally aware how silly it is to worry about my mother making comments about my hair at my age. I definitely should start a bullshit bingo card.

The boy and I watched another episode of „Deep Space Nine“ and it was pretty good. And I made more progress on my t-shirt.

I did manage to go to bed earlier this time so I have high hope for today.

Today there will be running and – taxes. Fun times. Or rather not but I always feel better when they’re done. It is a public holiday but we’ll just ignore that, okay?

Since I had gone to bed too late but woke up at 5.30 the day was pretty much doomed from the start.

Late breakfast after a lazy morning in bed, talking with my husband, procrastinating like crazy but in the end I did manage to go for a short 5K run:

Back home where my husband was making chili we found that we were all out of carrots. I went to the nearest grocery store and found that while they do have organic bananas they do not have organic carrots.

Lunch was eaten:

After that I did the dishes and then went out to the health food store and yet another grocery store for carrots, tomato pulp and snacks for the chess figure whittling party in the basement. Just before I went out one of the boy’s classmates came over so they could work on said chess figures.

I spent most of the afternoon eating chocolate while surfing the web but I also finished reading the eight Emma Schumacher-novel. And I wound the yarn for my next sweater into balls and the new yarn for the Crazy Tee. I’d like to finish that before starting the new sweater if at all possible. I won’t lug two sweater projects around while traveling, though.

The boy and I watched an episode of Star Trek, I did write a few words (not many, though), ate more chocolate and went to bed.

Today there will be yoga and writing and knitting and all the usual. Possibly also the writing of a packing list for the upcoming trip. Exciting as ever.

Woke up from the alarm at 5.45. Was all set to write but then didn’t for no apparent reason. Made breakfast and talked with the boy who was not looking forward to his German test, then started knitting and read one of the book samples on my ebook reader. I have accumulated a ton again and want to decide whether to put them on the „buy later“-list or delete.

I am not reading non-fiction at the moment, instead I’m reading a lot of unimportant stuff online and some fiction.

My husband showed up late again, he was out in the garden before and forgot the time.

We didn’t linger much but he went running while I was starting my round of chores. I actually managed to do the dishes, change the sheets on my bed and do the weekly cleaning all in less than 75 minutes.

I did take a bit of a break after that, while my husband made the pizza dough and then I started making pizza. My husband was helping but he was so cranky that I sent him away.

I almost got lunch ready on time, even:

Did the lunch dishes and hung up a load of laundry before my first student of the day. After his lesson I published the podcast and posted about it on social media. Then more teaching. Another break, one more student and then – the weekend! And two weeks off. Well, almost. (Almost off, that is, not almost two weeks.)

The boy and I watched Star Trek while my husband was still teaching and that was it.

I did manage to write a word or two and go to bed on time.

Today there will be running and taking a shower, no idea what else. Probably not much. I do have a long list for the next few days that include finishing the taxes and writing and spinning and all kinds of things but we’ll see how that goes.