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Archives for June 2020

Tuesday, June 23: I can’t even say if this was a good day or not

June 24, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Another day where the alarm went off at 5.30, I turned it off, rested my eyes a bit and got up after six. Which meant I did the whole morning routine except working on the novel. At least I have proven that doing yoga makes my back happier than not doing yoga. Especially when I do exercises for the lower back.

My husband has decided to eat breakfast earlier so he came over at eight. The boy on the other hand had a lazy sleep-in and showed half an hour later than usual. Husband was extra-stressed because now that it has stopped raining he needs to do all the garden things plus he needed to get beer and such plus the boy needed his help for a science project.

In the end a lot of things were accomplished. The boy’s project is under way, my husband got most of the things done and I was pretty productive as well. The usual housework got done including a big pile of dishes and pots, I went to the health food store, helped a little with cooking lunch and did some podcast prep.

We had rice and dal for lunch:

IMG 1354

At one point I had hopes of recording the next podcast episode as well but then it turned out that my husband would start teaching early than I thought. I can’t record while he teaches because the sound carries over to the recording so that was that.

I taught a couple of students, most of them back in my studio for the first time in weeks. And afterwards two hours just slipped by. I ate dinner, I talked a bit with the boy, I kept my husband company while he ate dinner, I looked at Ravelry and Facebook, I got a knitting designer’s newsletter and immediately bought her new pattern and that was it for the day.

I waited until the boy was done with taking a shower, left the dishes as they were and got ready for bed.

Today there will be running and teaching. No idea what else.

Filed Under: daily journal

Monday, June 22: The thing about the morning routine

June 23, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

So I’m rebelling a lot against my morning routine. And I haven’t done it completely in forever and not at all for maybe a week or so. I’d rather sleep in, start my day with staring at my phone and I don’t want to stress myself all the time.

Which is all good. There’s just one problem: when I do the morning routine I am much happier and more productive.

The current morning routine is pretty long: IMG 0072

I have to confess that I have never ever earned a gold star for „15 minutes in focus zone“. The whole thing started with the Fly Lady System and the original list was already in the Home Routines app. I still aspire to get that done as well. That the list’s origins lie with the app and the Fly Lady System is also the reason everything is in English. A friend found it pretty funny that „make peppermint tea“ is not in English.

So that’s the whole list and it basically takes all morning. I can get through it if I wake up around 5.30 and don’t look at the internet or email until after 8.30 or so. I get up (getting out of bed takes at least five minutes, often fifteen), use the bathroom, go to the kitchen, take my medication with a glass of water, get the muesli bowls out and pull some blueberries out of the freezer, weigh myself and get dressed minus the socks and sweater, turn the TV on, start Youtube (try to connect the TV with wifi, fail, rinse, repeat), roll out my yoga mat, do ten minutes of yoga, do five minutes of sitting meditation, turn TV off, roll yoga mat up again and put it away, fetch the book for the morning pages, sit down and write for about thirty minutes and then it is usually too late for working on the novel, have a look at my daily blog post before it’s published, make tea and muesli and set everything out for the rest of the family, either eat with the boy or alone, have a quick look at the internet and write my daily post on Ravelry, work on the novel for another 25 minutes (or not if I don’t feel like it which makes me cranky instantly) and then it’s time for my husband to eat his breakfast.

That puts the routine on hold until we have talked about everything we need to talk about and while we do that I usually knit.

Some time around 9.30 (but usually later) I then get back to the list, do the dishes, wipe the table, carry everything that is recyclable down into the basement including any empty bottles, sort like to like down there, get fresh bottles of soda and alcohol free beer and such and put them in the fridge. Most days I don’t start a load of laundry but if I do that time around ten is a good time for it because the washing machine takes between 2 and 2 1/2 hours and if I start the laundry then I can hang it up before lunchtime.

You might wonder why I have a list like this when those are things I do every day. Well, for one I don’t really do them every day it is a bit aspirational in points. And for two, while I don’t have ADHD I do tend to wander off between tasks and forget things. Yes, I do a lot of these things every day but without the list it would take me a lot of mental energy to make sure that I didn’t forget anything.

The app makes it so that I start each morning with a fresh and clean list, it counts gold stars (which doesn’t interest me at all). I have had times that I felt silly and a little embarrassed for having lists like these but you know what? Surgeons and pilots have checklists for the things they have to do each and every time they start their work and they have them for a reason. It frees the mind and prevents mistakes. Before the list there were many days where we wanted to have a cool beverage with lunch and there was nothing in the fridge. Oops. It is the same reason why we have a piece of paper that says „hang up laundry please“ that the person starting a load of laundry puts on the kitchen table. It’s way too easy to get caught up in something else and forget all about it.

So I debated the morning routine. Maybe I am more of a free spirit and could just go with the flow? What is the point of trying to force myself to adhere to the plan when I keep deviating all the time? If there’s a task on the list that never gets done, wouldn’t it be better to delete it?

Last Saturday I had reached the end of my patience. I decided to throw the morning routine and all thoughts of being productive out the window. I’d get around to things eventually and if not, who cares?

By Monday I didn’t even attempt to start the morning routine. It felt freeing.

Until. I was limping around because I hadn’t done yoga in three days and my back was decidedly unhappy. And I had forgotten to take my thyroid medication first thing twice which meant I had to wait with breakfast half an hour longer than I wanted. And I somehow never got around to doing any work on the novel.

So I’m guessing I’ll be going back to the morning routine.

Unfortunately the most important part about the morning routine is not the list above. It’s this one:

IMG 1B7159C2517C 1

It’s my evening routine. Sorry for the language change and welcome in my weird life. This one I obviously started myself, hence it being mostly German. It says: clean doorhandles (in the annex after teaching), brush teeth, floss, wash face, wash dishes, wipe table, check bread (to see if there’s enough left for breakfast), put on pajamas, bullet journal, read after 8.30, lights out before 9.30.

That last point is the most crucial one. The list is for when I skip dinner, by the way. To make that easier I brush my teeth right at the beginning. Only I haven’t skipped dinner in ages. Ot turned the lights out anywhere near 9.30 or even 10. And that makes the morning routine almost impossible. Getting out of bed right onto the yoga mat and then onto the page for writing is hard enough. Doing it without adequate sleep is near impossible.

Another downside of the morning routine is that I’m basically done with the day by late afternoon. If I have to teach until 7 I’m almost falling asleep on my feet. On the other hand if I have already done the important bits including the novel-stuff, exercise, knitting and teaching that’s not much of a problem.

So it seems I’ll try the morning routine a little longer. And tweak as necessary, of course.

And yes, Monday happened, including running:

IMG 1349

IMG 1350

And lunch:

IMG 1353

Leftover chicken with rice and peas.

Today there will be more teaching and a walk to the health food store and loads of stuff from the list (the daily one in my bullet journal). As usual.

Filed Under: daily journal

Sunday, June 21: Another day off

June 22, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I did set my alarm for some time around 6.30 because I decided that my need for sleep was greater than the need to get anything done. I finished a pair of socks:

IMG 1344

Did all the usual things, thought I would record the podcast and set some things up before lunch, helped to cook the chicken we had gotten from the egg farmer on Wednesday:

IMG 1346

I had a glass of wine with lunch. Talked with the boy while doing the dishes and talked some more afterwards. Took a break. Sat around reading and thinking and decided that I just didn’t want to record the podcast. I’m tired of being productive all the time, it isn’t working anyway so I’d rather have more fun.

Finished a book and start the next one. Thought some more. The boy and I watched some Firefly while eating dinner. Thought some more. Started writing this post.

Today there will be running and lots of teaching. First in-person voice lessons. I still need to mark the three meters of distance we need to keep. There will be lots of emails to write. And then early to bed. I hope.

Filed Under: daily journal

Saturday, June 20: A day of pleasure

June 21, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I had one of those mornings where I just decide that I don’t want to, stay in bed a little longer, don’t do my morning routine and take things slow. And it felt as if that was the right thing to do after a full week.

I did get up around seven, had breakfast, continued reading „The Bromance Book Club“ and when my husband had his breakfast I switched to knitting a sock. I got that almost finished but not quite.

There was talk, the boy showed up on time and we talked some more, I did all the dishes that had accumulated for 24 hours and went running rather late. The weather was nice and so loads of other people were out walking and running and biking as well.

Running was actually fun and I managed to run almost all of my thirteen 3-minutes running intervals:IMG 1339

Just the night before I contemplated getting a “NerdFitness 5K“-T-shirt but having it shipped all the way from the US seems a bit extreme. I’m still highly motivated by a silly online event, though:

IMG 1341

On my way back it started to rain briefly.

IMG 1342

I came back home, helped to peel potatoes, took a shower and ate lunch:

IMG 1343

I should have bought more frozen spinach. But it did taste great.

After that I spent the afternoon with dishes again, some laundry, watching a long video, reading all the things and thinking about all kinds of stuff. As usual my husband and son wandered in and out of the kitchen but this time it didn’t bother me because I had decided I wanted a day off. That might come back to haunt me later today but in the moment it felt great.

The boy and I watched an episode of Voyager. The episode was okay but the pacing was rather slow and I’m not sure if I liked it or not. The whole series seems mostly meh at this point. Only four more episodes and we’ll have watched it all the way through.

There were even more dishes while the boy tried to explain the paper he is writing to me. I have to say that all the fancy maths are going over my head a bit and the experimental parts will be interesting too. I just nod and smile most of the time. I haven’t done that kind of maths ever (he has a hard time explaining it to his teacher) and physics were never my strong suit.

I started writing this post, watched some more video before reminding myself that sleep is a wonderful thing.

So. Today there will be some yoga, podcast prep and recording (I hope), finishing the sock in progress and watching some ‚Firefly‘. My back has healed to a point where I often forget that it hurts but then I get up after sitting for a while and remember it with a jolt.

Filed Under: daily journal

Friday, June 19: Go, go, go

June 20, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up early after not enough sleep. My back was better but still not back to normal. I did my 9 1/2 minutes of very slow, very easy yoga and meditated for five minutes but nothing else.

No work on the novel-in-progress happened. Again.

I had breakfast with the boy and spent my precious time between other people’s breakfast reading instead of writing. I can’t even say that it was a mistake because I enjoyed it so much.

My husband got up and was feeling low. I think it was the combination of bad weather and feeling stressed out because so much stuff is piling up, especially in the garden. Because of the weather, of course.

We got started pretty early, I did dishes, changed the sheets and cleaned some of the house. I never clean it all but I have a list of things I do quickly just so things don’t fall apart. For once I used this time as thinking time properly and it was glorious. It did mean stopping what I was doing now and again and jotting something down in my notebook but it made my head feel so much clearer. I got a ton of ideas. From cleaning I went right to folding laundry. My husband came back from his run while I was starting to vacuum everything. He started preparing for cooking right away. Because of the ugly weather he decided to cook on the wood stove which meant that lunch was somewhat late. Of course. And that meant that nobody did the dishes. We had an old stand-bye:

IMG 1338

I only had a short break after lunch before teaching. I was alternating between video and in person lessons again and in the one break I had between students I wrote a ton of emails and made some phone calls. All admin for the teaching. My new studio setup means I can’t really do anything on the computer there. I had to extract the laptop, carry it to the kitchen and write my emails there. My computer desk is in the designated student zone of the studio, my other desk is piled high with everything that usually lives near the piano and on the shelf next to the piano and my laptop sits on said shelf behind the keyboard and music stand. Still. It works and I’ll get used to it. But all my nice ergonomics are gone. I don’t like that.

The boy was nice enough to hang up the load of laundry my husband had started. In there were our running shoes. Since we’d like those to be not only clean but also dry for today’s run it was imperative to get that done in time.

After my last student left I did some basic tidying, packed up all my devices, made myself some dinner and the boy and I watched Firefly. I went directly to another Facebook live after that. It’s a thirty day thing and will be over today.

After that I sat in the kitchen, dirty dishes piled high, past bedtime and started this post. And weighed my options. Should I do the dishes? Go to bed even later? Or not and deal with that sad mess the next morning? Should I set an alarm? Try to sleep in? Decisions, decisions.

I stuck the lunch leftovers in the fridge, stacked the dirty dishes in a way that made breakfast possible and went to bed.

Today there will be all the things. Running and lots of dishes, apparently, maybe mopping the floors that would be cool. Also, working on the novel-in-progress, preparing the next podcast episode, maybe writing the newsletter already (I had a great idea while dusting and started research right away – as one does). There will be the watching of Voyager and lots of conversation with the rest of the family.

Filed Under: daily journal

Thursday, June 18: Basically, the day was bursting at the seams

June 19, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Again I had a hard time getting up but I did manage to do some very slow and very easy yoga first thing again. Breakfast with the boy, fifteen minutes of looking at the novel, breakfast with my husband, knitting on a never-ending sleeve.

My husband and I talked a lot about teaching and logistics again. I read a paper on risk assessment for teaching musical instruments and singing. Looked at my studio and found that there is enough space for starting in-person voice lessons again. Did the dishes and went grocery shopping a little late.

I came back just in time to help a little with making lunch, then we ate this:

IMG 1337

The boy had eggs instead of all the meat. Then the boy talked to me at length about the paper he is writing and asked my advice on writing a message to his teacher. It was nice but I really needed some alone time.

Oh, and speaking of alone-time, I finished a book the night before and started „The Bromance Book Club“. I was so engrossed at one point that I read on my phone while walking along the hallway and almost bumped into my husband without realizing. 

Then I started teaching. First were two maybe-new students that I managed to turn into new students, probably starting next week. Then three more students, dinner with the boy (I’m still taking ibuprofen for my back. It’s much better already.) and the start of a webinar on working on your body to be more creative or something. As soon as I entered Zoom it was clear to me that I was in a totally wrong mood for that.

So I watched some other video while eating a pint of ice cream (yep, shouldn’t have bought that) started writing this post, wrote in my journal and went to bed too late without working on the novel. And without making the phone call that was on my list or writing two more emails.

Today. There will be the cleaning of the house. Some working on the novel, teaching, the watching of Voyager with the boy and early to bed. No ice cream, though, because that’s all gone.

Filed Under: daily journal

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Subscribe to Handgemacht » Podcast

Handgemacht mit iTunes abonnieren

Subscribe to know when Susanne’s next book comes out

* indicates required

Manic Writing & Such

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Archives

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  • blogher (1)
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