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Archives for October 2020

Friday, October 30: So close

October 31, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up really early at 5.30 even though I went to bed too late yet again. And then I made the mistake of telling myself I’d just read for five minutes. Spoiler: I didn’t. 90 minutes later I made breakfast.

So, no yoga, no meditation. I did manage to write for half an hour while my husband was busy with the wood stove. I finally finished the annoying essential fight scene and reached the point where I can write the nice little scene at the end to wrap it all up. I also had ninety minutes of time in the afternoon to do it but what I actually did instead was – read another book.

By the way, I can heartily recommend „Alpha“ by Audrey Faye even though I’m only a quarter in, or so. But I haven’t met a book by her that I haven’t adored.

I did manage to clean the house – as much as I ever clean. The key to Friday cleaning success is to no cook lunch. Apparently. As an extra treat we had takeout:

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Then it was time for teaching. In my long break between students I read and ate too much chocolate.

In the evening I ate the second half of my lunch, worked on the border of the crochet blanket and watched ‚Discovery‘ with the boy:

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Then I started writing this post, looked at the novel for a few minutes before giving up and went to bed. Not without reading some more of the novel.

Today there will be exciting things! Running, first day of fall break and the first ever, long-awaited Handgemacht virtual knitting meeting. I will also make a plan for November. New! Shiny! Month!

Filed Under: daily journal

Thursday, October 29: This doesn’t bode well for NaNoWriMo

October 30, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up early, at 5.30 and immediately started reading. And that was basically it for the day.

I did finish all the squares for my Aria blanket (sorry, no picture) so I will start the border today. I went to the supermarket and I taught all the students. It turns out that teaching for four hours a day or more makes me brain-dead and completely unable to communicate. Both yesterday and the day before I ended up checking out of conversations I had with my family. I tried to listen and to talk and I found the whole thing really interesting but my brain just flipped the off-switch. Talking with people is hard work.

I know it’s not the same for everyone but that’s what I talk about when I tell people that I’m a serious introvert. I am rather chatty and animated when I’m with people. That makes me seem an extrovert. I overcame childhood shyness by systematically practicing social interaction while being coached by a friend. Up to a point where I was convinced that I was an outgoing people-person.

An outgoing people-person who needed at least two days all alone by herself every week. And if she didn’t get those days she would get sick. Funny that.

An outgoing people-person who found out that hanging out with friends for a few hours between classes at university was way more exhausting than spending the same amount of time in the library studying.

Don’t get me wrong, I like people, I certainly like conversations and talking, I mean, I basically never shut up but I also have to take care to spend enough time alone and be quiet.

Anyways, my husband made this for lunch because I had bought too much tofu:

IMG 1872

In addition to that I tried to de-stress myself and fight exhaustion with sweets and a beer in the evening. It kind of worked, as it always does, that’s why I keep doing it.

One of these days I’ll develop healthy coping mechanisms but probably not this week or the next.

Today there will be the cleaning of the house (wish me luck), the changing of the sheets, Chinese takeout for lunch, only four students and then the new episode of ‚Discovery‘.

And then fall break. Which will kick off with a virtual knitting meeting for listeners of my podcast and then there will be NaNoWriMo-time again. And since the past three days were supposed to be dress rehearsals for NaNo where I will need to write roughly 2,000 words a day, and since I managed only 1,200 words all week – now you know why I’m a bit skeptical.

This will be fun for sure!

Filed Under: daily journal

Wednesday, October 28: Got a lot done on almost no sleep

October 29, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Okay, that’s an exaggeration, I slept for 5 1/2 hours.

Overslept a little so I set up breakfast first before doing yoga. No meditation again. The boy overslept as well but only a little and got to school on time.

My husband built a fire and ate his breakfast while I was working on my crochet blanket. Only three more squares and then I can start the border. I continue to practice Mandarin on Duolingo for ten minutes a day or so and have reached the point where when I see Chinese characters somewhere it feels as if they should make sense. I’m far from literate but it gives me hope that some day I might be able to read.

Then I called my mother for her birthday. For once I gave her a romance novel. She’s usually more the crime/thriller reader but I thought that with her being in pain all the time something light, fluffy and fun would be a good idea. I chose Beth O’Leary’s „The Switch“ in German. The German title, by the way, is „Time to Love“. No, I don’t understand it either but translating English titles with different English titles to market books or movies in Germany has a long tradition at this point.

By then I was on fire, paid two bills, helped my husband order two pairs of sweat pants and made the big annual extra payment on our mortgage. Then I did the dishes and such and then I finally went running.

I seem to have been on fire there as well – even though it didn’t feel like it – because this is what my running app showed me afterwards:

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No, I don’t think I actually was that fast. Plus, 4.5 times almost 7 is not 62. Funny. (And yes, I blame my phone’s GPS.)

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The weather was nicer than expected. Here you see the weird things they are currently doing to the fields near the autobahn. I think this is an attempt to make them into some cultivated wilderness for people’s enjoyment also for bio-diversity.

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Meanwhile my husband made lunch:

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Then it was all students all afternoon, dinner, writing emails, starting this post, doing all the dishes, failing to write and an earlier bedtime than the night before.

Today there will be the walk to the supermarket, lots of teaching and not much more.

I am really looking forward to a week off next week.

Filed Under: daily journal

Tuesday, October 27: The best were the homemade gnocchi

October 28, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Woke up at six again and did yoga and meditation. Got breakfast on the table on time so the boy wouldn’t be late for school and then I wrote actual words in my actual novel-in-progress.

My husband started the wood stove, I crocheted, I did the dishes after his breakfast and did my ten minutes of Mandarin on Duolingo and walked to the health food store.

My husband had made tomato sauce from the tomatoes he had harvested the day before and when I came back home he had peeled the potatoes and started to cook them. And then I made gnocchi from scratch:

IMG 1864

The family verdict was that these are a favorite for all of us:IMG 1865

I had to start teaching only fifteen minutes after finishing lunch and then there was one student after the other until seven. I ate dinner and then tackled all the dirty dishes with the help of my husband and the boy.

And then I sat around watching cozy sewing videos on YouTube instead of writing some more of getting ready for bed.

Today there will be running, loads of teaching again and some writing if I’m super-determined.

Filed Under: daily journal

Monday, October 26th: Super-busy and super-productive

October 27, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up at six. My smartwatch told me that I hadn’t slept well at all but I did feel alright.

Since I hadn’t gotten anything done all weekend I decided to slay the list. And I did.

The boy was headed back to school, breakfast was on time and I did some yoga. My husband got up and while he was busy with the wood stove I got a load of laundry started. There was only one clean mask in the house for the boy, so that was sorely needed.

Then I wrapped my mother’s birthday present and got it in the mail, did all the dishes and went out for my run:

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It was cold and damp but I got lucky and wasn’t rained on. I did cut my run short because I was so late:

IMG 1861

It does look like fall:

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Back home my husband was busy making lunch. I helped a little with the salad before jumping in the shower. Lunch was very good:

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Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncini.

I only had a very brief break before it was time to teach all the students.

Had dinner, did all the dishes, did not manage to write and went to bed. But I am still extremely happy with how the day went. I finally cleaned the washbasins and toilets, sew a hook on to my second sports bra that had been out of commission for ages and found a new tofu dish we can make with things we have on hand.

Today I will teach even more students and walk to the health food store. We’ll see what else.

Filed Under: daily journal

Saturday, October 24: Saturday slump?

October 25, 2020 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up around six, did yoga, meditated, had breakfast and wrote 500 words. Phew.

I talked with my husband and added to the crochet blanket. I went for a run/walk in the rain:

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I did okay-ish. The rain turned into an almost pleasant drizzle at the end. When I took off my shoes and socks there was mud on my feet.

I helped a little with making lunch and we ate half an hour too late. The boy was still asleep when I came back from running. I woke him up and he decided to skip breakfast because he’d eat lunch half an hour later with his grandmother.

I had lots of plans for the afternoon. Instead I:

  • Spent too much time online
  • Looked at the fabric that had arrived in the morning and decided not to wash it because I couldn’t decide on how
  • Started watching something on YouTube twice and every time my husband entered the kitchen to ask me something
  • Watched a Facebook live
  • Played games on my iPad
  • Waited for the day to be over

At 5.30 I thought about trying to write until six but then my husband showed up to get everything ready for dinner.

The boy and I watched an episode of Enterprise. I spent the time mostly crocheting while the boy told me all the things that were wrong with the episode. I played some more video games and read some more.

Today I will finally do all the things, for sure this time. I will clean the toilets and washbasins, sort all the yarn, sew and put my mother’s birthday present in the mail. I actually don’t have to make a new list, I can use the one from yesterday minus the running.

I think my main mistake was to look at the news around 8 am. Shouldn’t have done that.

Filed Under: daily journal

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