daily journal

Going out for lunch was actually as nice as I hope it would be, definitely a highlight of the day.

The boy set an alarm for him and his friend so they showed up for breakfast at ten. I really appreciate that but I do feel a little bad for them because that meant they didn’t get enough sleep. His friend stayed until noon and left just before we went out for lunch.

In the morning I did clean the house. Well, I always feel rather bad saying that I „clean the house“ because what I do on Fridays (if everything goes well which it doesn’t always) is I clean the mirrors, empty the dustbins, wave a duster over most of the furniture, do a quick vacuum in the middle of each room, wipe down the sink and toilet and that’s it. I did not vacuum the outside hallway which would really need it, I did not wipe down the tub (couldn’t be bothered), I did not clean the cabinet under the bathroom sink or under the kitchen sink, both of which look rather horribly dirty.

But at least after that cleaning session the house looks somewhat nicer than before.

I finished just in time to get dressed for lunch. The restaurant was pretty empty. It’s usually rather packed, especially on Fridays at lunchtime but that’s with people who go to lunch from work. Right now between Christmas and New Year’s a lot of people don’t work. The waiters there are super-nice, and we talked with many of them. And we had rather decent food, and then we got three complimentary ouzos and that basically made me unable to function for the rest of the day.

We went to the grocery store, all three of us which is something we never do and got some more food for New Year’s, and then we walked home, talking all the while. Then the afternoon slump hit me, and just two hours later I managed to record the podcast episode. Be forewarned, it is an extra chatty one.

After that I felt unable to write. I was tired, and tipsy, and without energy.

We skipped strength training again, I know, bad move, the boy and I watched two episodes of „How I Met Your Mother“, and I went to bed early. Slept like a log until 5.30. My sleep tracker tells me that I had more than four hours of deep sleep which would be a lot. I do feel pretty rested, so who knows.

Today there will be running, and writing, and reading, and I want to publish the podcast this afternoon. And the usual daily stuff. I don’t remember everything but I made a list last night so I’m good.

The bad: skipped strength training, skipped recording the podcast, had too much to eat and went to bed too late.

The good: wrote 2,800 words, went running, had a fabulous lunch.

The best feeling yesterday was that I managed to write my first 1,000 words before breakfast. Of course I only did that because I woke up way too early but there was no helping that.

The morning went by with nothing much happening. We started cooking our whole chicken right after breakfast, and I went running somewhat too late. Since we had that huge chicken my husband had asked his mother to join us for lunch, and this time she was actually not nervous, and eating and talking was rather nice.

After lunch I barely managed to do the dishes and then entered the slump. For more than two hours. I did manage to write 500 more words but then the boy wanted my help. He had a friend over for a sleepover, and needed money to go and buy frozen pizza and potato chips, and needed bedding for his friend. He also vacuumed his room, and cleaned his toilet without me saying anything.

His friend showed up at around six as planned, I made them the pizza and talked a little with them, and then we went our separate ways. They had been planning to do a „Dr. Who“-marathon in the boy’s room. Meanwhile I watched an episode of „Dollhouse“ while spinning.

And then I had more beer and more chocolate, and wrote a little more but not as much as I wanted because I was too tired.

I really need to change my ways, if I continue like this I will be fat again in a year or so. And that’s something I definitely don’t want.

So today I want to do all.the.things. Clean a little, write about 3,800 words, do strength training, go out for lunch with my husband and the boy for Greek food, make music, record the podcast, not eat too much, and go to bed on time. We’ll see how that goes.

This morning I woke up at four with a leg cramp. The good thing is that I managed to fall asleep again. At four in the morning it seemed very reasonable to make plans to spend all weekend sewing, by the way. Especially New Year’s Eve, I mean what do you do on a day like that? I was informed by the boy that I will need to stay up until after midnight, so maybe doing a lot od sewing is not the worst idea…

Well, I just had too much planned for yesterday. That always leads to not getting anything done.

After my husband’s breakfast I took a hard look at what I wanted to do in the morning, and then decided to skip the run. Especially since the boy went to school for his science project and needed to eat lunch at 12.15. There was no way I could run errands, go grocery shopping, and run before then.

So I walked around to the post office, health food store, and grocery store, then had lunch, and then spun a little more while watching instructional videos.

Then I started waiting for the boy to come back, surfed the web, played a video game, and procrastinated about writing. Which was my main occupation througout the rest of the day. I did enter the books I read up until September into librarything but that was all.

Had cheese and chocolate for dinner, watched Star Trek and such, did the dishes, and wrote about 600 words. And went to bed too late.

Today I woke up at 5.30 which means I will be really overtired today yet again. That will be fun for sure.

My plans for today are to run, help making a whole chicken for lunch, record the podcast, do four pomodoros of writing, spin, make music, and go to bed on time.

The boy has a friend over tonight for a sleepover so I’ll watch something without him then. Maybe „Dollhouse“. I started re-watching it some time ago. Didn’t get far if I recall correctly.

All of this sounds rather boring, doesn’t it? Doesn’t feel boring, though. Well, apart from the procrastination. That is pretty unfun. Yet I keep doing it. As if writing were a horrible thing to be avoided.

So I was really looking forward to getting things done yesterday morning, And I even started writing right away. Only 124 words but it was a good start.

Made breakfast, found that the banana was not looking good but edible, wrote my blog post, meditated, and was done with all of that at 8. Of course my husband did only get up after 8.30. And of course I didn’t start the fire for him regardless.

Worked on the crochet blanket, and found that I’m only eight rounds away from finishing. Also found that it takes me about four days to finish a round so that will take a while. And I’m down to doing weird color combinations because I’m running out of yarn. Should be enough to finish, not enough to make it pretty.

We were early enough with everything that I even did my singing warm-up before lunch. And then we made pork cutlets for lunch – a rare treat – with potatoes, peas and carrots.

And then my day went sideways. The boy wanted me to hold his hand while he ordered the parts for his new gaming computer. Which I did, of course, even though I hadn’t planned for it. That took about 1 1/2 hours. And afterwards we dressed in something different than sweat pants and fleece shirts and went upstairs to my mother-in-law’s to talk with my brother-in-law and his four kids.

And whoosh, there went the rest of the day.

I did finish plying the rest of the advent calendar yarn, and then I decided on what fiber to use for the hat I want to make for my husband, and I divided the fiber, and looked for all the bobbins I need. I had watched Sarah Anderson’s spinning video again, and had decided to make a cabled yarn for that hat. My husband is pretty hard on his wool things, maybe a cabled yarn will help to make the hat more durable, and warmer.

So there was no playing of the piano, no playing of the ukulele or guitar, only very few words written, and no sewing. I did find the pattern for the Dottie Angel Frock and read the first part of the instructions, though. And I spent quite a bit of time yesterday looking for my fineliners and drawing notebook – I haven’t found those, though.

Then the boy and I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special while eating potato chips and truffles. We were both a little meh about that one, unfortunately, even though it does have its moments, and then I sat down and wrote another 500 words. And went to bed a little late.

When looking at my bullet journal afterwards I realized that we had forgotten strength training. Completely forgotten about it.

And my teeth hurt again. The gingivitis has been getting better over the last week, but the antibacterial mouth wash I’m using makes me lose most of my sense of taste. The only thing I can taste is sweet. Everything my husband cooks tastes really, really bland, as if he weren’t putting any salt on it or spices. While everything is riddled with delicious herbs and spices and everything. When we had dal  the other day the only way I could tell that it was hot with chili was by the way my lips were tingling.

I had hoped that I could stop the mouth wash soon but now it seems as if the whole thing isn’t gone yet. Meh.

So. Today is another day, I’m having high hopes for. If I manage to write 3,000 words a day until the end of the year I can still finish this first draft in time. I will also be running today, doing errands and grocery shopping, practice all the instruments, and spin a bit. Bonus points for starting on the Dottie Angel Frock muslin.

I would complain about how free days always go sideways but that just feels ungrateful and sad.

Yesterday was the day that my lack of sleep caught up with me.

I had a pretty slow morning again, and even though I really tried to get out the door for my run by 10.30 I only left an hour later.

Running was great, the sun was shining, I felt fast even but the time on my phone told me that I wasn’t faster than the time before.

I had lots of plans and things to do but did have a slight problem with impulse control… Let’s just say that there are not a lot of cookies left, and that I spent quite a bit of time on the internet…

When I came home from my run my husband was busy making lunch, and also a little upset because his mother had interrupted him. She had wanted to borrow some beer from us for today’s lunch but there hadn’t been enough left. My brother-in-law and his four grown-up children will be at her place for lunch today. Since we usually are well-stocked she thought she could just borrow a few bottles with no problem. And she could have but she was all flustered because there were only a few bottles left. My husband kept saying, „I don’t know what she wants from me! There’s nothing I can do anyway!”

Because shops are all closed here on the two days of Christmas. So she couldn’t just go out and get some more.

So of course I hitched the trailer to my bike, hopped on it and biked all the way through town to a gas station that also sells beverages. Came home with a case of beer. My mother-in-law was pretty surprised. „But where did you get that? But you shoudn’t have! It would have been enough already!“ Well, then she shouldn’t have made such a fuss. Especially not at the time of day when my husband is cooking right after running because his mood is pretty low at that point anyways.

It is pretty funny, he runs the exact same route four times a week, and he is pretty fit but every single time he tells me that he is completely spent and doesn’t have any energy left. Not even to cook. But he does have to cook anyway. I, on the other hand, don’t feel as depleted after running as he does. He basically feels that running takes energy from him for the rest of the day. Four times a week. I found that when I come home from running, even from something like a 10K-run which I’ve only done once so far, I have no problem at all going out and buying groceries afterwards. Or riding my bike for a few kilometers. I’m pretty slow when I do that but my energy feels as if I could go on some more. Weird.

With the whole beer-kerfuffle I actually walked around in my running clothes until right before dinnertime, by the way. After lunch my husband usually takes a nap, and two days ago when I showered in the afternoon I managed to do so right when he wanted to take a shower, and then he had to wait an hour or so until the water was hot again. I didn’t want to risk that, and of course, yesterday he took a two hour nap, and there would have been plenty of time for me to shower, and the water to get hot again until he woke up. But I couldn’t know.

I read, I plied some more yarn, I played the piano and sang, I decided to eat lots of Christmas cookies and some cake and skip dinner because of that. And all the while my to do-list was staring me in the face.

The boy decided that he didn’t want to watch something with me which suited me fine, and dinnertime came around and I still hadn’t written a single word. or sewn anything. I really want to finish the two sewing projects in progress so I can start something new.

In the end I mended two pairs of pajama bottoms by hand, and copied a few pages from the book about drawing, and changed into pajamas (after taking a shower) around seven, and then I started writing. After 800 words I did fall asleep while sitting upright in bed, something I don’t particularly like, then I brushed my teeth and went to bed early.

So at least I got enough sleep for once. I only woke up at six this morning even.

Today there will be writing (a lot I hope but then I always hope for that), sewing, music, sitting and talking with my brother-in-law and his family, strength training, and then we’ll see.

Yesterday might have the least stressful Christmas in many years. Which doesn’t meant that it wasn’t stressfull at all, there was a point when cooking dinner and getting ready where my husband and I both snapped at each other. We immediately realized what was going on and stopped, so that was okay.

I spent a rather lazy morning crocheting, talking to my husband and reading about writing. We had leftovers for lunch, and then I sat down to spin the last advent calendar fiber.

Leftover pasta with leftover sauce with leftover champagne

All the advent calendar fiber spun up.

Afterwards I started plying it right away which was a bit of a mistake. I don’t really believe in letting spun singles rest for ages before plying but trying to chain-ply very fine high-twist singles that have barely been spun might lead to a tangle or too. Also I found that I still need a lot of practice with the chain-ply, and I had the singles break a lot. This will not be the orettiest yarn. I do love th colors, though, and am hoping that the plying will go smoother today. So far I’ve plied about half of the first bobbin.

While spinning I watched videos, I finished the one about carving out time for writing, and watched other how tos including a spinning video by Sarah Anderson. Since I’m not used to this kind of plying I didn’t look up to actually watch the video at all. I might have to watch it again when I’m doing something that needs less focus.

I was highly motivated to write yesterday but in the end I didn’t which means I’m falling short on my 5,000 word-goal by 1,500 words. Unless I’ll write them this morning. Which would be a good thing anyway, challenge or not. (I said I would write 5,000 words last week but I didn’t.)

I’m not quite sure why I am not writing, I am motivated like crazy, I have enough time, I love the story I’m writing, no idea what I’m afriad of. Maybe of finishing and having to show this to someone. It’s a bit absurd, itsn’t it? But I haven’t shown any of my fiction to anyone ever since the demise of my writing group in 2011 or so. I really should change that.

Christmas dinner with my mother-in-law was both nice and somewhat tense. It is astounding how nervous she is, even when with family. And the boy was really excited. Of course. And my husband just wanted the day to be like any other regular day.

Christmas dinner

The food was really good, and we all had Christmas cookies afterwards, and chocolate, and then I wanted to watch something on DVD but in the end I just read in my new book about drawing (Amazon Affiliate-Link). My sister gave it to me for Christmas, and I’m loving it. She wrote a note saying, „A method like this has really helped me but I’m not sure if you’ll actually use the book.“ Which is just fair, I have a huge pile of books about drawing and I have vowed to learn how to do it many times but so far I haven’t.

Of course now I’m all „Challenge accepted!”

My next thought was something along the lines of, „I should do a drawing a day and post it on the blog.“ I don’t think I will do that, though. But I’ll try to find a time of day where I can put some doodling in at least. Five minutes a day or so. I’ll pile it on all the things I’m doing daily anyway. Plus I will start writing for at least an hour a day. That will be fun!

I might have to reduce my internet time somewhat, though…