creative.mother.thinking

It was fun but I’m sore all over today.

I was a bit earlier in the morning and did the whole morning routine including 15 minutes of yoga. Woke the boy up at 8 because he had to get to an exam on time, spent only very little time crocheting and talking with anyone.

I did the breakfast dishes while listening to Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 1 and enjoyed it very much. Made a note to show parts of the first movement to students who are unwilling to practice scales.

And then I put my orthotics into the pair of sneakers that is already full of mud and did the first day of Couch to 5K. It was glorious, being out in the woods, even though those 45-second running intervals had me huffing and puffing and my heart rate going up way higher than it has been in ages.

I was reminded of all the reasons why I like wearing contacts when running outside, my glasses were fogging up and slipping around all the time.

I came back home, took a shower and then there was lunch:

We had spaghetti aglio e olio (my husband also added some chili) and a mixed salad.

I only had a little break before starting to teach because I had rescheduled a student. I taught all afternoon, one student wanted to have his lesson online because he was feeling under the weather.

Meanwhile the boy had texted me after his exam, saying his calculator was dying and he definitely needed a new one which did not bode well. Apparently, he did manage to write the exam all the way through but there were certain calculations he couldn’t do anymore. We’ll see how that will turn out.

When he didn’t answer my question about bodyweight training after my last student I thought he would just sleep all evening but just as I was eating dinner he did show up after all. So I ate very quickly and then we did our usual training. Well, we tried, but we both were so exhausted and tired that we had to scale the exercises back. On the other hand I tried doing negative pull-ups again and almost managed to jump high enough to do them this time, So that’s progress.

After we finished I hurried to watch a Zoom presentation thing. It was very interesting and fun but I nodded off repeatedly throughout.

After that I made myself a cup of tea, did my foot exercises, Duolingo and made a list for today, then drank that tea while sitting in bed, brushed my teeth and turned the lights out a little late again.

Today should be a bit quieter, I hope.

I overslept a little and with that managed to make up for going to bed too late. Then I did almost my complete morning routine including writing some new words of fiction.

My husband and I talked over breakfast, I wrote my blog post and did the usual stuff before calling my mother on the phone Where I spent most of the time telling her all about my doctor’s appointments since we last spoke, then we talked about exercise and politics.

I was early enough after that to not only do the breakfast dishes but also to help with lunch. I chopped some vegetable and nuts and peeled two eggs. We had rice noddles, tofu, sprouts and cashews:

Lunch was a little late and so I only had time for a short break. The boy came downstairs during that time and talking with him made me a bit late doing the dishes. Because we were expecting a friend of my husband and for once we planned on sitting in the kitchen. The boy helped me dry dishes and we finished almost in time. We talked about his upcoming exam and the upcoming election.

My husband and I spent about 90 minutes with that friend, mostly talking about finances and index funds but also about about more politics. Anyway, we now have a list of next steps to do.

I did not get around to watching course videos but I did manage to plan the week ahead. Which looked rather nice and empty until I remembered a couple of Zoom calls and webinars. I might have to skip a few because this is getting out of hand.

I ate dinner, decided to skip the live Q&A for the course I’m taking because I don’t really have any questions about the material, started writing this post, made a list for today, made myself a cup of tea, did my foot exercises and plunked down in front of TV with my crochet.

So, all in all a good day, only I was so very tired all the way through. So I guess more sleep is in order.

Though, what even is normal?

I did all of the morning routine with the exception of meditation and taking my blood pressure. Progress! I spent most of the day playing silly iPad games but still managed to go for a walk:

Lunch was rather late but very good:

And then I cast my vote for the upcoming election:

I still have to mail it, though. I’m not all that happy about our options but I knew exactly what party I wanted to vote for. I’m still hoping for a government that will stand against the new rise of racism, isolationism and fascism. Fingers crossed.

The boy is agonizing over who to vote for, he feels even more disappointed than my husband and I and keeps waffling between two parties.

I had plans to spend part of the afternoon watching course videos but ended up just listening to them while doing dishes and hanging up laundry. At five it was time for my weekly author Zoom and that was really ice as usual. Afterwards my husband and I watched an episode of ‚Columbo‘, this week without the boy because he is very busy studying at the moment. There were a couple plot holes in there but the idea was rather clever.

Then I had plans to start writing this post and watch some C-drama but ended up doing neither. More silly games and a lot of reading (I’m on book 2 of the „Tea Princess Chronicles“ and am enjoying it very much.), and then I went to bed too late again.

And now off to tackle the Sunday things.

I went to bed at a reasonable time but didn’t sleep all that well. In the morning I made myself write morning pages and after that I ran out of energy. After sitting around for a while trying to get myself moving I just gave up and made myself breakfast. My husband was very confused because he was, of course, thinking I’d do my whole manuscript time, yoga and meditation routine. Oops.

The rest of the morning went accordingly, no cleaning, no nothing but a lot of silly iPad games. My husband went running and then met with a friend for lunch, so the boy and I ate frozen pizza. From our new pizza plates. My husband had decided he couldn’t stand the plate with the botched musical notes and instruments anymore, so we invested in new plates. Behold:

In the afternoon there were more silly games, my first student canceled because they were sick but after my actual first student of the day I did find the energy to at least clean a little bit. Very slowly and very sloppily. I also changed the sheets on my bed.

I then taught my last student of the week, met the boy for bodyweight training where we both were very, very weak and slow, but we did it anyway. Then I sat around for an hour before I could make myself eat dinner, then another 45 minutes or so before I finally parked myself in front of TV. The plan was to only watch half an episode of C-drama but somehow it ended up being more than one episode and some YouTube. Ahem.

So I went to bed too late and am hoping to do better today.

Let’s see. I did manage my complete morning routine and felt pretty okay. Until I arrived at the supermarket and found that I had not only forgotten to take the BRITA filters that I wanted to get recycled but also both bike panniers.

I briefly considered riding back home and getting them but decided against it.

So, this was what I bought:

And this is how I got it all packed:

I should have gone outside first to get the basket on my bike but that would have meant putting the grocery cart back, going the long way around and back so I just paid the 25 cents for a paper bag.
I went home with the paper towels on the back rack, paper bag in the front basket, the backpack on my back and the shopping bag dangling from the handlebars, oof.

My brain never quite recovered all day, not even after an excellent lunch:

And yes, the combination of mushroom and shrimp risotto is a bit weird but my husband had already thawed the shrimp before realizing that we also had mushrooms.

I only had a few students, one canceled and there were lots of breaks in between. I did manage to watch a bit of the course I’m taking, so that was good.

I ate about twice the amount of dinner than was necessary (mmh, fresh sourdough bread) and then followed it by a full bar of chocolate, ahem. I went to bed too late and didn’t sleep well which doesn’t surprise anyone.

Today I’ll be sitting over here reading and holding my aching head.

And sorry this is so late but the blog doesn’t like it when I try posting more than two images…

Not that surgery is immediately happening, it’s just clear that it’s only a matter of time.

I had gone to bed on time the night before and slept well, and then managed my whole morning routine of morning pages, manuscript time, yoga and meditation. My husband and I changed our respective morning routines and are now working around each other more which means none of us has to sit around waiting for the other one to finish something. That also means I do yoga in the living room while my husband is tending the fire but that’s completely okay.

My optician appointment was at 11, so not that hard to get there on time. I was completely low on energy still, after the MRI apparently used up a lot of emotional energy. And, of course, I’m still eyeing the MRI results a bit warily because I don’t really understand all of it but that’s what the neurologist appointment will be for.

I really like my optician and think he is very competent and thoughtful. I got measured and decided to order a pair of sample lenses. He found that while my sight has been getting a little better again, the cataract in my left eye definitely has worsened but probably not up to the point where I need to get surgery right away. Still, we talked about the period in between one surgery and the next where I’ll need something to correct my vision. He suggested getting a contact lens just for the right eye to get it to the same level as the other one.

Most people who get cataract surgery don’t need glasses afterwards but with my eyes I’ll have to wear glasses afterwards as well.

After that conversation I was basically done for the day and swung by the health food store for chocolate and tortilla chips because comfort food. I ate it all after lunch and after dinner and while the food definitely comforted me the fact that my weight went up this morning definitely didn’t. But that’s normal after eating all that salt, so we’ll see.

In order to destress I then went on a short walk and I even fit in a shower before lunch.

Lunch was very tasty:

I had an early start to teaching but two breaks in between, after my last student I had to wait while the boy was setting up the new mesh router thingy in a addition to the three we already have in a quest for decent wifi upstairs in his room, and then we did bodyweight training. We were both very weak that night and felt like not doing much but we prevailed and this morning I’m sore everywhere.

After that I slumped around at the kitchen table, ate dinner, slumped some more, couldn’t bring myself to start watching TV, talked briefly with my husband, ignored my bedtime reminder, watched some YouTube while spinning and crocheting (and doing the pattern wrong for a whole row) and went to bed half an hour late.

Here’s to a mostly normal day today!