creative.mother.thinking

But that came later.

I went to bed only half an hour late but didn’t sleep well, no idea why.

I was very determined to use the day wisely, with all the teaching and my upcoming trip it’s better not to procrastinate. Also, I did not do any housework the week before, some parts of the house are looking a bit dingy already.

So I dawdled a little less than usual and managed 15 minutes of writing time in addition to all the other morning things. Husband and I talked and I started the new pair of socks for real. I finally got to try the alternate cable cast-on and that looks good, is stretchy and fairly easy to do.

Since I wanted to be on time for things I did look at the clock throughout the morning and was rewarded with being only ten minutes later in leaving the house for my walk/run. I realized that my 68-minute walk/run actually takes me 90 minutes when you count changing clothes, getting ready and putting my contacts in.

The weather was marvelous but very warm:

I have progressed to 2 1/2-minute running intervals and I did better than expected. Also, the whole thing was rather exhausting.

I came back home, took my contacts out and took a shower. I was so sweaty and hot that my glasses fogged over, and when I took them off in the shower I still couldn’t see properly. So I thought my vision was blurry because there was sweat in my eyes. I also felt pretty dehydrated which could also be contributing.

I got dried myself and got dressed and put my glasses back on. In the shower the sight in my right eye had been blurry but with the glasses it was my left eye. Weird.

I started having thoughts of retina tears, of course, but there was not much time for contemplation, husband was making salad and very stressed. So I helped chop things, all the while unable to use my left eye.

We ate lunch outside:

After lunch I had only 15 minutes where I read and ate chocolate before my first student. They were coming in 45 minutes earlier than usual.

Not being able to see out of your left eye is very distracting while teaching piano. Thinking you might be going blind and should go see your eye doctor for emergency laser surgery is even more distracting.

After the first student I had a 45-minute break, of course, until the next student. I was still determined to get stuff done but something about the way my sight was only blurry in one eye bugged me. Was there something in my eye? If so, what was it? I tried looking at it properly but for that I have to take my glasses off and then I can’t see anything.

And then I had the right idea: what if the thing that was in my left eye was the contact lens? I mean, I remembered taking lenses out of both eyes and putting them in the case.

Right.

I looked at the contact lens case and found that there was no lens in the right side, only in the left.

What must have happened was this: I took the right lens out but because I was sweating so hard and the lenses are not the newest I fumbled, the lens stuck to my finger and I had a hard time getting it into the case (that’s what I remember). I also remember that taking the second one out was weirdly hard as well, and that one also stuck to my finger and I finally put it back in the case.

Apparently, it was the right lens stuck to my finger and I didn’t see that I hadn’t put it in the case. And when I tried taking out the left one I still had the right one stuck to my finger and thought that was the left one.

And when you walk around with your contact lens and your glasses at the same time that makes your vision rather blurry.

After taking that lens finally out I then changed the sheets on my bed and all the towels, then went looking for the wool shaver in a chest of drawers that I never open. Shaver in hand I looked at the other stuff in there and wondered what was in that big plastic bag:

Well, it seems to be about 400 grams of purple Corriedale. The purple Corriedale that I thought I had all spun up. I had been wondering about how small the quantity of yarn was that I got when I remembered buying 500 grams and the other big bump of fiber is huge but I couldn’t find more of the fiber.

So instead of vacuuming the apartment like I had planned (but I had run out of time for that anyway) I fetched a niddy-noddy and another lazy kate to pull the plied yarn of the bobbin.

The other lazy kate hadn’t been used in years. It was stored in a plastic bag on a shelf in my studio. When I tried taking it out I couldn’t because it was fused to he bag.

The plastic feet of the lazy kate had dissolved completely.

I pried it out and used it anyway but the next step will be to get the remains of the plastic feet off the bottom and put new feet on it.

I then taught the rest of my students, one student canceled so I used that time to refill the humidifier in the piano and play some piano exercises, and the last student of the day was my writer friend from New York, so we did a piano lesson and the talked for half an hour.

I had asked the boy to do the dishes which he did, so all I needed to do there was to put some things away. I ate dinner while reading (I started reading „Big Time“ by Laura Vanderkam yesterday, and I find it very uplifting.) and then opened the manuscript for 15 minutes.

Right in the middle of that my husband showed up after being done with teaching and we talked a bit. He was very tired and exhausted. I then wrote some more, started writing this post, fought some video game bosses with my son’s help, brushed my teeth, wrote a list for today, played some more video game and went to bed.

This whole day just shows how much better I do when I don’t have a day with all the time in the world. On the other hand, having days with nothing to do is also good for recharging but still, full days with a lot to do suit me better.

Late to bed, yadda, yadda, and also no writing in the morning again. But I got a whole week of yoga and all the other morning routine things.

Nice conversation with my husband while I finished knitting a pair of socks for him, and afterwards I wove in all the ends:

More conversation with my husband, then the weekly phone call with my mother who finally got. new cell phone. And then promptly had trouble with her TV receivers but that got resolved as well.

After the phone call it was time to go out for lunch. The boy had originally said he didn’t want to come but then changed his mind after looking at the menu. Thre are actually two vegetarian main dishes on there.

It was a new-to-us Greek restaurant not far away. We really liked it, it is set back between the indoor pool, the high school and a sports club. Everything was outdoors and very cozy and green. Here’s our appetizers:

And here are the main dishes:

The food was excellent. We particularly liked the red beet salad and decided right away to try and put walnuts and feta cheese on ours the next time. My husband was very happy with the portion size (I had to leave half my meat uneaten, I was so stuffed) and we’re sure we’ll be coming back.

After coming back home I took a little break and then started playing Genshin real quick.

The boy helped me with a pesky mini-game that I just couldn’t get, I tried a few other things, washed a few of the breakfast things and then it was time for my monthly Zoom with a writer friend.

We talked for an hour and had a lot of fun. We had the kind of conversation where you think you’re going to talk about something specific beforehand and then you end up somewhere completely different.

After that the boy and I did bodyweight training, I ate dinner, my husband showed me some more of his old paintings and drawings that are rather impressive. He had a phase as a teenager where he wrote and painted in addition to his music and he is currently going through boxes of his old stuff.

I talked with him and then with the boy and played a little more, started writing this post, helped the boy write another email, spent a little time on the manuscript and then planned out the week.

And now for the first real teaching day this month.

Phew. Went to bed too late, dawdled in the morning, so no manuscript time and then I was very late for breakfast.

On the other hand I have done yoga and meditation every single day this month so far, so that’s good.

My husband went for his long 10k run, so left early and assigned me the task of turning the beans off at a certain point. I was done with dishes and such fifteen minutes before that time and instead of just getting ready to leave the house for running right away and then maybe waiting for five minutes I went online and reinstalled the Instagram app on my tablet. Great move.

Somehow after that I was late for my own walk/run.

The weather was gorgeous and I did pretty well. It’s very funny, I run along on my endless 2-minute running intervals, feel like I’m close to keeling over, then look at my smartwatch and see that my heart rate is 134. Ahem. I’m not that unfit, I should be able to train at 145 to 155 for a while before it’s too much. So my perceived effort is very different from the actual one:

I came back home half an hour late but I had left a note, and I could even shower before lunch.

We had pasta e fagioli, a family favorite:

After lunch I read a bit, ate some chocolate (a little more than my (almost) no sugar challenge allows) and then I started playing Genshin Impact. The plan was to play for an hour or so, then do the dishes and open the manuscript.

Well. The quest I was playing was rather nice and also very, very long and I kept thinking „just a little more“ until I had to rush off to my weekly writer Zoom call. That call was lovely even if I never quite got to check in but I already knew that I was not super happy with the amount I got done.

After Zoom I met the rest of the family for our weekly session of ‚Columbo‘. The episode was great, it was the one that Peter Falk wrote himself thta features a wonderful Faye Dunaway. It was very good, though I have to say, the fact that there is never any blood anywhere (after shooting someone in the chest in front of a white door on a beige carpet, ahem) is starting to get to me but then that’s just what they used to do on TV. The other main character was played by Claudia Christian and I was very proud that I recognized her as the actress who played Commander Ivanova in ‚Babylon Five‘.

After watching TV I ate some more chocolate (again, twice the amount I had planned to eat) and went on to play just a little more until I finished the quest right after my bedtime.

I started writing this post, took care of the leftover food and tidied the dirty dishes so that we could make breakfast this morning, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

Today I really should get some housework done but we also want to go out for lunch, so we’ll see what actually fits.

And then it will be back to teaching and regular life.

I still didn’t do much, though.

First I dawdled until I didn’t have time for writing before breakfast anymore, then I did the usual morning routine, talked with my husband, and started turning the heel on my sock.

I read a bit, then we talked some more, and then he went out to meet a friend for lunch.

I read even more and then set out to buy frozen pizza and ice cream. Because as we were eating out with family on Wednesday, when everybody else ordered huge desserts and I didn’t really have time, I had promised myself to buy ice cream the next time I went to the supermarket.

I made the pizza for lunch:

I liked the book very much and finished it in two days. And that was only partially due to it being rather short. I then bought the next in the series, and an unrelated T. Kingfisher book that I saw on a friend’s blog.

After finishing lunch I went into waiting mode quite a bit. I waited for the boy to come downstairs for lunch and for my husband to come back, and all of that took some time. Time that I spent first reading and then playing.

At six I met my writer friend for a co-writing session. This time I let myself get very distracted and ended up reading forum posts and ordering postcards but in the end I still made great progress on my manuscript. Though I have the feeling something really should be happening by now.

Next on the list was bodyweight training with the boy. I forgot to wear compression gloves during the (pseudo)-pushup part of the training, we’ll see how that feel later today.

The boy and I then shared a pint of ice cream as dinner. I got lucky, the one time I went and bought ice cream my favorite brand was on sale, hurray!

Then it was time to do all the dishes and brush my teeth, I started this post, made a list for today, played some more and went to bed.

And now for a pretty busy weekend.

Of course I went to bed too late and I didn’t even manage to write a list for the next day.

And then I had another morning where time ceased to exist, so no manuscript time and I was very late for breakfast. I did force myself to do yoga, though, and meditated for five minutes.

Breakfast was nice but then I found I had made a mistake in the sock-in-progress, I had one gusset stitch too many, so I had to count all the stitches several times, then tried to find out where I went wrong and had to decide whether that meant pulling the past 34 rounds out.

In the end I decided to fudge it. It might mean the second sock has two more rounds than the first one but I doubt that is actually noticeable. I just decreased a stitch in a place that will probably not stick out.

But all of that took some time.

Husband and I talked at length about my dumb problem with school breaks and how unhappy and cranky I get when I have free time which is rather embarrassing. Also, about how that affects him. Fun!

Then I did the dishes and went on a very short walk/run (because I was even more late at that point):

The weather was gorgeous at that point which I found confusing because I had expected rain but I was not. complaining. The rain can storm came later, in the evening.

Husband and I ate lunch which was delicious:

All the Greek food brought to you by way of leftover burgers.

After lunch I took a shower right away and then did the lunch dishes. The boy showed up after I had just finished those and produced – more dirty dishes. I decided I didn’t mind, doing dishes – like any kind of housework – is just an ongoing process. The kitchen still looks better with just a few plates in the sink than with two dirty pots, a frying pan and all the plates and cutlery we used for lunch.

After that I took a break, started playing my video game and then just went on and on. In between I talked with my husband again and he decided to run to the town lake and take a dip for a bit of spontaneous summer feeling. He is meeting a friend of his tomorrow for lunch and was also afraid he wouldn’t have the time to go running beforehand.

At six I met my writer friend for a co-writing session and I finally got the timeline-thing sorted. I also did a bit of research for book 3 about art colleges in Berlin and Münster, as one does.

Then I stayed at the computer a bit longer to start writing this post, then finally ate dinner, made a list for today, played just a little bit and went to bed somewhat earlier.

And now I need to figure out what to make for lunch today.

I went to bed late, slept well, and felt very good in the morning. Decided not to open the manuscript because I didn’t really feel like it and also we needed to leave the house somewhat early.

Because we were going to a memorial service for my sister-in-law’s mother.

So we all had taken showers the night before (one reason for the late bedtime because only one person can have hot water at the same time in this house), and after breakfast my husband and I dressed in our funeral clothes. Unfortunately, I do not own a black raincoat and my winer coat was definitely too warm, so I went in a dress with a cotton cardigan on top, light pantyhose (because I didn’t have a black one) and black Mary Janes.

I also did my makeup for the first time in a year or so. No picture, sorry.

One of my husband’s nephews and his wife came to pick my mother-in-law and us up. The boy needed to be at uni so he did not join us.

Everything went well, the service was very moving (for everyone but me, as usual).

Since my husband didn’t have any students that day and since I still had 3 1/2 hours before my one student of the day was due we decided to join the family for lunch. We don’t see each other often and thought it would be nice. Which it was.

The restaurant was very Bavarian up to the point where they wrote the menu in transcribed Bavarian which was a bit surreal. I got pork roast with creamed mushrooms and rosemary potatoes:

It was very good.

When we were all finished with eating and no one was ordering dessert I thought we’d be home soon. Husband and I sat around waiting while the small talk went over us in waves.

At the point where the first guests were leaving because they still needed to drive all the way to Nuremberg some of the other guests started talking about dessert.

I had to tell our designated driver that I needed to be home by 4. Foolish me had thought three hours would certainly be ample time to eat, talk and finish the 15-minute drive back home.

Well. We did make it. Just barely. I texted my student that I would probably be on time, not to worry, just open the garden gate and wait inside, and when I rushed to the annex door she was pushing her bike in.

I had to teach in my black dress and cardigan and – most annoyingly – in the pair of glasses that are for looking in the distance. The glasses do have a small part for reading but deciphering sheet music with them was no joke.

So all went well but being very dependent on other people at times is one of the drawbacks of not having a car.

After my lesson my husband and I finally did all the dishes from the day before and breakfast together, we talked briefly with the boy, and then I sat down to dinner, played Genshin and procrastinated taking my makeup off.

I was very foggy after coming home and could not make myself write, so I might do some extra writing today. I also did not go for my usual Wednesday run, maybe I’ll find time to do it today. My husband actually went for a run after we did the dishes to clear his head.

Today is a public holiday, so no grocery shopping, which means there might be time for it.