creative.mother.thinking

I had gone to bed on time and woke up an hour early with the urgent need to sort out my breakfast for April 16th. Because that is so urgent and important. Not. It bugged me endlessly until I even got out of bed and measure the volume of my favorite muesli bowl to see if it was bigger or smaller than that of a jam jar. Looks like we’re firmly in jam jar territory still which means I could potentially make myself my usual fruit, muesli and yogurt breakfast and eat it on the train. Which would mean getting up in the morning that day, taking my morning meds with a big glass of water, making some black tea and putting it in the small thermos and making muesli and take it along.

If I take some teabags the thermos would be useful on the trip itself as well. I should take a water bottle in addition to it, though.

I did my morning routine, wrote some new words in the new story and started getting a grip on the second main character, had a long conversation with my husband that started out with a misunderstanding but went well further on, went for a walk/run, had delicious food for lunch, played a lot of Genshin Impact, did writer Zoom while crocheting and watched Columbo with the boy.

Here’s the food:

We were all out of the big white beans so, well.

The weather was a bit gray and slightly wet outside:

My husband vacuumed the annex and did the washbasins and toilets there which was very nice.

The Columbo episode was a bit boring, the boy even fell asleep. I did help him study for the upcoming test. 

Things I wanted to do but didn’t:

Clean the rest of the house and change towels, do another load of laundry, do the dirty dishes, write the blurb and, in general, do all the things. Which probably won’t happen but hope springs eternal.

I went to bed on time, hurray! I did the usual morning things but did not open the manuscript again. Instead I paid for the next three book covers because there was a sale, and then I canceled the train tickets I had for the retreat and then bought new ones again. Because I’d like to arrive before the retreat actually starts. I am now set to take a train at 6 in the morning which is, um, unfortunate. I very much hope that everything will go right and I will arrive in time.

Husband and I had a harmonious breakfast, and then I had a phone call with the parent of a student. I was rather cranky because they insisted on talking on the phone but in the end it was rather nice and I got to talk about my teaching philosophy to someone who actually got it.

After that I did the dishes real quick, finished the grocery list and braved biking to the farther supermarket. Things went better than expected, for once I did not run into masses of students from the nearby high school and the shop was not as crowded as I thought it would be. I bought so much stuff that I could barely lift the bags, good thing I used the bike.

Since it was Friday we decided to keep lunch simple with frozen pizza and some salad:

I had a bit of a break and then it was time for teaching. Which was fun, I got to play a lot and even got to figure out how to play a new to me song together with a student. (The song only had four very simple chords, but still. I was very proud when my student strummed a chord and got it right without prompting or anything. He had just known that chord was A minor.)

I hadn’t been sure if I wanted to do bodyweight training because my arm was still a bit hurt from my shot the day before but in the end I decided to do just a quick round of exercises.

I had some wild ideas of starting the weekly cleaning between the last student and training but that didn’t happen. But I did manage to change the sheets while waiting for the boy to show up.

I also started to quiz him on the stuff he needs to know for his upcoming exam in between rounds of pushups and squats.

Then there was dinner and some more playing of Genshin than I had planned (just one more chest and one more Abyss mage, you know how it is) before I started writing this post, made a list for today and left the dishes in the sink.

I am very determined to not have another cranky and unproductive week off but then I always am. I guess I need to actually do something different this time to achieve a different outcome. Huh.

And it didn’t help that I stayed up until midnight. For no apparent reason but then anyone who knows me could have predicted that I would go to bed extra late because I needed to leave the house extra early.

I wrote morning pages, got dressed and brushed my teeth and left the house for my biannual check-up. That took just a few minutes except I was asked to give another urine sample and to make a new appointment for that.

I walked back home by way of the supermarket where I buy my yogurt and then finally sat down to eat breakfast. Then I wrote an email to my doctor’s office about the appointment, they told me I didn’t need one and to just come in that afternoon or the week after.

I didn’t want to wait and I definitely didn’t have time that afternoon so I just walked back and tried my luck. This time I walked back by way of the health food store and got pretzels and chocolate.

I did the dishes and folded some laundry and helped make salad and then we had a rather early lunch:

It had turned out to be a bad idea to move grocery shopping to today because we were lacking some key ingredients for most of the things my husband wanted to cook. But this was very good.

I read a bit while eating chocolate and played Genshin and then it was time to start teaching. I had two video lessons first, then I waited for a student who had texted me that she would be a little late. And then that she would be even later.

She arrived 35 minutes late, all flustered, because she had someone work on her furnace and it had taken way longer than anticipated. We decided to reschedule the lesson to next week.

Meanwhile I had found out that the retreat I will be attending in April is supposed to start with lunch on Thursday and end after lunch on Sunday which means I should cancel the train tickets I already got because those would mean I’d be 2 1/2 hours late on Thursday and 2 hours early on Sunday. Apparently there should have been a confirmation email giving us the time but I never got one. I am registered, though, I got information via mail and am on the email list.

After teaching I quickly ate dinner before it was time for the last Zoom call for the course. I was so tired that I had a hard time focusing.

Then I started writing this post, talked briefly with the rest of the family, made a list for today and went to bed before midnight this time.

Today will be another ‚doing all the things‘-day and then there will be carnival break.

I got almost eight hours of sleep again, yeah! I also skipped manuscript time again, not yeah. That day’s reason was that I got several messages first thing in the morning that I had to answer.

Husband and I did not have any conflict at all which was also good. We talked, I crocheted after breakfast, I did the dishes and then went out to walk (and run very little). The ground was mostly not frozen anymore which was great but it was so muddy that it started being slippery again. My socks were drenched when I came home:

I took a shower and then we ate rice and beans for lunch:

I had a short break before teaching and then lots of breaks in between because two of my students had to cancel because they were sick.

I played Genshin Impact in between students and in the evening. I ate dinner and waited for the boy who had gone to Munich to look at paintings with a friend.

When he came home and I looked up again I was already somewhat late for all my diverse evening things, oops.

Oh, and I was also too late to write a nice post about how this blog is now 20 years old. It was on February 11th 2006 that I decided to post more often to that iteration of the blog. It was still called „diapers and music“ and hosted on blogspot.

Well, it’s been quite some time. It will be interesting to see what will happen next.

But at least my afternoon was pretty chill, two students canceled.

I went to bed too late because I talked with the boy and then woke up at 5.30 unable to fall back asleep. Not the best start into the day.

I was feeling pretty okay and opened the manuscript for twenty minutes but then husband and I went right into misunderstanding/crisis mode. At the point where I started crocheting we went back to having a nice and helpful conversation. We also both agreed that conflict is really draining and we would rather not have it.

My weird headache was better but not completely gone.

Just as we were settling in to talk I realized I needed to leave the house in a hurry. The doctor’s office closes over lunch and I didn’t want to get there too late.

I took a train to the next town over, renewed a prescription at my gynecologist, went to the nicer health food store, went back to the train station just as the train was pulling in (and I caught it), stepped off in my hometown again, went to the drug store, the supermarket where we used to get out yogurt because every kind that I’ve bought since then was definitely sub-par, went to the pharmacy and then to the other health food store before heading back home.

My husband was cooking when I came back but lunch wasn’t ready yet which was alright. I put the groceries away and then found myself pretty hungry and unwilling to fold laundry or do anything else until the food was ready. In my defense the whole trip involved a total of 45 minutes of speed walking…

Lunch was good, the objective was to use all the leftover potatoes up and my husband made broccoli to go with them but that turned into slush through inattentive cooking. But there was steak and fried potatoes, so all was good:

I had some chocolate as dessert while reading „Beast Business“. I did finish that book yesterday and really loved it but it would probably not work for someone who hasn’t read the other books in that story.

After that I played a bit and then it was time for teaching. I switched instruments after every lesson, ukulele, recorder, guitar and piano.

Then I ate dinner and played some more before the boy showed up and started dissecting my Genshin account again but I was definitely too tired for that.

He was nice enough to do the dishes while I started writing this post, made a list for today and brushed my teeth and then I read a bit more and turned out the lights.

Today is the day where I get everything done the I don’t need to leave the house for because tomorrow will bring more errands/doctor’s office and such.

I’m already looking forward to the weekend, oof!

Oh, and the day you’re reading this is the 20th anniversary of my first blog post. That is a long time, indeed.

Well, not exactly a headache but I really don’t know what to call these. Overwhelm? Headache? Migraine? I should probably talk to my doctor about it but again, how do I explain?

„You see, it feels as if I have a headache but without pain. And also like my field of vision shrinks. And everything is too much, especially people. And everything is too bright and too loud and too much but screens don’t bother me at all. Oh, and I get nauseous but then I always am. And pain meds don’t work. Most of the time but sometimes they do. And I’m pretty sure it gets worse with stress.”

I bet the doctor will love this. And I might get another MRI that shows nothing. If I’m lucky.

Anyway, I did get almost eight hours of sleep again. That would be great if I didn’t suspect I need more than that.

Because I was feeling so off I promptly skipped manuscript time but I did the rest of my morning routine. The SAD light felt way too bright so I turned that off again. Yea was interesting because I was also feeling pretty dizzy. Balancing on one leg while feeling like the ground is shaking is always a fun experience.

Also because I felt off and, like, half my brain was offline again (oops, another symptom, I should make a list) my husband and I started fighting before breakfast. Figures.

We managed to make up pretty fast but for a while I was sitting at the breakfast table all alone. On the upside I could continue reading „Beast Business“. I really like it.

We talked, I crocheted briefly and then decided that I needed some video game time which was fun. And then I went out for my walk/run too late but, hey, the paths were clear enough that I could actually go and see trees, hurray!

This was one of the trickier parts, long stretches of path were completely clear, only mud, no ice at all.

I came back home to lunch:

There was some chocolate, some reading and more video game.

Then I took a shower and found the warm water really made me feel a little better as did the walking and the fresh air.

Teaching went better than I thought it would and then I had almost an hour for dinner. I sat, ate and read and then it was time for course Zoom. Which ended early so I just stayed at the computer a little longer and started writing this post.

Then I spent some more time on my own, did the usual evening things and went to bed. Today might involve a short train ride and some errands and more free time in the evening. Which I’m really looking forward to.