creative.mother.thinking

Went to bed too late, again. Did I already tell you that I seem to have a pretty consistent bedtime? Pity it’s half an hour too late, yawn.

I was very motivated and determined after getting coached the evening before so I did my complete morning routine including writing new words. I’m rather determined to finish this novel as soon as possible, best before July.

My husband and I had breakfast and talked but not for all that long because the weather forecast said there would be thunderstorms around 11 and we both wanted to go out and run.

There were dark clouds in the early morning but then they all went elsewhere for a while.

I did leave the house at 10.30 which is very good for me but, well, it was rather hot already:

I should really have worn a cap. Also, the wheat field I’ve been running along for weeks now? It’s actually rye. How embarrassing. At the halfway point, when I took that picture, I felt faint and nauseous and about five minutes later I decided I couldn’t run anymore at all. I slinked home always seeking the shade. Too hot.

My husband had already started cooking when I came back and there was so much to do in the garden that he decided to skip running. I did help a tiny bit with chopping some carrots and grating parmesan but then I went off to take a shower and pin some dress pieces together. Since the second dress doesn’t have a deadline I’m trying to work on it a little bit at a time.

Lunch even had two courses because there was this pretty old radicchio salad, so my husband fried it as an appetizer:

The main course was tagliatelle with chanterelles:

The boy had forgotten to set himself an alarm, so he did not go to uni but I met him briefly before it was time to teach while I was pulling red currants off their stems with a fork. I asked him to do the dishes and he agreed.

I went to my studio early because I had a rescheduled lesson with a student who is usually very early and used the time to start playing a new Mendelssohn piece. I’m not quite sure if this is too hard for me or not but it’s interesting so I guess I’ll try.

I taught three students, then wrote an email, drafted a welcome-email for my newsletter, spent half an hour on the manuscript writing new words, then another 30 minutes proofreading book two and was very hungry with a headache when my last student of the day was due.

I taught that student, a pleasure as always, but I need to find a way to tell him about Miles Davis and „Blue in Green“ because the piece he is currently learning is probably an homage.

I then started writing this post, finally ate dinner (I have to admit I stole two cookies from my husband’s stash between students, I’ll refill that later today), I baked red currant muffins again (this time with the correct amount of red currants), watched a bit of C-drama, did Duolingo and went to bed.

Today will bring a dental cleaning, getting measured for orthotics and all the students so I guess that will be all for the day.

I’m thinking a lot about how I used my time these past two weeks. Yesterday wasn’t bad but it wasn’t that good either. My morning routine is rather wonky again, I keep thinking it would be much better to get up half an hour earlier but then I would get even less sleep.

Since I went to bed past midnight and only had six hours of sleep I did not move very fast. It also was very, very warm.

I did do all the dishes from the day before after breakfast, and for the first time in ten days or so I listened to classical music while doing so. I had been at a point with my „classical music every day“-project where I was about to give up because I was so far behind, then just listened to five pieces in a row (most of them are less than five minutes, so pretty doable) and, lo and behold, getting back on track seems doable.

I was extremely determined to write a lot, to not dawdle too much and to go running before noon.

Well, it was 11.53 when I left home. Does that count?

I came back an hour later and my husband had just started cooking. There was fresh produce and herbs everywhere and he had just realized we were out of parmesan. So I chopped a bit of celery and some sage and then went out again to the supermarket.

Came back, chopped some more things, sorted through the arugula my husband had picked (he had already washed and sorted but there is always a lot of weeds, bits of grass and stuff in it) and then it was finally time to eat:

The boy even joined us for lunch and told us all about his trip to Passau the day before. He and his friends walked through most of the city, then made lasagna and then it was so late that the boy had to rush to catch the very last train. That train was late and he almost didn’t reach his connecting train in Landshut. He already saw himself spend the night on a bench at the Landshut train station but the conductor was nice enough to ask the one in the connecting train to wait a bit.

The boy had to wait for 45 minutes in Munich for his last train and finally got home around 3 am.

Since lunch had been an hour later than expected I was in a bit of time crunch at this point. I did do the dishes right away, took a short break and a shower and then found I had only twenty minutes left until my weekly writers meeting.

The meeting was very nice with only three of us, after that I joined the rest of the family for watching ‚Columbo‘. But first we had to wait for my husband for half an hour (he asked if we were okay with that first) because he was very, very close to finishing soldering an amp back together.

The boy used the time to work on another lab report and I just sat around doing nothing.

We watched ‚Columbo‘ together, the episode was very good (‚Playback‘ from season 4). After many episodes that are more than 1 1/2 hours this one was only 70 minutes and the pacing was much better.

After that I sat around for a bit, undecided whether I should watch something, write, plan, or whatever until I realized I was way too tired for any of it. The boy had planned to take a shower which always clocks the bathroom for a long time. In the end I just brushed my teeth, changed into pajamas, read for twenty minutes and turned out the lights very early.

So today I’m actually pretty well rested for once. Woot!

I went to bed only half an hour late and when my alarm got off I did not stay in bed for more than half an hour, so that’s good. I did most of my morning routine, no writing again, though. But there was yoga! And three minutes of meditation! And an optimal blood pressure. I think next week I’ll try to reduce the medication again. If I got to a place where I didn’t need blood pressure medication again that would make me very happy.

Before starting the morning routine I had to make sure the boy was awake because he wanted to catch an early train to visit friends. A group of them was planning to meet in Passau. Since there wasn’t enough space for all of them to stay overnight the boy opted to go there and back on the same day.

My husband made breakfast and then we talked. There was still a bit of tension but we managed to defuse.

No exercise, and I was at a point where I hadn’t even made a list the night before but that didn’t matter because when I sat down to think about what I needed to do after lunch I was right on track.

I asked my husband to help me take the mattresses out of the master bed and switch the slatted frames between the two parts of the bed. The one I was using was making noises when I moved and turned out to have been patched with gaffer tape. We also both switched to summer duvets and changed the sheets.

Then I did the weekly cleaning around my husband starting to cook and working in the garden. I got done before lunch, even, and had time to cut some stuff up to help. There are oodles of fresh herbs and such in this:

Then there was some chocolate and „chocolate flutes“ my husband had brought from Italy and another cupcake.

And then I found myself in another one of those afternoon slumps. I did manage to extricate myself, though, by making a list of all I still wanted to do.

I had decided that the buttonband on the cardigan-in-progress was too floppy so I ripped it back and after lunch I sat down and picked up stitches again, using a smaller needle. I started a load of laundry, cut the fabric for the second skirt piece for the red dress I’m making, printed out new shopping lists, and then it was time to get ready for the Zoom call of the day.

This one was about burnout and overwhelm and was rather helpful. The coach suggested that for some people when they find they get nothing done maybe adding something else to their lives might be the right solution. We also talked about structure and schedules. I made lots of notes and finished the buttonband. And it looks much better this time.

After that there was dinner, my husband had brought cheese from Italy, unfortunately I forgot the name. It was very good, though.

I started writing this post, did Duolingo, found that the other Chinese app I had been using requires a subscription once you reach HSK 2, so I guess I won’t be using that, put the kitchen in order, watched some C-drama while knitting on a sock and went to bed.

The plan for today includes walking/running, some time with family and maybe some sewing, we’ll see.

I didn’t get enough sleep yet again. I should just shut up about it.

I had a hard time getting moving again but eventually I managed to go for a walk/run. A very hot and sweaty one. Since it’s so hot I really should go outside earlier:

Then I was back late to make lunch. It’s astonishing, how bad one can get at cooking over time. I used to be pretty competent but then my husband took over making lunch every day and now I’m barely able to cook rice and open a tin:

I took a small break, did not do the dishes (which became a problem later) and at 3 the boy and I did bodyweight training. It was still very hot.

My husband had planned to get home by 4 but arrived a little early. I was really happy he was back but all we got was a quick hello before he was dealing with his luggage and making a round through the garden.

So t I tried one of the red currant cupcakes I made the night before:

Husband and I talked a lot, very nice conversation about his trip and we opened a bottle of wine. The boy came downstairs there was some more talk. The boy and I made our separate dinners. I had offered my husband a choice of leftover lunch or leftover kohlrabi casserole but he wanted to make himself spaghetti with tomatoes and shrimp.

At that point the kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off in the middle of it because I hadn’t done the dishes all day. There just wasn’t any space to cook and I hadn’t realized. So my husband grabbed what he needed including pots and pans, found that there was no frozen shrimp in the freezer and left in a huff.

I had yet another Zoom call and since it seemed he didn’t want to spend time together I went and watched that. 

Afterwards there were words with my husband which was not a lot of fun, after a few false starts we ended up doing the dishes together wile rehashing what went wrong.

The boy came downstairs to take a shower just when I was about to do the dishes, and then I had to wait until he had finished before he could start. The poor thing didn’t really have hot water anymore.

Meanwhile I knitted some more, did Duolingo and watched half an episode of ‚Word of Honor‘ on my laptop because I couldn’t make myself move to the living room and then I went to bed just a little too late.

And now Friday.

I went to bed at a reasonable time and actually opened the manuscript for once.

And then I lounged in bed for hours, so no yoga again.

I had to run all the errands, mail two return packages, print photos for my mother-in-law, buy yogurt in one supermarket, go to the health food store and more food in a second supermarket and then it was really, really late. But I persevered and started cooking.

It’s always funny because I almost never cook but things went well if slowly. There was the big kohlrabi which I turned into a casserole:

I should have left it in the oven a bit longer but at that point both the boy and I were very hungry.

I did a load of laundry and had planned to do some publishing tasks and bake cupcakes, but in the end I just managed to learn about some new piece of software I bought and the cupcakes got shunted to later.

I did the dishes, ate dinner and then it was time for yet another Zoom thing, this time a talk about self-publishing. I didn’t really learn much but it was fun anyways.

After that it was time to start writing this post, water the garden, do Duolingo and such, then make some cupcakes  and go to bed. Which I did.

Today my husband will be coming back home and I’m really looking forward to that.