creative.mother.thinking

I’m doing well, cataract surgery seems to have been a success up to the point where I can see most things only a little blurry through the new lwns. The eye doesn’t really hurt much whereas the other one is protesting the constant wearing of a contact lens but that can’t be helped.

I took the bandage off yesterday morning rather early, made myself breakfast and braved trains and busses. I needed sunglasses all the way but was fine otherwise. This was me in the afternoon after surgery on Tuesday:

Today is the day we’re moving my mother-in-law to a care home, also the boy has an exam and needs to pack for tomorrow’s trip to my mother. He goes from caring for one grandmother straight to caring for the other one. He is packing for a maximum of three weeks but all of us (including my mother) hope that he won’t be needed that long.

I still have a rest my eye, so way less screens than usual. I started listening to the dramatized version of „Clean Sweep“ and am liking it, though the (I assume) Texas accent of a lot of the characters needed a bit of getting used to.

I had another triple exercise day, I only slept for about five hours and it showed, and things got a bit more chaotic than usual at one point.

I did my morning routine and wandered off my morning pages constantly, I did some yoga and meditated for five minutes and then had breakfast with my husband who was all excited because his new bass guitar was supposed to arrive. We also were both a bit stressed because of all the things that need doing and today’s cataract surgery. Mine, that is.

We moved our running and his errands around so that one of us would always be home, and he let me go first with my run because it was another super hot day and I don’t do well in the heat. We both only went for 30 minutes each, it was that kind of day:

Yes, it was very hot. I walked for most of my last running interval because my legs felt way heavier than usual.

I came back home, took a shower and went off to the supermarket and the health food store. Having my hair wet actually helped even though it did not look very sophisticated.

On my way back my phone rang. I thought my husband was trying to reach me so I could add some things to the grocery list but no, my brother-in-law called to say that he had a place in a care home for my mother-in-law! And she could move in basically right away.

Woot!

It will be very pricy. No idea what we’ll do in the long run but right now this would be such a relief. Brother-in-law said he can probably help her move in on Thursday, that he is swamped at work at the moment but hopes to have a bit of time then.

Earlier that morning my husband had called the part of health insurance that is responsible for care grades and got all the forms.

helped chop a few things for lunch:

I took a break, I read a bit, I played a little and then my husband showed up with some requests for copies, I was completely fuzzy, had forgotten that my mother-in-law’s health insurance card was still lingering in my purse from when I went to the doctor for her and almost sent him on a wild goose chase, emotions got high and hilarity ensued.

Just before my brother-in-law had sent me another list of paperwork that needs to be provided and found and figured out.I had to look up one thing twice before figuring out that it doesn’t apply to her anyway.

I was also a bit out of it because of the impending cataract surgery, and thoughts about how the trip there and back would go (there is construction on the train line, of course, so we’ll have to go walk-train-bus-walk, instead of just zipping through on the train. The trip usually costs less than thirty minutes and is supposed to take at least an hour today.

We decided to take a taxi for the way back. So I downloaded a taxi app. It’s very easy to use. Then I realized that I would probably not be able to order a taxi on my phone right after surgery. And trying to teach my husband how to do it is basically pointless so he will have to find a different way to get a taxi.

I also wanted to make sure that I don’t forget anything important and I’m trying to soothe my anxiety by overpacking a bit. Should I take a water bottle? Sunglasses? A case for my regular glasses in case I can’t wear them? Should I pack my contact lens? A sweater?

Anyway. I knew I would basically be fine with my insurance card, ticket, some money and the paperwork for the surgery. But well.

Originally we had plans to declutter my mother-in-law’s fridge yesterday but that never happened. I also thought I’d give my friend an online piano lesson but she canceled. Which was not the worst thing, I really needed the time for other things.

The boy and I did bodyweight training. We talked about the ramifications of the care home placement. And his upcoming trip. And his exam. And my surgery.

I washed every single dirty dish in the house and there were many, at lunchtime we had reached the point where there was no clean plate for the boy’s meal left.

I finished plying the sock yarn sample, I started writing this post, made a list for today and packed my bag and went to bed a little earlier than usual.

Just as I need to post this earlier than usual, I need to leave the house at 8.15.

So I’ll post again as soon as I can, don’t worry, this is some planned time off. I probably won’t be able to see properly for a few days. I’ll only get one eye done, the other one is due in September. See you soon, I hope.

I went to bed way too late again, and decided to move the yoga to later in the day.

Guess who didn’t do yoga yesterday?

Husband and I started the day with one of those delightful misunderstandings in conversation that takes a long time to sort out, blah. We also realized that our plan to have lunch at a beergarden today won’t work because at least one of us needs to be home to receive a package. My husband’s new bass guitar is supposed to be delivered today, probably just around lunchtime.

I had an extra long phone call yesterday, first with my mother and then with my sister. It was nice but what I didn’t know at that time was that my husband was waiting for me to help him think through the recipe he wanted to make.

He had gotten a tajine from a friend who is moving away complete with a cookbook. This is what it looks like:

Since it was the first time we were using it we were both a bit apprehensive but it was easy and not hard and worked really well. The food was exceptionally delicious, even more so because the zucchini and eggplant were just picked minutes before:

This portion was not quite enough but I made up for it with half a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a bar of chocolate.

I wanted to do the dishes right away after lunch but my husband had put drain cleaner in the kitchen sink’s drain and so I had to do something else. I read a little of the second book in the current series, „A Restless Truth“. And played my video game. And forgot to plan the week ahead.

I did manage to finally vacuum the old part of the house later than I wanted and cleaned the toilet and washbasin there as well, so I’m declaring the cleaning for the week done.

Then I ate dinner just in time to meet for my monthly Zoom chat with a writer friend. The conversation meandered from topic to topic and was interesting as always. We talked a lot about teaching, now that I think about it. Their spouse is a teacher and so am I.

Afterwards I talked briefly to the rest of the family, started writing this post, saw that it was rather late already and went to bed as quickly as I could which was not very quickly.

I should really retrain myself to an earlier bedtime, I feel so much better if I do.

Oh, and just so you know, I will probably not update this blog for a bit starting on Tuesday because of my cataract surgery, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from me for a while.

In a pretty good way, all in all.

I did not get enough sleep, again, and did the usual morning pages, yoga and meditation. Breakfast with my husband who was starting to stress a bit because the new bass guitar he had ordered might be coming right when both of us would be out.

In the end it didn’t, actually checking the tracking information helped.

We were both rather slow all morning, I did the dishes, husband started a load of laundry and then we both went out to run. He did his usual 10 k on a Saturday and I decided it was too hot and I was not feeling it and opted for just 30 minutes total:

I came back home, took a shower, sliced a few zucchini and chopped some basil and parsley. Lunch was pretty late and we ate on the porch because there had been intermittent rain in the morning and so it was a little cooler:

Afterwards I decided to not sit down first but instead do the dishes right away. Win!

Then there was reading and playing Genshin Impact (I’m leveling two characters right now and ran out of resources quickly). I did set myself a timer so I wouldn’t play all afternoon and had planned to do some cleaning, right when my husband started making noises about vacuuming the annex.

So I folded two loads of laundry, touched most surfaces with a feather duster and cleaned the mirrors. I waited for my husband to finish vacuuming so I could do the same in the other part of the house but he kept getting distracted so that didn’t happen.

I set up my bullet journal for August, I decided to do my usual habit tracker, monthly overview, tasks and reading tally. If I end up not filling anything in because my eyesight is too bad or something I’ll deal.

I am a bit sad that my daily reading of „War and Peace“ and listening to a piece of classical music following the „Year of Wonder“-book has fallen by the wayside. A part of me hopes to catch up again, another thinks I’ll just skip half a month of music-listening. That won’t work for the novel, though.

Right now my time is shorter than usual and that means I have to choose between „War and Peace“ and reading „A Marvellous Light“. The second book is clearly winning. It is really good.

I ate dinner while waiting for the rest of the family to show up to watch TV, hung another load of laundry up and we watched an interesting episode of ‚Columbo‘ together. I almost finished turning the heel as well, only one more round left.

Then the boy and I warmed up for bodyweight training, swung by my mother-in-law’s apartment, found her sitting around in the dark peering at newspapers, and the boy helped her make some soup before we continued.

We finished around ten, I started writing this post, spent ten minutes in the manuscript and ten minutes with my spinning wheel and went to bed with a book.

Today marks the first day of summer break, yeah!

I went to bed a little earlier but also had to get up earlier. Because I had a gynecologist appointment.

I wrote morning pages but did not have time for yoga or meditation. I did eat breakfast but had to put most of my morning tea in a thermos for later. I have not reached the point yet where I take that thermos on the train with me and sip on it all the way.

I went for my annual check-up but I also had a few other things to discuss.

I went back on the train and realized that I had neglected to stamp my ticket on the way there. Oops.

Since I was already in the vicinity I went and bought vaseline, mint chocolate, a TV guide and yogurt. (I wrote „TB guide“ first, not what I wanted to talk about.) And then I went to the pharmacy for my meds.

I dropped everything off and went right back outside in the baking oven-like heat. I picked up some stuff from my mother-in-law’s doctor and went to another pharmacy because that’s the one my mother-in-law prefers.

I sent an email to my brother-in-law with the paperwork needed for that second care home application.

Husband was busy cooking but lunch was almost readay. Even though he had gone running and swimming after breakfast.

Lunch was god. My mother-in-law liked it very much, for once.

And then I finallly could eat:

I only had a short break and then tere was teaching. I had a few breaks between students but I did not manage to actually use that free time.

Anyway. A long discussion of all things „Snezhaya,

the new life stream, and the fact that my husband bought himself a new bass guiatar,

I also don’t have much time today which is why I am keeping this short.

Yesterday I did most of my morning routine, the dishes, walked to my mother-in-law’s doctor’s office where it turned out he hadn’t filled out the form I gave him on Tuesday. I’ll pick that up tomorrow, I hope, and the renewed prescription.

then I biked to the bigger supermarket and got all the groceries, came back and lunch was almost ready:

My husband made peas and carrots in addition to the black beans because his mother doesn’t like them.

I only had a very short break and then I tackled my mother-in-law’s taxes again. I used every break I had and finished them half an hour after my last student of the day.

The boy was going out anyway at that point and offered to mail it. Woot!

We did a very short round of bodyweight training because it was so hot, I finally ate dinner, and some pastry and the rest of the big box of chocolate, read for a while and bought the other two books in the Freya Marske series, took a shower, wrote this post, did the dishes with the boy, played some Genshin and went to bed too late.

Oh, and all through the day I set my new phone up. It’s actually even a little smaller than my old one, I’m not sure I like that. On the other hand, my old phone barely fit in my jeans pocket. The setup was pretty painless which is always a relief.

Today will be busy, busy, busy again, and then we’re on summer break.