Archives for October 2017

So yesterday was a pretty good day all in all. I did indeed go grocery shopping, and I managed to mix the songs for my mother’s birthday present (not very well but I have declared them good enough), i did outsource the CD-cover design to the boy who promptly forgot all about it, and so we’ll be doing everything at the very last minute yet again.

Family drama with my parents was dramatic. And as an indirect result of that I managed to forget to put the egg cartons and money outside in time for the farmer who brings us eggs every week, and then I managed to forget to buy some while in the grocery store, and my husband couldn’t call me to remind me because I haven’t programed any numbers into the new landline phone. He now owns a piece of paper with my cell phone number. (My husband shuns all phones, and does not want a cell phone of his own. Since he rarely leaves the house he also doesn’t really need one but then neither do I, even if I find it convenient at times.)

So we might have to go to the supermarket again another time this week to buy eggs. The horror!

And then my new ukulele arrived! And it is so cute! And sounds really great! And I love it! But I haven’t had time to actually play it properly yet.

And I have two new students starting after fall break, and one of them even bought my old soprano ukulele. So I ended up with the exact same number of ukuleles at the end of the day.

You might ask why one needs more than one ukulele. Well. Different ukuleles fulfill different needs. I have a really nice concerto that sounds great which is my main ukulele. My husband gave it to me after it was clear that I would continue playing ukulele for the foreseeable future, and that I was somewhat serious about this. And I had the cheap one that I bought first to try out, and that’s the one I usually have been taking with me when traveling. And then I bought a tenor ukulele which is bigger, and has a low G-string (not what you’re thinking right now) that sounds better when you’re playing jazz chords. Which is a big project I haven’t even started yet, I want to learn how to accompany myself on the ukulele for the kind of jazz I used to sing in my twenties.

And since the cheap plastic ukulele wasn’t really all that much fun to play I have been wanting a nice soprano for ages. I like to have one ukulele living in the studio for when I teach, and another one living in the kitchen (or better the living room once we will have a living room again) for playing in the evenings. And so a nice ukulele that’s not too expensive but that’s small and lightweight does fit the bill. This one is much thinner than a normal ukulele but the sound is really nice regardless. That small instrument fills my heart with joy.

So today I will finish the birthday present for my mother, teach a bit, run a bit, and in the evening I’ll go out and meet a bunch of other parents for drinks and pizza. And no, I’m still not drinking, though I’m starting to think I’ll stop at the three week mark. I can’t see a difference in my sleeping without drinking.

I can say that I probably won’t get enough sleep next night, though, I tend to stay up late on occasions like these, and after coming home I need an hour or so until I feel I can go to bed, and that usually leads to me going to bed way too late.

And maybe, just maybe, there will be time somewhere in between to play the new ukulele after all.

 

Of course I had to go and ruin my streak of good sleep last night.

I had a good day, rather busy as I said, and in the evening, after dinner I sat down to listen to all the tracks I had recorded the day before so I could choose the ones I’ll use. That took me two hours from eight to ten.

Why yes, I do my sound-engineering at the kitchen table, just like everything else. And that is an alcohol-free beer, I’m still not drinking any alcohol but am sorely tempted to stop after three weeks total. And here is how neat my notes look:

My husband says my handwriting is completely illegible, and he might have a point. At least I know what I mean. And I changed fountain pens because the one with the purple ink (Kaweco Sport) was just refilled, and there was too much ink flowing for my taste at that moment, and the Waterman Audace (with the turquoise ink) suited me better. And I still like using a pencil.

And then I gave in to the desire to watch the Craftsy class I bought about bra-making. I really like the class, and am watching it with delight. I also started researching where to buy fabric and such. There’s a shop in Sweden that sells kits specifically for the class, and there’s a shop in Germany that looks very good as well. Of coruse I don’t really have time for such things at the moment, and there is the pile of unfinished sewing projects on the dresser that neesd to be dealt with before I can start a new project in good conscience.

Still.

I spent some more time watching the instructor slowly sewing the parts of the bra together, and was perfectly happy. And that’s me we’re talking about, the woman who really dislikes watching videos, even instructional ones.

On the downside I only got to bed after eleven, and as happens always I woke up at 5.15, and am a little tired today. Who would have thought? (Well, everybody because that’s what always happens.)

Today I need to mix the songs for the birthday present for my mother, or ask my husband to do it for me, then I need to slap a CD cover together, burn the CD and send it off on Thursday at the latest. That will be interesting.

Oh, and the other thing that happened yesterday was that my mother has been sent home from the hospital. Rather unexpectedly. They needed the bed.

Nobody quite knows how she will deal at home with only my father for help, and I have to say I’m a little worried. But then she has her sisters nearby, and a neighbor who will come over so she’ll probably be okay. If I lived nearer, and wasn’t self-employed I’d pop over to help for a bit but that is not an option right now. And I can’t put my life on hold for the next few weeks anyways.

My mother-in-law called from the hospital yesterday, and said she is feeling well, she had a ton of tests done, and she’ll call if she knows anything. So that sounds good.

So yeah, quite a few things going on at the moment. I also had three potential new students call which is a very good thing. I’m seeing two of them (they want to take lessons together) today. Cross your fingers, please.

Oh, and the new laptop battery and the new ukulele are supposed to arrive today as well!

 

I did get enough sleep last night, hurray! (Yes, I know, the way I’m obsessed about sleep is a little weird but you would be too if you were as fatigued all the time.)

Yesterday was a very good day, I spend about half the day reading and working on the Sophie’s Universe blanket while drinking tea:

 

And the other half recording the songs for my mother’s birhtday present at the last minute:

 

My voice was completely gone by take two of the first song but I just kept going. I don’t want to know how I sound but I will have to listen to the whole thing today anyways. Because I still need to select the takes I’ll use, and then I will have to mix the whole thing, something I don’t quite know how to do (but I’ll ask my husband for help who is the much better sound engineer).

I had two times when the computer told me the hard drive was going too slow for recording, and the program crashed on me four times but I persevered. I have to say I have come a long way, I am now able to record without much drama (well, apart from a whole day lost to procrastination, and a week or two of going all „I dunnwanna“ about the whole thing). I didn’t even lose my temper when one of the best takes of the last song got lost because of a software crash. (And that was an hour after my usual dinnertime.)

All of this tells me that I really need to do something about my misbehaving laptop. It’s not all that bad but it’s clear it’s failing. I did a bunch of research yesterday, and am now hoping that the troubles are due to the cheap battery I bought off ebay years ago. I have ordered a new one (that’s not as cheap but will probably perform better), and will put that in as soon as I have it. Changing the battery on the kind of laptop I have is pretty easy.

If that won’t fix it the next suspect would be the logicboard which would be trickier and more expensive to replace, and if that’s not it it might be the hard drive but I don’t think so. This is a new one that I bought from a dealer specializing in Mac parts.

The other thing I bought yesterday (why yes, I seem to be in a consumer mood at the moment) is a craftsy class about bra-making. It came recommended by a friend on ravelry. I’m still not sure if I will actually sew myself a bra – so far I have lots of plans to sew all the things but am not actually doing anything – but it seems like something I would love to be able to do because bras in my size are extraordinarily expensive, and then they don’t really fit all that well anyways.

I keep dreaming of custom-made clothes, and since I don’t have the monies to pay someone for it I need to be the one making my bespoke garments. One of these days I will have a whole wardrobe full of clothes that I love, and that fit me. Including underwear that doesn’t pinch, ride up, and is in need of adjustment every other minute.

But first I need to get a thing or two done before I can focus on sewing. What with novel-writing month coming up.

By the way yesterday was another day that proved that I feel much better when I do a lot than when I’m sitting around all day relaxing. Recording vocals is pretty hard work, and I was rather exhausted at the end but not as tired, fatigued, and cranky as I would have been after a whole day of nothing.

So today I will listen to what I recorded yesterday, teach quite a few students, and go on a short run soon. Also my mother-in-law is going to the hospital to get her heart checked out. We are all hoping that there isn’t much wrong with her, and that she’ll be back soon safe and sound.

Looks like it’s going to rain right in time for my run. Lovely! (Well, on the bright side there are usually less dogwalkers around when it’s raining.)

So I started yesterday rather chipper, and went on my first 10K run. It was a lot of fun which is something I would not have thought possible. And afterwards I still had energy enougn to go and buy some more groceries and two cases of alcohol-free beer. Usually that’s my husband’s task but he was extra-busy yesterday so I offered to help.

My legs were feeling very good but biking up the hill with the beer in the bike trailer was a little harder than usual.

Then I did a ton of dishes, all of them starting with dinner on Friday, and took a shower, gave myself a pedicure (tried a new nail polish which is called „chocolate cake“, I really love it), and then my energy for the day ran out. 

I did a voice warm-up but then never got around to recording anything.

At six I decided to have dinner in front of TV with the boy, and that was it for the day. I did pull out the spinning wheel and spun a bit but other than that nothing got done.

Which of course means that I need to record everything today. I really hope I manage. My voice could be better, I’m either having a slight cold or allergies, I don’t know.

I also will need to start outlining the novel I want to write in November, at the moment I’m all procrastination on that front.

There will be a running commentary on today’s actvities on my other blog later but I’m not expecting anything all that exciting.

Yay, I actually managed to sleep in! Until eight o’clock!

Last night’s concert was great but I’m no longer suited to going out, I actually dozed off towards the end. Ahem. My usual bedtime doesn’t mesh with things like concerts. At least my husband was nice enough to prod me before I started snoring.

Yesterday was pretty good, even though I didn’t actually do anything on the novel. I did think about the characters and scenes for the next one I want to write, so that’s good, and I managed to clean the house (well, parts of it) for the first time in weeks. Phew.

Now I’m really looking forward to the weekend.

Today I have planned to run 10K (not quite sure if my inertia will allow me to do so), and to record the songs for my mother’s birthday present (of course I’m a little sniffly with a slightly sore throat, figures). I will also have to squeeze a grocery run in there somewhere.

Speaking of mothers, while my mother is still in the hospital recuperating my mother-in-law actually fell down yesterday morning as well. Fortunately she didn’t break anything but she did go to the doctor because she was concerned, and so she will go to the hospital on Monday to get checked out. Fun times.

This is one of the few occasions where we wish we had a car so we could drive her but then she will just take a taxi. Which is more convenient and cheaper in the long run anyways. It’s just that my husband and I felt that we should drive her.

At times like these I’m very happy that she lives upstairs, so we can check in on her several times a day.

So today will be rather busy, I guess, we’ll see how that goes.