Archives for March 2018

I had a much better day yesterday. I started writing right before getting out of bed because I had woken up so early, and I’m getting impatient with my lack of progress. Also, when someone told me you can’t write that fast a part of me decided to rise up to the challenge.

Finishing this novel until the end of the month would mean writing 2,500 words per day. So far I have been writing about 500 per day but yesterday I did 1,500. Not quite enough, though, but much, much better.

I did go for a run as well, even thought I left so late that my husband was convinced I wouldn’t run at all. „I thought all your routines had gone out the window!“ he said. He has also taken to start the dishes after meals because I have such a hard time getting activated.

The snow is mostly gone by now.

But yesterday was better. Dishes were done on time, I ran, I took.a shower, I prepared for teaching, I wrote, I played the piano, sang, and played the guitar, I wrote my newsletter, I made very good use of my time, and even went to bed on time. There was bifteki for lunch. Very yummy.

And yes, that was too much meat for one person.

I changed one thing, I did not write in bed yesterday but instead stayed at the kitchen table until I had finished my words for the day. Well, I would have liked to write more but by then I was just too tired.

Today I will run again, and record a podcast episode, and teach, and make music, and think about my time and the shape of my life some more, and also hold the boy’s hand while he is making some phone calls, no idea when I’ll do that. Of course, he had forgotten about today’s orthodontist’s appointment, and it turned out that he thought if he doesn’t get an internship he’ll just have to go to school instead. Um, no. There is no way he’ll get out of this without doing an internship. And this is not about whether he wants to do this, or if he’ll like what he’ll be doing. This is about hustling to get something, anything, and being happy about it, regardless what it is.

*headdesk*

Yeah, things are still somewhat interesting around here. I did finish the first slipper for the third time, though, so that’s progress. Here’s the start of it (and the strap that’s all that’s left of the first attempt, and the almost finished second attempt):

I’m really hopeful that the right slipper won’t need three tries.

Waking up at 5.30 left me tired all day. Not quite what I wanted.

After getting up, the first thing that happened was that all the blueberries fell out of their container when I opened it, and I had a kitchen floor covered in thawing blueberries. And it turned out that those had been the last blueberries. I had to have blueberry-free muesli, and the kitchen floor is slightly sticky.

There was a huge amount of grocery shopping yesterday, I even went to the bakery in the morning before my husband had his breakfast so that he could have a nice croissant. Went to the health food store as well because it’s nearby.

We sat and talked – like we always do – he helped me do the huge pile of dishes that included some from the day before, I went to the supermarket, and then I had to go to yet another supermarket because the other one was not only out of frozen blueberries, it was also out of the boy’s favorite cheese. Okay, it’s my favorite cheese as well.

In between I almost finished the first slipper which is good.

Then I taught a couple of students, and then I could finally try out if the new connector that I had ordered would allow me to record audio on my new computer. I have a mixer/recording device that needs FireWire. The new computer – as I have lamented before – only takes these weird Thunderbolt plugs. So I ordered a Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter.

Well. Turns out there is something called Thunderbird 2, and that’s what that adapter connects whereas my new computer has Thunderbolt 3. I started returning it but then found out that there is no such thing as a FireWire to Thunderbolt 3 connector. So I ordered a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. Mind you, all the time I was wondering if it wouldn’t have been cheaper to get a new mixer.

So I plugged everything together, a nice little chain of adapter to adapter, and turned the mixer on and – nothing. It didn’t turn on. But there was a little flicker of LED.

Then I remembered that my husband had had the same problem when using the mixer with his computer, and that he had needed the external power unit. So I had to go and look for that. It took a few minutes but then I found it, I plugged it in, and – the whole thing was working.

I did a few test recordings, connected my old backup drive and transferred the files I need to make the podcast to the new laptop, and voilà! – I can record podcasts again.

I mean, I would have been able to record podcasts using the old computer but now I can also use the new one.

Then I tried some more things, taught one more student, prepared stuff for today, did not do strength training because I was so tired, had dinner, did the dishes, went to bed real early, and wrote some more (only 239 words yesterday but a lot of thinking and reading of what I had written), fell asleep, got up to brush my teeth and wash my face, and turned the lights out at 9.30.

Which means that I’m typing this again at 5.30. The boy is still in an aggressive „Leave me alone!“-mode so I’m guessing no internship yet. I don’t dare ask but it makes me pretty tense.

Today there will be running, and quite a bit of teaching including the new student, and I’m hoping for more new words. Ahem.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about my goals and why I want to finish this novel so quickly, and then I started looking at how long it would take me at a rate of 500 words per day, and no, I don’t want to spend four months on this. I might have to but I don’t like it.

I was all „The novel is my top priority!“ all day and then realized that I had spent more than an hour on technical stuff for the podcast. And had felt bad for not working out and for not working on the dress, and for not playing the piano, and for only spending ten minutes on the book cover design course.

I know I’m doing too many things at once. I just don’t quite know how to change that because I don’t want to give anything up.

On the other hand the technical stuff because of the new computer will soon be sorted, the podcast is something that takes a limited amount of time and does fit into my life pretty well, the writing is something I want to do every day, and there is enough room for it, and I can fit the sewing into the cracks and the odd Sunday afternoon. I can do this. It might all take a little longer than I like but that’s okay.

Sp yesterday started out about as lazy as the day before. But then it turned out that my husband hadn’t forgotten that we wanted to work on the living room after all.

I spent all morning knitting the first slipper. It is a little small but I think it will block out.

In the afternoon I printed the pattern to the Kew-dress by Nina Lee, and spent too much time putting the sheets together, and cutting the pieces out.

And then my husband and I tackled the boy’s old bed. We did dismantle it and afterwards we were covered in dust and cobwebs. So now we are one step closer to getting the living room back. I’m very happy about that, not quite as happy about all the work laying before us.

We talked a bit and it seems that my husband has come to the same conclusion as I, we will try to just paint over the wallpaper one more time. We need to wash the walls first, and that should tell us if the wallpaper will hold up enough for another coat of paint. Not having to pull all the wallpaper down, repaper and then paint will make things much easier. If it works.

The boy and I didn’t watch anything because he still hadn’t taken care of his internship applications. I’m trying to stay calm and not freak out about this. He has two weeks left until the internship, so things are beyond critical.I have no idea what will happen if he doesn’t find a place. I think she should call his uncle and beg him to take him but all the boy is saying to us at the moment is, „Leave me alone!“ He is super-frustrated – which I can totally understand – and let’s it all out at home. Fun! I’m just hoping he won’t fail this grade. I don’t think he will. Unless things go south somewhat more.

So I watched an episode of „Dollhouse“ on my own. I barely remember the second season, as I have said before, which is a little weird.

Today I go to the doctor’s office to get blood drawn. Since there are problems with the trains due to construction I’m thinking about taking the bike instead. It is quite a bit warmer today (not warm, just not way below freezing) which means I should be okay biking. Taking the train would take ages, and there would be no guarantee of being on time, and if I take the bike not only will I probably be on time, I also will make up for not running today.

Then doctor, then grocery shopping at the health food store that’s so much better than the one in town, then lunch, and then teaching.

I’m having high hopes of making music today, and of starting on the dress. I hope that the 2.1 meters of fabric that I have will be enough. The pattern calls for 2.3. I might have to use different fabric for the facings or something. Which should be doable.

Lots of things to do, and I always love the promise of a new week.

Well, I had plans for yesterday. In the end I sat on the kitchen bench feeling cold all day. While the woos stove was heating the apartment up in a way that everybody coming in felt like they were standing in a furnace.

I did manage to go for a run, so that was nice.

Otherwise I crocheted, and I started knitting slippers and the first one turned out way too small, and so I made another gauge swatch:

And another one, and I read a lot, and did exercises from the book „Growing Gills“ (AmazonAffiliate-Link), and then I sat some more. It took me most of the day to persuade myself to take a shower.

I worked on the novel for twenty minutes in the morning without adding a single word (because I was just looking at what I had already written which is my new process) and then my husband was up much earlier than usual.

I did manage to write 600 new words in the evening at least.

Today I want to do strength training, and to print a sewing pattern. And maybe add to the endless list of stuff that I need or want to do.

I’m also tracking my time again – another exercise from the book – and putting in „sitting, reading and crochet“ for three hours in the afternoon is a little sad. It also describes a great afternoon. I’m a bit torn.

I did start reading „Wraith“ (Amazon-Affiliate-Link) by Helen Harper and am loving it.

The tidying and caring for the house that we had planned for this weekend doesn’t seem to happen. I have it in my calendar but everybody else seems to have forgotten. And I don’t want to remind them.

We are all basically waiting for Easter break to come around which is an unfortunate way to live.

Phew. I slept enough and almost had energy again which was great.

And I even wrote 1,600 words on the novel!

I woke up early because I had gone to bed early and spent the first thirty minutes of the day with email, revelry and writing my blog post in bed. Then I made breakfast, had breakfast, meditated for five minutes, and then I actually sat down and wrote words! That made me so happy, I can’t even tell.

Not writing for five days even though you really want to is not fun. Especially if by day five you’re completely convinced that you can’t write, everything is crap, and you should never try this again ever. This is completely normal, by the way, happens every time with writing and with music. If you don’t touch the piano for a week you end up convinced you’re the worst piano player ever and you really should give up.

That’s a lie, by the way. The best thing to do is to play anyway and do it again the day after, and find you joy in playing returning.

I did manage to change the sheets and clean the house yesterday and the pizza was delicious.

Then, instead of all.teaching.all.afternoon I had a thirty minutes break which meant I could practice singing and piano for the first time all week as well.

I did not do strength training, though, because I spent the allotted time unpacking computer stuff I had ordered. The new laptop needs a case, an external hard drive, and new USB drive, and – most importantly – a docking station so I can actually connect it with things. I found out that the Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter didn’t fit, started the return process, found that the connector that I need doesn’t exist, and instead of returning the one I bought I had got get another one. So recording the podcast will mean putting two adapters between the computer and the mixer. I just hope that will work.

So. Today there will be running, and a somewhat slower day. I am planning to start the slippers so that I can have toasty feet at the spinning meeting next week.

Some time last week my husband and I decided that this weekend will be the one where we move all of the boy’s stuff out of his room, and also mount the fire alarms. That will be fun for sure.

Maybe sewing might happen even.