Archives for October 2018

I woke up early again but only at 5.30 which is completely okay. I have apparently reached the part of fall break where I just wait for it to be over which is rather annoying. I have plans. I’d like to not spend my day sit around and eat chocolate and cheese (not together).

I lounged in bed until after seven, had breakfast and started reading about design again. I also looked at the tracking for that package and decided to contact customer service. I called them on the phone and was rewarded with a cheery, „Good news! We have your package and it will be delivered to you within one to two business days.“ Yeah, right.

So I wrote an email venting a bit, got a reply pretty soon where I was told that the mail person hadn’t been able to find my address. Now, there was a typo in the street name from the bit I could see but then how had he been able to try delivery twice without reaching anybody? It remains a mystery.

In the end I wrote back and took them up on their offer of switching delivery to one of their „package shops“ only to get an answer telling me that they were really, really sorry but that the package was not in delivery anymore and that I should contact the original sender.

I have to say that I am really, really angry.

Now I’m just hoping that the package will get back to the wonderful hand-dyer I bought it from and that she will be able to send it to me again. Maybe using a different mail service this time.

I was also worrying about my favorite spinning wheel, my Little Gem. It isn’t working properly. I had thought that it was only a faulty bobbin but I tried using it the day before and it wasn’t working with a completely different bobbin and flyer.

So I had to do some research on what might cause this. If I’m lucky this is just about grease getting onto the brake band so that there isn’t enough friction on the bobbin while spinning. Everything else would be a little more complicated.

Somehow I didn’t have the nerve of tinkering with it. The day before I had switched to my second spinning wheel, the Victoria, and now it might be a little pink on the flyer. My niddy noddy as well.

But. I will be finished with that endless yarn that I started in 2017 soon.

I was also waiting for my possible student of the day to tell me if she would be coming or not.

I really need to learn to detach myself better from uncertainty. Still working on my stoicism…

We had a rather easy lunch – without the boy this time because he was out for Mongolian food with his grandmother:

Then I started winding plying balls:

While watching first a rather boring „creative summit“ online and then a few slightly less boring documentaries on Netflix. I guess I just wasn’t in a film-watching mood.

Then I plied two of those balls. Still two to go, plus some fiber to spin and a lot of ends. I’m not quite sure what to do with those. I’m hoping that I won’t need every bit of string for the sweater I’m going to make.

Instead of my whole strength training routine I only did a few pushups and such. Then I taught the ukulele student, watched some Star Trek with the boy, wrote a few words and went to bed.

Plying yarn is surprisingly exhausting but then I don’t usually wind yarn and spin for hours.

Woke up at 4.33! A little too early but I wasn’t able to fall asleep again. Yep, time change. But I might have gotten enough sleep and in a few days I will have adjusted.

I did start writing around 5.30, so that was good but only got 300 words in. I did write morning pages again. Didn’t want to but did it anyway. I think they are doing me good at the moment.

I got up at seven, had breakfast and dawdled long enough that I thought there wasn’t time before my husband got up. Of course, that meant he showed up half an hour later than usual.

We talked about Buddhism. And Fender bass guitars. I worked on the crochet blanket. And then I made two appointments, one for my thyroid ultrasound and one at the optician again. I need to get the current contacts checked and then I need new reading glasses and then I will be all set for glasses and such.

The morning was rather slow and so we went running a bit late. I spontaneously decided to cut my run short and turn around after 2.5 k instead of 3.7. It was really nice, damp but not raining and no one out there:

 

When I came back I decided that I’d rather go grocery shopping right away instead of the day after. I got some cheese from the supermarket that is near the health food store, bought a couple of things at the health food store – including chocolate, of course – and walked back home. There, I only needed to help make salad because we were eating leftover lasagna:

Yummy.

Then I procrastinated a bit and then I started plying the burgundy merino while watching Netflix. I asked the boy to join me for watching „Doctor Who“ early because I was expecting another delivery attempt of the dreaded package but when I checked the tracking online it said that the address couldn’t be found and that it had gone back to the distribution center. This is starting to make me really furious. I was home every single time that mail person tried delivery apart from Wednesday and if they had just rung the bell upstairs or at the annex I would have had the package on Tuesday already. There is no way of contacting that mail service before tomorrow and I am beyond frustrated.

I do try to remind myself that this is not a big deal, really, but I would have preferred not to go out of my way four days in a row for a mere package. I mean, I even left a message that they could just leave it on the woodpile next to the annex…

„Doctor Who“ was brilliant as ever, I have to say I do love this new iteration of the doctor.

Then I needed to do some more writing but was a little tired. Tough.

Today there will be yoga (my hip says it’s mandatory), and one student (ukulele!) and not much else. Plying, probably and some washing of the yarn. I’m still pushing through that merino-project because I am suddenly determined to knit a sweater out of it in November.

I know it’s silly. Shush.

Despite the time change I slept until 5.30 which is pretty long for me. Because that would have been 6.30 the day before.

I wrote morning pages again, went online (no writing), started breakfast, realized that I had forgotten to take my thyroid medication, had to wait for half an hour before actually having breakfast, tried writing and stopped after five minutes. Okay, six. Which gave me 220 words.

I had expected my husband to show up really early but he was only regularly early. Seemed I was the only person in the family who had remembered the time change. I was also the one who changed the two clocks that don’t change themselves, of course.

The boy showed up early for breakfast, we talked, and I was so engrossed with the crochet blanket that time just went away from me. In the course of the morning I tried three different sizes of crochet hook for the slipstitch edging and ended up using one that is 1.5 mm bigger than the one I used for the main blanket. Strange.

Then I called my mother because of her birthday and helped with making lasagna. Lasagna is always a big undertaking:

Then I read a little and went online a little and my husband showed up every thirty minutes or so to tell me about the bass he is working on. It is all very exciting, it’s a Fender jazz bass from 1972 that needs maintenance and a bit of repair.

After a while I let myself slide down into the slump and decided to skip both yoga and strength training. I usually do yoga on Sunday mornings but because of the phone call and the lasagna there hadn’t been enough time. Doing yoga right after lunch is a really bad idea and then, somehow, I never got around to it.

In order to avoid feeling completely useless I moved myself over in front of TV and watched „Extraordinary Homes“ while spinning. I’m still waffling over which cardigan project to tackle in November and I might put a lot of effort in over the next three days to finish the burgundy merino so that I can knit it up.

Of course it would be a much better and not as crazy idea to knit with the yarn currently drying in the bathroom. We’ll see.

I really should wash the one skein of finished burgundy yarn so I can do a gauge swatch. And spend some time spinning up the rest of the fiber and then wind plying balls. Lots to do.

The boy and I watched an episode of „Voyager“ while I was working away on the crochet blanket. Only 1 1/2 more rounds to go on the edging but those rounds are long.

Today there will be running and maybe even yoga. I want to write quite a bit and spin a lot. There will be a live podcast at night and I need to be ready to receive that package I have been waiting for since Tuesday in the evening. Around 7.42 pm judging by  past delivery attempts.

And there are at least two phone calls on my list. I really dislike phone calls. Some music would be nice as well.

I keep feeling like the Calvin and Hobbes collection, „The days are just packed“.

I woke up at 5.30 again after a night of pretty good sleep. Because I was tired of not getting anything done I started the day not by reading but by writing morning pages first thing. I found that my need to talk is huge at the moment and that it seems I can never get enough. I think that talking at my family for more than two hours a day about things that don’t really interest them is a little selfish so I pulled out the journal.

Which transitioned into meditation and then into actual fiction writing.

I got up on time, had breakfast, wrote some more and did some research before my husband had breakfast.

I finished the main body of the crochet blanket for the boy and started figuring out the border. Did the dishes, had a somewhat heated conversation with my husband that was really helpful in the end about goals and habit change and such. I think we both ended up understanding each other a lot better.

Then I went for an 8k run in the cold rain:

It was much colder than the days before. I know it’s weird but I really like running in the rain. Another bonus was that there weren’t many people out.

Here’s a picture near my halfway point. Not all parts of the route are equally idyllic.

I met my husband shortly after, we talked some more and then he ran off again, being much faster than me.

I came home, peeled potatoes, took a shower and half an hour later I felt like I had finally thawed.

Lunch was much needed comfort food:

Then I braced myself for the dreaded Saturday afternoon slump. I did take a little break but when I felt the slump setting in I forced myself to do the dishes and make some music instead of staying on the kitchen bench.

I wound the yarn from the pi shawl into skeins and washed it while watching a show. I booked a train ticket for April. I did everything on my to do-list but spin.I did read a lot of „The Bullet Journal Method“. I really like it.

Then I washed the yarn and hung it up to dry, watched „Deep Space Nine“ with the boy, brushed my teeth right away, wrote in my journal and made a list for today. Yes, I have a to do-list for a Sunday. One point on it will be „Watch a show with the boy“. Another will be yoga.

So. Not all that much to do today but I need to call my mother because of her birthday and make a plan for next week and such. And change all the clocks in the house that don’t change on their own. And write.

As one does.

Woke up early and read. I did get up a little earlier than usual because I was expecting a package to arrive around seven. Apparently it should have but despite me being awake, the doorbell being on and me waiting for it I still got the message that it couldn’t be delivered. I’m starting to get pissed.

I’ve also spent the whole day waiting for that package.

No writing in the morning yet again but I went out and finally mailed my mother’s birthday present. It will probably be late but maybe I’ll get lucky. I decided that I had too much to do to make pizza from scratch, especially since I hadn’t managed to make the dough the day before. So I went to the grocery store right next to the post office and bought frozen pizza.

Found that I had a message on voice mail, called back and might have a new student starting after fall break. Which is a good thing.

Went back home, started cleaning, made lunch:

Looked at the pictures I had taken the day before, taught three students (all the others had canceled), wrote an email and did strength training. Second time this week, yeah!

Then I watched the very first episode of „Star Trek Voyager“ with the boy. It was fascinating because I had only ever seen them overdubbed in German. I hadn’t realized.

Then I started to write this post and found that I had forgotten to post today’s post on time. So I posted that first.

Today there will be running and knitting for sure. And reading. Otherwise I don’t know yet. Which is great.

I woke up from the alarm – as expected after going to bed around midnight. Managed to get up on time after writing the blog post. While eating my thoughts went to the main task for the day, working on our music teaching website.

I did feel rather overwhelmed yet again and then decided to just google „how to set up a music teacher website“. Tada, helpful information. And I already did the first few steps because we already do have a website.

Still, the overwhelm didn’t really go away and so I looked around how I could learn more about web design. And almost signed up for yet another course. My husband was near furious. „Would you stop trying to take classes already? You keep hoping that one of them helps you and then you sit here complaining that you didn’t learn anything because you already knew all of that. You should be teaching courses, not taking them.“

„But I don’t know anything about design. This could make things much easier.”

He wasn’t having it. Then I read through the lesson plan and had to give up. He was right. The first fifteen lessons or so were things I already had done or knew how to do and the only things I didn’t already have information on were SEO and one other thing I don’t remember. No need to take a 20-hour class just for that part.

Then I went for a run:

The weather was much more beautiful than anticipated and I really loved the run. I was rather slow, though, I’m blaming my legs being sore from strength training the day before.

Came home to lunch being almost ready:

Very Bavarian.

Then I sat around and did some more research on how to prettify our website, finally took a shower, did the dishes, took some photos of my piano, guitar and ukulele (for the website again), did my singing and piano warmup and taught my students.

My husband’s last student had canceled so he decided to go and see and concert after all. One of his bass amps and speakers would be on stage even. He has started to lend out some of his equipment to the society for improvised music we belong to.

Meanwhile the boy and I watched the last episode of season two of „Deep Space Nine“. Excellent episode and the start of the war with the Dominion.

I still had some writing to do because my head had been all with the website all day long. Not easy.

Today there will be cleaning and pizza-making and strength training and phone calls and email and errands.

And then fall break.