Archives for December 2018

I did wake up half an hour before the alarm and wrote my morning pages. No fiction writing, though. Breakfast, five minutes of meditation, knitting, my husband’s breakfast, the usual. We decided to not build a fire because it was unseasonably warm and we were planning to make pizza. Not something you cook on a stove.

Not building a fire made us pretty early, which was good. My husband made the pizza dough before going for his run (excellent plan) and I cleaned the house. Well, some of it anyway.

When he came back around noon we immediately started with the pizza. We were both pretty shaken from all the fighting over cooking throughout the week and didn’t want a repeat.

So we started early, made pizza in complete harmony and managed to get lunch ready early. I’m thinking the key might be that I need to approach the cooking as if I were cooking alone with all the thinking and planning, even when my husband is head cook on something. Pizza was really tasty:

Unfortunately after that there was barely enough time to take a shower and get ready for teaching, no washing of dishes. Oh, and I published the podcast and announced it on social media.

Then back to back students until six. Then strength training. With the boy! He hadn’t done any strength training for a year or so and it is starting to show. His shoulders are sloping again and there might be a hint of paunch. So I tricked him today over lunch. I said, „So, tonight at six, do you want to do strength training alone in your room or together downstairs?”

He said, „I don#t mind doing it together.“ And so I got him. Since I’m me I also explained to him what I had done and that that is a strategy that is often helpful in getting people to do what you want them to. They get a choice but they don’t really get to say no.

So, after my last student he came downstairs and we worked out. Not that I really wanted to at that point, I was exhausted and hungry and wanted to be done with the week. I still don’t regret doing it. But getting back to form will take some time.

I’m also very proud of the boy because he brought home a Latin test that’s a C and a math test that’s an A. Very good. There might be a Latinum in this for him after all.

Then we ate leftover pizza in front of TV while watching Star Trek and I spun my advent calendar fiber.

There were still all those dishes and bakings sheets to clean (and the oven – roasting a whole chicken did leave some residue after all). And I still needed to write my daily words. I’m happy that I wrote every day for the whole week, less happy that I only wrote for 15 minutes each day. But hey, at that pace writing one of the novels in the series will only take 237 days.

Today there will be running (still not sure if I should attempt 9 k or not), the making of chili and guacamole, spinning, writing, watching more Star Trek and the packing for tomorrow’s spinning meeting. Which might include mending a pair of handspun socks, blocking a shawl and carding the rest of the fiber for the cowl. Well, for the first color for the cowl.

I should take good care not to fall into my usual Saturday afternoon slump, then.

I only woke up from the alarm and would have preferred staying asleep to be honest. So I skipped the morning pages. My plan had been to only write before breakfast and do nothing else. My intention had been very firm and I had pictured myself while doing it, you know, like you’re supposed to.

And then I woke up feely totally woolyheaded and just couldn’t do it.

I did write for fifteen minutes but only after I had gone online, and I only managed 230 words during that time.

I was a little late in making breakfast but the tea was just ready when the boy showed up. Phew.

Since I really had to finish reading „The Omega Objection“ I lost some more time after breakfast but I did meditate and then started preparing the podcast in earnest.

I did also finish knitting a hat while my husband was having his breakfast:

Interestingly this fits both me and my husband even though we have completely different size heads. He likes it.

Then I started a pair of fingerless mitts from the leftover yarn but had to rip the first three rows back.

I did dishes and talked to my husband and went grocery shopping. I still was feeling fuzzy and the whole grocery shop seemed to be full of people standing in the way while chatting to each other.

Then I came home, started to unpack the groceries and had yet another misunderstanding with my husband. This week we have fought while making dinner each and every day. Not because of some big rift between us, just because we are not really compatible in the way we do practical things and communicate them. Today’s conversation went like, „Do you think we need to precook the lentils?“ „Um, I think we should start now.“ And that set off a heated one hour conversation while we were both frantically cooking.

Nope, not much fun. Especially when you cook Spätzle  from scratch on a wood stove. My husband has been complaining about being way too hot standing there in front of the stove, and I get it. But today I ended up with big, angry, red patches on my thighs. They have started to fade so I guess I’ll be okay.

We did agree on only making Spätzle on the electric stove top in the future. Lunch did taste wonderful, even though we switched pots midway and had no salt in the pasta pot and salt in the lentil pot:

The boy had lunch with his grandmother. We did make some extra for him, though, and he ate that for dinner.

Then I took a little break and then went on to record the podcast. I finished just in time for my first student. I had briefly tried using a new microphone for recording but there were too many variables. Finding out how to set everything up properly was stressing me, so I just used my regular old mike instead.

I had another break after that first student and started getting the podcast ready for publishing, and since the boy was busy walking his grandmother to the doctor (she seems to be having that dreaded cold that we all got and is feeling weak because of it), he missed his piano lesson.

Then more students, and more podcast.

My husband had been really nice and had done the dishes twice and hung up the load of laundry he had thrown in around noon. When I showed up again after my teaching day was done everything was all tidied up and clean. I’m really grateful for that.

I actually got the podcast all ready last night and it will go live in the afternoon.

Then I spun my daily advent calendar fiber while watching some videos, started writing this and went to bed barely in time for my 10 pm bedtime. I have to say that I much prefer 9 pm but at the moment I just can’t do it.

The boy just told me the other day that he has now found out how to get adequate sleep: he needs to get ready for bed at eight and turn the lights out at nine. He feels a little foolish doing this because that is the exact same bedtime routine he used to have years ago.

Well, welcome to my world. I feel best when I turn out the lights at nine as well.

Today there will be writing and cleaning and helping my husband make pizza from scratch. Yes, he said he wouldn’t do it anymore. Yes, we probably will start fighting again, even if we both try not to as hard as we can. And I just remembered that we might not have any tuna for the pizza. Well. Then we’ll have to put other things on it instead.

Today will be really busy yet again (and I hope really productive as well – I like productive). Lots of students. My husband will have to go out to the youth center and watch students of his play rock music again. The boy and I will stay in and watch ‚Star Trek‘. I’m really looking forward to that.

I woke up from the alarm and decided not to write morning pages because of it. Went online and didn’t write. Boo.

Had breakfast, meditated for five minutes and started preparing the podcast. I didn’t get quite as far as I had wanted but that’s okay.

My husband showed up, built a fire and had breakfast while I worked on his hat. I’m already at the crown decreases. We had a great conversation about my writing and such and how to get better at actually doing it. Sorry, that’s an ongoing problem that probably won’t go away soon. If ever.

Then there was a bit of housework and the running. I did 6.4 k with slightly more running than walking. And I felt fine while doing it. The weather was pretty gray but dry and there weren’t any people out. I really enjoyed that:

That’s my husband passing me, by the way.

Halfway point.

Halfway point when you look to the other side.

Then we made lunch with the usual misunderstandings and chaos. This time it was a rather elaborate meal (lamb balls, kritharaki with tomato sauce, tsatsiki and green beans with stuffed peppers for the boy) and my husband forgot to actually make the green beans. We started those just before everything else was ready and then he went and took a very short nap before eating because he had to start teaching early. As I said, slight chaos. But the food was very good:

Then dishes and in between the folding of the laundry and getting ready for teaching. Yesterday I had decided to start a new spinning project next Sunday and I managed to card half the fiber I want to take. My first student was a no-show which is always rather confusing and then there was solid teaching until 6.15.

My webinar started at 6 but of course I couldn’t watch the beginning. It doesn’t matter, though, because I’ll be able to watch the replay. Webinar was great and I used that time to spin my daily portion of advent calendar fiber:

It’s getting rather more pink than I’d usually choose but I like it.

Then I started this post, did another pile of dishes, wrote in my bullet journal, wrote for 15 minutes on the novel, got ready for bed and crashed. I had been really looking forward to read some more of „The Omega Objection“ by Gail Carriger which is fabulous and so I read and went to bed too late. And yes, no drawing again.

Today I’m looking forward to go grocery shopping, prepare the podcast real quick and record an episode. Then teaching until late and then there won’t be much energy left.

I woke up at 5.35 again and wrote morning pages. Managed to get up on time, wrote 400 words, had breakfast, meditated and watched a few minutes of the book cover design course before my husband showed up. Then I knitted on the handspun hat I’m making for him.

Then it was time for epic erranding. I got yet another test contact from the optician, went to the bakery, and another bakery, the butcher and to a drug store where I met a woman that I did jazz dance with ages ago (I stopped when I was pregnant with the boy). We meet each other in the street every few months, She does feel a little unhappy to me and is one of those people that I can’t stop thinking about.

Then I went to a grocery store for oats and coffee creamer and to the health food store and back home where my husband was in bad need of clarified butter so I went back out to yet another grocery store. Phew.

Packed everything away and tried to help with lunch but there wasn’t much to do. We had potatoes, sauerkraut and Leber- und Blutwurst which is as Bavarian as it can get. I didn’t take a picture because a) I forgot and b) it doesn’t really look all that appetizing, It’s really good, though.

Then I procrastinated a bit, did my singing warm-up, taught a few students, printed new grocery lists, taught some more, made the boy practice piano, decided that I need a new spinning project for Sunday’s spinning meeting and started preparing an carding the fiber, started this post, waited for a webinar to start (this time on finances for women), and started to watch the webinar while spinning my advent calendar fiber:

 

I decided that the webinar was not something I needed, watched some things on youtube instead, did a ton of dishes and went to bed a little late.

On my list was also ‚drawing‘ and ‚mike test‘. I guess I’ll move that to today.

Today there will be running and teaching and yet another webinar. This one will be earlier, though.

Which is the story of my life. I am listening to a video on goal-planning while I’m starting to write this in the hope that different planning will make everything better but honestly, I’m thinking my problem is not in the planning, it is in the slacking off.

So. The day started well even though I went to bed late. (My bedtime might have caused the big afternoon slump, though, just a thought.)

Since writing first thing in the morning never works anyway and I was already wide awake at 5.30 I decided to write some morning pages for a change. They do make a difference when I do them. I’m not quite sure that that difference is worth the twenty minutes they take but on the other hand it’s not like I never waste a minute throughout the day. I did write for fifteen minutes after that and got up in time to make breakfast so that was good.

Had breakfast, read more of the Sarina Bowen book, meditated and then I found that it was almost time for my husband to show up. So I just started watching the video about goal-planning, and three minutes later my husband was ready for his breakfast. Better to interrupt video-watching than writing.

Then I knitted a bit and the tricky bit I was doing took longer than I thought it would. Then I went out for a run:

I had planned to do 6.4 k with minimal walking and ended up doing 5 k with more walking than running. See, all the planning and goal-setting doesn’t help if you’re stubborn like me. I even dislike it when I tell myself what to do.

There was actual chicken soup for lunch from yesterday’s leftover chicken, very yummy:

The poor boy had to make do with a spaghetti omelette from other leftovers because you can’t make vegetarian chicken soup. We also ended up with leftover soup which my husband took upstairs to his mother because she is now having that cold that we all enjoyed so much over the past few weeks. Turned out that she had just thought about getting some chicken to make soup that morning, so that was timely.

Then I had a ton of plans of all the things I wanted to accomplish before my first student…

Let’s say that I did do the dishes, took a shower, put on makeup, asked my husband for help with the microphone tests I wanted to do (and he did help me tremendously), thought about whether I want to go to the big spinning meeting next Sunday and researched trains and how to get there from the station (never mind that I’ve been there before repeatedly) and finally watched most of that video I had started in the morning.

Then I taught a few students, met up with the boy to watch ‚Doctor Who‘, spun my advent calendar fiber while watching and then I was left with half my to do-list still undone. I had already crossed out ‚practice‘.

Then some half-hearted drawing and I to bed almost on time.

Today will be errand day and grocery shopping day, I have a list of four shops I need to go to. I want to spin and write and make music and do some tests for the podcast and do strength training.

That will be fun! And I’ll surely get everything done, no problem!