Archives for February 2019

Woke up a little before the alarm. I should have been well rested with having turned the lights out at 9 but somehow I didn’t feel it. I was all set to write in the morning and again, felt too tired. (With this kind of thing I’m never quite sure if it’s real tiredness or just some resistance in my head.) Decided to be okay with skipping a day and set the imaginary deadline for the next novel to the end of April.

When it was time to get up the boy sent me a message that the first two periods were canceled. He still came down for breakfast but that meant we didn’t have to hurry.

Husband came over while the boy was back up in his room. While crocheting the last border round on the blanket I found that I had made a really stupid mistake the row before so I ripped an entire row back.

I started preparing the podcast, did the dishes and such and went running 5.6 k:

Wonderful weather, quite a few people out. My heart rate went way up and I still couldn’t be bothered to run for longer stretches.

After coming home I went to the grocery store and then there was lunch:

First time ever I had fried radicchio. It was really good.

We ate early because the boy had an earlier lunch break. Then I had a massive case of after-lunch slump.

I did sing a bit, taught a few students, helped the boy practice piano, taught some more, had plans to do all the things after that and failed.

Flopped into bed and turned the lights out early again. One of these days I will feel all energetic and rested again.

Today there will be the recording of the podcast and teaching and the start of getting the podcast ready for publishing. Bonus points for working on the novel. I am actually quite excited about writing. Someone just had a heart attack and I want to know what happens next.

Pretty good day, though, if not as productive as I had wished.

I woke up early did my usual routine of checking phone and computer and such, then read the ‚Daily Stoic‘ and ‚World of Wonder‘ and meditated for five minutes. I managed to write a bit and only started making breakfast five minutes too late.

My husband got up in time to see the boy off and on entering the old part of the house promptly had a thermos come undone and splashed black tea all over the wood flooring and the wall. We need to paint the walls anyways…

He decided that it was cold enough for the wood stove but to let the fire die down later in the morning.

We talked a lot, since garden season is starting he is in overwhelm mode again. Which I can totally understand.

I did some crocheting and spontaneously decided that I needed both the „Digital Minimalism“ and the „How to Break up with your phone“ books. I started reading the breakup book right away and am currently almost a hundred pages in.

It seems that this year is shaping up to become the year I abstain from things. January was for drinking way less alcohol than usual, February for eating nothing with added sugar and March might be the month for being more mindful in using the internet.

Then I went for a short 3.2 k run after calling a potential new student back and making an appointment for the same day. I didn’t feel all that energetic but the run was better than the day before. The weather is still gorgeous and the paths are only starting to get muddy again:

My husband made lunch without any help from me and it was rather good:

I spent more time talking with the boy than I intended which meant I ended up with no time for practicing. Then I taught quite a few student including someone who will start regular lessons after carnival break. I am very happy about the stream of new students coming in. Just a few more would be good.

After that the boy and I did some strength training, I ate some cheese, realized that I was way too tired to write some more, let go of the rest of my plans and went to bed.

Today there will be running again, a little longer this time, maybe grocery shopping if I can squeeze it in, and all the usual, including preparing tomorrow’s podcast. Oh, and a rather late student. So I can’t plan anything for the evening.

I woke up early again. I did start writing but only for twenty minutes before breakfast. I didn’t go well and I’m pretty certain I’ll throw it all out and start over again. Well, the creative process isn’t always linear.

Of course that made me feel bad anyway.

There was breakfast and crochet and reading and I’m finally caught up with the classical music I’m listening to every day (in theory) again. My husband was up early. No wood stove this week because it is really warm in the middle of the day. There is no need for a fire, really.

I went looking for the rest of my current spindle project and was happy to see that the bit I’m working on right now is the last unspun bit:

Half of it is plied once, a quarter is in a plying ball ready for the first plying pass, an eighth is spun singles and the rest needs yet to be spun. This is supposed to become cabled yarn so I need to wind another plying ball from the two plied cobs and ply that and go through the whole process for the second half as well to end up with two balls of cabled yarn for a pair of socks.

I started a load of laundry, went to the health food store and went running. Running felt awful, much too exhausting and no fun despite the weather being all bright and sunny again:

I barely could make myself run at all and walked most of the way. And felt rotten about it.

I think the next time I’ll go running first and to the store later. The problem might be that I ran out of steam.

Meanwhile my husband had started making lunch. And while he was doing that his mother showed up all flustered because the washing machine was blinking in a weird way.

Husband didn’t really like to be interrupted right in the middle of cooking, went down to the basement with her and found that the laundry was done, was slightly puzzled as to who had started a load (me, and we had talked about it). The laundry was cold and everything seemed a little strange. Apparently.

So I went down to the basement myself. The description of that weird blinking light sounded to me like the normal blinking that the machine does after having finished a program before it turns itself off.

But I went looking anyway.

As far as I can see everything is well with the washing machine. The blinking is what happens to tell you that you can either start a program or that the program is finished and you can push the button that opens the door.

Facepalm.

At least nothing is wrong. Of course, I also studied the washing machine’s manual and found out that it has all kinds of blinking lights to tell you that something is wrong. (This was not one of them.) Also error codes.

Then I folded a load of laundry and hung another one up while my husband was getting lunch ready. By then I was pretty hungry and everything tasted fabulous:

Then my lack of sleep over the past week caught up with me bad and I sat there waiting for energy for almost an hour. Did the dishes, got ready for teaching, did about half the prep I needed for the week, practiced a little and taught my students.

Then I asked my mother about my father’s eye doctor appointment. It seem he has cataracts which can be surgically dealt with. Under full anesthesia.

Then I made the boy play piano, changed into pajamas, worked a little on the book cover design course, spun a little more, watched the „ALLI Advanced Salon“ on Facebook and went to bed.

Today there will be more of the same minus the health food store.

Despite going to bed after eleven I woke up at 5.17. I gave up on sleeping shortly before six. That did not bode well for the day.

I lounged in bed and finished the novel I was reading, made breakfast and then my husband showed up.

We talked, I crocheted, he had breakfast, the boy showed up about two hours later. By then I was already washing the dishes.

Then I entered research mode for the dyeing/spinning/knitting project that came to me the night before:

Then I called my mother on the phone. Everything was fine, only my father had apparently driven about 120 kilometers to see an optician of whom he thought that he could help him with his eye problems. (Yes, the guy who has trouble seeing was driving himself on the Autobahn.)

The optician seems to be a sensible man because he told my father to go and see a doctor. My father is diabetic. When you have diabetes one of the first things you are told is to have your eyes checked regularly because the damage that can be cause by high blood sugar levels and high blood pressure are one of the leading causes of people going blind.

Since my father was afraid of having to have eye surgery (or any surgery at all) he thought not going to the doctor would make things better. Um, dumb plan.

I might have spent some time researching the subject. And the thing that both my parents don’t get – as far as I see – is that the damage done can’t be reversed. I don’t really think that there is a way to make him see better again.

Then I did some yoga. As mindfully as possible.

Meanwhile my husband had reheated the lasagna we made the day before, then we made some fresh salad. Lunch was delicious:

Then I read some more, played a video game, crocheted a bit, read stuff on the internet, thought about the project and the podcast and the boy’s haircut, finally did the lunch dishes, played around with the last podcast recording and actually found a way to do damage control if the sound problems with the podcast pop up again, planned the next week, changed the sheets on my bed, did strength training with the boy, watched Star Trek while spinning and crocheting some more, eyed the next novel and closed the document again and went to bed early.

It’s funny, that day felt like I hadn’t done a single thing but if you type it all out like that…

Today there will be running and teaching and lesson prep and writing. I am aiming for another early bedtime.

I woke up a little before the alarm, lounged in bed for a bit and started writing. One pomodoro later novel two (of three) was finished. Hurray!

I decided that I could take the day off. I still wrote things like running and cleaning on my list but most of them with a question mark.

I had breakfast, sat and crocheted, talked with my husband, talked with the boy:

I am about a third through the border by now.

Then I went out and ran my 6.4 k:

Beautiful weather but rather cold. The ground is almost free of ice now, though.

Then we made lasagna together without fighting:

Despite the new rule that we only cook easy things on Saturdays. Husband forgot the rule but it didn’t matter because everything went well.

Then I played video games and read and crocheted some more and watched videos on youtube and generally wasted my whole afternoon. That’s okay, though, because that was my way of celebrating. Also, my head is still pretty mushy and I need a bit of time to recuperate.

Then my husband and I went to Munich for the concert. We were both spending most of the day hanging around moaning about how exhausted we were so going out might not have been the best idea. On the other hand we are members of the improvisation association and most concerts are on Fridays which means we can’t attend anymore because we are teaching too late. So it was this concert and one in June. The only two we had a chance of attending.

We managed to leave the house on time and needed to buy tickets, then spent 40 minutes on trains (plus 20 walking to the train station that’s farther away but means we only have to pay half the train fare), then listened to a great concert and then, at intermission we left.

I was rather afraid I’d fall asleep during the second part and we were both really exhausted and tired.I’m pretty sure that the rest of the audience (we knew most of the people who were there) thought us very strange. Why would you go home in the middle of a concert if you actually like it?

Well, because you’re way too tired, that’s why.

While at the concert I had an idea. I have been loving the Kate Davies Knitting Season club and there was a pattern for a really colorful striped sweater. (It’s called Dathan, sorry but I’m too tired to link to anything.) I was briefly thinking about making that from Kate Davies’ yarn. I would really love to (even though I’m not sure about the mohair in the yarn. Maybe it’s itchy.) But  the original yarn would be 67 British pounds plus shipping. Yeah.

So I started thinking. I got a generous gift of 400 grams of Ronalds spinning fiber years ago from a friend. And I never quite knew what to do with it because it’s white and gray and while I love the natural colors a sweater in white and gray would not suit me at all.

But. If I dyed the fiber all kinds of colors like the Dathan sweater and the spun it (or the other way around, doesn’t really matter) I could use it to make a wonderful sweater.

Never mind that the sweater has Dolman sleeves which are really impractical and that the shape of the sweater will make me look extra fat and that those sleeves mean I can’t play guitar in the sweater or wear it under a coat. Still.

I have a big weakness for cropped sweaters like that even though they look awful on me.

I went to bed too late after pondering yarn and dyeing and such. This would be a big, big project. Getting the colors just right would be a big challenge. And I don’t have enough fiber to test everything in advance. I think.

But it might be fun. Stripes! I love stripes! A project for something that I wanted to work with for ages! Plus steering which I have never done! And I could dye up the kilo of sock yarn I have still lying around first to test the colors.

Oh, the possibilities!

That’s what you get when you listen to a double bass player and a soprano sax player making weird noises on their instruments for an hour.

Today there will be yoga, maybe the cleaning but maybe not. I think I might take another day off.

I did prepare the document for starting the next novel yesterday already, so we’ll see.

Woke up early, slightly before the alarm after having gotten enough sleep for the third night in a row. Wow.

It took some time to make me start writing but when I did I was on a roll. Only a few hundred words first thing, then breakfast.

My husband showed up early because he had a student at 9 in the morning. That gave me some time to write because I was still set on finishing novel 2.

I procrastinated like a champ, finally got writing and then didn’t want to stop at all. 70 minutes later I had finished the epic showdown at the end of the story and finally tackled the dishes.

Had to skip cross training and cleaning. I did try to get the printer running again with a set of cleaning cartridges. Let’s say it was not totally in vain. On the other hand if we want to print something in color it better won’t have any magenta in it. I’ll try again today.

I also changed the cartridge in the BRITA filter. So, for a while I was going back and forth between the kitchen and the annex. Starting the next step of the process, walk over to the other room, check if I can start the next step, rinse, repeat.

Then it was time to get ready to go out for lunch which also meant transferring all my stuff from the backpack that I use when I go shopping to a purse. Or in this case a messenger bag.

We walked to the Greek restaurant and met the boy there. The waiters were rather generous with the ouzo, the boy got one as well which he didn’t drink.

The food was good (it’s not the best Greek food in town but it is nice and the nearest to our house):

I really longed to finish writing that novel but there was no time left in the day. Also, writing 4,200 words in the morning left me with slightly achey hands.

I read a bit and sang a bit and was happy that the last part of the blanket CAL was out. Then I taught all the students. And had fun doing it.

Then the boy and I watched „Star Trek: First Contact“ which is excellent.

I did not manage to write after that, it was already a little past my bedtime by then.

I’m hoping for today.

Today there will be running and maybe sewing and my husband and I will go out to see one of those weird, improvisation concerts. Even though we feel like staying home.

I still have most of my to do-list from yesterday, I did not clean anything and there are a couple of other things on there. No idea when I’ll do those. Maybe I will have to clean instead of sew.

Still. Almost finished.