Archives for February 2019

Funny how I was all set to write, write, write all day and then it didn’t quite work out and in the end I was okay with it.

Woke up from the alarm after something like eight hours of sleep straight through. Wonderful if a little disorienting.

Husband showed up at 8.30 again in a somewhat better mood. We did spend most of the morning talking which was rather nice.

Since the boy was having lunch with my mother-in-law and we still had some cress left we decided on potato salad. My husband was thinking bratwurst, I wanted eggs so we compromised and I went to the health food store for a second time this week. Also got an eggplant which will disappoint the boy. There is lasagna planned for the weekend and the boy likes it better without eggplant. Lunch was nice:

I spent quite a bit of time researching stuff on the internet that had nothing to do with any of my current projects and then I played some „Luigi’s Mansion 2“. I almost cleared the first level – I think – but died twice.

Then the boy came down from his lunch and started talking about school stuff. He needs to decide on all the classes for next year soon and was rather agitated about how complicated everything is and the kinds of classes he needs to take. I asked him about the seminars he had had to decide on at the beginning of the year and it turned out that he got the two he wanted and thought he had already told me.

Then I made very little music and did some more research and taught a couple of students. I really love it that my current singing students encompass the range from ‚Systems of a Down‘ to the ‚Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ to ‚Roberta Flack‘ to ‚Adele‘. I’m usually not much for Adele but I do like „Make You Feel My Love“. I was not surprised much when reading that it’s a Bob Dylan song originally.

Then the boy and I did some strength training, the boy fried himself some eggs for dinner (with a little help), I kicked myself in the butt and wrote some words and I managed to go to bed on time again. Win!

Today there will be cleaning and cross training and a family outing with Greek food for lunch and then quite a bit of teaching and if everything goes according to plan I will be able to celebrate the finishing of novel 2 by the end of the day.

No matter how that goes I am planning to watch some Star Trek.

Woke up a little before the alarm, wasted the first forty minutes rather pleasantly, wrote for 25 minutes.

The boy and I were alone for breakfast which was somewhat nice and somewhat strange. Very quiet breakfast, though. Then I got to read a bit before my husband showed up.

He is feeling a little blue. There were a lot of small things going sideways in the past two weeks and now the new bridge he had ordered for his new guitar is out of stock. So the whole process of deciding what to get and how it might change the sound is starting over.

Then I dawdled some more and used the finishing energy I am apparently having:

And then I went running. It is funny, I am still super-slow but I have the impression that training more is good for me. Running feels a little easier and interestingly my back and hip isn’t hurting. Why running is aggravating the whole thing and running more often isn’t? No idea. It might be the fact that my runs are pretty short right now, I’m in week two of Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Marathon Training. The one for people who haven’t run before.

So running was nice, as was listening to podcasts. I’m done with „Can’t Hurt Me“:

The ground between the trees was still completely covered in ice and slush. Since it has thawed a little bit it was easier to navigate, though.

Then my husband made lunch without my help:

Tasted better than it looks.

Then I wrote some more and did the dishes and then it was time for teaching. Only a few students.

Then I ate some cheese because I felt too hungry to skip dinner, talked with my husband a little more, wrote a little more, read some more and turned the lights out on time.

Today there will be some teaching and some writing and I’ll see what else. I need to experiment a little for the podcast because I have been having sound trouble, so I might do that.

The novel is pretty close to done. I can feel the pull towards the end and have caught a glimpse of where it might be going. Exciting!

Woke up before the alarm, tried getting my act together, only managed one 25-minute pomodoro of writing before breakfast. I guess I’ll have to be content with that because I don’t really manage doing more.

Then we had one of those mornings where everybody gets on everybody else’s nerves, we ran out of coffee, turned out I had promised to thaw buns for breakfast and forgot (there was bread but it’s not the same) and the boy was cramming for a social studies test at the breakfast table which doesn’t make for the nicest of atmospheres.

The day basically continued in the same vein.

Since we had run out of coffee I decided to move the weekly grocery run from Thursday to yesterday. That wasn’t too bad because on Tuesdays the supermarket seems to be way less crowded. Also, this time I did not walk all the way there and back with my bags because I still wanted to get my short Tuesday run in:

The frozen patches are still frozen which meant there was a lot of walking.

Then I came home where my husband was making pancakes. I folded two loads of laundry and put some of it away. (I leave my husband’s and the boy’s clothes out so they can put them away themselves.)

Lunch tasted good as always, even though some of the pancakes were a little, um, darker than necessary. I told you it was one of those days:

Then I talked with the boy, did a spot of prep for teaching, practiced a little, taught my students, did strength training with the boy, got ready for bed, wanted to write a bit but found that time vanishing into thin air because I foolishly updated my writing software, started attending the monthly webinar by Orna Ross, found that I was too drained to listen to anything and turned the lights out early.

Today there will be running and teaching and writing and nothing spectacular as far as I can see right now.

It feels like we’re all hanging in here until carnival break. 1 1/2 more weeks. Not that I’m counting or anything.

Woke up from the alarm, started writing right away for once. I did stop to check email and such after a while which meant I only got one writing session in before breakfast, not two, but I’ll get there eventually.

I’m trying to stay motivated by the thought that I might just finish this novel until the weekend if I really buckle down. We’ll see how that goes.

There was breakfast, the boy got up early for a change which I really like.

So I went running a little earlier than usual while my husband headed back to bed for a nap. With him getting up so early he doesn’t get enough sleep at the moment.

I met him again heading out for his run when I was almost back home again.

Running went well even though it was really slippery this time. I almost fell once but caught myself just in time. My pace was not great, mostly to the long stretches where I walked because of the ice. It was wonderful in the sun, though:

You can’t really see it but the ground in the picture above was all frozen.

I went to the health food store and then we made lunch:

Mostly because we wanted to eat the salad before it got bad.

Then I fell into a big slump and forgot that I wanted to prepare my lessons for the week and had a hard time making myself write some more and do the dishes. But I prevailed.

Then there was teaching. And another potential new student. Which is a good thing.

Then I wrote some more, did some more dishes, read a few pages in the novel I started yesterday and turned the lights out early.

My life is just so exciting all the time!

Today I want to do another short run, teach quite a few students, write, maybe practice a little (I really need to get back into the habit) and prepare my lessons for the week. I guess that’s enough for a day.

I woke up at 5.15 (yeah, I know) fully determined to get more done than the day before.

I did my usual morning stuff and had just written for five minutes when my husband showed up unexpectedly at 6.45 for building a fire. I told him I was in the middle of writing and would need a few more minutes.

For once we did have breakfast together. That’s such a rare occurrence it actually felt weird. We talked a bit and I worked on the socks I don’t like knitting because I’d like to finish them some day.

The boy didn’t show up for ages which made me pretty cranky. I wrote some more while waiting, did the dishes, did a load of laundry or two, wrote some more, helped very little with lunch and wrote some more. And planned out the next week. There’s a lot I want to get done in the next few days, wish me luck.

Lunch was very tasty:

Not quite the right food for a day that was summer-warm in the afternoon.

After lunch I did the dishes with the boy’s help, realized that I had all forgotten to do yoga, squeezed a quick yoga session in and had a virtual knitting meeting with Eliandhra that was very pleasant.

Then the boy and I watched some TV while I knitted on a different, much more agreeable pair of socks and I went to bed early.

Today there will be running and all the usual stuff, maybe I’ll go to the health food store and there will be teaching.

My great hope for this week is that I’ll a) manage to get enough sleep most nights, b) manage to do all the exercise I have planned and c) will manage to finish the novel-in-progress. Wouldn’t that be great?

Woke up before the alarm after having gone to bed too late again. I should have brushed my teeth before the boy occupied the bathroom for almost an hour.

Had a rather enjoyable morning, lounged in bed, read the fourth Unlikeable Demon Hunter-book, meditated, listened to music and had breakfast all by my lonesome.

One after the other the rest of the family got up and had breakfast too. My husband and I discussed some teaching stuff for an hour (that was pretty ridiculous – we had a series of misunderstandings and started the whole discussion over again twice or so). Things were eventually resolved.

I did the dishes while talking with the boy, then finished reading the novel and went running. 6.34 k, really, really slow and feeling awful. Most of the paths were all mud but then there were some extra-slippery bits. And we all know how I feel about slipperiness:

Beautiful, beautiful weather, though, even if it drew out all the people:

Yes, I know you can’t see anyone in the pictures. I’m taking care not to put other people’s pictures on my blog without asking them first.

Husband and I were both grumpy after a slightly weird week. We made lunch anyway but with added grumpiness:

It did taste very good, though. Then the boy helped me with the dishes for the second time that day. He had gone to the library in search of a book about math. His math teacher had said last week that he could bring a math book of his own to keep him occupied in class when he’s finished with the work they get from the teacher.

Unfortunately, an ebook probably won’t cut it. And a lot of advanced math textbooks are maybe a little expensive. We have now ordered something that looked promising and affordable. The boy is all excited about finally learning “Multivariable Calculus and Differential Geometry“. I’m not quite sure what that is but then I haven’t done that kind of math since 1986. If ever. Now he just needs to wait until the end of next week to actually get the book.

Looking for that textbook took about an hour of my afternoon.

My husband had a kind of meeting, an old school pal of his had asked to meet him, and we were both curious what he wanted. When it was close to the time that ski jumping would start they still hadn’t finished and I went to record ski jumping for my husband.

The meeting remained a little strange but not too bad. It did make me wait until it was over, though. Stupid.

Then I decided that playing Luigi’s Mansion 2 would be a wise use of my precious time, I failed to get the green lightbulb five times in a row and decided to call it quits.

I did start reading a new novel. Well, technically two but who counts.

Then I tried convincing the boy to do strength training, And he did it. Without resisting.

I have to say that doing thirty minutes of strength training on a day where I already ran/walked 6.4 kilometers does feel a little strenuous. Still. It makes me very happy that I have stuck to my workout plan for the week.

Then the boy and I watched an episode of ‚Star Trek Voyager‘. It was a pretty dull episode, unfortunately.

I got ready for bed early enough for once.

Today there will be yoga and food and a virtual knitting meeting and some writing. And I will think about what I want to do over the course of the next week. Oh, and my brother-in-law and his children will descend on my mother-in-law’s place for the rescheduled Christmas sausages.

I better try and get things done in the morning today. Otherwise things might not work out.