Archives for September 2019

I’m not quite sure I want to live this way, though.

I woke up at 5.00 and just tossed and turned until the alarm went off. The Fitbit is sure that I slept well after waking that so I guess it was fine. At least I had turned in early.

I started my morning routine and went off the rails somewhere between meditating and working on the novel. Got up a little too late but managed to have breakfast ready before the boy showed up downstairs. He was a little late too.

I did manage to write for half an hour between the boy leaving and my husband coming over to the kitchen. It turned out that my husband had been awake for an hour at that point and only waited with his breakfast for my sake. At least I did use that time well.

After breakfast we got going right away. I went to the health food store, the haberdashery (for sewing thread) and the supermarket and I had to go early so we could pre-cook the beans for lunch. For once I didn’t have to buy any vegetables because we are eating our own at the moment.

We made lunch:

Minestrone con pesto. Very, very good. I even got seconds.

After that the boy and I did the dishes, we went to the dermatologist who basically said that he should continue using all the cremes. Also, they will only work if you actually use them. Bummer.

I had been a little concerned about the fact that my first student was due only an hour after the appointment but it all turned out fine.

I taught my students, got the podcast ready for publication later today, started writing this post, decided to skip strength training after all because right before bed is definitely the wrong time of day for such things, got ready for bed, read a little and crashed.

I have to say that I’m looking forward to the weekend. I have absolutely nothing scheduled, apart from the usual exercise and an online writing thing.

Today will be another one of those super-busy days with the cleaning and lots and lots of teaching and such. Fun!

With a long, long to-do list.

I woke up at 5.45 from the alarm but the last hour or so of sleep had been rather restless. I kept thinking of things I needed to add to said to-do list.

Because I’ve decided that I’m super self-disciplined a few days ago I managed to meditate, read the „Daily Stoic“ and write morning pages before breakfast. Because I’m not quite as disciplined as I’d like to be yet I did spend the other thirty minutes before getting up with staring at the ceiling first and checking email and posting on Ravelry later. Still, progress.

Breakfast was had, the boy showed up on time, then I wasted some more time trying to fix a problem with my phone. I keeps connecting itself to mobile data without me doing anything. I’m on a prepaid plan which means that each time it connects I’m losing a bit of money. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ind a solution, all the settings are where they should be. We’ll see.

I wrote a few words on the novel before my husband had breakfast, he showed up, I crocheted, we talked about guitars again. Then dishes and the usual household stuff (thought I did not manage to fold the two dry loads of laundry hanging around), then my husband decided it was time to mount the new toilet seat while I called the mother of a student back. Then I helped my husband with the toilet seat.

Which meant I went running about half an hour later than I would have liked. Which meant that I was already super-hungry and it was a little too warm and so I gave in and walked one of my running intervals. It was a nice run, regardless, with entertaining podcasts:

Then back home and onwards to preparing lunch:

Wednesday is the day my husband likes to eat lunch early because he also starts teaching early. And this year the boy also comes home from school for lunch early on Wednesdays. (And even earlier on Mondays and then he has to go back both days.)

These were the last green beans from our garden for the year.

After that the boy and I did some admin (there is quite a lot of that at the beginning of the school year) and the dishes and then I did my singing warm-up and more admin, this time for the teaching. I made a new list of students and tried to get the printer to behave (I gave up after a while.), and then it was time for my first student of the day.

The second one was a potential new one and I’m thinking that he will start next week. At the end of our lesson he was headed towards the music store to buy a new guitar with his mother.

Then more admin, banking stuff. And two more students and then I was done for the day. With teaching.

I started writing this post, worked a little on the podcast and went to bed early this time.

Today there will be the big supermarket run, a visit to the dermatologist with the boy and then teaching. I’m really hoping that the doctor’s appointment will be on time because I need to be back home in time for teaching. It should be doable. If we run late I might have to run out the door mid-appointment and leave the boy to fend for himself. Which he should be able to do.

Somehow I feel that this weekend I’ll just crash.

Another cold day. My alarm went off at 5.45 and I fell asleep again after that. Oops. I did manage to meditate and then time just went by until it was too late to write before breakfast.

The boy got up on time, we had breakfast together and after he left for school I did write some words on the novel. Phew. My husband showed up, I crocheted, we talked about guitar pickups. Dishes were done and some other household stuff and then I got ready to record the podcast. For once I did not have any technical difficulties. For which I’m grateful.

Then I helped my husband with making lunch:

Shrimp risotto.

The boy had come home from school all excited and for once with the strong desire to talk about everything. First day of eleventh grade is a little special because everything changes from being organized by classes to courses. Every student gets their own schedule. For PE he got stuck with swimming, not a particularly good choice for him. But then there might not have been a good choice for him when it comes to sports.

I helped him with the inevitable paperwork, signed things, put dates in my calendar and made a note to pay for the trip to Berlin they will be doing in April.

And then it was time to teach. And call a potential new student back. And teach some more.

After that the boy and I did some strength training. I decided to change things up a bit and went back to the first cycle of the bodyweight program. It felt easier. In between sets I read him bits of „Mind over Matter“ and at one point I played some Funk for him because he didn’t know any. (The Funk didn’t have anything to do with the book, it was triggered by my husband showing Funk grooves to a guitar student in the next room.)

I had wanted to skip dinner but we were still talking and I was hungry after a long day and I had helped the boy warm up some leftover spaghetti and so I ate some cheese instead.

Brushed my teeth and such, had the boy help me do the dishes, changed into pajamas and started writing this post. Then I read some more and turned off the lights. Too late because the novel I was reading was just so good that I didn’t want to stop.

Today there will be running, teaching and meeting the potential new student. In between I’d like to start getting the podcast ready. And some writing would be nice. Bonus points for finding time to buy sewing thread.

But oh so cold. And somehow I started getting the dates wrong a few days ago and so you’re getting two September 9th in a row. Because I forgot the 6th.

I woke up early, started my morning routine, somehow lost an hour to the internet but managed to at least spend half an hour on the novel. I had breakfast and my husband came over and told me more about his new guitar and I did some crochet. I did the breakfast dishes while the boy showed up, my husband put a load of laundry in and I went running.

It was cold enough that I wore a jacket. About halfway through I found that way too warm. I am now at 5 minutes of running followed by one minute of walking and I did pretty well:

Came back home, took my contacts out and helped to make lunch. Today was the day we finally made pesto Genovese:

And then I realized that I had made a mistake. I couldn’t put my contacts back in because of the cleaning solution. Which meant I couldn’t record the podcast. I mean, it might have been okay to rinse the lenses and put them in but I didn’t really want to risk it.

So I changed my plans. I did the dishes, went to the health food store, finally took a shower, hung up the load of laundry and then it was time to get ready for teaching.

My students all showed up, every single one of them, then the boy and I watched some more Star Trek (first episode with Ezri Dax!), talked with the boy about his fears regarding the first day of school, started writing this post, journaled and declared the day done.

Today I want to probably record the podcast, teach all the students and do some writing and other stuff in between. Maybe less housework today than yesterday.

No, I didn’t do all the writing yet again.

It seems that my new morning routine is to go straight to email, then meditate for five minutes, read „The Daily Stoic“ and then I’m off to all the social media before remembering that time is finite, getting up and making breakfast.

This will definitely have to change starting tomorrow because tomorrow is the first day of school for the boy. I don’t really want to force him to skip breakfast because I can’t get up in time.

Other than that the day was good.

I finished reading „The Unkindest Tide“ and it was so good I didn’t want it to end. I immediately read the bonus novella in the back of the book and then went on to download all the free October Daye-stories from Seanan McGuire’s website.

I did start another novel right away but I’m not quite sure if I’ll stick with it.

I worked on the crochet blanket while talking with my husband, did the dishes in a timely manner and got ready for the weekly ‚Sunday exercise‘-bit. Very good training this time for all the bits that are giving me trouble.

Then we made lunch. We had planned to make pesto Genovese but the weather was so cold that we didn’t feel like it. My husband ventured outside into the cold and rain and harvested some green beans instead:

Very yummy.

Then a break. I tried a few things with the teaching website, successfully procrastinated on drawing, writing and doing the homework for the pacing workshop and then started preparing the next podcast. The boy had a friend over.

I started this post, helped my husband to make dinner, we all ate including the boy’s friend, I watched the first episode of the Marie Konto show and then the finale of season six of Deep Space Nine with the boy and went to bed.

Today there will be running and all the usual things and in the afternoon I will probably start teaching again. Not quite sure which students will show up and which won’t because the official first day of school will be tomorrow, so we’ll see.