creative.mother.thinking

explaining my life to strangers

Archives for April 2021

Saturday, April 17: Managed some things and not others

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I woke up at six after enough sleep for once. Lounged around in bed for ages. Did yoga and meditated. Had breakfast.

The boy had said the day before that he wanted to eat breakfast but in the end I woke him up just in time for lunch. Twice. Before that I did all the dishes and practiced Chinese and went for my walk/run:

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Turns out I’m fast when I do 1-minute intervals than when I run for 800 meters and then walk for 400. Because I get fed up with all the running I just stop somewhere around the middle and walk the rest of the way. Odd.

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Then my husband made lasagna with a little help from me:

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It was delicious and there is more than half left over but today we’ll cook something else.

In the afternoon I did some research about tarps, found out how to sign up for an app that streams Chinese TV and had both my husband and the boy come over to talk to me several times. The boy is working on a logo to submit for his graduation and wanted some help. Apparently, the feedback from my mother-in-law that everything was just wonderful, no need to do more work was not that helpful. Whereas my opinions about spacing, type, shading, how to position the text and how wide to make the metal band on the pencil where maybe a little more specific. I mean, all those classes I bought about book cover design and such must be good for something.

Then the boy and I watched the first episode of season four ‚Star Trek Enterprise‘ and it was actually pretty good. Huh. Then I sat there an binged three episodes of ‚Accidentally in Love‘ before starting to write this post, doing evening yoga, writing in my bullet journal and going to bed too late.

Today there will be the phone call to my mother, reading more of „Marriage and Murder“, making some more pasta from scratch and lesson prep because that didn’t happen before. Also, another episode of ‚Torchwood‘. And getting angry about the news and the covid numbers as usual.Yesterday morning I had a moment where I could convince myself that right now in that moment everything was fine, there was no danger inside these walls and I could just live my life in peace for a bit but then reality crashed down again. Meh.

Friday, April 16: At least the toilets are clean now

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I’m counting that as a major win.

I woke up at six, stayed in bed for half an hour longer thus destroying my chance of writing morning pages. I did do yoga and meditation, though. Baby steps.

The boy had to be woken up twice again, I have no idea how to get him to go to bed earlier. I can’t say anything, though, because I’m doing the same.

I had breakfast but he was too late and only had a cup of tea before heading off five minutes too late. My husband and I talked a bit while he was having breakfast and I finally wove all the ends in on the crochet blanket:

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I washed a huge pile of dishes and then I actually cleaned the house. Phew. Including the toilet and washbasin in one bathroom. Since my husband was taking a shower at the time I told him that he has to clean the other one now.

We had risotto for lunch:

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I read a bit and ate some chocolate and then it was time for the first student of the day. I read some more on my break („Bombshells“ by Sarina Bowen, highly recommended) and then taught the next student. Read some more and finally started lesson prep. I didn’t manage to finish, unfortunately, before it was time for the third student of the day.

I then ate dinner while waiting for the boy. We wanted to watch ‚Torchwood‘ together. Because I wasn’t expecting him to be on time I watched almost a whole episode of ‚Accidentally in Love‘ while waiting. When the boy showed up he told me that he had fallen asleep. Then I started writing this post, did the day’s dishes, some yoga and went to bed on time.

Today there will be running. I’m not quite sure what else but I have a list somewhere.

Thursday, April 15: And another day where I did just the bare minimum

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Well, I did do a little bodyweight training, went to the supermarket and taught my students. But I did no lesson prep, did not write and the dirty dishes are still there in the sink.

There were many conversations with the family. Lunch was alright, not quite enough salt in the chickpeas and the rice was definitely undercooked:

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The boy was so overtired that he demanded coffee instead of tea and I had to go and wake him twice. When he showed up at lunchtime he was still wearing pajamas.

Today everything will be way better, more structured and I will get all the things done.

Of course.

Wednesday, April 14: A little better

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I slept in so that I could get almost enough sleep, at least, then did yoga and didn’t have time for the rest of the morning things because I needed to get breakfast ready in time for the boy to go to school.

When I shuffled through the house first thing after getting up I suddenly realized that I was not limping and nothing hurt. Huh. There had been a point, last year or so, when I could barely walk in the mornings because my legs were so stiff. So I guess all that yoga is making a difference. Good to know.

What I was not happy with was the number on the scale. I have been steadily gaining weight since 2016 and the past year saw that gain accelerating a bit. I tend to eat when stressed or unhappy. It might be time to reign that in a bit.

I did download the Nerd Fitness Journey app and am testing it right now. It is fun and so far it’s working. No idea if that’s worth 100 Euros per year.

After everybody had breakfast and I had done the dishes and such I went out for my run/walk. I did 26 minutes of 1-minute intervals. That suits me perfectly, by the way, switching every minute feels great.

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The weather was wonderful as well, cold but sunny with not a lot of people outside. (My husband came back and complained that it was freezing and told me to wrap up against the cold. I didn’t and that was exactly the right decision.)

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Came back, took a shower and read a bit while my husband made lunch:

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Then I talked a little with the boy, read some more (and finished „Give Love a Chai“, very nice story) and then it was all teaching al afternoon. I started writing this post, did some dishes, watched some Netflix, did some more yoga and went to bed.

Today is the weekly walk to the supermarket and more teaching. I might do some lesson prep as well, depending on how lunchtime works out.

I have to say that it’s really nice to see the students again, even if it’s just through a screen. And make music every afternoon is a perk as well.

Tuesday, April 13: Tired

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Which is understandable when one gets only five hours of sleep.

I still did most of what I had to do. Went to bed a little late and skipped evening yoga again.

Here’s a picture of my lunch:

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Covid numbers are bad enough that we weren’t allowed to teach in person even if we wanted to.

I might be a little stressed. At least the rash on my neck is flaring up again. Seems I need to find that salve the doctor gave me, it’s time for steroids again.

Today there will be running and all the teaching, the end.