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Archives for October 2023

And I’m back, sleep-deprived, happy and productive

October 25, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Yes, I know that doesn’t really make sense. Though I have to say that sometimes people with depression get told to not sleep to elevate their mood.

But I think the main reason was that I could talk with people who understand the slightly weird struggles I’m having, the fundamental „Why can’t I make myself do the things I want to do and that I know make me feel good in the long run?“ So while Monday’s coach declared me unfixable we laughed and commiserated and that helped.

Yesterday had a bit of a rocky start because I had gone to bed at 1.30 after two beers. I did get up at 7, did my complete morning routine, had breakfast with my husband, wove some ends in on the crochet blanket and proceeded to do all the things.

Woke the boy, opened the manuscript for revision, did the dishes, addressed and mailed two letters, went to the health food store, put everything away, called the IRS and finally reached an actual person. Who told me to throw the letter they sent me away because everything was in order.

I put the groceries away, had an early lunch with my husband where we continued talking about his struggles learning Italian. We had potatoes, spinach and fried eggs:

a plate with potatoes, spinach and fried eggs, glss of water to the side

This for me is comfort food that reminds me of my childhood. We had spinach – the frozen one with cream sauce – every week because spinach is so healthy and I had an iron deficiency. Of course now we know that spinach doesn’t really contain that much iron but well.

Since we were so early I decided to do some more revision after lunch, wrote two emails and took a break before teaching that was too long to deal with all the laundry and take a shower but at least I hung the first load of the day and folded the one that had still occupied the drying rack. I had a student cancel which meant I had a one-hour break in between students. I went on to hang up the second load of laundry but found that my husband did it.

I refilled my fountain pen, remembered that I needed to print out new grocery list forms, managed to squeeze that in before my last two students of the day, then took a shower, did the dishes, watched some TV, did the usual Chinese lessons and turned the lights out a little earlier for once.

Today there will be more things to get done, teaching, and some exercise. Or maybe I will go grocery shopping today because I’m having a dentist appointment tomorrow morning, we’ll see.

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

Managed to be in a bad mood all day

October 24, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Since I had stayed up past midnight and then didn’t sleep all that well I had a not-so-ideal start into the day. I’m suspecting that I have more hot flashes than I’m conscious of and that they disrupt my sleep but not to the point where I wake up all the way. It was just that when I woke up around 4.30 with the feeling of „Hot, hot, hot! Need to get the blanket off now!“ it felt oddly familiar.

I woke up at 6.50 with basically no energy. Part of me feels that that’s what I get from taking a weekend completely off. I have to say I find energy management completely puzzling.

Since I was so tired I did everything very slowly and skipped my whole morning routine because I didn’t want to push myself. The theme of not wanting to push myself continued throughout the day. And so I ended up skipping cardio as well. I woke the boy up at 11, then did the dishes, ordered takeout and picked it up and then we had lunch all three of us together at noon so that the boy could still get to university on time:

IMG 6088

For once I did take the duck instead of the fried noodles:

Ceramic bowl holding rice, veggies and duck with gung bao sauce. Glass of water still untouched.

The duck was very good but I’m not sure if Gung Bao sauce was the right choice. I sat there reading and playing games until it was almost time for teaching and only managed to do the dishes because my first student had canceled.

Teaching felt a bit uphill, I had the impression that both the students and I are ready for a week off.

After teaching I talked with my husband and the boy a bit, ate dinner, read some more, started writing this post and continued to think about what I wanted to talk about in coaching later in the evening.

Over the course of the day I had become super motivated to finish revision of book 2 until the end of the week which would have meant going through 30 pages per day but then I felt too tired and meh to actually do it. Which is what happens often these days.

I did try to reach someone at the IRS in the morning but couldn’t reach anyone. I’m starting to think the number on the letter they sent me is wrong. Anyways, I’m thinking of maybe not doing anything because the letter said that it was based on everything they had gotten up until September 29th and I sent my forms in on October first which was right on time. Though last year the exact same thing happened, they sent me a letter stating that I hadn’t sent the form when in fact I had.

That’s when you think that you’re reward for dealing with all the small, niggly unpleasant things is getting more of them.

Of course I went to bed too late again after a very fun and pleasant coaching call. Which means at least my mood is better right now. Yawn!

Today is an extra long teaching day and the day I go to the health food store and maybe the tea shop as well. And mail the gas meter reading and the wood shredding form. Being an adult is all I ever dreamed of…

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

And another quiet day where I didn’t do much

October 23, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

As always I had great plans but on the other hand I’m very happy to have taken the weekend off. I need a bit of rest before the upcoming week.

I got up as usual and did things slowly enough that I had to choose between doing yoga and meditating. I chose meditating. Had breakfast, crocheted a bit, read, talked with my husband, actually opened the manuscript, talked with my mother on the phone, did the dishes and chores and then was early enough to try to do some more revision. I went into my studio for that, opened the laptop and – went on social media and researched something my mother had asked me about.

Came back to the kitchen in time to chop some parsley for my very overwhelmed husband:

A dark table with a plate of spaghetti and tomato sauce, a glass bowl with arugula salad and a glass of water.

After lunch I sat around reading, playing games and eating chocolate until 4 or so. The talked with the rest of the family, finally did the lunch dishes and then went to my studio again for attempt number two at novel revision. Well. I ended up watching videos about minimalist packing which is always a sign that I need something soothing.

My head is actually deep in getting ready for my upcoming trip. I will spend most of the day on a train on Saturday.

I did eat some pastries in the afternoon as well, did my weekly check-in with the online writer’s group, at the rest of the bag of potato chips for dinner while talking about politics and the stock market with the boy, talked with husband about the Stratocaster he is modding, planned the week and found that I hadn’t even made a list for the day in my bullet journal, did Duolingo and the other Chinese learning up, started writing this post, watched an episode of „Storm Eye“ while crocheting and drinking a beer and went to bed.

Today will be pretty long, I want to do some form of cardio in the morning, need to take a shower, will teach all afternoon and have micro-coaching in the evening. Banzai!

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

As predicted I spent the Saturday reading, eating and not doing much else

October 22, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I woke up at 6.50 and decided I had enough time to read for ten minutes or so before doing my morning routine. Right. Forty minutes later I slowly rolled out of bed. Skipped yoga and such, ate breakfast, talked with my husband while weaving ends in on the next two crochet blanket squares and then I started my day very, very slowly. I wrote morning pages and read stuff on the internet, went on Ravelry and read a bit more.

I did the dishes and finally got on my bike for a bit of exercise around 12.30.

Picture of a wood path. Well, it has tarmac. But it's not a street.

This time I took the picture before reaching the next town over. Not pictured here are the hordes of people out and about, a lot of them in groups, some with little wagons holding coolers and blasting music.

Came back after half an hour to a husband who told me there would be lunch in ten minutes. We ate 20 minutes later. If I had known I could have taken a shower in between. Lunch was one of our very favorite meals, pasta e fagioli:

A white soup plate full with pasta e fagioli, pasta, beans, potato, veggies, sugo and parsley. Glass of wat eron the side.

I took a nice break after that and when I looked up again I had almost finished „Hither, Page“ and the afternoon was almost done. I had had a big craving for licorice all afternoon and after hanging up the load of laundry I had started before leaving the house and doing the dishes a second time I walked to the supermarket and got myself some quality junk food.

By then it was almost time for dinner so I ate all the potato chips, gummy bears and chocolate.

Did Chinese, started writing this post, finally took a shower at 9 and watched some C-drama.

Today I will call my mother on the phone, plan out the week, maybe open the manuscript, maybe start sewing the buttons on the cardigan that has been almost finished since June and if the weather is nice enough we might eat lunch at a beer garden. It might be the last nice day for the year.

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

And now I’m really ready for the weekend

October 21, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

I did really well again yesterday.

Even though I went to bed at 11.30 and my alarm went off at 7 and I then fiddled with my ebook reader and downloading books first thing I did manage to squeeze a complete morning routine in. Was just taking my blood pressure cuff off as husband showed up for breakfast.

I didn’t stop moving much all day, did revision for 20 minutes, did some housework, changed the sheets on my bed and did the whole weekly cleaning thing all before we had lunch at 1.20:

A white plate on a drak table holding potatoes, Brussel's sprouts and a pork steak with a mushroom sauce. Glass of water on the side

I’ve been craving German food lately, I’m avoiding histamine and this kind of food makes that easier. I was very hungry at that point and the food tasted heavenly.

After that I took a bit of a break, found that ‚Merge Mansion‘ has a pirate event this weekend and played a bit, then proceeded to teach my first student of the day. After the second one I used my 2-hour break to deal with all the laundry and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors before teaching the last student of the day.

Ate dinner, started writing this post, did Duolingo and ‚Hello Chinese‘, watched an episode of „Storm Eye“ while sipping a beer and crocheting another square, read a few pages of „Hither, Page“ and turned out the lights.

Today I want to do some kind of exercise, not quite sure what kind, read, play the piano maybe, and spend a bit more than twenty minutes on the manuscript.

That was a pretty full week. And I’d like to take this weekend to recharge because the weekend after won’t be restful at all.

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

And yeah, blog trouble seems to have been solved!

October 20, 2023 by Susanne Leave a Comment

Knock on wood!

The change from an outdated php version to the new one was probably what did it.

Yesterday was a really full, busy and satisfying day.

I got up around 7, wrote morning pages and did yoga, woke the boy up, made breakfast and ran out of time for meditation. Had breakfast with my husband and with the boy, and wove all the ends in of the last two blanket squares.

In between my husband asked for my help with a mobility survey. He had been picked, probably randomly and we had answered a few questions which had resulted in a link to a longer survey asking everybody in the household where they went and how on Wednesday. Which was somewhat funny because that day the boy was the only one of us who had left the house. Husband and I both had skipped exercise and didn’t do any shopping.

There were a lot of questions like „how often do you have access to a car“, „do you have a driver’s license“, „how often do you use trains“ and on and on. Took me about half an hour to fill everything out. I had to look up how many kilometers it is to uni for the boy (34), 15 by train and the rest by subway.

I also liked the question about how far our workplace is from home (0 km) and how we get there (on foot). And if we work from a home office. Husband wanted to say no because we don’t do office work but I said yes because, well, that was the only option for working from home.

After that I actually opened the manuscript and revised for 30 minutes. Then hurried up with the dirty dishes, then went to the doctor’s office to renew my prescription and get the flu shot which took another 30 minutes, went to the small supermarket for the nice yogurt, then off to the big supermarket for all the rest and to the pharmacy for my pills. Came home at 1.15 to a husband who thought I must have had an accident or something because it took me so long.

I packed half the groceries away before finally eating lunch. I had been hungry for more than an hour at this point:IMG 6077

This is rice noodles with chicken, egg, bell pepper and all the herbs. Very good!

The boy came home while I was still eating and we talked a bit. Then I ate some chocolate while trying to read „The Misfit Mage and his Dashing Devil“ by MN Bennett. I do like the book and will probably read book 2 but it won’t become my favorite book ever. I did finish the book after dinner and started reading „Poet“, the latest Aubrey Faye.

I had to rush again after that short break because I still needed to take a shower before work. Managed to shower quickly enough that I could even trim my toenails. Phew!

Taught two students, had a break that I used to figure out how to sign up for the annual wood shredding thing. Taught three more students, ate dinner, finished the book, ate more chocolate, talked with the boy a bit, finally did the dishes and started writing this post.

Then I watched an episode of „No Doubt in Us” and did my daily Chinese even though it was already a little late.

Today will be super busy with all the housework but not much teaching and then – the weekend!

Filed Under: blogtober, daily journal

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Subscribe to Handgemacht » Podcast

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Subscribe to know when Susanne’s next book comes out

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Manic Writing & Such

500words-150w

Archives

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