Archives for December 2023

With all the celebratory shenanigans yesterday I’m writing this later than usual.

I felt wonderful after a full night of sleep, heartily recommended! There was a lot of knitting yesterday and some cooking and I felt awful about my voice. With all the Christmas treats my reflux is a little worse than before and apart from having only a limited voice I also feel a little like I’m choked all the time which could also be due to the thyroid nodes. Fun!

On the other hand, panic doesn’t help and I’ll have more answers after the medical tests in February. Also, once I stop eating all the sugar and fat I should feel better.

On the bright side my new wedge pillow is comfy and working.

We had a super simple meal for lunch, spaghetti and pesto:

I forgot to take a picture while the food still looked pretty, sorry.

My husband started the sauerkraut for dinner right after breakfast. The boy even got up for lunch. He was in a serious time crunch because of the Christmas cards he still had to finish drawing. We did manage to finally decorate our mini tree anyway (it didn’t take long, of course):

I did straighten the kitchen bench a bit, moved all the unread books to the bedroom on the „unread books that I’m theoretically reading right now“-shelf and then we got cooking.

My mother-in-law joined us for the traditional Christmas meal, Silesian bratwurst, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes:

After that we exchanged our small presents, ate some Christmas cookies and called it good. The boy and I started watching the Muppet Christmas movie which we found very enjoyable. We still decided to stop halfway through and will watch the rest another time.

Then I decided to watch the last two episodes of the current C-drama. I really like it (“Only for Love“) and I’m debating re-watching right away because there are some things I don’t get and, well, I already know I like it.

After that the Duolingo owl was looking a little nervous. I hadn’t found the time to practice in the morning, so it looked like this:

I did have three minutes.

Went to bed at 11.30, a little too late. And yes, drinking beer still makes my sleep less restful but that’s okay.

I’d say it was sorely needed but, well, I’m not completely sure about that.

I was extremely tired, though, because I stayed up until 1.30. First trying to watch the Agatha Christie mystery with my husband who didn’t really understand anything. Not having subtitles is a bear. We even tried the German dubbed version and that wasn’t working much better so we decided to drop it. I then proceeded to watch two episodes of C-drama and then I talked to the boy for an hour or so and then it was really late.

So I skipped my morning routine, started lengthening the sleeves on my husband’s latest sweater after breakfast:

Unpicking a sewn tubular bind-off takes some time.

I did the usual housework, cut my husband’s hair, did bodyweight training and foot stretches, ate asparagus risotto and then sat around, occasionally eating a cookie or two or my mother-in-law’s poppy seed cake. As always she had forgotten how much we all love poppy seed cake and so she asked us three times if we really wanted some. Even Susanne? Yes, especially Susanne who has always loved poppy seed everything. Here’s a picture of the risotto:

It always looks way more bland than it tastes. I also finished reading a book and spent a lot of time on silly iPad games. Waited for a long time for my husband to tell me I could use hot water but hadn’t found the time to actually tell him to tell me so, so I sat there all afternoon and hadn’t done the dishes or taken a shower at 7.30.

But the funnest part of the day came when my husband brought the teeny Christmas tree inside and went up to the attic to fetch the tree stand. But he couldn’t find it. He looked again. I went upstairs and looked as well. No tree stand. We looked everywhere.

Now, my mother-in-law has been decluttering like crazy over the past few years, and we haven’t had a Christmas tree in a while. The most likely scenario is that she gave both of our tree stands away because she thought they were hers. Which is a bit puzzling. My husband and I both remember that we owned two stands, one that was pretty small that we inherited from his grandparents and another one that I had gotten on Amazon one years because getting a regular-size tree into that old stand was almost impossible and meant cutting the trunk to size.

All of our decorations and such were still in the attic but the stands weren’t. We both remember the shelf they were supposed to sit on. That shelf is empty now.

When I asked my mother-in-law she was sure she hadn’t given them away, she didn’t know anything and suggested we had put our stand in the garage or the basement or had accidentally thrown it out with the Christmas tree. Sure. Especially since my husband usually cuts the tree up and uses it as firewood.

So it is a good thing that we didn’t get a regular Christmas tree this year but just the mini version. There was a plastic pot in the bike shed that held a plastic tree my mother-in-law wants to get rid of and we will use that pot to hold our tree this year.

It feels rather strange to find our possessions gone without any warning. But then we’ve had similar experiences in the past. After my first summer in this house I started keeping my flower pot in the attic instead of the garden shed because my mother-in-law didn’t remember they were mine and just used them and gave them away to friends. Likewise I am keeping my garden gloves indoors these days. I buy nice garden gloves, put them in the shed where they belong and the next time I need them there’s only one of the pair left.

And I learned that these days my husband keeps his small garden tools on the top shelf where she can’t reach easily.

I mean, if and when we buy a new Christmas tree stand it will be pretty safe to put it on the shelf where the old one should have been because these days my mother-in-law can’t really climb the ladder up to the attic anymore, but still.

So I ate a late dinner, finally did the dishes, took a shower, did Duolingo, watched C-drama and went to bed.

And today is Christmas Eve which means the wrapping of presents and the big Christmas dinner and a small present for the boy and my mother-in-law.

Grumble, grumble, didn’t get enough sleep again. And it would be understandable at my age if I had slept badly or something but no, lights out at 11.30 again.

I did do my full morning routine even though I didn’t feel like it at all and that made me feel a little better. There was breakfast and such and then time just passed any which way until I was late doing the breakfast dishes and was completely sure I couldn’t get the things done I wanted to that day. In between I was feeling rather sorry for myself with the aching feet and the voice that doesn’t work properly. I did start the day before the morning routine by researching laryngeal pharyngeal reflux. And later I decided that I needed a wedge pillow and ordered that. And I found a pretty good article on GERD for singers.

After the dishes I changed the sheets on my bed and then lunch was early:

The zucchini was getting old, there was leftover ground beef from the day before and all in all this meal was lovely. I played all the iPad games and felt bad for not cleaning the house but then finally gave myself a kick and vacuumed the old part of the house. I changed all the towels but skipped putting the recycling outside, dusting and cleaning the mirrors.

Then I taught my first student of the day who was wilting and clearly in need of Christmas break, then vacuumed the annex and cleaned the washbasins and toilets. With the last bit of toilet cleaner. I thought I had bought a new bottle but apparently not. Taught two more students, talked with my husband and son in between, folded laundry, started a new load, ate dinner, went online, started writing this post, did the dishes real quick, watched the next part of the Agatha Christie mystery with my husband, did Duolingo, watched a bit of C-drama while crocheting, found the knitting needles I need to lengthen the sleeves on my husband’s sweater and went to bed.

I think today I’ll just do nothing in particular. Bonus points for wrapping the two presents I have and setting up our minuscule Christmas tree.

Which meant I had more time than I thought.

I had turned the lights out at 11.30 the night before, so still not enough sleep. This is getting tiresome, literally. I did wake up at 6.45, wrote morning pages, did yoga, meditated and measured my blood pressure and then stepped in the shower. I managed to be done with all of that by the time my husband showed up for breakfast.

I ate my muesli, crocheted a bit, talked with my husband, decided to knit him a pair of fingerless mittens from the leftover yarn from the other pair, finished the grocery list, did half the breakfast dishes and decided to walk to the supermarket instead of taking the bike because it was extremely windy. I wrote my one lone Christmas card and posted it.

Walked to the supermarket and back. It was extremely crowded but I didn’t have all that many things to get, so that was okay. I did like the walking but only until my feet started protesting vehemently. Sigh.

I came back, unpacked the groceries and then had to wait for a bit before lunch was served:

Since we only had two red bell peppers my husband made the executive decision to stuff them with meat and bulgur and let the boy fend for himself. He got the rest of yesterday’s potato salad with some fake meat.

Which he fried just as I was thinking about having a nice break to myself after lunch.

My first student wanted an online lesson because she was feeling under the weather. The second canceled. The third came on time and was a delight as always. Then I had a break that I used for some foot mobility training. The fourth student didn’t show up and the fifth canceled. At least I got to teach the last student of the day.

I used my longer break to do the dishes and start writing this post. In between my husband told me about a video he had been watching about Verona. Now that sounds like a nice vacation. And it only takes about six hours to reach by train.

Then we got talking about music and specifically the song „Desafinado“ that he has been practicing for a while and so we went to the annex and played the song for a bit. It’s been years that I last sang it, might have been a decade or more. For that it went pretty well. Playing Bossa Nova is what we used to do all the time back in the late nineties. It’s nice to go back to it at times.

Then I did my second round of Duolingo for the day, watched some C-drama while crocheting. Did not succumb to the temptation of eating ice cream or all the cookies but instead had some tea.

Today will be pretty full, I want to change the sheets and clean all the things. Only three students and maybe I’ll watch the next part of the Agatha Christie mystery with my husband. Now that I’ve finished reading the book I’ll probably understand it better.

Since I had turned the lights out past midnight I was not quite at my best all day. Did manage the complete morning routine anyway. Haven’t touched the manuscript since the 8th, though, and am really half-assing Chinese.

I had a pretty slow morning where I didn’t exercise and take a shower. At noon I woke the boy up so we could walk to the nearer supermarket to get a Christmas tree because there is a vendor in the parking lot. But first we had to spend some time hunting down work gloves for the boy. There are at least three possible locations for work and garden gloves in the harden shed but all we found were very flimsy ones with holes and what looked like a pair of fairly new ones that turned out to be both left gloves. There is a reason I keep my own garden and work gloves in the house because my mother-in-law never remembers which are hers and which are mine and seems to just randomly stuff them in random places. My husband keeps his gloves separate as well but his are safe because his hands are so much bigger. The boy and I  walked to the supermarket, looked at the four remaining trees and waited for someone we could hand our money too.

And waited.

And waited.

After ten minutes we gave up and walked back home. We decided the guy must have been on lunch break and that we’d try again at five when I had a break between students.

We ate leberkäs for lunch:

This was one of those cooking stories typical for my husband. The reason for the leberkäs was that he had sown cress some time before for the potato salad but then there were suddenly mushrooms growing in the pot and the cress was looking sickly and unappetizing so we had the whole meal without the cress.

I had an early start to the teaching day but my third and fourth student had canceled so I used that time to do the dishes. The boy had hung up laundry before that. Then I did my foot strengthening exercises. My feet still feel very weak but it was really motivating that the exercise where you have to alternate lifting your big toe with lifting all the other toes is going much better than when I did it first in June or so. Hurray for doing foot stretches and exercises two days in a row.

I taught another student, then next one had canceled as well (everybody is sick at the moment) and the boy and I set out to get a Christmas tree. We walked to the supermarket again – no sales guy. Then we walked to where the boy had bought a Christmas tree with his grandmother a few years ago – no trees. And then we walked back home. Just in time for my last student of the day.

I googled where to buy Christmas trees and all the places I could find are at the other end of town which is no fun without a car and with bad feet. So the options would be to get a very small tree and use the bike trailer or get a regular size one and either use the wheelbarrow or have two people carry it.

My husband, who doesn’t want a Christmas tree, was almost more disappointed than we were and had the idea of just using the rather small spruce that is growing next to one of the rain barrels. We’ll have to look at it again later today when the light is better and it is tiny but that might be a good idea anyway, sustainable, doesn’t cost anything and maybe cute. My husband had been thinking of cutting the tree anyway because it sits in a weird spot.

Then I ate dinner, talked with several people who showed up in the kitchen until it was later than I would have liked, started writing this post, did some Duolingo, watched an episode of C-drama and went to bed.

Today is the last supermarket run before Christmas and all the teaching all afternoon. Oh, and I need to take that shower I never got around to yesterday. And stretch my poor feet.

I rolled out of bed at 7.30, a little late after not enough sleep again. I actually did do my full morning routine. Every time I manage to do it I am reminded why I have that routine in the first place, it makes my days a little better.

I had breakfast, picked up the crochet blanket-in-progress again and did the usual after breakfast stuff. Wrote my blog post, packed the finished mittens, some truffles and a Christmas card up, posted the package and walked to the health food store.

Since my feet are hurting all the time anyway I decided to try my barefoot shoes again. While walking without insoles felt amazing in the moment it did not feel quite as amazing later. I also have been thinking about having tight muscles just about everywhere, including my jaw up to the point where it hurts. While I am somewhat stressed I don’t think it’s that severe. So I started researching. What to do when you have tight muscles.

Well, first thing everyone recommends is stretching. Stretching feels good and I’ve been doing it a lot but it doesn’t seem to actually change anything. There were quite a few other tips, including massage guns (nope) and then I found a few places recommending strength training. Huh. I mean, I have been thinking that maybe the reason for my painful feet might be that I stopped strength training but who knows.

Meanwhile my husband was busy in the yard, a small part of the hedge has come down because of the heavy snow. It was on the border to a neighbor and was leaning in a way that made opening the door to the garden shed almost impossible. So one day last week he cut it off. We’ll probably just put a bit of fence there at some point. This was all good but now something needs to be done about the bits of hedge. He sawed it into manageable chunks but that took way longer than expected and afterwards he had a pile of hedge and dirt in the middle of the lawn. He still isn’t done with cleanup.

And so lunch was a bit late:

In a fit of motivation I had decided to do a singing warmup before teaching but the second I had set my earbuds in the boy showed up. At least I could talk with him for a bit and coordinate things. I did use the opportunity to delegate the washing up and handing up laundry, so that was nice.

In between two students I did my bodyweight training and some mobility exercises for plantar fasciitis. My research that morning had reminded me of the „Recovery“ app that gives specific exercises for some running injuries. I am very determined to actually do the exercises daily from now on. And then I wrote some emails.

After teaching I ate dinner, very happy about the boiled egg sitting on the table for me. My husband apparently had eaten dinner earlier and prepared something extra. Then the boy came downstairs again, somewhat upset because he had accidentally broken the sword of the gunpla model that he is building. He wanted to know what glue to use, I told him to ask his father, husband was completely exhausted after teaching until 8 and garden- and housework before and had a meltdown, fun was had.

About an hour later we were all sorted again, I had researched gunpla repair, found the recommended glue and ordered it, then had made deodorant, did the dinner dishes, started writing this post and then it was almost time to get ready for bed. At that point the boy was taking a shower, so I did a lesson on Duolingo, watched some C-drama while crocheting and went to bed.

And yes, today will be busy as well. Not quite as much, though. At least I hope so.