Archives for January 2024

But! I opened the manuscript, woot!

Also, I lied in the last blog post. See, I usually write the post the evening before and then change it before it posts the next morning if things turn out different than I thought they would. But instead of doing everything on time and watching C-drama before the Zoom call I ended up doing it all too late and had to leave the dripping, freshly washed dishes sitting on the counter to get to the meeting on time, the meeting ran half an hour longer than planned, afterwards I dried all the dishes and put them away, that plus having to calm down after meant I turned the lights out at 1.30, tried sleeping in but forgot about the alarm telling me to take my thyroid meds at 7.30 and then I was so low on energy that I forgot about the blog post. Sorry.

I did have a pretty productive day anyway even though I skipped my whole morning routine. I actually opened my manuscript for a change (yeah for motivating coaches), went out, renewed a prescription and got a referral for my gastroscopy, bought yogurt and the train ticket for Thursday, picked up a few veggies and lots of sweets at the health food store, helped prep some of the veggies for lunch and ate a meal that was prompted by fresh sprouts:

I only had half an hour before my first student, ate some gummy bears and chocolate while talking with the boy and – unlike the week before – did not forget about that student. I’m still very sorry about that.

I had two students cancel because they were sick, so teaching was not as strenuous as expected. I did phone calls in between.

After teaching I talked to my husband who sounded a bit depressed again, ate dinner, texted with a friend, did the lunch dishes and Duolingo, watched some C-drama (this time for real) and went to bed.

Today I am planning to do all the usual Thursday things before dealing with the behemoth that is Tuesday teaching. Am already looking forward to bed.

And yes, I went to bed past midnight again.

The really problematic thing these days is that every evening I end up sitting there for an hour or two dreading the dishes, and the blog post and Duolingo (we’re not talking about the other Chinese app because I’m actually not doing the other Chinese app at the moment) and brushing my teeth. The one thing I really want to do is watch something and read something but even that sometimes seems like it’s too much.

And yes, doing the bulk of the dishes after lunch would be a very good idea but these days lunch is often late and with all those additional students I’m starting early more often than not and it feels like I really need a sizable break between lunch and whatever the afternoon holds.

On the other hand if I were better rested I probably wouldn’t have to sit there for so long before I start.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

So, despite going to bed too late I got up after a mere 6 1/4 hours of sleep (and my sleep app declared my readiness to be low), wrote morning pages, did yoga and meditated (for three minutes). I even managed to have my breakfast ready before my husband showed up. I sat there, wanting to crochet my new blanket (Sungold from the Attic 24 website) when this happened:

I used almost all of my morning crochet time to untangle that yarn barf.

Again, I did not open the manuscript but I managed to do bodyweight training, help my husband with cooking a little, clean the washbasins and toilets and take a shower, all before lunch. Well, lunch was an hour late but still.

Non-spicy Indian food is weird but I’m grateful my husband made that for me. My poor delicate tummy doesn’t agree with spicy. In fact, it was also a little upset at this meal even though it was not hot at all.

Then I had a break where I mostly talked with the boy after which I fired up the Wii U to play „Breath of the Wild“ for the first time in years. I decided to start the whole thing over but then after a little more than an hour I was at the same point where I gave up the last time. It’s weird to be so bad at these kinds of games. I struggle with the controller and often have trouble just running around and pointing the camera where I’m going. I guess I need to spend some more time on this. I’m sure it will be fun but also frustrating like everything new that I learn.

I had to interrupt the game for the live Kickoff call for the course about long-term planning I’m taking. I had planned to work on the course between that call and dinner but instead I went straight back to Hyrule.

I talked to my husband a little, ate dinner, lounged about because I dreaded doing the dishes and such, talked to the boy again, did the dishes after all, started writing this post, really wanted a beer (but I didn’t get one because of stomach issues, instead I made myself a nice cup of chamomile/fennel tea, yeah), did some Duolingo, watched C-drama and went to bed.

Today will be a full day as well, there will be gnocchi making and weekly planning and a very late coaching call before the new week.

Went to bed after midnight, way too late yet again. The „too tired to go to bed“-cycle continues as well as more conflict with my husband. Which is pretty normal when I’m overtired and stressed.

I woke up from the alarm at the usual time, did my complete morning routine (yeah, me!) including yoga for the first time in days. Had breakfast, finished the last round of the Starbright blanket and wove in a couple of ends.

I briefly considered opening the manuscript but really wanted to get a move on with cleaning. I did the dishes while listening to some classical music, interrupted dishwashing to google the composer and order the sheet music („Unsent Love Letters“ by Elena Kats-Chernin), had a spat with my husband after discussing lunch plans and then started cleaning the house. I got half my weekly cleaning done before lunch, ate alone while reading because my husband was angry at me and then the boy joined me and we talked about all kinds of things. Which was nice but collided with my plan to finish the cleaning before my first student.

Lunch was a quick porcini omelette:

I started teaching, used the break I had because one student canceled to vacuum the old part of the house and then to start pulling out the yarn for the next blanket project because it wasn’t enough time to finish cleaning. Taught two more students, tried talking with my husband who was still miffed, then ate dinner, talked to the boy again, this time it was me talking about the disagreement with my husband at length, went online again, started writing this post, did Duolingo for the first time that day, watched some C-drama and went to bed.

Today I want to finish the cleaning, take a shower, do some exercise and take an online workshop. And start a new crochet blanket of course.

Surprising no one I went to bed too late again. Woke up from the alarm and decided to skip the morning routine in favor of reading. I just felt that if I made myself do all the things in time first thing there wouldn’t be any executive function left for the day. Of course I have no idea if that was true or just an excuse. I bought a new book, „Book Lovers“ by Emily Henry because I was starting to get FOMO from seeing it all over Goodreads.

There was breakfast that I ate while my husband was making his and then he told me at length about the guitar and amp he played the night before. There were dishes and such and sorting the recycling from three days or so and before and after time just ceased to exist.

I was super happy that the weather allowed for biking to the supermarket, no bus for me, yeah! Just before I was about to leave (a bit later than I would have liked) I saw I had a call from my mother. My instant panic was not completely wrong, it turned out she had fallen again. Nothing broken, „just“ a torn ligament in her right shoulder. Ugh. Fortunately she has people to help her but still.

I went to the supermarket after all, bought all the food, rushed back home where my husband was in cooking chaos because he had started too late as well and had had the idea of frying calamari which had not exactly gone as planned. I don’t care for the things so I got fried feta:

The boy received his book about biophysics and found that it’s 800 pages. Probably a bit much to study in the next two weeks or so. I still had a bit of time after that before my first student. Taught them online, the next one in person , then called a potential new students back and finally reached someone, taught four more students, came back to the kitchen to a husband who had almost finished all the dishes, ate dinner, started eating just a small portion of licorice over and over until I had eaten half the bag, procrastinated starting this post and doing Duolingo, finally got myself to do it, watched something and went to bed with a book.

Today will be jam-packed again. Fingers crossed that I get at least some things done.