creative.mother.thinking

explaining my life to strangers

Archives for September 2024

Trying to get back into the groove

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I went to bed on time, woke up pretty well rested and did my complete morning routine. Had to cut morning pages short because my journal was all used up. But. There is a spare that I could start today.

I thought I had all the time in the world in the morning but was slow and so the cleaning of the washing machine and a few other things didn’t happen. I started weaving the ends in on the mystery shawl but there are still many more to do.

I also did sort the basket that holds my blankets-in-progress when I make them and since I bought new yarn for a new blanket I cleaned it all out and unearthed the crochet hook I had been looking for. I also sorted all the leftovers from the mystery shawl and the Desperate Housewife cardigan into one bag so that they might eventually become another cardigan. I’m thinking about a striped one to wear with skirts.

There was lunch which consisted of fish my husband bought at the Wörthsee the day before and assorted other things:

Then I took a break and read some more in the first Miss Phryne Fisher mystery that I started in the morning, talked briefly with the boy and took a shower before it was time for teaching.

The potential new student rescheduled because they had a cold, so I had a one hour break. I wanted to use it to look at the second draft of the book cover and write my feedback up but I had to deal with some computer trouble first that meant I couldn’t use the bigger monitor. At least I managed to get that sorted. Then I ate a quick lunch, taught my last student of the day, did the dishes, talked with my husband and did bodyweight training with the boy.

I started writing this post, made myself a cup of tea, did Duolingo, watched another episode of „The Rational Life“ and went to bed.

And back home without a hitch

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I am again a bit pressed for time but I am back home, the return trip went well without any problems, everything is fine. The boy and I spent most of yesterday in transit, we woke up unnecessarily early, read and lounged in bed before it was time to go downstairs for breakfast.

We talked with some of the Hamburg relatives again over breakfast while stuffing ourselves with muesli, buns and eggs, then packed everything together and tried stealing away without saying goodbye. We were only partially successful because half a dozen others had decided to leave at the same time. She we got to say goodbye properly to some, at least. (The boy didn’t want to make the rounds shaking hands and saying a proper goodbye. And I was thinking about having to talk with every single person for a few minutes which takes a longe while with about 25 people still left, so I agreed.)

We walked to the tram station, found that we were familiar enough with the tram line on the third day that we didn’t even have to watch the monitors to know when we’d arrive at the main station, then walked around the station for almost an hour all the while looking for the döner place the boy had found online. Because he was craving döner. Or rather falafel.

11.00 was a bit too early for lunch but we got there when they were just opening, bought falafel in pide and took it with us on the train:

a meal of falafel in pide with all the extras, a box of fried and a coke on the foldable tray in front of my train seat

I then remembered why this is a bad meal to eat on a train: A) it is really smelly and b) the pide was so overstuffed that lots of things fell out. My purse now has a couple lovely tsatsiki stains…

The train went so smoothly that we had to wait for twenty minutes in Würzburg so we wouldn’t be too early which was a lovely change. It also was not crowded at all, there were lots of empty seats. Just a tip for your next train trip: try reserving your seat at the point of the train that is all the way at the front. In Munich you enter the platform at the back and at most stations passengers come up or down stairs around the middle. Since I wanted seats in the quiet area we ended up at the very front every time and that made for a much emptier car.

It also meant we had to walk all the way to the end of the platform both times to reach the right car but that is not a problem when your’s traveling light.

Munich was very crowded indeed, it was the start of the Oktoberfest, so many, many people from around the world decided they needed to visit. We managed to slip through easily and found that while the platform was packed most people did not go on our train and again, at the next station (which is the one nearest the Theresienwiese) there were many, many people but only a few got on our train.

We went back home where my husband was very happy to see us but also right in the middle of some gardening thing, so I unpacked, ate a sandwich, drank a beer in front of TV and went to bed on time.

Today it is back to normal, teaching, chores and such.

Spent most of the day on trains

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I went to bed on time, slept well and did my complete morning routine. We had to leave the house around 10 because we had decided to take an earlier train even though everything seemed to be on time so far.

That turned out to be a wise decision. All the trains were backed up because of construction the night before and our train was 20 minutes late.

We reached the main station with time to spare walked all the way to the end of the train for our reserved seats in the quiet car. Which we shared with a group of teenagers who seemed to be unaware of the quiet part. I just pretended to be in a regular car and decided to not get angry about it.

Everything went well until we started getting late, and then a bit later and then the train started sitting idle at various train stations that were not on the schedule. Until we were informed that there was a malfunctioning control center. Which meant we made a nice detour around completely different parts of the country until our train could change direction.

So the trip that had been supposed to last 3 1/2 hours when I booked it a couple of weeks before then was changed to last 5 hours and in the end was another hour longer all because of deteriorating infrastructure.

We did have a nice lunch in the dining car, lentil stew and veggie bolognese, managed to find the right tram in Leipzig, then walked by the hotel without realizing it and had to turn back. And then we had just enough time to get our room key and freshen up a bit before we were due to meet everybody else.

We met everybody, ate a rather expensive meal, talked and were talked at, got the itinerary for today which involved many discussions about cars and parking and driving while I just looked up how to get everywhere by tram and on foot, we excused ourselves early because we were toast at that point and the boy fell asleep right in the middle of a conversation about when to set the alarm.

I watched some C-drama on my iPad, did Duolingo and started writing this post then went to bed.

Today there will be all sightseeing all day, we don‘t even get to eat lunch from what I heard and tonight there will definitely be more talking.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but there just was no time. Maybe next week.

Very tired and slightly embarrassed

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I mean, I could have been embarrassed about going to bed at 1 am but I actually wasn’t. I did feel a but dumb but it was totally my decision and nothing to be ashamed of. It also was not a good decision.

So this time my alarm did go off but that meant I only got 5 1/2 hours of sleep, so definitely not enough. I tried writing morning pages but went off to play with my phone again instead.

I talked with my husband and knitted a bit and I started that process where one gathers things from around the house into a pile to prepare for a trip. And later I made a list. I did the breakfast dishes and listened to YouTube videos and I felt very, very tired. I took a shower and decided what to wear that day and on the weekend and squished my clothes for the weekend into a tiny packing cube. I gathered cables and pouches and my knitting and checked that there was still shampoo and lotion and such in the tubes I had filled in August.

Meanwhile my husband had once again run into the problem that a) everything takes longer than anticipated, even when you take that into consideration and b) other people not adhering to his schedule. So annoying. There was lunch:

a plate of spaghetti with garlic, parsley and parmesan and pieces of omelet with a glass of water

He did cook lunch extra early because I needed to get away to my dermatologist appointment.

I had a weird spot I wanted to show them but I had also scratched that weird spot recently enough that it was all scab at that point. Which meant the doctor couldn’t really see anything. Duh. (I mean, who could have known that I would get a dermatologist appointment the next week? The next appointment after that would have been in February 2025.) Having to admit that I’m the kind of person who scratches every blip on her skin to death even though I’m an adult and know better was indeed embarrassing. Not doing so almost impossible.

So I got a tube of steroid cum antibiotic salve to use twice daily and if the spot is still there after 3 to 4 weeks I’m supposed to return.

There was still enough time to go and get chocolate after that so I did that and ate it all right away. Yes, I am perfectly aware that lack of sleep does a number on your impulse control. I wouldn’t have needed that reminder. At least I had a bit of a break before my first student.

During which I found that my cover designer had sent me a second draft. Much better. Unfortunately, I don’t know when I will have the head space to answer her back but I’m hoping soon. I only have to make up my mind if I like the title being gold. I mean, I don’t like it for sure but it might be a good choice anyway. Something to mull over.

I ended up having more breaks than I thought because one student canceled and another one was a bit late. I used that time to unearth the self-publishing planner/checklist and cross some things off. And I also ate dinner.

After my last student I talked a bit with the rest of the family, especially the boy who had just gotten up. We hadn’t talked about the trip beyond saying that we’d start today around 10 and come back on Sunday.

Then I charged all my devices, wrote this post, did my foot exercises while making tea and watched half an episode of C-drama while knitting. For once I managed to go to bed at a reasonable time.

And soon we’ll be on a train to Leipzig.

Ordering new glasses and lots of new students

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I went to bed too late again, past midnight. I did sleep well and again didn’t wake up from my alarm and that was when I realized for the first time that it probably hadn’t gone off. Same as the two days before. Ugh.

There was a smartwatch update yesterday and that might fix it. Or introduce new problems. Anyway, that is why I got up half an hour later than I had planned. Three days in a row.

At least it wasn’t quite as cold anymore and so I managed to do my complete morning routine. While my husband ate breakfast I started picking up stitches for the second half of the I-cord border for the mystery shawl. Maybe I’ll get the knitting done until the weekend.

Then it was time to leave right away for my optician appointment. Since I won’t get surgery soon and since my eyes have gotten quite a bit worse I thought I’d get new glasses. Even though they will be expensive and my eyes will likely get worse and worse.

Proof that my optician is not out to fleece me: at first he said those new glasses probably won’t help much. But then he saw the difference to last year and tried different lenses. He also said I’d probably have a much harder time reading with the new lenses and we came up with a plan to put new lenses in an old frame of mine so that I’ll have three pairs. The first one for driving and seeing faraway things, the second one for most everyday situations and the third one for reading and computer work. I’m changing glasses a lot these days but making a pair that fulfills all my needs becomes harder and harder. Who knew I’d end up with three pairs of progressives.

So I walked back home to fetch the old frame so that he could see if it was still in decent enough shape and such. And it was so I left it there and will get a call when the new glasses are ready.

After that I went to the pharmacy to pick up my thyroid hormones, then back home. I did the dishes and such and then finally sat down to do my morning online rounds. While my husband was making risotto with all the fresh veggies from the garden:

veggie risotto with boiled egg and bread-fried slices of eggplant and a glass of water

After that I spent half an hour reading and playing silly games and also I bought another book I don’t need about Chinese characters. It’s called „Learn Chinese Characters by Reading“ by John Pasden. I did not have enough time left to do the dishes before teaching which bugged me a bit.

Then there was all the teaching all afternoon. I had half an hour between students at one point because one student canceled but that was mostly used talking admin with my husband.

After my last student of the day I started writing this post, then did my 20 minute of bodyweight training before finally eating dinner at 8.

Today I have yet another appointment and will have to do all the packing for tomorrow’s trip to Leipzig. Whee!