Archives for December 2024

I didn’t write, I don’t think I did yoga, the day was packed.

(And again apologies for the missing alt text, it’s either no alt text or no pictures today.)

I went for a walk:

Then was late for lunch which made my husband cranky because the pasta was getting soggy:

That is a very nice red wine there.

The afternoon went by in a whirl which meant I was late in taking a shower:

Should have happened around 4 or so but did at 5.30, then the boy found that when he does digital Christmas cards he also needs to print them and needed help which meant I started decorating the tree on my own. Turns out putting the lights up is way easier with more than two hands but the boy helped me in the end:

We had a whole thing where I had put up both strings of lights but one wasn’t working and tightening the bulbs didn’t help either, so we took them off again, tried them again and found that I must have overlooked one light so we put them back on. I think that particular strong of lights might be from the late sixties or early seventies? So yeah, they might not work forever.

There was our special Christmas dinner with the Silesian bratwurst we only ever get for the holidays:

The original plan had been to iron the placemats and napkins beforehand but I ran out of time. I mean, the original original plan had been to wash everything right after Christmas last year, which I did, and then iron them immediately after. Ahem. I’ll try again next time. They are in the wash already.

We ate some Christmas cookies:

Then exchanged our very small presents (we give my mother-in-law a box of chocolates, I get tea, my husband gets a garden calendar and the boy gets some sweets and money) and talked for a bit and that was that.

Oh, and this is the card the boy made for me:

Next time we need to tweak the settings for printing, I think. I mean, I do own a fancy layout program, I should probably make use of it but that would mean he had to have the cards ready for print maybe a day before or so.

Today we’ll take things slow and we’re planning to watch a movie tonight.

Also, just so you know, I finished writing this post around 10.30 in the morning. Since then I’ve been trying to upload… Looks like I need to figure out why trying to post something with more than one picture always breaks the blog after all.

I had turned the lights off past midnight but still woke from the alarm at 6. And then my husband showed up because he was upset about something we talked about the day before and we had a one-hour conversation first thing. Things were sorted out and then I’m very proud that I wrote morning pages and new fiction words before eating breakfast.

And I even did yoga afterwards!

Husband and I made gnocchi from scratch for lunch:

The boy had taken a train to uni only to find that his lecture was canceled. Which he didn’t know because apparently the lecturer had announced that the week before. When the boy had stayed home. This whole lecture is a pain because nothing is online.

So he came back right away, ate at home and then he and I stepped back on the train because we wanted to go to a Christmas market. Most markets already closed on Sunday but we decided to go to the medieval one right in the middle of Munich. But first we had to find a mailbox on the way, so we walked all around the Marienplatz through backstreets because the square was extremely busy.

We bought hot chestnuts and burnt almonds, but before went inside a big department store to use the facilities. Then a short walk over the Marienplatz Christmas market which was packed and off to the medieval one.

That one was much smaller and nicer, we looked at the stalls and got some mulled wine for each of us. Sorry, I didn’t wake any pictures. But it was really nice. The whole town was filled with people, many, many of them tourists. There were a lot of people speaking American English but we heard Chinese and Japanese as well.

And then we went back home. Just in time for my husband to be finished with his one student of the day and to say hello to one of his friends. They want to make music together a few times this week and the friend came over to set everything up, including my MIDI keyboard.

Today will be super busy as well because we will do our traditional Christmas bratwurst with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes tonight and we still need to decorate the tree but otherwise things should be pretty quiet.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday/Christmas Eve ahead, and I wish you all the best!

I did get a little more sleep but not enough. Again.

Wrote morning pages and then hit paralysis full on. So I couldn’t bring myself to write new words or do yoga or meditate. Eventually I just got up and ate breakfast in blessed solitude.

I wove some ends in on the crochet squares and found that I’m halfway done with those. Having a stack of them looks pretty neat:

I spent time with my husband, called my mother on the phone and got told that regarding my finger arthritis pain I should a) wear gloves outside (which I always do, sometimes inside as well), b) not eat animal fats (apparently too much sugar and alcohol can’t be factors and also c) that my fingers can’t hurt enough to warrant pain meds. The fact that two doctors told me to take the strong ibuprofen to get the inflammation down somehow didn’t get through.

Other than that the conversation was pretty nice.

Lunch was early and very easy to make. I did help with cutting things up, tidying and cleaning and setting the table:

I was very determined to make good use of the afternoon but first I played some silly games. And then the boy showed up. I still hung up laundry while he was getting ready to eat and then I decided to wash the dishes and not sit down with him at the table. Because that always ends with me not getting anything done.

After he had finished eating and we had talked some we went upstairs and got the Christmas tree decorations down from the attic. And soon after my husband and I looked at one of the upstairs closets and decluttered a couple of things and shifted others around a bit. And a short time later we put the tree into the new tree stand.

After that I planned my week, tried to finally do my homework and failed again, did bodyweight training with the boy, ate dinner, tried to get something done in the twenty minutes before attending another Zoom call and failed (well, I did Duolingo at least), got some really good tips on how to deal with my paralysis and all the upheaval in the next two weeks and got some crochet done, then started this post, did my list for the next day, watched something on TV while spinning and went to bed.

Today will be rather jam-packed, we’ll see how that goes. I also need to finally iron the napkins and placemats for tomorrow. And make gnocchi from scratch.

I did manage morning pages and new fiction words first thing but no yoga again. Why yes, my feet are starting to hurt again, thanks for asking.

I then went full on, did the breakfast dishes, changed the rest of the towels, cleaned the washbasin and toilet in my bathroom, husband started a load of laundry, so I folded the stuff that was still on the drying rack. (I just love it when he tells me he already took everything of his off and then I find that a third of what’s on there is his anyway. To be fair it is hard to say which blue pair of men’s pajamas and which pairs of black socks are his and which are the boy’s but, funny enough, both the boy and I can always tell.) I also ended up sweeping the bathroom and kitchen floors. That my husband just vacuumed the day before. It looked as if someone had walked all over them with outside shoes or something.

Because we still wanted a couple of things from the health food store and the boy had run out of fake mortadella I went out to a supermarket and the health food store again. I had plans to go for a walk after but my husband decided to start lunch early so there was no time.

Then I had a short break before the boy came downstairs and we talked a bit. I decided to finally play some real video game (Unpacking) instead of endless solitaire and was just about done when my husband came over to interrogate me about the name of one of the characters in my novel. No, it is not inspired by the Beatles song, I wasn’t even aware of that and also that character has a French name, not an English one.

We did the dishes together and argued a bit. By then I was already running late for the stuff I wanted to do before my 5 o’clock meeting. I finally took a long, hot shower, had twenty minutes left before the meeting and spent those doing – nothing.

The meeting was really nice this time. I had been thinking of skipping because I was so tired of listening but we had a lively discussion about self publishing and some other stuff.

I did get off early so I would have time to help get ready for that evening’s watching of ‚Columbo‘. Cheese and crackers was a big hit:

Afterwards I waffled between going to bed right away and watching something first which, of course, ended with me sitting there, undecided, for an hour or so and going to bed too late.

That feeling of paralysis seems to have translated into today, so yeah, fun!