Archives for January 2025

So, the fact that we had planned to go to Munich that day combined with me feeling stuck on the manuscript meant that I skipped my morning routine altogether. In favor of reading a YA vampire romance book.

We left the house at 10.30 which turned out to be slightly too late, but well.

Getting to the State Museum of Egyptian Art went smoothly. I was a bit confused at first about where to go and what to look at first, until I realized there is a theme to each room, you can read about it at the entrance and then there is a path on the floor to follow.

There was a free audio guide but we both declined. Museums are a lot to take in anyway, I don’t need to be talked at all the time on top of that. I prefer my information in readable form anyway. As always when you go to a museum with someone else the different rate of reading speed and taking information in was a bit of a problem. I kept an eye on the clock because the plan was to go out for lunch and then get my husband a new pair of pants but – it took us too long at the museum.

I had to shepherd us out through the second half of the museum at speed so that we had a chance of eating before we needed to take the train back.

Lunch was tasty but a bit rushed:

When we went to „Hans im Glück“ I made a beeline for the tables in the back right away because it was clear the free seats near the bar would be way too noisy for us. Well, the waitress steered us back to the front anyway and, yes, it was way too noisy which was stressful and meant we couldn’t really talk because my husband has a problem with auditory processing in noisy environments. Note to self: next time something like this happens I can turn around and ask the waitress if it’s okay for us to sit in the back because we’re sensitive to noise.

For the first time in my life I paid with my phone in a restaurant and then we hoofed it back to the train station. We arrived just in time for my first student of the day.

Of my five planned students one had canceled in the morning and one just never showed up which is always a bit weird because I tend to sit there waiting the whole time. We changed her time slot so maybe she forgot about that.

After teaching the boy wanted a word with me because he needs to write an application for his bachelor thesis. Talking about that brought out all the anxieties and insecurities and fear of failure, of course, but I think we managed to draw up a battle plan that is workable. Up until the inevitable „and if that a happens you’re screwed and we need to regroup“ conclusion.

I finally ate dinner, sat around in a slump for an hour or so, then went on to watch C-drama and managed to turn the lights out on time.

Today I feel as energetic as a limp dishrag so that will be fun.

Let’s see, I started with the complete morning routine, went to the nearby supermarket and had a late lunch:

Taught quite a few students with a break in between because someone canceled and prolonged teaching with one more student than usual because of rescheduling.

Which meant the boy and I only started bodyweight training around 8, before that I helped him operate a USB plug out of his phone, the cable had broken off and we had to get pincers for the job.

Throughout the day, from morning till late evening there were emotional conversations with husband again, I guess we’re both low on energy. At least it was the first time after quite a while of very pleasant interactions.

I ate dinner, bought yet another book, watched C-drama while knitting, ate too many coated peanuts and went to bed almost on time.

Today we’ll be going to the Egyptian museum, I can’t wait!

Well, since I had only had less than six hours of sleep it was clear that things would go a little sideways. When I opened my bullet journal for the first time in the evening I also found that I hadn’t opened it since I wrote Friday’s list, so no wonder I felt unmoored. I always do so much better with something written down.

I did write my morning pages and new words on the novel-in-progress, so that was good. I also talked with my husband and then with my mother on the phone for almost an hour. She said she hadn’t talked to anyone much the week before, plus I had to bring her up to speed on all my health stuff and doctor’s appointments.

She was very impressed that I had been able to get all those specialist appointments for February, by the way. There is a big upside to living in a big city, which my mother doesn’t. Both my mother and my aunt have had times where they had to wait weeks for an MRI for broken vertebrae which is definitely not fun.

My husband was on a spring cleaning kick and emptied and cleaned both a cupboard in the kitchen and the bathroom cupboard over the washbasin. Did I tell you that he found the source of the weird small bugs that looked almost but not quite like flaxseed? Well, there was this drawer full of dried bread to use in cooking, ahem. Now that drawer is empty.

He also vacuumed the annex and made lunch:

After lunch I succumbed to sloth until my husband asked me to help him repair his dresser. Which I did for an hour. Did I tell you about my knee suddenly hurting as if I had twisted it somehow on Monday or so? And that it continued hurting all week and I had no idea what had happened?

Turns out when you sit on the ground twisted to try and repair a dresser things can happen to your knee. Huh. I’m all fine now but I’m happy to have an explanation.

Anyway, I hard ordered new drawer rails for one of the drawers and we installed them. Husband is pretty handy but hates fiddly things and small screws. Also, I’m our designated person to assemble flat-packed furniture. I actually like it, it reminds me of building LEGO. Twisting myself to drill small new holes into an old dresser – not quite as much fun – but we prevailed, put those new rails and the drawer in, took two other drawers out, retightened screws and fixed another drawer and now the thing is all fixed and working again, yeah!

After that I had planned to do bodyweight training with the boy but he wanted to eat something first. So I started the dishes and he then helped me dry them.

We did our training. I have now progressed to hanging off the pull-up bar for five whole seconds because I lose all will to live. And I did it for 3 sets of 3. Wearing compression gloves actually seems to be making a difference, by the way, while my fingers are not exactly pain-free it’s more of a general soreness instead of sharp pain in the joints. So, yeah!

By the time we were finished it was almost time for my monthly coaching call over Zoom, so I ate a quick dinner and went off. Coaching was super nice, there were only three of us including the coach so we did get more than our allotted ten minutes. We talked a lot about the fires in LA because one of the people on the call lives only ten minutes away from that, brr.

After that there was still time to watch an episode of C-drama. I had put a bottle of beer in the fridge before and so I enjoyed that while crocheting and being entertained by extravagant silliness. 

The boy took a shower, my husband showed up and sat with me for a bit, then I was very determined to go to bed early, let myself be distracted by stuff on my iPad and turned the lights out a little too late.

And now, new week, new luck and my husband’s birthday.

Because I’m pressed for time again. You know, on a Sunday.

Yesterday went pretty well up until the point where I just didn’t go to bed and now I’m sitting here with that mess. I don’t think my brain will come completely online all day.

The nice things yesterday were my walk, pasta e fagioli for lunch:

Then a nice long break (publishing tasks, what publishing tasks?), a Zoom meeting with my weekly writer’s group (fittingly we were talking about procrastination), watching Columbo with my family where I started a new blanket because I had finished the one I was working on:

(It still needs a wash and block.) Then I watched C-drama, then YouTube, then I went on social media, then I started playing silly iPad games, then I finished reading the novel I was on and started the next in series (Jordan L. Hawk’s „The Pride“-series) and then somehow it was today and I went to bed late, late, late.

So, today everything will go much, much better, never mind that I already skipped yoga. Shh!