Archives for May 2025

I slept not quite eight hours but it was close.

I did my complete morning routine. I even attempted writing new words but then my spellcheck decided it wanted me to use British spelling and when I finally had wrestled it into submission there was not enough time left to write.

I did my ten minutes of yoga and three minutes of meditation, and yes, my blood pressure is still very high, despite medication. I had breakfast with my husband until he decided he just couldn’t talk with me that day and left just when I had started eating. He did come back just as I had started going online and we talked.

I was mad at myself for not writing all week so I spent twenty minutes doing just that. Then there were the dishes and starting a load of laundry and then I went walking/running for 45 minutes:

It was much colder than I thought it would be.

I came back in time to take a shower before lunch, or so I thought, but my husband had been early with cooking so we ate right away:

That is asparagus soup. And here is duck breast with sugar peas and rice:

I also finished a pair of socks:

The pattern is Black Rib by Anneh Fletcher.

Then I sat around for a while, played games while the boy was eating his lunch, went to take my shower too late, then waited for the boy to come downstairs so I could help him with some admin and then I finally went to my studio to work on publishing stuff – 45 minutes before a Zoom call.

I did not get a lot done.

Zoom was very nice and I got a lot of knitting done. Because I had finally managed to pull out the cardigan I’m working on and had made a decision about waist shaping I pulled out ten rows or so and am now happily knitting away on it.

After Zoom I ate dinner and then met the boy to watch ‚Doctor Who‘. We watched the Ruby Sunday episode and, wow, was that one bad. The boy didn’t like it at all and kept stopping the episode every few minutes to show me something on his phone, harumph.

I then watched an excellent episode of „Word of Honor“, procrastinated going to bed and turned the lights out half an hour late.

Will I manage to finally get that book cover done today? Only time will tell.

I basically gave up on getting anything done right after waking up. Lounged in bed reading but then decided to at least do some half-hearted yoga for ten minutes.

Over breakfast I got a lecture from my husband about communicating properly. I hadn’t answered him before which, yes, was rude but I didn’t now what to say, way busy making my muesli and then forgot. And then he told me all about the very confusing system of numbers used to specify different Marshall amps and how he can’t remember them because there is no logic behind it.

I was very determined to get things moving but then realized I really needed to write morning pages first to sort out my brain. So I did that, did the dishes and somehow took so long that I didn’t have any time for cleaning left.

I put the fabric for the dress I want to sew in the washing machine and marveled at the way my husband was cooking. And I helped him with the sauce. In the end the food was very good, even if the potatoes were already cold and the asparagus didn’t have any salt:

After that I ate all the chocolate and played silly games on my iPad.

I felt like all I wanted to do was go back to bed but it was time to teach instead. I did that and at some point answered emails and after I was done with teaching I decided to try and vacuum the old part of the house before the boy would come downstairs for bodyweight training. He was reliably late so not only did I vacuum, I also cleaned the sink, toilet and parts of the bathtub. Not very well but good enough.

At some point before I had also changed all the towels and sorted all the recycling so I say I’m done with cleaning for the week. Husband said he’d do the annex.

The boy and I did bodyweight training and I was feeling like I was making backwards progress but that might just have been my exhaustion.

Then there was dinner, finally, some Duolingo, half an episode of C-drama and bed.

Today I’m feeling a little better, I hope to get some more stuff done.

Which also means I don’t have a lot of time to write this post.

I didn’t get enough sleep yet again and decided to skip the morning routine in favour of reading. I only realized later that I was very anxious about our lunch date with relatives. My next learning task is to figure out how not to skip the things that ground me on days where I feel completely unmoored.

Husband and I had tense words over breakfast because, well, we were both a little anxious. (He says I was the only one anxious and tense, I’m not as sure.)

Still, we set out on time and walked to the Greek restaurant. It’s nice and has the added benefit of being close to the cemetery.

We met my mother-in-law on the way who had taken the bus and joined my husband’s aunt (wife of his father’s brother) and a couple that are friends with the aunts and had driven her.

We ate lunch. A lot of lunch:

I know this doesn’t look like much but we also had a huge platter of starters, some pita bread and a salad before this. 

Afterwards there was just enough time to visit the uncle’s grave with some flowers to light a candle and then my husband and I walked back home again. We arrived just in time to get ready for teaching.

While we were away a package arrived that contained my new and shiny ukulele stand. Or is it hook? I can clip it to my music stand and don’t have to be afraid of pushing the ukulele off a chair accidentally:

This is very exciting!

Then there was quite a bit of teaching with an unexpected break in the middle and afterwards the boy and I met for bodyweight training. My hands are making pushups very unpleasant at the moment, I need to figure out what to do about it (not do pushups is probably the answer) but the rest went alright.

Then there was dinner, finally, and then I sat there, rather unwilling to get moving again. But in the end I did manage to coax myself under the shower and take care of all the dishes we’d need to make breakfast this morning.

I went to bed an hour late, unfortunately, and feel like I need a day to recuperate.

I went to bed 45 minutes late but slept well. Since I had an early appointment and my husband had to leave the house even earlier I had planned to move my usual morning things around but in the end I just read „Waifs and Strays“ for half an hour, then did yoga while my husband made breakfast and that was that.

Husband left with a friend to spend the morning hiking, I had a little more time but apparently not enough because I left the house almost 15 minutes later than I had planned. Google Maps had told me I’d need 20 minutes to bike to the orthopedist’s office, my husband and I had both thought it would take 30 and I had planned to give myself 45 so I could take things slow and leave margin for unexpected things.

I had 30, I needed 20. Huh.

The bike ride was wonderful, some of it went through the woods, and even though most of it was along a busy broad highway I always had trees and flowers and grass on the other side, and – very important – most of it was on a broad, well -paved and smooth bike path separate from the road.

I was too lazy to actually look the route up in detail but it turns out when you ride somewhere often enough you just remember.

Because for many months (that was before the pandemic) I had visited a spinning meeting once a month that was in the same town. And I had gone to that meeting by bike often. When you have a foldable, very lightweight travel wheel that comes with a generous backpack you can transport the wheel, yourself, your tea and your addition to the potluck buffet by bike easily.

The doctor was busy but very nice, I told her about the new and interesting addition to the pain in my hands, my right hand was x-rayed, and yep, there is the beginning of arthritis. The doctor said trying to see a rheumatologist is pretty pointless, it takes ages to get an appointment, and I had my blood checked for markers of rheumatoid arthritis there weren’t any.

But. She thinks I should talk with my gynaecologist about hormone replacement therapy. I’ve been thinking about hormones for a while as well. I have quite a few symptoms that might get better from it. And they might help with joint pain. And tight muscles. And fatigue. And dry skin that breaks out in eczema at the faintest provocation. And dizziness.

So after I returned I made an appointment with my gynecologist. I’ll see him in two weeks.

Then I turned around and went to the pharmacy and the health food store and made myself frozen pizza for lunch because I was home alone:

I took a short break, then did all the dishes in a hurry and then taught all the students.

Afterwards I helped my husband setting up some things on his computer, went upstairs to talk with my mother-in-law about today’s lunch and then finally ate dinner. I read some more, started writing this post, talked with the boy who was completely done as well, he had spent the whole day at uni, did Duolingo, watched some ‚Word of Honor‘ while knitting and went to bed.

And today the madness continues, stay tuned.

But there was quite a lot of fresh Monday start energy.

And that after going to bed half an hour late yet again. I woke up from the alarm and then waited for a text from the boy telling me that he was awake as well. I wrote morning pages and then actually opened the manuscript. I straightened out a continuity error and started making plans for the next chapter. Will the neighbor get bitten? Will our main characters get out unharmed? Well, I actually don’t know yet but there is very old cognac involved and jade rings, a magic book and a candle stick that I don’t know anything about. Stay tuned.

I did yoga and meditated and then ate breakfast with my husband while discussing something that he deems an annoying habit of mine. (I tend to be a bit nitpicky and often feel the need to go into much detail even if I’m pretty sure the other party already knows this while my husband apparently finds that stressful and says it makes him feel that I think he is stupid or slow or something.) The result was that sometimes you just need to give up on changing things when 30 years of trying haven’t made a difference. Equanimity is the keywords here.

After that I went online, did the dishes, finally brushed my teeth and then went off for my walk/run. I decided to up my game and start the 10K-program from day 1. It was wonderful:

When I came back home my husband was still in the middle of cooking so I took my shower before lunch. It was rice and beans day:

I had a nice break and then taught my two students of the day.

The plan was to work on a short story cover, and I did, in a way, I only spent the whole two hours futzing around with Affinity Photo without anything to show for it. But, at least I have a plan ow to continue. That plan includes checking between three tutorials and video courses but I hope to eventually be able to put some text on top of a photo in colors that I chose.

After that I ate dinner, wasted some time online, did Duolingo, started writing this post, was interrupted by the boy who wanted help with an email, decided to watch some C-drama even though it was already a little late and went to bed.

Today I have a doctor’s appointment and lots and lots of students. I guess that’s enough for the day.