Archives for April 2026

But I’m still okay. I went to bed half an hour late, and despite having all the best intentions I skipped everything but morning pages. I did open the manuscript after breakfast but ended up with just four new words. Because I filled out a quiz for one of my main characters to determine the right job for him.

Well, that was not really helpful. And I bumped up again my abysmal mental math skills. I’m sure that character would not have taken that long for those problems.

Breakfast with my husband was very cozy when the doorbell rang all of a sudden. It was a friend of my husband who wanted to ask him for a favor. After talking with his friend he went out early to buy asparagus at the farmer’s market. Which allowed me to spend time with the manuscript.

I walked to the pharmacy to pick up the two meds they didn’t have in stock the day before, then turned around and went walking/running. Well, there wasn’t much running involved, I felt hot and low on energy and my knees hurt but I was still glad to be outside:

Came back home to lunch:

Then I could take a nice break before teaching. Had another break between students where I mostly wrote emails and listened to voicemail, and then the next student texted me that she couldn’t make it because she and her daughter were at the doctor’s office waiting and it would take a while.

I asked her to come in an hour later than usual and that worked. But it also made me late for dinner.

I ate, I started playing my video game against my better judgment and, yep, went to bed too late again.

Today will be another busy day but the next three should be a bit less packed.

I actually got to bed on time. Well, eight minutes late to be honest but that was because I did an 8-minute evening yoga routine.

I am very happy that I managed that.

And then I went full tilt into my morning routine including a rather productive 20-minute writing session.

Husband and I talked over breakfast and since I was pretty early we could eat together, even. At the end of our conversation and while I was knitting my husband even started doing the dishes. Which then meant I never got around to listening to my daily piece of classical music but that was okay.

And then I squeezed the health food store and the pharmacy in so that my husband and I could go out for lunch together. Because we wanted to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Everything went well and the weather was nice while we walked to the restaurant. We had hoped we could sit outside but their garden was closed and we had to sit inside in the dark.

I let myself get tempted by the kritharaki and had to learn again not to order things like that at a restaurant. I guess we should make our own kritharaki at home soon. Preferably baked with cheese but the version I had yesterday came with prawns instaed:

We also had eggplant creme as an appetizer but I forgot to take a picture.

Afterwards we walked back home in the sun, and then I had thirty minutes or so off before it was time to teach. I had four very nice students and rather enjoyable lessons with one student really leaning into learning something rather hard and unpleasant. She didn’t get there all the way but she got much better in the course of the lesson.

Afterwards I wrote an email to a potential new student and played piano for a bit before going back to playing my video game.

The boy and I did bodyweight training and I found out that the variation of squats that I’m doing is probably the reason my right knee and ankle feel off. Oops. I thought it might be the running but probably not. So I guess I’ll scale back a bit.

Afterwards we waited for my husband to finish teaching, ate dinner and then opened a bottle of champagne. Between the three of us we also finished it. It was nice to taste champagne again but I’m also very happy to not drink today. While we were sitting there drinking champagne I pulled out the sock yarn sample I’m spinning and I finished the first third of the sample. Yes!

I then started writing this post, was interrupted by the boy, we got talking about Genshin and he helped me develop a strategy for what to do next, and that took up the rest of my evening.

I went back to this post, wrote a list for today and went to bed just slightly too late.

Today will be back to normal, something I always appreciate. I’m all fired up for spinning right now since I finished the first third of the sock yarn sample and all the spinning for the cardigan.

While I did waste some time yesterday morning it wasn’t all that much. I did opt for skipping yoga in favor of opening the manuscript, though, it was either or. And I did get some nice new words.

Husband was in productivity mode and I had a lot of things that I wanted to get done as well, so we didn’t talk as long as usual. I did the dishes, folded a load of laundry, finally cleaned washbasins and toilets and even cleared the sieve in the faucet.

And then I went on a one-hour walk/run. It was very hot. I had 2-minute running intervals and was sure I would drop dead any time soon but every time I felt like that I looked at my smartwatch and saw that my heartrate was only between 135 and 140 so I mostly kept going. Her ie me all sweaty and exhausted at the halfway point:

I think the raccoon eyes are the lack of sleep, mostly.

I returned back home with enough time to take a shower before lunch:

I took a break with chocolate and my video game and then the boy joined me at one point to get his own lunch. He asked if I had time to do the weekly bosses together (that’s where he helps me with the harder ones and you can only do it once a week). The answer was yes, but it went a little longer than expected and afterwards I was very full of adrenaline.

And then I went and taught piano.

I used a break between students to refill the water in my piano and play a little for myself, then taught some more and then met with the friend who is coaching me.

I would have liked to be better prepared but, well. Coaching was helpful as always.

Since I am very determined to make better use of my time in the evenings I then started writing this post, finally ate dinner (was very hungry at that point), did the dishes, played some more video game and went to bed.

And today my husband and I are going out for lunch, just the two of us, because it’s our wedding anniversary.

Slightly weird day after just, ahem, six hours of sleep.

I did all the usual morning things not including the manuscript, then breakfast with my husband and then another one of those draining emotional conversations. It ended well, though.

I called my mother on the phone and we told each other about the past two weeks. Meanwhile my husband was busy making lunch and when he looked out the window he saw his brother’s grown-up children arriving, one after the other.

That was puzzling because we didn’t know anything about it. I took the chance to ask one of them when I saw him in front of the garden gate, and he said they were there to play cards. In our garden. Now, this is also my mother-in-law’s garden but we would have liked a bit of warning.

After lunch it turned out that the boy had known about it. My mother-in-law had told him and had also assumed that we already knew because one of our nephews is taking guitar lessons with him. But, he hadn’t had a lesson in ten days.

Husband had planned to spend the day puttering around the garden, taking care of the compost and relaxing in the hammock but there were five people sitting right there having a small party.

We ate lunch with an accompaniment of grumbling but it did taste nice:

I finished reading the last Sarina Bowen book afterwards and then was slightly stuck on what to read next. I then started playing Genshin Impact.

Around four when I thought about eating a piece of milkbread my husband showed up. His brother and nephews had offered to help us with that plaster board so it was time to put on real shoes and get busy.

Even with the four of us it was not easy. The couldn’t believe how heavy this thing was. But we managed and now our balcony is whole again, after years and years.

That made us so happy!

My brother-in-law even produced a cordless screwdriver from his car that is stronger than mine, and that helped.

I then ate my snack, played some more video game and finished a quest, then started another one, and then it was time to do bodyweight training with the boy. We were a little earlier than usual because we also planned to cut his hair.

Which we did. Just like the last time I did this, years back, I set out to cut it a length that would still work with a ponytail and just like then he ended up with – short hair. That is not symmetrical at all. On the bright side, it looks okay after he washed it but I did not pack the scissors away, I will do some corrections later today.

I also decided to send him to a hairdresser the next time because I find it way too stressful.

After that it was half a bag or tortilla chips for dinner, more Genshin, then I started writing this post, planned the week and today rather quickly and went to bed somewhat earlier for once.

I did get a little more sleep than the night before but still not enough. Did the usual morning routine and skipped writing again.

Husband and I talked a little longer and so the rest of the day was off but not by much. I finished a pair of socks:

I am very proud that I then opened the manuscript and added new words to it. I am writing scenes that I didn’t know I needed, very exciting.

I did the dishes while listening to classical music. I am really far behind on my „A Year of Wonder“-project and I have no idea when I will manage to listen to all 25 minutes of Richard Strauss’ „Metamorphosen“. For now I skipped it and made a note to come back to it.

There was the walk/run:

It was warm enough for short sleeves and shorts for the first time this year. I also managed to do the full 60-minute session of my Couch to 10K-program. My thighs were somewhat complaining at the end.

Lunch was ready when I came back:

I then read a bit, played my video game for a while and got rather frustrated because nothing was working out like I wanted it, then I finally took a shower, the boy came downstairs to get my help in choosing loads of new clothes (his old ones are falling apart) and then I was late for my weekly writer Zoom.

Zoom was very nice even though I had to sit through it without knitting because I didn’t have the time to wind the yarn into a ball, and then the whole family met to try and repair the balcony.

Well. So there is this huge sheet of plaster board that used to be underneath the balcony but then a drain pipe broke and there was water coming out the porch ceiling right next to the lamp that was there. Not good. So my husband and I took the plaster board off.

I remember it almost killing me to hold and move that thing because it is very, very heavy.

Now, yesterday the plan was to move the board back to the porch/balcony, have my husband and the boy up on ladders pressing it against the beams and then I would put the screws in and screw it in place.

Well.

The good thing is, no one got injured and everything is still in one piece.

The bad thing is that we would need another person to help us with this job. There was no way the two of them could hold it over their heads while balancing on ladders for long enough to let me fix enough screws that it wouldn’t come down again.

We thought about constructing something to hold it up, we also thought about asking a friend to help but what we will probably do is to ask the gardener we know to fix it for us and then we’ll just pay him.

After that we had mini pizzas while watching a rather good episode of ‚Columbo‘ and then I had to rush to get the rest of my evening routine done.

And no, I did not turn the lights out on time. Again.

Today there will be the usual Sunday things, some cleaning that I didn’t manage yesterday, and I will probably cut the boy’s hair. Wish me luck.

I did get a little more sleep than the night before but still not enough. Did the usual morning routine and skipped writing again.

Husband and I talked a little longer and so the rest of the day was off but not by much. I finished a pair of socks:

I am very proud that I then opened the manuscript and added new words to it. I am writing scenes that I didn’t know I needed, very exciting.

I did the dishes while listening to classical music. I am really far behind on my „A Year of Wonder“-project and I have no idea when I will manage to listen to all 25 minutes of Richard Strauss’ „Metamorphosen“. For now I skipped it and made a note to come back to it.

There was the walk/run:

It was warm enough for short sleeves and shorts for the first time this year. I also managed to do the full 60-minute session of my Couch to 10K-program. My thighs were somewhat complaining at the end.

Lunch was ready when I came back:

I then read a bit, played my video game for a while and got rather frustrated because nothing was working out like I wanted it, then I finally took a shower, the boy came downstairs to get my help in choosing loads of new clothes (his old ones are falling apart) and then I was late for my weekly writer Zoom.

Zoom was very nice even though I had to sit through it without knitting because I didn’t have the time to wind the yarn into a ball, and then the whole family met to try and repair the balcony.

Well. So there is this huge sheet of plaster board that used to be underneath the balcony but then a drain pipe broke and there was water coming out the porch ceiling right next to the lamp that was there. Not good. So my husband and I took the plaster board off.

I remember it almost killing me to hold and move that thing because it is very, very heavy.

Now, yesterday the plan was to move the board back to the porch/balcony, have my husband and the boy up on ladders pressing it against the beams and then I would put the screws in and screw it in place.

Well.

The good thing is, no one got injured and everything is still in one piece.

The bad thing is that we would need another person to help us with this job. There was no way the two of them could hold it over their heads while balancing on ladders for long enough to let me fix enough screws that it wouldn’t come down again.

We thought about constructing something to hold it up, we also thought about asking a friend to help but what we will probably do is to ask the gardener we know to fix it for us and then we’ll just pay him.

After that we had mini pizzas while watching a rather good episode of ‚Columbo‘ and then I had to rush to get the rest of my evening routine done.

And no, I did not turn the lights out on time. Again.

Today there will be the usual Sunday things, some cleaning that I didn’t manage yesterday, and I will probably cut the boy’s hair. Wish me luck.