Susanne

Hey, it happens to the best of us. And as much as I would like to tell you all about it I am again pressed for time. Yes, I am aware that it’s carnival break and I don’t have any students today but the day is packed nonetheless.

So yesterday I did the usual, morning routine, talking with husband, calling my mother on the phone, updating her about all my doctor shenanigans, educating her about how publishing works these days, lunch:

A short break, an afternoon where the boy was in and out of the kitchen, first to eat, then to talk, then to show me the figurine he was painting in various stages (apparently we don’t like primer that need to be painted on, spraying is much better, lesson learned), then my husband and I sat down to plan the week ahead so that all the things we want to do actually fit in with the few students we’re teaching, then the boy and I did bodyweight training, then the whole kitchen was full of people doing stuff while I wanted to relax over dinner, so I took it in front of the TV, watched an episode of C-drama, crocheted a bit, did an epic Duolingo battle to keep my place in the Diamond league (didn’t want to ruin my 79-week streak), then fell into a social media rabbit hole and went to bed an hour late, ahem.

And now I need to scram, see you!

And two major errands.

My bedtime keeps creeping later but it was still within margin, I’d say. I am usually a good sleeper but I had a spot there where I was laying in bed around 4 am wide awake having brain weasels about finances. I talked about the issue with my husband in the morning and it turned out I had misremembered something.

I wrote morning pages, interrupted the writing of new fiction words so I could wake the boy up so he could get to his last exam on time, and did very reluctant yoga.

I had breakfast, did not talk with my husband because he wanted some time to himself (turns out when he teaches more and does more housework all of a sudden he needs more quiet time as well), wove in ends on the crochet blanket and watched some webinar.

Before that I went through my feedreader and deleted things I don’t read anymore and defunct blogs. Which reminded me of my own not quite defunct author blog. So I put up a post about the upcoming book. I still haven’t started on the redesign or anything but, well, done is better than perfect.

Then I got started on the breakfast dishes before going out. First I dropped the pair of jeans with the busted facing next to the zipper off with the tailor, then I went to the optician to order some contact lenses. I’m only half happy with the ones I’m testing right now because basically everything I look at is blurry in some way but he said, changing them would probably only make things worse. We decided to only order three pairs because who knows how long I’ll wear these.

We also talked about the best time to do cataract surgery, we’ll see what the doctor will say.

I went home by way of the health food store, I think that was the third time this week. And yes, I did buy all the chocolate yet again.

I started on the weekly cleaning, emptied the trash and recycling and went through the house with a duster. Then there was lunch:

The boy came home during lunch and we talked a bit about his exam. I really wanted to do the dishes and clean some more before teaching at 3.30 but ended up not really doing any of that.

Just as I was starting my lesson in earnest I got a message from the boy that the exam he had written on Monday was being annulled. The students had found an old exam from the same prof from 20 years ago on the wayback machine and some of them had put parts of it including the right answers on the „formula sheets“ they are allowed to use during exams. Turns out the prof gave them the exact same exam again. Oops.

So now the institute says they need to retake the exam because with the answers known to students it isn’t a real test of their knowledge. Poor boy, now he needs to take that hated exam again and needs to study for it again as well. Which also means he’ll have to work all the way through until the beginning of the next semester.

I called a potential new student who will come in for the first time in two weeks. I tried to make myself actually get something done but, well. I did move some of our emergency money to a new account, so at least that project got moved a little forward. I’m having too many projects again. And the finances thing and the blog redesign are both things that make my head hurt. And they make me feel as if I’m stupid and don’t know where to even start. But I’m a big girl. I can figure things out.

The boy and I did bodyweight training under protest. It’s funny how often I’m dragging my feet when exercising but I always feel better for it.

Then it was time for the bag of potato chips and the bag of licorice I had bought to celebrate the beginning of carnival break.

And then I sat at the kitchen table looking at social media and such until it was almost too late for anything, finally did the dishes (my husband had so many students that day while I was just sitting around so I had offered), talked some more with the boy, started to write this post, did Duolingo, watched a tiny bit of C-drama while waiting for the boy to be done in the bathroom and went to bed.

And now the weekend, the beginning of carnival break and the beginning of a bright new month, all at once!

 

I had gone to bed almost on time and did most of my morning routine. This time my husband showed up right when I was about to get up, he had remembered that the heating was on in the living room and was afraid I would forget to turn it down when opening all the windows in the morning.

We had breakfast together after my long routine of morning pages, writing and yoga. The writing went pretty well for a change. We talked a lot which was nice. But then we were a little late for everything else. I did the dishes while listening to some Schubert for four hands, that was excellent.

By then I was very late for the supermarket run and had ti push some other errand to today.

I managed to time my bike ride to the supermarket perfectly so that I ran into masses of students getting out of school both on my way there and back again. Shopping itself went well and was completely unremarkable. On my way to the supermarket I had to wait for the green light when crossing a busy road twice. First I was stuck behind a car that had to let the pedestrians cross first, and then I had to wait for the same light to turn green so that I could cross myself. When I was making my way back, taking great care not to run over a student or two there was a young student on a bike before me. There were still half a dozen students walking in the direction of the supermarket there. The student on her bike and I were crossing the road, weaving between the students who were walking. The crossing is awful, there is a t-section with the short arm of the T consisting on two streets in parallel. So as a pedestrian (or someone on a bike) who wants to cross the road you first cross the big road and then the small one. There was a transporter coming from the long arm of the T who wanted to go left into the narrower of the two streets. The young girl on her bike was crossing the big road and then the small one. She had the right of way. The guy who drove the transporter had clearly not seen her, took the turn too fast and bumped into her.

My heart almost stopped, I was behind her, close enough to see everything. She was unharmed, by the way, and the driver was completely shaken. He asked her repeatedly if everything was okay.

She was all calm and happy until she realized what just had happened. Phew.

I went home, unpacked the groceries and told my husband the whole story and then realized I was almost crying. Not for long though.

Lunch was already on the table and for once the boy sat down at the table with us. We had polenta with beans:

After that I ate some chocolate and took a break. I only taught very few students with lots of breaks because the series of cancellations due to illness continues.

I finished teaching at 8, having eaten dinner before my last lesson of the day. Then I answered some messages, started writing this post, did Duolingo (I need to play for XP right now because I managed to get myself into an extremely cut-throat league this week, and I’d like to not lose my 79-week streak in the Diamond league. As silly as that is), and went to bed without watching anything because it was already too late.

Today will be a rather light teaching day and some housework and then the weekend.

So, I went to bed only half an hour late which I count as a win. Then I slept until my alarm went off, woke up and the next thing I know it’s an hour later. Which is a bit of a problem because I have a morning appointment at the neurologist.

But this is where the advantage of a lengthy morning routine comes into play: if you skip it you can have a leisurely breakfast and still get ready in time.

Then I took a train to Munich and went to my neurologist’s appointment. That office was much nicer and less crowded than the cardiologist. The doctor was also extremely nice and the first one who asked me about all the specifics of my dizzy spells and my life. She looked at all the info, was a bit miffed that I didn’t have the report from the ENT, did a couple of quick tests, had some more major arteries checked and told me that everything was fine and that the reason for my vertigo was probably stress and psychosomatic. Or maybe the hearing loss in one ear but for that I’ll go back to the ENT.

Anyways, for now the string of doctor’s appointments has a break until the end of March.

On my way home I picked up some yogurt, mozzarella, chicken breast, dried coriander and chocolate and went home where my husband was sweeping the sidewalk in front of our house. It was rather nice that he a) took care of all the dirt and cigarette butts that had been bugging me for a while, and b) greeted me when I came back.

Then he made mezze zita with bolognese sauce for lunch and I helped with the salad by chopping various things:

I took a break, ate all the chocolate (I need to stop doing this, my weight is going back up already) and read a bit until it was time to teach. I taught two students, then had a long break that I used to help my husband with something computer related and then I watched more course videos while crocheting a bit and started installing the new WordPress theme.

I taught two more students, my last student of the day had canceled, and then I was done for the day. I ate dinner, talked briefly with my husband, ate some extra cheese and more chocolate (why yes, I tend to eat when tired and exhausted), talked briefly with the boy, did Duolingo, made my self a cup of tea, did my foot exercises and dawdled for too long and had to skip watching C-drama.

Today I’m happy to go nowhere, I’ll just stay at home. Maybe a walk but that will be it.