Susanne

I did get eight hours of sleep but they were pretty meh. Did the complete morning routine even if manuscript time was rather short, I did some research.

Breakfast with my husband, some knitting, I did the breakfast dishes, folded some socks and filled my traveler’s notebook with all the papers I ned to bring next week. And then it was almost time to leave for lunch. Unfortunately I hadn’t heard from the boy yet. In the end I went upstairs to wake him up five minutes before we needed to leave.

We did not leave on time but I used those ten minutes waiting for him sorting through some old electronics and cables that used to live in the attic cupboard.

We walked to the other end of town in the rain and then found that we didn’t have a reservation. My husband had sent an email the day before but hadn’t gotten an answer.

We were lucky, though, and got a table. The one between the bar and the stairs to the toilets but still.

I got the 4-course tasting menu and it didn’t disappoint. First a vey sweet and brightly colored alcohol-free aperitiv:

Then some thinly sliced veal with greens that I did not recognize:

And then some crespelle with spinach, the same that my husband had as his first course and the boy as his main course:

And then some excellent lamb fillet:

And as dessert some strawberry tiramisu:

Now, those who know me know that I really dislike strawberries. But I hadn’t realized there was a dessert at all and I felt bad at letting it go to waste so I tried it and I really liked it as well. There weren’t many of those nasty strawberry seeds in there, it was really nice.

And then we walked back, this time the rain had stopped. We made a short detour to a supermarket because I had forgotten to get trash bags and came home with two sizes of trash bags, yogurt, chocolate, canned veggies and tissues.

After that I played for a bit, then finished knitting a sock while on a Zoom call, then refilled three fountain pens, did bodyweight training with the boy, saw that the new controller was finally there. („Your package was received by a neighbor Vaur der Haustur at door“ which means it was placed outside our front door without anyone ringing the bell first.)

We finished our exercise, I unpacked the controller and had a few problems at first but then got it going and I really like it. I’m not quite sure if I want the blinking lights or not but I can change that as the mood strikes.

Then I ate dinner, started writing this post, played around with my new toy and went to bed.

I am really happy that we actually managed all the things we wanted to do. Hurray!

And then I remembered there won’t be a third week.

On the bright side I did not spend my break paralyzed at all, woot!

Yesterday I did not get enough sleep, then did the morning routine. No writing but instead I looked at the digital proof for Eva Mandel 3 for the paperback version that will be available outside of Amazon.

Husband and I talked about our past selves, mementos and all the crap that is in our cupboard in the attic. Which reminds me that I need to go through all the old computer stuff that I just put in there over time.

There were dishes to wash and groceries to buy and then there was lunch:

I spent some time playing Genshin Impact and finished the overarching quest. Very moving, great story, chef’s kiss.

And then it was time to teach. I had a lot of fun with the two students I had, the third one was stuck on a train and couldn’t make it.

I ate dinner, then played some more, watched some YouTube, talked with the boy quite a bit (about Genshin), started writing this post, did the list for today and went to bed.

My controller is acting up so badly that it’s no fun anymore, good thing I ordered a new one that should arrive today. I spent all of ten minutes researching, fingers crossed this one will work like it should.

Today we’re doing the second fun thing we planned for this break, we’re going out for lunch. I’m really looking forward to it.

Never mind that I somehow turned the motor off and had to power it all with my poor legs.

But first I managed to sleep for almost eight hours, yeah! I wrote morning pages, did my ten minutes of yoga and meditated for five minutes. I did intentionally skip manuscript time because we wanted to leave the house early and I thought I could do cover research in the afternoon.

Oh, and I downloaded the new patch for Genshin Impact and pulled for the character I wanted. I spent quite a few wishes but ended up with basically all the characters I wanted, yeah!

I did not do cover research in the afternoon.

But first breakfast, talking with my husband while knitting a bit and doing the breakfast dishes.

And then I walked over to where the cargo bikes are parked and had to figure out how to unlock one and how to get it home. I have to confess I pushed it home because I was a bit apprehensive about riding it on the sidewalk.

Meanwhile my husband was busy loading the bike trailer. I have to say, the garage looks much better now with all the old boxes gone. This time we took all the old electronics, computers, pieces of metal, batteries, loads of plastic and some other packaging and the remnants of the CD stand plus the drying rack.

The cargo bikes „trunk“ turned out to be much smaller than expected because there were seats for two children in there. We did manage to fit the enormous drying rack in but it was leaning to one side and a bit unstable.

I had adjusted the seat to what I thought was the right height for me, and started pedaling. Right on the street with quite a few cars. Not rush hours, though, phew.

I had to stop three times to adjust the seat, turns out I like my seat lower to the ground than usual with a bike like that. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out the bike. Pedaling was hard which was unexpected, I pushed some buttons but they didn’t seem to do anything, and I found a thingy to control the gears. I think.

So we went to the other end of town, together. As usual my husband was biking very, very slowly, up to the point where I thought I might keel over. Going faster is much easier. Apart from when you have to go uphill. I had to push the bike again because that was impossibly hard. Again, I think I turned the motor off by mistake.

Going uphill meant that an LED bulb fell out of the bike trailer and shatter in the street so we had to pick up bits of glass.

We managed to sort almost everything into the right containers and the guys working at the recycling place were very nice and helpful.

There were also many trash bags full of recycling from the boy tidying up his room. Unfortunately that was only the batch from the last time. I got informed that he has started another collection of trash bags full of recycling.

I guess we should figure out if the boy can ride my husband’s bike (because his bike doesn’t have the hitch for the trailer).

Anyway, I rented the bike for two hours (was just 5.50€, the rent is subsidized by our town) and we took just barely more than an hour.. I can definitely see myself doing that again. Next time I’d want to figure out how to use the e-bike part as well.

And then I went on my walk/run while my long-suffering husband was all set to go back again with a huge box of packing materials. But. It was just ten minutes to noon aka closing time. The people working there would not be quite as nice if he showed up right in time for their lunch break, so he moved that to the afternoon.

I went walking/running. I chose an easy version because I had already done quite a bit of exercise and was still a bit sore from bodyweight training the day before.

And then there was a shower and lunch:

After that it was time to spend some quality time continuing with the video game. I was very close to finished that overarching quest and have decided I want to do that first before exploring all the new content.

Then I taught a lone student, then I played the piano for fun, ate dinner and played some more.

I started writing this post just ten minutes before my bedtime, then the boy came downstairs and we started talking.

Yawn.

Today will be pretty busy as well, there will be a supermarket run and an afternoon of teaching.

I went to bed too late again (this is so boring by now, also kind of a very regular habit, ahem). Which meant I slept a little longer and then did everything very, ver slowly.

Which then meant in turn that I was very late in helping my husband take care of the recycling.

So in the end he took three loads of cardboard to the nearby smaller recycling place and I just cut boxes apart and dismantled a huge CD stand. We looked at the rest of the things in the garage and made a few decisions for today and then I went out to one supermarket and two health food stores.

And then there was lunch:

I played a lot of Genshin Impact, I refilled two fountain pens and the humidifier in my piano, did bodyweight training with the boy (where I made two of the exercises harder which I’m still feeling today) and ate dinner.

I then started writing this post, did the dishes while listening to a course video, made a list for today and played some more video game.

Today should be recycling again and also teaching one student.

And continuing book cover research, sigh.

I mean, I started writing this post at bedtime, ahem.

I went to bed a little late, slept well and managed the complete morning routine, including opening the manuscript of romance #1 and sorting out the timeline. Which I finished.

Then yoga, meditation, taking my blood pressure and finally breakfast. And knitting while talking with my husband.

I did my internet rounds, then the dishes and went for my walk/run:

I was dressed way too warm for the weather, shorts and a t-shirt might have been enough. It’s funny, I am always cold but not when I’m out for exercise.

I came back home to lunch on the table, my husband cleaned all the small bits of meat from the lamb bones and put them into kritharaki with tomato sauce.

And then I started playing my video game. I wanted to gain an exploration reward and that took me many hours that day.

I also researched renting a cargo e-bike and made an account with the company that has a couple of bikes right next to our house because we want to deal with recycling and get some bigger stuff to the dump. Always fun without a car.

After a while I remembered that I am supposed to be a responsible adult, vacuumed the old part of the house including those places where dust gathers in the very old radiators we have in the bathroom and living room. There are open spaces in between and I actually got a special attachment for our vacuum to get in there.

Then I cleaned the washbasins and toilets and the edge of the tub. And I filled shampoo and conditioner into small lip balm tubes and cut a piece off the soap I use, all for my trip. I’m almost set for toiteltries now.

And then I taught a piano lesson over Zoom, ate dinner, continued working towards my exploration reward and then did my weekly bosses with the boy.

After that I played some more until I finally got my reward.

I started writing this post while the boy did the dishes, wrote my list, brushed my teeth and went to bed.

And today I might ride an e-bike for the first time ever to cart cardboard around. Among other things.

With all the cooking yesterday and spending time with the family and moving other things to today I am again short on time.

But. The Osterzopf was very, very good, and I had some for breakfast today right again, yum:

We put the lamb roast in the slow cooker a little too late, so we had to wait for lunch until after 2 o’clock but it was delicious and so soft you didn’t need a knife:

We also opened a bottle of wine, the first time in quite some time. It was also very, very good but we all stopped after the one glass.

My mother-in-law even had organized ice cream for dessert and afterwards the boy and I tackled the dishes under her protests.

I then played a bit, the boy and I did bodyweight training, I ate dinner (and half of the rest of the ice cream), planned the week, started writing this post, and went to bed not too long after.

I also signed up for another online class. It might be a bit ambitious to take an online class and an in-person one from the same teacher in the same month, but there you are.

Not pictures but still very important and satisfying was that I turned the heel on the sock-in-progress.