life

At least I didn’t do it myself.

I did my complete morning routine for once (yeah!) even though I switched blogging and fiction writing, wrote the blog post early and opened the manuscript later. Which then meant I did’t have as much time before lunch as expected.

I had to wake the boy up early, twice (hence the switch between blogging and writing) and he still ended up going to uni too late because he found that both his laptop and his power bank were completely out of juice. Oh, the joys of a highly distractible brain!

I did the dishes and folded laundry but never quite got around to starting the weekly cleaning, oops.

Lunch was pretty early, my husband had only slept a few hours and was wide awake at 4 am or so, and then we talked at length over breakfast. He has started drinking lots and lots of black tea in the afternoon and I think that might be the reason he doesn’t get sleepy in the evening. Maybe. (I just watched a video from a sleep expert who says that you should stop drinking caffeine about 8 1/2 hours before your bedtime. You’re welcome.)

Anyways, he was so afraid of not having time for his nap after lunch that we ended up eating at 12.30:

He mad almost enough pasta salad for two days so we’ll have it again today with added wieners.

After that I had a short break and then the doorbell rang. A poor Amazon delivery person was standing at the gate, in the rain with a package. That was weird. Maybe for our neighbors? Nope. The amp we ordered that was supposed to be delivered today was early! And they needed a code to hand it over.

So I had to rush to my husband’s computer, turn it on, check his emails, get the code and jot it down before I could get the package. Husband was somewhat bewildered, of course. (In hindsight I could just have switched to his account in my browser and found the code that way but I didn’t think of that in the moment.) I was a little miffed that he never checks his email these days but, well.

The boy came home and we talked a bit while he ate and then it was time for teaching. I answered a few messages in a short break between students and then it was Christmas break time!

During that break my husband and I had talked about the fact that I hadn’t gotten around to cleaning and that only one of his students had shown up so he offered to vacuum the old part of the house. He was also very proud that he switched the towels. As he should be but what he didn’t know is that I also switch the towels in my bathroom weekly. So that needs to be done today and then I’ll have enough for one load of whites.

When I was finished with teaching my husband was still going full tilt with the vacuum. While the boy and I were planning to do bodyweight training in the same space. Not as contemplative as we would have liked. I would say that I don’t know why vacuuming these four rooms took him more than an hour but there were the towels and he was decluttering his bookshelf at the same time. Also, he vacuumed a lot of the corners that I usual neglect and then vow to do properly next time for sure. And yes, when I vacuum it only takes ten minutes.

After bodyweight training I had a quick dinner before it was time for one of my monthly Zoom calls. This one was one where you mostly sit around and listen. I tried saying something two or three times but there were a couple of people who really needed to talk so I ended up listening and making progress on my crochet blanket.

I’m starting to realize that listening to people is something I need to do less of in my life. My whole job is a lot of sitting and listening and a lot of the conversations I have in real life are sitting and listening, so I’m finding I lack the patience to do the same in the evening. The meeting was very nice and probably very helpful for a lot of people and the story one person told was very inspiring as well but I’m starting to think that attending meetings where it’s mostly people talking about how they feel and why they have such a hard time writing might not be the best use of my time and energy.

When the allotted 90 minutes for the meeting was over, the host had already asked if anyone else had anything to share because we were running out of time and two more people raised their hands (and those were people who had talked a lot before) I decided to just call it quits.

I went back to the kitchen, found I needed to use the bathroom but the boy was taking a shower and ended up waiting for half an hour. Could I have used another bathroom? Sure. Could I just have walked in and used it anyway? Also sure. But I was at that point where I can’t change plans anymore.

Then I did spin, crochet and watch 20 minutes of a show and went to bed a little late.

Today it will be all.the.things! again. I’m a bit unsure if I should attend today’s Zoom thing, it will be quite a few of the same people as yesterday, probably talking about the same issues. At length. I go for accountability and camaraderie, not really because I want help with anything because I totally know what I should do, I just find it hard to make myself do it. Will ponder.

I had set my alarm a little later so I would get more sleep but went to bed so late that it didn’t make a difference. I was very determined to do my actual morning routine. Right between my morning pages and writing fiction my husband showed up and started the fire in the wood stove. I appreciate him making the house warm but it made it a little harder to write. And I gave up on yoga and meditation after that.

In maybe related news my feet are starting to hurt again. Might be the lack of yoga.

There was breakfast and nice conversations and crochet and then I biked to the supermarket and brought back all the food. We’re pretty much set for the holidays now.

Lunch was a little late but that was not a problem because we both start later on Thursdays:

Then I took a bit of a break, taught my first student of the day, changed the toner in the printer, re-filled three fountain pens and wrapped and mailed the Christmas present for my mother. I had ample time for all of these things because in addition to the usual one-hour break between students two more students had to cancel.

Then I taught two more students, finally ate dinner, did Duolingo, talked with my husband and son, watched something for twenty minutes while spinning and then crocheting, started falling down a YouTube rabbit hole, talked with my husband briefly again and went to bed.

Today is the last teaching day before Christmas break. Yes!

I woke up, fell tired, lounged in bed and decided to – skip the morning routine. Bad move, as always.

There was cake for breakfast again because someone needs to eat that. There was some crochet after breakfast and then I stepped on a train to the next town over to renew a prescription and buy things at the nicer health food store there that I can’t get here.

When I wanted to take the train back and stamp my ticket the machine was broken. I tried buying a ticket on my phone instead but the server was not reachable for some reason? So I actually called the number on the ticket stamper, had a nice chat with the person on the other end who thanked me for calling but also told me there was another machine at the other end of the platform. Huh. I had thought that platform only had one entrance but hadn’t thought about the fact that they made it more accessible recently and so I trekked all the way to the other end (my watch was sure I was exercising) to stamp my ticket and then back again. Good thing I had ample time.

Back in my hometown I went to the new supermarket for vegetarian bratwurst, to the pharmacy and to the other health food store before getting back home. Where my husband was stressed out by cooking on the wood stove again. Lunch was nice but a bit too salty:

I only had very little time after that but managed to eat all the Christmas cookies one of my students had given me. As I said – dumb.

Then there was all the teaching all afternoon, one Christmas song after the other until my tension headache was back.

After teaching the boy and I did bodyweight training, my husband asked me to help him order a new hifi amp. He has been having trouble with his for months now and both replacements that he found around the house weren’t working properly as well. Seems that even the best equipment fizzles out after just a few decades.

Then I finally got to eat dinner. The boy and I were sitting around companionably looking at our phones for a bit, then I started writing this post, did my foot exercises and Duolingo, and watched something on TV while spinning.

Then to bed.

Two more teaching days until Christmas break.

As is often the case, when I have a bit more time I get less done.

I seem to have settled for a bedtime between 11 and 11.30 which means I get an hour less sleep than I need on the regular. I did manage to write some new words and my morning pages but skipped the yoga and meditation yet again.

The whole day was full of misunderstandings and emotional conversations up to the point where the tension headache I had all day turned into a sharp piercing pain at my left temple for a bit in the morning. Speaking of pain my feet seem to be a little better and I would have said my arthritic fingers are fine by now until I took my midday painkillers too late. Oops. It is getting better, though, so I’m sure the current flare will subside soon.

It was one of those days, I made several mistakes while crocheting and had to rip back not only the last four rounds on this:

Because I had used the wrong color yarn, I also made the exact same mistake a couple rounds further along.

I went for a walk that helped clear my head and gave me very exciting ideas for the next part of the novel in progress:

There was risotto for lunch:

There were more conversations and some teaching and by the time I was finished with that and had plans to work on publishing tasks I was completely out of energy up to the point where I spent almost two hours staring blankly into space (okay, I did Solitaire and went on social media) it was already too late.

The boy wanted some help in writing a Christmas card to an aunt, I tried roping my husband in because I was so low on energy and I didn’t want him to feel left out, that led to a series of misunderstandings again that took hours to sort out, the boy took his shower late and I started watching something at the time I should have turned the lights out.

So, splendid day, let’s hope today is better.

As is often the case, when I have a bit more time I get less done.

I seem to have settled for a bedtime between 11 and 11.30 which means I get an hour less sleep than I need on the regular. I did manage to write some new words and my morning pages but skipped the yoga and meditation yet again.

The whole day was full of misunderstandings and emotional conversations up to the point where the tension headache I had all day turned into a sharp piercing pain at my left temple for a bit in the morning. Speaking of pain my feet seem to be a little better and I would have said my arthritic fingers are fine by now until I took my midday painkillers too late. Oops. It is getting better, though, so I’m sure the current flare will subside soon.

It was one of those days, I made several mistakes while crocheting and had to rip back not only the last four rounds on this:

Because I had used the wrong color yarn, I also made the exact same mistake a couple rounds further along.

I went for a walk that helped clear my head and gave me very exciting ideas for the next part of the novel in progress:

There was risotto for lunch:

There were more conversations and some teaching and by the time I was finished with that and had plans to work on publishing tasks I was completely out of energy up to the point where I spent almost two hours staring blankly into space (okay, I did Solitaire and went on social media) it was already too late.

The boy wanted some help in writing a Christmas card to an aunt, I tried roping my husband in because I was so low on energy and I didn’t want him to feel left out, that led to a series of misunderstandings again that took hours to sort out, the boy took his shower late and I started watching something at the time I should have turned the lights out.

So, splendid day, let’s hope today is better.