life

And ordered new orthotics.

I had gone to bed too late yet again, woke up from the alarm, did not dawdle quite as much at first but made up for it with half an hour online between morning pages and writing fiction. The writing went well for a change, so that was fun. I actually had a thing happen and will find out more about it soon.

I did not want to do yoga but did it anyway. When I did my three minutes of meditation I was interrupted twice, once for each other family member.

The plan had been to bike to my appointment and then to the supermarket straight away but I didn’t get the grocery list done in time. So I walked (while listening to music, nice), ordered the new insoles, bought yogurt and some pasta, walked back home, made the list and went back out again, this time by bike.

You wouldn’t believe the piles of groceries I ended up bringing home.The shopping cart was basically full. A lot of it was for the holidays already, but still.

Meanwhile my husband made lunch:

After we were just about to finish eating the boy came back from uni. He ate and the two of us talked quite a bit. Then it was time for teaching, I had a one-hour break after that which I had planned to spend in a very productive way. (Reader, she did not spend her break in anything resembling that state.)

My second student was sheet delight and after her lesson I stumbled my way through a Chopin etude. First time playing the piano in ages.

I had the time to do that because the next student had to cancel. And then it was another chunk of time playing Christmas carols, most notably there was another rendition of ‚Jingle Bells‘.

I then ate dinner, realized I was completely brain dead already, played Solitaire on my iPad, started writing this post, did a very short Duolingo lesson, decided to skip the foot exercises, spun for ten minutes while watching C-drama and crocheted a bit and then went to bed.

And today brings us a blood draw to check my thyroid levels which means no food and no meds beforehand, the changing of the sheets and the cleaning of the house. Also I enrolled in two classes that both start today. I know. Great plan, as always.

No pictures, it’s still lying on the porch in its wrap but still.

I went to bed only slightly too late and started the day with lounging in bed reluctant to get up for half an hour. Then wrote my morning pages and some new words of fiction but decided to skip yoga again.

I had a peaceful breakfast all alone before my husband showed up and wanted to talk to me about childhood trauma or something.

And then we had to hurry a bit because we wanted to go to the farmer’s market before it closed at noon. We did get our potatoes and found that no, there are no Christmas trees to be bought there.

Last year the boy and I wanted to buy a tree for the first time in years. Well, when we finally managed to we turned out to be too late. There were none to be had anywhere that we could reach on foot. We ended up cutting a very, very small pine tree that was growing in our yard and then found out that my mother-in-law had thrown away not one but two of our Christmas tree stands.

Anyway. I was determined this year would be better. My husband was nice enough to help me because the boy and I never are free both at the same time and at a time when that Christmas tree stand in front of the supermarket is open as well. Last year we tried twice and the first time there was no one to sell us the tree and the second time there were no trees left.

But. This year my husband and I went to the supermarket. There were trees but no seller again. So my husband asked one of the super market cashiers. Turns out there should be a supermarket employee outside. So we waited. And then I went looking for him inside, no dice. But. After a while someone came and helped us.

There were only three trees left and my husband and I had decided which one we wanted in those long minutes of waiting already. Turns out when you want one of those trees you take the tag off the tree, go inside and have it scanned, pay the money and then take your tree home. So, next year I won’t wait for someone to help me, I can just take the tag off, scan it at self-checkout and push the tree through the wrapping thingy myself.

I was very glad that my husband was the one carrying the tree home, by the way. If I had to get it home by myself I would probably have taken the bike trailer and a bungee cord.

After that my husband started to cook and I helped a little bit. While waiting for the water to boil he drilled another hole through the kitchen light over the counter and fixed the tube with another piece of wire. And now that light is working again. And then I took a shower.

There was a somewhat late lunch:

After that I only had a very short break before teaching all the students. Since one student canceled I had another short break between students and used that to write another email to my web hosting provider, to start a load of laundry because I realized I was running out of clean underwear. In fact I had to resort to wearing a bra that is too small after my shower and that despite the fact that I just bought four new bras.

I also folded all the laundry that was left on the racks.

After teaching I met the boy for some bodyweight training, then finally ate dinner (mmh, fresh sourdough bread) together with the boy, talked with him while hanging up the new load of laundry, briefly talked to my husband who had done the dishes, read a bit, did Duolingo, foot exercises and started this post and then watched a bit of C-drama while spinning.

And yes, today will be rather busy as well but hopefully not quite as full as yesterday. All day I kept thinking how great it was that my feet didn’t hurt (or my fingers) just before I remembered that I’m taking painkillers again because of that acute arthritis pain. So I should better be careful, gauging the state of my feet by pain level doesn’t work right now.

But hey, no pain!

Even fuller than usual Tuesdays.

I had gone to bed a little late (but not too much) again. I did my complete morning routine despite not feeling like it. The writing continues to be slow.

Husband was in a mood again, so we talked over breakfast. Well, his breakfast, not mine. I pulled out the Flowerpress blanket in progress but mostly wove in ends. I like how those blankets made from squares look but I don’t like to weave in all the ends. Plus, this one will only be put together at the end. Joining as one goes is usually much better.

After that conversation with my husband I looked at the clock and went into an immediate panic. The plan for the day was to go to my orthopedist’s office and get a new prescription for orthotics before they closed for lunch. I had planned to leave at 10.45 when it was already twenty minutes earlier.

I re-calculated my morning, went on my usual online round very briefly, did the breakfast dishes, did one Duolingo lesson, brushed my teeth, got dressed and dashed off.

Prescriptions were renewed promptly, I caught a bus back only 5 minutes after I arrived at the bus stop, then went to the orthotist to make an appointment, to the pharmacy for more medication including stronger ibuprofen and the health food store. I walked back home, met my mother-in-law, asked her about my husband’s niece and her triplets but she didn’t know much besides the fact that they were born prematurely. I turned around and took the package with the winter coat that doesn’t fit the boy with me to return it. We also ordered two more coats for him in the hopes that one of them will fit.

I put the groceries away, talked some more with my husband and we ate lunch:

After lunch and talking I had about 15 minutes to myself before the boy came downstairs. We talked very briefly, I played some silly games and read a little and then it was time to teach all the students all afternoon.

In between students I tried to find something in my assorted bullet journals but failed.

I had the great plan of playing the piano for a bit after teaching but didn’t feel like it again, then ate dinner, talked more with my husband saw the boy briefly again when he returned from uni, spent some time sitting around in paralysis, started writing this post while feeling braindead, wrote in my bullet journal, did Duolingo, made myself a cup of tea, did my foot exercises, spun for ten minutes while watching C-drama, then knitted for the rest of the episode and went to bed.

Looking at my calendar and lists I can say that the rest of this week won’t be much better. And I started using cortisone cream against my eczema again so need to remember to take it twice a day as well. At least that is only until Friday morning. Where I double-booked myself, harumph, but I should be able to untangle that beforehand.

I basically skipped all the routines, couldn’t bring myself to do any kind of exercise, do housework or write. I did make frozen pizza for lunch, though, after cutting my husband’s hair:

Since we still had radicchio in the fridge my husband insisted on making salad. Took less than ten minutes, by the way

And then I continued slumping around before taking a rather quick shower so I could be only a little late for my weekly writer’s weekend on Zoom. The meeting was lovely and uncharacteristically short. Then I slumped around some more, talked with the rest of the family at some point, knitted some more on the potholders and ate a pretty late dinner before watching Sarra Cannon’s „planning your 2025“ live stream. This time my husband joined me which was nice and a bit weird. There was quite a bit of stopping the stream to explain things.

When I was about to get ready for bed the boy came downstairs and we talked a bit so I was a little late there as well.

This morning I finished the potholders:

And I used less than two balls of yarn so I can make another pair still But that has to wait, knitting with cotton is really hard on my hands, so I better don’t do it during an arthritis flare.

The day went a bit sideway-ish, not in a big way but I ended up just completely drained in the evening and this morning I still am not back to having much energy, so I’ll just keep it brief here.

We did eat spaghetti. Not with the porcini my husband wanted because while there were dried porcini on the grocery list apparently 10 grams were not enough. Well, I didn’t know. And it turns out there are no dried porcini to be had in the nearby supermarket.

And now the weekend.