life

It feels a little as if I’m sliding back into bad habits. Which wouldn’t be surprising because those are way more ingrained at this point.

But. Despite going to bed too late yet again (and how I hate that fact) I did do my complete morning routine including a little manuscript time.

I started turning the heel on the sock-in-progress and after doing the dishes I only left fifteen minutes late for an epic grocery run.

First I went to the drugstore for interdental brushes and something for my mother-in-law, swung by a supermarket for yogurt, frozen mushrooms and some fake meat, and then all the way to the tea shop to pick up the two pounds of Darjeeling/Chinese mix that I ordered the day before plus two pounds of my husband’s everyday Darjeeling and some green tea for the boy.

When you buy two pounds at once there is a 10% discount, so that can be worth it for the tea that we drink every day. We did not buy two pounds of green tea, though.

Carrying all of that I went to the health food store and got the usual food plus a big bag of muesli and some other heavy stuff.

It’s a good thing I have a sturdy backpack.

At home husband was surprised I was back so early, so I had to unpack while he was in the most stressful phase of cooking. Again. Sometimes I think that phase of cooking wouldn’t be as stressful if I wasn’t unpacking at that point which is understandable. Having a second person in the kitchen walking back and forth and cluttering the whole table with stuff that needs to be put away is stressful and distracting.

Anyway, we had potatoes, fish, peas and carrots:

Then I only had a little time for reading and gaming before it was time to teach.

I had more breaks bettween students than usual, one didn’t show at all, and two canceled at the last minute, so I was finished an hour earlier than expected.

The boy and I moved our strength training to an earlier time slot but I still spent the time between teaching and training and the time between training and my evening routine mostly on social media.

I did eat dinner early, though, before working out which was good, and I also brushed my teeth pretty early but then my willpower left the building.

So I ended the day with a less completed task list than I had hoped but on the other hand the most important things got done and that is what counts.

Today should bring quite a bit more teaching and a little more exercise. Hopefully a better working executive function as well, we’ll see.

I went to bed an hour too late, sniff. Because I thought I’d just read for fifteen minutes in bed before I’d turn the lights out. But the book I read was „Father Material“ by Alexis Hall and it was at the 80%-mark and I really wanted to find out how everything would be resolved and it was hilarious.

At least I stopped myself with 50 motes pages and decided to read those the next day. Which I did. Before lunch.

I did my morning routine sans manuscript time but at least spent a few minutes on that after breakfast.

It was really nice to be back home, in my own bed, with my husband and good food.

I finished the gusset on the socj-in-progress but neglected to take a picture, I did dishes and went out for my walk/run:

I have now reached a point where I am running almost as much as I’m walking, minus the warm-up and cool-down. It was very hot and I had a hard time but I managed. Seeing all those people my age looking rather old over the weekend was great for my motivation.

This time there was no time to shower before lunch because lunch was ready on time, hurray! We ate outside which was nice:

My husband said that he always makes rice and beans after being away from home (not that he was away) because that’s something you don’t usually get on the road.

After lunch there was more reading and chocolate and playing my video game and then I had to hurry with my shower. I am happy to say that I managed to get clean with fresh clothes with almost ten minutes to spare before my first student.

Then there was teaching, and after that meeting with my coach friend online. Since we basically agreed I should continue doing what I have been doing the week before we were free to recommend each other C.dramas, as one does.

Then I could finally eat dinner, meet the boy for my weekly bosses, open the manuscript for a short while and go to bed.

I’d like to continue getting stuff done, it’s just so satisfying, so wish me luck!

After the high-school reunion I went to bed past 1 am, and woke up six hours later not feeling refreshed at all.

I still did yoga and got dressed and packed my stuff up (that is another bonus of packing light, both the packing and unpacking go rather fast).

I ate a hotel breakfast that was exceptionally blah and then set off to walk through town for an hour or so.

There was a flea market going on, there was also rain and wind and cold, two things that don*t go well together.

I walked by the bus station where I spent many, many hours of my teenage years waiting for the bus:

After school was out there was one at 2.39, one at 4.39, 5.39 and the last one each day went at 6.39 and took ages to get you home because that one went a sort of combined route all the way through all the little villages. And you had to take care to remind the driver that you wanted to that one bus stop further north that they don’t liked because they went there and back and nobody ever got on the bus there. Well, I wouldn’t have either, not at that time, because you wouldn’t be able to get back the same day.

So, if you wanted to go to the movies or something you were on your own and perfectly free to use your bike or walk. Which I sometimes did when I missed the bus.

The town does have nice spots as well, here is my life saver, the library:

Well, that’s where the library used to be, looks like they put it somewhere else since then.

My sister and I spent so much time there and borrowed so many books that the librarians didn’t even ask for our library cards anymore.

Then I went back to the train station and stood in the wind and rain for half an hour waiting for the train. I almost got nostalgic but I have to say I am very, very grateful that these days I have music and all the books in my pocket with my phone.

The train was on time and the woman who I had to ask to free my reserved seat complimented my shoes. I went to Hannover where I was a little worried if there would be enough time to get myself the lunch I wanted.

But, not only was there enough time, I also could get some more licorice and mint chocolate. I even had to wait long enough that I started eating standing on yet another train platform:

That is fried noodles with teriyaki chicken, and yes, I am aware you’re not supposed to stick the chopsticks into your food but I didn’t think the Germans around me would mind.

I got on another train for a few more hours, wrote my morning pages, went online (very slowly), watched an episode of C-drama and read a lot, I am now two thirds through „Father Material“ by Alexis Hall and it is extremely good.

The whole trip went very well, I only got very bored towards the end. Even the whole, take a train from the main station to this other station, then walk around the corner for this bus because there is construction on the train lines and then take the train again-bit. Thought I didn’t take the train at the end, I just walked the twenty minutes.

And then I was home and could talk with my husband and son, the boy and I did bodyweight training, then the boy made grilled cheese sandwiches:

I ate more chocolate, started writing this post, made a list for today, and the usual.

And now back to normal. Or some approximation of it.

Again with the going to bed at a reasonable time and getting eight hours of sleep.

I still had a little less energy than the rest of the week, I’d say that’s the cumulative effect of a full week of work.

I did most of my morning routine again, all the while thinking about packing and going so far as to get up in the middle of morning pages and adding deodorant to my toiletry bag.

Husband and I talked a little more while I knitted and then I did the rest of my morning things, including writing for 15 minutes. I then did the dishes, sorted the recycling, emptied all the wastepapare baskets in the house and cleaned washbasins and toilets. With that my weekly housecleaning list was officially done for the week. And then I went out side in the rain to walk/run for half an hour:

I only did half an hour because I wanted to do other things as well.

Came back, took a shower, put some more things on the packing pile and had lunch:

That was the first cucumber from our garden this year, by the way. It was delicious.

After that I had a short break that I used to read and play my video game and then it was time to teach.

I had a short break between students were I tried shaving my favorite handspun cardigan but I lost patience and gave up after twenty minutes. I’ll just take it fuzzy as it is.

Then I taught my last student, played the piano for a while, folded a load of wool socks, did bodyweight training with the boy (my thighs were not keen on doing more exercise at this point), ate dinner, talked with the boy while he made himself dinner and scrolled through social media until I realized what I was doing, then went to the living room to spend 15 more minutes on my novel, started writing this post, made a list for today, finally actually packed everything for today, played a little more and quickly planned out next week.

I’d say that’s enough.

Blogging will be spotty tomorrow, I guess because I’ll be out and about all day and I don’t know how much time I’ll have in a place with decent wifi, so we’ll see.

Anyway, I’m hopping on a train next, will report back later.

But not by much.

I was starting to get that very familiar feeling of total exhaustion the night before, complete with feeling cold and a little shaky but then I just went to bed early, allowing myself to skip spinning and my second session of Chinese for the day.

So, I went to bed on time and slept for a little over eight hours. For the third night in a row. Cazy.

In the morning I was rather slow and I did not open the manuscript first thing but I knew I’d be writing in the evening so it was all good.

It was super cold and my husband made fire in the wood stove while I was finishing my morning pages and yoga and then we had a rather leisurely breakfast together. We talked at length, which was nice, then I did the dishes while listening to a beautiful Richard Strauss song, read my chapter of „War & Peace“ and did my two minutes of Chinese.

The weather was a bit weird, super cold and it was raining like crazy one minute and nice and sunny the next.

I got lucky and got only dry bits while biking to the supermarket. I had a very, very long list but went through it in record time. The supermarket wasn’t very full and there were lots of open checkout lanes. My cart was so full that The cashier was almost halfway through my stuff before I had even finished putting everything on. The woman behind me just started putting her groceries on the belt without leaving enough space for me. That was stressing me. I was already in a bit of panic mode because I had visions of all my frozen good falling off at the other end before I could even finish putting everything on. So I pushed the other person’s groceries back to make space for mine and said something. And then again. Still super stressed and then she said, „Are you stupid? Politeness, eh?“ And she used the informal form of address which in and of itself is rather impolite when you’re speaking with another adult.

Anyway, I did not let that bug me. Much.

I also had forgotten to weigh my bananas, so the cashier had to go and do it for me. Which at least gave me time to dump all my stuff back in my cart. Then it took ages for me to fish out all my bills and coins, and after I was finished and had put my wallet away he was still sitting there expectantly. Well, I had given him 50 fewer Euros than I needed. Oops. So I had to get my wallet out yet again and get another bill.

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made that mistake if the person behind me hadn’t rattled me, so in the end it was her who had to wait longer because she was impatient.

Then I drove back home on my bike, a full backpack, two full panniers and a pack of toilet paper in the basket in the front. I timed it so that there were only a few stragglers getting out of the high school this time. No navigating through throngs of teenagers this time.

At home my husband was a little late with lunch again and the boy was just getting home. I unpacked and then there was a delicious lunch:

By then it was too late to do the dishes right away, or if I had done them I wouldn’t have had a break. So I talked with the boy for a bit, then played my video game briefly and started teaching.

I had planned to use my one-hour break between students for packing but in the end I ran the vacuum through the annex, folded two loads of laundry and hung up another one. Now I only need to fold a load of wool socks and such and I’ll be done with laundry for now.

I did manage to fetch cables and my bluetooth keyboard and water bottle and such for tomorrow’s trip but did not put everything together just yet. I also decided to move de-pilling the sweater to today because after teaching, a quick dinner, a one-hour writing session with my friend and the dishes I was just not feeling up to it.

I did start writing this post, made a list for today, did my foot exercises, played some more Genshin and went to bed.

And – today will be busy again, no surprise there. And I will have to get my packing together because I need all that stuff tomorrow.