life

I didn’t expect that.

I went to bed almost on time, my alarm didn’t go off again but I was prepared and had a second alarm. Because the boy wanted to go to uni and needed me as backup.

I did look up how to fix the alarm issue and did everything suggested, we’ll see how that goes.

I did my morning routine sans writing because I was busy waiting to wake the boy up and to wait until he left the house too late.

There was a very nice breakfast with my husband and then we both went to tackle our diverse to dos.

But first I got obsessed with a new language learning app and trying to test out of everything up to a B1 level. Turns out B1 is really too much for me. I only got 60% right on that test. So, not that much further.

I did a surprising amount of dirty dishes while listening to Mahler, Gershwin and Vivaldi. I am very sorry, I don’t know what it is but Mahler just doesn’t do it for me. Well, most of the time. There is some Mahler I liked but not enough to go and seek it out.

Then I waited for a package and my new fan for my studio arrived. I haven’t even unpacked it yet. And then I finally went out for my walk/run. In the rain:

(Sorry, no alt text today.)

I was a little late for lunch, and I was afraid the beans had turned to mush because I turned them off too late but they were okay.

My brain was distinctly mushy all day, though, and I think that might be because of the coffeeklatsch the day before.

One of these days I’d like to be a person who does not need a day off after each day of socializing.

Unfortunately, I did not get a day off, I still had to teach. Not too many students, though. In between I decided I needed junk food for dinner because I was feeling so bad (solid argument, right there) and walked to the supermarket to get ‘bananas“.

Okay, I did get bananas but I also got potato chips and marshmellow mice. And toilet paper, as one does.

I came back in time for my last student of the day who has decided to maybe learn guitar in addition to piano. I’m all for it, I can definitely see the appeal of learning multiple instruments.

After that I was completely out of energy, I did Duolingo, started writing this post, asked the boy to do the dishes, let the Tour de Fleece be Tour de Fleece and went to bed.

Somewhere in between all of that I also wrote four emails and decided to change my plans for today.

I might be just a little bit tired, no idea why.

I went to bed too late again and overslept. I think I didn’t wake up from my alarm again but I’m not quite sure. I think I need to change the kind of vibration alarm I use on my smartwatch.

So I was late and that meant I did not open the manuscript in the morning. Which meant no writing the rest of the day either.

Husband and I had breakfast but only talked briefly because there was so much to do. I sorted the dishes for washing up, then it was time to call my mother. We talked about our weeks and losing and gaining weight.

I finished the dishes while my husband was already starting to cook. The plan was red beet risotto with these tiny red beets from the yard. And then he put jasmine rice into the pot and only realized his mistake after. At this point the pot already held onions and butter and cubed red beets so he just went on as usual and when he saw that the rice wasn’t enough he added some risotto rice as well. The food was rather nice but could have cooked a little longer for my taste:

I took a break, shortly contemplated doing something useful but couldn’t and then started overthinking meeting new people. I knew I wanted to wear my new red dress. So, red shoes that give me blisters or black shoes that are too small for my orthotics? Makeup or not? Which jewelry? Sadly, my favorite silver necklace is completely out of fashion at the moment and looks just weird. I have a silver medallion from Iraq that is nice but the chain is too long. Or I could wear the very thin sapphire necklace but from afar that one looks as if I’m not wearing any jewelry at all. And when getting ready for an event I have to confront all the wrinkles, thinning hair and dark circles under my eyes. Also, which bra and undershirt or not?

I went with undershirt but it was bunching up. What I really need is a shift, of course, that would make all dresses and skirts look twice as good. No idea where one gets something like this these days, the last one I bought I got at Woolworth in the early nineties.

We walked over to our neighbor’s house with my mother-in-law with our bottle of wine and jar of homemade pesto. There were lots of people, most of them living in the area, so there was a lot of pointing towards our house and telling people that our garden is just behind those trees over there.

There was very nice cake. I had hoped strawberry season would already be over but no, there were two varieties of strawberry cake and a raspberry cream roll. There was some coffee but not enough for all the guests because apparently their coffee machine was broken and the replacement was very slow.

That was the point where my husband quietly got up, went back home and came back with the thermos of black tea that had been sitting in the kitchen.

There was a lot of the kind of conversations you have when you’re thrown into a meal with people you don’t really know. We did leave after about two hours, just when our hosts grown children started getting rather busy preparing dinner.

We were about half an hour later than expected but I did meet the boy for bodyweight training. I also solved my pull-up (or rather chin-up) problem of not getting anywhere by taking the kids chair from the living room upstairs so I can use it as a starting point for jumping up, getting my chin over the bar and do negative chin-ups.

The boy couldn’t believe I can’t jump high enough to do this without a booster but, well, I can’t.

I might be sore allover right now, ahem.

Then I finally ate dinner, read a bit more in „Sorry I’m late, I didn’t want to come“ by Jessie Pan that I bought on an impulse in the morning, did Duolingo, spun for fifteen minutes in front of TV and knitted a little, made a list for today that includes planning this week and went to bed.

New week, new beginnings!

Well, the start wasn’t smooth at all, I overslept by half an hour but then that made up for the time I went to bed too late.

Still, I managed the whole morning routine including a bit of working on the manuscript (lots of looking at pictures, mostly, for setting), some yoga and such and then breakfast with my husband.

After that I did the many dishes and listened to all the classical music. I’m behind with my classic music project again but almost back on track. The one piece that I really, really loved was „Let Nothing Trouble You“ by Roderick Williams the author of „Another Year of Wonder“ says, „I find in both the music and the words intense solace indeed.“ Yep, same.

I tried getting out of the house as fast as possible because we had planned to make all the pesto from all the basil and that takes time. I still wanted to go for my walk/run. I was out for more than 73 minutes and 7.7 kilometers. All I know is that I went through the woods and came out right before the next town over:

And then I went back the same way again.

At home the whole kitchen was full of pesto-making stuff:

There were still two more containers with basil elsewhere.

So I washed my hands, drank a glass of water and started mincing. I found that each portion of basil leaves took about 10 minutes between picking out bad leaves and stems and the actual use of the mezzaluna knife.

All in all I worked for almost 90 minutes. My husband was busy doing everything else and trying to make pesto in an actual pestle. It’s there in the photo, very small in the back, made from olive wood. We bought it at the Christmas market.

The texture of that portion of pesto turned out to be very different. Unfortunately, he put too much salt in, so it was basically inedible.

Lunch was a bit late:

I took a break after that, decided to not do the dishes, finished cleaning, took a shower, decided to make a paperback version of my book after all, bought 100 ISBNs, tried to figure out the mystery of Amazon keywords, and then ate dinner in front of TV with the boy while watching a pretty nice episode of ‚DoctorWho‘. It was the one called „The Story & The Engine“.

After that the dishes looked at me sadly but I didn’t want to. Which I will regret today but on the other hand I felt like I had spent enough time in the kitchen for one day.

Today we will go out and meet actual, real life people in the neighborhood. And I’m planning to wear my new dress.

Not literally limping, thank Bob.

I got a little less sleep than I needed again because I went to bed 45 minutes late and was woken up half an hour before my alarm by the boy getting himself another plate of spaghetti before going to bed. I did fall back asleep but, well.

I wrote morning pages and decided to skip the rest of the morning routine, lounging in bed scrolling through social media until it was time for breakfast. Not the best start to the day.

Husband and I talked a bit but then he had to get going because he had a rare morning student. I did the breakfast dishes and then started the weekly cleaning.

Had to interrupt the cleaning to order takeout for lunch and pick it up while my husband was restringing my guitar. I feel a bit weird because I never put new strings on my guitars myself, I only ever mention to him that I need to do it and ask him for set of strings and – boom! – magically restrung guitar.

He even filed the nut of the guitar down a bit to make it easier to play for me. I’m hoping that will help with my thumb problem.

Anyways, there was Chinese food. Spring rolls:

And fried noodles:

I took a break, then started teaching.

My two last students had both canceled so I finished early. And one of the remaining students didn’t show up without canceling. I used that break to vacuum the old part of the house.

My plan was to finish teaching, then finish cleaning and go straight to my desk to write.

Well.

I got hit by a big case of paralysis like a brick wall and ended up not doing anything but texting friends and eating almonds until it was time to meet the boy for bodyweight training.

We did 3-rep pyramids again which is fun because you do one set of the exercise you’re currently able to do, and for the next two you make them harder. Which usually teaches me that I can go harder than I think. I have to say, though, that pushups with my feet elevated on a chair will not become my new normal any time soon. And any kind of chin-up completely eludes me.

I did some research (again) after dinner and did get a few pointers but on the other hand I can’t really imagine ever getting there. Whereas the boy is progressing nicely. Even if he felt like his progress was backwards yesterday.

After that I could finally eat dinner and then I was just sitting around watching YouTube until my „take your evening hormones“-alarm went off.

I started writing this post, did Duolingo and watched C-drama very briefly before falling into bed.

I think today should be a rest day. Well, apart from my walk/run and finishing the cleaning. I’m toast, I need to take some time off.

Oh, and I did spin yesterday but for less than 15 minutes. Maybe I’ll make up for it today, but maybe I won’t.

But I was too braindead to write, sadly enough.

I did the complete morning routine otherwise with five minutes of yoga only.

Husband and I had breakfast together with a nice conversation. I knitted a few rows on the cardigan ribbing and then felt I needed to get moving because I had big plans for the day.

I got ready with lists and all kinds of things, then went off on my bike. First I went to the bank to deposit some cash. I parked my bike in front of the bakery on the other side of the street and the last few meters I biked on the sidewalk. I promptly got reprimanded by one of those old women, this one was pushing a bike herself. Yes, I am aware that this is not a bike path. But there was no one on that generous piece of sidewalk but the two of us, I wasn’t even pedaling, just letting the bike roll.

The bank had a long, long queue out the door, as always, but there are several ATMs in the foyer and there was one that looked like it might accept cash. So I just tried it and yes, I could deposit my cash in there, it counted it and all, put it in my account and gave me a receipt. Hurray!

Next stop was the pharmacy where I found the sun screen stick I had been looking for for a while (I want sunscreen for my lips), and picked up mine and my husband’s meds. Unfortunately, my doctor forgot to put my blood pressure medication on there, so I see an email and another trip to the pharmacy in my future.

I got on my bike again and went to pick up my orthotics. That done I braved the traffic again and went to the big supermarket. I bought all the things, six kinds of cheese, four kinds of ham and salami, four kinds of bread, my bike panniers were full to the brim.

Went back home, unpacked the haul and helped cut up things for lunch:

I had quite a bit of time between lunch and my first lesson but I didn’t do anything in that time I was just too exhausted and tired.

Then there was teaching, junk food that I bought explicitly for dinner (I even put it on the grocery list), then I caved and bought yet another productivity book, started writing this post and lost all energy.

I still did the dishes and Duolingo and then watched some C-drama while spinning and knitting (not at the same time).

Today there will be Chinese takeout and cleaning and then the weekend.