creative.mother.thinking

No Monday start energy, though.

I did almost my complete morning routine, writing went rather slow but at least there were new words. I found an article about bedtime procrastination that I found very interesting. I need to implement some of those suggestions soon.

My husband and I talked for a while about how my evenings tend to run off kilter and why. Which made our morning run off track. Well, a little.

I did spend that conversation time weaving in ends on the Starbright blanket that I had finished crocheting a while ago. There are a lot of ends and in my rush to get the crochet done I left most of them hanging. And that is now biting me. But I’m getting there.

Then I went for my walk/run. My legs felt like lead probably because of strength training the night before and also there were some heavily perfumed dog walkers out, that and the freezing air made breathing a bit hard. Maybe I should take my asthma inhaler with me when running, even for a very short while.

Still, with all the huffing and puffing, the chill and sweating like crazy while feeling like I’ll certainly drop dead if I have to run for even a second longer despite cutting every run interval short by half I was happy to be outdoors and moving:

When I came back home the fire was blazing and my husband was stressed from cooking. We were almost out of some key ingredients but he did manage to squeeze by:

After lunch I spent half an hour reading and scrolling through social media, then the boy came downstairs and we talked briefly, before I took a shower just in time for teaching.

I had spent some time in the morning researching possible places for us to stay when we visit my husband’s aunt during Easter break. Places there are horribly expensive so I ended up booking the one thing that was close to where we want to go and had a somewhat reasonable price. And then I started looking into rental cars. Fun!

I taught all afternoon with a short break where I talked with my husband about one of his students and completely forgot what I had planned to do. I did start watching the first few lessons of the course I bought the day before, though. So far I haven’t learned anything but then the course is not aimed at people who have been working with WordPress for – checks notes – 15 years.

My last student of the day canceled because they weren’t feeling well, so I spent some more time online. Then I talked briefly to the rest of the family (separate, not together), ate dinner, started writing this post, did Duolingo, made myself a cup of tea, did my foot exercises, watched some C-drama and went to bed.

Today there will be errands and the health food store, as usual.

I had gone to bed more than an hour late. I still did my complete morning routine around my husband tending the fire.

We had a long-ish conversation after breakfast that made me somewhat late for everything else, I then called my mother on the phone, and then leaned into the urge to hyperfocus on my newsletter and website problem.

Lunch was late as well, so I used the time to fold laundry and hang up another load and then we ate rice and lentils:

After that I was very determined to make good use of my time and I did, mostly. The boy didn’t show up in the afternoon at all, I finally tackled my newsletter/website authentification problem and I imported my subscriber list, phew. Oh, and the way I did resolve the issue was by watching the instructional video. Duh.

Next up I need to watch yet another video and read a book. Will that take time? You bet. Do I have that time? Well, that’s unclear.

I went online, I decided I needed more help with the WordPress theme question, saw that there was yet another Udemy sale, found a course that looked promising and bought it. These days I never pay full price for Udemy courses, by the way, I always wait for one of their frequent sales.

My husband and were set to meet so he could learn how to use his health insurance app and get recompensation for a dental cleaning. I am happy to say that we did not strangle each other, we didn’t even fight, and I forcefully stepped in and took over only once. I’m trying.

I watched some more of the publishing course that I’m taking and did all the dirty dishes. I wasn’t even quite finished when the rest of the family showed up for dinner. Or in the boy’s case for bodyweight training. We debated the merits of changing the training program up at length, then decided we’ll continue the current regimen through this week, then test the next cycle for two weeks to see if it’s really as dumb as the boy thinks and the re-evaluate.

We did bodyweight training. It felt like I’m not making any progress at all, right up to the point where I realized the exercise I was just struggling through were full on pushups instead of the ones on my knees that I had intended to do. So, there might be some progress after all.

Then the boy asked me to help him study. I was already faint with hunger at this point because it was past 8 but I didn’t want to eat in a rush so I prevailed, the boy and I talked a bit about a math problem I had found on YouTube that was baffling me (the answer was imaginary numbers, something I did not run across before), he sat down to solve it, got stuck, we watched the video, he got it, and then he tried explaining it to me.

Then I asked him questions about thermodynamics and made the same dumb mistakes as every time before, then I finally ate dinner, with the boy, who was in a talkative mood which meant I had to skip watching C-drama (repeat after me, „people are always a good use of time“), I did Duolingo and my good exercises (first time all week) and went to bed.

Somewhere in there I also finished reading „Guardian: Zhen Hun“, still excellent but the bonus stories in the back were a bit dragging, and I decided which noel to read next and started reading yet another non-fiction book…

The book is „Meditations for Mortals“ by Oliver Burkeman and I found it through a picture of the first page of Chapter 4 that someone posted on Instagram. From that picture I went on hunting it down through Google, and voilà!

And while this morning felt like it should be Sunday, it really isn’t, so I need to scram.

On the other hand I did get my complete list done, so there’s that.

I went to bed too late and was a bit slow in the morning but I still managed my complete morning routine, some of it while my husband was tending the fire. My blood pressure is a bit high again, not that bad but that plus feeling dizzy more often tells me I need to get myself to bed earlier.

Husband and I had a long conversation after breakfast about our mutual frustration with computer things. He is trying to learn to do things on his own but finds it hard, time-consuming and feels like he’ll never learn it. He valiantly tried installing a system update on his computer only to get the same error message each time.

Well, it’s not his fault. MacOS always claims it will install the update over night and then it never does. The trick is to start it during the day so that when it asks for your password to restart the computer you can put that in.

Anyways, I then vented my own frustration at being „the one who is good with computers and tech“ and „the one to whom all this stuff comes easy“. Because, yes I do know some things and yes, I usually get things to work, it’s not like that knowledge and skills are inborn. What I do is I decide that all of this must be learnable, I mean, all those devices and apps are made for just regular people to use so I should be able to figure it out and then I just go back to it over and over and over until I figure it out. And I google things endlessly and try things.

And my frustration stems from the fact that some people just lean back and say, „This is too hard for me“, a sentiment I can understand from the bottom of my heart and that means I’m the one who has to do the work.

And I’m a bit sick of it. From my mother-in-law who decided she can’t learn to fill her own car with gas to my mother who thinks I know everything about her Android phone. I get that most of these things are actually easier for me but that’s like telling me I have a beautiful voice and am very talented when my voice is the result of a lot of practice and lessons.

Anyways, we were both very frustrated and very intense but eventually figured out that the frustration was the reason we were upset, not necessarily the other person. And we have a strategy that hopefully means my husband will learn more of those skills and I will help him get there.

Then I was pretty late again.

I did the breakfast dishes, vacuumed the old part of the house, went on a walk/run that I found really hard (3-minute running intervals anyone?) but also very de-stressing:

My husband made lamb burgers with bulgur, tomato sauce and broccoli:

After that the plan was to take a shower after just a short break and then start working on website and newsletter stuff for my author website. I had it in my calendar and all.

And then the boy came downstairs. He ate lunch and we started talking about finances and investing. Since that is something I need to think about a lot as well, we ended up talking for an hour or so. I barely managed to get into the shower on time to be ready for my weekly author Zoom.

Or so I thought. Turned out I was an hour late because I forgot about the time change in the US. Oops. So the meeting was 30 minutes instead of 90 for me which left me an hour to try to wrangle website authentication for the newsletter provider into submission. I didn’t make it, by the way and it bugs me endlessly.

But I have. List of things to try next.

Then I was almost a little late for the weekly ‚Columbo‘-watching with the rest of the family. I had found the frozen spring rolls that I used to get at our local health food store in the one one town over and had asked my husband to make them. Well, at least that’s what I thought. Turned out the ones I used to buy were the mini spring rolls and those were delicious. These were bigger ones and they were, um, not as good. But whatever. We also demolished a box of Carr’s crackers.

The episode was good but a bit dragging, it was more than twenty minutes longer than most of the others and it showed. Not a bad episode, though.

After that I was very determined to finally watch some C-drama. Which I did but not before I had watched half of YouTube. And after I went back to – more YouTube.

Guess who went to bed more than an hour too late again? Yep, it me.

Sp today my list is again pretty impressive…

I mean, I’m spending most of my days at home but this week was a bit different. And I didn’t even travel.

I had gone to bed an hour too late yet again, this time because I missed the right point in time to get ready for bed and then just sat there, unable to move. Harumph. I have to say, I feel like an idiot with these things but, well, I can just continue trying. This time it was also partially due to the boy asking me to help him study right when I was about to go to bed with a cup of tea and a book but he didn’t really force me to stay up for an hour afterwards.

I did my complete morning routine regardless even though I only wrote very few words but I always feel better when I try.

I was totally determined to do the weekly cleaning and also do the dishes for once. I did do the dishes and went through half the weekly cleaning list before my husband came back from his run and started cooking.

Lunch was a bit unexpected, we had some goulash in the fridge that was supposed to be good until Sunday but when we opened the package it looked – not good. So we had pasta with tomato sauce instead:

After lunch, just when I was about to break into a burst of cleaning the boy showed up and we talked a bit and that was that. I had an early start to teaching, a potential new student showed up who wants to learn ukulele. That was nice.

As were my other students that day.

I was finished around 6.30 and met my husband who was doing more dishes. The load of laundry that he had put in in the morning was sitting there in a hamper and since I had about 15 minutes until I was due to do bodyweight training with the boy I hung the laundry up in the meantime.

By then I was in that stage of exhausted and tired where you sway when standing still and start feeling cold for no apparent reason, always fun.

We did bodyweight training anyway. The boy complained about not making progress, so I pulled out the book we’re basing our training on and found that we have been doing week 3 and 4 over and over. So I guess it’s time to progress to the next part of the program.

Then I finally got to eat dinner, ate more chocolate than planned, sat around, completely energy-less for an hour and decided that getting myself in front of TV to watch C-drama would be too much effort and went to bed with my book.

I’m still reading „Guardian: Zhen Hun“ by priest, I finished part three of the novel but there are a couple of bonus stories in the back of the book and I’m both interested in reading them and a bit meh about it.

I turned the lights out almost on time, which is good, and slept well.

Today I will do all the things! For real this time.

I went to bed on time and did most of my morning routine. YouTube apparently knows that I want to see a short morning yoga video by a certain instructor and now offers it to me when I turn my TV on in the mornings. Which saves me the time to search for it but also feels a bit weird.

There was breakfast, talking with my husband who was feeling down and scattered, then the usual morning things before I had to wake up the boy and catch another train.

I fumbled around again, just like the day before, when I tried buying a physical train ticket. I tried paying with my smartwatch but failed, then tried with my debit card, failed again, then the train arrived and I gave up for the moment. The weather was not the best:

I renewed two prescriptions, went to the nice health food store for some meat (and chocolate), walked back to the train station and tried my luck with the ticket machine again. Managed to botch not only contactless payment but also put my debit card in the wrong way twice. Each time I had to start the whole ticket buying process over.

But I prevailed and after finally getting my ticket I saw why contactless payment wasn’t working: the sensor was in a completely different part of the machine than I thought.

And this is what a natural affinity for technology looks like. Ahem. You just try and try again and don’t let yourself be deterred by looking extremely silly. And next time I’ll do a little better.

I took the train home, made a short detour to the pharmacy and am now done with errands and shopping for the week. I hope.

I came home just in time for lunch:

I ended up not eating that particular piece of chicken breast because it turned out to be so thick that it wasn’t done in the middle. My husband shared his piece with me that looked bigger but was only half as thick. This piece was then put back in the frying pan.

I ate some chocolate and more coated peanuts. I will have to instate a ban on snack-buying, I think, this is getting out of hand.

I had a short break and then taught a handful of delightful students before meeting the rest of the family in the kitchen. They were doing the dishes together which was very nice.

The boy showed me the latest model that he painted and told me all about his day where he went to uni to look at one of his exams. The students have the right to see their exam paper and if they think the TA made a mistake in grading they can basically haggle for points. Which the boy did this time because he was one point short.
And he did find something, talked to the TA and – got an additional point. And passed! Hurray! One less exam to retake.

Then I started writing this post, did Duolingo, made a list for today and watched some C-drama.

And today I won’t go anywhere, I’ll just stay home, maybe clean a bit and teach. And then the weekend.

I went to bed too late but got up 15 minutes earlier than usual so that I could do the complete morning routine on time. I almost managed to finish in time for breakfast with my husband. I’d say that being only 3 minutes late is impressive, unfortunately my husband was not impressed.

I had to leave before I even finished my morning tea to meet my Apple Genius Bar appointment. With the error message regarding the battery I decided to have it changed sooner rather than later.

The trip to Munich was uneventful, the train was even on time.

Everything went smoothly and I was told the repair would take an hour.

Being without a smartphone felt weird. Also, no camera, no music, no looking up train schedules, no map. I did have something to read because I had packed my eReader. I also had borrowed my husband’s phone in case I needed to leave the phone overnight or something. My train ticket was on my phone as well and the idea was to download it to my husband’s phone.

I went to one of the cafés right across from the Munich town hall and ordered hot chocolate:

I didn’t stay long and went to the nearest department store. After a brief look at bags I went in search of food, of course. I looked for crackers, mango chutney and a few other things but only got the crackers. Oh, and at the café I bought some pastries for the rest of the family.

Then I got my phone back after paying the fee and went back home. On my way from the train station to our house I went and bought some mango chutney (failed to find some in three different stores!) and chocolate.

I was very happy to be back home.

My husband was not as happy, he had one of those days where everything feels wrong and he had his own string of errands and chores. Lunch was rather simple:

Then I had twenty minutes to read and eat my chocolate.

There was some teaching, one student after the other, but not for as long as usual, my last student had canceled. Instead I wrote the grocery list and went out again into the rain to walk to the nearest supermarket.

That went okay but they were basically out of bread. The bakery right next to it at least had some bread left, so no one will have to go hungry for now.

That supermarket run I also did something I had never one before, I paid with my smartwatch. It was rather funny. I had used the self-service stations often before but this time I tried paying several times too early. I wasn’t at that stage yet. And then I did every possible thing wrong.

But I prevailed! Milestone reached.

It’s funny, every time I help someone who isn’t as tech-savvy they tell me how easy these things are for me. Yeah, right. Because I get it all right away, no problem. Says the woman who had to fumble around on her watch while squinting under the watchful eye of a supermarket employee for ten minutes. Sure. Easy. And not humbling at all.

Anyways, after that I went home, packed the groceries away, then waited for the boy because we wanted to do bodyweight training.

We did our training even though my stomach had been rather unhappy for hours, then I forced myself to take a much needed shower (I knew, if I waited until after dinner I’d never do it) and then I ate all the junk food. Note to self: you only think coated peanuts and candy will make you feel good but they never do.

Anyways. I briefly talked with my husband, forced the boy to do the dishes, started writing this post, did a brief session of Duolingo, made a list for today and went to bed.

Today will be the last day taking trains and rushing around for now. Or at least I hope so.