creative.mother.thinking

I actually slept until the alarm went off. That was almost disorienting.

Which also meant no writing before breakfast. I did manage to make breakfast on time, though.

I pulled out a sock that had bin lingering in a project bag for, um, quite some time, and made a decision about the next step. I had mentioned that particular sock project in my patreon newsletter so I got curious and found that the reason the thing wasn’t going forward was, again, that there was a problem. Once I made that decision things were much easier.

I did write right after breakfast. I am rather excited for the next bit. That happens pretty often after getting stuck, all of a sudden things start moving again.

Then I did the dishes, went to the health food store because we were still needing things for lunch, ran my 4.8k:

And it was even fun today.

Then I started to make the dough for spaetzle, cut up some mushrooms, took a shower, made the spaetzle, and the did turn out rather nice. It was funny because for some time we just couldn’t find the thing you need to make them. We both thought it should be in the basement because that’s where the old one lived. And then we both thought that it might be upstairs in the kitchen in one particular cupboard. And we both looked in both places repeatedly but couldn’t find it. Making the noodles without it would have been beyond my skills, frankly.

By the third time looking into that cupboard my husband finally found it. For a moment he even thought that we had thrown away the old one from his grandma without buying a new one. Now, you can just use a cutting board and a knife but none of us knows how.

But in the end we prevailed and got lunch ready in time for the boy to eat with us:

The boy got a lecture about different kinds of beer over lunch because we are having a new alcohol-free beer that tastes exceptionally good. It is Zwickelbier  and my husband keeps telling me that it reminds him of an IPA when in fact it tastes a bit like ale.

The boy didn’t want to try it, though.

I had a long, long list of things I wanted to do before teaching in the afternoon. I only got to do two of the four things or so. The boy came home from school again a little early and we started talking so it was time well spent.

Then there was the teaching. And then the watching of the newest episode of „Doctor Who“. I love it, by the way, and so does the boy. It is very exciting!

Then there was a bit of writing and an early bedtime.

Today there will be some errands and loads of teaching and that will be mostly it. Typical Tuesday.

I actually slept until the alarm went off. That was almost disorienting.

Which also meant no writing before breakfast. I did manage to make breakfast on time, though.

I pulled out a sock that had bin lingering in a project bag for, um, quite some time, and made a decision about the next step. I had mentioned that particular sock project in my patreon newsletter so I got curious and found that the reason the thing wasn’t going forward was, again, that there was a problem. Once I made that decision things were much easier.

I did write right after breakfast. I am rather excited for the next bit. That happens pretty often after getting stuck, all of a sudden things start moving again.

Then I did the dishes, went to the health food store because we were still needing things for lunch, ran my 4.8k:

And it was even fun today.

Then I started to make the dough for spaetzle, cut up some mushrooms, took a shower, made the spaetzle, and the did turn out rather nice. It was funny because for some time we just couldn’t find the thing you need to make them. We both thought it should be in the basement because that’s where the old one lived. And then we both thought that it might be upstairs in the kitchen in one particular cupboard. And we both looked in both places repeatedly but couldn’t find it. Making the noodles without it would have been beyond my skills, frankly.

By the third time looking into that cupboard my husband finally found it. For a moment he even thought that we had thrown away the old one from his grandma without buying a new one. Now, you can just use a cutting board and a knife but none of us knows how.

But in the end we prevailed and got lunch ready in time for the boy to eat with us:

The boy got a lecture about different kinds of beer over lunch because we are having a new alcohol-free beer that tastes exceptionally good. It is Zwickelbier  and my husband keeps telling me that it reminds him of an IPA when in fact it tastes a bit like ale.

The boy didn’t want to try it, though.

I had a long, long list of things I wanted to do before teaching in the afternoon. I only got to do two of the four things or so. The boy came home from school again a little early and we started talking so it was time well spent.

Then there was the teaching. And then the watching of the newest episode of „Doctor Who“. I love it, by the way, and so does the boy. It is very exciting!

Then there was a bit of writing and an early bedtime.

Today there will be some errands and loads of teaching and that will be mostly it. Typical Tuesday.

It was almost a slump day again but in the end I did get stuff done.

I woke up at 4.42 again. I say that’s too early. Tried to get back to sleep for 45 minutes before I gave up.

Read a bit and surfed the web a bit and got up and had breakfast. I could feel the day slip away already. And I still was stuck on the novel even though I wrote a little the day before.

Then I sat down and planned the coming week and it is looking, um, really busy, And I looked at the things I did want to get done the week before and there were quite a few things undone. It’s alright, though, it’s all self-imposed deadlines.

My husband got up late around nine and the boy came down for breakfast at 9.30. We talked. I did yoga. I helped to make lunch and bought two new books. Maybe three. I also thought about a book I had read as a child and teenager that Konstanze is reading at the moment (and she’s loving it). I am feeling a little uneasy with it and always have but I’m not quite sure why. So I borrowed it from the local library in ebook form and started reading it. Oh, it’s „Herbst im Mumintal“ („Moominvalley in November“). I find it quite dark and that might have been a little too much for me at ten or so.

Here is a picture of our lunch to cheer you up:

My husband thawed two packages of steak and only later found out that that meant ten really tiny steaks instead of two big ones. I suggested leaving the second package for today. There will be homemade spaetzle and mushrooms if we can manage.

Then there was the dreaded slump after lunch. But! While I sat there reading and slumping at first and watching a recorded webinar I did prevail and wrote my October newsletter. Yes, it was a week late but hey, only a week this time. Of course I vowed to write the November one right away. I already have a short list of topics.

Then I read some more. With all the book-buying and -borrowing I do I am having a serious need of reading all.the.things.

Then I learned how to do understitching. I did not actually stitch anything but I’m counting that as moving my dress project forward. I made a list of things to do for book publication and another list for music lesson marketing. Then I dithered a bit and then I finally wrote some more on the novel-in-progress. Some time in the morning, I think while doing the dishes or knitting I finally had an idea about what would happen next. I’m still not sure if the scene I wrote before will stay in the novel or not but I have made a note and will re-visit that question later. I decided to pretend that I wasn’t really writing anything serious by using the iPad:

Then it was time for watching Star Trek. We only watched DS 9 again because Next Generation would have been the finale. Which is a 90-minute episode. I wouldn’t like to cut that in half. We discussed when we’ll watch the new episode of Doctor Who. We didn’t want to stay up too late (we will only be able to watch it after it aired in the UK and that would have meant a very late bedtime for both of us). Usually we would have watched it on Friday but the boy will be away over the weekend. So we decided to watch it tonight.

I can’t wait. This will be seriously cool. I hope.

And then I tested the boy on states and capitals again (not good). I know them all by now. He doesn’t. This will continue. I mean, it’s only 16. That should be doable. And then he told me about the new project they will start in art in school next week. They will have to design an album cover. In pencil. And he was freaking out because he would like a brief a week in advance. And the music he listens to is probably not the genre the teacher was thinking of. So we looked at album covers on my phone together. Since I am trying to learn more about design at the moment as well I found the whole thing rather fascinating.

And he said, „She told us about proportions when drawing people so I guess there should be people on the cover but I don’t know.“ And he was dithering and going into panic mode. Because he doesn’t like it that they get the topic and then they have to start right away. So I told him to prepare a couple of concepts in advance. What can he do if there have to be people on the cover. What would he do if it needs to be an existing band? What if he can make the band up? What if he needs a logo?

And then I told him that the minute the teacher tells them what to do he needs to pick one idea and go with it until he finishes it. Because he is the kind of person who keeps questioning his idea until the very end and he never finishes art projects in school and that makes him get bad grades.

He also is still thinking that the idea is the most important part of any creative endeavor. Yeah, right. I mean, a cool idea is a good thing. But how you do something is more important. And finishing things is even more important. The best idea doesn’t do you any good if you never have a finished object. Especially when we’re talking designing for clients or, I don’t know, a school project.

And then I wrote a little more while my husband was playing guitar under my bed. And then I went to sleep.

Today there will be running and teaching and writing and going to the health food store if I can, and making spaetzle from scratch and I have a list of things to do for novel one and sewing would be nice as well, and oh, I might want to make some music too.

Good times.

Well, it was a Saturday – what did you expect?

I woke up really early yet again (I need to find a way to relay and calm down soon), and started writing pretty soon after waking up. Which was very good.

And then I realized that I was stuck on the novel. I deleted a paragraph, ended up with 75 words and realized that writing wouldn’t happen.

I got up, I did not meditate, I skipped my run for a bike ride and went to Munich to get a new battery put into my phone. The bike ride was wonderful:

When I arrived at the phone repair shop there was a sign outside saying, on Saturdays repairs are only by appointment. Ouch. Twenty years earlier I would have left immediately but since the shop was completely empty of customers I decided to try it anyway. I went in, said hello and said, „I just saw that I would have needed an appointment,“ and the guy behind the counter said, „You’re in luck, the next appointment isn’t due until eleven.“ So there were fifteen minutes left until then and he decided to repair my phone until then.

I was fully prepared to wait for hours, so I had my ebook reader and my knitting. The day was sunny and warm and I sat down on a bench in a really nice place in Pasing. Unfortunately, I can’t show you a picture because I didn’t have my phone with me.

When I came back at eleven as he had told me the shop was closed with a sign on the door saying, ‚back in five minutes, thank you for your patience‘. I wasn’t all that patient but decided to not mind because, well, I would have a working phone again soon.

He came back, running towards me (not a sporty guy) with something small and white in his hand. I bet that he had realized that he had run out of parts and had to restock right in the middle of his work day. (Note to every retail business owner out there: closing your shop with a ‚back in 5 minutes‘-sign in the middle of the day does not look professional.) He said, „You must be the 11 o’ clock-appointment with the iPhone 8!“ Um, no. I was the one before that who gave him my phone just fifteen minutes earlier

I did get my phone back right away, though, and it is working again, so I won’t complain. I have no idea why getting my phone repaired at his shop costs 95 cents more than the pricing list on his website says but again – I won’t complain. Not even for having to wait for two minutes for him. At the time that he told me to be back and was expecting his next customer.

The phone looks like it was never opened and the new battery seems to be in good working order (I checked with an app on my computer) so everything is fine.

I rode my bike back home again, I think I was gone for a total of 75 minutes or so. With two thirty-minute bike rides thrown in.

When I came back home my husband was sure that I couldn’t have had success. Ha!

We made tagliatelle gorgonzola for lunch (with salad mostly from the garden):

While cooking my husband realized that we were out of white wine, so I went out and got some. At the end of lunchtime I reminded the boy of his dooming geography test and we all realized that he couldn’t name the 16 German states. We also realized that none of us could. So we proceeded to learn them. And their capitals. Interestingly, the boy took the longest to memorize them. He also declared that kind of knowledge superfluous and unnecessary. Those two things might be related.

After lunch I sat and read and ate some chocolate. And then I did all the dishes by myself.

Then I let the Saturday slump hit me. I started watching a video that had been in my open tabs for weeks. I read a new book. I bought another book. I had a discussion with my sister on twitter.

Decided that one hour was not enough time to start anything and read a book on attitude about writing. (I totally agreed with the ‚all hard work all the time‘-premise. In theory.)

Then I had to wait for the boy for fifteen minutes until he realized that he had forgotten out six o’clock Star Trek date.

We ended up watching two episodes of ‚DS9‘ (both of which were excellent, as usual) because we didn’t want to cut a double episode of TNG down the middle. My husband could barely tear himself away from the screen to practice drums. But he did.

I was really, really hungry after that so I ate a late dinner, started writing this post and then I kicked my butt and spent my minimum twenty minutes writing.

Went to bed early.

Today there will be yoga and all the things I didn’t do yesterday. Like writing the newsletter and writing more words and making music and all.the.things.

In other words – just a regular Sunday.

I woke up really, really early, like 4.15 or so. I spent half an hour in denial but couldn’t sleep. I need to calm down again because this is not sustainable. I mean, calm down in my head. The things I actually do don’t feel like they drain my energy, it’s mostly the things I don’t get done.

I did write first thing again, and second thing, and then I got up and made breakfast. My husband got his muesli as he wanted, thawed blueberries and all. We had a nice leisurely conversation. And then I started procrastinating. I was tired and felt a little down from doing so many thing the days before and my to-do list weighed on me. I did get a grip soon afterwards but I lost the time I would have needed to take a shower.

I did the weekly cleaning and made pizza from scratch and even started doing the first batch of dishes while the pizza was in the oven. I must have touched the weird control panel on the oven while doing that so it was set to quick heat. Which led to the pizza being, um, extra-crispy:

It tasted great, by the way.

I was also thrown off because the day before I had realized that my cell phone’s battery is failing. I don’t really want to spend money on a new cell phone right now but I also don’t want to go without. I found a place online that only charges 30 Euros for battery replacement but that would mean going without it for at least five days. The boy will be traveling next week and I don’t want to risk being without a phone while he is away.

I did look at new phones. Nice cell phones are expensive is all I can say.

But then I remembered that there is a place that does these repairs in Munich, not far from me. Well, about forty minutes by bike. Or twenty minutes by train but the bike ride is not only cheaper it is also a very nice ride through fields and woods and exercise is always a good thing.

So after giving the whole thing a lot of thought in the course of the afternoon I decided that I’ll change my run for a bike ride today and see if the guy in Munich can put a new battery in my phone right away. Maybe I’ll call beforehand. I’ll see.

So. I did all the dishes right after lunch, put on makeup, practiced singing and piano, announced the new podcast episode everywhere, and then I taught one student after the other for 3 1/2 hours.

Then the boy and I watched some Star Trek. He apparently had a great need to talk which resulted in us stopping Netflix all the time in order to look up things online and talk about them. Not the most immersive of experiences.

Then my husband was finally done with teaching and I got ready for bed, wrote in my journal, made a list for today and went to bed just in time.

Today there will be a bike ride to Munich, and some music, and hopefully a lot of writing and my husband and I have scheduled a meeting (I bet he already forgot but it’s in my journal) because we need more photos and copy for the teaching website and material for a flyer. He says he already wrote things down so that is good. It is funny, I am the one who wants to be a writer but he is much better at copywriting than me. I never agree with the way he phrases things but when he gives me his stuff I then can go and make it pretty. When I have to write anything even remotely ad-related I freeze. Most of the time I can’t even write my own bio for things.

If I found time to sew a bit as well as do all the other things that would be the cherry on top but I seriously doubt it. Today is a day where my usual Saturday slump would be deadly. Well, not literally, of course.

But I’d really like a Saturday without slump for a change. And a Sunday as well.

And to think that this was supposed to be the leisurely weekend before the ultra-busy one next week…