creative.mother.thinking

Yesterday started well but then over breakfast we had one of those teenager/parent-clashes that made all of us angry and sad and confused for the rest of the day.

Which meant that I didn’t get anything done.

I did eat every morsel of food in the house, though.

But I finished a sock. And it only took me seven hours in total.

And my favorite pot to brew herbal tea in broke. There was a ton of clean dishes and pots and such on the windowsill, someone pushed against the huge cutting board without meaning to and made the everything slide. That person managed to catch the pot, by the way, but an hour later another person did the same thing and did not catch the pot. I will have to buy a new glass teapot.

At least I managed to finish the yarn for the slippers and I really like it but it’s probably too thin.

And I watched some more of the book cover design course. I need to find some time to sit down and actually try things out but so far I’m still a little too scared and overwhelmed. The guy who does the course uses Photoshop, of course, which I don’t want to spend my money on, so I’m trying to do the same things in Photoshop Elements, and – well – there’s a reason it’s much cheaper…

At least the boy and I managed to watch that episode of Star Trek that we started watching a week ago. I finally hooked the DVD player up to the TV, and he got the whole authentic nineties experience. Watching things in HD is really much nicer. But the DVD has bad spots and doesn’t work on the laptop. I’m thinking about ways to remedy that, though.

Then I waited for the boy to finish taking a shower so that I could do the dishes, tried writing, and ended up eating a whole bag of toritlla chips and half a cheese, sat around until an hour after my bedtime and decided to go to bed without tidying the kitchen. Funny enough my weight has been going up again. I wonder why that is.

But. This is a new week, so I get a fresh start.

It is eight in the morning, I will tackle the epic pile of dirty dishes next, and get a grip.

There will be running, and music, and writing, and thinking, and I will help the boy finish his application. He needs an internship in four weeks. This will be, um, interesting.

There will also be teaching. And the structure of school days again, always a good thing.

And tonight there won’t be any beer, and only very little chocolate, and I will be in bed with teeth brushed and flossed, and with my face washed before ten.

Yep.

Yesterday was another very good day. The only thing I did not do was watch more of the book cover design course but that’s okay.

I ran for the first time after having been sick most if the week, and it was fabulous. I only did five kilometers because I feel a cold coming up.

We had chili for lunch, and in the afternoon I spent most of my time recording the long English episode. Then I spun the rest of the BFL, watched „Dollhouse“ and wrote more than a thousand words before going to bed no too late.

Very good day.

I’m not quite sure about today I had plans but I’m thinking they might be a little much so maybe I’ll buckle down with the design course, ply the slipper yarn and enjoy the last day of carnival break.

We’ll see.

Well, making that list yesterday and getting clarity about my goals and such really helped.

I actually managed to do the weekly cleaning, and most of it even before lunch. And I took a shower and washed my hair early enough that my hair was almost dry when we went out, even. Did not put on makeup but that’s okay.

After lunch I immediately did the dishes, and then went on to watch the book cover design course. Only got through 1 1/2 hours but that’s okay. I multitasked and painted my toenails while watching and spun the next 25 grams of BFL for the slippers I want to make.

Did actually practice, too, ate dinner alone because my husband got chatting with a student and after waiting for half an hour I was too hungry to wait longer. Then I watched 1 1/2 episodes of „Dollhouse“.

I don’t remember the second season as vividly as the first one, I guess I might have watched the first one twice in the past. Still, excellent show and I’m enjoying it tremendously.

The boy managed to get away to his poker night on time, and with everything he’d need. This time for the first time I told him to look up which train to take himself. He can use the internet same as me, I think it’s time he’s becoming a little more independent.

In the evening I had an attack of „I’m the worst writer ever.“ which told me that I need to get back to writing. Which I did. And now I’m feeling a little better about it. Duh.

Today I want to go for a run again, first time since Monday. I also want to make music and write, if only a little, and I will record the epic English podcasting episode. I might watch a bit more of the the book cover design course but definitely not two hours of it like I planned because that would mean I’d spend my whole evening doing that.

I’d like to write another 500 words or so, and to see how long that will take me.

I have high hopes of turning out the lights around ten.

This is the life.

I’ve reached the point of my week off where I’m totally over it. Also I’d like a chance to start the week again, please.

Yesterday I did an epic grocery shopping expedition to the bigger supermarket that’s farther away. I am getting better at finding my way around it but it still took me 1 1/2 hours.

I spent the afternoon eating way too much chocolate and procrastinating about making a list for the English podcast episode. As usual the procrastinating took about twice as long as making the list.

Still, I decided to let go of my fancy plans and goals for this week. Being sick is being sick, and if I don’t get something done things are not going to get better because I’m angry at myself. I can just try to do a little better today.

I also looked at how much time there was left in the book cover design course, and saw that I still have about six more hours of it to watch. And that’s before I start practicing what I learned.

Since there are three days left in the week I’m planning to spend two hours a day on watching the course, only about fifteen to thirty on writing (didn’t write all week) and to not try doing everything at once.

I also decided that the deadline for my podcast is not a hard one. I might record the English episode today, or maybe tomorrow, we’ll see. But I might only publish it next weekend, and wait another two weeks for the one after that. Being somewhat sick is a completely valid reason for moving things around a little.

Having so many projects going on at once that my head feels like it’s exploding doesn’t help any of them. At the moment I’m actively thinking about or working on:

1. the novel that I’m currently writing,
2. the novel that I just finished in rough draft that I need to revise
3. the novel that I want to put out in installments for free
4. the BFL yarn that I’m spinning for slippers
5. the purple merino yarn that I’m spinning for a light cardigan
6. the burgundy merino yarn that I’m spinning for another cardigan
7. the pair of socks that I’m knitting for my husband
8. the pair of socks that I’m knitting for myself
9. the addtional squares I started crocheting for the Sophie’s Universe blanket
10. the crochet blanket I’m making for my son
11. the muslin for that damn dress that I want to finish
12. the pattern that I want to draft for the other dress that I want to make
13. de-cluttering (mostly on hold, I just think about sorting through that last pile of CDs about six times a day)
14. getting the boy to study Latin and deal with his application ffor the internship
15. recording and publishing the next English podcast episode
16. trying something new for the podcast episode after that
17. finishing the book cover design course, and trying my hand at designing covers
18. various tech and computer-related things like hooking the DVD player up witht the TV again, getting the DSLR to record video and such

There is more but this is what’s in the forefront of my mind. No wonder I’ve been so scattered.

It will all get done eventually, but I might apply my time and energy a little more focused so I see results. I have to say that the textile projects for the most part don’t feel like they’re weighing me down. There are a lot of them, though.

Time to make that epic to do list, I guess. Maybe I should put that on the list for today…

So I thought I was mostly well again but when I started doing the dishes after breakfast it became clear that going grocery shopping would not be a good idea that day.

The good thing is that we didn’t starve.

Of the three students I had expected one didn’t show up but the others did. Otherwise I watched two parts of the book cover design workshop, and started a new spinning project because I want to knit myself a new pair of slippers. As one does. Funny enough spinning bulky yarn – even if it’s cabled – goes much faster than my usual extra fine yarn. I’m almost halfway done with the singles already.

Other than that I was not productive at all yesterday, no music, no writing, no nothing.

I think I’m feeling better today. The plan is to do the grocery shopping this morning, and then to record the next English podcast episode this aftenroon. Never mind that I still need to prepare for this.

Writing would also be a good thing.

Not quite the week I envisioned but then I’m happy to have the time to lounge in bed to get better.

So yesterday went completely different than planned because by mid-morning it became clear that I have the same infection my husband has.

So I spent most of the day in bed nauseous with a headache. Otherwise I felt pretty good.

I had actually bought more Krapfen for breakfast (well, my second breakfast), and then went out again later to go to the health food store. And then to bed, and spent the rest of the day there watching youtube videos about tiny houses. And didn’t get cranky which told me that doing nothing was the right thing for that day.

Today I’m feeling much better but not completely well yet so I will probably skip running, go to the supermarket instead, and this afternoon will teach three students. And prepare the next epic English episode of the podcast.

Sounds like a plan.