creative.mother.thinking

Also, I don’t really have time writing this post right now.

So. There were all the usual things yesterday including not opening the manuscript. I felt all cranky and meh but then realized that was mainly due to all the stuff clogging up my mind.

So I wrote a bunch of lists and thought about things and felt much better.

There was a walk/run (way more walk than run even though I should be on the „mostly running“-part of the Couch to 5k-program. The wood paths were extra icy again so I stayed on sidewalks all the way:

My husband made something easier for lunch:

I taught two student, then got the message my package was handed to a resident. The resident turned out to be the doormat in front of the door. Harumph.

But. Look:

The colors of the book are a little meh, and again, each of the three books looks a bit different. But hey, a real book! In my hands!

Then I taught quite a few more students including a potential new one.

I ate dinner and played some Genshin. And the story went on and on and on, until I finished that part of the game around, ahem, midnight. The boy was nice enough to do the dishes again, phew.

Today will be a little brutal. I think I’ll go to the nearby supermarket instead of the other one so I get a bit of a break before lunch. And then I’ll teach all afternoon with almost no break right up to the live Zoom for the course.

Yes, I should have stopped playing earlier and gone to bed on time.

Also, I don’t really have time writing this post right now.

So. There were all the usual things yesterday including not opening the manuscript. I felt all cranky and meh but then realized that was mainly due to all the stuff clogging up my mind.

So I wrote a bunch of lists and thought about things and felt much better.

There was a walk/run (way more walk than run even though I should be on the „mostly running“-part of the Couch to 5k-program. The wood paths were extra icy again so I stayed on sidewalks all the way:

My husband made something easier for lunch:

I taught two student, then got the message my package was handed to a resident. The resident turned out to be the doormat in front of the door. Harumph.

But. Look:

The colors of the book are a little meh, and again, each of the three books looks a bit different. But hey, a real book! In my hands!

Then I taught quite a few more students including a potential new one.

I ate dinner and played some Genshin. And the story went on and on and on, until I finished that part of the game around, ahem, midnight. The boy was nice enough to do the dishes again, phew.

Today will be a little brutal. I think I’ll go to the nearby supermarket instead of the other one so I get a bit of a break before lunch. And then I’ll teach all afternoon with almost no break right up to the live Zoom for the course.

Yes, I should have stopped playing earlier and gone to bed on time.

I mean, I went to bed at midnight and was wide awake at 6.30, then skipped manuscript time and meditation, so one could see the dunnwannas coming from afar.

I felt as if half my brain was offline all day and if gravity were stronger than usual.

There were dishes and then I went to one health food store, to the doctor’s office to renew prescriptions for both my husband and me, to the drug store where I printed out 50 photos for my mother-in-law and bought candles, chocolate, vaseline and fountain pen cartridges, and then I went back home via the other health food store.

I came home a little after one to a husband who was extremely stressed out about cooking and trying to wrestle stuffing into very small calamari. I threw all the frozen food into the freezer, washed my hands and helped cooking. We ended up with potatoes that were cold, calamari that were lacking the olives he had planned to put in the stuffing and tomato sauce that was too thick:

Then there was chocolate and then teaching. Only three students before a 30-minute break. I thought I’d use that break to hang up laundry but my husband had already done that so I sat down and ate store-bought cookies.

After that 30-minute break I had another 30-minute break because that student was swamped with school stuff and asked to be rescheduled and I decided to play Genshin. As usual, if I had known I had a full hour I might have published the paperback of book 2 with some other retailer.

After that I had one more student, walked to the pharmacy to pick up the meds, tried to make myself do bodyweight training but felt as if I was way too heavy and tired for that, ate tortilla chips and more chocolate for dinner, played some more video game, watched half an episode of C-drama, asked the boy to do the dishes, started writing this post, made a list for today and went to bed.

I went to bed too late again and then slept in again as well. Maybe I should stop calling it sleeping in and accept it as the new normal.

I did the usual morning things but couldn’t make myself open the manuscript or look at anything publishing related. I managed to be late anyway.

There was a rather unsatisfying breakfast, I managed to buy Greek yogurt with only 0.2 % fat and it tasted accordingly. Bleah! And while I was eating that my husband started a conversation about politics, something I really dislike at all times but even more so when eating a not-tasty muesli while someone is walking to and fro, talking at me while I try to ground myself.

That led to a bit more of a discussion but we did manage to turn it around eventually and I wove some ends in on the crochet blanket. Pro tip: if you want to talk with me about something upsetting wait until I have my knitting or crochet in my hands, that will work much better.

I called my mother on the phone, like every Sunday and that was nice, and then I did the breakfast dishes, made salad and helped warm the lasagna up:

Lunch was at a reasonable time for a change, due to the fact that there was no actual cooking involved.

I watched a video about ergonomics for authors. No, I will not get a standing desk )she says, typing this at the kitchen table).

And then I played Genshin Impact for most of the afternoon. At one point my husband showed up and I realized that I had forgotten I wanted to do some more cleaning, so I got up, cleaned the washbasins and toilets and – major win here – the bathtub which meant I had to deal with the dozen or so bottles of shampoo, conditioner, anti-frizz, bodywash and cleanser. Because the boy and I are both using the bathtub to shower and each of us has a whole line of products on the rim of the bathtub which lead to that part of the bathroom never being cleaned. Icky.

But right now it isn’t which is wonderful.

Then I played some more until it was time for bodyweight training. The boy had complained about getting a cold and my husband had come in at that point to make pancake soup so we made the quick decision to skip exercise for once and ate soup together. Since I was all cold and freezing all day that was rather nice.

Then I fell into a social media rabbit hole because the dirty dishes didn’t look appealing, and then, just as I was about to finally tackle those I decided to first wash my face and brush my teeth, and second to publish the paperback of Masked in Stone. Of course. Perfectly sensible decision to do that kind of thing while already half-delirious.

Fingers crossed I didn’t miss anything.

Since I had seen that video about ergonomics I even fetched my external keyboard, laptop stand and mouse to the kitchen table but it*s not ideal, the table is a little too high for that. I probably should use a cushion to sit on, or something.

Then it was finally time for the dishes after starting to write this post, then I planned the week and made a list for today and then I finally went to bed.

Meanwhile my husband was taking care of the snow outside. That’s usually the boy’s task these days, since my mother-in-law can’t do it anymore but someone who is in the process of getting sick shouldn’t shovel snow in the freezing cold. I am very grateful to my husband for doing that and also for doing two loads of laundry and hanging them up while I was busy playing games.

I*m already feeling overwhelmed by this week and it hasn’t really started yet. This will be fun for sure!

I had gone to bed too late but then I forgot to set my alarm, so it all evened out.

There was yoga and no manuscript time because I was already a little late.

We ate breakfast and had a nice conversation, then I did dishes, and vacuumed everything before going out for my walk/run. I had resigned myself to stay on sidewalks again but my husband said while there was ice on the paths it had melted enough that one could squeeze by in the underbrush.

This was the worst part of the way:

It looks as if there is enough space on the side to walk properly, and there is, only you get a face full of twigs and thorny vines grabbing at your pants and jacket. I did slip a bit twice but did not fall, yeah!

Obligatory selfie:

As you can see, the path is much clearer at that point.

I came back home, took a quick shower and helped making lasagna and salad:

Lunch was rather late, so after that I played a bit, the boy told me I needed to do a particular thing in-game and he would help me and then it was time for my weekly writer Zoom. Which was rather nice.

When that was over I met with the rest of the family to watch ‚Columbo‘, a really good episode and we finished the rest of the champagne that we opened on Tuesday. It was not all that sparkly anymore and there was less than a glass for each of us which was fine.

After that I tackled the dishes, started writing this post, made a list for today, wasted a bit of time and went to bed.