creative.mother.thinking

explaining my life to strangers

Really great evening out

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But no time to write about it, sorry.

I did the complete morning routine and squeezed a substantial walk/run in, took a shower and had lunch:

bigoli with tomato sauce, mixed salad and a glass of water

Then it was time for teaching, including a potential new student (who will start next week). The student’s mother even just finished her PhD in psychology with a thesis about something that I am very interested in but unfortunately there was no time to talk about that.

My evening was a little less packed than I thought it would be because my last student canceled, so I had time to eat a sandwich before dashing out the door. Oh, and here are pictures of the t-shirt and leggings I made and my outfit for the day:

mirror selfie of Susanne in brown leggings and t-shirt

Since I didn’t want to look like I was wearing pajamas I paired that with a skirt, cardigan and eventually boots and a winter jacket:

Susanne in her striped cardigan, brown skirt, tee and leggings and striped socks

Getting back home took a bit longer than anticipated because of train shenanigans that meant taking a bus for the last few stops instead of a train. I got lucky because I saw a train going in my general direction when I wanted to get home, thought I’d just jump on that one and figure out where to change later (especially since the next one in my direction was shown to end four stops before mine), figured out that my best chance was to figure out where the busses would be leaving (I have had bad luck with that in the past), found help from the public transportation app and arrived at the bus stop just as the bus was pulling in.
It still took half an hour longer than expected and I needed to use the bathroom all the way but made it safely home. Yawn.

Wow, am I tired! Which reminds me why I don’t go out these days. It was still worth it. The film was actually better than I thought it would be, I was fascinated by the whole productions mechanics (which we didn’t see much of) and very happy when I realized that they had a live band. The musicians are excellent, the guitar player in particular really shone.
This was also the first time ever that a stadium packed with concert-goers did not feel potentially threatening to me, very interesting.

And I found that I actually knew all the songs, something I hadn’t expected before.

So, today I’m expecting to be very, very slow, and very, very tired. I want to do a quick supermarket run, teach a few students and do bodyweight training with the boy, then I really need to put myself to bed much earlier.

Really great evening out

by Leave a Comment

But no time to write about it, sorry.

I did the complete morning routine and squeezed a substantial walk/run in, took a shower and had lunch:

bigoli with tomato sauce, mixed salad and a glass of water

Then it was time for teaching, including a potential new student (who will start next week). The student’s mother even just finished her PhD in psychology with a thesis about something that I am very interested in but unfortunately there was no time to talk about that.

My evening was a little less packed than I thought it would be because my last student canceled, so I had time to eat a sandwich before dashing out the door. Oh, and here are pictures of the t-shirt and leggings I made and my outfit for the day:

mirror selfie of Susanne in brown leggings and t-shirt

Since I didn’t want to look like I was wearing pajamas I paired that with a skirt, cardigan and eventually boots and a winter jacket:

Susanne in her striped cardigan, brown skirt, tee and leggings and striped socks

Getting back home took a bit longer than anticipated because of train shenanigans that meant taking a bus for the last few stops instead of a train. I got lucky because I saw a train going in my general direction when I wanted to get home, thought I’d just jump on that one and figure out where to change later (especially since the next one in my direction was shown to end four stops before mine), figured out that my best chance was to figure out where the busses would be leaving (I have had bad luck with that in the past), found help from the public transportation app and arrived at the bus stop just as the bus was pulling in.
It still took half an hour longer than expected and I needed to use the bathroom all the way but made it safely home. Yawn.

Wow, am I tired! Which reminds me why I don’t go out these days. It was still worth it. The film was actually better than I thought it would be, I was fascinated by the whole productions mechanics (which we didn’t see much of) and very happy when I realized that they had a live band. The musicians are excellent, the guitar player in particular really shone.
This was also the first time ever that a stadium packed with concert-goers did not feel potentially threatening to me, very interesting.

And I found that I actually knew all the songs, something I hadn’t expected before.

So, today I’m expecting to be very, very slow, and very, very tired. I want to do a quick supermarket run, teach a few students and do bodyweight training with the boy, then I really need to put myself to bed much earlier.

I did everything on the list, including finishing the t-shirt and the leggings

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But that meant I don’t really have time for this.

There was morning routine, errands and health food store, a very good lunch:

rice, veggies in tomato sauce, breaded fish fillet, fried egg and a glass of water

A break before teaching, a few students, a phone call with a potential new student, teaching admin and refilling a couple of fountain pens, singing warm-up, more teaching, dinner, chocolate, procrastination and finishing a small quest in Genshin Impact (not really on the list), the Chinese app and then lots of sewing until my bedtime.

The kitchen is still filled with dirty dishes but I’ll take care of those ASAP. Wish me luck that my new clothes fit, I want to wear them tonight when I go to Munich to watch the J-Hope concert movie. The plan for today includes running, a shower, Chinese, dishes, lots of teaching then a quick bite for dinner and off to Munich.

So here is the first photo of my t-shirt and leggings, I’m hoping to get some more until tomorrow:

a folded brown t-shirt and a folded pair of leggings on a messy table

Like always I screwed up the neckband, putting the top-stitching closer to the seam would have been better but I forget every time. Hm, maybe I should make a note in the pattern for next time.

And back to teaching

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To bed a little late. I continue enjoying revising the romance novel and do all the usual morning things.

It was a day of exercise, ten minutes of yoga before breakfast, an hour of walking/running before lunch and twenty minutes of bodyweight training in the evening.

My husband made lunch:

There was quite a bit of teaching, most of it very young students who are learning rather slowly. It’s mot their fault, most first graders have trouble with the reading part of reading sheet music and while I could teach them without notation I don’t want to. Experience tells me they’ll get there, eventually, but right now teaching them is a bit draining.

At the end of the day I was too low on energy to tackle anything. The boy and I exercised together and then I spent an hour reading. Started writing this post, learned some Chineseon an app, watched about ten minutes of C-drama and got ready for bed.

I’m hoping that today will bring more nerf and a little more time so I can finish the brown t-shirt.

The time thing isn’t going to get better it seems

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But I had a very satisfying day even though I did not vacuum the old part of the house as I wanted.

I did very well on the rest, though. Starting with extremely distracted morning pages because of a sudden urge to research in-person Chinese classes near me. Well. I am somewhat too late because everything started back in October, duh, and it’s really hard to find a time that works for me, even if I go to an online class and don’t need to spend 45 minutes on the train. Also, there are obviously way more beginner classes than intermediate ones and I don’t really need a beginner class anymore. So I’ll just continue to muddle along.

I did open the manuscript and keep being delighted by this book which feels a little weird but just the other day I started reading „Wrinting Invisible“ by Noelle Adams/ Claire Kent and she says that she often rereads her own books because she likes them so much and that made me feel better.

I did yoga and my three minutes of mindfulness meditation and ate breakfast with my husband and crocheted. I called my mother on the phone and did dishes and then talked to my husband some more while glueing pattern pieces together. It took me three times to print all parts of the sleeve and glue it together which is ridiculous.

Lunch was our favorite comfort food (even though the boy complained about having pasta three days in a row):

pasta e fagioli with grated pecorino and a glass of water

I don’t know, gnocchi aren’t really pasta, are they? They are made from potatoes. Like small potato dumplings. But yeah, yesterday was capellini pesto and today bean soup with pasta. I guess today should be something with rice. And not beans.

After lunch I read for a bit and then played Genshin again and finished the current quest, yeah! I want to say I’m getting better but I just leveled up again and now my enemies will be harder to fight again as well.

And then I started procrastinating about sewing yet again. I really don’t enjoy the process much and also I am always rather anxious when cutting into the fabric. Not without reason but still.

So planned the week and talked briefly with the boy, and opened Instagram, and then I finally cut into the fabric and it went fine. Well, okay-ish. Then I ordered new blades for my rotary cutter because the one I’m using is pretty blunt.

And then there was Instagram again and I could feel myself settle in and just wait until it would be too late to actually start the sewing:

cut pieces of a t-shirt wrapped in the paper pattern pieces on a dark brown table

And then I waited some more. And then I decided I might as well just read the instructions again and maybe get the sewing machine out of the closet.

When the boy showed up again I was busy sewing the neckband to the body of the tee. But I had to stop because he wanted me to teach him how to mend a sock. I don’t think I did a good job but then the hole was very small and while the process is pretty straightforward the boy lacks certain thread-managing skills. That’s the kind of thing you don’t realized before teaching something when you’re someone who has been working with thread for 50 years. But he’ll get there. And he did mend the hole with just a little help.

Then we made some dinner and finished watching ‚Frankenstein‘. I have to say, judging the film after just the first half was premature it is indeed excellent and very satisfying even if it differs from the original novel. I don’t care, the story works, very nice. I might have to read the original at some point, though.

After that I procrastinated some more, then sewed some more and now I have a t-shirt-shaped thing. I still need to trim the seam allowances and press everything, then pull out the twin needle and sew a few hems but it looks as if I might be able to finish it Tuesday night or so.

I started writing this post, made a plan for today (super busy day again with all the exercise and teaching until 7.30) and went to bed.

I’d say all in all fall break was good, much better than most holidays. Maybe I am getting better at this, that would be great.

And again, short on time

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It happens.

I did the morning routine, talked at length with husband, crocheted, did dishes and went walking/running:

I seem to be making progress, I even was faster than usual. The fact that it was rather cold probably helped.

I showered, helped making lunch and ate:

I played Genshin and went to Writer Zoom, then met with the boy for grilled cheese and ‚Frankenstein’. Because my husband wanted to focus on recording prep.

The panini press was moldy so we used the frying pan, then watched half the movie. It is very good, very atmospheric but a little dramatic for my taste.

I watched half an episode of C-drama after that while spinning and then fell into a social media hole. Which is one of the reasons this post is so short. The other one being that I don’t have much time right now either

So, today I will obviously sew the t-shirt and leggings, clean half the house (my husband did the other half), play the piano, show the boy how to mend a sock and watch the second half of ‚Frankenstein‘. Oh, and make a plan for the week.

Easy.