creative.mother.thinking

Yep, went to bed too late again. Did not open the manuscript in the morning. I did some tasks around writing that I’m counting for my goal to spend ten minutes every day writing but, well, I’m not super happy with it.

But I did have a rather low energy day.

I spent the morning booking a hotel and train tickets for the upcoming high-school reunion that I only heard about two days ago. One of my former schoolmates actually tracked me down by searching for my name, music and Munich, I think.

So I did not change the sheets or clean anything. I did fold two loads of laundry, at least.

It was nice, warm and sunny and we ate outside:

I only had a few students scheduled in the afternoon. The first one texted a few minutes after the beginning of their lesson that they had forgotten (again). The second and third student both showed up as usual. The fourth one was another no-show with no explanation whatsoever and the last one canceled via email.

I tried using those breaks for something and I did work on the novel timeline, sort of, for a while but all in all I just sat around waiting. I also started doing a lesson in the new Chinese workbook that I bought last week, and I bought a course and ebook about bedtime procrastination after watching a video about why bedtime procrastination makes sense. Apparently I am the time of bedtime procrastinator who has the hardest time stopping it because it’s automatic. Oops.

And then I realized I had one of those days where trying to force myself to do something is no use so I ate dinner and read a little before doing bodyweight training with the boy. During which we talked about Genshin Impact (duh) and then he helped me with artifacts and I tried the new event (mostly unsuccessfully) and played and played until it was almost time to turn out the lights, and then I started writing this post, made a list for today and went to bed.

Phew.

I would revel in the feeling of having two weeks off but to be honest my days won’t look all that much different I guess.

I went to bed at midnight again which is definitely too late. On the bright side I am now done with all the big video game quests and can start the new one without anything else hanging over my head.

Still. Sleep would have been a healthier idea.

Anyway, I did the complete morning routine including fifteen minutes of writing. And after breakfast I started doing a little research for the story as well.

I talked with my husband at length and then I went off to the supermarket on my bike. The sun was shining, the streets were pretty empty and all was good. Until I locked my bike at the store about to grab my bike panniers and realized that those panniers were actually still back home.

I think this has been the second time this happened ever. I did briefly think about going back home for them but I was too late already. So I did all the shopping, did not get frozen pizza (because those pizzas are huge and I had no idea how to get them home), paid for a big, sturdy paper bag, put all the heavy stuff in my big backpack and used the backup shopping bag that I carry in my backpack.

I managed to get everything home even though changing gears and getting off and on the bike with the huge bag hanging from the handle was a bit challenging.

I unpacked the groceries, helped quickly with the sauce, and then we had the asparagus my husband had bought at the farmer’s market the day before:

Then I talked with the boy, had a short break and went to work.

I had very few students that day, one just didn’t show up, I guess they won’t be coming anymore, but that’s not bad. I would have liked to know, though.

I did not use my breaks productively. I did play the piano, though, so that was good.

In the evening I had half a bag of potato chips before meeting with my writer friend over Zoom to write. By then I was already pretty done with the day, so writing was a bit of an uphill struggle but I still managed some new words.

Then I started this post, wrote my list for today, finally started the new video game quest and went to bed.

As I said yesterday, the morning was a little rushed because I had gone to bed so late. No writing before breakfast but I still did yoga and my 5-minutes of meditation. Then a companionable breakfast with my husband who then left earlier than usual to go to the farmer’s market.

I opened the manuscript and then played some more Genshin Impact. I am very determined to finish the remaining quest as soon as possible. I also pulled on the new character banner first thing in the morning, as one does, and am very happy with the result.

I did the dishes, listened to a piano piece by Clara Schumann, and got ready to leave the house:

It had rained like crazy before but when I went out for my walk and run it was dry.

Back at home my husband was busy making lunch and I had time enough to take a shower before it was ready. We had capellini with a pesto he had made from wild oregano that grows in our garden. Most of the salad ingredients came fresh from the market, very yummy:

I only had a little time until my first student because I was starting lessons earlier than usual, and then taught all the way until late. I had a break between students that I used for research and to refill the water in my piano’s humidifier.

Then I finally got to eat dinner, started writing this post, wrote a list for today, brushed my teeth and made some more progress on the video game quest.

Today will bring a little less teaching so I’m hoping to get some other stuff done as well.

Which means I went to bed way too late and had major time crunch this morning as well.

So. I did the complete morning routine including two sessions of writing (only for 30 minutes total but better than nothing), ran all the errands and went to the health food store, folded a load of laundry, and then there was lunch:

I ate a chocolate bar against my own rules, so no (almost) no sugar yesterday. The chocolate didn’t even taste as good as I had expected, seems after eating dark chocolate only for a while a milk chocolate bar feel too sweet. I didn’t know there was such a thing.

I read and played a little and then it was time to teach. I had very many students planned but the whole thing got a little easier when one of them asked if they could reschedule.

After teaching I ate dinner, then did bodyweight training with the boy and after that tackled my current Genshin Impact quest in earnest. For hours.

I am happy to say that I finished it, now there is only one more left before I’m completely up to date.

Oh, and I also had two wins, I got rid of the used toner that I had been wanting to send to recycling for months, and I finally found the PDF course about taking headshots that I had bought before. One of these days I will have a new author photo, yes.

Today there will be too much teaching again, not quite as much other stuff, I hope.

And still feeling like I didn’t really do much.

I almost got eight houts of sleep again, even though I went to bed too late. I opened the manuscript after morning pages if only for fifteen minutes. I had hight hopes of having some more time after breakfast but, well.

There was yoga and five minutes of meditation and then breakfast with my husband who had already finished eating. I still go to knit a few rounds. I went online briefly, then my husband was back asking me to order some stuff online, so I did that and it took me thirty minutes. And that was it for writing.

I did the breakfast dishes, sorted recycling and took all the paper for recycling outside to the bin because that will be picked up today.

I went out in the sun for my walk/run:

I have reached the point where I can actually run for 90 seconds without feeling I’ll drop dead, and I did it several time in the 45 minutes that I was out.

I came back home to a stressed husband, took a shower and ate lunch:

Because mowing the lawn had taken almost twice as long as usual he had not had the time to make a sauce or pick the arugula. Still, food, and the omelette was rather good.

Then I did the dishes, hung the load of laundry up that my husband had started in the morning. I had to start the spin cycle a second time because the laundry was still wet after the first time. Overloaded machine, ahem.

I had a whole ten minutes then before my first student of the day and I spent that eating chocolate and drinking tea while the boy talked with me. I asked him to go to the supermarket later to get bananas and parmesan. Which he did.

I taught very many students but also had a bit of a break because someone canceled. During that break I wrapped the toner recycling return package (you can send the empty cartridges back for recycling for free) and I played the piano for a bit.

Then more students until it was a little later than usual. I ate dinner and then met with the boy so he could help me with those tough bosses I can’t do on my own. Afterwards I spent quite a bit of time playing more Genshin with mixed results.

By the time I finished (and talked some more with the boy who was doing more dishes) it was already time to turn the lights out but I still started writing this post and made a list for today.

Unfortunately it looks like I won’t really have time for much today as well but hey, I am getting stuff done, so that’s good.

And yes, that was the most exciting thing all day.

I also opened the manuscript before breakfast if only for ten minutes, did yoga (just like every single day this month) and talked with my mother on the phone.

Lunch was only medium exciting, both the boy and I were looking around for veggies. Well, this was it:

I did the dishes right after lunch and listened to my daily piece of classical music (and yesterday’s daily piece as well but it all evens out) and then I sat down to plan the week ahead.

And then I played my video game, actually stopped at some point, vacuumed the old part of the house after my husband had done the annex, he cleaned the toilets, I started a load of laundry and then I mopped the kitchen and bathroom floor.

It’s been a while. A very long while.

I then ate dinner, met the boy for bodyweight training where I opted to make quite a few of the exercises easier because I was not feeling up to it, and then came the moment when I had planned to open the manuscript for a second time.

When I found myself on Instagram I realized that I was not feeling up to it, and so I changed plans, started writing this post, made a list and hoped for a better day today.

Not that yesterday was in any way bad at all. I just had too many plans for just one day, it happens.