creative.mother.thinking

I was again very, very, extremely tired. But the fact was that I really didn’t want to go to sleep the night before. This is a problem, so after doing my morning routine I did a bit of research and found this video again. Where Dr K says – and I agree – the problem is not the bedtime routine, the problem is how you spend your day.

So I decided to a) get the most important things done for the day and b) feel my feelings instead of trying to push them away. Always fun.

I went for my walk/run (exercise helps with sleep as well):

I took a shower, folded a bitof laundry and had lunch:

The boy is diurnal at the moment which is a bit unusual but nice. We talked a little after lunch and then I decided to play some Genshin but all twenty of the minutes I had were taken up with downloading the new content, so I read instead.

I taught some students and used the break in between to finally write the email to the cover designer. Which meant my most important task of the day was done. And I finally printed some grocery lists, that had been on my to dos for more than a week.I taught some more and then the boy and I did bodyweight training and talked some more.

There was lunch and then more Genshin and I made huge progress on that as well.

By then I was late again, oops. I did the dishes, made a list for today, started a new knitting project while watching TV and went to bed at a reasonable time.

And today I get to choose new glasses, I guess.

It’s not that I was anxious about that doctor’s appointment but since I’ve been waiting for the verdict when my cataracts will be bad enough for surgery it’s always a bit fraught.

Spoiler: no surgery yet, the doctor told me to come back in a year or two. Slightly weird.

I went to bed after midnight, always the best life choice when you get up at 6.30, which dominated the whole day. I did my morning routine, switching to the slightly longer and more demanding 30-day yoga challenge, and I spent some time on the manuscript. In this case mostly time trying to figure out the weird problem Scrivener seems to have with smart quotation marks.

Boiling water for tea on the wood stove took ages and we were quite late with breakfast even though my husband had started early. The boy was awake in the morning which threw us all off a bit as well.

I had plans to do the dishes before leaving the house but in the end my husband did them which was helpful.

I took the earlier train and ended up being so early that I could pop into the drug store for some errands.

The doctor’s visit went pretty fast and I left with a piece of paper that said I need stronger glasses. Something I had been suspecting for a while now. The weird thing is that they measured my glasses and wrote the current prescription down as well and that doesn’t match the numbers I have saved at all. And there was no talk of the cataracts at all. Huh.

I have an appointment with my optician tomorrow, so we’ll see.

On my way home I bought my husband’s favorite pastry and passed the health food store.

At home my husband was very stressed but lunch was almost ready. We were out of parmesan which constitutes an emergency for sure. I offered to go out and get some but he doesn’t like it. So we grated some Manchego. Shrug:

The boy even ate with us which was nice.

Before leaving the house in the morning I had decided to try my luck with Genshin’s gacha system to see if I could get the Arlecchino character with 80 wishes and – I could. So then the boy tried to teach me all I need to know going forward in one conversation. I might need another one later.

Then it was time to teach which was very nice. I used a break between students to hang up laundry, then taught a bit more and then I attended yet another Zoom meeting, this time with Jessica Abel. I had thought I wouldn’t have time but a student canceled.

By then I was very, very tired, ate dinner, did the dishes, played some Genshin, was very determined to watch some C-drama and spin but got stuck on classical and jazz musicians reacting to BTS videos on YouTube. And went to bed too late again.

And next I will pull my old glasses out and see if they work better because they are stronger than the newest pair. This might become an expensive month. But then December usually is.

Well, not quite. Some things are the same every day, others change.

I worked a little on proofreading, did yoga and morning pages and such and had a very nice conversation with my husband. The boy was even awake at daylight and went out to buy yogurt right before lunch.

I did lots of dishes and then went out for a walk/run that was about an hour, a little longer than the past few days:

I stuffed the paper recycling into the bin but it didn’t all fit. And then it was time for lunch:

This was way yummier than it looks.

Then it was time to talk to the boy while he was eating lunch, play a bit of Genshin and start on the annual projected income report for the Artists’ Social Security Fund. I finished that one after teaching and then had to wait for my husband to be done with his last student so I could report for him as well. I was lacking a document that was in his studio.

I ate dinner, played some more Genshin, did my Chinese app, started writing this post, finally did the dishes, made a list for today and went to bed.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the cover of book 2 but never quite got far enough to write it all down for the designer.

Today looks equally busy, I’ll head off to the eye doctor soon.

I did all the things but I still need to clean the bathrooms.

Called my mother, folded laundry, planned the month and the week and made a winter fun list.

My husband made stuffed bell peppers from the last peppers from our yard (or in this case rather from our living room and studio because he had brought them in so that they wouldn’t freeze):

I got a reply from the cover designer and I might have to rethink my plan for he next two covers but that’s okay.

I played a lot of Genshin and was pretty frustrated. The boy and I did a short session of bodyweight training, then I ate dinner and then it was time for my monthly coaching.

And then I fell into a rabbit hole of watching BTS videos which is usually a sign that I should go to bed soon.

And now it is December and the year is almost done. Exciting.

I almost slept enough, tried doing all the Saturday things plus the rest of the Friday list and failed.

But I did finish putting the revision into the novel-in-progress, so that one only needs to be proofread. I’m still not sure if it will become four short books or one very long one, the format is a bit problematic.

Husband was very cranky most of the day, he is trying to focus on recording the bass line of one of his more complicated pieces and his hand is still hurting from the fall he took on Monday.

I went for a short walk/run after dealing with the dishes from the day before:

Husband made the pasta e fagioli we all had been looking forward to all week. It was delicious but we were all rather exhausted and snappish:

I did some research into romance covers, listened to lesson 2 of my new Chinese course (and only understood a word or two here and there), crocheted, played Genshin Impact, changed the sheets on my bed, took a shower and cut my toenails and was almost late for my weekly writer Zoom.

I had asked that we get back to check in with each other about our writing first, and that went very well. It doesn’t mean we don’t talk about other stuff as well but the focus is different and that makes all the difference.

Because of the whole family being slightly stressed out and cranky we agreed to skip watching ‚Columbo‘ and I think that was the right thing to do as well. The boy worked on his application for the master program (and finished it) and there were many conversations about the motivational letter and the formalities of a CV. Fingers crossed he did everything right and gets accepted. Which he should because he already did the bachelor at the same uni.

The boy also helped my mother-in-law sweep the sidewalk and tidy around the house a bit. And he did the dishes in the evening.

As always Saturday felt too short. Today I have a very long list as well, so I guess I won’t get everything done again. I mean, I could shorten the list, of course. I guess we’ll see.

My plans of the day were upended when it turned out that I had to go to the supermarket again, so I didn’t clean.

I got a new kind of white sausage for the first time and they were very good:

I taught a few students, I tried helping the boy with his master’s application. We did bodyweight training. I made pancake soup for dinner that didn’t have enough salt:

And usually the pancakes are sliced completely different. My husband still appreciated it because he is usually the cook in our house.

I played some Genshin, and read and talked with my husband, then realized it was too late and I still hadn’t done the dishes, then decided going to bed on time was more important and that was that.

I also wrote several emails and ordered a new laundry rack because I broke the old one the night before when I was trying to evacuate a mean-looking spider, stumbled over a wood bin and caught myself on the rack which promptly broke.

I am really hoping today will be a slightly less chaotic day. Fingers crossed!