It's the weekend

The more I think about my plan to take the weekend off as much as possible and work on stuff, the better I like it. During the week - especially weeks like this one, where I give and grade two exams - there's not a lot of time in the evening between piano practice, and cooking dinner (and yes, I do notice it takes a lot longer to cook AND EAT when most of what you consume is vegetables), and prepping for the next day. So I get a few lonely rounds knit on a sock, or maybe I rearrange some of the fabric in my sewing room.

I miss being able to work on stuff like quilts and knitting in the evenings. That's the price you pay for diligence and doing what you "ought" - you don't always get to do what you want to do.(That's one of the frustrations of being an adult. One of the perks - sometimes, I've said it's the ONLY perk - is that your "allowance" is larger. Or at least it is if you work in a career where you are expected to be diligent, I suppose).

Though really, practicing piano is something I want to do, because I both want to get better at it, and I suspect it (along with the "cross training" of knitting and such) is helping to slow the progression of arthritis in my hands. I do notice on some days - especially the few sticky warm days we've had this spring, and especially when I first get up in the morning, the joints don't work like I want them to. So things like Burgmuller's "Arabesque" (which I am currently working on) are more difficult for me because one or more fingers "collapses" on the sixteenth notes. (I mean, the fingers don't move as independently as they should. It's hard to explain. But I can't make the notes as crisp as I'd like when my hands are "bad"). If my hands are well warmed up and it's not too humid, I do okay. (I am assiduously trying not to worry that this might be something other than arthritis, after reading a little blurb about Stephen Hawking - who, amazingly, has kept going 50 years with ALS - and how he noticed back in 1965 that his hands were shaking....my hands don't shake, the fingers just don't always do exactly what I want them to do, and sometimes they hurt).

I'm also working (independently, they are not "assigned" pieces) on a few of the Anna Magdalena book pieces. Because I like them, and because I like and cherish the idea of having a couple small pieces in my repertoire that I can easily play without having to brush them up. (Madeline L'Engle, in one of her essays, wrote of the joy of being able to come home and play Bach preludes or some of the Beethoven pieces. Well, she had more years of piano lessons than I did, but maybe someday I will get good enough for that)

But anyway. My plan for this afternoon is to go home as soon as Senior Seminar is done for the day, to do my piano practice, and maybe do some sewing. I might also make another one of those deep-dish pizzas for myself - I have the tomato sauce already made up in the fridge (I made a sort of not-fried chicken parmesan a couple nights this week). And I AM going to bake a cake for myself tomorrow. I am thinking I might do a hot fudge pudding cake. My mom made this a lot when my brother and I were kids, and I see there is a low-salt recipe in my low sodium cookbook. Alternatively, depending on how much sodium there is in Grape Nuts (siiiiiiigh), I might make the lemon Grape Nuts pudding cake from one of the Marcia Adams books. (I think, after chocolate, my favorite flavor for baked desserts has to be lemon).  (ETA: well, crud. Grape Nuts, why so much sodium? Grr. I guess it's the hot fudge pudding cake then. Because I don't have the energy to make Grape Nuts from scratch, even though I know such a thing is possible.)

But I really look forward to just going into my sewing room and finishing something. And not having to look at the clock as I work and think "at 2 pm I need to put this aside and work."

Also, I will apparently get to see the alicornisation of Twilight, if the tv guide feature on my television is correct - they are re-running that episode.

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I also ordered myself a "big" birthday present - a couple of Folio Society books: "Elizabeth David's Christmas" - I do like reading her recipe books - and a children's book called The Little White Horse that I have seen highly recommended. (Yes, it's a children's book. I don't care. Some of those older children's books are more well-written than some of the current books aimed at adults. And the storylines tend to be more allegorical and philosophical. And sometimes even the language is more complex). I did that PARTLY because I wanted the free tea towel that is on offer. (Folio Society knows me too well: offer some distinctive item "free with purchase" and I'll go looking to see if there's a book I want)