Finished Faust.

Hits the spot, Mephistopheles rocks and the tragedy will now be highly recommended by me to anyone going through an existential crises =)






Never thought one of my 2 favourite books is so close to being a fanfiction to Faust. Maybe because I practically know Master and Margarita by heart that all the parallels between Mephistopheles and the "court" of Woland, Auerbach's cellar and Woland's offering cigarettes and wine in the novel, Walpurgisnacht - and the Satan's Ball, Emperor's carnival and Woland's performance at Varieté ....


Just like playing a jazz improvisation piece for weeks and then hearing the original :)




Nevertheless, I do not love Master and Margarita any less now, and admire Pasternak even more (not that I ever doubted his genius), and some time - probably when I retire - I should improve my German to the point when I can read the original. In a few years though it will be interesting to come back to it, but to a different version of translation.

In some thin time slot,

while walking from a kids birthday party to Home Depot, with Chill Jr sitting comfortably on my left arm and Chill Sr holding my hand (walking through the entire plaza and parking on both ends), I stopped by World Market store and got myself a tiny jar of joy.


I don't know why it's not on sale anywhere else, and I can't tell from what dark depth of my gut feeling an impulse to check this store came from - but the fact is: I'll have a rye bread - Marmite - avocado toast for breakfast tomorrow!!

I think it is safe to say this little stubborn bunny has accomplished goal #4 for 2017

And has come back to running! Apart from stubbornness it took of course:

•  change of speed to 5.7 mi/hr,
• wearing compression socks 3 days a week (under suit trousers),
• taking my time stretching before and after running,
• including more of various stretches in the "before and after" routine,
• changing trainers.

Next stop from here - booking the 10K Harmonie Geneve pour UNICEF for 2018!

Having spent the day in rushing to daycare to drop off Chill Sr, rushing through traffic to Lakewood to work, spending 8 hours in "between worlds" physically and mentally in tax preparation, rushing through traffic to a grocery store with a list of groceries to buy to daycare for our snack days, rushing to daycare to pick up Chill Sr and drop off bags of food, rushing back home through traffic while talking to Chill (okay, talking to my kids is actually the best part of the day), preparing fish and veggies to load to the oven while having both Chills hanging on me demanding attention, going for a walk with 2 Chills and 2 of their bikes (for which the younger one needs assistance all the time) , coming home to a tantrum of 2 hungry kids refusing to wash hands before they are fed, serving the dinner and going through the dinner helping Chills with their food and jumping up every now and then for a glass of water or a tissue, while trying to grasp the idea of and contribute to the conversation of Von Zobel's work and clients, cleaning up after the dinner, preparing milk for Chills, getting them off to bed after a couple of short bedtime stories/ kids' poems, rushing to gym to hold on to my 5K progress, rushing back home to slay a couple more tax returns before making it to bed after 1am -

 -  I feel like politely replying to every "Happy 8th of March" I receive today by suggesting to shove it up...

Working for a month with no days off.

Unless 4-hr work days count as days off.
My job requires 60+ hour work weeks for another 6 weeks, and given that between dropping off and picking up Arthur from daycare I physically only spend 8-8.5 hrs in the office and all my time home before kids' bed time is devoted to kids (including cooking and some chores) - it's easy to picture what my nights are like. Or what my life is like. Actually, what is my life like now?

Third priority after family and work is workout, just as I planned. And it works well, and without physical activity nothing will work at all. Maybe that explains the reason I am able to keep mental sanity and work productivity :)

Pressure cooker is a life savior. Once a week I load in chicken or turkey legs ("drumsticks"), mix some basic sauce and pour over, set the timer for 15-18 minutes and leave off to play with or read to the boys. Other days it's baked or fried fish, quickly fried steaks, beef stroganoff in yet again pressure cooker (better than in the frying pan and no mess!) and - veggies. Lots of veggies! Salads, steamed Normandy mix, baked with fish, quickly sautéed with steak. Thank Buddha, all 3 guys in my family are happy with good veggie eaters! Non cooking every single evening, but not less than I was planning.

House cleaning -  falling a little behind, although it's not on top of my priorities list. Doing a good job not having any heavily messed up zones in the house, any piles of dirty laundry or mess in the kitchen.

As days get longer and warmer - I will need to start plugging in some work in the backyard too. Will have to figure exactly how :)

Grocery shopping and errands are done on Saturdays after work: manage to pick up all necessary stuff and not run out of anything essential in the middle of the week (although picking up fresh salads, fruit and veggies during work week is a must, yep!)

Last year at about same time I was past 2 exams and had 2 more to go - a pretty challenging period still, if not by such drastic lack of time then by psychological pressure. What's good about leaving this year behind - I'm still good at self discipline and self-organization and will pick peace of mind over calm lifestyle anytime.

Life is trully amazing

when, as you're rolling around the carpet in tears, miserable and whining, your son comes to you and hugs you. And then strokes your hair and tells you that everything will be Ok.
And the other son just learned to kiss you on the cheek, and that makes you smile and brings you back to life.

Another milestone is their progress in dialogues they now have. For example, as Arthur is putting together blocks with pictures and Adrian is putting in pieces in the clock shape sorter Arthur can ask:


- Can I help?
- No.
-No?
- No, I'll do it myself!

I feel like I'll be taking more and more notes of their little talks soon :)