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So, I didn't go for the price-reduced bananas after all. When I got up I felt so flattened that I knew I wouldn't leave the house today. Instead, I took down the dried washing, gave Mum her weekly shower, washed my hair and - drumroll! - made a quick and easy peanut butter traybake. It was an interesting recipe, using mineral water in the dough, but turned out very tasty, even though the consistency was a bit odd. Too thick perhaps; I could barely smooth it in the baking tin. But the end result was very soft and crumbly, which is the best thing for Mum, so it's okay.

I'm afraid I was useless for the rest of the day, though. I took two hour-long naps, one in the late morning, one in the early afternoon (we had leftovers, so no cooking was required), solved half a crossword puzzle, wrote about two lines, and that was basically it.

We allowed us our daily dosis of "Richterin Barbara Salesch" via YouTube and I talked to my friend and former colleague Erna (our art teacher) on the phone to see how they had survived the school's annual Faschingsball, which used to be the lowest point of the year for me while I still worked. Thanks to retirement, I'm now spared that ordeal, but I feel for the colleagues who still have to go through it.

Current Mood: blah

We got up an hour earlier today, just in case the ~~Vodafone~~ One tech would come in the morning. Well, he did not. In fact, he didn't come at all! Neither did he call that he wouldn't come, and while he does have our number, we don't have his, so there was nothing I could do about it.

I'm seriously pissed off. I didn't go to Aldi for the price-reduced bananas (we eat lots of bananas, since they are soft and Mum can deal with them even raw), we didn't go for a walk (today was 15°C, ideal for taking Mum out; tomorrow there will be 6°C - not so good for her), I didn't start baking, all because we didn't know when to count on someone we obviously couldn't count at all.

I so hate unreliable people! I mean, I didn't ask him to come back and try to update the mini; he offered. And why, for God's sake, is it so hard to give a call and tell us that he won't come, after all? Unless he completely forgot about the whole thing, that is. :(

In any case, at least I took the earli(er) morning hour to finish the teaser to my new story, so there was at least one hour that wasn't completely wasted. Which is small comfort but comfort nonetheless.

Current Mood: royally pissed

I wrote almost 5 full pages today. Granted, for a brand new story, instead of one of my never-ending WIPs, but still. That was the most progress I've made in... well, I think in years. I don't expect it to last, but it was a wonderful surprise.

Other than that, I cooked a cauliflower-heavy lunch (sorry,

noadvertising), and we had the usual quarterly visit from the exterminator. A really good day indeed.

Current Mood: accomplished

... from yesterday's nerves, but I promised a picture of Jumbo, the politically incorrect, garish elephant, didn't I? So here he is, with his tiny ancestor, the 60+year-old plastic toy elephant:

https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/341640321754701892

Other than that, I did the grocery shopping today, took out the selctive rubbish... and not much else, TBH. Mum had a visit from the PT lady, we watched some crap telly, ate leftover soup and the sandwiches I had grilled for lunch, and that was basically it. I'm about to try some writing next, but if it will actually happen remains to be seen.

Current Mood: unmotivated

I was nervous like a monkey all morning, waiting for the ~~Vodafone~~ One tech guy to bring our new modem. To keep at least my hands occupied, I actually finished the politically incorrect, garish elephant. Mum actually liked it, but Mum basically likes all the little things I make out of paper or felt, so that doesn't really say anything. By the time I was done it was already too dark to take a decent photo, so I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Tech guy was young, friendly and competent. It wasn't his fault that the iPad mini is too old to deal with the new modem. He promised to come back on Saturday and try to do some system update on the mini; I hope he'll be more successful than my young cousin, since he actually has a service laptop. We'll see. I'd be happy to read on the mini again, as its screen is better lit and the background neutral, unlike the new iPad's with its psychedelic colours. The person who designed it should be shot. Or forced to stare at their own creations for the rest of their life.

After tech guy left, I deflated like a punctured balloon. A good thing that I had cooked for two days in advance yesterday. Potato casserole, baked in the oven, is every bit as yummy warmed up as it is when fresh. Tomorrow I'll pay our corner coffee a visit and buy some celebratory croissans and perhaps even a babka, if they have it. My nerves need sugar to recover - lots of it!

Current Mood: relieved

... has been finished as well. Take a look here. Again, I added the original photo on the package, so that

noadvertising can find the right one, should her local Tedi have them.

I'm more or less content with the kitty, especially with her expression due to the added eyebrows, and the pink heart on her chest. The only problem with these Tedi toys-to-make-yourself is that they are made from such a stiff felt. It not only wrinkles badly, there's also no way to stuff them without giving them a rather prominent goiter, but that can't be helped. My friend Evie declared that her granddaughter would love the kitty, so I'm content with the outcome.

Not much else happened. I had to cook for two days, as tomorrow the One technician is due to come and replace our old internet modem (apparently, it can no longer deal with the improved speed), which makes me nervous in advance. I hate changes. I prefer things to remain the way I was used to them. Clearly, I'm getting old.

Current Mood: anxious

So, I paid the ~~Vodafone~~ One customer service a visit. The friendly young man listened to me compassionately, but there was nothing he could do. Apparently, even if I had kept my outdated package, RTL would have been taken out eventually from there, too. Ah, well. Annoying, but at least we can watch old episodes on YouTube. I still wish we had the channel, but clearly, this is another small thing that has been taken from us permanently.

On the win side, I visited the craft shop, too, which is next door to the customer service. I bought two packages of tiny little golden bells, so the garish, politically incorrect elephant plushie might get its even more garish decoration, after all. The nervous breakdown of any parents isn't my problem, now is it? *insert evil grin*

In the back of the craft shop there is another, smaller shop (independent from them, just sharing space), where I got me some very pretty grey embroidery thread, in three different shades of grey (fifty would have been the overkill, right?), plus a spool of beautiful silver one. Which I absolutely didn't need but simply couldn't resist. Even though sewing with metallic thread is a real pain. Clearly, I'm a glutton for punishment.

After that, I took the tram to the Savoy Park (mini) shopping centre, where I went to the post office to send the support money for the charities we are affiliated with (well, seven of them, the eighth hasn't sent their cheque yet) and to do the grocery shopping. Needless to say that I couldn't resist visiting the local TEDI, either, and got away with another candle to decorate and another sewing kit, this time a cat. So, the TEDI Teddy is about to get a little kitty sister. Why do I keep buying these things when I have enough unfinished projects to last the rest of my life is beyond me.

Current Mood: disappointed

Isn't it insane how fast time goes by? I'm trying, really trying not to feel old, but when I consider how little I get done on each passing day I must admit that either time has sped up or I have slowed down considerably. Most likely the latter. :(

In any case, this Sunday was the same as many, many others. I've taken down the dried washing, gave Mum her weekly shower, washed my hair... same old same old. At least I didn't have to cook; ain't leftovers a wonderful thing?

This way I actually had a little time for myself: working on the layout of the AU "Plato's Stepchildren" episode/story/whatever and doing a bit of crafting. My politically incorrect, horribly garish elephant plushie has reached the stage when all I have to do is to finish sewing it together and stuffing it. I could have finished, hadn't I had to fight the vicious thread I managed to get at TEDI. Note to myself: never buy cheap thread again. The struggle with the useless stuff isn't worth the money I saved.

Other than that, not much happened. We watched some telly - partly YouTube on the big screen, thanks to my young cousin, so we weren't completely devoid of Judge Barbara Salesch - partly "The Incredible Dr. Pol" and the Great Australian Bake-Off, I took a nap in the afternoon and had a phone chat with H. And that was it. Sunday as usual.

Current Mood: lazy

Or One, as they call themselves since they swallowed DigiTV, aka the competition. Anyway, they contacted me today as it was time to renew my contract (of course it will be somewhat more expensive from now on, like everything else). I specifically asked if the new package will contain my German-speaking channels, which are important for me to keep my vocabulary alive. They assured me that it will. And what happened? Barely had I hung up on them, German RTL simply vanished mid-sentence. All other foreign-language channels (like the oh-so-important Chinese one) where still there. Just not the channel we used to watch on a daily basis (Richterin Barbara Salesch anyone?).

I called Customer Service, and a helpful young man (at least his voice sounded young) tried his best to help me - to no end. That particular channel simply wasn't in the new package. I wouldn't be this angry if I hadn't specifically asked, but here we are. *is really mad*

That was enough to ruin my whole day. I can watch old episodes on YouTube, but Mum preferred the new ones with the Irish wolfhound - well, no Piri for her anymore. I really don't understand why can't we simply choose which channels we want to have - I'd certainly throw out all the stupid sports channels and MTV and the likes - since we pay a batch of money for our telly!

Anyway, other than that I did some writing, starting to flesh out a fairly alternate version of the ST:TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren" and took out the elephant plushie again. It has now both ears and both eyes and I'm working on its accessoires in the hope to finish it during the weekend. Or not. We'll see.

Current Mood: pissed off

That's what a successful shopping trip does to me: it invigorates me like very few other things do. To be precise, after three fruitless tries today I finally found that leather watch strap I had been looking for... for months, actually. Now I can proudly wear my 80+years-old wrist watch that Mum had gotten from her uncle as a very young girl. It's a reliable Swiss model - not one of the big brands, but I find it pretty, and it has emotional value.

Inspired by this success I also paid the craft shop on my way home a visit and bought some extra thin wax plates and wax borders. I used to decorate Easter candles with my pupils as you can se here. My own creations were a bit more detailed (see this one), but thin wax plates are hard to find, especially as I no longer have the chance to visit Vienna. I have two plain candles, one pale pink, the other one pale turquoise, so I might do some candle decorating again. I used to do that a great deal after I had come back from Germany; unfortunately, there are no pictures of those. I didn't even have a computer back then, not to mention the internet.

Anyway, I also did the grocery shopping, including some baking and preserving ingredients that were in offer and spent an indecent amount of money, which always gives me a heady feeling of freedom. We used to be so poor for so long, it's liberating to splurge a bit from time to time. *g*

Naturally, the shopping excess took the entire morning. We ate instant soup with some leftovers and peanut butter cookies, watched some telly (during which I fell asleep several times), then I called my friend Evie (she got down from her steep hill okay yesterday), after which I wasn't sleepy anymore, so I decided to do some research for a fanfic idea that came to me unexpectedly. So that is what I'm going to do now.

Current Mood: bouncy

I mean the fact that I'm so tired all the time. I know it mostly comes from the fact that I haven't had a day off for over six years but still. The last time I was this drained was almost forty years ago when I left my convent and vegetated at the house of a German friend for several months. But that time it was a quiet nervous breakdown. This time I'm just mentally exhausted, I think.

That said, I made peanut butter cookies today, first thing in the morning. Partly because I had half a jar of peanut butter lingering in the fridge since Christmas and partly because the currently re-run season of the GBBO had cookie day yesterday and that always causes the words cravings in me. Cookies are the thing I find very hard to resist.

So I made the cookies, which turned out excellent... and then nothing for the rest of the day. Absolutely nothing. I took a nearly two-hour-long nap before a very late lunch, then we watched some crap telly, then I had another (much shorter) nap, and now the day is over. I intended to call my friend Evie to see if she came down that steep hill of hers in one piece (yesterday we had lots of snow again) but I overslept, and now it's too late. She's my polar opposite: she goes to bed with the chickens, as we say in Hungarian and gets up with the first light of the day... or before. So yeah. I feel a bit guilty, but calling will have to wait until tomorrow.

Current Mood: drained

Yes, I know it's a horrible pun, but fact is, the craft and gift shop where I bought this simple sewing kit is really called TEDI. So, here is the TEDI Teddy; the pattern on the package front on the left, the actual product on the right.

https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/341640321754634976

Aside from finishing the TEDI Teddy, I cooked lunch (Mary Berry's chicken pasta bake), had four different phone chats with H. and friends (yay, social life!), Mum had a visit from the PT lady and our janitor took a look at the broken lock of our balcony door. Broken lock is still broken; fortunately, our balcony is a closed one, so I took a six-pack of 1.5l ginger ale bottles to keep it closed until a permanent solution can be found.

Current Mood: sleepy

Today I headed to the Campona shopping centre, which is a somewhat bigger one and is at a distance of ten bus stops. I waited for the bus a good ten minutes, it finally came, I boarded it, and after two stops it made a detour to the Savoy Park shopping centre, where it stodd for another good ten minutes, supposedly for timetable issues. You should have heard the outcry of the old biddies about the unexpected delay! Honestly, as inconvenient as it was, one should think around the age of one hundred people would have learned manners already. Clearly, one would have been wrong.

Most people got off and tried to catch other buses. I decided to wait and came to my destination somewhat delayed but very comfortably. My first goal was the vending machine, however, because I decided that I had deserved a cappuccino, which I promptly bought. It was more price-y than the one I usually get at our local supermarket but much better, so that was okay.

( Thread odyssey in boring detail )

After having solved (temporarily) the yarn problem, I went to the only newsagent's within reach that sells German crossword booklets. I need to keep my vocabulary alive, after all, and talking to H. on the phone once a week, plus watching "Richterin Barbara Salesh" alone don't do the trick. Finally, I rode the bus back, hoping there wouldn't be another detour (there wasn't), and did the rest of the shopping at the Chinese drugstore and one of the local supermarkets, respectively.

I also found the time to drop by our beloved corner café and bring Mum some of their fabulous croissants, which made her very happy. :)

Current Mood: accomplished

... how deep cleaning half the flat (which I absolutely hate to do) seems to have cured my neck and shoulder pain - again. My theory is that the repetitive movements with the vacuum cleaner and the floor mop must have loosened the nerve that keeps getting pinched time and again. Which doesn't mean that I'm planning to scrub the dratted flat more frequently in the future, which I told Mum in no uncertain terms. She laughed her head off.

Aside from the cleaning frenzy I gave Mum her weekly shower, washed my hair, cooked lunch and fed Louise (= the washing machine), so I was properly housewife-y all day. And that on less than four hours of uninterrupted sleep - for some reason I hadn't slept well last night.

Accordingly, I sneaked in a nap after having emptied Louise; then I gave two of my friends/colleagues/choirmates phone calls, and that was basically it. At least I had some semblance of social life.

Current Mood: tired

So, H. came today to wish Mum a happy birthday. Her older sister sent a message from Germany - so nice! My eldest cousin also called and promised to come next week to talk with Mum about old times. Mum was really happy with this all.

I baked Käsepogatschen (=cheesy scones) fresh in the morning. Mum loves them and can never say no to them. So we didn't have lunch, just coffee and scones. Then with H. we had champagne and scones. The whole tin of scones is gone now - not the healthiest diet, but Mum only has one birthday per year. I'll cook something sensible tomorrow.

Crafting-wise I've sewn together the ears of the elephant plushie because I could do them with a much thinner thread, which I had in the right colour. I still need to go back to the haberdashery and buy thicker grey thread, but at least I could make some modest progress.

What else? My neck and right shoulder are still acting up, but that's nothing new. I get that 80% of all times. The few days without it were a blessing but I knew the peace won't last long. *sigh*

Current Mood: content

I had plans for this day, since we postponed Mum's birthday for tomorrow. Since I didn't have to cook, either - long live leftovers! - I planned to do a few things for myself. Like a bit of crafting, a bit of writing, a bit of resting. Well, the last one actually happened, but the first two...

I started with cutting out the basic parts of an elephant plushie - only to discover that I didn't have any grey thread with which to sew them together. After having spent a small fortune on red and white thread yesterday, I'm no facing the necessity to do the same with grey thread. Why is it that one can have entire boxes of thread in various colours (which I do!) but never the only one needed at any given moment?

As for the writing part, I intended to add another scene to Chapter 18 of "Alternate Caretaker" and/or write the opening scene to Chapter 19 (the story has actually 22 written parts at the moment but 4 of them are so-called interludes, so I'm still at Chapter 18). Well... neither of those things happened. I'm brain-dead, totally unmotivated and couldn't think of a single thing that would work.:((

So we watched some crap telly, Mum happily accepted congratulatory phone calls (and one video call from H. and her immediate family), and then we took extended naps. And now I'm mourning all the time I've wasted today. *sigh*

Current Mood: annoyed

The day started rater unspectacularly. I went to Röltex, which is a shop chain for sewing supplies, and found my much-needed red stitching thread. I promptly bought all 5 of them, plus a white one, which ruined my crafting budget, but at least I'm not in danger of running out of thread when a bunny is only half-done.

After that, I went to Lidl and did the grocery shopping. Then I made lunch - of all things ready-made, like the pork knuckles and the potato dumplings - and we rested after our late lunch and watched some telly.

In the middle of this, the intercom sounded. It turned out to be Danny, Heidi's son, who came to congratulate Mum to her birthday. He lives at Lake Balaton but came up to the capital for work-related stuff and made a detour to visit the matriarch of the family. *g*

Mum was over the Moon, of course. I was happy to see him, too; he's a nice kid, although calling him a "kid" while he's over 40 and married with two kids of his own is a bit silly. He stayed for about an hour, helped me to set the stupid mediabox so that I'll be able to watch YouTube videos on the big telly screen in the future, and made promises to get me the "Strange New Words" Star Trek series... somehow. (If he can't I'll try to order the DVDs via the Bestsellers English bookstore, assuming they still do that for their customers). I never knew he was a sci-fi nerd and a Trekkie, too. It turned out, we both prefer the original series...

All in all, it was a very nice afternoon. I hope it won't take another year to repeat it.

Current Mood: delighted

I made them. They are yummy - but not worth the four(!) hours of labour I had to put into them, including the preparations. I've never been this exhausted after baking, not even on days when I baked four to five sorts of Christmas cookies on a single day. So yeah, I'll stick to Black Forest Cake next time we get an appetite something in this flavour.

At least Mum loved them, so there's that.

Current Mood: drained

... concerning Mum's upcoming 94th birthday.

I called H. today and we agreed to go with Mum to Stühmer's Café on Friday, assuming the weather will cooperate, Mum will feel up to it and H. can talk someone from the younger generation to pick her up afterwards. She lives on top of a steep hill and in her current condition wouldn't manage it otherwise. If the first two conditions can't be fulfilled but she is going to have a lift back home, she'll come over to our place. It's on the same tram line as the café, she'd just have to travel ten or so more stops. We'll see.

Tomorrow I'll bake the Black Forest cookies, just in case we'll have to stay home. And besides, the birthday girl deserves to have something yummy at home, too.

In other news I've finished the teddy bear plushie. Coming up next: the elephant. I also managed to write a few lines of dialogue, so it was a successful day.

Current Mood: accomplished

That's what I was today. First, I did the major part of the grocery shopping at Aldi. They had Alpenfest days, so I bought Apfelstrudel, pork knuckles, fresh Spätzleteig and Almdudler. Mum's going to have her birthday, soon, after all. Besides, the apple strudel and the pork knuckles are ready-made, I just have to put them into the oven and spare myself the cooking. WIN!

Then I had to wait for the guys who installed our security front door 13 years ago. Said door has become a bit wacky from its own weight, and since the guys were installing a similar door by one of our neighbours I wanted to ask them to take a look. Which they did and solved the problem in about 6 seconds. But I had to wait until they were done at the neighbour's (the same one the PT lady had to save me from last week), and she had questions. Lots of questions.

When this was all done, I went to the Savoy Park shopping centre. Mum asked me to take her church support money (or whatever it's called in English) to the post office, and I wanted to buy some upholsterer's needles. The upholstery of the stuffed armchair I use for watching crap telly (since that's the only telly available) is coming apart, and I want to fix it. It's just the sewing, fortunately, and just a small section of it, but I never used such a semi-circular needle before, so it's gonna be a real adventure.

Speaking of sewing, I've attached the tail to the teddy bear plushie. That's all the crafting I got to do today. But tomorrow I'll sew the little guy together and stuff it, so that it'll be nice and chubby. *g*

Current Mood: accomplished

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Soledad's Journal

My online rambling place

Recent Entries

Floored

Well, thanks for nothing!

The Reawakening of the Muse

Still deflated

Eventful day

The TEDI Kitty

Wins and losses

Another week is over

Frigging Vodafone!!!

Invigorated

This is ridiculous!

The TEDI Teddy

The garn odyssey continues

This is deeply odd

Family time

Wasted day - again

A lovely surprise

Black Forest cookies

Plans within plans

Underway