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... for a change. *g*

I was being lazy today. No slave labour beyond the usual Mum duty. We had leftover creamed squash and Mum volunteered to make Faschiertes, so I didn't have to cook. The baking frenzy is over, meaning that I mostly had the day for myself. I finished the mini teddy, made the faces of two more of them and cut out the panels for another seven; I'll make those whenever I feel like. There are still seven months till the Christmas fair.

I also did a bit of writing; not much, just a few paragraphs, but it pushed the plot forward, so I'm not complaining. We watched several episodes of "The Repair Shop", which was nice, too. Since my young cousin made the few clicks that enables us to watch YouTube on the big TV screen, we are not so dependent on the TV programme, which is fairly sh*tty, especially on the weekends.

I loved having a lazy day. Next week promises to be turbulent, so we really needed this short calm before the storm.

Current Mood: lazy

I've accomplished a lot today. Firstly, I've decorated and boxed the last batch of Easter cookies. Secondly, I've written two and a half pages, which is the most I've managed in the last, oh, half a year or so. Thirdly, I worked a bit on my mini felt teddies and hope that I can finish tomorrow the one that has to go to Elise's grandson as an Easter gift.

We also had laundry day, which included the kitchen curtains. Mum is in Spring cleaning phase. I'm trying to dodge the bullet as well as I can, but there's little one can do to smooth the feathers of an agitated 94-year-old who is worried about the state of the flat right before Easter. *sigh*

At least I didn't have to cook today. Long live the leftovers!

Current Mood: pleased

I actually managed to make dulce de leche by simply boiling a tin of sweetened condensed milk for three hours! I didn't really believe that it would work - it seemed too easy - but it did. Next time I'll perhaps boil the stuff half an hour less; a somewhat thinner consistency would have been better, but even so, it worked, and my alfajores cookies are absolutely delicious.

I also made the remaining two biscuits; all that's left to do for tomorrow is a bit of decoration. I'm accordingly dead on my feet but so happy to be done!

The muse clearly appreciated the end of the baking frenzy because she inspired me to write a page and a half last night and this afternoon, respectively. Success!!!

Current Mood: exhausted

Sorry, it's a German saying I have no idea how to express in English so that it would mean the same. It was a busy day. I did the grocery shopping in the morning and the next batch of Easter baking in the afternoon.

I made the Amaretti cookies and the biscuits for the alfajores ones. Tomorrow I'll make my first attempt to make dulce de leche, using a can of sweetened condensed milk. If it doesn't work, I've got a jar of caramel spread in my nonexistent pantry. It won't be the same, but I'll be able to finish the alfajores cookies, plus make these ones tomorrow. After that, there will be only the quark-oil dough bunnies left, and the homemade Kinder Choco Bons disguised as Easter eggs. As I said: limited baking frenzy this time.

After the baking Mum and I gave the stain remover soap a chance to remove the ugly yellow spots caused by a dead bug's remains on Grandma's beautiful crocheted doilies. I have the distinct feeling that we'll have to make several tries, but I hope the thing will work in the end.

And people wonder why I hate bugs!

Current Mood: accomplished

So Mum had today an appointment with the hairdresser who's kind enough to make house visits and pretty her up in our kitchen. She looks twenty years younger now and is ready to celebrate. :)

As for myself, I made some long overdue phone calls - to the insurance lady, to the financial advisor guy and to my neighbour, the IT guy. Hopefully there will be some serious computer update, soon. I'd prefer to keep my Windows 7, but there are websites that don't accept it anymore, so needs must. Gah, I hate getting used to new things!

I also started another three mini teddy bears - one for Elise's other grandson and two more as preparation for the Christmas fair. Those two will get little Santa hats and knitted scarves. Four-stitch-wide scarves of 20 cm length are about my limit where knitting is concerned, but at least I can do those.

We were still eating Evie's goulash soup; for the third time, and Mum is determined to eat the rest tomorrow. This is the kind of dish that gets better with each new heating up. I'm actually acquiring a taste for it... once a year. I'll need several weeks of very light food to recover from this masterpiece of traditional Hungarian cuisine. *g*

Tomorrow there will be baking again. I'm giving the alfajores cookies a try, and since they only require egg yolks, I'll make Amaretti biscuits from the egg whites. Those are completely flourless, so Evie will be able to eat them. Bad enough that she developed a gluten intolerance in recent years, she ought to have some yummy things for Easter, too.

Current Mood: busy

Behold the newest plushies. They are fairly small, about palm-sized, but I hope they'll be cherished in their new home.
https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/341640321754945804

Other than that, it was an uneventful day. Mum had a visit from the physiotherapist lady, I went to choir practice, and that was it. But I don't really mind. I need some rest before I start the next bout of baking.

Current Mood: amused

So, I did bake the tahini cookies while Mum attended Mass via telly. They are delicious, even though they look like small pieces of cow pie. That's the problem with American-style cookies: they expand while baking, until they no longer have any shape whatsoever. But at least they are yummy.

I also coated 28 coconut lambs and 8 Nutella bunny heads with white chocolate and coconut flakes (the lambs, that is). They spent several hours in the fridge; then, after the chocolate had set, I boxed them - and put them back into the fridge. Unfortunately, the balcony can no longer serve as an ersatz pantry. Not at temperatures of 16-18°C in the early afternoon, while the sun is cooking this side of the building. And this flat came without a real pantry; all 400-plus flats in our ten-storey concrete monstrosity did. These type of buildings were designed that way. I'd like ten undisturbed minutes with the designer in a dark alley...

Anyway, nearly half the Easter baking is done, although I still have to glaze the remaining Nutella bunnies, as soon as Elise collects her lambs and tahini cookies tomorrow, so that I'd have some free space in the fridge again. Therefore I allowed myself a rest and a nap, and then finished the mini felt teddy. Tomorrow I'll take a pic of it (and the three mini kitties) before they go on to their new homes.

Later we went out for a walk with Mum, but darkess fell so suddenly that we only managed to the other entrance of the building. Still, it was some exercise in the fresh air, so it's okay.

Current Mood: tired

Sorry, I don't know how to say that in English and inspire the same feeling. That's the difference between one's second language and third language, I guess.

Anyway, I've started the Easter baking today. Huge piles of Nutella bunnies and coconut lambs got baked, and I've made the dough for the chocolate chip and tahini cookies. That one needs to be refrigerated overnight, but if the baked cookies are anything like the raw dough they'll be delicious. (Yes, I like raw dough. Yes, I'm strange.)

Tomorrow the bunnies and lambs will be decorated with dark and white chocolate icing, respectively, and the lambs will get a coconut coating. The tahini cookies will be backed and boxed, after they have cooled. My friend Elise is coming on Monday (unless family life interferes - with an ailing father and five grandkids there are no guarantees), so she can take home her share right away.

We also had laundry day, and I baked up the apple and cinnamon rolls I had bought at Lidl on Thursday. And that was, basically, our day.

Current Mood: tired

It is rare, but it happens. And when it does happen, it makes me very happy.
That said, the usual chores were still to do, including some pretension of cooking - basically, I put ready-made, frozen fish-and-chips into the oven and made some instant soup - as well as Mum duty, but the rest of the day was mine. And I put it to good use: I've finished the third felt mini-kitty and almost finished the front panel of the mini-teddy. I took out the recipes for the cookies I intend to bake for Easter. I watched some telly. I took a short but very satisfying nap in the afternoon. I talked to my friend Evie on the phone.

Mum and I also were out for a walk, now that the weather was nice again. It was a very nice day indeed, and I feel more or less ready to face laundry day and baking tomorrow. *g*

Current Mood: rested

Here we go (click to enlarge):

As I mentioned before, they're made of large pom-poms and some felt rests; save for the googly eyes which I bought in the craft shop. The baskets are also hand-made by yours truly, woven of narrow paper strips. They've gone out of shape a bit during all those months of waiting on a shelf for their moment, but, well, they're still pretty. Or at least I think they are.

Still in the crafty corner, I worked a bit on my third felt mini-kitty. This one is a boy and his facial expression is shockingly similar to that of a 5-year-old I happen to know. Not intentionally; it's just how he turned out. *g*

Speaking of plushies, my politically incorrect, slightly garish elephant went to his new home yesterday. My young cousin called in the morning to tell me that his 4-year-old son loved it. It's fortunate that small children know nothing about political correctness. His big sis (all 7 years old) got one of the Bolshie rabbits and loved it, too. Have I corrupted those kids somehow?

In other news, I did the big grocery shopping today and rearranged my book cabinet to make room for future jams, since this flat came without a pantry. I'd like to have a few choice words with the architect who designed these flats...
Alas, the pear jam turned out a bit runny; we might eat it ourselves and I'll make a new batch for the fair. In the not too distant future I'll have to make a tour to the second-hand bookshop to get rid of a lot of Star Trek novels and other stuff I'm unlikely to touch for the rest of my life.

Then we ate leftovers, watched some telly and I had a phone chat with my friend Elise concerning the Easter baking. She's one of my very few remaining customers; I eliminated the others because I no longer feel up to the challenge to deliver cookies to 12-17 different families. Four or five are still doable, so I kept the ones who appreciated it most. Is that selfish?

Also, it rained today rather copiously, so I couldn't take Mum out for a walk. Let's hope tomorrow will prove better.

Current Mood: energetic

And I had hoped Wednesday would be calm and relaxing. *insert sarcasm*

It started with the fact that I got some free pears at school yesterday, when I went to choir practice. Pears are ridiculously expensive in the shops nowadays, so I jumped at the chance and today I made pear&ginger jam. It was a real burner at last year's fair, and jam does not expire quickly, especially if you add enough sugar and leave the jars in dry damp (yes, I know it sounds stupid - it means to wrap them into a blanket and let them cool down slowly over two days or so) properly. So, now I have four lovely little jars of delicious pear jam. I added a few cubes of crystalized ginger and a few cloves to each jar before filling in the jam, so they look really pretty.

Then my young cousin showed up unexpectedly, bringing an external speaker for our telly, which Mum can put on the coffee table and actually hear what is being said in the programme. We gave it a trial run and it worked well; of course, this means we'll have to switch the speaker on every time, as it goes into sleeping mode fairly quickly. Still, it was nice of Danny.

After he left and I was finished with my jam, I took out Mum for a walk. We added another short stretch to our path, reaching the first bench on our way to the corner café. If the weather remains nice, we might be able to reach the café in two or three days. *fingers crossed*

Ugh, I just see I forgot to mention the crafting part, which was the very first thing I did in the morning. I made little bunnies out of large pom-poms and put them into the hand-woven little paper baskets that have been waiting for half a year or so to be used for something. I'll add little chocolate eggs tomorrow, assuming I find any at Lidl, and they'll be perfect little gifts for friends. A photo will be coming up as soon as the eggsies are added, I promise.

And just now I've typed up a whole page's worth of hand-written stuff. So I consider this day full of accomplishments.

Current Mood: accomplished

... has been put together today. It only contains five elements altogether, and one of those isn't even an Easter biscuit. So, the list is as follows:

1) Nutella bunnies
2) Coconut lambs
3) Easter bunnies made of quark-oil dough
4)Chocolate cookies with caramel-coconut filling and freeze-dried raspberries - this one is a new recipe that I want to give a try.
5) Pozsony crescent - although I might cheat with this one and make a baking powder version instead of the yeast dough one. We'll see.

Running up are alfajores cookies and the homemade version of the Kinder choco bons; the latter I'll make as little Easter eggs, most likely.

Aside from this decision, the day was rather dull. I went to choir practice, though, so at least I got out of the house.

... is the fact that the days seem to get shorter and shorter. Sometimes I wonder where did I find the time for so many things, despite working full-time, say, thirty years ago?

Anyway, I spent the morning at the bank, the post office, Tedi, the Auchan supermarket and Lidl, respectively. Common charges for the flat have been raised again, so I needed to adjust my monthly transfer at the bank. Then I sent a letter - actual snail mail! - to the States. Then I bought two more four-packs of tiny little jars for the future jams I'm planning to make for the Christmas fair. Then I fought two rounds against the vending machine until it finally deigned to give me coffee - Wiener Melange, this time, which was delicious. Even though I intended to have chocolate cappuccino... but pushed the wrong bottom. *g*

After these adventures I did the food shopping. Then I pretended to cook again - because making omelets and heating up leftover soup couldn't really be called cooking. After our usual late lunch I took Mum out for a walk; we are trying to do this every day as long as the weather is so nice. The main goal is to reach the corner café again... eventually. By the speed of our progress it might take some time yet.

When we came home I decided to have some social life, so I called H. and a few friends/colleagues (which is the same thing in these days). It was nice to chat with them a bit. Then I typed up some hand-written stuff for the new story, and now it's evening again.

Yes, I know these are lots of small things, and small things can take surprisingly much time. But once upon a time I managed to do small things aside from working full-time, and now I feel terribly inefficient. *sigh*

Current Mood: cranky

Not much, actually. My Sundays are always the same: we got up an hour earlier, so that Mum could attend to Mass via TV, she gets her weekly shower, I try to find the easiest way possible to produce something to eat for lunch, I take down the dried washing... nothing terribly exciting.

On the other hand, boring, routine days are safe. So, for that price I can deal with the lack of excitement. Safety is something rare and precious in these times.

The only thing I keep missing is people. In smaller doses than at the time when I was still working, but I'd really like to have them around me more often. So, since I had to give up on people calling me, I called our recently widowed choir leader instead. Poor soul is in a really bad shape. As if the loss in itself weren't bad enough, she also has to deal with bureaucracy, financial problems and greedy heirs. Life can be really cruel sometimes.

In the creative corner I've finished the second felt kitty. Not a significant progress but progress nonetheless. Especially considering how unmotivated I've been lately. Which also means that the Easter baking will be cut back considerably, with only three or four sorts of biscuits and likely the same number of recipients.

Current Mood: blank

... exhausting, as always. Laundry day; then I had to pretend to be cooking, although all I made was Tütensuppe and peanut butter slices that didn't even require any baking. Then I took Mum out for another walk, and that was basically it.

At least I managed to do some writing in the morning. Without

picowrimo being in session I probably wouldn't have. But since I'm running the show I feel obliged to write at least something, so that obligation is really helpful.

Current Mood: unmotivated

We had beautiful weather today: sunshine and 16°C in the early afternoon. So after I had done my shopping trip, Mum and I finally got out of the house. The two things took me the whole morning and early afternoon, so I was accordingly exhausted after that. More so as I had to visit several shops, all relatively close to each other; close enough that taking the tram wouldn't help, so I walked all the way to the nearby small shopping centre at Savoy Park. The distance isn't great, one kilometre tops, but I'm clearly no longer used to good walks. Gone are the times when I had to jog down a fairly long street to work and back...

Fortunately, we still had leftovers, so no cooking was required. I was terribly lazy for the rest of the day, taking a nice, long nap and reading on the iPad. No writing, no crafting - I simply didn't have the energy. Getting old is no fun.

Current Mood: drained

The original plan was to go and do the grocery shopping today, but when I got up I felt immediately that I won't do that. In fact, I didn't feel like doing anything even remotely connected to housework - so I didn't. Mum duty was a given, of course, but we had leftovers from yesterday, so no cooking was required, and even Mum skipped the washing-up with the argument that there were so very few dishes that they could wait.

Unfortunately, she didn't feel like going out for a walk, either, despite the lovely weather we had - sunshine and 15°C would have been ideal. But her joints were hurting and she was generally in low spirits. Now she regrets missing the walk, but perhaps we'll do it tomorrow. The weather promises to be the same, so we'll see.

I spent the day writing (one page and a half - good progress!), crafting (finished one kitty and worked a bit on the second one), reading fanfic and watching YouTube videos. I love days like this!

Current Mood: lazy

I decided to make some little felt cats, based on the TEDI Kitty's pattern, just smaller ones. Cut out the parts for three and worked on them a bit. One is ready to be sewn together, the other two are still in pieces but at least they have their eyes (tiny little buttons) and bows and lace collars. Except #3, that is, since that one is a boy. So he has a bow-tie and bangs. I think they'll be really cute.

Not much else happened. We decided to be lazy - well, except the cooking. Mum volunteered to make the layered sauerkraut casserole and I made apple compote. Other than that, we didn't really anything. I loved it. *g*

All this laziness allowed me to force my brains into gear and do a bit of writing. Which was the best part of the day.

Current Mood: lazy

This constant feeling of exhaustion, I mean. I got up in the morning like a wringed-out rag. Doing my morning routine (plus the Mum duty) felt like something waaay beyond my abilities.The only thing I felt up to was to lie down with my iPad and read or play Solitaire or watch YouTube videos. Which I did for the rest of the morning.

Then my friend Evie arrived. We rewrote the play she wants to do with her pupils and then just talked for an hour or more. When she left, I was totally revitalized and felt twenty years younger at the very least. Being useful and having fun can do that to a person. Conclusion: I really need to be among people and get out of the house more often.

I still skipped choir practice, though, since the physiotherapist lady was late and I couldn't have fed Mum lunch before leaving. So we had some improvised stuff and leftover soup after 4pm. Not that skipping choir would have been such a big sacrifice. I mean, I like singing and I like my choir-mates, but Evie was enough "people" for me for one day. *g*

On the crafting front, I've cut out the pieces for a smaller TEDI Teddy clone (I find the original too large) and for a few heart-shaped keyring ornaments. Just to have something easy to sew when the vibe catches me.

Current Mood: lazy

I crossed the Danube today because I had a hairdresser's appointment; my hair looked so wild horses would have bolted in fear from the sight. A good thing we don't really have many horses in a big city, isn't it?

In any case, after my haystack had been tamed I made my usual round at the craft shops, etc. And what did I find? My favourite craft shop, a really big one, had closed at the end of January. It shows how often I got to go there; but it's big blow. They had so much wonderful stuff, even though they weren't exactly cheap. I'm moderately devastated.

To add insult to injury, AO3 had been down since last night, two. At least it was up and running in the early afternoon when I got home, which was a relief. I need my daily dosis of fanfic, since that's the only thing I read nowadays.

To end this entry on a positive note: I've finished the TEDI teddy clone. There will be pictures later, when I've made a few more plushies.

Current Mood: frustrated

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Soledad's Journal

My online rambling place

Recent Entries

And she did rest on the seventh day

Another busy Saturday

I did it!

Das war sportlich

Easter is coming!

3 white kitties and a teddy bear

More baking adventures and a bit of crafting

Die Backstube ist eröffnet

A bit of me-time

The bunnies, as promised

Unexpectedly busy today

The Easter baking plan

The odd thing about getting old

This and that, as had before

Saturday

Getting soft at my old age

Lazy, lazier, laziest

More plushies!

Proof that it's mostly in my head

Not again, dammit!