Soledad's Journal

... and I'm not speaking about the usual routine, like giving Mum her weekly shower, washing my hair, taking down the dried washing and the likes.

Today I had kitchen duty. The cauliflower I had bought yesterday needed to be pre-cooked, cooled down, put into freezer bags and frozen for future use. For lunch, I made a mushroom-and-ham omelet with grated cheese and history's worst soup. For some reason trying to make gebundene Gemüsesuppe always ends in failure. I don't know why. It isn't such a complicated thing; and yet I fail every single time with it. Of course, I made a large pot. Enough for at least three days. Mum, being the soup junkie that she is, will eat it willingly enough. I might kip my portion into the loo...

Aside from the cooking disaster, I did some writing and crafting. The red felt bunnies are almost done. All that's left is the stitching of their faces, plus sewing the front and back panels together and stuffing them. I hope to finish them tomorrow or the day after. *fingers crossed*

Writing was considerably less abundant, but I did write a little bit, after I've googled for info on infected leg wounds. This is an alternate version of the TOS episode "Plato's Stepchildren", after all.

Well... not really, no. Being a full-time caregiver doesn't really come with days out. But it was an easier day than most, and all the things I did were done voluntarily.

One of those things was an Apfelstrudel. It wasn't necessary to make one as we had leftovers from yesterday, but I subscribe to the opinion that every decent house simply has to have baked goods available, preferably on all days. Well, we don't have them every day, but after three days without I start getting restless and won't calm down until I've baked something. And ready-made puff pastry makes things soooo easy, which is why I try to have a package of it in the fridge at all times.

Of course, self-respecting Hungarian housewives would tell you that any kind of Strudel absolutely has to be made with filo pastry. Preferably the home-made kind. My self-respect doesn't go down the suicidal route, though. Why trying to make such things from the scratch when the ones bought in the supermarket are much better and always go up beautifully? Besides, I hate things made with filo paste. They always swim in fat. For me, puff pastry is the way to go.

The other voluntary thing was of crafty nature: I cut out the main panels for two more felt bunnies. I might or might not make more in the six weeks remaining to Easter, but two should be doable. Teddy bears and elephants will be postponed, but I'll try to fill the rabbit hole with, well, rabbits. Bright red ones at that because the fabric I need to use up is of that colour. Believe me or not, red bunnies actually look very cute!

... was a tad hectic. At 8:15 in the morning the locksmiths called and made their offer. Mum was still sleeping, of course, so I told them I'll call them back. Mum decided to accept the offer, despite the hefty price. So, the guys will come tomorrow around 9 in the morning and - hopefully - repair the balcony door. *fingers crossed*

I made the Apfelküchle for lunch. They turned out excellent; we ate most of them for lunch and saved a few for supper.

The PT lady had asked for a switch because she wasn't in town yesterday. So she came today, two hours later than usual, but that was okay. At least we could have lunch comfortably before.

What else? I had a nice, long phone chat with my friend Evie. It turns out she loved the TEDI Kitty very much, which pleases me to no end. We watched some telly, and that was basically it.

Tonight I'll have to rearrange the living room, move some furniture out of the way and lay down large pieces of old bedlinens, so that the guys won't ruin the wall-to-wall carpet (which has, unfortunately, a light beige colour) beyond repair tomorrow.

Our janitor showed up today and repaired the light switch in the living room that had a contact problem (the light switch, not the living room) and the sparkling wall socket in my bedroom. He also brought the locksmiths with him, so the balcony door will hopefully be fixed in the not too distant future. We forgot to ask the locksmiths to take a look at the toilet door, which we haven't been able to close properly for years - but perhaps we can do so when they return to repair the lock on the balcony door. That would leave us with only the disfunctional door of the kitchen cupboard, but that would need a carpenter, not a locksmith. Perhaps our versatile janitor will be able to do something about it eventually.

All these repairs cost money, of course, and while we can afford them, thankfully, the prices are a bit staggering. We'll have to start saving for Spring, when the repairs of the water damage in the kitchen, loo, bathroom and floor are due - that means having all these rooms repainted. Joy, joy, joy. And that is without mentioning all the emptying the rooms, and moving furniture and cleaning up afterwards. *headdesk*

In the rest of the day I did a bit of writing, made a horrible soup for lunch (it turns out you can't make a decent potato cream soup out of three rather small potatoes and a teaspoon of creme freche, after all), had a nice, long phone chat with my friend Elise, who's down with a bad cold she'd caught from her three-year-old grandson and watched some telly. Time flies when you're having fun, eh?

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.

... 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.

... 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.

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.

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.

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.