Soledad's Journal

I did do the grocery shopping today. Fortunately, we had a fairly nice day, only -3°C, thus there was more mod than actual snow and almost no ice at all. Therefore I reached the Lidl supermarket next corner and back in one piece.

The rest of the day was routine. We did the laundry, ate leftovers, watched a tiny bit of telly (it's the weekend, so there's barely anything worth watching), I took a short nap, played Solitaire on my tablet... and that was basically it.

Well, I did some online research on early 'Voyager' episodes, so the day wasn't entirely wasted. Better than nothing, right? And heroic, too, as my neck and shoulder are still acting up.

I've fought a battle with the online Client Gateway today - with the significant help from their Customer Service via phone - and won it! Granted, it cost me changing my password (which is always a pain in the backside, as they require ungodly long passwords with both letters and numbers and whatnot), several logging ins and logging outs, but at least I could access their online hosting and download some documents sent to me from the State Treasury (which is responsible for old age pensions and the likes), so it was worth the headache.

Crafting-wise I've finished (and sewn on) the second little felt washing machine, so my twin laundry rooms are at the same stage. I've also cut out the parts for the laundry room shelves and am now considering how to place the ironing boards most practically. I think I'll make them removable; in that case, however, I'll need to find a way to make folding legs. *scratches head*

I made Topfenknödel for lunch. We opened the small jar of fig jam my cousin's new wife gifted upon us. This was my first encounter with fig jam and found it quite pleasant. I might make some myself for the next fair, but a Christmas version, with candied orange peel, fresh orange peel and orange juice. I think that would be really nice.

I also gave H. a video call to see how she's doing snowed in as she is. Not only does she live in an outlying village, she also lives on top of a steep hill. As expected, she sensibly avoids leaving the house, but even so, she managed to catch a cold. As if her other health problems weren't bad enough!

My neck, shoulder and right arm are still acting up. Happens every time I manage to take in a twisted position during sleep and lasts annoyingly long. Horse salve helps a bit, but I must take care how I sit and lie, and too much time at the desktop PC proved to be disadvantageous. Drat!

... is the liturgical end of Christmas time (although there are some who state that it would be Candlemas), so I thought I'll use my lovely Christmas icon one last time. :)

We got up an hour earlier today because Mum wanted to attend Mass via TV. It's a mandatory church holiday, after all. When she settled down, I took my own shower, got dressed - and promptly lay down and slept for another hour and a half. It was life-saving!

Around noon the insurance guy and the janitor came to survey the water damage. They took further photos, insurance guy calculated things and then asked for my bank account number. Apparently, the money should arrive there in a couple of days. That was fast! Having three and a half rooms repainted will take considerably longer. *sigh*

I braved the streets, after all, while Mum had her weekly visit from the physiotherapist lady. The walkways were clean and almost dry (our janitor is a very thorough guy), but it started snowing again as soon as I left. Now, five hours later, it's still snowing. Fortunately, I found everything we might need in the next three or four days, so I can sit in the nice, warm flat and admire the snowfall through the windows.

Crafting-wise I've made solid progress today. One of the felt washing machines is finished, the other one half-done. That's more than enough for one day, I think. I'll continue tomorrow. Now I'll go and post the next chapter of "Alternate Caretaker" to otherworlds_lib

... was fairly busy again. I started with taking down the dried washing, continued with giving Mum her weekly shower and then went on to do some cleaning. Not a very deep one, where - as a former colleague of me liked to put it - I would bite out every spider from each corner, but I did a fair bit of surface vacuuming. Enough to temporarily kill my back as usual. But that was in the morning. I'm better now.

Cooking was an easy affair - I mostly finished the Champignonfleisch yesterday, just had to add the creme freche to it and to make a salad and some Semmelknödel aus der Tüte as side dishes. It turned out delicious... we probably ate too much of it, but there's still enough for tomorrow. Long live the leftovers!

I think this flooded bathroom/loo/kitchen thing has brought me to the end of my tether. I keep taking naps several times a day and am still ridiculously tired all the time. Last time I was so floored had happened back in 1988 when I left my convent and was put up by a German friend for a couple of months. *sigh*

At least I managed to do a bit of crafting again. Not much: I just cut out the parts for the washing machines for the dollhouse quiet book. They're supposed to look like this one, only with silver front doors instead of grey ones.

We then watched "The Incredible Dr. Pol", "Salvage Hunters" and the GBBO (not in one sitting, of course; we usually watch TV while having breakfast or lunch), and that was basically it.

... was blessedly quiet. We watched some telly, ate leftovers, took naps - and that was basically it. I did a tiny bit of crafting - two tiny motifs, which have brought me to finishing the second dollhouse dressing room. Now I'm trying to figure out how to design the living rooms.

Later on I briefly talked to H. on the phone, then solved a few crossword puzzles, and now the day is over. Again. It seems time hasn't slowed down just because we have now a brand new year.

... aaaand I forgot: behold the dressing rooms!

... started with Mum going to the loo well after midnight - and stepping into a veritable puddle. Water damage had escalated during the previous hour and the leakage was coming in through the bathroom, the loo and the kitchen ceiling. I called the janitor (poor man has a 0-24 duty shift) but since we couldn't reach the person living above us all I could do was to wipe up the water and place rags everywhere.

The night after that was... eventful. I got up every two hours to wring out the rags and replace them, thus trying to keep the water from getting into the other rooms. It was fun - NOT!

In the morning the janitor finally reached the woman above us and made her cut the water in her flat. Must be bad for her, too, as the plumber won't come before Monday, and she'll have to get around the problem somehow until then. After that, walls dried up (although still look horrible, as if a dog would have pissed all over them) and we haven't had any more leakage so far. I just hope she won't get impatient and turn the water back on, or else the nuisance would start anew.

So, now we're (NOT) looking forward to dealing with the insurance company and eventually having all three rooms re-painted in Spring. This year really went out with a bang. *sigh*

On more positive news, my friend Evie did actually come to visit us in the early afternoon, and my other friend, Elise, gave us a nice, long call, both of which I enjoyed very much. I also made an enormous sausage roll with a salad, none of which we've actually eaten. So I won't have to cook for the next two days, which is always a blessing.

... was the day when I actually left the house - for the last time of the year. Grocery shopping was the exact chaos I had expected, with obnoxious and sometimes rude people everywhere. But at least I chose to walk to the Auchan supermarket from the pharmacy, which is only 700 metres or so, but moving around in the clear, cool sunshine did me a wealth of good. I was getting the kind of cabin fever when I hated to be inside but didn't want to go outside, either, so it was healthy for me to do a bit of walk.

Grocery shopping took accordingly long, and when I got home it was early afternoon already. We ate leftovers, watched some telly - and did nothing else. In the afternoon I fell asleep for almost two hours, which was sorely needed, but it took me a long time to become fully awake again. And now the day is over once more. Where does time go so quickly?

... brought back the usual routine. We had laundry day, this being Saturday, I cooked a cauliflower-heavy meal (noadvertising would have been horrified), we watched the reruns of the GBBO - and that was basically it.

My friend Evie called, and we agreed that she'll come over on December 30, now that I've more or less shaken off my cold. I expect to be all okay on Tuesday. *fingers crossed* As we say here in Hungary: a cold is over in a week when you've seen the doctor; without a doctor it lasts a full 7 days. *g*

Inspired by ApostropheN's interesting Alternate Voyager series over at AO3 I've dug out my own attempt from twenty years ago. I kid you not: I started posting my version to FF.Net back in 2003, got as far as 20 parts... and never finished. I actually might pick it up again. We'll see. The sad truth is, I've got way too many unfinished WIPs. I had high hopes to pick them up and finish them once I'd retired, but as we all know, life had other ideas. *sigh*

Still, my New Year's resolution will be to try and do some more consequent writing. We'll see how far it gets me, considering that the next picowrimo session isn't due before March. But I'll try.

... was lazy and quiet - the way I like it. We slept a full hour longer than usual, ate the food I made yesterday, exchanged e-mails and video calls with friends and family... and then just rested. I enjoyed it very much. :)

One more day till Christmas - which, in this country, predominantly means Christmas Eve. Shocking how fast these four weeks flew by. Now I'll have to think of subject lines again - very inconvenient! *g*

Anyway, I did some grocery shopping in the morning, which was traumatic at best. Lidl was like a battlefield, due to the usual reaction of people to the fact that the shops will be closed on December 25 and 26. I really should have gone yesterday, but I felt miserable due to this dratted cold. Well... I've paid the price, even though I just bought such everyday items as bread, diary products and fruit. *sigh*

As a result, we had a very late brunch. So late, in fact, that we skipped lunch entirely and had our afternoon café roughly an hour ago. With cookies. And that counted as supper already. Tomorrow, though, tomorrow we're going to have a really nice dinner. (Unless I burn it or whatnot...)

My friend Elise dropped by to fetch her last tin of cookies, but she did it on the run (five times grandmother with an ailing father), so there's only Evie's tin left on the balcony. And our own ones, of course. I intend to regroup the remaining cookies and free up and put away at least three or four tin boxes in the process tomorrow. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day. But at least the Christmas tree is decorated.

I've baked the sponge for the Russian Cream Torte, which I intend to make tomorrow. The funny thing is, it isn't actually a Russian dessert. It was invented by a Hungarian pastry chef, who worked at the Oroszi Kávéház (Russian Coffee House) in Budapest, so oroszkrém torta is a real Hungarian dessert.

I'm planning to make it with red currants, gold raisins and mandarines - if it turns out presentable, I'll post a photo. *fingers crossed*