Soledad's Journal

I didn't sleep well last night - simply couldn't fall asleep till 2.30 or so - and was accordingly half-dead all day. If this becomes a recurring event, then I'll have a problem. I can't go through the day properly without at least six and a half hours of sound sleep. *sigh*

Anyway, did a bit of crafting in the morning - still struggling with that paper embroidery pattern I'd managed to complicate unnecessarily, but making some modest progress - some minor writing afterwards and not much else. I took down the selective garbage, took back the empty flasks to the RePoint station (had to stand in the queue for half an hour because a bloke before me brought the stuff of a small restaurant, at the very least and filled up both machines repeatedly) and bought some bread, basically. Aldi was out of fresh milk, which is ridiculous! Less outrageously expensive alcohol and more basic food items, please!

My stomach is still not 100%, which is shown through the fact that I have no appetite for most food stuff we've got at home. Poor Mum's been living on the party leftovers for three days by now - not that she's complaining - while I was having toast, boiled potatoes, apples and the likes. I hope it settles, soon, because it's getting tedious!

I got the story back from my beta, who's a jewel. Of course, getting a story back from a beta is always a bit humiliating; here I am, thinking that my English is pretty good, and then I'll have to face the sad truth. Ah, well, my pride just has to deal with the fact that three years' worth of English lessons, all of which happened nearly 30 years ago, won't make me a literary giant in the language. Especially if I keep undermining it by reading fanfiction. *g*

Speaking of which, FF.Net is down again. I wonder what happened this time.

... for Mum's favourite gown that got cut to pieces by the paramedics. Behold my pot holders:



Originally, there were seven of them, but one of the heart-decorated ones went home with my friend Evie. :)

Other than that, my back feels much better. I've come to realize what caused the relapse: I had to put one of the small pillows I sleep on into Louise (the washing machine) because it was completely sweated through. It needed two days to dry completely, and sleeping with just one flat little pillow allowed me to roll over in my sleep and end up on my back. Last night I had both pillows again and got up in a much better shape. It still isn't over, that takes time, but it's a relief nonetheless.

In the morning Mum and I finally dared to get out of the house and have coffee and a croissant in our little café at the corner. She was quite exhausted when we got home - not having left the dratted building ever since this ungodly heat wave hit us has taken its toll. But we seem to be back on track again. Next time we'll go even earlier; the café opens at 6am, after all, and we actually might get our act together and be there around 8am. *g*

Coming home I took down the selective rubbish, made plum soup, finished the last pot holder and we had a visit from the physiotherapist lady. After that, naps and vegetating in front of the telly were on the menu. Although today temperatures didn't climb above 30°C, we still had 28°C within the flat, as the walls cool down much more slowly due to the insulation done three years ago.

... or so I hope anyway. Meaning that I've rearranged the pages of the Christmas-themed quiet book for the third time, and the new (hopefully final) front page is now this one:



I've made this page more than a year ago, but the inscription in the upper left corner, which means "Merry Christmas" in Hungarian, is new. I've discovered this ready-made felt piece in the Auchan supermarket last Thursday, and this was the only page I could fit it in. But it's better so, I think. This page doesn't have any removable parts, so there will be less danger of some elements getting lost. I'll put Santa and his chimney inside the book. ;)

The other good news is that I was basically pain free today, save for a few very minor ghost pains, probably due to the tormented nerves from before. I really hope this means the intense pain last morning was because of whatever was out of alignment slid back into its proper place. *fingers crossed*

Being more or less pain free inspired me to do some writing after quite a while and I made good start on the first chapter of the complementary story to "The Lost Warrior". Yes, I know, I've got countless WIPs, but some things just demand to be written. And my writing mojo has been poor enough since that unpleasant experience with AO3 to deny the muses their due.

Mum volunteered to cook today, so we had a potato and egg casserole with leftover salad. Yummy and with little work; just the way we like it. Tomorrow I'll make little pastries with either sardines or tuna, and cheesy scones after a soup. New Years Eve is all about little snacks, right?

Our neighbour has just left half an hour ago or so. Usually we won't have such late visitors, but the poor woman has so much to labour all day that we didn't mind. And today she was relatively calm, compared with other occasions, so it was nice.

... who has always been my favourite. So let's honour him with a moment of rememberance. Yeah, I know I'm weird. But I came to it honestly. ;))

That said, the day was quiet and peaceful, with a bit of cooking (Mary Berry's chicken pasta bake, yum), and just a hint of crafting.

I took a break from the Christmas quiet book and returned to the 2nd edition of Songbook #2, which was supposed to be a Christmas present for my friend Evie, who also had her birthday on Christmas Eve... but many other projects interfered. Fortunately, she is a patient soul. We talked on the phone today and she assured me that she won't mind if she gets her prezzie later. Much later, in this particular case.

In any case, I sewed together the front cover and the first page and started on the small additions to the second page. Not much achieved, but I'm so weary after all that Christmas baking and the fair projects that I'm allowing myself to do just as much as I still enjoy. Next Christmas is far away, after all. *g*

My back is somewhat better today. I realized it likes when I lie down during the day, thus I did so, twice. I even had a short nap (half an hour) during one of those occasions. We watched crap telly - with the Christmas holidays over, they brought back our daytime favourites - took out the rubbish, just so that Mum can walk a bit, and will do some more telly watching later.

In earlier years a day like this would count as wasted. But the older I get, the more I enjoy the occasional lazy day when not much happens.

... was quiet and lazy - just the way I like it. Well, family visit would have been lovely, but the kiddies are ill and their dad has Covid, so that wasn't an option. My cousin called in the morning, though - he's on the Azores with his second wife -, which made Mum happy, so it was okay. The rest of the family called yesterday.

I worked a bit on the snowman's wardrobe in the morning, and then spent the rest of the morning to hunt down some old, hand-written notes for the sequel of With the Weapons of a Woman", which I felt inclined to think about a bit. It's supposed to be a much shorter story than the first part, and it ought to have been written years ago, but my current circumstances aren't the best for writing. Still, I've selected a notebook and copied in the planned layout of the story onto the first page, as well as a character list, so it's at least something.

We had yesterday's side dishes for lunch, and then I played Solitaire and read fanfic on Methuselah, the geriatric laptop. My lower back still has that dull ache in it that makes life just a little bit miserable; I got up that way in the morning about a week ago, and if experience is anything to go by, this will last for a couple of weeks yet. It's a recurring problem I struggle with from time to time ever since I managed to lift Grandma in the bed in an unlucky angle, back in 1996. *sigh*

So, not much to tell, really, but a restful day was long overdue and I shamelessly enjoyed it.

... as asked for by meathiel.

( The original, in German )

I only had 250 g Cremequark in the fridge, so I added 5 g creme freche, which made the dough even lighter. Also, I found that the 2 tablespoons of compote juice weren't enough and added another 2 or 3 tablespoons. Other than that, I followed the recipe religiously. *g*

Today was cleaning day, so unsuited for any other, more pleasant activities. But at least I didn't have to cook, which is always a win. Digestion is still acting up; no crafting was done today.

The stuff I took last evening and this morning seems to be working. I feel much better. Still a bit ache-y from the aftermath of all those horrible cramps, but I'm back to my normal (moody, whiny) self. I even had appetite today which, compared with the fact that all I ate yesterday was a toasted bun, coffee and water, is serious improvement. No idea what caused the whole thing, but it seems to be mostly over, thank God. A day and a whole night of it were more than enough.

In the morning I felt awake enough to do some crafting, so another accordion card is finished. One more to go; unfortunately, that promises be the most complicated one, decoration-wise. But I'm determined to make it tomorrow.

Other than that, I was mostly recuperating, except that I made Topfenknödel for lunch. I felt tired after my ordeal, but mostly okay, and even had interest in the usual crap telly stuff we watch. Mum is relieved, too; she was seriously worried about me. At her age, she shouldn't worry, that's my job! But we've both calmed down, and she's planning to make breadcrumbs tomorrow. I've cut up the dry buns two days ago, and now they're ready to be grated.

I had an appointment at the dentist's today, which took me the whole morning: I left the house at 9.30am and got home at 2.10pm. One reason was that the trip to the dentist's usually lasts between an hour and 90 minutes. The other reason was that she worked on me for an hour and a half. It wasn't actually painful, but it certainly was unpleasant. Next week will be trying on the new crown, and a week after that all will be done - or so I hope. We won't mention the costs here. Let's just say that I could spend at least two days in Vienna (with Mum) for that money. But since we are not going anywhere in the foreseeable future I can afford a new crown - without being an actual royal. *g*

Fortunately, I didn't have to cook today. Long live the leftovers! We consumed them - yay for free space in the fridge! - watched some telly, then I talked to my friend Evie, which is always a delight, and even did some crafting. Some being the key word here: I added some waves to two water surfaces, in the form of picot edge. Exactly one row of stitches and a half. But those stitches were made through three layers of felt, a layer of double-sided tape and the picot edge, so I think I was suitably heroic, especially after the visit at the dentist's.

Tomorrow will mark the start of the new picowrimo session, which means crafting will be put on the back burner for a while. I really, really need to get back into writing! The plan is to work on Timescapes, my Primeval/Whoniverse crossover with Mycroft Holmes added for some spice. I got stuck with that one last time because I was getting doubt about my idea of the next chapter, but I think I might have found a solution. We'll see. *fingers crossed*

Speaking of which, I'd like to make an invitation to anyone who might be interested. If you like to try your hand on writing, picowrimo is the place to go. We are a small, friendly, encouraging bunch that welcomes new people any time. If you just like to read or watch the writing process of others, picowrimo is your place. We can always use encouragement, and discussing plots and phrasing is an interesting pastime. So drop by, take a look and stay with us if you like what you see! :)

The original plan was to take a crafting break today, since I had to make a food run and was supposed to cook. Well, I did make a food run (including sales traps and all that), but since I brought home some very yummy rolls - and since breakfast didn't happen until 11:20 or so - we decided to simply have Tütensuppe for lunch. And coffee. And some nice Moments waffles that we like so much.

With cooking time freed up, I started on the baby book of my friend Elise's 5th grandchild. It's gonna be a boy, supposed to enter the world in April, so I chose some funny, neutral patterns for the cover (no baby blues). Of course, I managed to mess up the measuring process, so this will be a somewhat smaller journal, roughly 12cm by 14cm, instead of the 13x17 that I usually make. So I'll have to make it extra cute as a consolation, right?

All basic parts of the cover are cut out and aligned, but I was too lazy to do more. Tomorrow is another day.

Health-wise I seem to be back to normal, but we'll have to wait and see how the night turns out. *fingers crossed*

Oh, and I know now what Little Emma and the other toddler girls will get for their respective birthdays. Look at this:



I think with a variation of colours (all that pink makes my eyes bleed) it will be a delightful project... and not too hard to make. Especially as I intend to cut out and glue on all the details instead of drawing and colouring.

Our concert was a great success. The children's choir performed lovely, too, considering that the great majority of the kiddies is younger than 10 and Monica had to build the choir back up from scratch after a Covid-related two-year break.

We were good, too, if I say so myself. Of course, the pieces chosen for the concert were beautiful: "Gloria sei dir gesungen" by Bach, two different versions of Ave Maria, by Bepi di Marzi and Peter Wolf, respectively, "O Holy Night" by Adam, "Panis Angelicus" by Franck, a choir version of "Stille Nacht" and three traditional Christmas carols re-worked for multiple voices. It was a true delight to sing them, and the spectators were truly impressed.

The only minus point was that the heating was clearly shut down in the church after the evening mass, and it was very, very cold. Fortunately, I suspected something like that and wore several layers of warm clothing under my black-and-white finery that we are supposed to wear on concerts, but even so, I've never been so cold in my life. And that includes the time we tapsed around in Vienna by double-digit minus degrees all day!

Coming home, I started with an Aspiring, continued with a tumbler of black currant vodka, then with a large mug of tea - and those who know me also know that I don't particularly like alcohol and positively hate tea - and ended with a hot medical drink called Neocitran. That's a lot of cold medicine, taken profilactically, but I'm now starting to warm up just a little bit (there's 23°C in the flat and I'm wearing four layers), so perhaps, if I'm very lucky, I won't get a really bad cold for Christmas. *fingers crossed*