Soledad's Journal

- I washed my hair.
- I gave Mum her weekly shower.
- I unboxed all the remaining cookies to make room in the fridge for the homemade Schoko-Bons - alas, I didn't get to make them because Mum wanted to cook today, and that means a blocked kitchen for most of the day and an unholy mess afterwards, since she was making Schnitzel, which is a very messy undertaking.
- I worked a bit on my little Santa hats. By my current speed, they'll take forever to be finished, which is actually my own fault: I keep adding more tiny details because I thing they would look cute. They do, but stitching berries on tiny straps of felt is fiddly work. Those berries are small like the head of a steel sewing pin...
- I helped Mum a bit with the cooking, which mostly meant moving heavy objects she can't move herself. The kitchen seems to shrink somehow when we are in it at the same time...
- I watched quite a few idiotic YouTube videos. Blocked a few dozen more channels to prevent temptation. Still not enough, it seems.
- I gave Elise a phone call; she's going to come over tomorrow to fetch her cookies. I hope she can stay a bit this time, even if it means postponing the making of the Schoko-Bons again.

We survived another visit from our talkative chiropodist lady. Like in the recent two times in a row, she asked to watch her favourite series here. I escaped via doing the grocery shopping. Mum endured. Afterwards she talked to her friend (the one that had visited on Monday), who, it turned out is also watching the same series. So she updated Mum about the basic settings. A good thing that the series runs out next Monday. I wonder what the lady will watch next time...

As always after her series, we were both brain dead for the rest of the day. So brain dead that I fell asleep during "The Repair Shop" repeatedly. So I gave up and slept for roughly two hours. Now I feel that I might be able to function again.

That was what we had today. Mum's oldest friend - also beyond 90 - took a cab to us in the morning. They phone each other daily but haven't met in person for years. The old lady lives in a building without an elevator and Mum is no longer in the shape to climb up two storeys to her. So, they had fun.

While they were discussing "God and the world", as the Germans say, I made the iceberg salad for today's lunch. We had fish and chips, which I bought frozen at Lidl and only had to shove in the oven. Not a real delicacy - I had much better fish and chips in a nearby eatery - but it spared me the necessity of cooking, so I was happy to compromise.

When Mum's friend left, I did a short grocery shopping. Then we had lunch and watched some telly. Well, YouTube, actually. Then I called my friend Elise to discuss ways to get her Easter cookies to her. Currently, she spends most of her day in an outlying village because her father needs to be cared for, and her hubby is mostly useless in such things. Alas, we still haven't found a solution; which is bad for me - I want all those cookie tins out of my fridge to make space for real food!

Drained by so much social life, I slept an hour and a half afterwards. Which means that no crafting or writing got done. But my tired old bones - not to mention my tired old brain - needed the rest.


Note: Since DW hasn't allowed me to import I'm beginning to hand-copy my LJ entries I can always delete the duplicates, should the importer recover.

... 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.

... 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.

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!

So, we survived the talkative chiropodist lady, too. Her newest pattern being to ask if she could watch her favourite TV-series after she was done with us, since she wouldn't manage to get home for it in time. Mum said yes, of course, because what could she say after twenty years of acquaintance? *shakes head* This was the second time that woman did this. But finding a chiropodist who does good work and is willing to make house calls isn't easy.

I started another teddy bear, following the TEDI Teddy pattern, only using a much softer, more pliable fabric. I think it will look better that way. We'll see. I've sewn on all the little details; the plan is to save the front and back panels together tomorrow.

Not much else happened. We were both exhausted after this morning; Mum's knee was bothering her so much we barely managed to go to the edge of the building and back on our afternoon walk. I made Topfenknödel for lunch and called H. to see how she's doing, then I took a nap. Tomorrow I'll have to do the shopping again; I hate doing it on Saturday, but there is no other choice right now.

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*

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.

A day in the smial. Mum had her hairdresser's appointment - at home, the lady has been doing her hair for nearly two decades and is willing to make home calls for the elderly - so we started the day with washing her hair. I lazed around a bit after breakfast, since we had leftovers for lunch. The hairdresser could come more than an hour earlier, as one of her clients cancelled, which was great. Mum got her perm and looks 20 years younger now.

After the hairdresser left, I prepared food for tomorrow, since our on-site rehearsal takes place at 3pm and I need roughly an hour to get there. I also intend to go earlier, as my grandparents are buried in that very churchyard, and I couldn't get there for All Hallow's. So I'll go tomorrow. Some grocery shopping and a visit at the pharmacy will also be needed tomorrow, so it promises to be a busy day. Again.

And so will be Friday with the extra choir practice, and Saturday with the concert, and Sunday with the family visit... Honestly, I can't wait for this week to be over. Next week I want to bake the last cookies and will try not to leave the house at all, unless it's absolutely necessary.