Soledad's Journal

... 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.

... ein Lichtlein brennt. Since I braved the ladder and fetched the Advent wreath from the highest shelf of the built-in wardrobe. And the Nativity scene with its internal music box. So yeah, we were festive today.

Nonetheless, life went on as usual. I took down the dried washing, helped Mum with her weekly shower, boiled the potatoes and the eggs of which she wanted to make a casserole, boxed my finished cookies, filled the spicy vinegar into the small 200ml flasks... small things that ate a lot of time nonetheless.

At least I had the time for a short nap and some writing.

As today is November 30 - the feast of St. Andrew - we also called my cousin to congratulate him on his name day. Then I called my friend Eenie and asked her for a lift on Tuesday, before choir practice. I could haul my remaining wares to school using the bus bus Mum was panicking that it would be too heavy and I might injure myself or whatnot. Which is unlikely, but for the peace of her mind I arranged this solution. Now I'll only have to find someplace cold enough at school, so that my Christmas candies won't melt during the night.

Temperatures dropped below zero for the first time in the year. Thank God we have it warm and cozy inside. *g*

It was a slow day. I boxed my ginger meringues, since the icing got hard in the cold. Then I was lazy, save for the usual Mum duties, until 1pm, when I did some cooking: potato cream soup that Mum loves, fried fish fingers from the freezer, parsley potatoes and a mixed salad. Now we have soup for the next two days and leftover salad for tomorrow. I'll have to come up with something to go with the salad tomorrow.

I also ground the walnuts for the next baking session. And did a tiny bit of writing. Solved exactly one crossword puzzle and watched some YouTube videos and a bit of crap telly.

In the evening I called my friend and former colleague, Ilonka and my friend Evie. We chatted a bit over the phone. It was nice. Meanwhile Mum took over the kitchen to do the washing up. So, we were both suitably housewife-y for a day.

Tomorrow I'll take my spiced oils to school. With that, most of my wares are delivered to storage. Only the vinegars and syrups and the Christmas candies are left, but they need to be kept cool, so they'll live on the balcony until the day of the fair.

I've finally brought up the energy to make the spiced oil for the fair. It isn't a complicated process in itself: put the spices into the bottles, fill them with oil, screw on the lid and it's done. It was the sterilizing of the bottles that took time: first in boiling water and then drying them completely in the oven, otherwise the oil could get mouldy. Also, these were tiny little 50ml bottles, so that made things a bit complicated, considering the sausage fingers I'm "blessed" with. One lid broke a bit, which I fixed with super glue... getting half the stuff all over aforementioned sausage fingers. "Fortunately" I had a bigger bottle of which I had to scrub the label - with a metal mesh sponge, as these things are probably also glued on with super glue - and when I finished the job 40 or so minutes later, I had managed to scrub the glue from my fingers as a side effect. Life is fun. [insert sarcasm]

While working on the spiced oil bottles, I found three 100ml flat bottles I had forgotten about. These are the ones for ginger syrup. So I decided to make more ginger syrup, since I had some grated ginger in the freezer. Well... let me tell you, grated ginger isn't the right source material for this thing. It soaked up all the liquid, and I had a hard time to press as much of it as possible through a sieve. I also had to fill it up with lemon balm syrup, but even so, I only got enough to fill two bottles. Ah, well, perhaps later I'll make a tiny amount for our own use.

That pretty much ate my whole day. Luckily, we had leftovers from yesterday (honey chicken, parsley tomatoes and a mixed salad), so I didn't have to cook. Even so, the dirty dishes piled up in the kitchen. Mum, who insists to do the washing-up, was mildly shocked (even though I wash up everything I can during the process) but attacked the pile like a trooper. The funny thing is, she was more energetic than usual afterwards, even though she felt very tired.

Weather-wise we are having rainy days; only outside the flat so far; let's hope it stays that way. *fingers crossed* I'm still not happy about having to do the grocery shopping in rain tomorrow, and our excursion to H's place on Saturday would be also nicer in dry weather. But as long as the water stays outside I'm not complaining (too much).