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First eound of sorting the slides out is finished. I did not yet find the box with the ones I had done three years prior, but since a lot of things will get reorganised I am in good spirits- almost all things will resurface eventually. It´s not that I intend starting the scanning process anytime soon. There are more pressing matters to accomplish!
The weather was very nice today. Nice but cool, at least in the morning. Hubby finally hung up the radiator but did not have a suitable fitting- will get one in the DIY market tomorrow. I cleared the shelves in the conservatory, plants are all out, some of them even made it out to the organic waste bin. There won´t be space enough to keep them all in the conservatory, and the rest of the house does not have windowsills. Or more precisely those are only seven centimetres wide, not room enough to store plants. After the first spider attacked by dashing out from under the shelves towards me I quit. Hubby was not here to help, he did a short tour on his bike, and I am not the brave killer of big spiders, only will take care of the smaller ones. I wish we still had Vaire cat, she was a valiant helper with those critters, always chasing and dispatching them, while Namo watched from a safe distance. Hubby is trying to get the pretty white cat getting accustomed to us. She comes for a visit every morning, even dares to come in, but only for a short time, then she will be back out, watching us through the terrace door.
I did a quick lunch- Wurstnudeln, using up the extrawurst hubby had bought for cold dinner. Only that one kilo of it is quite a lot, especially when hubby is the only one who loves cold dinner. Okay, I would love it, too, alas, no dinner for me, even though dinner cancelling does not work for me the way it´s supposed to. Then I vanished to the bedroom for a prolonged nap. Daughter found out that I use to be awake at five in the morning and sends me one message after another. Not that I mind, but it´s hard to do all the reading and messaging back under the duvet, and even harder to stay awake during day! Tomorrow will be her last day in Japan, she will be back to Salzburg on Wednesday. I sincerely hope that hubby will manage to finish the heating, so that I will be able to do a quick cleaning of her room and put on freh bedding! If daughter would come back tomorrow she might have a mental breakdown when seeing all the chaos!

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: studio
Current Music: soundtrack HB P

I was getting up late again- couldn't sleep first, woke at four to the gentle beeping of my mobile (had forhotten to turn the sound off). Had an impromptu conference with daughter. She sent me to bed at four thirty. Hubby had been awake early and had already finished breakfast when I came down to the living room. And he also was off early- my niece needed him to do some repair work, because her parents are either too old (her father) or inept (more likely lazy, her mother aka sis) to do the work. So I did some housework, took a shower then added two more rows to the throw. Contemplated a tour over the border to buy more wool but resisted. Will only do so when I am down to half of the balls. This will need some time (four more balls) to be able to measure out and determine how much more I'll need. Hubby had pulled down more boxes with winterly outfit, before he left- he does not want his wife to get more colds. Seems that I do snore with a blocked nose! Some of the clothing went straight into the bin, some has found their place in the wardrobe- I am prepared now for the next cold snap next week but will need to buy replacement. Hubby came back earlier than expected with a parcel in hand- the new valves he had ordered, this time turning anticlockwise, were here already. Those were supposed to arrive on Tuesday. He had picked them up and immediately cancelled work at my niece, who would not have been at her flat anyway, as would sister mine. And since a 70+ janitor and an 80+ assistant in form of BiL weren't the best work pairing, hubby rescheduled. Daughter would not be amused coming back at daily highs of ten degrees and no heating in the house. Neither would I...

The only problem was that the conservatory, previously cleaned of all working tools, now was hubby's playground again, and I was not able to drag the drawers of the wooden dresser there to clear and clean them. And get rid of more plants, dispose of the ugly metal shelves and put the dresser in their place. And, of course, hunt spiders, most likely the big ones, because these are always hiding beneath those shelves! Eeek! So I only sorted out one more box of slides. Almost done now, but there´s the nagging feeling that one more box, sorted a long time ago, when I did cling to those pictures, is still hiding in one of the drawers. Maybe I will hunt for it tomorrow!
I prepared lunch- chicken berbere style again, which went nicely with the chicken wings left from two days before, then went to the bedroom for resting. Promptly fell asleep for two hours- a cold does that to me! Hubby had not yet been able to install the radiator, there´s always things that won´t work out the way they are supposed to. But he dragged the first of the drawers of the wooden dresser out for me and put it onto the coffee table. I sorted out a lot, what will stay is in boxes now. Well, most of it. Even hubby runs out of boxes at times!
I hate the too cool, gloomy weather we have at the moment, it´s definitely depressing! It was not even raining today, but there´s so much high fog that we won´t even see the top of the nearby hills. Even the bull-less cow sounded somewhat muted! And save for two short episodes with sun around midday the lights were on all day. For heaven´s sake, it´s September still, not November!

I have a cold, because it's too cold outside. That's why I mostly stayed inside the house today and was grumpy. Or maybe that was because I stayed up late and had to get up early because of Amazon delivers have found our doorbell push. This does not happen very often, usually they put the boxes on the doorstep and are off in a hurry. Which I'd prefer, even more so when delivery is early morning and it's hubby who has ordered.
After housework I added two rows to the throw then went into the garden and killed the last tomato plant, the one no one planted, but which grew among the geraniums. I have a bowl with unripe tomatoes now, so I put an apple in the middle and hope that some of them (or all) will redden in time.
Son and I did minute steaks with onion sauce and boiled potatoes for lunch. I went upstairs for a nap then sorted three more boxes of slides. Son decided to go back to Graz in the afternoon. He is definitely not happy about continuing studying. Well, let's see what happens...
Hubby was off to a concert again. He could have gone to two concerts- neighbour who had ended up in hospital yesterday because of appendicitis wanted to gift him his ticket, but since hubby isn't able to split himself (thank heavens for small blessings) he opted to visit his old comrades in arms. I just closed the blinds on the terrace door- something strange is going on outside. Lots of police cars and fire engines driving by. At the moment we are up to seventeen, no end in sight...

Last week, when having coffee with a friend, I tried to recall that name. It took me a week to remember that I'd send it to her in case I came upon the term again. Today I remembered. Basically, a charivari is a chain with pendants. Especially huntsman love to add tiny parts of their favourite kill. I came about the word again when reading today's TV programme. Only that today it will be a serial killer with a charivari. It's my favourite crime TV thriller, and I will watch it all alone, because concert season has started again- hubby will be off for the festival theatre this evening. Son will be away, too, to meet up with a friend- free evening for me then! And all this after a lazy day! Only a bit of housework to do, a bit of crocheting, preparing a box for next week's flea market- scarves, knickknacks, dvds and some books. I will need two more boxes to store all the things I want to give away. Also sorted my wardrobe out, a lot of T-shirts had to go. Son and I tried out a new recipe for lunch- chicken wings with berbere spice blend in a batter, fried first then cooked in the oven. I love berbere- spicy, but not too hot!
Cheesecake was even better today. Maybe because I replaced half of the cream cheese with curd- less fat and less salt. Most of the cream cheese blends here must be supposed to get used as a spread only. Salty, saltier, saltiest!
I am down to five boxes of slides. Tomorrow, when the dustbin will be emptied, I will start sorting again. Then another round, sorting the sorting. Then scanning what's left, before the last slides will bite the dust. My drawers will dance a jig!
BTW: I've caught the sniffles. Again. No, not because of my grandsons. Those two are sniffle-free at the moment! The bedroom window wide open at five degrees during night can do this to an old body...

When I told Cassian that he would not be tolerated in the bedroom before six in the morning he answered that he's used to getting up earlier and that his mum consented to this. Easily done since it's her husband who prepares breakfast, dresses the boys and brings them to school and kindergarten. But wonders will never cease, and Cassian slept until seven straight, longer even than his brother. We had breakfast, changed the bedding upstairs (Flavius's nosebleed had left a tiny stain on the bed sheet, but was a valid reason to do the changing for a second time in a week. Son and I did the cheesecake he wanted to take to his friend in the afternoon. No handicrafting got done, instead we supervised Cassian doing the homework he had not done in after school care. Hubby made Palatschinken with tuna sauce for lunch. Flavius did his afternoon nap, while I watched Halloween DiYs with the older brother. We now have a list of things we will do next time. Son did take only half of the cake with him, when he was off in the afternoon, so we all got a slice, too. I will have to save this recipe- grandma's cheesecake, as it's called, is the best. Not overly sweet and soft...
At three thirty DiL arrived and took the boys back home- a bit late, because she had thought hubby'd do it after Flavius's daily nap. Not a chance, husband did not want to go out of the house at such a lousy weather, besides, DiL had agreed that she'd do the picking up!
After consultation with a plumber husband re-packed the radiator, which is indeed defect. Irreparable defect, so it has to go back to the company we bought it from- still no functional heating in the house then. Not so nice, when temperatures are down to 12 degrees and will stay so for the next days. At least, the wood stove is on to send warmth to the upper rooms...

Hubby was not able to sleep, and if this happens no one else near him can. The man is a windmill on legs then. This also meant that both of us overslept in the morning, especially I, who had a five o'clock conference with daughter dearest, who has arrived at Tokyo now- the final destination of her trip. She's already sad that she has to leave Japan and her Korean friend, who lives there at her grandma's. Oversleeping also meant that I did not see DiL's message on Whatsapp- she intended to send us pear tarte, if we wanted some. Please, send us (we'll add the sugar) hubby wrote back...
Hubby was very disappointed about the new radiator- that darn thing won't allow him to screw in the valves. A lot of paint inside the threads that won't come out easily. I would have sent the blasted thing back and insisted on a new, functional one, but hubby thought the problem can be solved, which isn't true.
The boys arrived at two thirty. We had a quick snack (pear tarte, cookies and mango juice) then started decorating then handicrafting. Cassian was in his element- he loves decorating! We made one mummy, a garland with spooky ghosts made out of the triangular bandage I found in an old medical set- spooky mostly because our ghosts have no eyes yet- hubby ran out of black edding! We put the skull into a lantern together with electrical tea lights and hung skeletons on the outside. The rest of the skeletal bunch got placed outside into small flower pots. Hubby fed the boys in the evening- too much handicrafting with grandchildren induced a veritable headache and I went upstairs for a bit of resting. Number four will arrive in the evening, hungry as always. There's enough of lunch (roasted chicken with lemon couscous) left to feed him. I did not stay up long enough for son's arrival but went to bed early. Only waited until Cassian was asleep in the studio. Otherwise I would not have been able to watch funny YouTube videos, or he'd would have joined me...

Turned out that the actual weather for the astronomical start of autumn wasn't even as cool as our summer weather had been. 20 in comparison to the thirty we had yesterday seemed a significant drop but was okay. The temperature in the bedroom last night had been way too high- I had forgotten to close the blinds against the afternoon sun and could not find the remote for the aircon, when I went to bed. Yet I slept until six in the morning, unfortunately drenched in sweat.

Much to my chagrain I found another wooden chair in number four's room, when I put on fresh bedding. Scrubbed, waxed and brushed it. Having to wax meant that there'd be no crocheting for a while but lots of finger-scrubbing. I am very sensitive concerning sounds, and the squeaking of wool running over waxed fingers would drive me crazy. Believe me, I have tried out! But there's soap, there´s nailbrushes and there's repeats of the procedure. I reorganised the drawers with the beddings, sorted out some of the heavy cotton bedding one is supposed to iron after washing. Me ironing? Forget about it! That ended with hubby's last day of work- until then I had had my fair share of having to iron white shirts on a daily basis. Hubby always preferred shirts from Hugo Boss- ironing them was a tough job. Still wonder why the brand hasn´t gone out of business when selling such sh... I also put up Cassian´s guestbed- and found the missing helmet of his Lego Ninjago warrior in the bed drawer. No clue how it found its way there!
In the morning hubby was ecstatic- the new radiator had arrived. Only when examining he noticed that he needed lots of eadditional equipment our DIY markets did not carry- he had to order at Amazon. Two more days to wait before he´d be able to get started! Husband mine was not amused and did a trip to two markets nonetheless- unsuccessfully, as was to be expected.
No lunch-cooking had to be done today, because number two gave us a big pot Tex Mex chilli. He always cooks for eight persons who would be able to stuff themselves with the food for two days- only that they are only four people in the family, three of them not wanting to eat the same meals for four days.
After a short rest used for watching inane YouTube videos, as

wiseheart calls them, I sorted out two more boxes of slides. It´s a boring job, but has to be done before the bottom of the drawer will break- those slides are old, material is glass instead of plastic used with newer slides. Each of those small boxes will contain 100 pictures. Ten of them usually make it into the next round of sorting. Afterwards I drew some ghosts and bats on a piece of paper. We will copy them on construction paper tomorrow and fix them on the lantern in the conservatory- spookiness ahead!
Finally, in the late afternoon, temperatures had dropped considerably, and we were down to 13 degrees. I dragged the hanged out washing back into the living room and closed the door to the terrace. Autumn has arrived but has to stay outside. I swapped my T-shirt for a long-sleeved sweatshirt and made myself comfortable in front of the TV, listening to tales of shipwrecks while I manufactured ball of wool number eight. The boys are already argueing who of them would get to use the throw when watching telly during the cold season. Cassian told me to hurry up, because his brother can have the old throw. He refuses to accept that Flavius always gets what he wants because he is younger, and older siblings are supposed to relent. That rings a bell for me...

Mood
lazy
Music
none
Location
studio

Weather forecast got worse the last days. Not that it would turn cold, of this we knew. But the cold and the wetness are doing a run for our part of the country and will arrive this night- almost two days early! And I thought that finally summer had found its way to us, even though extremely late!
Hubby finally left at ten, just when I had scrubbed chair number three. Ah yes, he forgot to tell me that son and grandsons would come after the visit to the outdoor museum, so that son and hubby could put the metal sheets on the pool. The thing with the sheets was okay. Not okay was that hubby expected me to do a lunch for all. I refused and told him to either eat at the museum or fry the Käsekrainer we had in the fridge for lunch. Definitely no cooking would get done by me, I was occupied with scrubbing, waxing and brushing. At two I was done for- it was so hot, I was sweating, the wax had turned from solid to liquid, but all chairs were ready for further use. I turned the TV on and fell asleep instantly, only to get woken by the boys half an hour later. Hubby had brought kebab for all, we ate, the men covered the pool, I unhung the outdoor curtains and put them in a pouch. Hopefully hubby will find them again next summer, they did a nice job with shading! The thing with hubby is that he thinks he has his own system concerning storage but will forget about it until next summer. Hubby brought son and grandsons back home at five- the youngsters needed showers, even though Flavius took an involuntary bath in a brook at the outdoor museum. Then they will watch the local news on TV- the two got filmed, when they boarded the steam train. Fortunately Flavius still wore his trousers then!

At ten in the morning I had done more phone calls than I will usually do during a whole week. First friend called and asked me where to meet. Ten minutes later she called again and asked me at which time exactly. She had not yet noticed that I was not so keen to meet at all. Then sis was on the phone- she had wanted me and hubby to meet and have dinner. No, thanks, again. The next call came via Whatsapp from daughter dearest- she wanted to know if she should withdraw money because of the big bank maintenance. I was pretty sure that I told her to do so yesterday. Banks have to do maintenance once in a while. But our beloved conspiracy theorists had a field day, as may be imagined- elimination of cash, dispossession and all those things they say will happen if we won't all vote for the party of the right. I did a wary view towards the US and thought that they are not so different from Russ i a, China and North Korea at the moment, shook my head and thought that idiots will never die out. I had not even put the mobile aside when friend called again, followed by sis- both had found shops where I might be able to purchase cheese cloth. Not for cheese making but for handycrafting Halloween ghosts with the rascals- unfortunstely Cassian has remembered that I promised last year but did not do so. Bad grandma. Bad Cassian for remembering.
At twelve exactly I dressed in my swimming suit and braved the ice cold water of the pool for a last time. Hubby has started to pump off the water- son number four will come on Sunday to help him put the cover for winter on. It's not that the metal sheets are so heavy, but I am short, as are my arms, and those sheets are really wide!
Hubby did the fish and chips he found in the freezer for lunch and added shrimps. Phew- there were two antihistamin tablets left in the drawer- will need to buy new ones soonest!
At two in the afternoon I left for the coffeeshop. It was nice to sit on the terrace, in the shadow with a cooling breeze- it was 28 degrees today! Was absolutely baffled, when my friend payed half of the bill! That's definitely quite a novelty! I was back home at six straight, well-fed and tired. My feet hurt from wearing shoes too tight- I want my comfort shoes back, but those are holidaying in Japan. Not so sure if they will make it back home...

It´s not that I did get up late- no one will be able to sleep on with Konstanze´s war cries resounding for five minutes (if we are lucky, her daily tantrum can take even longer). But while hubby was up and running from the beginning I took my time to get started. Had a long breakfast, did a sudoku and a crossword puzzle while having an additional cup of coffee, and only then I felt the need for dressing and starting the day by putting a third layer of wax onto the bench and the table surface. Also did the backside of the bench, but only after having killed a giant spider living in my euphorbia. Hubby did the windows and clipped off the arrid branches of the big brother of the spider-infested plant, then the bench was put into its original place. Hubby went to shower, I dressed for shopping. Came back with a load of Japanese products but did not get the surimi I need for gimbap. Hell, twenty years ago even small shops has surimi in supply, and now it´s rather hard to find.
No cooking today, hubby found two more jars of those infamous peppers filled with gambas. No after-lunch nap got held but I added three rows to the throw. Seriously, I will need more wool, four balls at least! Which means that another trip over the border will have to happen soon. I won´t tell this to the friend I will meet tomorrow, or she will want to accompany me, even though I do not want to be accompanied. Eagerly awaiting tomorrow´s meeting in a coffee shop, where friend will order the standard iced coffee Vienneses style (with vanilla ice cream and lots of whipped cream- ugh!) while I will have iced coffee Italian style (cold coffee over ice cubes) and cake maybe. Of course, it will be me again to pay the bill- said friends tends to make a run for the toilet as soon as I utter a word about payment. It´s not that I can´t afford paying the bill for the two of us, but this gets annoying in time :(
Today I sent a Whatsapp message to daughter dearest, to warn her that my bank (which is hers, too) will have heavily reduced possibility of payment by card and withdrawal of money. Funny that this is even possible in modern times! Imagine, 24 hours of being unable to get into your account...
Two more days of summer, and then autumn will swamp the land with very autumnal temperatures (about twelve degrees)- and no functional heating in the house. Hubby looked into his mails- order in progress. I fear it will take some time before the new radiator will arrive at our house. Good that there is electric heating in the studio and a wood stove in the living room!

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Done

Janitor is back again. Or maybe not...

Cold

About the charivari

Nice!

Miserable night

Slow day

Phew!

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