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Day three of early morning drives meant that I was mostly ill-tempered all day long, constantly hungry and otherwise useless. I had come back home at five in the morning, was no more able to fall properly asleep (half an hour of sleep, twice interupted by a walk to the loo, do not count) and finally got up at seven thirty. Hubby was the first victim of my bad temper- he had just started to make his Sunday breakfast with scrambled eggs. I really do not like that smell at such an hour, especially after not enough sleep! No housework for me today, I preferred a bit of knitting and left things as they were- there wouldn´t be any visitors today. And if there were I´d frighten them away. Flavius´s scarf has front paws now and some real scarf part already. The problem is that I am in need of more wool, which I always buy in a shop on the other side of the border. A shop I have been to just a few days ago, when I had not yet noticed that I needed more of the wool. That´so typical! I definitely will have to wait until the end of the month, when a next drive to this shopping centre will be on my menue. Besides, the boys will be off from next week on, so no need to hurry. Flavius won´t be here to bemoan that Cassian has a cat scarf while he has not...
To add insult to injury hubby told me that I had to be the one to pick daughter up at the airport, because he needed more time for cooking. So I fried my chicken breast early, poored wine over it and let it simmer, while husband dearest turned the content of our freezer upside down, because he could not find the spaetzle. My head threatened to explode because of all the freezer´s beeping (too warm, too warm!), the kitchen had turned from moderately warm to quite cool and my temper flared quite hotly. Besides, the roast venison had begun to spread its scents all over the house, and there´s only one scent I hate more, that of cauliflower cooking. Yuck, yuck, yuck! At one thirty I was at the airport to bring daughter home for lunch. Then we rested in front of the TV while watching some obscure documentation about mountain lakes, which suffered greatly because of too many hikers visiting. Mind you, visiting, mostly passing by only, because ten degrees aren´t exactly inviting for bathing in the lakes. Since there had been only minimal garbage been found in and around the lakes, harm must have come because of the hot looks of those hikers...
Later in the afternoon hubby stoked up a fire, since it was quite cool then, only ten degrees with no sun but plenty of clouds, like last night, when we ought to see Northern lights, alas, it was clouds and rain only. At least they told us just in time that there might be auroral lights to be seen...
Daughter got brought back to her flat by hubby at six in the evening. She took with her what was left of the roast venison and lots of other goodies (that´s why she needed a car to get back home). Since I still have half of a roast chicken breast left, hubby will have to warm himself Frankfurter for tomorrw´s lunch- I am unwilling to do cooking for the next days. There has been too much of it going on the last week...

First of all- I almost did not make it to Flavius´s birthday party. My stomach decided not to behave and I already wanted to call son, when daughter gave me some pills and I finally felt better. At son´s there were a lot of children and a family I had never met before. Turned out the mother was from Romania, hence the constant use of Romanian language done by DiL. We brought son a pumpkin for carving. Turned out that he did not need one, because DiL got her way and will leave for Bucharest on the 22nd. Cassian will miss two days of school- holidays will start on October 24th only. Son will stay at home, as should have the rest of the family, but no. I told hubby quite amused that I had won the next bet between us, and Dil was not amused. Her friend talked German a bit better than DiL does, but when she told that she was teaching at a nearby school I had to ask hubby how this was even possible- shouldn´t teachers here be perfect in German? No wonder that Dil thinks that speaking German language is largely overrated! We left at six, when the first children got picked up by their parents. By then I was half deaf and had a veritable head ache...
This morning hubby picked the boys up at eleven, to take them to Smyths Toys and exchange daughter´s birthday present for her nephew- he had gotten the same by a friend. Flavius opted for another package of Kinetic sand- blessedly they had a rather big selection. Then they picked daughter up at the airport, hubby delivered the boys, and just when I put the salmon into the frying pan they were here. Hubby hated the cross skin, while daughter and I loved it. So he put his outside for the cats. One hour later we had a huge catfight on the terrace, neighbour´s Finele heavily involved. But the winner was the grey cat, usually off when Finele aka Baronin enters the stage. Not this time, apparently there´s nothing better than salmon skin for grey cat!
At four in the afternoon sister mine and her husband came, discussing music and theatre for more than two hours with hubby, while I twiddled my thumbs- for me there are more urgent topics to discuss, which mostly involve common sense and bodily work, which isn´t sister´s forte. Honestly, sis and I are sitting on two different ends of a spectrum, but it has always been this way.
Last night daughter gave me a gummi bear with melatonin so that I´d be able to fall asleep quickly. Had to be taken one hour before I planned to drop off. Only that it was intent on lulling me to sleep after a few minutes, which I did not want, because I had not yet finished the story I had been reading. And when I wanted to doze off I was no more able to and even less so, because hubby came to the bedroom early. With hubby in the room falling asleep is really hard, he is a windmill personified. Not good, since I had to get up at three in the morning. I will give the gummi bears another try this evening. Maybe it will work correctly this time...

Until today we got spared of too much rain and cold. Even today we had sun and nice temperatures, which made enduring this time of the year so much easier. But after lunch, just during our after-lunch resting in front of the TV, strong winds came up, and it got considerably cooler even inside, because the window of the TV nook was wide open to let the pleasing sun-warmed air in. No more warmth for some days, I fear. The building work at neighbour´s came to a stop, when the rain filled the pit so quickly that for some time it looked like a giant swimming pool-to-be. Which makes me wonder why the new houses will have a basement at all, when all people living here got told that no insurance will insure their basements because of high possibility of flooding. Besides, the old building (still standing) did not have one either...
At four in the afternoon daughter decided that we needed candles to make the day brighter. I think that she really enjoys to be at home for a few days, even though her old room is in a shambles. At least we managed to sort out her clothing- two more bags for the clothing drive, change the bedding and shake the carpets. And now that hubby has finally managed to bring down the last box with winter clothes there might soon be a third bag- more of my summer shirts will go, since I haven´t used them all summer long, because too narrow, too wide, wrong colour, wrong cut. You know how this goes! But I noticed that I will have to do a purchase of jumpers, sweatshirts and one or two new slacks. Slacks which I can wear inside and outside the house. Formal trousers I seem to have aplenty but hate them all...
Since last night had been a hectic one due to the consumption of Krautsuppe by three people I will have to quit prime time programme today and go to bed earlier than usual (or I won´t be able to watch dumb FB reels)- three early morning drives are looming ahead. Then there´s the thing with Flavius´s birthday party tomorrow. We are invited and as grandparents have to attend (so DiL says). But seeing the same people, carefully picked out by her, and hearing the pack of children turn the house upside down makes me wonder why we always surrender to her whims instead of simply giving the boy his presents, have a cup of coffee (sans cake) then kiss the boy goodbye and leave. It would be so much easier on our sense of hearing! And honestly, neither birthday boy nor his brother won´t mind, because they´ll be so occupied with taking the house down!

Current Mood: pensive
Current Location: studio
Current Music: sound of silence

...to KIK? Daughter had wanted to buy a present for Flavius´s birthday, but the shop had neither acceptable boy´s wear nor toys. Instead they now run a full assortment for crafting, just like Tedi, only more expensive. Yet I bought two small bags of buttons in decent colours (white, old pink, beige and pigeon) for crafting. We paid (well, daughter did- one had to pay cash, because some idiot killed the EC device, which just got repaired) and were almost out of the shop when I saw the glittering tree I always had wanted but never got (because I am always late at Christmas deco shopping). It went straight into my car, which is very glittery now, because the tree toppled over during the drive back home. I won´t tell hubby, because he´d bring forth the vacuum cleaner, but the boys will love all that glitter...
Otherwise my day was rather bland. A bit of house cleaning, a lot of cooking (or better, cutting), crossword puzzles, that´s all. I really had to overcome my weaker self to dress adequately and get out of the house after napping. Though I did not nap but crocheted another pumpkin while watching TV. Something about Eland antelopes and Drakensberg Mountains. The most interesting aspect was the a capella soundtrack. Isingizi´s music sounds definitely captivating. I might buy the CD at Amazon, if only to irritate hubby- definitely not the sort of music he likes to listen to!

Yesterday building work at a neighbour´s property started, and guess who came out of hiding, just as if the excavator had unearthed him? Idiot neighbour number one, who was rarely to be seen for weeks but came out of the house and watched the proceedings all day long. Because he is so loved in the neighbourhood neighbours had a plan- they brought an old garden chair to the construction site and put it next to the property, with idiot neighbour´s name on it. At least he can sit down when he is watching building work progressing. That man is such a nosy parker, when something with a connection to constructing is going on, only that no one wants him near a building site. I vividly remember the site foreman of a nearby construction area who had to call the police, because idiot neighbour had been entering the building site without permission and was watering the concrete of the block of flats-to-be, because no one else did it. Now guess why no one did the watering? Today´s concrete can handle a bit of warmth, and the old idiot is still stuck to his working days a long time ago, when there hadn´t been additives to the concrete. The police arrived with blue lights switched on, water was dripping from the first floor, there was a lot of shouting and idiot neighbour running to get away. I was no eye witness but an ear witness and had aching ab muscles because of too much laughing for days. Unfortunately, idiot neighbour did not show up today. Probably his family confined him to the house, knowing that him being on construction sites spells trouble. His seat stayed vacant today, but there´s always tomorrow…

So today was a day filled with lots of noise from outside again. Had already anticipated it but this won´t help when one tries to sleep in a bit- having to get up at three is hard on old women! Granted, there wasn´t much housework to do, but cooking alone can be a pest if one is tired. Besides, I noticed that I had bought salsiccia with rosemary, just the one I do not like much. My bad! Daughter was back after work and will stay at our house a couple of days- more early shifts, plus she, too, is fleeing from construction work at the block she lives in. She says it´s way worse than the sounds of an excavator excavating. Then there´s the lift out of order, which means climbing stairs, lots of- daughter lives on the seventh floor! At least daughter can help with cooking- hubby has bought minced meat and cabbage and kraut for Krautsuppe, her absolute favourite. This means a lot of chopping she can do, since hubby shredded the Moulinex I used for cutting cabbage. Accidentally, of course, yet he never bought a replacement…

...a bag with artificial flowers, leaves and pumpkins. I had taken it out of the box with Halloween decoration, ready to put it into the vases in the upper bathroom. Then the boys came, and I forgot. This morning, me more energetic than usual and up since seven, I saw one of those little pumpkins placed upon one of the decorated lanterns and remembered. Only that the bag was nowhere to be found. That was until I brought the rubbish bag to the bin. And there it was, ´safely´ stored next to old bike tubes and other waste. I was very much ready to throttle my husband, especially since he frankly said it had been one of the boys. As if they had ever put any rubbish bag in there! I carefully pulled the bag out and saved what could be saved. It wasn´t about the leaves and pumpkins, those could easily be replaced, but not the flowers made of ceramic- DiL and number three gave them to me as a Thank You, because I had stepped in as a witness to their marriage. I have to remind myself to never put things into a bag which reminds hubby of a garbage bag, even if said bag is in or next to a box with decoration. According to him those always go into the bin, no matter what´s inside. At least I was able to save some of the flowers, but half of them were already smashed to death...
When hubby was off for grocery shopping a neighbour snowed in. We had a cup of coffee each, then I had to start lunch cooking- Mongolian minced beef with rice. We had a late lunch, because hubby brought daughter in. We ate, we rested, had more coffee plus cake this time, and just when I thought I´d go upstairs to read in the quiet of the bedroom some excavator started work at neighbour´s property. The same excavator that startled me up from sleep early in the morning. I fear we are in for more unpleasant diggings during the next days…

The morning was spent with housework- add preparing the guest bed to the list. Hubby brought the boys for lunch. From then on - pure chaos. Today was siren and alarm testing day. From twelve to one we had all sorts of alarms. Worst were the ones sent by mobile, those lasted three minutes each. Three minutes of ear torture...
We ate soup, Weißwürste and Brezen. My stomach does not tolerate Weißwürste, but the boys love them. We forewent resting and started with decorating. Never let youngsters decide about where to place certain items- the skeletons are not in the frames I wanted to put them. Those are where they put in the spiders. Skeletons are sitting on cupboards and the buffet.
Will have to navigate around them when dusting, but I will manage. I had to clean some windows, where they wanted to put stickers. DiL sent the boys with a package of Fimo and water colours. I had modelling mass bought at Tedi which will harden, too, but was coloured already. We made pumpkins, ghosts and bats. Put everything in the conservatory and hope they can take it home tomorrow. Their father is supposed to pick them up around lunch time, means I will have to do a proper cooking. Meh... Then I sent hubby and the boys outside, went upstairs and nursed my bad stomach. Hubby promised to do dinner for the two. Now let's see how that goes...

...I refused. DiL2 wanted to send Cassian to us for practising with the clarinet. I heard it, when she talked about it with hubby, and told him No quite vigorously. If hubby wants to supervise the musical education of his grandsons he can very well do so, but at their house alone. I have had my fair share of my own youngsters playing instruments and swore to myself NO MORE! Hubby was thoroughly appalled, but not as much as I was, when I came to know about DiL´s plans. Bad enough that tomorrow the boys will be here for lunch already, even though hubby and I had agreed on picking them up in the afternoon only! And he also intends to invite their parents for Sunday lunch at our house- what this man will do for free concert tickets! At least he is off to the Festspielhaus now, and I have a free evening. Will have a spa day now with aromatic shower, face and foot mask and trying out the new, sensational body milk daughter has gifted me for my birthday. Says a lot that I will open the jar only now, one and a half months after I got it. Same with the masks- such things are non-essential in hubby´s view. No clue where he´s got this from, but I bet it was my mother-in-law...

... with fear. And I had thought another friend´s driving style was bad. This friend, a bit older than I am, seemingly wanted to top that- and succeeded. The drive to the shopping centre was bad, the trip back worse. The lady ignored stop signs and speed limits, almost overlooked the railroad gate closing. Most of it happened because she was constantly telling stories- about her grandchildren, her daughters, her husband who she thinks has Alzheimer disease. Now I wonder who of the two is the better candidate for this. Especially when she thought it was twelve thirty, when we left the shopping centre- she had picked me up at our house at eleven thirty. The drive to the shopping centre takes more than half an hour, and we spent a lot of time with shopping...
Back home I got out of the car completely sweat-soaked, not only because it had been a very warm day for the first of October. Okay, one of those month I greatly dislike- October, November, February, in no particular order. I made us a cup of coffee, we ate a donut, then my friend left. Since then I am upstairs in the bedroom, bone tired and burnt out. Getting older means that at some point I will have to forego a lot of things. Driving a car, for instance. I hope my children will tell me in time to give back my driving license in case I won´t notice that my driving skills worsen. I do not want to end up causing an accident and have others suffer- like an old acquaintance, who hit a child before he quit. Which also means that social contacts will dwindle- happens when one lives on the outskirts of a small town and friends in another town. Many of our neighbours are older than seventy, those I like best will hit eighty soon. My oldest son is on his way to hit the ominous fifty! So better lie down again and read a bit, all those morbid thoughts are hard on my brain today and won´t do me any good!

I had once noticed that something wasn´t quite right with my LJ account. I changed my password of many years, but yesterday evening I went back to LJ to read new entries on my mobile. When finished I wanted to log out. LJ asked if I wanted to end my other log in, too. Which other log in, please? I had typed the daily entry on my PC, logged out then deleted the history there. So who the heck is using my account, and what for? I am more than a bit confused now...
It was a hot day here with 28 degrees in the afternoon. Hubby, who had started his day at six thirty in the morning because he couldn´t sleep anymore, had spent the morning at son´s, shovelling and casting concrete and watching DiL sleep along. Since the boys are in afternoon care until four our Romanian princess is completely brazen- no getting up before the bell rings twelve or later even. Yesterday she forgot that it was Tuesday, the one day she has to pick up her sons, because they have instrument tuition at different hours. Afternoon care phoned that her sons were waiting for her. I already told you that Cassian has started playing clarinet. But did you know that Flavius, not yet five years old, has started playing cello? Now guess who has to make sure the two will practise? Daddy, of course, because mummy never played any instrument...
I was thoroughly out of it today. Too warm, too humid, too whatever. Maybe I only got up too early, too, because hubby isn´t known for being quiet when awake. In the morning, with husband away, I went through drawers and cupboards to find more donation items for this week´s flea market. Found a whole drawer with new table runners I hadn´t even unpacked. Hubby confirmed that he´d bring the boxes to the parish, because I will be off with a friend tomorrow. For lunch I did Japanese pancakes with sweet refried beans. Hubby forewent the beans and took apple sauce instead. Daughter was appalled that I did not wait for next week, she loves Japanese pancakes...
A former student wrote a message to tell me that her phone number would not work from tomorrow on. I was like Did I ever call you? before I noticed that Whatsapp would no more work either. It had been a company number, but the company went bankrupt (bank rubbed, haha again). The contract should have expired at the end of the year, but her wonderful cousin cancelled it and got himself a new number. Unfortunately he forgot to inform the rest of the family. Definitely not funny, because no one has a landline today! With family members like that, who needs enemies?
At six thirty hubby was off to supervise Cassian and Flavius, which I am grateful for. At the Knödelfest they told me that they liked their grandpa but preferred my company. So hubby can try to improve their connection. On Saturday it´s my turn again- the boys will sleep at our house, which means they will be glued to me. Probably in the true sense of the word- we will handicraft for the spooky season...

Today I got up early. I had one disturbing and one hilarious dream during night. The first one involved the jigsaw and one piece missing, which I had not yet noticed. So first thing before breakfast was verifying that the jigsaw was indeed complete, which it was. The second dream I was not able to verify, because the neighbour involved is on vacation. Maybe he has taken the baby giraffe he had been giving a bath in the middle of the street with him. I hope so, because his son is mostly off, as is his car, so no one here to take care of the wee giraffe. The problem is that said son doesn't have a driving license, probably will never get one. He has failed the test thrice. He has consumed plus dealed in drugs. He is one sandwich short of a picnic. But all this has never kept him from 'borrowing' his pa´s car...
After breakfast I went carpet hunting. Lidl had a nice bedside rug on offer, but only for three days. I went to three Lidl shops- the last rug got sold yesterday. Damn, that's the third time I missed the offer. I so want to get rid of the old carpets!
Back home hubby took my car for a last transport of gravel to son's house. I was sulking along and turned the TV on, when all of a sudden I heard a loud whir, and a huge dragonfly landed in my head. I dodged, waved about, jumped off of my seat, then it was away, but not for long, because the ´beast´ was in the conservatory now. Poor thing found no way out, no wonder with fly screens on the windows. Good that I had put away most of the candles and glass bottles, because with hubby back it felt like having a big-game hunting inside the house. It took him a while to catch the insect- it was ten centimetres in length at least! Conservatory looked like a battlefield then. We released the dragonfly and closed the terrace door. No clue why those dragonflies love our garden so much, I found plenty of smaller ones outside plus two huge ones, when I hung up the new bird feeders. This I always do at the beginning of autumn, so that birds will memorise where to fly to get food during the cold season. Though it´s a bit hard to find the feeders at the moment because of all the greenery. But surely I won´t hang them on the lowest branches with less foliage- too many cats around here, and neighbour got herself two new ones even!
Daughter sent me the new working list of hers. From October 5th to November 7th she has twelve early shifts. She hopes that she can switch at least three of the shifts- twelve is a bit much, she says, even though well-paid.
During coffee break postman rang the doorbell. University on Vienna sent a long-awaited certification number three needs to present to his boss (for a rise in pay) to our address. Son hasn´t lived here for ten years minimum. So hubby had to drive to the post office to send it to the valid address. Even in universities one can find sandwiches short of a picnic- son confirmed that he had filled an application with the correct address. How they found the old one we´ll never get to know...

Husband mine must be bored, very bored. He has been going through the list of events in our federal state all morning long. It´s a long list, with medieval festivals (two of them, quite off but manageable if one gets up early), Rupertikirtag, Georgiritte, Knödelfest. And, of course, the boys should come with us, since they have been confined to their house today, save for one short trip to the dumpsite by bike- mummy was off with the family´s car to meet up with friends. That´s how it goes apparently, mummy enjoying life and daddy doing the rest. She was back in the afternoon and did a walk up the mountain with the boys then. No call back from son came, if the two plus dad (plus mum?) were available for a getaway tomorrow. Not that I want to get away, I want to finish the jigsaw and do a final conservatory cleaning, before the spooky season starts and the boys will decorate (they always start with the conservatory). I did a first jigsawing session straight after breakfast, but I am not as quick as daughter would be if she were here, which she isn´t and won´t be the next days.
I did a tour around the house after lunch, when it was fairly warm and sunny. The figs from Romania did not die nor did they grow. Each of the two got four big leaves, that´s all. My fig, the one I repotted during summer, gave me four very sweet figs, and now new ones have started to grow. Means I will have to take the plant in during winter, so that those fruits will ripen. Definitely the last season inside! Next spring the plant will go into the soil and stay (or die) there. I am so done with the amount of plants in the conservatory, want most of them gone! Strange that my hydrangeas, which had withered during the hot summer, now produce some last flowers. Must be so with others, too, because there are so many wreaths made of fresh hydrangea flowers on FB groups all of a sudden! But it looks strange, all those deadheads and the new blossoms in between!
Hubby took his bike in the early evening, fed up with son still not calling back. Half an hour later he was back with a backpack full of pumpkins he had bought at Lidl at a reduced price. We always buy pumpkis at the end of September, decorate the house with them then eat pumpkin soup in all variations for a while. No pumpkins will get bought at the farmers, those are twice as pricy than those in the shops. And no carved pumpkins this year, those for carving cost ten euro- the smaller ones. Since I hate pumpkin carving anyway (maybe because I can´t carve and cook at the same time) I will happily quit. Of course, this will only work if number three and family will stay at their beautiful house in charming Lower Austria. A country of farmers, none of them thinking that Halloween is worth celebrating. So if Elsa thinks that a trip to grandma and grandpa is in order to celebrate the spookiness, I see the return of the carved pumpkin. Spooky, indeed...

...for the hours around midday at least. I tore open all windows with a fly screen and accidentally blocked hubby out, who was in the garden but left the terrace door wide open. Did so when I noticed four wasps and lots of flies in search of sweets in our kitchen. No wonder, the grapes are all gone! I also tried an insider tip and sprayed water mixed with a few drops of peppermint oil, vinegar and detergent around the windows to keep spiders outside. At the moment those are gathering in front of our windows for invasion. Not if I can help it! Those fat, black menaces can bob outside in their nets or run along the terrace but will get killed the moment I find them inside. One of the best things with bringing daughter to work in the early morning is watching her fight her way from our house to my car like a kung fu fighter, to fend off spiders. Hilarious! Now that she´s off again hubby and I finally settled for salmon for lunch, served on quiche crust in a bed of cream cheese with dill, mozzarella and red onions. Recipe will definitely get a repeat- quickly done, besides, it tastes really good!
Amazon brought substrate for my orchids- I hadn´t even known that hubby had remembered to order it- I only asked him once! Alas, he forgot about the translucent pots, which will help with the watering- roots of orchids will turn pale or translucent, a sure sign the plants need water, which one won´t notice in regular pots. So hubby will have to order again, because he´s the one with Amazon Prime, and he will order today, because our dear politicians have decided to take two euro for each parcel from October on, to ~~fill the public purse~~ aid local trading. We will reactivate our ship-to adress in Germany and pick parcels up on the bi-weekly shopping trips beyond the border from then on...
They say we are in for a warm, wet winter. I watched three forecast, all telling the same-warm winter with lots of rain and winds. I will not complain! I am not a fan of snow and exploding heating bills, and ground-water level can recover. Snow might be nice at Christmas time, but we had next to none since my children were young- the oldest three are all over forty now. BTW: Facebook switched from Halloween to Christmas in the blink of an eye. Now that I need suggestions for ghost crafting there´s baubles and wreaths and dwarfs...

We were supposed to get a bit of rain today and cool temperatures. Weather forecast was right with the temperatures, but we hoped that rain would be sparse, but no- around lunchtime it started to pour. Hubby, who had hoped to be able to finish work at son´s house, returned halfway between our houses. I got drenched, when I brought our dustbin to the main street. Thoroughly pissed I started with cooking lunch. I had wanted salmon, but daughter and hubby wanted spaghhetti Carbonara, so Carbonara it was, but only after me peeling and hacking two whole bulbes of garlic- oh yes, hubby has started the new bacon-making season. Brought home six kilo of pork belly and rack of pork. I was too tired to complain- daughter´s early shift got moved from five to four in the morning, which meant we had to get up at three. Good that I had recently washed my winter parka and hung it on a hanger in the anteroom for further use- it was only three degrees outside. But it will get warmer from Saturday on, means that this Friday morning will still be a cold one for the two of us. I wonder why there are open-air pools still open for swimmers- one can have a look at how many people are using those pools. It´s zero exactly. Yet the water gets heated until the end of September, in case someone wants to make use of it.
While doing the Carbonara I found three bananas dying in our fridge and made a banana-yogurt cake, using my instinct instead of a recipe. The cake tastes really good, is fluffy and not too sweet. Only half of it left since daughter and hubby had coffee in the afternoon. I had to quit, no coffee after three, and definitely no cake. No fruit juice, no sweets at the moment- I noticed that my stomach acts up when I have sweet things. We continued with the jigsaw for half an hour, but at four in the afternoon it was so dark that we had to stop. Darn weather, how am I supposed to finish all the cupcakes till October 3rd, when the boys will be here for crafting! At least, hubby had pity and kindled a fire in the wood oven, so that we weren´t freezing when in the conservatory...

Today the world is in balance sun-wise. From now on we are quickly tilting towards the wintery season, which I greatly dislike. Yes, there will be Christmas in winter, but having experienced Christmas on the other half of the globe I can report that I can very well live with warmth at that time of the year. I wish that there´d be repeats, but I fear I have waited too long and am too old for such a long flight now.
Today was a lazy day. Daughter and I were preparing for a short night. She got up late, I got up early but did only marginal housework. Filled a box for the upcoming flea market. Was brave enough to give three of my favourite but too tight shirts away. Took some pictures of the garden, but did not look at what I had taken pictures of, namely my fingers- will have to do a repeat tomorrow! The woods have been mostly green until now. Today we had four degrees in the morning, and the last nights were only marginally warmer. So we are going from green to brownish yellow quickly now. I should remember to take a picture each morning, alas, the shutters are closed then, and I will go down and simply forget for the rest of the day. Hubby harvested the grapes, and we made grape juice which tastes of apples. Very sweet, very addicting, definitely not enough of it. Half of the grapes fell victim to wasps, until hubby ordered little bags to secure them (the grapes, definitely not the wasps). Next year those bags will get installed the moment the grapes get big enough to capture the interest of the stinging beasts! After juice making daughter and I jigsawed a bit, battling with the autumn sun blinding us, another handicap at this time of the year. So not much progress on this front!
I fried chicken with onions and peppers for lunch and cooked way too much couscous with it. I will have to find a recipe to make use of what´s left, preferably with few vegetables, lots of spices and plenty of chilli, just the way daughter and I like it. Hubby went to son´s in the afternoon to strip the formwork of the future shed. No grandchildren there, because Cassian and Flavius have to stay in afternoon care till four now. Their mum left the house at three fifty-five, to not loose too much mummy time. Honestly, the woman drives me crazy. No work outside the house, none inside the house, but visiting friends and doing sports and clubbing regularly. Something must have gone very long with the lady´s upbringing!

I had a bad night- cramps in my left foot woke me thrice. Twice I got up, sat on the bed for a while, and since the cramps did not go away I walked the floor outside the bedroom. Son was not amused, hubby, neither. So the third time my foot acted up I went down to the living room for walking exercise. Foot de-cramped, I sat down on my recliner and promptly fell asleep. Woke at five freezing. No wonder, it was 18 degrees and I had no blanket. At the moment night temperatures are down to six degrees. Hubby had fired the woodstove up, but it was not enough. As I said- we have to go back to winter setting with most of the windows closed, which I hate. I love fresh, clean air and the sounds from outside. Save for the occasional techno music, but big parties are few here, and the usual culprit will leave his parents' house at the end of the month to move into a flat- parents were not amused about his girlfriend taking over the house.
I helped number four packing (he left in the early afternoon and had to pack equipment for the festival he will attend), daughter came, we ate the rest of the birthday cake and were lazy, until the washing was ready to be hung. From then on housework and cooking- son and daughter had leftovers, hubby insisted on having baked pudding with semolina and curd and apple sauce. In the afternoon, after resting in front of the TV while watching Ancient Aliens, we continued with the jigsaw. Damn, daughter is so good! Of course, I had neglected jigsawing in favour of knitting, but October is drawing close, so is handicrafting (for this I need the table in the conservatory, hence the jigsaw has to be finished) and decorating for Halloween with the boys. Apropos boys: Son sent a list to hubby, when we have to put the boys to bed (hubby's job mostly). Plus son has to work at the bureau and his wife is off to museums on October 3rd. Means that the rascals will do an overnight stay at our house. October 3rd is the (Long) Night of Museums here. Not that I intended to go to town and visit museums, but when I did once, I took number four and five with me, and they loved it. But in family number two it's all about mum, so mum will visit museums while we take care of her sons...

We sat in front of the TV, watching Vera (one of my favs), when the ruckus started. Gun salutes, lots of them. Extremely loud. Then people shouting ecstatically. If you thought you ended up at a crime scene you were wrong. Someone just had organised a techno party alpine style, hence the salutes. I'd have preferred they better eliminate the disc jockey, but no- the blasted music wss still on at six in the morning, when I was ready to commit murder personally. Hubby, son and I were up most of the night. On the way to the loo (all three of us), closing windows (hubby), opening them (that was me, I need fresh air, loud or not), going downstairs for a snack (son and I). Not much sleep was to be had, until at seven, just when I had dressed and was out of the house to jump into my car and search for the culprit, all the ruckus stopped and the only sounds left were a few cars and the lot of magpies. Not that I hadn't done research during night to find the culprit but came up with nothing. So nothing official then. I went back to the kitchen and prepared breakfast. Put out the cake hubby had bought for son's birthday today. Put sturm in the fridge (son won't drink a toast with prosecco, and beer is too ordinary). After breakfast I continued working on the cat scarf: darned in the threads, stitched the head on. Will post a picture after washing it. When temperatures were warmer I harvested apples. Most of them were 'worm-ridden', despite all I had tried to fight off those darn codling moths. Hubby cut out the parts with the grub and put the apples into the freezer. Next year I will resort to pesticides. Those apples are simply too tasty to let them rot!
Hubby made burger for lunch, we had cake and a glass of Sturm, then son left to meet with Ciel for a visit to a museum, and I went upstsirs to take a nap. Only that one neighbour thought it funny to turn on techno music. Very loud techno music. But only for a short while, because ex vice-major threatened to call the police. Apparently she, too, heard enough of this music the night before.
Hubby left to help son with the new guest bed. They finally were able to find the hidden screws, separated the two elements and carried them to the guestroom. Cassian and Flavius were not exactly helpful, and even hubby lost his countenance, when the two spread sand from the sand pile all over the parking lot. Of course, mummy was nowhere to be seen. Probably hunting for moths and/or mold- favourite occupation in Romania...

I got up earlier than I usually do on a Saturday, because after a night with backache I had to accompany hubby to Obi, where he picked the mixing machine up for son's garden project- we had been gifted one that did not work. Only that it does work when turned on correctly, but this hubby got to know too late. See, hubby is not all-wise, even if he pretends so. I brought hubby to son's house then returned back home for houseworking. Not my favourite occupation, even more so when this has to be done with backache and without help. Afterwards I finished the cat head for Cassian's scarf. The outcome is not as fancy as I had wanted, but it will have to do. I picked hubby up at lunchtime, we returned the mixing machine, hubby went to the bakery for Brezen then fetched son from the train station. First thing was covering the pool with the metal plates. After that was finally done we had our Oktoberfest lunch. Both hubby and son were complaining about backache then- no wonder after having to drag those heavy plates around the house to the pool! Plus, hubby had been mixing concrete all morning long! Now we were three who weren't able to move the way a human being is supposed to. Hubby was nice and shared the painkillers prescripted by his medic, then we rested. I think I fell asleep for the first time during an after-lunch rest, but it felt pretty good!
Now our garden is ready for the cold season. There will be some tree pruning, probably one or two trees have to be taken down, but the worst is over. The shrubs will only get cut back in spring (insects will hibernate there). The terrace is cleaned and ready for being decorated. And I was off to Youtube for ideas...
BTW: Last night daughter kept us awake for some time. She and her friends were supposed to return from Stockholm at ten in the evening, but their flight was behind schedule and they missed the last ÖBB train to Salzburg. Hubby found out that at a quarter past midnight there was one last train from Vienna main railway station, so the three took a cab into town. A close call even then, they arrived at the station five minutes before the train departed. The fastest runner blocked the train door (forbidden, but who cares at such a late time), the two with the luggage followed suite. Of course, daughter had to tell me about their endeavours and even sent a message that she was back home- at three thirty in the morning. And I had forgotten to switch my mobile to silent...

I finally braved the tour to the apothecary. It's always an expensive one, because my physician sends out a two-month prescreption. It was the first time that the original prices for those drugs were listed on the bill. Most were only a bit over the prescription charge, yet I needed a prescription from the head of department, if I wanted more than one. Funny thing is that I could easily have two or more of the real pricy drugs- without approval. Our medical system is on the way to collapsing, and I do not even wonder why...
Still no news about number four's coming in the morning. Anyway, I cooked a lunch without cheese- almost unheard of in our household. Tiny meatballs with white sauce and noodles. Cheese for me for afters (I am always low on calcium). Hubby had chocolate. My after-lunch rest should get spent with sleeping, but sleep in the afternoon always eludes me. Not that my night's sleep is undisturbed- my dreams are getting odd again. The first one I had last night was about a pool party with my school friends at our old house. That was strange, because the house is built at the foot of a mountain, with lots of trees around but no sun. Special guest was a young devil. Looked like Dudley in HP, only with horns. The little guy was so sad that we girls did not want to swim with him!
In the afternoon hubby and I went over the border and did Aldi shopping. Finally son called- he will come tomorrow. We will freeze the meatballs and have Weißwürste with Bretzen instead. And beer. Tomorrow is the official start of Oktoberfest. One must celebrate when one has the opportunity...

We had more rain during last night than we had in a full month. Our street was one big puddle of water. First thing hubby did in the morning was pump water off the pool, lest it went straight back into the technic duct via pipes, with no gadgets to stop it. Needless to say that I did not want to go out and fetch my prescriptions, and then I had a shower and did not want to blow-dry my hair (and could not go out), and then I had to do some housework then some knitting. There´s always an excuse to avoid fresh, wet air. When the rain stopped and it got warmer (wow- 16 degrees!) it was already time for lunch-cooking. Hubby had brought a box with vegetables and fruits at reduced price, so I had to process a lot of peppers, apples and carrots. I decided on spicy carrot soup that went into the fridge and pork with peppers and the last home-grown tomatoes. Tomato plants are as good as dead anyway, even though we keep them under a roof. It´s definitely too cold for them now!
To compete with my cooking, hubby started a huge batch of bacon jam for his ex-colleagues. Means he had to endlessly fry bacon and onions and whatever goes into the jam- not good for my lungs, which won´t tolerate hot fat (makes me cough to the point I will have to make a run for my inhalator). So I took my knitting and went upstairs to the studio. I have started the cat head already, which might cause me quite a headache. But I will master those problems, I just don´t know how long it will take to figure all out!
Still no mail today- no letters, no leaflets, no nothing. Hubby is rather upset- with those leaflets come discount tickets, which come in quite handy for buying more expensive foodstuff. Last postman who honoured us with his presence came last Thursday. The staff got those fancy e-cars which apparently don´t find their way into our street. Christoph, our old postman, is on vacation for three more weeks (probably touring across NZ again). Of course, he had only been given an e-bike, but he came at least twice a week...

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We´re all mad here

Welcome to the asylum

Recent Entries

Good for nothing

I misbehaved... again

Real autumn has arrived

What happened...

Look what the excavator has dug out!

There once was...

Panic mode

And today...

Petrified...

More strangeness

And the hunt was on...

Hubby gets adventurous

Summer is back...

Rainy day

Happy autumn equinox

Should I stay or should I go

Jump on the bandwagon!

Now we are three...

Finally!

Rainy Thursday