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Darn weather

It was so foggy this early morning that we could not even see the streetlights at the end of the street. The what we call the giant Christmas tree (a building complex of a factory not so far away, with windows lighted so that it resembles said tree) was invisible. I drove slowly to not run over someones beloved cat or dog or whatelse will run along the streets here (by now we had domestic animals, farm animals like horses and cows, martens, foxes, badgers and rabbits plus lots of deers and one tortoise which had made off some pond). Daughter was delighted, because low visibility also meant that each passenger had to do the ways to and off the plane by bus- only that buses at the airport are rare (it´s a small airport) and will come at pleasure. All that on a day with many arrivals and takeoffs. Trouble was sure to follow...
Back home I collapsed into my bed- and was not able to sleep anymore. So I read- fanfics first then recipes for Christmas drinks. Still a big thanks to an old LJ acquaintaince for her Wassail recipe. This one, though highly alcoholic, saved me from more than one Christmassy breakdown- by serving the drink I was able to placate my mother, who turned from a composed woman to a wicked anti-Christmas fairy the moment she entered our house on Christmas Eve. I also found a recipe for punch concentrate (with white rum, of course), homemade cream soda and butterbeer (last two ones alcohol-free). After breakfast I did the big vacuuming and floor wiping on the first floor then fell back into bed for more resting (under the duvet, because hubby had started another fight with the heating, which only gave him the cold shoulder until he came with the deaerator- again. Not nice when it´s only zero degrees outside (we were promised to get up to eight). Hubby did the lunch-cooking, I knitted and unravelled again, watched a documentation about Christmas cakes in Germany, did not bake as planned but lazed the rest of the day. Tomorrow is another day, with number four already here. We think (hope) we can do those last cookies together...

And the fun starts early

It was a quiet day with a bit of house cleaning and knitting, until my former student came for a visit- she stood in front of our house rather messy and distraught, because she did not see the icy puddle on the street and took a tumble. I gave her schnaps for the circulation and afterwards coffee and cookies. One must be blind to not see the puddle, but she had been at a Christmas celebration of the Unitarians and maybe did drink a bit...
Hubby had fled (he cannot stand the lady) but had to return at some point. Only to tell me that a) son intends to come tomorrow at lunch time already instead of Monday, and b) that daughter has to do early shift tomorrow (many of her colleagues have caught the flu). Fun, fun, fun- so I will be dead on my feet all day long and will additionally have to cook tomorrow. And I had thought I'd have a last, lazy Sunday in Advent. Then again, hubby has already brought up Christmas baubles and the electric candles. Has checked the batteries and inserted them. Only that said candles are gaga and some of them start to glow to their liking. Hubby has turned them off with the remote at least four times already. Wandered off, and lo and behold, the box with the candles was aglow again. Serves hubby well...

Up and out

Hubby got up at seven, and I dutifully followed him down to the living room to have breakfast. The desastrous Friday shoppings of the last weeks made us leave early for good old Germany and its lower prices. Unlike last Friday it was not as crowded as I had feared. We got most things hubby had on his list (like beef filet) in the first shopping mall and the rest and a bit more in the second. Also got the bath mat for my friend- same version as mine, only dark grey in colour. Mine is teal- already too much grey in the bathroom. Apropos beef filet: Said friend had an encounter of the third kind with the butcher with the brain cells of a flobberworm. She wanted beef filet, butcher told her he hadn't any. His collegie told him that half a beef was in the next room, so if he maybe'd do his job... My friend was told to come next day for filet. Only that the same game started next morning. No beef here, no filet. My friend almost exploded with rage, and now she has filet worth 90 euro. Not that much meat, because filet is expensive, but way too much for one person. The flobberworm twerp insisted that he could not cut smaller portions. That butchery will see neither my friend nor me for a long time.
Back home a former student of mine called and asked for a visit. I must be some sort of wailing wall for her. I told her she can come tomorrow afternoon, and for coffee and cookies only. Nothing to do at the weekend anyway. Half an hour later daughter made an appearence. Another half an hour later number one showed up to fix Christmas visit date. He wants to avoid a family confluence- thank you very much! So it's number four from 22nd to 29th, daughter
on 24/25th, family two on Christmas Eve, family number one on Christmas Day, number three and family from 26th to 28th plus sis and all of her family sometime in between. I fear I will be a nervous wreck on New Year's Eve. It was so much easier all of them invading our house for Christmas Eve and be gone two days later...
I did not make walnut cookies today, as I had intended. I knitted a lot. A lot because I had to unravel the last third of a sleeve- one stitch had deserted its brethren. So down it was and back up again. In the afternoon hubby showed me how to cure the ham-in-spe. I added cinnamon and cardamom to the salt for a bit of festivity. Will cook the ham on Wednesday and roast and glaze it on Thursday. Stifado will get cooked at the same time, so that I won't have to spend all day in the kitchen. It's bad enough as it is- already told hubby that he will have to cook the next days or eat at a restaurant. At the moment he is off again for a concert. Good for me, I need time to cool down...

Yummy- mealworms!

Today I prepared snacks for the birds and hung them and those I bought in the shops onto the trees. Okay, all save for the coconut filled with seeds and mealworms, that was hubby´s job- the sight of the worms made me shudder! One hour later our tree was under siege, haven´t seen so many birds in our garden for a long time, even though the weather was cold and very rainy all of a sudden. Mealworms must be a treat for them! Huzzah, I have opened a gourmet restaurant for birdies!
At least the cold will back off until long after Christmas. Sunshine, temperatures up to ten degrees, no rain (and naturally no snow). I do not care, one of the few things we can´t change is the weather. At least I hope so.
We had clean-the-house day this morning. Not that I was ecstatic about dusting and wiping the floor and cleaning the kitchen fronts, but baking is mostly finished (now I am sitting on a mountain of walnuts no one needs) and there also won´t be more wreath-doing and the like, so a proper cleaning was in order. I do not want to scare visitors off by the help of stray fir needles and sticky surfaces. BTW, I managed to make the power button of the dishwasher so sticky that it did not work properly anymore- hubby was not amused, because he had been the one to carefully clean it. I also wrote a shopping list for hubby. He wants to do a tour over the border on Friday, because Lidl sells Kerrygold for 1,29 euro. If he does not start the trip before eight in the morning I might join him- early showers are highly overrated anyway! Hubby was off to number two in the afternoon, while I was still knitting (instead of having my daily after-lunch nap). I got bored after a while, dressed properly (one should not leave the house in a jump suit) and left for stores to buy things I need for Christmas cooking. Also bought more magazines with crossword puzzles. Wow, I got gifted with a small Christmas present in the shop: beer, gingerbread, band-aid and freebies. What a combo!

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Not much got done by me today- a bit of cleaning (mostly collecting stray Christmas baubles and other things no more needed for decorating in boxes hubby is to bring to the basement), I threaded slices of dried apples and oranges and attached those to the doors to the terrace and the conservatory (until now I had them decorated with tin figures, but imagine the noise they made when the doors got torn open, a thing which happened regularly), I cooked lunch, had a long chat with our postman (oh dear, that guy is so funny), and that's practically all I did. Oh, I forgot the short three thirty in the morning-chat with our newspaper deliverer, who arrived when I had just left the house to take off the cover on my car (thank you, hubby, for putting it on the wind shield, or I would have had a hard time scraping off the ice). The newspaper deliverer is a chatty one, I heard her talking to her mobile when she wasn't yet in our street. At least she comes early and puts the daily into the post box and does not throw it...
Hubby was off most of the day- bringing a can of olive oil to his former colleague, bringing sis's Christmas tree to her flat (she still cannot handle a roof rack), doing installation work at son's. The last might have been a bad idea, because I cannot fathom the family having recovered so quickly. Well, we will see, how this turns out...

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Since I spent the evening at daughter's godmother drinking eggnog and avoiding cookies I completely missed dinner. Woke at six in the morning and was so hungry that I got up, finished the Klosterkipferl by dipping them in chocolate then devoured breakfast. Weather was fine if one lived up the hills, down here it was cold (only two degrees), foggy and dark. Now I can cope with rain and snow (if unavoidable), but fog is worse- no hills, no wood, even the houses next street were veiled. I turned on all lights in the conservatory, strung the tiny, labelled, bottles to the Christmas tree, put more golden angel hair onto the twigs, dragged the nativity scene up from the basement and arrayed it on the dresser, almost freezing to death then, because hubby has turned the heating off in this room. Not good, when I was sniffling all night long. And I had not even been outdoors long enough to catch another cold- once again I missed the Wilde Jagd custom (the one only insiders know where it will happen). Well, DiL could have called me, because it started near their house, but she didn't.
Hubby went grocery shopping and came back with so much salmon that our freezer is ready to burst. Needless to say that we had salmon for lunch! Easy recipe done with joghurt and dill, the only problem was that I had forgotten to take my medication, so that my body would tolerate fish, hence a very queasy stomach for a while. I pottered along on the terrace, turning two small metall buckets into Christmassy decoration, warmly dressed, of course, while three guest cats were trying to make me trip by coiling themselves round my legs. At least they weren't chasing birds then! Since hubby decided to make another batch of bacon jam I postponed baking the last cookies. Our kitchen is not that big that two people can work on two different meals at the same time, especially since the table got relocated to the living room and there's not enough work space for two. Hubby in the kitchen needs lots of space, so daughter can help me with baking tomorrow, depends on at which time she will show up. At least she can be bribed with free cookies! Husband mine not so much- he bought another box of cookies à la mutti at the grocery shop- the ones sis and brother-in-law found to be lacking in texture and taste. Just let him, that leaves more of the good stuff for the rest of the family!

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Did quite a lot today: I was off to the post office, posting Christmas cards, was at the apothecary for medication, drove to a shop and bought a new magazine with crossword puzzles (daughter will come on Sunday, so we need more). Cooked an easy lunch (egg dumplings with minced meat) and did some knitting instead of resting. In the afternoon I stickered the tiny flasks for the Christmas tree and made Vanillekipferl and Klosterkipferl. Helped hubby with the next batch of bacon jam (the poor guy can´t work properly because he cut his fingers) and made four tiny arrangements with bells for the garden fence. And just when I wanted to call it a day daughter´s godmother called and invited me for an impromptu advent party- means I will get her self-made eggnog for tasting and lots of cookies done by a friend. At least I might be able to sleep through- consumption of eggnog does that to me, and I have to catch up on sleep anyway- today I got up at six in the morning!

Oh no!

The whole house reeks- hubby has made a firsgvvbatch of bacon jam. The aroma spread all over the rooms, because I was not able to tear the windows open- despite the prognosis of our dear weather forecasters it stayed quite cool under the blanket of fog we got, six degrees only when temperatures were supposed to go up to twelve and more even! My guess is that hubby wants to gift the jam for Christmas- to whom I don´t know. Definitely not me who will be eating this!
I overslept in the morning, went down for a quick breakfast then started with cooking lunch. Number four had asked for beef broth with Butternockerl (small, ill-shaped dumplings done with butter, flour and eggs). Since the train to Graz left at twelve thirty I had to be quick- boiling meat needs time to get tender, especially when it comes straight out of the freezer! Meanwhile I wrote Christmas cards and ordered my prescriptions via phone call- the only good thing that came from covid. No more driving to my doctor's office twice a month! After son had left I continued with knitting. The measurements I found in the web seemed odd, so I went in search of spare outfits of Flavius to compare. And added two stitches to the front part of the sweater to be on the safe side- Matthäus is a big boy, but contrary to Elsa not overweight. I want to do more knitting in the evening while watching TV. If hubby lets me- he does not like the ceiling lights turned on during TV watching! Had an afternoon nap, only interrupted by my friend's phone call. We will meet up next week, when my cold will hopefully be better. BTW: Sis's visit and my cold had an impact on my psyche- I had a funny dream this night: Hubby went to Clara's (my niece) school at the zoo to correct the homework she had done wrong (sis had begged him to do so, she always needs something to get done by him). On the way back home he took sis's youngest, a babe, with him, because babe was sick and whiney, and sis did not want to get sick also. I was shovelling snow (lots of snow) at home with our number five while working myself into a frenzy. Daughter took her cousin (who in real life is two years her senior) and carried him into the house, while I had a rather loud go at husband mine, because I did not want to have a germ spreader in the house. Hubby was not amused. In earnest- I had started shouting at him loudly when dreaming! So loud that I finally woke up sensing a seething husband next to me in bed! I still wonder which names I called hubby in my dream...

Christmad...

We are almost there, general madness has set in, but it feels more like as if Easter is on the doorstep. This morning it was five degrees (roughly the same temperatures we have around early Easter), temperatures climbed up to 15 during day, sun was shining, the birds were out and active like in spring. Foehn was gently rocking the Christmas baubles in the trees, the cats must have started their spring love life at the wrong season. Mad times we are living in, not only because of the ill-fitting weather! I did not sleep much, because number four was not able to rest and was up and running all night long. So I read fanfiction (reading Homo Faber, which I had downloaded a few days ago, seemed too much of an ordeal at such a time). Found that some fics I had loved but not saved have been taken down, because their authors were intent on starting a writing career. Reminds me of a extremely well-written Wraeththu fic, which got re-modelled and made its appearance in a collection of Wraeththu stories. Only that it had lost its charme then. That was what I nicely told the author via forum. She was not amused but explained that the original fanfic had included original characters she was no more allowed to use in the publication. While listening to Christmas carols I did some house cleaning, because sis and her ailing husband had announced their visit for the afternoon. At least, I had cookies now. I did only get to know recently that Carol of the Bells stems from an Ukrainian folk song and classifies as American now. Maybe Selenskyj should claim the song back! Anyway, the song is one of my favourites. Alas, hubby does not like to listen to Christmas music. Sole exception is Bach's Christmas oratorio. A bit too heavy for everyday music I'd say! We had much fun with sister and her husband, even though the poor man does not look too good at the moment- swollen feet and hands which hurt. I hope they will soon get the results for his blood testing! He is on an antibiotic diet since three weeks!
Christmas cards are still resting next to my PC, but I found a sweater I will knit for my godson. Not a chance that it will be finished next week, when the family will come for a last visit before Christmas. Hubby has already wrapped the presents, I have been writing a list for cooking- definitely not easy, when Elsa is so very picky! Then there´s the thing with the Christmas ham- I will have to buy the meat next week, so that hubby can cure it. I will have to order it at the butcher- not so easy to get a pig thigh as a whole...

What I did today

I got up early. Spent a lot of time in the shower, inhaling aromatic fumes. Watered the plants in the conservatory, four of them with old beer- should help with the yellow leaves of the citrus plants, but conservatory reeks like a pub now. Baked Florentiner. Baked nut slices. Baked orange shortbread cookies. Ate spareribs, even though I do not like those (but number four does). Drove to the apothecary for Grippostad, after coughing got worse. Installed the Christmas train. Called it a day at five and went upstairs to write this entry and spend the rest of the evening with reading.
What I forgot to do:
I did not write the Christmas cards, which pile up next to my PC. Missed the time slot for calling my doctor to order the much needed online recipes. Once again did not look for knitting patterns for a sweater for Matthäus. The boy was so fascinated by Elsa's cardigan- loved the stars done with the buttons.
I promise I will do better tomorrow...

Caught it, of course

All was well in the beginning. I got up at seven, had a nice breakfast, dressed and drove over the border for the Christmas train and the Christmassy air refreshener Aldi had advertised in the leaflet. Got all plus a few things more. Back home I had another cup of coffee- so much about reducing my daily dosis, but I needed it to stay awake. The heavy rain which had started during night and woke me repeatedly finally turned into a drizzle again, and the sea of water on our street trickled off. Good for the birds, because two cats lay in ambush to catch them, when they were taking their beauty bath. Bird spas are dangerous with so many cats around! I did two batches of cookies, which came out of the oven abysmally looking but are okay in taste. After baking it was cooking lunch then resting then baking again. Son number three called and told us that Matthäus had done a tumble and had been in hospital for getting stitched up. Flavius had done the same yesterday at the zoo. Two boys stitched up now... While I talked with son I noticed that all of a sudden I got a runny nose, and soon after I started coughing. Mission accomplished, Flavius and Cassian have successfully spread their germs. That does not bode well for Christmas. Usually it takes two to three days for me to go into full-blown coughing fits, and three to four weeks until I feel decent again. I hope the baubles and needles will stay on the tree when I am near...

No clue...

...where those winds came from, but before I was able to light the second candle on the Advent wreath I had to retrieve it from the tiles on the terrace. Also had to rebuild Mount Nikolaus (that´s what Cassian named the construction towering over the wreath, because it reminds him of a mitre)- relatively strong winds had taken off with the whole wreath. Not a big problem save that one of the candles got a bit scratched as a result. It had started to rain in the early morning hours- at three I still found a sliver of the almost full moon´s light on the stairwell´s wall. BTW: Cassian made me take a photo of the moon yesterday, at seven fifteen in the morning- the boy loves moon-watching and even found Venus (tiny point top left in the picture).

The darkness of a rain day in December is oppressive, at least for me. Not because of the rain itself (t´was more like a drizzle and better than snow because less dangerous for drivers) but because double darkness (rain! December!) always makes me depressive. I started three cookie doughs but did not make any cookies. Doughs are in the fridge now. I should have done the washing- hubby thinks that having two boys with a cold sleep in the guestbed cries for fresh bedding. The two slept in the bed exactly one time and might be back the oncoming week. Hubby also wanted me to strip the bed in the guestroom, because Flavius had held a one-hour nap before lunch. Provision of work orchestrated by husband mine! That man won´t sit down and rest, but I did (hence providing him with work intended for me- serves him well)! I also did not cook but stretched yesterday´s leftovers with cabanossi and called it a day. And if you think that this made me happy you are dead wrong. Even being happy felt too tiring! Besides, I am not exactly happy at the moment, hubby´s mood swings are a bit daunting! I also missed the afternoon coffee with cookies (done by Milka), because I seriously detest sitting in a living room lit with the worst ceiling lamp husband mine was able to find in the shops. Its light always makes my head hurt! So I half-heartedly pottered about in the studio, eliminated old magazines and did absolutely nothing otherwise except for looking at knitting patterns for boy sweaters. Neither did I manage to fix the studio and give it some touch of Christmas nor did I find a fitting sweater for Matthäus. All in all a wasted day...

Done

I am done with this year's decorating. Had the boys help me putting artificial snow, tiny houses and trees into glass vases, filled laterns with baubles, put the tiny tree up. Made twenty more winged keys, gifted the remaining keys and wings to the boys. The two coughed their way through the day, but it made no sense to barricade myself in the bedroom to escape their germs, because hubby had one fit after another when I left the living room only for a short while. Very ill-tempered that one was those last days- I blame it on him finally recognising that he might take a swift turn towards age-related forgetfulness. Or dementia. Or Alzheimer- his mother died with (of) it. Though coughing a lot, the boys were very agile- too agile for my liking. Plus they had a good appetite, mostly for sweets they found in their boots this morning- from Nikolo, with kind regards. BTW: At nine in the evening DiL sent a message that her boys were supposed to clean their boots for the presents. Well the two were in bed already for more than one hour, and I was definitely not ready to wake them!
Finally, at five in the afternoon, I dressed the rascals for the big Krampuslauf, and hubby left with them for son's house, where they'd eat shrimps and mussels for dinner then watch the show well-fed. I made me one last coffee, did a crossword puzzle, cleaned the living area then stacked the remaining boxes with decoration in front of the door to the basement for hubby to take them down tomorrow. If he feels so. Not so sure about it- depends on his mood!

As always

DiL called in the morning to ask what she should pack for the boys. Strange, as often as she's off she should know by now. No word about the boys' health. First way after we had picked them up was to the apothecary- both are a coughing mess. Flavius also had a feaver. But mummy is off to have fun in Venice, dad is working, so idiot grandparents are to the rescue. I wonder how long it will take for me to catch that cough. In that case I will indeed call off family Christmas...

That's annoying

Now guess when I got up today! At six thirty, after having spent more than one hour writing shopping lists after studying several leaflets on my mobile. In bed, of course- no chance that I'd fall asleep again after my tour de loo, so I did something essential at least. Which will force me to get up early on Monday. I blame

wiseheart's LJ entries concerning shopping adventures for trying the same. Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a half-holiday in our country- schools, banks, administrative bodies etc are closed, only shops can open, if they want. Most want, because they need to straighten this year's meagre earnings. I vividly remember the shops opening on December 8th for the first time many years ago, when lots of door locks got sealed up with instant glue to prevent opening for clients. No feast day beyond the border, so off to Bavaria it will be, and early at that- lots of people living on our side of the border will do the same, hopefully later. Hope dies last.
Today and tomorrow are the last days with cool weather. From then on there'll be lots of wind and rain. Blessedly winds only instead of storms, which are supposed to befall Britain and Ireland. And the northern parts of Germany. There are times when I am glad that I do not live near the coast. There are more times I regret not living there...
Chances are that number two will take the boys back Saturday evening. He managed to weasel out of work early, so that he and hubby will be able to go to the Krampuslauf in their village- one of the most popular here. When I was young and visited grandma around December 5th, a Krampus would show up out of thin air and you'd better run. When we lived at grandma's- mum's- now son's house, Krampusse got coordinated, and at the evening of such a Krampuslauf we weren't able to get to our house- streets locked because of the infernal event. Our village wasn't big then but has 8000 inhabitants now, located between a small town and a slightly bigger town. Infrastructure got an upgrade, the village has a new centre were such events will take place- no more blocked streets now. From centre to son's house it's a five-minute walk. I swear that if hubby returns with Cassian and Flavius I will call off family Christmas! Today's parents are...now let's talk about something nice instead! I did more crafting, with lots of hoppalas. For instance, I glued more wings to tiny keys, only to notice after a while that half of the wings I used up had come from the keys I had glued minutes before. Happens when one works without glasses! The elastic string that came with the wings broke my nerves. No knot would stick, so I replaced it with sewing thread. I am no patient person, hubby heard lots of swearwords! But he got his spinach dumplings he hsd wsnted so long for lunch, together with gorgonzola sauce. I am not a spinach addict, but I tolerate it. Spinach dumplings are nice to eat but fickle to do. At least hubby came to the rescue when it came to cracking eggs, to avoid more drama! Afterwards I had a nice after-lunch nap. Woke laughing because I had dreamed of tyrannosaurus keks- a Vanillekipferl with sharp teeth. Oh my! Must ask Cassian if he'll draw one for me tomorrow. Got up and baked some cookies. No recipe, only melted a bar of chocolate, added cranberries, butter, egg and flour. Cookies look a bit odd but taste okay. Tomorrow I will put some frosting on them. If I feel so. Not sure about it. Since son number four will come for a visit I will have to do his favourite Christmas cookies- Florentiner. Very sticky these ones, very sweet, but also very good! And easy to do, which is essential!
BTW, in the afternoon I got a visit from our guest cat. Guest cat brought her sibling. Last time this happened cats had the same size. Now the red is huge- must be a male! A bit shy this one, but also very hungry. Never saw a cat going for the bird feed. Maybe it likes the fat I poured over the seeds?

Still tired, but busy

What is it with me being awake from five thirty on each morning? Once again I got up early (six thirty), braved the cool temperatures in the living room (heating gets turned off during night and powers up at six only, because we do not find the right mix radiators- underfloor heating and woke to 24 degrees in the bedroom more than once. I prepared breakfast, took a fright at finding a not exactly tiny beetle on the dining table, which took off when I tried to catch it. Buggy must have come into the house by fir twigs and is terrorising us since then. Hubby went hunting with bug spray, but in the early evening it was still alive and flying along. After a quick shower after breakfast I dressed for a shopping tour to Aldi, only to realise that half of the things I needed for baking were sold out, and those in stock were the ones which are pricier than at the other side of the border. Half of Salzburg must have done shopping at Aldi- no eggs, no almonds, no marzipan, even the powdered sugar was sold out. They still had cocoa, walnuts and hazelnuts, all pricier than at Hofer. So back to Hofer it was, to get the rest of baking ingredients. Brought the groceries home then left in search of green blankets for the sofa on the terrace. Why do they sell red ones but not a single one in green? Have been to three shops, no success. Lunch came out of the tin- cassoulet with duck. We had been given the tin by Florence for cat sitting while she was in Paris, I had given it a wide berth for almost a year, because I do not love duck. What shall I say? It was very good, a sure sign the French can cook. In the afternoon I coloured seven more tiny brooms then threaded them together with the other 24 on golden strings. Tomorrow those will go onto the artificial Christmas tree in the conservatory, together with flying keys and golden angel hair. Still neither hide nor hair of my lay figures I wanted to dress for Christmas- I have gone through all drawers at least twice and opened each and every box. Nada. Maybe they emigrated when I carted the scaffold to DiL, because they thought they were no more needed. In the late afternoon I finally knew how to decorate the ugly rose arch in the front garden- only a few red baubles but lots of bird feed. I dressed for going out again and drove to Fressnapf. Spent more than 30 euros for fat balls and the like, so this better look good! At least the rose arch will be a place where the cats won't find a way up! After so much excitement I was really tired, especially after having missed the daily after-lunch nap. I told hubby not to wake me should I fall asleep when reading in the bedroom. Went upstairs, turned my mobile on, wrote this entry, heard the doorbell- and in came one of the neighbours for a visit... So much for catching up on sleep!

Early post

...because the boys will snow in at five in the afternoon (my guess is four o'clock- DiL might not be punctual when picking her sons up but is mostly early when deposing them), which means there'll be ruckus enough for me to give up on writing an entry. It was dark and wet today but less cold. I had to invest a lot of time into doing housework, almost ruined the rug in the bedroom by sucking the fringes in the vacuum cleaner (extra long fringes, extra hard to remove), got mail from daughter that she'd come in the late afternoon because she misses parts of her working uniform (and that I should look for it- I denied, I won't enter the chaos in her room), did a bit more decorating (found an old picture frame, replaced the painting by rusty metal fir trees and stags that had decorated last years' Advent wreaths), made curry noodles for a late lunch then fell into my bed for resting and typing- I am up and running since six thirty and am reasonable tired already. Besides, tomorrow I will have to be up even earlier- Cassian has to be in class at seven thirty. Must be the horror for DiL...

(no subject)

There are those days when husband mine feels adventurous and comes up with ideas for decorating. Poor lad did not have a chance doing so when young, with his mother converting from pious Roman-Catholic to even more pious Jehova's Witness. Christmas was a no-go zone for the family then. Hubby does watch reels, this I noticed when he brought in a piece of tree bole he had not been able to cleave and began to drill a hole into it, where he stuck a branch into. I only had to wire some thuja, and ready was a pretty tree for the terrace. Afterwards he cut the log we brought from son's house (had been a part of the late barn once) into pieces which I turned into small trees that don't look like trees but are very oeko. Hubby dutifully ate an orange so that I was able to make another tiny wreath out of the peels. The older, now dry one, got fastened to the arificial window hung on the wall next to the sofa. Then the Christmas baubles got brought up from the basement. For a while the livingroom looked like a playroom for Christmas elves blowing up boxes with baubles. It's better now but far from suitable for visitlrs. Good that the doorbell died, so we won't know if someone rang it. Tomorrow I will have to finish the Advent wreaths. Strange- I have two of them, all candle holders, candles aplenty but have no clue how to decorate. Hedwig, the Potter owl, must have flown off, the snitches, too. I am tempted to do the Forbidden Forest with Firenze and Snape chasing recalcitrant students. I also am experienced at doing tiny trees from scratch, might even look nice! The boys would love the scenery, all depends on my fingers now- today all my blisters decided to burst (too much wiring) and I definitely do not need any sort of infection! I will post pictures of the outcome, if there is one...

Whining again

After husband mine was off to son's (he needed measurements for installation work) I quickly did two more wreaths, same measurement as my friend did yesterday. Used up less twigs for the two than she had when doing her Advent bomber (that's what hubby called her green monster). I reflected on yesterday's conversation, which was mostly like Don't you think that those twigs look too big for making a wreath ( the sellers won't use the finer parts of the tree, because those will get sold as Christmas trees, of course), Seems that the tree did not get enough water during summer, Some twigs are needling already (then don't use them, take others) and so on. When she boasted that there was too much resin in her opinion I was so very close to tell her to buy a ready-made Advent wreath from now on. The lady has money for all sorts of gym courses, for visits to the hair dresser every four weeks, for sailing trips thrice a year and other travels, but when it comes to making an Advent wreath it has to be for free- candles gifted by her daughter, the green gets bought by husband mine, and coffee and cake has to be all included. Strange friends I have! She's not the only one with such antics!
I did a thorough cleaning of the stairs and put up the artificial fir trees. Hubby was grumbling about tripping hazards, but he will learn to avoid them. Finished the beech basket- hard work, because moss was still frozen after a night with minus six degrees. Still no cookies baked- I hate that job, while husband is already dragging jars with various sorts of jam up from the basement. Buying is not an option- I searched in baking groups on FB, but 50 euro is a bit much for a rather plain selection, and that's the cheapest version. I so had hoped that number four would come for a visit- this one loves to bake- but no, he postponed to next week, when the boys will be at our house for three days. We will definitely have to bake cookies with them, because their mum never does. Dear

wiseheart, don't they do cookies in Romania? That would be a shame!

Hard work

Seeing the straw wreath I had bought for the outdoor wreath hubby cut off more thuja. And he was right, I did need more of the green. But first, before my friend arrived, I had to wrestle our household into shape. Did the lunch-cooking (potatoes with ham) while hubby drove off to buy more fir twigs. We both had lunch early to be able to do a nap before the big wreath making. I should not have put so much energy into vacuuming and mopping, after crafting the floor looked as if a fir tree had exploded in the middle of our living room! My friend managed to do a wreath pending between size M and Xl. I told her so in time, but she never listens. And yes, she used up the hole, expensive bundle of fir twigs, while I worked with the free thuja. Good that hubby hid the second bundle! I will need it for my advent wreath and the Potter wreath. And for outdoor decoration, of course! I sincerely hope that my poor fingers will recover from today's wreath making overnight- they are sore and itching- apparently they dislike thuja! But worst were the tiny spiders which seemed to attach themselves to me- found them on my arms, dangling down from my hair- I was definitely not amused about it! Well, as long as I won't find ticks in the green...