Housekeeping - the struggle is real

Thursdays are usually designated for house cleaning. And I freely admit that I'm not the biggest fan. Fiddling around in the kitchen I like, and ironing and grocery shopping are ok, too, but cleaning… Should be something deeply rewarding as you can see the result of your work instantly, but I am glad any time I completed this task. Splitting it up into single days doesn't work - it's like extracting one tooth a day instead of pulling all teeth at once :-) 

Sometimes when my motivation is on a field trip having fun without me, I watch videos of American housewifes with 8 to 10 kids and how they manage their households. I always tell myself that their houses are so much bigger and such a large family causes so much more chaos, dirt and mess - I should be glad. Two grown-ups, two dogs and a medium sized bungalow, can't be that bad. And usually that works as motivation.

Unless yesterday when procrastination hit me hard. Did you ever think of baking your cookies in a waffle iron instead of an oven? Well I didn't, at least until yesterday. Made the dough, put it in the fridge for 20 minutes, rolled it into balls and squished them into the waffle iron. Pretty fast, pretty different and pretty nice.

As you can see in the second row from above, you have to check them regularly as they are done damn fast! They are kind of crunchy and stay that way when stored in a tin can. But I guess they will be finished quickly because they are really yummy.

So I completed my procrastination project earlier than expected, which left me with more than enough time to engage in cleaning our home. That called for a reward like this: 

Happy thanksgiving and a merry first advent!

Have a good start into the new week, y'all!

Hey, another weekend passed like a whirlwind - maybe because it didn't pour with rain but was nice and sunny for a change.

Saturday I was rather productive - take a twig from the last gardening action, a bit of twine, three bottles of balsamic vinegar (empty, of course) and some artificial eucalyptus which didn't make it into last year's deco wreath and - bazinga! - a nice wall hanger which even is appreciated by hubby! Doesn't fit into the living room but goes perfectly with our basement. And I think some real spring flowers might work pretty well later on.

There is a German tradition: We don't bake much cookies throughout the year, but they are a must have around holiday time. Last year I kind of went over the top - too many types, too large amounts, too much weight on my hips… I wouldn't do completely without but for this season I decided to cut down a bit. Thus I made three kinds of cookies on Saturday: hazelnut macaroons (not free of calories but more or less free of fat - the least I could do), cookies filled with raspberry jelly and the classic vanilla crescents. I only did one portion of each and to get them to last until Christmas I put them away into our basement - out of sight, out of mind (hopefully). And moreover, we didn't have cake to our afternoon coffee, but instead I served a few cookies, apple slices and coffee with cinnamon syrup. Healthy and yummy!

And I tried these little guys - tiny trees out of fabric (like the tape you use for bias binding) and wooden beads - e.g. as gift hangers or tree ornaments; with durable yarn and atoxic wood paint they would even make some nice baby toys. Pretty cute, right?

Fun fact: Do they know it's Christmas turns 35 this year - isn't it amazing?

Enjoy your week!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Yes, indeed - I am in the mood for Christmas, and therefore I already finished my outdoor decorations. Not completely voluntarily, at least not the timing.

But let me start at the beginning. We found a letter in our garden from the neighbors who have their garden back to back to ours. They kindly asked to shorten our trees because they had grown very much. I found their way of contact slightly weird because they could've knocked on our door. As far as I remember neither hubby nor me are known for biting strangers… Anyway, their wish was our command and as we lacked a large ladder we asked the gardeners who had to repair our fence to do the trees as well. Shortly after we found another letter stating kind of: so far so good but there are still massive branches hanging over our fence, would you please be so kind… The gardeners had thought it would be better only to cut the heights in order to not disturb the neighbors and to avoid getting in their garden to cut the backsides of our trees. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, you know. Thus, we had no choice but to cut the overhanging branches ourselves.

And then suddenly our garden looked like an exploded forest - it was packed with twigs, sprigs and branches. As we don't own a chainsaw (no need for massacres, yet), I sorted out the fir-like green which I could use for Christmas and freed the rest from all the leaves which I stuffed into my recycling bin. Then it took me several days to shorten small twigs with shears to fit into our fireplace and to put thicker twigs into a vise and cut them with a hand saw into pieces. Wich left me with this at the end of October: a Christmas tree puzzle: 

I took the whole greens and made three garlands, adorned them with some red balls and fixed them to our window sills. I planned to do that anyway but not that early. And as the front door could use some decoration as well, I quickly made a wreath for it.

Since we remodeled our front yard, it is rather minimalistic and thus the entrance area was in need of some color. I had a pile of presents in mind, and because they are outside I had to wrap the cartons rain-proof. My favorite online provider for everything only offered some gift-wrap-foil for 25 Euros which I didn't want to pay just for decorations without any further purpose. In our local hardware store I saw self adhesive foil which was cheaper but still I hesitated - after all, it was nothing essential, you know. And then I found plastic table cloths for next to nothing - Bingo! I double-layered them because they were slightly transparent and then I skewered the three parcels onto an old parasol stand and put the whole arrangement into a planter to prevent it from flying around when its windy. A pop of color, definitely.

If you don't buy but make everything yourself it takes some more time and therefore, I am already in the middle of my gift production for Christmas. Due to the fact that the receivers might read this I can only show my presents after giving them. But I can show what I won't use as a gift. My original plan was to sew some napkins and I wanted to try a hemming foot for the first time. That was easier said than done and moreover, the finished product was a bit too small for my liking. Now I will take them as hankies for myself - it's always good to have a backup solution :-)

And then we found a third letter in our garden - a nice thank you from our neighbors!

Technology pitfalls

Sometimes there's simply a bug in the system...

Yesterday I decided to leave my little TetraPak village as it is, no more additions because it turned out really cute. One thing kind of annoyed me: I have tons of LED lights but not all of them worked. One was missing which I replaced by a conventional tea light with a real burning candle. You can see the difference, it's the little house on the left (not on the prairie).

Hubby also liked it and recommended making a short video. I did that, but unfortunately it was too dark - not very atmospheric, I must admit. He stepped in and made another video with his newer phone - pretty atmospheric at first, but then he noted that he recorded some background noise as well: the radio and Else panting. That was not so atmospheric but he told me to just cancel the audio - piece of cake.

Sure, no problem. He sent me the video with iMessage and I forwarded the attachment via mail to my computer in order to be able to save it and process it there. I always use my laptop to write the blog because it is handier than dealing with my phone or pad. But there was my next problem… I could only hear the video on my computer (first item of my bucket list: record a music track with a panting dog) or I had to install some codecs-updates (chargeable, of course). How funny!

  

After some research I downloaded an app and was finally able to see the video (and listen to), yay. And it was easy to switch off the audio, but I wanted to delete the audio completely to spare you the experience of a panting Else in the background. 

I experimented back and forth but somehow it all ended the same: I could download a video editing app but when I wanted to save the new audioless version of the video it turned to chargeable. Then I had high hopes that when uploading the video to my blog post I might be able to edit it then. To cut a long story short: I went to "upload video", chose the little film, stared for minutes on "processing video" to read repeatedly: "An error occurred when processing your video". Bummer!

Maybe I try another video when all houses are lit up with LEDs but for today I have faith in your imagination and apply for "Britain's got no talent" or "American iDAU"!

DAU = Dumbest assumable user:-)

Some kind of wonderful

I had a fantastic weekend, y'all! As usual, I did the groceries on Friday, because hubby and the dogs had to be provided with some food and treats. Therefore, I loaded my shopping cart with beer (for hubby) and pizza (for hubby and the doggies) because I wanted to go on a trip. Then we startet the weekend very cosy at the fireplace.

Saturday morning I went on my way to my hometown. It's a little place in the far west of Germany near Cologne, where I spent my childhood and teenage years and where - logically - I went to school. Even when this isn't any longer the place to be for me I have so many good memories. The first reason for this trip to memory lane was the girls breakfast. Girls? I am hitting the big 5 0 next month so I have to be kidding. No, I am not - this is just a question of personal attitude :-)

What's this girls breakfast about? Well, every second or third Saturday in November a few girls who passed the "Abitur" (A-levels) jointly with me meet at a café to have breakfast together. Although our paths led us in different directions, we always have a lot to talk about - similarities, differences, we laugh and cry together, we discuss, and we do not only talk about old stuff (when we rode to schools on dinosaurs…) but we talk about what's on our minds right now, what we like and what we don't like, what makes us happy and what not. A classmate wrote yesterday: Here I can be me - and that's hitting the nail on the head. We don't have to act, we don't have to play a certain role, we don't have to keep up appearances. Only sitting together for 2 or 3 hours, looking back and ahead, exchange and enjoy a friendship lasting for over 30 years. Simply wonderful.

Then I popped in at my parents to pay them a visit. We speak on the phone rather regularly put personal meetings don't happen so often. Therefore, I enjoyed seeing them and I hope, they did, too.

Afterwards I drove to my childhood friend for over 40 years - can you imagine? Back in the days my family just moved house and it was one of the first days in my new school when the choir conductor of the nearby church came to hunt for new singers. I didn't think twice and joined the choir where Bine already sung. It clicked instantly and even when we weren't close it was always the same: We meet and it feels as if no time has passed at all. In some ways it is the same as with the breakfast girls: none of us has to play a role, we know each other inside out, the conversation topics never run dry, and it was awesome to meet in person instead of social media. We had an exciting evening (keyword: carnival), and I had the chance to listen to and speak my local dialect - the language of my childhood I can't deny even after 20 years of living in the Swabian part of Germany. When I drove home on Sunday at noon not only my car was fueled but my soul as well. I was able to relax and I am filled with positive energy (OMG, that sounds like Cesar Millan). Another try: I feel good (nananana, now I sound like James Brown - much better)!

And as I didn't want to come empty handed, I made some truffles for my friend. Another quick and easy recipe: Just melt whipping cream and chocolate together, mix it with crumbled Spekulatius cookies and let it cool in the fridge. Form into balls and roll them in cinnamon, brown sugar and cocoa powder - yummy!

As usual, it's all about the packaging, and can you imagine that this was a Tetra-Pak? I crushed and crumpled it to get off the outer layer with the print. Inside there is still the silver layer which is perfect for the truffles: stable enough to protect the delicate chocolates and due to the coating the treats could not stain the outer layer of paper. Very cute with the twine and the twig, isn't it? 

Remember refueling from time to time!

Singing is like riding a bike

Yay, I can still do it! Well, not yet, but let's start at the beginning… 

A few weeks ago my employer asked: What kind of type are you? Me: That's none of your business, what do you want from me? But then I saw the possible answers and instantly knew where that was leading. The options were namely: 

• I am a professional singer
• No one can beat me at Karaoke
• Find me singing in the shower, and so on...

The reason for this is a beautiful idea (at least in my opinion): Members of my company located in Germany, Austria and Switzerland form a choir, and in May we will perform together with professional musicians. We want to take a stand against all the negative news dominating our world and therefore we specially chose the "Ode to Joy". Moreover, it's an awesome sign for unity and collaboration in times of exclusion and demarcation. And finally it's a project I totally can relate to! Our usual events like running half marathons is not my cup of tea although the Almased cover girls down below want to fool and convince you otherwise :-)

Well then, yesterday the first of twelve rehearsals took place. Much to my dismay in Dusseldorf - the Forbidden City for Cologne people… In every larger office in Germany as well as in Vienna and Zurich there will be regular rehearsals and at the weekend of our concert all choirs will be united into one giant choir. I already did that with other choir projects (e.g. Carmina Burana) but nevertheless I am excited. 

And our conductor already stepped heartily on the gas yesterday: Every register sang their part twice and then altogether already. Pretty ambitious, if you ask me, especially as there are not only experienced singers participating but also complete rookies who still have to find their register. 

I guess she wanted to challenge us in some way or give us an idea of what lies ahead. Anyway, I really, really enjoyed it. And even when I could feel my 10 years' lack of practice I couldn't deny 33 years of choir experience either. Nevertheless I can't rely on the rehearsals alone and will have to practice at home. But I found some awesome training material for Alto (my register - somehow logical, isn't it?). Should be possible but probably to the chagrin of my housemates… :-)

Ask for autographs in May!

No bad hair day today

Mid July I found this in my favorite drugstore. I don't know exactly if I had to mark this as advertisement due to brand naming, therefore I disguised it somehow. But I think at least the Germans might guess where I bought it.

I like that drugstore because they offer a good mixture of products. People who didn't think much about protection of the environment or healthy eating so far might become more aware and may gain some good ideas to start. Surely they also sell a lot of household chemicals for washing and cleaning and so on but on the other hand you can find a vast variety of natural cosmetics and eco-friendly products. Their own brand products are absolutely comparable to other brands (maybe they're even identical, who knows?) and in my personal opinion you get good value for money. Another positive side-aspect: The former leader is an advocate for the UBI (unconditional basic income). That might be debatable and I don't want to delve too deep into it but I think it's a scenario worth thinking about.

Anyway, in summer I bought this solid shampoo and have been using it since I finished my liquid one. Looks like a round bar of soap, only very lightly scented (or not scented at all, I might say). But that doesn't bother me much because with deodorant, perfume, facial and body cream I don't need another scent. Contrary to my expectations it foamed pretty well and my hair was squeaky clean in no time. I didn't use any conditioner (I never do) and when I combed my hair it had a good grip, and I couldn't detect any differences in blow-drying and styling.

I wash my hair every other day and visit a salon rather regularly to return my churchyard blond (aka grey) into normal blond every eight weeks. My trusted hairdresser assured me last time that there was no change in hair structure or texture. Surely, I don't have a flowing mane but a bob cut to chin-length but I or she would definitely notice dry tips or oily roots. The shampoo bar fits perfectly into an old deodorant tin where I put it to keep it dry (I leave the lid slightly open). You might stow it in a wash cloth but in any case it shouldn't swim in water because then it would dissolve like soap.

I didn't note the exact date but it feels like I have been using this solid shampoo for a good three months now. Not bad, I think. It was packaged in a cardboard box and I find it very handy for travelling. Right now, they only have normal hair shampoo but nevertheless I am hooked and therefore bought the second version with coconut flavor. In case you notice a light scent of coconut wafting around me - no, I didn't jack up my muesli with Batida!!! :-)

Hot, hot, hot!

Hello my lovelies, a damn cold but sunny weekend is over and I was rater productive. Tried some things and started some others, and because they are still work in progress it makes no sense to show them in the early stages. It's more fun when you can see the result, right? 

As mentioned before, weekend is cake time. Saturday I opted for a peach-vanilla-cake, and the vanilla was caused by vanilla sugar and vanilla pudding which had to be added to the dough as powder. Although the taste was awesome I thought there was room for improvement regarding the relation dough:fruit. It wasn't as if you had desert sand in you mouth but the cake definitely needed some whipped cream. If I had to do it again, I would use a baking pan instead of my springform and double the amount of peaches.

I parked the rest in the freezer so I don't have to bake next weekend when I am going to do some travelling. Hubby can simply defreeze in case he wants some cake. 

Saturday evening I made a bacon bomb. Not the high calorie one completely filled with mixed minced meat but with minced beef only and a cauliflower center. Doggies got their fair share and thus were jumping with joy. Have to admit that despite the veggies and the lighter meat the bacon bomb still stayed a calorie bomb. Good that we skipped lunch and did a long walk instead!

And as I put the peach cake in the freezer I had to come up with a compensation. If I ask hubby what he wants, the standard answer is "cheesecake". Well, there were some apples which should be used up, thus I made some baked apples with a kind of cheesecake stuffing. Simply scoop out the apples and sprinkle them with brown sugar and cinnamon. Then mix cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla-flavor (just pour vodka over vanilla pods and let that sit for a while) and fill it into the apples. Put some crumbled Spekulatius (traditional German Christmas cookie with a spicy taste like pumpkin pie) on top and bake for 15 minutes. In desperate need of repetition!

Slowly the weather is changing from fall to winter (grey, wet and cold - not very nice) which means: The flu is knocking at the door to come and get us. I like colds and the flu as much as I like German volksmusik and broad beans, and therefore we had to change into anti-flu combat mode. We all know that medicine isn't supposed to be delicious but effective. And if this is true, hubby and I will stay healthy throughout the whole winter, I can tell you... I made ginger shots which were so damn hot that it brought tears to our eyes. Diluted by OJ it is still pretty warming but we don't need a fire extinguisher afterwards anymore :-) To be sure I got it right I did some deeper research but all recipes were rather similar: blend appr. 100 g ginger, an optional apple, juice of three lemons and 100 g honey. Drink a shot of this potion every morning for a few days which will boost your immune system. I pretty much hope so!