Sunday, August 31, 2014

(Little) Niece Fell Off The Rack



So, yesterday afternoon we went to the White Horse to get popcorn.
Awww, look at those colors, can´t believe summer is over and soon the green will be gone...

With the popcorn we saw this in front of the stores:



Someone had left his grocery-shopping bag - full of food - on the bike!
Really?!
I mean - this city is great and friendly, but guess I would not leave my stuff outside like that.
I wouldn´t leave my car AND the keys with a French farmer I don´t know for two weeks either anymore... Yes I did that.
As well as leaving all my luggage in a taxi in Cairo whilst visiting a museum.
Or leave the car with keys and all the luggage at a mechanican in Mackay.
Sad I lost my faith - I never got disappointed!

River Oker again on the way back:



Back home the popcorn went into the microwave and Pirates of the Caribbean went into the DVD-player.

I thought it was very loud.



I knew I was right when with a bang (back then Little) Niece fell off the the rack and even out of the picture frame!
The frame must´ve made a "summersault"!



The ever stomping neighbours from above hopefully had some nasty hours!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

So That Was That



Another mini-holiday gone, back to work on Monday it is.

Sadly I don´t even feel like we had a holiday, having felt sick till Thursday.
And this morning I woke having a bad dream with # being at the office, gaaah.

At least we start the working life with (partially) local products - or do we?

"Regional" in this case means, according to Rewe "Lower Saxony", which makes us talk of 47.634,90 km²...
I start so see the advantage of smart phones! With one I could´ve checked and bought a cheaper product - lesson learned a tad later...

But I try to not be negative - at least Ingo found a way to "treat" our ever-stomping neighbours from above.
Hellooooo, I can´t hear you ;-)
(Let´s be honest, he just tricked me into having the full sound system finally on as loud as he wants!)

Movie-time ahead, we go buy some popcorn!

And please keep your fingers crossed we don´t get rain - BBQ-potaoes may be in it for tonight!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Get Outta Here!



I didn´t wear these all "summer", because... I didn´t even see them!

Too.Much.Old.Stuff - that nows gets out of here!
Even shoes, even those I bought at Action in Broome in 1999...



What better is there to do on your last day of holiday?
In 18C, rain.
And many I keep, too, some winter-sweaters I have since over 10 years. Winter-clothes are stupid anyways, who likes winter (over here).

Clothes sorted in real summer (high up, cause not needed), summer, ak T-Shirts and those in nice, Braunschweig, Perth, with the last two having the same height, folded:



One pair I can´t say good-bye to, though, they´re deco now.
According to how new the sole looks like I wore them maybe once - you see, why, huh? ;-)



Throwing stuff out can be refreshing at times, right?

Thursday, August 28, 2014

No More IKEA And Dogs Can Burp?!



The new IKEA-catalogue lay on the steps outside yesterday and my, they have just what I was looking for!
A solid table for six people you can store away in no time - we don´t want a table in the living room unless there are guests.

99 bucks, so off to IKEA we went today.
I tell ya.
I know exactly what I want, yet IKEA forces us to walk through every stupid aisle!

We had to ask 3-4 of the staff cause they not knew. The table wasn´t on display, either - bad service.

Ingo said, no more IKEA..

Took us nearly 30 minutes (at least?!) to get to the dang table - which is good quality and just what I wanted and for a reasonable price, too.

3 p.m. Ingo´s parents arrived - with an outraged, flippy Frida.

We directly had to go for a walk, which turned out to be too long for Ingo´s Dad, who just got his second artificial hip.
It was too hot for him, too.
Aw, well.

To top this off MIL called me "Kerst... ummm, Iris" again. Twenty years, hello!

But, well, actually it turned out to be an afternoon quite nice - and this was the very first time Ingo´s Dad didn´t make fun of our "small" bed (Bro´s old IKEA-bed, what has it, 1,40m in width, normal to us).

Frida was totally excited and after having some water (on the wooden floor in the living room, ahhh (on a blanket, but still, ahhhh) she went "buuuuurp!!!" - never did I know a dog can do that!

We all laughed our heads off and I guess she understood even why - and was a tad... ummmm, embarassed?
She´s 2 1/2.

Thursday is over again, more mossie-bites on my side - not only thanks to the walk by river Oker - we have them in the condo!!!
Mind you, atm I could want to be a millionaire and not return back to work come Monday...
I still feel tired - but, alas, see the positive: 3 more days off work :-)

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

99 Percent For No 79



Yay-yay-yay "our" cabin in Perth is reserved for us, boy it wasn´t easy! My German account had problems with the .com.au-thingy and now the people there cannot deliver eBan because the person who can is signed sick. Alas - but it´s reserved, I´ve been told.

Phew!

We´ll live like kings again, with own toilet and shower.

Oh, yes. Getting older our demands rise...

From...


To ...



... to a normal cabin to see first pic - oh, my, what´s next? ;-)

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

One Moment You Get Wasted So Much Time



"Pffff.... I´ve got all my life to live..." - is that what you were thinking this mere moment, Dad?

And what was reality?



Yes.

And the second cancer-attack killed you for good.

I spent so.much.time in hospitals.

Bro, when he was born.
Mum, when she broke her leg.
Myself, with my stupid arm, or rather mind, failing to say you´re doing it wrong, having no support.
You, Dad, Cancer part I.
Cancer part II, till the end.

I HATE the smell of hospitals.

How you were treated. OMG. I´ll never forget. Will always have those humiliating pictures in my head.

Then Ingo.
Sorry, dudes, but this was the hardest part for me.
Every stupid day I went, every one.

The smell of hospitals again, it makes me gag each time, I still went.

Then Mum, cancer part I... yah, you get the hang of it, huh?
Till the end we were there for her.

Three years have passed.



I miss her!

2008 my doc told me I need a time-out and signed me sick three whopping weeks.

Our last "holiday" ended with bad food at the zoo and now this one ended with a fight right at the start.

I feel sick.

No summer this year, four weeks alone with ##, team´ll very likely break up and I am left alone.

How much can one take? I know!!! Others are off way worse!

I don´t want to read "oh-sorry´s" (though I even feel sorry for myself - helpless!!!! Again! Helpless!).

I just need to get it out.

I simply fail to understand how you can hate a person so deeply you ruin her.
I´d never do that and believe me I tried to get Ingo back.
I fail.
I feel sick.
This is no holiday.

Were they happy? I´ll never know...



Moments...

I miss you.
Though ...
You have to forgive the Dead, huh, just not the Living - where you could change a thing or two.

I hate being the ever forgiving person on the lone side!
Stupid, stupid, lonely me. Again.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Heavy



... is the weight on my shoulders right now.
No idea if I´ll hit "publish". I shouldn´t even be forced to ask myself this.

Sarah published this article on "Why we need to stop 'fakebooking'", giving away only the good things in our lives.

If you read along for a while here you know I´m not like that.

This is my "diary". Bad things happen. that´s life.

One week off for both of us.
One argument.
I´m alone since Saturday night.

My belly hurts. Bad. Very bad.
What I treasure most he knows - snuggling up together at night, which often is not possible due to his health.
I handle that.

He went away.

Two adults.

Stress, stress, stress, my heart is racing and I feel sick, alone, and I cry.
Another night alone - is this partnership.

I see it from my side, it´s a sad side.

My stomach hurts, time thrown away.

Cross the street, get hit by a car, whatever, death is just around the corner.

My stomach hurts.

Keeping my mouth shut?!!

A wonderful holiday.

Driss I´d need!

That´s not how you treat your partner, your "loved one".

I´m in tears.
So much failure on my side.

Here.

The loneliest person in Germany.

"Publish"

My Brain Left Me!



By golly! Months ago - or, in the case of the lion on top over 4 years ago (hoping for a Sibling for Niece) - I already bought pressies for the baby, I just saw!

I´d totally forgotten.

In some cases my brain thankfully does this.
Like R told me the other day about 13 years ago in summer I was in the secretary´s office and she´d asked me something about my skirt, which I lifted hence - the moment he came in.
Ahhhh! He said I went red like a fire-extinguisher - I really can´t remember that!
Thankfully.
Guess I turned as red as he told me this, laughing.

So. What to do now?
Come with heaps of pressies or wait for another Baby - but... if one´ll come I just bet I´d forgotten of the above pressies by then again, no? ;-)

Both Hands Full And Nose Itching



... that sure is a bad combination!

Pic unrelated, arty shadow on Wendenmasch-street near monkey-rock (nobody says "student´s residential home").

But from the beginning. We have one week off and hence I went to the city to get the big Sis to be some pressies.
Yips, alone, Ingo´d go "gah, it´s too hot/full/whatever in here", so I prefer doing this by myself and man, did I buy pressies!

For Mummy some "entertainment between diapers and pacifier":



Yes, I know, I already got the gift coupon for a massage, but, alas! Did I ever mention (cough...) that I love making pressies?

Which actually leads me to a question I could really need some help with an answer....

I got stuff for the Mummy, the big Sis to be, the small Sis to be... just not for the Daddy! Any ideas?

For the big Sis to be I got a baby-doll with several features and accessories, so she can have a baby, too, change diapers, give a bath, feed and such - hopefully this was a good idea.
So far she was (according to her Oma) the princess - that will change for sure soon!

I got two games - after all I´m supposed to entertain her when the baby arrives - any suggestions what to do with a 4-year-old?
Actually a supposedly very excited 4-year-old?
Oh, boy, really, I feel a tad nervous already and really, really hope her Oma is nearby!

Anyhows, finally on my way home with all this:



Mind you, this stuff is heavy!!! And it´s over 2 km back home - and then my nose started itching like crazy, bu-huuu!

And I ask you:



What´s worth € 25 for one of those?!!!! OK, the 25-buck-one is from Sigikid, but also the other one is € 20!
You sure can leave money in the shops, come kids!

At least I bought local, not online. And the pressies for Niece got all wrapped up by someone who is able to this. Guess I mentioned wrapping is not mine...

One I had to unwrap again, though, the one for the baby, awww.... so cute, I´d like to keep it!



Niece got one back then, too, and loved it.
Sadly also 20 bucks, so none for me...

What was in store for me was this:



I don´t know what it is with these owls, but, ahhh, so cute, no?

Do you have a suggestion what I might bring Bro? I once bought him a picture book on being a Dad and else I didn´t see anything fitting...

Once A Lion - Always A Lion



Saturday we went to the city to try again to see the exhibit "Once A Lion - Always A Lion" that was closed last Saturday, despite downstairs there were ads for it...

This time it was open and artist Thomas Doneis was there, too. Mind you, he´s tattooed all over so much I didn´t even see it! I just thought he simply is very black - in my defense it was dark in there...

Braunschweig was in first league in soccer last season, hence the lion has a soccer-ball. Well - this is forever, it´s made of stone - reality is back to second league, though!



Still first league in football, German Bowl Defender again, but, well... not popular enough.



No idea if this is art or if the mermaid goes off the exhibit?



I didn´t know the artist would be there and since he was glued to his counter I didn´t ask. Maybe I should have, guess he was quite bored, we were the only visitors...

Like the light here:



Here´s a copy of the real Henry, awww....



On we went to the first Brunswick:



Well, rather very small. We payed a visit to "the longest counter in Braunschweig":



And went for a raspberry (ok)- and a cherry-beer (very sour):



And despite you find a kangaroo here:



... we saw no Aussie-beer, sadly.

Just a Lion-Bratwurst for € 2:



After the cold rain (... :-( summer?!) we had a quick look at the wine festival. Bratwurst there € 3! Wow, huh?!

Aw, well. Both not a hit, really. Somehow, despite Schadt´s-beer being available, I expected more, at least also Mumme-beer. And, sad to say, the band playing was really bad.

Hope for a better festival next year!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Of Turning Four - Moped



At lunchtime yesterday I rang the bell in Bro´s place and when I arrived upstairs I found my Niece hiding behind her Dad. Who said, "you spoke all morning of your Aunt and now that she´s here you hide from her?!"
When we went inside she was ok with me – usually it takes her 10 minutes at least.

On the kitchenfloor she unpacked her pressies – well, her Mum was in the kitchen and I certainly wanted to say hello :-)
Best pressie really was the cheapy-camera – though she didn´t get you cannot see the pics immediately but have to bring the film to the shop!



Friends can see the whole pics here.

Later the neighbor turned up and then her Oma came and her pressies were merely clothes. Niece proudly unfolded each piece and showed the clothes around, to every one of us, very cute.



The colorful ribbons she handed out as pressies to us - it´s her Birthday, she said, but others should get pressies, too.
Cute kid, amazing she can care that way and imagine how others feel.
When I said, "oh, look at the dogs and cats on the wrapping, how cute", she carefully folded it and "presented" me with it.

Then Bro brought in some ballons and the games began!



Little Niece invented the games, first with one ballon, then each of us had one and she ran from one to another and we exchanged the ballon – she giggled and jumped and ran and, oh my, then this happened:



That´s exhaustion, right?
To her defense: She´d helped until late preparing cakes and woke up very early, screaming “today is my Birthday!”, too. And certainly no naps inbetween.



The two of us then made her “Birthday-chair” – funny was she could write her name correctly, but with letter-stickers she mixed it up and didn´t want to believe me until I called her “AMI” – then she tried to get the “A” off in a hurry before anyone else sees it. Try not to laugh openly at that!



When finally her Opa arrived we were enough guests for finally, finally starting with the cakes, well, nearly.
At first more pressies to unwrap and then off to Opa´s house (thankfully direct neighbor) – he´d forgotten the flowers! Not for Mummy, but for the Birthday-girl:

A “princess-bouquet”! Was she proud!



Her fav cake, beautiful, no?



And then the surprise-cake came, mind you – it must´ve been hot, it´s a true wonder she didn´t set her hair on fire!



We were all so alarmed, we didn´t even tell her she has to make a wish!

A tad later my cell rang and I heard her in the background – Moped is running, yay!
Since I forgot my helmet Bro wanted to go get his wife´s and Niece was in tears - she wanted to come with me.

Since it was her Birthday, Bro finally gave in and said: "There´ll be people you don´t know - you will be a good girl and greet every one of them - no hiding behind me, otherwise we leave immediatly!"

She grabbed our hands real hard as we came nearer and you could see she fought her fear hard.
She recognized Ingo, who wished her a happy Birthday first, as then did my customers - she managed through it all!

Before starting the Moped luckily we saw her Uncle with family arrive and since they have a Baby, Niece wanted to go.
Ingo´s Nephew once wanted to hear her - and started crying upon how loud she is ;-)



So, there I was, helmet in hand for a little tour, the three of us, Moped, Ingo and me.
Ingo, to R: "I advise no two adults on her, she won´t take it.". Ummm. Hello? What am I, a child?!
It was a short tour only, she went out, too, and it felt like too fast. The older I get the more afraid of falling I get.

R, who´ll buy her, said to me today I seem to be sadder than Ingo, that we let go of her. But, alas. My eyes can´t take the wind, Ingo´s back won´t get better from starting via kick-starter, so it was the right decision.
R will keep her the way she is, he promised to take a nice pic when she´s all shiny again and he´ll come to work with her, too, so I can "visit".
Call me stupid, but I am sad. We had such fun times with her, such exciting times, too.
And the sound is just awesome.

I left for Niece - but Niece was happily playing with the boys.

We went outside and suddenly the boys were of no interest anymore, I had to hop onto the trampoline with her.



By golly, my stomach!!!!



The boys ran over to the swings. There are three, two side by side and one single on a tree.
Three swings, three kids, all good, huh?
Nope.
Niece started crying, then screaming, for minutes (I kid you not!). One of the boys left the swing. Still whenever someone asked what´s wrong she cried-screamed even louder.
She wanted to be on the twin-swing - with me.
Why didn´t she say that?
Such hard frustration due to being tired and not wanting to?
I really wonder why she´s so attached to me, I´m a boring person after all...



Then soccer it was supposed to be - according to the boys.
Niece didn´t get the hang of it and the boys didn´t get that.
The older one then shouted, "women!" and Niece laughed her head off.

So:
Niece is a woman at age 4 and I´m no adult at age 42... it´s a strange world over here ;-)

We threw the ball from one to another, Bro joined in, Niece told us were to stand, varying the distances - an organizer we have here, huh?

Amazing.

She solves puzzles ages 5+ easily, too.

And with her glasses... oh, my. She looks so much less than a small kid, it´s kinda sad.

When the glasses hurt her ears I said, go see a good optometrist, and yips, over she went to her Daddy :-)

I repeat myself, but... four years old already!

If you care about the salad-thingy, please read the comment to this post - thanks Grace, I am a happy salad now (still a tad afraid of Big´s words not coming true...)