Easter's around the corner

...but winter is still hanging in there. On Tuesday, snowflakes were swirling around when I left my office. Urgh!

We haven't been able to do anything outside in our garden, but I did manage to get some seeds into some dirt this past weekend. Amazingly, the hokkaido pumpkin seeds I threw in an empty pot (RIP, poinsettia) have already started coming up gangbusters. After one of the cats (ahem, Eliza) chewed up most of the potted Callas my friend had given me, I realized I needed to protect my fledgling pumpkins, so I brought up the cage Hannah used to keep her mouse in from the cellar and banged it down over the pot. It fits perfectly, with room to spare, so I hope I can keep them alive and uneaten until it is warm enough to get them into the ground.

I had a bit of a shock when I went to plant my geranium seeds, though. Apparently, the farmers are growing them in gold-plated pots and watering them with Evian, because a package of 10 seeds cost me 4.50! I hadn't even noticed in the store when I bought them with a bunch of other stuff. I put them in peat pots in my windowsill greenhouse because I wanted to give them the best possible chance to sprout, so of course the damn peat pots sprouted mold all over. So irritated. Luckily, the mold dried up when I took the clear plastic cover off. The cats haven't made a habit of getting up on that windowsill, so I have my fingers crossed that the open greenhouse remains unmolested. Today I saw that I have about 3 geranium seeds sprouting. Go me! So far that is 3 bucks a plant (since I bought 2 packages of seeds).

On further thought, I'm not going to post a picture of my Easter wreath, because it looks rather crappy. Instead, I'll post a picture of my most successful wreath to date: Halloween!

I think next year I'll stock up on some Easter chocolate and attach it to the wreath like I did with the Halloween chocolate.

If we get out of the house tomorrow, I want to take a picture of the little fountain down the street decorate for Easter. John was going to try to get us reservations to eat Easter fish, but no one answered the phone at lunch.

--Nee in Germany forgot to buy white eggs for dying

No rest for the wicked

I was planning on just lying around, maybe doing a little cross stitch, but of course my love of puttering put an end to that today.

After going online for a little bit this morning, I balanced our bank account--which meant chasing receipts and bank statements up and down 2 flights of stairs since I couldn't find them all--and paid some bills, including re-upping with the cat-sitting club and the youth hostel association and paying John's speeding ticket. I also went to look at my recently paid off student loan online. I'm hoping I'll get something from my  lender soon indicating that they are aware I don't owe them any money, but I'm not holding my breath.

Hannah informed me when she got up that her bed was broken. It turns out that the frame is just a tad too wide (or has warped) for the [box spring], and when she rolled over in bed this morning, it all shifted just enough to make one side fall through. John got out his drill and some wood screws and got the bed frame tightened, then we got some shadow-box style shelves up on the wall, and finally I dragged an under-used bookcase downstairs for Hannah to put her school stuff in. I put her to work cleaning and straightening her room, and in just a couple of hours, it looks tons better. She's still got 4 or 5 unpacked boxes at one end of the room, but those are items that are either too big to fit in the limited amount of storage space she has in her room, or are stuff she's not willing to part with yet (a big box of dolls, etc.). Last summer, while we were packing in preparation for our move into the house, Hannah was adamant that she did not want to get rid of *any* of her stuff--"don't throw away my childhood!" was her line. *sigh* Needless to say, none of "her childhood" has gotten unpacked or has otherwise been sought after, hence the leftover boxes.

Yesterday I hit the home improvement store and 2 grocery stories, and I had thought I'd be starting some seedlings today, but it was *snowing* when we got up, and I just didn't feel like wandering down to the cellar in the wet snow (too warm to stick) to fetch dirt, seeds, and my window-sill greenhouse. I've got to get out on Monday and Tuesday, though, so maybe I'll fetch that stuff on my way back in.

Since John agreed to make chicken enchiladas with the millions and gillions of corn tortillas the Lauries brought last month, I promised to make a salad, so I guess I better get on it.

Nee in Germany bustles when she walks

Busy busy

It was 5 degrees below freezing when we got up this morning. Oh, Winter, why are you still hanging around?

Freya got spayed on Wednesday and was already able to go up and down the many stairs in our house Thursday morning, and she joined us in bed Thursday night. She seems to be making a speedy recovery.

Still waiting for our bulb flowers to come up, but when it is -5C overnight, I don't blame them for taking their time. I'd like to start messing with the easily accessible part of our garden, but one end of it is full of brush that needs to be broken up into kindling. I got 2 loads (of Ikea bags) done just before Winter returned, and the pile looks just as big as before. John wants to burn the brush that's up on the steep slope, but we need to talk to someone at City Hall about permits and timing and such.

I have so much grading to do. Urgh.

I bought a grapevine wreath (I think?) and have been redecorating it each season. Hannah helped me pick out some cute plastic eggs and papier mache carrots to put on it, and after an extensive search, I managed to find some Easter ribbon I deemed acceptible. I will put up a picture later.

--Nee in Germany made baby steps

Too weird

I set up a blog for one of my classes, and while troubleshooting something for a student, I discovered that I had already created a blog for my other gmail account, although I do not remember doing it. Behold!

Why I decided to create a revenge blog from the perspective of our (now deceased) cat, I'll never know.

Well this is embarrassing...

Hello? Anybody still out there? It looks like my last post was in April of this year, so I don't blame people for wandering off to more lively pastures in the meanwhile. Lots has happened since April, but maybe I'll just hit the highlights for now.

We bought a house and moved 20 km away.

Goodbye, old house!

Hello, new house!

In the midst of all the packing and paperwork, we shipped Hannah off to spend August with our family in Texas and Louisiana.

She enjoyed herself and was spoiled shamelessly by all the family.

We got a kitten that John has christened Freya. She is frisky and friendly and a welcome change from Eliza, who has ensconced herself in a closet since the day we moved in, *7 weeks ago*.

We decided when we bought the house to rent out an apartment in it as a vacation apartment. It occurred to me that I now officially have 3 jobs: a half-time teaching job, a part-time freelance translating/editing job, and an infrequent (so far) job as the proprietor of vacation accommodations. Whew! No wonder I'm so busy!

Now that I've broken the blogging ice after my lengthy dry spell, I'm not going to make any outrageous promises about blogging every day. That would be crazy! (given my track record.) Instead, I figure that if Mimi Smartypants can manage it once a week or so, so can I.

-Nee in Germany took the day off

Hermit twins, activate!

John and I have been pulled out of our hermit-y ways recently. John went to a conference in Freiburg and brought back a friend and colleague from Texas.



We had a nice visit for a couple of days before he flew back out.

Here's a picture of the whole family on the same walk:



This was at the end of the first week of the semester, and I wasn't even feeling crazy. At the end of the second week--still not crazy!--I saw a poster for a Gaelic music concert hosted by the local German-British club and suggested to John that we go. 1. We both like Gaelic music (Scottish music, The Chieftans, etc.). 2. It was very inexpensive. 3. John wanted to go to an organ concert on Sunday, and this was a good alternative, because a. I am not such a big fan of organ music and b. that would have been 20 bucks a head. Ouch! For 3/4 of that price we were able to attend the Gaelic concert, have drinks, and buy their CD. You can hear a few of their songs on their MySpace page: Lily & Co.

This weekend we are cat-sitting, and we also have to get out for a big shopping run across town. That may make me crazy. John caught just part of my conversation with Hannah on the topic yesterday: "Who are you going to kill?" Me: "Everyone in the MediaMarkt." Him: "Oh, ok." Not my all-time favorite place, but I think I am well equipped to deal with it today.

Ok, onward and onward.

--Nee in Germany thanks the 7 dwarves for the sunshine

Goodbye Easter, Hello Spring!

For the first time in a long time, I took the whole weekend off. It helped that I was kind of forced to by the Easter holidays. Here in Southern Germany, it is a 4-day weekend, so we had to hit the store for our weekly shopping on Thursday before everything shut down. I worked a bit on Friday, and then I could do whatever I wanted for the rest of the weekend. The world of possibilities was a bit overwhelming, to tell the truth. But I was able to narrow the list down pretty quickly by finishing a sewing project.



I crocheted the last few rows, wove in the many, many loose ends, and washed the blanket, so now it is ready to go in the mail to another friend whose wife is expecting in June, I think. I'm thinking it should get there in plenty of time, but one should never underestimate the power of the Postal Service to screw shit up.

I also dug out a dishcloth I had started. I am trying to learn to knit, so I have been working my way through a book of 16 different dishcloth patterns. I bought some cotton yarn in bulk, and I think I have enough to make 8 cloths. Which is good, because Germans don't seem to use dishcloths--at least, I can't find any to buy--and ours are getting threadbare. This ends up being a two-fer for me.



Many moons ago, I started recovering the cushions on our dining room furniture but never got around to finishing them. That was the third sewing project I pulled out. Unfortunately, since it was Easter weekend and Germans take their quiet hours *very* seriously, I decided to wait to pull out the noisy sewing machine. But I will probably do that the end of this week or next weekend. Also, all that pinning and cutting of upholstery material was making my hands sore, so it was just as well that I only put in an hour or 2, tops.

The one thing I could work on without making a lot of racket, though, was cleaning the bathroom floor. I have become obsessed with getting the grout in the upstairs bathroom clean. I don't know who planned this place, but the rooms downstairs have light tile with dark grout, and the bathroom upstairs (there's carpet in the other rooms) has light tile with white grout, and it looks grimy all the time. So I bought some grout cleaner recently and have taken to working on small areas that look especially grimy in between my editing work. Then over the weekend I put in quite a bit of time and elbow grease scrubbing that cleaner into the grout and washing it back off. I haven't finished the whole bathroom yet, but the results are much better than I had hoped for. (A few weeks ago I made a similar attack on the shower stall. I guess Spring Cleaning is here.)

Hannah decided that there were certain meals she wanted to eat and she would cook them herself, so John and I are off the hook this week. She made up a meal list and grocery list, we took her to the store on Thursday, and she has been (mostly) in charge of the kitchen. So far, we've had delicious meatloaf and mashed potatoes, homemade meatball pizza, and a pasta dish with basalmico vinegar and turkey that she came up with herself. Talented!

In between all the scrubbing and sewing, I managed to put some time in to get my Animal Crossing account up to snuff. But then yesterday I actually had to work--the horror!--and by the time I was finished and wanted to play a little AC, John and Hannah had the tv tied up with one of the Dan Brown movies. So sad. But Hannah would watch Ewan McGregor reading the phone book, so it was to be expected.

Today I need to work on my course planning. The semester starts next week, and John will be gone at a conference, so I have to have my ducks lined up before then if I want to keep a grip on everything. And now I'm off to plan.

--Nee in Germany makes the other characters on Animal Crossing say "I suck" just because she can