Spring Fling

It has finally come home to me that keeping myself cooped up trying to force myself to do something I am not really all that gung-ho about doing (like a certain term paper) makes Nee a dull girl, one who sits and drools instead of writing. Rather than sit and stare out the window at the lovely scenery, I finally gave myself permission to wander out for my seasonal photo-taking. I may have waited a little late, so the flowers aren’t quite as glorious as last week, but better late than never.

And to prove the point above, yesterday I hand-wrote 6 or 7 pages on my paper, even with a two-hour break to run errands in town with Hannah.

This whole year so far has been warmer than average, a fact I have appreciated considerably, but I feel a little guilty about it. First, some people like snow and missed it this year. (I call those people “crazy”, but whatever.) Second, the warm temperatures have not been accompanied by the normal amount of moisture, so the farmers are worried about their crops this year. And the forest rangers are worried about forest fires. Coming from Texas (and with friends and family in desert West Texas), it seems kind of weird for Germany to be having the same concerns that are a perennial plague to the southern and western parts of America.

Not for the squeamish

We haven’t spotted any meal moths lately. John declared that we had them licked, but not wanting to bring down the retribution of the moth-gods on our heads, I pointed out that he shouldn’t count his larvae until they’ve hatched. But in reverse, I guess.

I realized on Tuesday that my last period started 40 days prior. (BTW, I started my period on Wednesday.) To head off hyperventilation, I got out my handy-dandy calendar and started doing some counting. Apparently the month before my cycle was about 37 or 38 days (February being short and all). So even though I am still having two weeks of light bleeding, the time in between is getting longer. I know that the IUD I have is supposed to make me lose less blood, but I thought my period would be shorter and lighter. No one said anything about having a 6-week-long cycle. Now, a 6-MONTH-long cycle--that I could live with.

I had this whole long post written up about three near-misses with lice this year, but who wants to read about lice. Suffice it to say, Hannah actually did get treated and all her clothes, bedding, and toys boiled, but we don’t think she really had lice, just dandruff and/or allergies. Of course, all that happened when I was trying to devote large chunks of uninterrupted time to writing my paper, so it just added to my sense of being doomed, paper-wise.

The poinsettia is dead. It fell victim to the zeal of an amateur gardener. But now that frees up its pot for some other victims...I mean, plants.

Life in the Fast Lane

On his last ever visit to Chez Nee, the Easter Bunny brought Hannah a computer game, The Sims. It has taken her a while to get the hang of it. So far she's had a man who hates his wife, a man who fell asleep on the bathroom floor, a family that almost starved to death, and a couple of house fires. Now she's moved up to a biting hamster and a job as a subway musician. (And another kitchen fire just now.) Sims has probably passed TV as her favorite pasttime. We don't know if that's actually an improvement. :-)

Uninvited Guest

So we had this, uh, visitor, living up under the roof of our balcony. Can you spot him?



There were little bits of poop on the balcony, but I wasn't sure if they were left over from last year's guest(s), or if they were fresh, and I wasn't about to check for freshness.

After our visitor had been roosting up there a few days, I decided to study on the balcony and soak up some morning sunlight. I would just pretend he wasn't there, just like I do the cats. Missy Cat came out on the balcony and was meowing, but I ignored her since she had just been fed. Then I realized our little guest had switched sides and was squeaking wildly. I figured that since he was still up in a crevice, he'd be safe from the predations of Missy. Except for some reason only fathomable to bats, he got within paws' reach of our Great Brown Hunter. John came upstairs and made Missy spit out the bat. After taking a breather, the little bat decided that maybe this just wasn't the place for him and flew away. I haven't seen him since. Godspeed, little vermin.

Ain't no sunshine when you're gone

I have been going through some hard-core blog withdrawal. I've tried to be a good girl and devote all my spare time to my paper (still not done *dies*), but it is making me kind of crazy. So rather than shoot my wad all at once, so to speak, I will drop in here and leave mini-posts about this and that that have occurred since my last post, which given the amount of time that has passed, has been quite a lot.

Also, I will save time by typing and posting without editing. You have been warned.

Since John is so gung-ho about all things Swedish, he signed us up to have an intro class in folk dancing (offered by one of the members of the German-Swedish club). We made arrangements for Hannah to spend the night with a friend because the dancing started at 8, which is normally when we start Hannah's bedtime routine. (Every weeknight event starts at 8 here, for some reason.) Then we flung ourselves around and stepped on people's toes for about an hour.

I haven't danced in ages, since back when I was in junior high and joined a local square dance club with the family of one of my friends. John and I got split up since we were beginners, but I had a good time anyway, even dancing with a relative stranger. I was sore the next morning, especially my upper arms, but I survived. I would be interested in doing it again, but the time is so stupid, and we'd have to drive across town into the Bermuda Triangle area. Oh well, maybe when Hannah is a little older and can stay home alone or can stay up later.