All the best for 2009

... to you all! :-)
That rather... brisk-looking pig is about 4-5 metres in height and greets you here in one of the malls :-)

Well, what have we been up to over the last days...

We freezed our butts off!



But it looks kinda nice with the ice-crystals:



We have no skates, so we could only drive by:



We drove around a lot the last two days, was fun and we came back with a new toilet seat as well:



We did a lot of eating, too! Healthy Pomelo (available here only since last season):



We did our greetings to Switzerland with Roesti, YUM:



And we didn´t forget Northern Germany, either, yay again to Labskaus:



In a few hours Ingo will make a most yummy Ragout Fin, a in my family traditional meal for New Year's .

But before we head outside for another walk. It´s freezing cold, but sunny and just beautiful!
So, if anyone from a rather hot place reads along:



Click to enlarge and see ice crystals all over that sticker on my car your place :-)

Happy 2009, everyone!

Three electric kettles

According to Three toasters we now have also three electric kettles... because, I just had to buy this one, it belongs to that toaster! :-)

A wee bit early. no?

I took this pic today in the hardware store :-(

Oh. And only when I came back home to edit the pic... I realised... It does not say "Frohe Ostern", but "Happy Easter". Wonder why?

Christmas... Was yummy curly kale, playing cards, having fun on 24th with my Bro and Mom.

25th then was my Bro´s day! The first time in his life he made the Christmas-goose! Some days before and together with our Mom.
In the morning his girlfriend and me peeled two big bags of potatoes, then I fetched our Mom together with more curly kale and goose, later on the other guests brought dumplings and Brussels sprouts (yes, it´s not just Ingo and me ;-) !) and there we were.

Not just the three of us, but 8 people. It was sooo good. My brother was gleaming with pride! Not only cause everybody told him that he did a great job with the food, a compliment he could easily give back. But because he could call all these people family!
And my Mom looked so happy as well! Oh, I so wish my father could´ve seen all this!
Too sad Ingo is such a Christmas-Grinch.

Was so good, was yum, was fun. And a sunny day, too!

7 weird things

I was tagged by Red Dirt Mummy to join in a meme where I tell you seven weird things about myself.
Here are the rules: 1. Link the person that tagged you and post the rules (checked). 2. Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself. 3. Tag 7 people at the end and link to their sites. 4. Let each person know about the tag in the comment section of their site.

#1 I don´t like to eat sweets. But I love to smell `em! I have shower-gels that smell like Coconut. Vanilla. Banana-Chocolate. Strawberry... My soap comes in Macadamia.
#2 I was never involved in an accident with heat or fire. When I see, hear or am told about people burn themselves, I get sick. Three times I nearly fell unconscious. Nothing helps.
#3 Several times already I dreamed the clock rang, got up, got all dressed and ready to go. Just to find out it was a dream and it´s only three in the mornin. I now make sure it really is 5:30 before I get up.
#4 I cannot sleep when there is noise, hence I sleep with ear-protection when Ingo is there (sorry, man ;-)...) or it´s summer (birds!!!). Weird is that the dreamed clock was dimmed through ear-protection when wearing ear-protection
#5 my hip isn´t even. There are 5 exercises I have to do daily to avoid bad pain in my right ankle. I do practice only when the ankle already hurts. Just like right now :-( Actually that´s not weird but dumb. Weird that I am knowingly dumb.
#6 Speaking of dumb. A dumb ad will make me not buy a product, even if it´s good. Because I´d keep the ad in mind.
#7 I really came up with six weird things! I get hectic when it´s my turn to pay in the supermarket. Even if I´m the only person at that moment.

Please feel free to join in! In the end it´s really... weird ;-)

Cazaroonie
Frugal Bastard
It´s all About The Journey
Me & Boo
second-half
The Cappuccino Strip
this is what sed said

Tinsel

That´s what I got today :-)



Cause we´re in the city of Henry the Lion.

Is this friendship?

We met 22 years ago and spent two weeks together. And met never ever since.
At first we wrote each other letters often afterwards.
She sent me pics, too, and once even a tape. I have to say, she can sing, she has a beautiful voice!

The letters were exchanged less and less often. Recently (with recently being some years) only for Christmas and birthdays. Which makes it once a year since her Birthday is near to Christmas with being today and I´m due in January.

This year I did not forget. I just... wasn´t sure. We have nothing in common anymore (did we ever have?) apart from those letters once a year.
Yesterday her Christmas-letter already arrived (and just in time, as if she knew this could just end from my side).

There has been school-bullying against her.
She wrote the school director, the teachers, the pastor, they all had failed. She retreated.
She isn´t a teacher, she is a student. And certainly it´s not her fault, like always.
She is 36 years old and she has not finished one thing, not one training! She had started many things, I can tell.
Her boyfriend of 4 years (who betrayed her all the time) has left her. She thinks of suicide. Another letter to me is on the way, she announced.

Now what am I supposed to do?
I did sit down yesterday and wrote a letter, card included.
I wasn´t honest, I didn´t write what I really think . Like all those years. I doubt she´d buy an honest opinion. I did try, many times, but never got any reaction.
I didn´t lie either.
Now, did I help her?

She lives with her mother (who has no job either) and it seems there is no other woman she has as a friend.
Am I her friend?

Seesh. I sure feel sorry for her, though I cannot remotely understand her.

22 years ago I met a nice and funny girl. I was wondering, even back then!, why she would try to make friendship with such a shy person like me.

Seems she is still 14, still looking for a girl that can be her friend and lead her through life.

Just... I still feel helpless when it comes to her life.
Anybody with a similar experience?

Happy Birthday, Meike.

A missing letter

... can make the difference.

My brother told me some weeks ago how one of the saleswomen came over to him, very excited. She just had heard of the founding of a bog body in their area! Strangely though, she found nothing in the written news.

Turned out it was just a bog oak!

Bog oak: Mooreiche
Bog body: Moorl eiche

So, wenn I had a first look at the news today...




We have bog bodies for sure here!
Ingo wanted to go and see the Mummy-exhibition (german) anyway and so we went.

Kids sure have vivid imaginations and the sight of a harmless mummy like this one...



Well, there was a dull thump.
It was too much for one of the visiting kids, obviously!

Bet poor kiddo will get called names for a while! ;-)

Too good...

to be true, as all the good stuff that comes from the Land of Dreams!

Ahhh, this was so nice!
I guess this dream came to me cause finally I went to the gym today - with the still new iPod.

Side-note: When I told my Mom I finally had an iPod I bet she thought that´s not even worth mentioning. Because I pretty much assume she had this on her mind:



"I" sounds like Ei, which in German is "egg" and pod is like Pott, slang for cooking pot, so what is all the fuss about it anyway? ;-)

To me that iPod is a colorful toy. And I just love colors, hence in my dream...

I went into a shoe-store. And there were shoes, high-heels with plateau, so you are taller, but they´re still comfy to the feet.
They were so, so, so comfy, they felt so good! And from the outside they had the same structure my iPod-bag has. They came as winter-, spring-/autumn- and summer-shoes. They all were in the same combination: Beautiful and comfy!

(Seriously is that a combination too much to ask for?!)

And they came in all the nano iPod-colors, plus black and white:



Another plus: They were in a price so good I could afford a pair of each!

11 pairs of winter-, 11 of ... you get the picture.

Man I was so darn happy! When the clock rang, I just turned around to stay a bit longer and hold those shoes.
I could do that because today is my first day of holiday! :-)

Sadly with coughing and all, but I hope tomorrow it´ll be ok again. Or at least better.

Yeah,I know. If some men really made it all the way through this post, you shake your head in disbelief.
But I guess chances are dim that might have happened ;-)

Season´s Greetings

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Speedy Gonzales

Well, I´m not the "the fastest mouse in all Mexico", but my body sure is fast!

"Bones" might have been another good title...



Thursday night I suddenly felt so, so cold! Went to bed with a hot water bottle and Friday morning all was good again. Went to work and after two to three hours it started yet again.

From the toes all the way up to my thighs, from the fingers to the upper arms it was so cold it did hurt! Heating was on high, but that plus heaps of tea didn´t help.
Gosh, i never had that before!
My throat went sour, my neck was hard to move, I was hungry and felt sick at the same time, nose was free, though, headache started.

So, I went over to my colleague, told him about it and asked to tell the guys at the Christmas staff party I´m sick if I´m not in by 5:30.
I went home and it went worse. My bones hurt! Yuck!!! What´s that?!

Anyone else with that weird experience???

Even my hair did hurt!

I had some meds, hmmm, dunno if they worked (according to Ingo I bought crap).

Maybe I got the virus Ingo´s brother´s family had - the symptoms were the same.
Had a real bad night.

This morning I felt bad. Then better. Had a nap around midday.
Have been running errands, did the washing-up, cleaned a bit.
Still coughing from time to time.

But, hey! Guess that was it!

Ingo said, maybe the big one´s still to come. But I say: No! I´m officially on holiday now! Virus had had it´s chance, ha!

Weird, huh? Speedy!

Owwww. Still so sad we missed out on that dinner last night. The Mövenpick Hotel is not such a crap place for a dinner...

Yes, it is!

Do I have to say more?



Freshly baked yesterday evening in my hometown at Pizzeria Da Nico, brought today to me by my dear Bro :-)

Half of it was split in two halves for lunch to be shared between us. Half of it is for dinner - just for myself!

I would´ve stretched this treat over two days, but... tomorrow the company Christmas party is due and hence...

Oh-so-YUM today!

ǝsuǝsuou

¡puɐʇspuɐɥ ɐ ɥɔns ǝʞɐɯ plnoɔ ı ɥsıʍ ı 'ʎoq ɥo .sıɥʇ ƃuıuɹǝɔuoɔ 'puıɯ ʎɯ oʇ ǝɯɐɔ ʇɐɥʇ llɐ s´ʇɐɥʇ ʎllɐnʇɔɐ ¿ǝɹǝɥ ɐƃoʎ ǝɯos ɹoɟ uı ǝɹ´noʎ ǝqʎɐɯ ʇnq .qɯnp ʎllɐǝɹ sı sıɥʇ ʍouʞ ı ʍou 'llǝʍ

(-: dɥd.xǝpuı/oɟuı.ʇxǝʇdılɟ.ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ oʇ sʞuɐɥʇ

Real Men

The other day in the gym, guy #1: "You doin` breast today?"
#2: "No today it´s legs."

Could´ve been at the butcher as well! :-)

Fruit anyone!

The only thing I love about winter are these!
The smell as well as the taste, just yum.

Fruit, anyone?

No, we didn´t buy the hat. It´s a kids hat, no? Strangly this is at IKEA.

Lost your glasses? You´ll have no problem finding this remote!

Hackepeter and other Myths

So, we ran errands today.
We went to real,- (german), not only a grocery, you get anything, well nearly.

First I really had to wonder, now what is this again???



Yes! You can, for what reason ever, buy floppy disks. Yes, I took this pic today, on St Nicholas Day 2008 (we got chocolate lolly´s in Nicholas-shape for free, sorry, couldn´t take a pic, were too yummy)!
Now, where do you put floppy disks in these days, what did I miss?

What I thought is really cute are these slippers that look like soccer-shoes:



Just not for 25 €!!!
But, well. Guess most people still do believe Euro is the same as D-Mark. Just... it´s nearly double!
Still it seems people are willing to pay 1,69 € for a cucumber now in winter. If you asked them if they´d pay 3,40 DM I sure do bet they´d scream "are you crazy???!".

We did buy Mett though and well, I have to admit I nearly made a jump to the side when Ingo exclaimed "SEE?!!! It´s called HACKEPETER!!!!" (german)

And yes, here you go, you can click to enlarge to read the sign saying Hackepeter:



Another Myth confirmed, buster (I said to myself).

There are many words Ingo knows which I don´t. Either it´s cause he´s soooo old ;-) or cause he comes from a village, dunno.

Alongside with Hackepeter (where are Paul and Mary or what the heck has Peter to do with ground pork, huh???) we bought, tadaa, I hear the yuck´s straight away: savoy cabbage.
Yes, it´s winter and hence savoy cabbage-time!

Now, doesn´t this simply look yummy?











The cook: Same apron, same time of the year, different place and different temps:



The result:



YUM!

My Dad, the Musketeer

I don´t wanna bore ya, really!
Still scanning in the old family pics to make a Christmas-Pressie.

This is my Dad, the Musketeer.



Well. He really grew that beard for the annual occasion only. The musket, he built it himself. It works. He was one of the founders of that "serious" historical association, the Sehusa Musketiere (german).
Pic is taken some time in the 80´s, on the annual Sehusa Festival (german), the biggest historical Festival in Lower Saxony.

Yips, there were cars around, "back then" ;-)

Seriously, since the Musketeers knew no glasses he wore none. Neither contact lenses!!
Bet he missed a lot of people that way! ;-)

Yeah. This was one of his big hobbies. Alongside with astronomy and his stupid Mercedes Cabriolet.
I never get that last one. We were a BMW-family!!!

In one´s head

Just what was going on in my head back then? Why would I stand like that?!

Did I know our Mom was taking a pic of us?

Weird.

Alive and kicking

Just like this one! :-)
Ingo is home, all is good!

Btw... I like Broccoli just as I like Brussels sprouts! ;-)

Push some Molecules

So. Ingo is on his way to Lueneburg.
He´ll stay overnight at his brother´s place and tomorrow morning he´s due.
Hopefully the last surgery.

The last tube gets out.

I don´t have a good feeling about it, dunno why.

Fingers crossed all goes well.

And then close this chapter.

This title... well.
Long ago I broke my arm. Very long story. At some point I had to sign that I understand it is very possible I might loose the function of my right hand.
There I stood, January night in the hall of the Hannover Medical School, calling my Mom, crying in fear.
She was harsh. More yelling that telling me that if I don´t stop being that negative it will go wrong.
That was the first time in my life that I really tried to think positively.
Maybe I pushed some molecules.
My right hand is just fine.

Green is as green does

I´ m not from Belgium

I don´t live in Sesame Street neither, but I started the day with a sesame roll. YUM:



This is what I had.
Ingo had this:



At one time and he was faster than I was.
Like a seven-headed caterpillar (guess that´s a German saying, no? But ya know what I mean...).

Oh, gosh, in some aspects being a kid these days must be just great! How I would´ve loved this:



What´s all that do to with Belgium, you might ask?

Well. I said to Ingo, oh yum, gonna put this on the net, what is Rosenkohl in English?
No, not "rose kale", it´s Brussels sprouts!
So it seems we not only have to be very, very thankful for French Fries that come from Belgium originally, but also for this lovely, yummy treat!




Was. So. YUM.



See? If I did this whole stuff in German I would not have learned where Rosenkohl originally came from. What kind of an educational hobby do I have here after all, huh? :-)

Raising kids

I know I know nothing about it.
But I don´t think this toy shows the right way?
Or am I too conservative?



I couldn´t help but shake my head in disbelief.

Any opinions?

New York, Braunschweig, Paris

... in one title - we are metropolis! :-)

Season opened

So I left work at 11:20 today to meet my bro in town.
I´ve gathered 40 hours overtime again, so that´s no problem.

After a good long chat we went to the city. We left the car in the Schlossarkaden (german), the shopping mall for which our park had to get cut off.

Didn´t it look chrissy-like:



We just went out to get greeted by the next Season´s item:



Goal was the Christmas Market:



We´d asked Ingo more than once but he didn´t want to join us. Maybe better so, the place was just loaded. Seems like everyone wanted to have a look.

Saw this wooden cow-marionette, kinda cool, huh?



And, new to this market, an ancient carousel. Well, half the lights weren´t working :-(



The old machinery made a whole lotta noise, but since I´m afraid of heights I won´t go in anyway!

The roads look pretty also, like every year:




Another impression of the market:




It was coooold, so we had some mulled wine. Shows a bit in the pic, I suppose!



Afterwards Ingo and me went to a friend to exchange our self-made Advent-Calendars. Hmm, am curious what I´ll gonna find:



So much for "show and tell"! ;-)

One working day and then: Weekend! Yay!