70/30

I received this incredible floss/ribbon fob from Barbara. She remembered that I love peacocks and she got the colors just right ,too. It is sitting right here in front of me, on my desk, where I can enjoy it.

I got my car back- on Saturday! They aren't even open on Saturday , but they messed about with it so long and made 3 diagnosis and had to order different parts and felt so bad, that someone came in and fixed it Saturday morning. The final repair was cheaper than the one I thought they were doing in my last blog, as well.

The drive to pick the car up was so stressful that I managed to get sick . I am coughing, what little brains I have , out. WHIIIIINE!!!!

50/50

Do you see this car? This is NOT Rachael"s car.
Can you say "rental car" ? I knew you could!

The yellow writting on the side gives it away- ADAC (German AAA) replacement for my car while it is being repaired at a garage 130 kilometers away. The beast, which in three and a half years has not given me a moments trouble, decided to leave me stranded on the autobahn, miles from home, Sunday evening at 5pm.
It simply had no power. I knew that something was wrong on Saturday as it lost power a couple of times , but I was almost at the end of a two and a half hour trip and I had an appointment for a new battery and to have the heater looked at on Wednesday (today) anyway , and each time it recovered nicely. I left for home early on Sunday , to try and get home before dark , even if I had to go slow- but I hadn't planned on going THAT slow. At some point it was just no go. I called ADAC , who showed up after half and hour , he messed with the car for another 30 minutes couldn't find anything and called for a tow. The tow guy showed up after another 35 minuts or so , It all went very quickly considering ,but.. I had planned on being home by then and I had to peee..... The tow guy was very kind and stopped at the next McD so that I could use the facilities and then on to the garage where they gave me the abouve pictured Ford Focus and sent me on my way.
Now comes the scary part- they couldn't find anything wrong with the car. They had the same driving experience that I did ,but just couldn't find out why! Tuesday evening they had the answer. The water pump . That's why the heater wasn't working either. The engine wasn't being cooled properly and everytime it got too hot, an emergency program kicked in and choked the engine untill it cooled down- hence- no power. They will have it fixed tomorrow or Friday to the tune of - big bucks- at which point I will be free to drive the 260 klicks to retreve the thing. And then it still needs a new battery and emergency triangle which got left behind, on the A64, 1500 meters before the Sonnenbornerkreuz. If you see it could you grab it for me?

The other 50 % was wonderful - party , party , party. For which I have no picture's because once again, I forgot my camera! Sombody smack me!! Saturday after a brief stop to shop and gather Starbuck's in Munster, I drove on to Masstricht. Yes, I managed to visit Annemarie after forever. For some reason I had forgotten what a darling ,dandelion puff of curly blond hair she has. She will probably hate me for that, but it was soooo nice to see her and have a bit of a chat in person. Jula looked good and Pelle is so cute- he fell asleep on the couch holding on to my finger. One just doesn't realise how much one misses the odd bit of baby love until one gets some. My heart was melting.
But, by 7:45 pm I needed to be back on my way over the border to Germany again.. My friend Joe turned 50 on Sunday and we were celebrating into his birthday. I know I have mentioned before that it is bad luck in Germany to celebrate ahead of time- so at midnight we sang , congrtulated , opened presents etc.. I went to bed at 4:30 in the morning. I must have been insane. I woke up and wandered downstairs , glanced at the clock and it was NOON.
Once again I was off to the races in my not so trusty (at this point ) steed. A quick wash, fresh clothes and a glass of water and away.
Sunday was Leonie's birthday. Leonie is my god daughter and I was late for her birthday. Some serious present action was called for here , but luckly I was prepared. We had a lovely lunch and then coffee and cake. Wilma (Leonie's Mama) had noodles and cake, extra with no wheat, for me. Thank you Wilma -big hugs.
Unfortunatly , I had to leave early in an unsucsessful attempt at avoiding the above described oddesy. I wish I could have stayed longer. Next time :-)

Red boots, blue boots,

old boots, new boots.
If you look carefully you can see that these two pairs of boots are the same. One pair is just one year older than the other. I bought the older (duh) pair one year ago on St Martin's Sunday . I like them so much that this year I bought them again- on St. Martin's Saturday. The shoe store in our village has 20% off on St Martin's and I was not willing to pay more this year than last year! For me these are the perfect , everyday winter boots. I bought them a size larger than my summer shoes so that my thick socks fit inside , the sole is "shock absorbing" and non slip , the heel is just the right height to give ME a little height ,but not too high or narrow. They look good with jeans and I also like the height of the shaft. I wonder if they will make them next year? I was amazed to see how much the old boots had aged- even though I did polish them regularly.
A shoe question for those who go to a fitness studio (or gym, as we used to call it) , At the fitness studio that we use, most people don't put their shoes in the lockers, but leave them on the floor. This makes a lot of sense, as we are not talking Manolo's here. But... almost everyone- okay everyone but me- turns their shoes so that the toes point towards the wall/ lockers. I don't get it. Everyone sits down to change their shoes , both before and after working out. Especially now that it is winter and most people are wearing boots ( I was also the last one to go there- last Thursday I was still wearing flip flops to the gym) So if you are sitting down, the shoes you just removed have the toes facing the center of the room. Why do people turn them around? They just have to turn them around again when they change back into them. Am I the laziest person on the planet? Have I not grasped some important point of changing room ettiquette? Don't I have anything better to do than worry about this?

And yes, I am a Dr, Suess fan . I pretty much know "Green Eggs and Ham" by heart. It's amazing how often you can work ".. and he rode with his load to the tip top to dump it" ( mini quiz- which book is this from?) into everyday conversation.

Mojo?

I can't belive I haven't written in so long. Probably no one will read this as they have given up on ever finding anything new here. I noticed a lot of people having long pauses between their blog entries lately- exept Barbara- she is writting every day- and I am not even managing to leave comments- Barbara, if you are reading this- I can't belive how much you have accomplished recently- you are amazing, and Max's stitching - WOW !
I had a wonderful trip to Virginia. No pictures because I have a new camera and the battery has a different set up than my old one and I just didn't have it figured out. Somewhere on my cell phone are a couple pix of Cheryl and me at the new WWII monument ,but I am going to have to get someone more phone/computer savvy ( Patrick?) to move them over here.

Virginia was fab. Great weather, although everyone who lived there thought it was too warm. I was at the beach which cleanses my soul. I was at the book store, I was at Starbuck's. I was at the yarn store, I was with Cheryl!!! We went to Cheryl's knitting meet-ups , met great people, laughed our butts off ( ha- I wish-mine is still a million times tooo big) . I met Remelda and traded bits with her and ate fantastic , wheat free, frozen waffels. I kid you not, those babies where great.
We went to Washington DC and saw the three things that were at the top of my "things to see in Washington DC" list. Thank you Rick (hug)
The Holocaust Museum- very intense- IMO not for childeren between the ages of about 2 and 12. Under 2 just won't get it and children under 12 will get it, but not understand. Very well done.
The new WWII monument.Pretty , but OTT. There is something to represent everything. Pillers, gold eagles, water, wreaths, maps, reliefs, BIG engraved signs. Like I said it is pretty , but the feeling is missing. If you go to the Vietnam War memorial, you start to cry. This one is nothing like that. Plus I have lived in Europe too long not to be bothered by all of the "do not" signs. Don't go on the grass, put your feet in the water, drink eat or smoke, climb on anything. Breath?
Number three was Mount Vernon- loved it. If you have a chance - go.

Once I got home ( we won't even discuss my flights other than to say that if you ever want to get anywhere on time , don't choose to fly parallel to me. On the other hand , I always do get to where I want to be. Up to you) and had all my chicks back in the nest (exept M of course) I thought things would get back to normal, but it hasn't been that easy.

I have started to go to the fitness studio three times a week. Once to the afore mentioned Pilates class and twice to work out. This seems to be using up some of my mojo. I haven't been able to stitch or knit much. I just can't seem to get started. I have managed to do an amazing amount of other stuff. Getting my kids to a long series of Dr. and dentist appointments ,music lessons, driving lessons etc.. Worked in the library on Tuesdays and covered what seemed to be 397 history books. I even managed to get the winter tires put on my car.
My major goal at this point is to get Dianne's NRR finished and in the mail- it's almost finished- I swear it is! Mojo- come back- please.

Mad insane packing.

We are mad insane packers.
I took Nala to Anja and stayed there for a couple of days-trying to recover from my CC fiasco- Oh you don't know about that? I managed to lose my credit card last Saturday and only noticed it was gone Monday night. I am leaving for the States early this Monday morning- see my problem.

After I canceled my card on Monday night and ordered a new one, I was lying in bed and all of a sudden had a vision and new exactly where I had lost the stupid thing. Okay, maybe it's not the CC that stupid - it's me.
Patrick and I were at Starbuck's and the cashier gave me my card back after I had put my wallet away and so I wrapped the reciept around the card and stuck it in my pants pocket. Later I was in a restroom (parking garage) and while washing my hands looked down and saw a piece of paper sticking out fromn between the toilet seat and the edge of the bowl. I thought "hmmmm was that there when I sat down - I think I would have seen it." And walked away!! At 12:30 in the morning I thought "Yes goof ball , you would have, and since you didn't maybe it belonged to you. " In the morning I called the park garage and someone had kindly turned it in. - I got it back , but canceled is canceled. The bank promised me a new one by Saturday at the latest. It actually came on Friday. So- a huge cosmic thank you to the person who found my card and turned it in and to the people who replace CC's for getting the new one to me so quickly.

On to insane packing - I got the boys to do most of their packing yesterday evening. Then this morning, I took them to Muenster and told them - whatever you don't have, but need for your trip- let's get it now. We got Alexander a rain jacket- picked up his new glasses and a book, Patrick got munchies for the trip (22 hours in a bus) and the new phone that we were chasing last Saturday. I got a new suitcase. We were home about 15 minutes and Alexander asks me if I have a small umbrella for him. Well- I do , but they are all to girly. Why didn't he say something in Muenster?! I have also had to dig out a swinmming cap , camping flatware , passports and a lot of socks. I even remembered to make copies of the kids shot records and write 27 contact phone numbers on them.
Now, I need to pack my new suitcase.

Look who's here!!

Just for 6 days, but we are making the most of it. Mostly improving the economy.

Pilates tonight- this is helping my 'back" problem more than anything else has up until now. The class I am attending is a series of 10- I don't know what will happen when it is over. I hope that they will offer a continuation class , but I am afraid too few people will want to take it.

BTW- I floss after eating everything exept a cough drop. So yes, in bed, without a mirror, in the car, wherever I happen to be and think that no one who might object can see me. I said it was scary :-)

I fear I am getting old.

My favorite chill has been to lay in bed with a good book , a munchie and a bottle of water. Now my favorite chill is to lay in bed with a good book, a munchie a bottle of water and a roll of dental floss. Scary.