Archives for April 2025

I’m back home right now, which is great, I love my home, but I’m still quite busy doing all the things, so just a short post.

Yesterday we had breakfast, cleaned out the rented apartment, went for a short walk and then picked up my husband’s aunt to go out for lunch. You get a bit of an impression of her character when I tell you we were supposed to pick her up at 12.15 and at 12.19, while we were almost but not quite there and I was helping my husband navigate my phone rang to ask where we were.

We went and met with friends of hers that we really like at a very nice restaurant, and the food was fabulous. My husband and I both had the dumplings, one is red beet, the second spinach and the third cheese, with browned butter and grated parmesan. We also both had alcohol-free beer:

And then there was dessert, yummy apple fritters with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream:

We talked a bit and then went back to the aunt’s house.

Over lunch we had told them that we were thinking of returning home early, for one, there wasn’t really much to do there but a lot at home, also, the boy had had a teeny accident in the lab the day before and we’d feel better seeing him in person.

(The accident was nothing major, he pricked himself with a syringe and then fainted because he can’t see blood, and since it happened in the lab he needed to see a doctor and make a report because it was a work-related injury.)

So the aunt showed us around her house some mores we’d knew where everything was, we divided the rest of the cake and made the trip back home.

We unpacked, ate more cake and eventually talked with the boy. Who was good as new.

I was a bit unsure what to do then, realized I was too tired and exhausted even to watch TV, started writing this post, did Duolingo and went to bed with a book.

And now I need to run.

I went to bed on time but – didn’t sleep all that well. Because I had wine with dinner and a beer in the evening.

I wrote my morning pages and opened the manuscript but only managed 10 minutes of writing because I had to figure out some things – right now I have my main characters teleported to, I don’t know, somewhere – and they were there, talking in this empty room. Because I had no idea where they were.

But. My brain didn’t come up with anything because it in turn was super busy thinking about the upcoming trip.

I also didn’t do yoga. Again.

Husband and I had breakfast together and we talked quite a bit, mostly about the friends who visited him but also about our trip.

I did the dishes and went for my walk/run. I’m getting slightly better at shuffling around, even though I still feel ridiculous:

I came back home half an hour after lunchtime but my husband was still busy cooking. I helped chopping things. We combined the leftover lamb roast from the day before with orzo in tomato sauce and Brussel’s sprouts:

The boy was up early for him and joined us for lunch which was very nice.

After I took a short break, then a shower and then my husband and I went out to practice with the rental car. Husband drove an automatic for the first time in his life and did very well. He still has the impulse to shift down when getting slower but successfully suppressed it.

We drove to the other end of town to the artificial lake there, we parked and walked a loop around it. I tried connecting my phone to the fancy car computer but didn’t manage.

We drove back home and started packing. I am a little proud that I managed to cram everything I need into my small 16 l daypack and my (not so small) purse. I mean, it’s only two nights but still.

The boy and I ate dinner in front of TV and watched the first episode of the new season of ‚Doctor Who‘ and it was actually very good. We both enjoyed it.

Afterwards I baked a cake to take with us, started writing this post, did Duolingo and my foot exercises and went to bed.

And today we’ll go and visit the land where cheese is made. There should be wifi there so regular posting might continue but if not you’ll hear all about it when I’m back.

Due to baking procrastination I only slept for six hours. So husband and I were both very low energy which made everything harder.

I decided to skip all the morning routines, we ate breakfast together and then talked and talked and talked.

Not really in a fun way.

I called my mother on the phone and told her everything that had happened all week, then my husband and I did the dishes.

Traditionally my mother-in-law cooks our Easter lunch but for various reasons we divided things up a bit, she made the lamb roast, husband and I made mashed potatoes, green beans and the vegetarian option for the boy:

When we decided to stop drinking alcohol we also talked about opening a bottle of wine on Easter, and that’s what we did. The food was really good, the wine as well, but I have to say, sober feels better. Which didn’t stop me from having a beer in the evening as well.Not that it’s worth it.

I spent most of the afternoon listlessly hanging around. I know I read a bit, I talked with my husband on and off, dishes were washed, and I sorted through knitting needles and made notes for the next sock. I was just about to cancel bodyweight training when the boy held me back and we actually did our thirty minutes.

I’m still working on negative pull-ups and the boy said – grinning from ear to ear with pleasure – that I’m no longer looking like I’m falling straight to the floor. Ahem. Progress. I might even held my weight for all of one second.

Then I made frozen pizza for both of us which was actually tasty, wrote in my bullet journal and planned the week and then I started writing this post.

I did Duolingo, watched some C-drama while knitting a bit and drinking my beer and then went to bed.

Today I will do all the things, packing, baking a cake and doing another test drive are all on the agenda.

But it was a bit of a weird day.

To bed half an hour too late again. If I were sensible I’d just move my morning alarm half an hour later and called it good. But then my husband would have to wait even longer for breakfast. I’ll continue striving, I guess.

I did my morning routine almost completely with the exception of meditation. Writing went better than expected, even. We ate breakfast a little quicker than usual because we were scheduled to pick up our rental car and had to get to the train there on time.

On the way my husband thought it would be a good idea to talk about our communication problems when tense. Fun! Especially since I was extra tense because I didn’t really know where we needed to go, we were both apprehensive about the whole thing and especially driving after years and years in an unfamiliar car, all those things.

I had chosen a car rental that is only two train stations towards Munich. The train ride went without incident and I don’t think it was late, even.

When looking at what I needed to bring with me it had said, ID for both of us and driver’s licenses – which is understandable – and a credit card in the name of the main driver – less understandable, but okay – plus the booking agreement, a bank statement and a recent utility bill in the name of the main driver.

Um. What?

The only ‚utility‘ that is in my name is our internet. Sure.

Since I am a rule follower at heart I actually did bring all of these things. I didn’t print them out, though, I just put them on my phone as PDFs.

And – as expected – it turned out I didn’t need them at all. What I needed was my ID and driver’s license, my husband’s driver’s license and my credit card. The end.

We went to get our car which was parked on a lot across the street. It was a mid-size car, just as expected, very new, everything was fine, but – I had explicitly asked for a stick shift. This car is not a stick shift.

My husband hasn’t driven for 12 years or so and has never, not once in his life drove anything with an automatic transmission. Pity. Also, you need to keep in mind that the car we have driven for years and years was a 1996 Ford Fiesta. There was barely a radio in that car, never mind anything electronic.

Or rental is brand-new. The key is one of those fob things. You start the engine with a button. My husband sat down in the driver’s seat and we started trying things out. I have driven automatic in the past because my mother has one but I keep forgetting things. And I still have to remind myself to leave my left foot firmly planted and only use the right one.

We tried and tried and the car wouldn’t budge. Very embarrassing and I was just about to walk back to the agency and ask for help but then we decided to switch places. I figured out that one of the millions of buttons is standing in for the handbrake, I started the car yet again and finally got it moving. Phew.

One reason why I chose that rental place was that it’s pretty close to our home and that it’s mainly one big road all the way.

Or so I thought.

There has been a ton of construction in that area lately. Basically, they are building another city almost as big as the one we are living in between Munich and our hometown. Which means they need new streets as well. And the one that was a long, straight road for decades, now has curves and sweeping lanes and on and off ramps to several different highways. Very confusing. In that unfamiliar car that is bigger than what I’m used to and has dark, tinted windows in the back that you can’t see anything from. Phew.

Anyway, I brought us home safely, we’ll do some driving practice on Monday, and I found the car’s manual online and started reading it.

Then we both went out for a walk/run:

When I cam back home my husband was incomplete overwhelm again and lunch wasn’t ready yet so I got to take my shower before lunch. Nice.

Lunch was ragû from leftover duck’s breast with spaghetti and tomato sauce. My husband had also grated some pretty ripe pecorino cheese:

In the picture there is no cheese. I really should have left it like that.

Turned out the cheese tasted really foul and we both decided not to finish what was on our plates. Sad.

It was already pretty late, I had wild plans to start making the annual hefezopf early but couldn’t get myself moving. My husband had two of his friends over. We expected them at 4. The first one rang the doorbell at 2.45, just as my husband was taking a nap.

At that point my mood was not the best and I decided I really needed some comfort ice cream, so I walked to the nearby supermarket.

Half a bag of potato chips and half a pint of ice cream later I felt a little better but then I basically waited for our guests to leave again. In between I went to my weekly writer’s meeting and knitted a bit and finished a sock:

I’m not all that happy with it, I think it is not only too long but also a little too wide. I’m thinking of knitting the second one differently and then ripping the one out that I like less.

I made frozen pizza for my husband and his friends, I talked briefly with the boy who had to endure my cranky self and then, finally, I went to the basement for the food processor. My husband’s friend had already left at that point.

I schlepped it upstairs, put all the ingredients in, pushed the button and thought, „Weird, that thing is really loud today!“ I went on mixing and putting eggs in and such, until, the machine started reeking of burnt oil. That was the point where I decided to turn it off and do the rest of the kneading by hand.

I talked briefly with my husband, did Duolingo, started writing this post, formed the dough into braids, preheated the oven and baked the bread.

And yes, I went to bed too late again.

Even though it was actually Good Friday.

I woke up with somewhat low energy yet again because – you know the drill – not enough sleep. I wrote my morning pages then decided to skip the rest of the morning routine and then I just sat in bed feeling unable to get up.

The rest of the day went as expected.

On the other hand I did cut my husband’s hair, we discussed quite a few things, I did the breakfast dishes, we did three loads of laundry (all hung up by my husband) and I figured some more things out for our trip.

One of the big items on my list was to figure out how to start finishing Weaver B. The pieces get connected with I-cord. I spent about forty minutes looking at the instructions, all the images I could find and the pieces of knitting in my hands but I just couldn’t figure it out. I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable knitter but somehow it didn’t click.

So I was a bit cranky when lunch was ready but it was delicious:

After eating and talking with my husband I went back to the aggravating knitting puzzle. After fiddling around for about an hour, looking at tutorials and combing through Ravelry and its forums I finally found a post where someone spelled the instructions for someone else who was equally confused and it turns out when it said to knit 1 stitch from the front and 1 from the back together it meant to do it all the way through to the neck opening. Not just once. Duh. 

So I did that, then did a 2 stitch I-cord bind off as instructed, and voilà:

Then I talked to the boy who had gotten up at one point, did my half of the weekly cleaning, did the dishes, did bodyweight training with the boy, fixed all the typos in book 1 and exported it to my book formatting software, ate dinner while reading, watched two episodes of C-drama while eating coated peanuts (I really need to stop buying those), did Duolingo, started writing this post, did my foot exercises, wrote a list for today and went to bed.

Today will be a cornucopia of different experiences for sure, never a dull minute around here.