Recent doings #20

I’m sure you’re sick of me saying it every month, but how is it August already? Ten days until my birthday… I’m so not ready to be 34! I am, however, ready for a holiday. 15 days until we fly. Not that I’m counting or anything…

Right now, though, it’s time to link up with Kristen and Gretch to talk about all the things I’ve been doing in July.

Eating. I started the month continuing June’s theme of salads and ice cream, but then the weather got bad plus Jan was performing with the Basel Tattoo choir every evening so for the last half of July I just ate whatever could be made quickly and easily. Fish fingers featured a few times. And sandwiches.

Watching. The Coroner on BBC Entertainment. It seems to be over now though – when I tried to put it on last night Hustle was on instead. Also fireworks over the Rhine for Switzerland’s national day (which is actually on 1st August, but Basel is greedy and does fireworks twice, so the ones on the day before just about manage to sneak in to my July round-up ;-)).

Reading. I actually had a good reading month for a change and managed to read 14 books! Ten were for Erin’s challenge. I will tell you about the in detail next week.

Seeing/hearing. The Basel Tattoo! Since Jan was part of it, I got tickets for one of the performances. It was very cool and I would definitely go again.

Cross stitching. Birthday cards galore! I wanted to get all the Post Pals birthday cards for August finished and sent out before I go away (and of course I also stitched the July ones), plus my friend turned 30 so I made her a card as well.

Booking. Our flight back from the UK and accommodation in Cornwall. And Jan has now booked the remaining accommodation so we’re all sorted. Woo!

Buying. It would probably be easier to say what I haven’t been buying to be honest! I spent way too much money in July. I definitely bought books, stickers and a load of badges/pins to send to Post Pals kids (they have all been given lanyards to collect them). I can’t even remember what else. Oh, birthday gifts for my mum and my friend, of course.

Wishing. Work would slow down a bit. I mean, having lots of work is better than sitting around doing nothing and I do appreciate being kept busy, but I am exhausted right now.

That’s all for today. All that aforementioned work awaits (and today I have to work longer again to make up for the fact that I’m in the office tomorrow and won’t actually arrive there until 10 a.m.).

What have you been doing recently? Don’t forget to check out the link up to find out what’s new with everyone else!

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Friday letters

How is it possible that it’s time for Friday letters again already? This week has literally flown by! At this rate, it will be Christmas before I know it. …

I came across this cute letter box in Ireland.

Dear checkout lady in Rossmann. Was it really necessary to literally snatch my money right out of my hand? Apparantly it was my week for encountering rude Germans…

Dear boots. I still think you’re one of the best purchases I ever made, no matter what crazy drunk Germans might have to say on the matter 😉

Dear friend’s unborn baby. I can’t believe your due date is only a month and a half away! I really, really need to get on with that cross stitch I’m doing for you…

Time flies (Photo credit: Robert Couse-Baker)

Dear July. PLEASE slow down! There is so much I need to get done this month (like buying a dress for a christening and a gift for my mother’s 50th birthday!) and I already feel like I’m running out of time…

Dear self. You’re doing really well with this exercising lark… keep up the good work!

Dear spare room. Sorry you look like a bomb’s gone off in you. I will do something about that… some day.

Dear shower. I will also clean you soon… honest I will. And yes, I know I’ve been saying that for weeks…

Dear readers. Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Friday letters time already?

Another week has gone by, already. Next time I write my Friday letters it will be May! Please could somebody make this year stop already?! I need some time to catch my breath! Ah well… on to the letters…

Rural Mailbox (Photo credit: Big Grey Mare)

Dear Ireland. I’m coming to visit you in 42 days. That’s actually really close! Aaah, excitement!!

Dear fellow Ireland trippers. I hope we can agree on the return flight when we meet up tomorrow. I want to book!

Dear weather. Yesterday was bright sunshine and 28°C (too hot for April, in my opinion – what do you have in store for us in August?!)  Today we got rain, which forecasts say is going to continue all weekend. Thanks a lot!! I bet the sun comes out when I’m back at work on Monday…

Dear boyfriend. I feel like I’ve hardly seen you all week and this weekend is looking just as busy. I hope we can find at least an hour or two to spend together in between!

Dear belly. I have been good all week. Well… apart from the beers on Monday and Mexican meal on Wednesday, that is. BUT I’ve been exercising like mad. So why, after two whole weeks,  is my waist measurement exactly the same? No fair!!

Dear sleep. I miss you! I hope we can manage to catch up at some point this weekend… maybe on Sunday when I have a little more time?

OK, gotta go. The living room won’t tidy itself! Happy weekend everyone!

I never was much of an organiser…

It is the end of Tuesday. That means it’s been a whole week since I last blogged. I didn’t mean to leave a whole week between blog posts, but somehow the last seven days seem to have run away from me. In fact, scratch that. The last few months have run away from me. Do you realise we are now half way through June? It’ll be Autumn again before I can blink…

This weekend I’ve mostly been trying to arrange our holiday in Ausust. It’s stressful! We’re driving round Great Britain for three weeks, and I’ve been trying to tget the dates confirmed so we can book the last few B&Bs. Only problem is, currently we only have 1 day in Edinburgh, and we would like more, but one person isn’t willing to cut Cardiff short (although why we need 3 days there is beyond me?) while a second doesn’t really want to take a day off our final stop as that will leave us with a mere afternoon for relaxing before embarking on the long journey back to Karlsruhe, by car (ferry from Dover to Calais then a nice drive across France). I suppose I could suggest leaving out Fort William instead… Decisions, decisions.
By the way, if anyone knows a good, cheapish B&B in Edinburgh please recommend one! At the moment we’re leaning towards the Haymarket Travelodge, so any experinces of that would also be greatly appreciated. You know where the comments box is…

Time is flying, never to return

Has it really been a whole week since I last updated my blog? How on Earth did that happen?
I wish I could tell you it’s because I’ve been doing so many exciting things that I haven’t had time to sit down at the computer, but the truth is I don’t actually know what I’ve been doing with myself all week. I’ve been at work, obviously, but other than that… no idea. It seems somebody’s been messing with time again. Even today seems to have flown by at the speed of a hurricane. I’m currently in the middle of cooking tea (corned beef hash for those who are interested in such things) but it seems like a matter of mere minutes since I was eating breakfast. Only the rumbling in my stomach and the fact that it’s now dark serve to tell me otherwise.
A glance at my to do list for the weekend tells me that I’ve swept the flat, done some washing, tidied the living room and worked on my dissertation but failed to sort out my bank statements or clean the bathroom sink. Good to know. I also went to Cafe Brenner for coffee and cake with the boyfriend this afternoon (nice cafe, decent coffee, reasonably good cake – although Endle’s is better – but the staff could use some lessons in friendliness!). But can that really have taken up my entire weekend? It seems like so little for two whole days.
Tomorrow is Monday again. The last Monday in February, the final week of my probation period. Soon the moment of truth shall be upon us. As will pay day. Here’s hoping this month’s pay isn’t the last for a while…

August. Blink too often and you’ll miss it.

I have nothing to say at the moment, but I feel like now I’ve started this blog I must write something every single day. No idea why – perhaps I’m afraid an evil creature will come and get me if I don’t.

Oooh, speaking of evil creatures… I have been saved from the scary, scary moths. On Friday eveing I saw another of the creepy little bugs in my cupboard. It was just sitting there on the top shelf trying to look all innocent.. then it flew out and touched me!! Scream? I did! Jan, who was watching TV at the time, called me pathetic then told me to just go away, he would deal with it. So I did. And he did. He took everything off the top shelf of the cupboard, threw away some pudding rice and a tub of vanilla cappucinio (apparantly there were moths sitting on the cappucino. On the lid that is. No idea why – it’s not like there was any way for them to get to the powder inside). Then he washed out the cupboard, put my remaining food back in and since then I’ve been moth free. A whole 3 days now. Woo hoo!

Time is zooming away from me again. Already August is more than half over. Actually, it’s kind of a good thing that August is more than half over… I’m getting very low on money and need it to hurry up and be the end of the month… pay day! But still… how is this already the third week of my new internship? My last place of work is starting to seem almost like a distant memory. No wonder I never manage to get everything done… it seems like every time I blink I open my eyes to find that an hour’s passed.

See… it just did it again. It’s 7:45pm now and I haven’t done a single useful thing this evening! How do other people manage to hold down full time jobs and keep on top of all their housework and bring up children, all at the same time? With only one small room to keep tidy and no children to worry about I can’t even manage to keep on top of my laundry! Just more evidence that I’d be the world’s worst housewife I guess…