leise rieselt der Schnee - for all those lovely people in Germany and Austria or whoever wants to join us!

[Canella]

a new wintery thread in honour of Hupa's first snow of the season!

I'm hoping it will thaw here soon too; the roads are more or less clear now, but parking can be very tricky as all the snow is piled up at the side of the road. It's still below freezing and there's still a lot of snow around though, so it might take a while.

westvan Glad to hear you're feeling better now.
I don't think there should be too much more left to translate now so I might be able to get it done by tomorrow; it all depends on when I actually get the text to translate, though! The agency said they would contact the client to try and sort it out. I think the proofreader not being able to get online is potentially much more of a problem, but I've done my bit so that's out of my hands now. Am just so glad it wasn't me with the trojan virus!

ad Yes, mine get very excited about oranges and nuts too. Otherwise, we just gave them some chocolate, a small craft kit and a book each and they were more than happy with that. Although DD1 was quite disappointed that Nikolo wouldn't be coming again tomorrow; apparently he visited her friend on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today.

aw admylin i'm poorly with a cold/flu too - not the most fun with kids is it!!! and dd was vomiting the whole day yesterday - lost count in the end how many times she puked! but when i phoned the school this morning they said she was the 5th in her class to be off sick today with vomiting! hope we dont get it!

admylin - my kids were excited too about their oranges and nuts from nikolaus at kindergarten! they've actually had no lunch since they ate so many nuts, apples and oranges when they came home! just making an early dinner now!

linzer - wow good going with that translating!! you'll def enjoy spending the earnings from it!

westvan - the shops were busy when we were there on saturday so think its just me thats on a go slow! plan to blitz it next tues morning!!! only really have a tues morning completely free but need to blitz the house and the clean washing/ironing mountain tomorrow!

did you all see Wetten Dass on saturday - that was a horrific accident! doesnt sound like he's doing too well at the mo but hope he recovers in the end.

Oh, I heard about that accident - it sounded just awful. Must have been terrible for his father too, driving the car. It's been on the radio news all day today and was even on the BBC website.

I am being driven mad by the constant quarrelling today; DS has a "friend" over but they seem to be spending more time squabbling than they do actually playing. His friend's little sister is here too; she's very sweet but follows me round the whole time so it's quite difficult to get anything done (the house is still in a mess). I'm probably too used to the DDs having friends over and disappearing for the rest of the afternoon, and have forgotten how to deal with toddlers!

Canella Sorry to hear you're not feeling well either. Hope the rest of you don't catch the bug - I always end up washing my hands in an OCD kind of way whenever any of the DC catch something like that!

Lol, I do the hand washing too Linzer!

My poor dc are sitting in their long johns and t-shirts - the house is so hot for them but I'm still freezing. Have to take ds to table tennis club now and am dreading having to go out in the cold.

Admylin - in case you don't have a change to read my last e mail this evening - I'll give you a call when my appt is over tomorrow and we'll see if we can meet up, OK?

Morning all,

How are you feeling today, admylin? I really feel the cold even when I'm not ill and the house is never hot enough for me! (I'm quite frugal about turning the heating on/up, admittedly.) Hope you and westvan enjoy your meet-up!

The pavements were very slippery this morning, so I hope the DDs made it to school in one piece. I really must make an effort to tidy up and get the house looking halfway decent this morning, as it's been sadly neglected while I've been so busy working.

The DDs have their piano concert (well, Klassenabend) this evening, which is actually making them practise for once - DD2 was on the piano straight after breakfast, in fact. She does keep saying that she doesn't want to play in the concert but she was far more nervous last year and still played, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she won't get last-minute stage fright.

Morning all. Today is the 7th. wow. Fingers crossed we get our DSL. I got a letter from Telekom on Saturday confirming we have cancelled our account Needles to say I was non too amused. Dunno wtf these monkeys are up to.

My sil arrived last Wednesday and since then I spent most of Saturday night in a&E with her ds with burst ear drum, then again at Kinderarzt yesterday with suspected chicken pox, then last night her dd puking all over, on top of 2 or 3 of mine being poorly! It has got to the point it's surreally funny. Dd, thank God is better again. SHe had a really nasty infection in her mouth, blisters everything and was in so much pain, but turned a corner yesterday and wanted to go to Krippe this morning so now only have 3 poorly kids here.

Am totally against ds being deregistered from English. I want him to be taught fgs. I only found out that there's another girl in his class who's half american, and she is also fluent and her english teacher had no idea until a couple of weeks ago at the parents' evening! He got a 1, which is what she wanted as proof that he didn't need the class, so if/when she makes the appointment, I'll turn up ready to argue that he should be taught. I will look into that book Canella, thanks for the tips.

Sorry you're feeling poorly Ad. Not fun looking after all the kids and doing their run arounding when you're poorly. We had constant rain yesterday, so the snow has gone down to manageable levels and the sun is out today.

Ad is still alive! I watched her drink a cappuccino this morning while I had a cup of tea. Real meet up is tomorrow but we had a spontaneous meet up today because my doctor's appt was so close to where she lives. Good news is there was a nice new doctor there today (who said I looked pretty damn good for a 47 yr old!). Bad news is that I have to go for yet another colonoscopy and possibly start on some new medication since they do think I am starting to flare again.

Linzer - good luck to your dd for her concert.

Ernest - sorry about all the sick little ones. Must be very stressful. I can imagine that the other bilingual girl in the class not being de-registered would give you some pretty good ammunition. I just don't think it's right to single a child out like that and make him miss out on the class experience. There's always something to be learned and the teacher is just going to need to make more of an effort.

How was the concert Linzer? Did she play a solo part?

Ernest, good luck with the teacher and meeting, stick to your guns and tell them you want him to be treated like the other dc! I bet the teacher is scared she'll have more work if he does 'extra' stuff.

Westvan, your little cake was lovely and I got loads of it because my 2 fuss pots turne dtheir nose up at the raisins!

Just had a shock by the way, went online to see if the laptops I ordered have been sent yet and on my account it says they have deleted the order (today) so I sent a shock-horror email 'what on earth have you done' but they aren't around until tomprrow. I am only hoping it means they have processed the order and deleted the status somehow...a friend told us it was a good site and that he'd ordered from there often so it will be OK, won't it?

Yes, yes, it'll be OK! Maybe they do just delete the orders when they get sent out. Would be quite odd, but who knows.

Glad you liked the cake. My husband is also a raisin-hater so he's whining that I never make cake for him. I'll have to try it with just apricots and cherries or something to appease the picky ones.

I am trying to make myself write Christmas cards so I can mail them tomorrow and be done with it. Must get off the computer.

I'm also about to make a start on my Christmas cards; I want to get the ones for Australia and the USA ready to send today at least. DD2 was going to help me but has decided that CBeebies is a more attractive option at the moment!

Hope you're feeling better now, ad. The concert went OK, thanks - all the children played two pieces, but as the teacher's three best pupils (who play the longest pieces) weren't able to play, it only lasted half an hour. A good thing really, as it didn't start till 6.30pm and DS was getting very wriggly and difficult to keep quiet. We went to the Weihnachtsmarkt afterwards, which was surprisingly quiet - I really wanted to have a Glühwein but couldn't as I was driving, so had to settle for a sickly sweet Kinderpunsch instead.

It's a bank holiday here today, and we're having a quiet day at home (although an ex-colleague of DH's is coming round later). DH is helping DD1 to revise for her next Sachunterrichtstest and I'm trying to have a general tidy-up/get ready for Christmas. Really must get on with my cards now!

another bank holiday linzer - think i should move to austria!! glad the concert went ok!

i've got all my cards done and my lovely friend who was here the other week took all the UK ones back with her to post from the UK!!!! (smug emotion!!!)sorry!

Ad - hope your feeling better! i still feel a bit weak but not quite so achey! thankfully no-one got dd's bug! did you hear anything about the laptops?

but i just need a moan - there's 2 church services for the kiga in the next 2 weeks. So the boys came home with something they have to learn to say out loud - i thought it was for the service on the 20th but think its for this friday! ds1's little bit is fine but ds2 who's only 4 has to memorise all of this.....

"wenn ich selbstsicher aufwachsen soll, brauche ich jemanden, der mir Geborgenheit schenkt"

he's a bright wee thing but no way is he remembering this!! should i say to the kiga or just hope he remembers it on the day!

Well done on the cards, Canella - I've only managed to write my overseas cards, or rather cards to be sent outside Europe, so far. I've been too busy with work recently to think much about Christmas and have just been sent another translation (on a bank holiday!) to do, but at least this one shouldn't take me too long. The Indian restaurant that we usually go to whenever we're in Linz has asked me to translate some changes to its menu, but hopefully I'll be able to get it all done tomorrow morning.

Yes, living in a Catholic country does have its advantages - although I'm struggling to think of many others than all the bank holidays, I must admit!

That's quite a difficult sentence for a 4 year old to memorise; I would have problems remembering it myself! DD1 has had to learn a few poems off by heart for school recently, which is usually quite a struggle - she gets there in the end, but it's very time-consuming.

Off for an early night now; I've been staying up working till midnight far too often recently, so need to catch up on some sleep.

We had what looked like a snow storm early this morning but it stopped at around 7:30, still snow everywhere - I just took a quick accelerated run at the drive and got the car out to drive the dc to school! Thought I'd do a quick shop incase it got worse but when I came out of the supermarket it had stopped!

Good job we met up the last 2 days though westvan, I wouldn't like to drive into town in this today. We are both the proud owners of boxes of Christmas crackers from TK Maxx though! Thanks for that tip Hupa.

Hope evryone has recovered especially all the ill ones at ernest's. How long are they allstaying? Are you fully connected now? Remember ds's friend whose mum died, well the telekom still haven't managed to change the phone line to the husband's name. They seem to be very slow, except when they want money.

Hope everyone who´s been feeling ill is on the road to recovery.

I still haven´t even started writing my Christmas cards, but hope to have finished them by the end of the weekend. Not that is likely to happen if I waste too much time on mumsnet.

The snow here is terrible at the moment. I wouldn´t usually mind, but ds has his kiga christmas party this afternoon at a hütte in the middle of a wood. It sounded so nice at the time - a stroll through the woods and then back with lanterns, but looking at the weather I think we´ll be wading through knee high snow.

admylin - good to hear you got some crackers. Have you heard anymore about the laptops?

Yes, at Redcoon.com they said to me on the phone that there had been a problem online when I entered the credit card number or something and that they has cancelled the order and the amount would be returned to the credit card which sounds abit strange, if they had booked it and are now returning it then why did they cancel the order? Not sure now but am waiting to see if anything looks like it has been returned to the bank.

Of course the laptops we wanted aren't available anymore - I have found 2 others that look OK so have sent the links to a friend to ask which is best (he knows better than me) and then will try again tonight. If that fails I'll have to order some where else. Any good websites for me just in case? Amazon is a possibility.

What a pain. It´s a good job you checked or you could have been left with no presents. I can´t recommend any sites I´m afraid, although amazon have been good for other things, so no reason why they shouldn´t be ok for laptops.

Just finished shoveling snow. Again. We had quite the storm all morning and it stopped at about 9. Our neighbour was brushing the snow off his tires with a whisk broom yesterday, but that's just what he's like. He was out there at 6:30 a.m. this morning shoveling snow.

Admylin - I can't believe that company didn't send you an e mail to let you know the order had been cancelled! Just think if you hadn't checked online.

I think we got a really good deal on those Christmas crackers. I looked them up and they're much more expensive in England and the US.

hupa - Hope you can get through the snow all right for the Christmas party.

Linzer - good job on the Christmas cards. I still haven't started mine. Right now it's either fold laundry or write cards and I think the laundry might be winning.

Canella - that is a big mouthful for a little guy! You wonder who thinks these things up.

Hello

made a discovery in dhs study

I have found the floor ......

off to walk the dog again ,,,,,sigh

Canella - have a word with kiga. Maybe they could rephrase and simplify it. It´s certainly not a sentence that a 4 year old would come out with.

Cinders -

We actually went to IKEA yesterday to buy a new desk for me. Dh reckons the reason his study always looks like a tip is down to me, so now I have my own desk. I think he´s actually going to be shocked that the mess is actually 90% his and having an extra desk will just mean an extra surface on which to pile work.

Agree it does seem abit complicated but then again they won't be expecting perfection and it's so cute to see the little ones stand up - probably half of them will forget why they are there once they've got up to speak!

I've just been looking up chocolate fondue recipes, my dc are going to be delighted when they see we've got one! Shame I'm saving it for Christmas.

Linzer, have you posted your cards? What's the deadline for sending abroad? I haven't done any but I think I should make an effort and send a few to UK.

Oh we need a desk - which one did you get Hupa? I was thinking of getting an ikea one.

Horrible weather here today, but I'm hoping that it's going to put everyone off going out this afternoon so that I can actually find a parking space when I take DD2 to the doctor's. It's a nightmare trying to find a space after about midday once the Weihnachtsmarkt has opened.

I'm been doing yet more food-related translation today, making a few changes to the restaurant of the Indian restaurant that we always go to in Linz. I thought it would only take me about 5 minutes, but I had a few formatting problems so have only just finished.

Hi Cinders, I was wondering where all the other Austrians had got to. Well done on your discovery! Did you ever find out what happened to your Mog thread btw?

ad I've posted all but one of my cards to friends outside Europe, but have no idea about last posting dates. There was no mention of them on the PO's website; in fact, I suspect they might not even bother giving them as Austrians don't go in for sending Christmas cards in a big way.
I've never bought a laptop online, but would second Amazon too; they were very efficient when I had to return my iPod.

westvan Your neighbour sounds like ours, who somehow manage to keep their path completely snow-free. I just shovel the worst of it off, but they are out their with their broom getting rid of every last flake.

Hupa The Christmas party sounds like it would be quite idyllic if you didn't have the snow to get through. There's more on the way here apparently, but atm it can't decide whether to rain or sleet.