Frühlingserwachen - spring finally seems to have arrived in Germany and Austria...

[LinzerTorte]

... or at least I hope so.

For everyone in Germany and Austria, and anyone else who would like to chat!

He got in a few minutes after I posted, just as I was settling to read a long thread! He was fed up because the engineer who helps him with his mathematical stuff had gone off sick with hayfever. Dh is the type who never misses a day off work even if he's ill infact in the last 10 years he's maybe had 5 days off for fever/flu.

I gave ds a tablet today for his sneezing, just hope it doesn't make him feel sleepy.

Hmm you're right about trying a few different wines. I'll try some white wines next, gone offred after that one. A friend brought us a bottle of chateauneuf du pape a while back and it was the best red wine I've ever had. Haven't seen it in the shops I go to though.

Oh dear canella. Strange that she's managed to sleep over before but not last night. Do you think they had a fall out? Or you gave her foreign food...! I've had friends of dd's sitting at the table looking as if I'd dished up fried spiders or something when it was baked beans and baked potatoes - never again!

I would have been grumpy too at having been woken up Canella, especially if she's slept OK at your house before. We've never had any problems with sleepovers, even though we've had quite young children staying here(friends of DS, so around 4), but I do remember my mum getting very impatient with a friend of mine who came to stay over and started crying in the night.

DH is also the type (mad scientist type?!?) never to miss a day of work admylin - I can only remember him taking a couple of days off since we've been in Austria. Glad he didn't get home too late in the end, anyway.

Well, I still had to wake up all three children this morning (and DS was wet again, despite the pull-up - thankfully only his pyjamas though) so I'm going to aim to have them in bed by 7 pm on the dot tonight!

Off out to meet a German friend for coffee now - her DD is experiencing the same kind of problems as DD1 when she started school (she also has a Teilleistungsschwäche, but different to what DD1 has; auditive something or other - Wahrnehmung, possibly) so I think she wants to talk about that.

Oh, I get that look from the DC's friends all the time admylin, even if I don't serve up something as exotic as baked beans! I've given up now and only ever make plain pasta when the DC have friends over (I'll serve tomato or bolognese sauce with it, but the visiting friend rarely wants any).

Have a nice morning out linzer. It's always good and reassuring to talk to someone with experience. Took me ages to figure out how and where to get dd tested even.

I've got a big shop to do so off to lidl. Hope you get the bike canella.

Hope everyone's days go ok today and you all have nice times out (even if it is just grocery shopping)

Got Moo to bed at 7 last night (because of lack of nap I think) and I was in bed at 8.30, but didn't fall asleep until abt 9.30 (still very relaxing just laying there tho)
AND
Moo slept the whole way thru!!! and was only a little damp this morning. Don't know if it was playing outside/fresh air all day with the windows open, eating a little more, having less fluids or what...but she woke at 6 and was her old cheery self too (i was still groggy, but feel somewhat better as tho I woke up a few times during the night I fell back asleep rather quickly when I heard nothing) :)
Unfortunately it's rainy today and cooler, so not as easy to have a repeat, but we're still going to try.

Had a lovely time with my friend; I hadn't seen her properly for a while, so it was nice to catch up. I always have to bite my tongue when she starts talking about how unfriendly the Austrians are, though; she's obviously from a far friendlier area of Germany than the places where we've lived! Actually, I'm sure it would be a different story if we lived in Vienna (how do you find the people there, bananas?) or another bigger town; I find the area where my ILs live much less friendly too.

I need to go to Lidl as well; I've got as far as making my shopping list, but will probably leave it till tomorrow as otherwise I'll be out the entire morning.

Glad to hear you and your DD got a better night's sleep bebe; it makes such a difference to how you feel. It's rainy and cold here today as well; I was planning on taking DS and his friend to the playground this afternoon, but we'll have to stay in if the weather doesn't improve.

Morning all!

Don't worry, it's a little late to have put me off :)
I hit 11 weeks yesterday. Am still massively excited but am feeling a little guilty for practically wishing the first 12 weeks away so I can stop worrying so much.

It helps that I have an absolutely lovely Frauenärztin who I reckon would give me a prescription for HobNobs if I asked her nicely.

Bebe - glad to hear that things are a little better this morning. That amount of change all at once is probably driving you all mad. Big bucket of tea for you from this end! I was really sad for you yesterday, odd as that may sound.

Canella - sorry to hear the sleepover didn't go well. Maybe the girl had had a nightmare or something? Hope you manage to catch up on your sleep tonight.

Good luck with the diet, Admylin! Laughing my head off at the fried spiders - baked beans image!

Hope everyone is well!

Off to Karstadt later to pick up a big, fat smoked mackerel for the weekend as a treat - I'm drooling at the thought.

admylin - dh developed an allergy to red wine a couple of years ago. He´d always drunk red wine and then switched to white wine for a few months, but when he went back to red wine was violently ill after only one glass. He tried a couple more times, but with the same result, so he´s a sekt and white wine drinker now. He did once consider taking antihistamines before trying a glass of red, but decided he was being ridiculous.

canella - hope you get the bike - I imagine they´ll be snapped up today.
dd has no problems with sleepovers, but her best friends are twins and the only time I invited them over for a sleepover they were hysterical before we´d even eaten abendbrot. Their parents had to collect them at 6pm and everytime I suggest trying again they look at me as if I´m mad.

Banana - I love smoked makerel, but dh isn´t a fan, so I hardly ever buy it these days.

admylin - I forgot to say, your pie sounded delicious and I really don´t think I´d have any problem demolishing a whole pie by myself.

Back from shopping - I'm good at making lists but always come back from the big shop having bought staples and all the drinks/school snack supplies and then realise I have nothing planned for lunch.

I got myself lots of veggies and salad stuff and have drank loads of water already - don't know why but all diets tell you to drink alot so am trying. I'm a very bad drinker. Apart from my morning coffee and an after lunch cup of tea I sometimes get to evening without drinking. Then I daren't drink too much or I'd be up half the night going to the loo.

Yes, banana, hard to imagine that baked beans becomes an exotic food only a few hundred miles from UK. You should see the looks of disgust when anyone sees marmite (or dares to try it).

Dh's favourite shop for food in Berlin was Karstadt and Galeria at Alexander Platz. He's not very realistic in thinking we could afford to feed a family of 4 by shopping there but if he went shopping that's where he went!

I think water is supposed to fill you up - but as I rarely drink anything other than tea, coffee and wine, I'm not speaking from personal experience!

Did you ever get as far as writing out the routines on the Fledgling Flyers thread, admylin? I added "drink a glass of water" to my a.m., p.m. and evening routines, although usually only manage the morning one (if that).

I can drink flat water but dh is addicted to that fizzy water and I sometimes can't be bothered to cart 2 loads of bottled water so I just get what the rest of them drink. I know tap water is meant to be even better than bottled but I can't get used to that either.

Back home in the Lake District the water from the tap tastes awful (chlorine I think) and it sort of puts me offto think anything can be added like that. Wonder if they add stuff here.

Hi hi! Tomorrow is ds14's birthday so I'm baking today. He wanted a cake that looks like a Nintendo DS(!) and a Bienenstich cake so I've got my work cut out for me.

Ad - I always thought that red wine flush was from the histamines in red wine but I've just been reading that they're not really sure why it happens. Check this out - Red Wine Headache. I think it's more of a hypersensitivity than a real allergy but it's still very unpleasant. I used to drink a bit but I don't at all now since any kind of alcohol seems to give me an immediate headache and stomach ache. Like an instant hangover. It's such a shame, I'd really like to enjoy a glass of wine now and then but the after-effects just aren't worth it.

Bebe - So glad you had a better night with dd. All these changes are probably just too much for her right now but I'm sure you'll all get your groove back soon. Does she drink a lot of juice? I was thinking that could maybe be irritating her bladder at night causing her to go more. Mine weren't dry at night until they were about 4 or 5, but they never soaked through a diaper - that sounds quite unusual.

Canella - too bad about the sleepover. Kids are funny somtimes. Ds14 is the big sleepover guy in our family - he has a couple of friends he likes to invite over here and he's happy to go stay at their places. His brother is just the opposite - not his thing at all.

Linzer - Glad you had a nice time with your friend. The friendliness definitely seems to vary from town to town. People are friendly enough here, but tend to be fairly indifferent and it can be hard to break the ice.

BananaMad - LOL on the prescription for HobNobs. If docs really prescribed stuff like that the world would be a happier place!

Hupa - we're just the opposite - dh loves smoked fish, especially trout but I'm not that keen except for salmon. His dad used to bring us four smoked trout at a time from a nearby shop and the smell would just linger around for days.

I actually exercised two days in a row - yesterday a 45 minute walking DVD (too windy around here to walk outside - I hate wind) and today it was 30 mins on the elliptical trainer while I watched a German soap opera.

I can only drink flat bottled water too - I just don't like the taste of tap water, although I've also heard it's supposed to be better for you (and more environmentally friendly, cheaper, etc.). The tap water at my parents' also tastes far worse than it does here.

The DC have become addicted to flavoured mineral water. I was reading an article recently about how bad it is for you as it's full of sugar, but it does seem to have less sugar than fruit juice, which is what they used to drink. DS has also developed a taste for Cappy (not Keppy! It doesn't have an umlaut! But no one listens to me) and Fanta thanks to my ILs.

Ad - The tap water in Hannover is very good quality. The company dh works for tests it regularly and there's never been a problem. It's a bit hard, but I remember it tasting all right when we lived downtown. Out here in the country we get our water from a different source and it's much softer. I really like the taste and drink tons of it. Used to drink carbonated water but I'm off it now. Dh and the kids prefer it though so we still buy it.

Well done on the exercise, Westvan - I keep telling myself that I'm going to do more (hard to do less than I'm doing at the moment!) when the weather gets warmer, but I'm very good at finding excuses. Hope your DS has a good birthday tomorrow.

Right, now off to photocopy 15 Studienbuchblätter to prove that DH was indeed enrolled at university for 11 semesters (not quite sure on the maths of that). These are the documents that I was warned under no circumstances to throw out.

oh f*k, fk, f*k...why did I not check that Sigrid was a woman´s name before addresssing an application to "Herr Sigrid S." ?????? ha ha ha...should I apologise and rectify or just ignore for now? what an idiot I am!

sorry to butt in but felt only you would understand the embarrassment...off for a walk to cool down!

Oh dear, bananas! It reminds me of when I signed up for a course in Berlin - the lecturer was called Winfried and I was very surprised to find out he was a man.

One of DH's former colleagues was called Sigrid but she changed her name to Marie after moving to the USA - maybe she was getting fed up with being taken for a man.

Oops! Dh just got an email back where he used the person's 1st name as family name but you really couldn't tell. He just apologised when he replied.

There's a piece of plum pie on my profile for you before I throw it out. What a waste but there's no way I can eat it all! I wonder if it would freeze? I haven't got anything to freeze it in - or room in the freezer though! Shame you're so far away across town westvan or you could have helped me eat it over a cuppa!

The plum pie looks delicious! The plums might go a bit mushy if you froze it but you could always try - the worst that could happen is that you'd have to throw it out later rather than now.

I'm really annoyed as DD1 was supposed to be going to a friend's house after school today, but her friend was picked up from school by another girl (from the same class) and her parents. I told the parents that DD1 was supposed to be going with M (her friend), but they said that M's mother had phoned them, asked them to pick up M with their DD from school and said that their DD could go and play. I'd only spoken to M's father about five minutes before to say that I'd pick up both girls from school as it was raining heavily and checked that it was still OK for DD1 to go over. So I phoned him back - he said his wife probably hadn't realised when she invited the other girl over, and that DD1 could go and play next week instead. I'm wondering whether I'm being too British and oversensitive about it all to think an apology for the mix-up might be nice; for all they know, DD1 might have been really upset about it (she wasn't, fortunately). In fact, I think I'm more upset than her!

Hmm, sounds like that couple don't talk to each other much then! It would be worse if dd1 was upset though. You're very good at organising things for the dc Linzer, they always seem to have friends over or be at friend's houses. Do they arrange it themselves and you just confirm with the parents? Dd would love to do more with her friends out of school but it never works out.

Ds organises his social life on his mobile! He'd have someone over every day but I have to watch them or the homework gets shoved to the side and they sit and play cards or internet games for however long I would let them!

Speaking of letters - ds14 sent out a few applications for the two-week practicum he has to do in the 10th class and we just got an e mail back from one of them. It's actually the insurance company we deal with, but I still found it odd that they addressed the e mail to dh. And they also wrote: Gerne können wir für Ihre Tochter Cammeron einen Schul-Praktikumsplatz anbieten. No problem except that he's a boy and they spelled his name wrong! An honest mistake in Germany, I suppose, if Cameron Diaz is all you have to go on. They'll be mighty suprised when he goes down there for an interview!

That pie looks SO good, Ad! I wouldn't have stopped at two pieces.

I think you could freeze plum pie. My m-i-l is always giving up plum cakes, the one with a cake base and plums all over the top, and they freeze and defrost just fine.

Let me know the next time you're doing any baking and I'll be right over! Have you got anything on next week? Could we get together then, perhaps?

I would have assumed Cameron was a boy, westvan - but you're right, Cameron Diaz is probably the only Cameron that most Germans would have heard of.

I wish they would arrange it themselves admylin, but they always ask me to arrange it for them! I usually invite DS's friend over (who's coming today) once a week, as DS goes to his house every Friday before Turnen, but otherwise wait until they say that they want a particular friend to come over. I try to make sure they get their homework done before they go and play, but it doesn't always work - otherwise I say they can play until 2 pm, for example, and then they have to do their homework.