Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

X-post Linzer - DH is highly amused (and slightly perturbed) by the lists of pronouns, prepositions, declensions etc I can still chant. (Disclaimer: We had to do this almost every German lesson throughout secondary school. Oh, and I'm a big nerd).

I'm glad the party went well - you deserved the Sekt afterwards!

Strange that people's ILs are so funny about 3 DCs - you would think they would just be happy they have grandchildren regardless of age gaps, number of children per couple etc. As they say, there's nowt as queer as folk!

I'm a bit of a grammar nerd too, Gator - I always used to love learning about German grammar (more my thing than literature).

I can see that my new phone is not going to be conducive to my NY resolution to spend less time on MN. (In fact, I've resolved to spend less time on the computer full stop - at the same time as I joined Twitter ). I'm sitting in the car while DD1 is at her dyslexia tutor's so thought I'd quickly check the threads I'm on... Will get back to my book now; I'm reading the MN book of the month and want to have it finished before the web chat with the author.

Linzer, that's one of the first things I though an iphone would be great for - when sitting waiting for drive dc here and there you can go online and chat on mn/fb or twitter! I also joined twitter ages ago buit didn't get it and only follow about 8 twitterers!

Gator, thanks alot for the pm, will have a read later - off to try and convince dd to start her maths homework. First day back at school today, they both looked like zombies this morning at 6:30am and I hop ethey will actually go to bed at a decent hour tonight (of their own free will).

Dh just rang, he's going to write Lack of funding and hope for the best for the travel grant.

admylin hope your DH gets the travel grant, getting any money out of his employers sounds like blood from a stone, it's quite shocking they expect him to travel for work but not to pay his expenses!

I hate to tell you that I paid ?15 for dd's football training kit - personalised with her name on the back and the club name - I think they are subsidised though, there is also a sponsor's name on the back, and the club only ordered 2 sizes, so she could only have size 116 or 128! I do agree with the others it is great for the DC to have a sport they enjoy though.

Linzer glad the party went well, hope you enjoyed the sekt - and the new phone.

Gator glad you managed to get to talk to some other mums, it is nice to build up a few acquaintances with babies similar ages isn't? I really need to get myself back to a baby/toddler group soon!

My baby's sleep is worse than ever, I am slowly going insane. When he turns 9 months I am going to actively night wean - I did that with dd and it helped, though it wasn't a miracle cure. I am hoping he'll walk soon, as I think part of the problem is he's such a busy little person he wakes up wanting to do new things, both my other 2 slept better once they were walking steadily, it's the biggest frustration buster I think.

Silken glad Christmas dinner went well, I cook stuffing inside the turkey, which doesn't help if you're doing salmon obviously!

And baby's getting cross, better start bedtime I think!

admylin Yes, I was wondering what the point of Twitter was when I first joined but I'm starting to get into it a bit more now. I was quite excited in a pathetic kind of way when Ja mes Cott riall (English singer living in Vienna and quite well known here - well, Ö3 are always playing his songs) replied to a tweet I'd sent him earlier today.

5more Sorry to hear about the continuing lack of sleep; I hope that night weaning helps. I'd never connected the two before you mentioned it but I've just realised that the DDs started sleeping through at about the same time as they started walking.

I've been trying to do some decluttering today and have got rid of/sorted out quite a lot of pens, pencils, etc. plus a pile of magazines this afternoon. What an exciting life I lead.

How are your zombies today, admylin? I hope they managed a fairly early night. Fingers crossed for the travel grant application - let us know how it goes.

5more Sorry to hear the sleeping still isn't going well. I hope DS gets walking sorted soon and starts to sleep better. Good luck with the night weaning - 9 months must be just around the corner (if I remember rightly he is 5 months older than my DS who is just about to turn 4 months).

Linzer How is the decluttering going? I still haven't started.
I get quite excited by Twitter even though I only check it sporadically & have never tweeted myself. A lot of it is really uninteresting, but that doesn't stop me. 'Such-and-such-a-person is having spag bol for tea? How fascinating, must read more.' I have no idea why these things interest me

DS had his U4 and his second set of jabs. The Dr seemed pleased with his rapid transformation from tiny, skinny baby to human meatball! He had a bit of fever in the night and this morning but he seems to be cooling down. He's lying on me now, smiling away and stroking my hand in his sleep!

Hi all,

Just popping in to say happy new year to you all! Been away in the mountains in Carinthia with no internet for a few weeks, so will catch up on the thread now...hopefully a bit of time this week to catch up what's been going on! First xmas lovely with DS - he was a bit overwhelmed with all the noise and lights, and we now have enough baby toys to fill another flat!!

linzer and platanos - did i miss your vienna meet up?? Think it might have been last week, so hopefully i can join you next time.

Just popping in quickly as I'm supposed to be decluttering (it's going very s l o w l y and the house still looks as much of a mess as ever). Hope everyone's out and about having fun as the thread is so quiet.

Gator My interest in Twitter is now waning a bit again - I think I need to find more people I "know" on there, so let me know if you start tweeting! I'm not really all that interested in following celebrities, although JC has now replied to two of my tweets - not sure if he's really classed as a celeb, but I think I'll leave him alone now before I start looking like an obsessed fan (which I'm really not! don't actually know much about him; was just looking for other Brits in Austria).

coco I didn't actually manage to meet up with platanos this week - the time has just flown by - so we'll have to try and arrange another Vienna meet-up soon. Thanks for your FB message btw; I'll reply this evening when I have a bit more time.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Linzer, how did the decluttering go? How much did you manage to get rid of? Just managed a big bin bag full of stuff from some drawers in dd's room so that's a good start. She's a hoarder but has given in to a few things that she really has grown out of playing with or wanting to keep.

I've got a twitter account, how do I find you linzer? How do you search for people on there? By e-mail address?

Coco, welcome back, wow a few weeks with no internet! Did you have 200 e-mails waiting when you got back?

Gator, my 2 were indeed like zombies on Friday and slept in the afternoon! Hope baby has recovered from the jabs.

5more, 15? for a football kit sounds about right! Dd is delighted with her 90? one but I'd much rather she played football as it's near us and much cheaper but she loves her hockey! I've been told by some of the mums that it's an elite sport in Germany.

Had a busy time, starting with the death of another gerbil. I am getting fed up with this pet thing. This time it was the new one, meant to be the new friend for old one and we got it from the school biology dept. - lasted 2 weeks then it had a sort of epileptic fit. Tried to save it and went to the vets but it died in my hands in the evening as I was trying to warm it up. Poor creature, it was so cute and tame and I felt worse than dd (she was asleep when it dies).

Anyway, then both dc had an appointments at the orthodontist and both ned dbraces much to their disgust. Also the appointment was at 9am on Saterday morning so that zombified them even more having to get up so early on a weekend!

Sorry to hear about the gerbil, admylin. Hope the new braces aren't too expensive; DD2 is desperate to have a brace, but I'm hoping she won't need one. We only got half the money back for DD1's brace, so had to pay ?150 ourselves; thank goodness she only needed one over a few teeth.

The decluttering is continuing slowly but surely, but rather depressingly the house doesn't actually look any different from when I started. It's just such a slow and time-consuming process (for me, at any rate). The cellar is getting more full of things to take to charity, however!

You can find me on Twitter under my RL name. LinzerTorte had already been taken as a Twitter name - although I wasn't too sure that I wanted it linked to my real name - but I have another Austria-related name instead (don't really want to put it on here because of it being linked to my RL name, but am happy to PM). Yes, you can search for people by e-mail address and it will search your hotmail, yahoo etc. accounts for you (although it only found one person in my hotmail account who's on Twitter). I have a couple of RL friends on there and it also suggested quite a few MNers for some reason. Otherwise, I'm just following people who looked vaguely interesting - not many celebs, though.

I found you linzer! I joined ages ago but by the look of it I've never tweeted!

The dentist told me we would have to pay a certain amount but would get it all back from the Krankenkasse if we complete treatment (braces) and then of course he already explained that the Krankenkasse pays for basic materials but the nicer more comfortable braces are private and he will show us all that later. He mentioned up to 60? a month for 2 to 3 years.

Do any of you use a Steurerberater for the Steuererklärung? I never manage to do one as I can't face the paperwork by myself and dh won't do it either. Wonder how much it would cost to get it done just once by a professional, we need every euro we can get back at the moment.

Morning all! Happy New Year

admylin - oh you are having no luck with these gerbils - its a really harsh lesson in life for your dc. How is the other one without his new friend? Do the dc both need train track braces (cant think of the proper name) - dd had a retainer and altho we had to pay 20% of the cost upfront we got it back from the krankenkasse as we had completed her course of treatment. She's just bein monitored now but the difference is amazing. Well worth it.

linzer - impressed with your decluttering. I should send you dh - he loves doing that. Think my wardrobe is the only place full of clutter - he was shocked when he looked in it the other day. Are you getting rid of toys as well - I find that the hardest since the dc then see things and decide they want to play with them again.

coco - glad you had a good time - think i'd have been desperate after 3 weeks with no internet.

gator - love the FB photos of your ds - he is a proper cute chubby baby.

oh 5more - I sympathise about the lack of sleep - dc3 was also a non sleeper. But I promise it gets better - no idea when tho - sorry!

about german grammar - i've got a really old book - schaums german grammar which has loads of exercises and its helped my use of the right case no end. But that is also my NY resolution - must improve my german in addition to losing some weight. Saw a shocking photo of me when I transferred my photos from my old phone - was a disgrace! I didnt think I was that fat but I must be. So today is a new day and I've been to get some salad (which I love anyway!) and the 30 day shred will be my new friend.

We had a fun holiday but no skiing. There was some snow but not enough. So we did some swimming, some ice skating, made some snowmen and dh and I drank lots of red wine! We did encounter a colossal amount of snow on the way home on saturday so we did get some sledging but dh has a manky infected toe and limped most of the time we were away so it was a lot of me and the kids doing activities and him watching. Not easy to ice skate with 3 dc - 2 of whom are rubbish on the ice!

So I'm happy that they've all gone back to school/kiga this morning and was looking forward to a whole morning of peace but a friend phoned to ask if I could pick her up from an appt as she cant drive at the moment after an operation and I couldnt say no. I really wanted to say no but I'm so crap at it and so soft sometimes. Maybe that should be my NY resolution too. Well there's always tomorrow morning for peace and quiet....

x posts Admylin - dh does all our tax so I'm no use.
That seems the same as what we did about the braces - and the money came back quickly altho the treatment was 18 months.

I also joined twitter months ago but have never posted - i just dont get it. Is it worth it?

Canella, did you shred today? I keep meaning to get going with that again too! Also on salads and musli at the moment, even stopped taking the pill to see if that's why I can't lose weight but it hasn't helped yet.

Yes, that's it - the dentist said 20% that we'll get back and any luxuries like nicer materials, less pain and nicer result costs more and is non-refundable. Hopefully it'll just be retainers but it looks as if ds might have to have one of his teeth out to make room (an adult tooth too so not very good news).

x-posts too! No I'm not sure about twitter either, it's confusing!

I'm going to shred this eve once the dc are in bed - dh does the actual lights out bit so I'm often downstairs with time on my hands.

Your poor ds - having a tooth out is not fun. DD had loads of her baby ones taken out to let the adult ones through and even that was unpleasant and they were hanging off. But I'm amazed that she's only 10 and has 24 adult teeth!

Went onto twitter - dont know who to follow and not sure I care enough about random celebrities. And will it be one more thing that saps my time?????

Good on you for doing your shred tonight! I'd not have the energy in the evening that's for sure. I never seem to sit down before 8 or 9pm (if I want the place tidy).

Have to take our Christmas tree to the collection point today but it's pouring down and the tree is out on the balcony soaking wet too so I've put it off.

Your dd is quick with getting her teeth through. My ds is 13 and a half and still has quite a few adult teeth to come yet, of course a few are stuck as they can't get through the small space. Dd is 12 and also has loads to come.

Right, I have two new followers on Twitter. Now you both need to tweet! Tbh I'm still in two minds about it as I'm not interested enough in any celebs to follow them and can keep in touch with most other people via FB. I'm not going to give up on it just yet but I'm still reserving judgement!

admylin We used a Steuerberater for the only tax return we filed in Germany as it was all beyond me - it was actually my best friend's husband so he didn't charge us, but I think we gave him 500 DM (no idea if that's how much he would have charged - it might have been less!). He's in Hannover (and speaks excellent English) so I can pass on his details if you're interested.

Canella Your Christmas holidays sounded like lots of fun. I started the Shred a few months ago, but then my knee started hurting when I was running so I'm a bit wary of going back to it. I definitely need to be more assertive so that should probably be my NY's resolution too; remember the MN mantra, "no is a complete sentence".

admylin Sorry, have just remember the Kanzlei isn't in Hannover after all - it's in Langen hagen (one word).

I was feeling cold and have just noticed the heating has gone off - again. Freezing hands and feet here, but I can hear some drilling noises from the cellar so I presume the hausmeister is trying to fix it.

I think I'll have a look this afternoon at the Finanzamt online and see if I could manage it afterall Linzer, when every euro counts it is a shame to not try. My friend in Berlin always does hers so I'll maybe see if she can talk me through it. Was it worth it when you did yours in Germany?

Twitter won't let me upload a photo - can't get my jpg small enough. Might stick to facebook and mn, enough distraction as it is!

Afternoon all!

3 weeks with no internet - that sends a cold shiver down my spine, coco :) I am internet obsessed! (Funnily enough, I never used to be when we lived in the UK, but since giving up the job from hell & being stuck at home recovering from illness, then pregnancy, then 2+ hour long bf sessions I've become seriously attached to the laptop!)

admylin So sorry to hear about the gerbil, that's so sad. DH borrowed some software for the computer from a friend to do the Steuererklärung and it basically does it for you, step by step, you just have to dig out the relevant payslips, receipts etc. It was really worth it for us as I only worked 4 months in Germany in 2010 but paid full tax. You can even claim things like briefcases back without receipts up to a certain amount. (We didn't but I think a lot of people do). Hope the heating is back on soon.

I was starting to get interested in all this talk of shredding, until Linzer mentioned running! My diet of biscuits and hot chocolate while breastfeeding mean I have a good stone to lose to get back to my pre-baby weight. In my mind I will wake up one morning and my belly will have disappeared all by itself....

I had a good wardrobe declutter yesterday and it felt gooooood! My maternity clothes and summer clothes are all sorted and vaccum-bagged and there is a big bag for the charity shop/DH's cousin. I love decluttering, which is a good thing as I'm a massively untidy hoarder.

Canella I find Twitter to be the most time-sapping website - even worse than MN and I don't even tweet. I follow a lot of journalists though and they are always linking to articles so I end up lost in the online newspapers.

Gator I can't imagine a website more time-sapping than MN! I only follow BBC Breaking News on Twitter though (and have just started following BBC UK News); it's quite good for keeping me up to date (Anthony Worrall Thompson caught shoplifting ) as I can go for days without looking at the BBC news website.

If you're interested in the Shred, I can send you my DVD as I think I'll be sticking to running - I've got a few translation magazines to send to you, so can easily pop it in too. I'm hopeless at sticking to exercise but running is the one thing that I haven't given up after a few weeks; the Shred is probably easier to fit in round a small baby, though (and is slightly less time-consuming).

Btw I'm also an untidy hoarder who loves decluttering.

admylin Yes, as far as I can remember it was worth doing - I fill in my own tax return now, but the German tax system seemed to be more complicated (or maybe that's just me). I really don't know how much it would cost but can ask my friend if you like? And of course you may well end up saving more money than you pay the Steuerberater.

admylin I just searched the laptop and the software was called 'Steuer-Spar-Erklärung 2011' - hope that helps!

Linzer Thank you for the offer of the dvd - it sounds good. I have a dance workout dvd that I actually quite enjoy, but all the jumping around is a little impractical now we live on the third floor and have a sleeping baby :)

I heard about AW-T on BBC radio news this morning - I loved the comment from his people that it was only 'low-value goods' - in my mind that makes it somehow worse!

Gator, I see what you mean about twitter and the time sapping comment - linzer, this is all your fault. I have no idea why I can read some tweets by people I don't know or don't recall following but where did the last half hour go?

I'll try to get one of those cd-rom steuer things - good idea. Hope it's worth it. Not that I know where many reciepts are.

A Handwerker just rang the bell to say he had to entluften all the heizkörper, let him in the kitchen first and then made a dash to shove washing from bathroom floor and make the bed. Thank goodness the other rooms were OK.