Streupflicht und Schneeschaufel

[finknottle]

Thanks Gabster for the inspiration for the thread!

Add your resolutions here & I can slip alongside and pretend I'll make some too.
Still too fragile - my sleep patterns go haywire when I'm home, stay up till 1 or 2am, then awake at 5am (6 here, usual flipping school time) then I come back & keep crashing on the sofa at 10pm and wake up at 4 bright & breezy.

We have snow, very pretty and h is off till Weds so am pushing him out for Streupflicht, bartered it for a fry-up with real English bacon, hmmmmmm.
Forecast is for -12C to -14C tonight - and when the children go back to school on Thursday. Yikes.

Can't get out of hike but h tells me there is a bus if it's too cold and far for me d and her 6 yr old legs.

S1 home from school (wearing a hat, thunk, must be cold) and done 20 mins clearing (mouldy apple cores fgs) in the boys' room when I equated:
clearing + cleaning = Computer + Play Station. Isn't maths wonderful?

Our chore list worked well for while, my fault it fell into disuse. Once the top floor slides, it's unstoppable. Shall do list today, d can't wait, she loves charts. Then get house sorted so I can concentrate on more exciting things like lying on the sofa by the fire drinking wine and reading my English papers.

Schmutzfink: Action stations...

Yes Fink, -10 here too (Hiking?! Yeh right, LOL). I have same "feeling" about Slattern too.

Have been managing with the new tidy regieme better now though. Even used disinfectant in the kitchen (!) and bedrooms are dust-free! Just have to clean floors now. Am failing on other resolution though - already had first krapfen of the day .

Ernest - yes, maybe have to fix up a date. I am completely swamped with it all at the moment. Lets e-mail.

Ad - FED UP WITH CURRY????? NEEEEEVEEEERRRRRRR......

Can recommend nice easy cook book for new meal ideas - Gary Rhodes (yes, he's a X&$% but its a good book) "step-by-step cooking". Best book I ever bought. Lots of pictures and easy instructions and all basic stuff you can use and modify. Plus because it uses real cuts of meat not prepared ready stuff you get in UK, I find I can source most of the stuff you need in DE!! Z.B. nice recipe for pork loin! Looks really impressive too and dead easy.

Yes, I confess, I am a secret foodie.

Can't believe I typed: if you cook a nice cookery course

hoping that people realise in real life I speak normally and not the way I write!

(At least I think I do)

I caught myself in time today to correct a note I was writing. It said this is not finished, meaning this is not ready - I keep getting mixed up, es ist nicht fertig and another one, when I ask the dc if they are finished in the mornings instead of saying are you ready yet. I need to get my brain to wake up.

I've done a really healthy beef stew for tonight so I am proud and going to make popcorn and curl up on the sofa, dc allowed to watch dvd and I'm going to read. We're invited up to the neighbour's house tomorro wevening as her h's 10 year old d is coming so I'm taking some sort of quiche and we (the adults) will drink wine and the dc can all watch a film.

ZZZen I read that thread too about how much dc do in the house. I was at how much was on that list. Liked the bit about her 10 year old ds making her a cup of coffee - I must start training them both for that one, about time too.

I am just happy when DS puts his arms in the sleeves when dressing him! I dream of the day I no longer have to do nappies .... getting a cup of tea made for me would just be heaven (depending on the quality of the finished product of course).

This is the book I was on about, just in case anyone is interested.

Up to now ds has made me 1 cup of tea in his life. I had to tidy the kitchen afterwards and also had to talk him through it step by step from the living room! Well, I'll start training this weekend and report back!

I remember the good old nappy days! We had 2 in nappies as they are only 16 months apart and potty trained them together too. The thing I miss least is the meal time mess. The kitchen floor, the soggy bibs, the food in hair, the high chair full of squashed pasta, toast and rice. Used to take ages to clear it all up, infact longer than actually sitting down to eat.

Yes ad, we are just trying for the second now so will (hopefully) have similar gap. Not looking forward to dual nappies, but dreaming of shortened time with nappies instead of getting over it, then having to get used to it again with the second all over again!

Think I have found a couple of potential new Gabster residences! Very excited.

Would you live in
A) small village with pub and "Vicar of Dibley" type scenario
or
B) slightly larger village with a few shops, school, baby group, bus to bigger village and 2 pubs.
???

A very belated Happy New Year to you all! I'm still here and not moving anywhere for the foreseeable future at least.

Exciting news about your move Ernest. We had the same dilemma as you when we moved back to London after being in Hong Kong. In the end we chose SE London which was fine while the dc was small but I don't think we would have stayed there - if we hadn't moved here that is! Secondary schools in the area were not very good generally so lots of people moved out to places like Orpington, Bromley, Bexley Heath, Hayes, West Wickham. Still very good train links into London from there and schools are good.

TheGabster, tricky one. I've never lived in a village so I dunno really. Probably I'd go for the bigger one with shops and stuff unless the other one is really stunning. Sorry, not much help was I?

Admylin, any chance you could send some curry over this way?

gab, I'd def go for option 2

doh, sorry, taipo, where you now?

we've almost certainly decided on sutton, tho never actually been there yet

dd makes me coffee (perculator) all the time. However it is very milky so I try my best to beat her to it.

Tea is trickier because you have to pour out the boiling water.

I couldn't leave dd to do the washing I don't think because I need to sort out things that need spraying first (grass stains, food stains etc) otherwise they'd wash into the fabric. She does know how to switch the washing machine/dryer on and how to deal with the washing machine but the tabs I don't think she should handle and our washing machine has a faulty connection somewhere so if you touch the worksurface above it with one hand and have the other in the machine, you'd get an electrical shock.

No idea of living in small villages Dr. G. Without knowing too much about it, I think B sounds more like it.

Hi taipo!

I should really make checking my posts a new year's resolution. Sorry. With "washing machine and tabs" I meant dishwasher.

Duh thicko

Hi ZZZen! Your washing machine sounds rather exciting.

My dc don't help much around the house although ds would probably do more if I put my mind to it. He has helped me clean the bathroom before and does a pretty good job. Dd, on the other hand, appears (like me) to be allergic to housework. Actually she really is allergic to it (dust mite allergy) and has been told by doc not to do any hoovering, dusting etc. How very convenient

Ernest, we're in SW Germany, near the French border.

Very much like Schmutzfink and all its derivatives. Scmutzfinken definitely trennbar imo.

Out of interest, how does that work (allergy to dust = do no housework). OK I suppose for a little kid, but surely a vicious circle? No housework = more dust = worse allergy?

Quite Ernest. DH and I are both allergic, but as DH is higher risk than me muggins here has to do it. In fact, got told off by his doctor that it is not being done regularly enough .

Thanks for the input on where to live one and all. Unfortunately, said possible new residences turned out to be pants - neither one has central heating! How can they rent out a house without heating? Boggles the mind.

Oh well, on with the search. [stressed emoticon]

Hello! I'm new here - admylin and I 'met' on another message board and gave me the link to this site so I thought I'd pop in and say hi.

I'm Canadian, from Vancouver, B.C. and I've been living in or around Hannover, Germany for over 18 years (!) with my German husband and two boys now 12 and 15.

Looks like a lovely place you've got here!

Welcome westvan, nice to have you on the thread!

Welcome Westvan, we used to live in the south of Hannover, in Hemmingen.

Fink
I love Schmutzfink, you really should namechange and use that one regularly.

No MacBook, I am afraid. I changed my mind. The Sony has a much larger screen and bigger processor for the same money so we bought it instead.

We were in Lyon for the weekend, just DH and myself. A further part of the "getting to know each other again" campaign. It was really good, I do feel much happier and I know that DH does too. He is very affectionate and cuddly.

My parents arrived on Thursday and looked after the kids and the dog. My Dad is being trained by the dog to open the door every 5 mins and let her out or in. Rather annoying.

Gabster
I have done both the bigger village and am now in the village of Dibbley, Swiss-style. I would say that the immediate surroundings are more important, if you have good neighbours and playmates for the DC.

The dog is taking the piss out of Dad. She waits at the door until he gets up then she runs back into the garden.

ZZZen - Thanks!

MmeLindt - Small world! We're in Ronnenberg and we have some really close friends in Hemmingen.

Westvan
Oh, I used to go shopping in Ronnenberg occasionally. We were in Arnum. Small world indeed.

Just enquired on the Swiss Weightwatchers website about joining a group here. I am looking for a German or English speaking group though, as my French is not up to that.

Heh. Arnum is exactly where our friends live!

Welcome westvan! Nice to have you on here, you'll be able to join in with our very own German school thread when it gets revived too (which won't be long, Zeugnisausgabe is soon)!

I've been ill for the last 2 days, some sort of virus I think. I'm so tired, reminds me of the days when I had 2 really little dc, phew that was exhausting.

Got a shock on Saterday, heard from home that my gran is very weak and might be dying. It was an awful feeling knowing that I won't be able to get there to see her and even make it to any funeral. I think it has not helped with my homesickness being so bad at the moment. Anyway, my gran has recovered abit but very weak and tired so as she is 98 already I have to accept she won't live forever.

Hi admylin! Did my last e mail get through to you? I'm sorry you've been feeling poorly and I know what you mean about being far away from ailing relatives. My grandparents aren't alive anymore but my elderly parents have had their share of health scares in the past few years and it's awful not to be there. Hope your granny continues to improve!