My Life's Ingredients

I’ve seen this last year on a couple of blogs I’m following, and this year I got a wee reminder by reading Alison’s blog that Rinda is doing her Summer Photo Scavenger Hunt. Reading through the list I think I should be able to get through most of them! :) Below is the post from Rinda , maybe some of you readers (if anyone is still reading, I’ve not been the best blogger over the last 12 months! ;) ) want to join in (and give me the odd nudge to remember to take the photos!!) ?? Summer's here, and it's time to announce the list of items for the Second Annual Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt!  Today is the first day of summer, and you have until the last day of summer (September 21) to find and photograph each of the following 21 items: 1. A pier 2. A clothesline 3. A border 4. A roadside stand selling something 5. A train 6. A historical landmark 7. A person playing a musical instrument 8. A person dressed as an angel or a statue of an angel 9. A fountain 10. A horse 1...

Ok… missed a couple of months there again, but things around here just are sooooo busy (twins have scheduled something nearly every day!!)… When we were in Germany in April it came to mind the things my girls will feel as alien to them and they’ll never use them due to advanced technology etc. TECHNOLOGY ONLY. :) 1) Dial-up Internet connection – remember those Modem-noises?? Whistling and pinging etc?    Funny, but horrible SLOOOW!! :D   2) Walkman / Discman – be it the tape or the CD type. Far too big, and nowadays you can use your phone or an MP3/MP4 player that is tiny but still has tons of tracks on it!     3)   Video camera – yup, the big, bulky kind! Huge thing for personal use which would make you look nowadays you’re part of a film crew!! ;) 4) Film Camera – those develop the film kinda thing. Hah! They’ll never even KNOW what it means to take photos and not being able to DELETE them prior to print...

Yeah… just checked my blogger account and realised I didn’t post anything for over a month now (including the 10 on the 10th in May). Could blame it all on the twins, but that would be unfair … it’s more likely to be my other online time (really have to cut back on that!). In short – I blame Facebook Games (again) – and will have to do something about it. Maybe a Facebook free week? Or shall we start slowly … Facebook free day/weekend? Maybe even include a whole “online” thing? Could I survive?!? Things here are going up and down, girls are getting a bit of a hang on that weaning issue though we still have to get them to eat more lumpy food – weird really, they like their finger foods and it can be as lumpy as it gets, yet some spoon fed lumpy food they don’t like. But I’ll persevere, as our HV said if you don’t get it done by 12 months you’ll have even more problems getting the hang of that. NICE! We all (including DH and myself) are suffering from colds, Miss Martian has now passed...

SHOCK! HORROR!!! Here’s a blog entry!! Haven’t seen much from me on here lately, have you?!? ;) Well, girls kept me/us busy, health issues too, and I probably spend far too much time online… I know… Supergirl had a dodgy tum Friday night, when I went upstairs to give the 11pm bottle there was sick all over the mattress, her face and also some bits spread to Miss Martian’s cot!!  And would you believe – Supergirl was all sleeping through it!!! Called up DH, tidied her up – she was all chatty and smiley. DH changed Miss Martian’s and Supergirl’s covers and then phoned NHS24, as Supergirl started to be sick again (just bile though). Again, she was all smiles and cuddly, just a bit paler than usual. We were told the usual, no food, just milk and nothing in the first hour of being sick. Check temp and get back if things get worse. Well, Supergirl was fine on Saturday, no problem. But since she seems to have developed an aversion to either orange foods (she had red lentils/sweet pota...

Yup, just a quick note - more to come hopefully soon!! :) But you have still time to win Katharina's blog candy over at "Whiff of Joy" !!!

Books I read as a little girl (and just remembered thanks to Lynz and hope my girls will be reading them and loving them as much as I did): 1) Hanni & Nanni / St. Clare’s – Enid Blyton (series) 2) Dolly / Malory Towers – Enid Blyton (only first 6 books are from Enid Blyton, the German series has 12 more books in the series) (series) 3) Bille & Zottel – Tina Caspari (series) 4) Blitz, der Schwarze Hengst / The Black Stallion – Walter Farley (series) 5) Misty / Misty of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry 6) Seestern / Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague – Marguerite Henry 7) Britta – Lisbeth Panhke (series) 8) Der Trotzkopf – Emmy von Rhoden (series) 9) Anne of Green Gables – Lucy Maud Montgomery (series) 10) Nesthaekchen – Else Ury (series) Think you can see a trend there – books about horses or boarding schools!! Other books I read (that mostly through school were: “…und keiner hat mich gefragt” & “Treffpunkt Weltzeituhr” – Isolde Heyne (b...

This video has been a tradition in Germany for New Year’s Eve since I can remember, but I’ve not been watching it regularly since I moved to the UK (and I’m not able to find the videotape with it my mum sent me years ago). Thank goodness for the Internet, mmmh?? We’re going to have a quiet evening again this year, first have 2 friends over for Raclette (again, a tradition on my side of the family really) and once they’ve gone home or decided to stay over night we’re going to watch a bit TV or whatever we may have recorded or DVD (TV is going to be abysmal from what I can see!!) and then go to bed early-ish. Haven’t had a big New Year in YEAAARRS, think we’re getting old!! Oh – going through Wikipedia DH found also a Lego version of “Dinner for One”. Which traditions do you have? Have a great evening/night and all the best for 2012!!!

If there's nothing else you're doing today, or if you're celebrating Christmas Eve and you have a bit of time, go here - we've been tracking Santa for years now and cannot wait for the girls to take part next year (currently totally oblivious to the whole thing!). Track Santa with NORAD

What easier to go for in December than Christmas baking! So after a lot of Christmas Markets in my November 10 things , my 10 things for December are my favourite baked goods during Advent/Christmas time (not necessarily all made by me or at least not yet): (photos for first 3 items are mine, the rest is courtesy of Google) “Stollen” (usually just the buttery type with candied fruit and raisins, but also like the Nougat type or Poppy seed one – just NO MARZIPAN one please – can’t stand the taste of it!!) – best with some squishy cream and a cuppa hot chocolate or tea! “Vanillekipferl” (vanilla crescents – tried my best in this country to get my granny’s recipe going, but somehow they don’t rise properly and go all flat – would have thought I’d have figured out why after 13 years!) (2008 batch) (2009 batch) And the 2010 batch looked again like the one from 2008!!! I wonder if it’s the butter … or flour…   “Husare...

Yup – similar to last year me thinks – not really very Christmassy around here yet, no deco apart from the Advent wreath with the candles, the Advent Calendar Candle and the door wreath. Everything else is still in the loft. Not sure why, apart from having 18 weeks old twins (and last year was pregnant with said twins). Baked a stollen, so that’s a step forward, but somehow I don’t feel very Christmassy, and DH’s scroogey behaviour doesn’t help much (neither does his being made redundant middle of November). And with all that, OF COURSE I’m behind with Shimelle’s JYC . Had hoped to do an album (even prepared some pages at the November Crop), then got realistic and said I’d at least do the daily blogging, but even that didn’t happen. Haven’t done ONE SINGLE ENTRY – be it on here or on paper!!! Nothing! Nix! Nada! Tomorrow is Day 4 of JYC… Hope this will change soon – can’t believe tomorrow is already the 2nd Advent!

1. One of my favorite things about December is Christmas. 2. I love German Glass ornament(s)! 3. This is what I'm hoping for today/tonight: well behaved twins who sleep longer than 6am . 4. Why does the weather make such a noise? 5. Ooh, a stollen is what I baked this evening! . 6. My ears are ringing – from the cold? ! 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to an earlier night than yesterday , tomorrow my plans include decluttering and Sunday, I want to catch up with the JYC !

  That’s for my American Friends…   We’ve opened our house to friends again who like American Football – this time the 2nd game is quite interesting, Miami Dolphins vs Dallas Cowboys (DH’s team vs one of our best friends’ team), so it will be fun. We’ve cooked pies (2 Sweet potato pies – done by me - & DH’s Key Lime Pie) and DH is still going to make some Philly Cheese Steak Ciabattas and are expecting a total of 5 friends (one had to cancel). Think with the twins we will have more and more “events” at our place, and I quite like it that way. And here are some photos of my Sweet Potato Pies (first attempt ever to make them – the pie shells are shop bought though). WHOAAAAH! I really have to check out my mobile phone camera! That’s just ridiculous! They are a nice orangey colour!!! And that’s the before btw. And here’s the AFTER picture – you still can make out the NFL on the left pie, the marshmallows didn’t melt, just brown … can’t wait to have a slice!!...

Geesh – is it really the 10th already???? Let’s see what I manage this time… Decided on the Markets/fun fairs etc in Germany I’ve visited often while still living there – either just for fun or working (all linked to Kriftel as member of the Kriftel Red Cross Group). All photos bar the Hofheimer Wochenmarkt one are stock photos from the Internet. Christmas Market Frankfurt Christmas Market Hofheim (stalls manned by members of sports clubs, Red Cross etc selling stuff for their organisations) Krifteler Red Cross Christmas Market (Small Christmas Market at the Sports hall Kriftel with the Red Cross selling food, handmade things and holding a Raffle, plus having Santa coming around – worked in stalls myself for several years) Christmas Market Rothenburg (beautiful Christmas market set within the city walls of Rothenburg) Hofheimer Wochenmarkt (Farmers Market) Hoechster Wochenmarkt (Farmers Market) ...