Surreal Georgia

One Of Those Rare Wonderful Days

I feel like having already summer break, but only one other day and I have to be back to normal. Sigh! Life can be so good!

We spent a lot of time outside in the garden today, eating and drinking coffee, wathing the birds and the aeroplanes, relishing the mild sun.

 

 

 

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We also managed to get Anna's hallway done. There were most things already done, but we cleaned the room and tidied everything up, which was enough work for one day. I think the result is as good as it could be with all this wood on the walls. Painting the wood white made the room so much lighter!

Look!

 

 

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In front of Anna's front door there is a little herb garden now.

 

 

 

Breakfast

We are going to have breakfast outside on the terrace for the first time of the year. The weather is awesome, sunny and warm!

We are going to have coffee, butter, some special farmer's bread, ham and salami and liver pâté, some good cheese and strawberry-quark (quark is very German and is a bit like mascarpone). I'm just preparing everything for taking it outside. Yummy!

Street Lamp Light In My Kitchen

The Light of the street lamp is shining through my wide open kitchen window. The air is fresh and cool which is a benefit after a very hot and sticky day.

I can't sleep. I just read that they perhaps have caught Etan Patz's murderer, an 18 year old boy at that time, 33 years ago, who said that he strangled Etan and put his body in a box, which he just placed somewhere in the streets of Manhattan. It's unbelievable to me that this man had already confessed this crime 33 years ago, but the police didn't believe him. So he has been living all the time in Camden/New Jersey with his wife and a daughter. He is in custody now, because his relatives again told the police that he was the one they have been searching for all the time. It seems unclear if the police can charge him, because Etan's body is missing and if the story is true, the box with his remains might have been removed by the garbage collection, so it would be impossible to find his remains.

This case deeply touches me and Ihope that this time the truth will be found, so that Etan's parents can get some peace in their eternal nightmare.

I hope to learn more about the case tomorrow when a new statement to the press will be released.

I had a very busy but good day today. First I fetched some things from my other house like the big old cactus of my grandma, which now has returned back home and can relish the sun in front of our house. I also fetched my father's jacket, bag and hat. They are now again hanging in the hallway where he once placed them when he used the things for the very last time. For me it is as if he has moved back. My Papa came home. Another step, another milestone in feeling homey in my old house...

The rest of the afternoon I finished Anna's hallway. There was still a lot to clean, to polish, to repair. I also installed the last missing lamps, reassembled the little painted cabinet and painted the stairs. Now we can't use them for the next two or three days. But this doesn't matter, because we have got two staircases. Photos are following soon.

I am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when Anna and I are going to go to Ikea in Kassel. We need a sink unit for the laundry which will be fixed next, lots of lamps for the rest of the rooms that will be done this summer, some furniture for Anna's two bathrooms and lots of other things. This will be the last time we have to buy material for renovating apart from color for the walls. The laundry, a hallway and the two bathrooms are the last rooms that can be done in summer. Then the house is done so far. After these rooms I can't go on with renovating, because we first need to have the big move out of the other house and nobody knows when this will be. The only things I can do after that is tidying up the attic and the cellar and perhaps the garages, removing trash and doing something in the garden.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/24/etan-patz-case-cops-dismissed-suspect-s-confession-before.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/etan-patz-suspect-confesses-strangling-boy-putting-body/story?id=16419936&page=2#.T76jS9y5n5w

http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_20700188/nypd-man-implicates-self-etan-patz-disappearance-33

Sick

After a terrible day yesterday, when I was at work although I was totally sick, I stayed at home today. Being at work for more than 12 hours wasn't a good thing, so my cold is much worse today. We had exams yesterday and I had to be the examiner. Therefore I could not stay at home although I had extreme fever. 

It's very unusual for me, but today I'm not going to do anything. I hope getting better until tomorrow.

 

Two Days Off Until Work Starts Again

Two days off! Really! I'm not kidding.

Two days off, because I reached all goals I wanted in the last 10 days

• getting the two bathrooms done
• getting the last room in the old main house done
• getting the garden here done
• getting the garden in my other house done (yesterday)
• cleaning the entire  house
• correcting all tests
• doing the laundry of about 6 weeks
• cleaning both cars inside and outside

Wow! This was a really big program for the Easter break and I'm done, I'm done, I'm done!!!!!!

It's foggy outside and crispy cold, but it might become good weather with sunshine. Anna is making breakfast: coffee, breadrolls, salami, ham, different kinds of cheese. What a wonderful day. I'm determined to enjoy it.

Wethen, painted by my uncle Fritz in 1943

 

 

Woes on Easter Monday

Above all: Happy Easter Monday to all! In Germany it's still a day off.

I'm sitting here waiting for my lovely and nice daughter, who disappeared in the bathroom hours ago (it's a bit overdone, but for me it feels like hours). So I'm sitting here waiting for breakfast, hungry. I already ate a boiled Easter egg and drank a cup of coffee. Now the cup is empty and I still need a coffee. Sigh! Hey, wasn't the topic of our photo challenge for today "lonely"!? Maybe I don't have only to make pics on this topic, maybe I have to live it today!?

OK, I`m joking.

The weather is bad, cold and rainy and dark. So I'm going to correct tests and doing a lot of paperwork, which has piled up the last weeks. For me it's hard accepting a day off. I know, I'm terrible.

See you later! Have a wonderful Easter Monday!

A Day Before Easter

We had a few goals for Easter: New bathrooms ready to use and a clean house again after all the dust we have been bearing for weeks now. But time is short. On the other hand I'm very, very stubborn in reaching my goals. So I hope to make it all today.

I'm so excited making a little film about a tour through our house. Maybe I can do it tomorrow.

Today there is still a lot of work that has to be done: First of all we have to buy food for both Easter days. Then I have another appointment with the plumber, who has to fix the last things in the bathrooms and who wants first of all money. I hope that the guy is done in a hour and leaves me alone. There is only the afternoon to clean this really big house and the dust is covering everything. Also in the bathrooms there is a lot to clean like paint on the tiles, loads of dirt and dust... I don't know how to manage this all alone (Anna is still too weak to help me), but I won't stop until it is done, I swear! I want a clean house on Easter and I want two days without any work that has to be done. And: I'm excited to show you the results!

The weather is poor in Germany. It's colder than it was on Christmas. For today snow is forecasted! Isn't it crazy? It makes me feel depressive, because I'm always glad when winter is over. I'm longing for a little sunshine and warmth. The grass still hasn't grown much. I can't remember that I haven't mowed the lawn before Easter. But it wouldn't make sense to mow it, because there is nothing to mow. On the other hand I'm lucky about this, because I wouldn't know how to do this additionally at the moment.

This is a pic of the nearby town Warburg. It looks idyllic, but it isn't, because it's extremely cold and the wind makes you feel not very comfortable.

For Easter we haven't planned much. Anna still needs time to recover, because universtiry starts on Tuesday again and I'm much too tired to have big plans. We are going to make some Easter eggs (boiled eggs for breakfast) and preparing some simple meals, nothing big, nothing that takes long. Maybe I can get a little asparagus and a good piece of steak and perhaps I can make a little potato salad with sausages for the second Easter day on Monday. The weather is too cold for a picnic or other activities outside, so we are planning a long weekend playing games and doing nothing. Maybe I should correct tests and prepare the exams for my pupils, who are going to leave school this summer. 

Sigh! I have to hurry now!

Repetition (Photo Challenge) And What Else Happened Today

Repetition, um.... let me do it in three pics which are telling the story about my day on this April 2nd:

Yes, this looks quite similar, but these are three different sinks. Three times the same kind of sink in my bathrooms. This means that they are done today, at least according to the work that has to be done by craftsmen. Now it's my turn to finish the bathrooms and I'm going to start tomorrow by wallpapering and installing a lot fo things and making closets for both bathrooms.

And this is how the bathrooms look like this evening:

Bathroom upstairs with a huge glass shower.

Bathroom downstairs, washing area.

Bathroom downstairs, toilet area.

And this came today via mail: A parcel with a lot of cute things for decorating the bathrooms. Look!

Curtains, rugs, cushions and furniture knobs for the closets! Yes, we chose lavender for both bathrooms.

I'm pretty tired now, because I stood always behind the craftsmen, with a pistol in my hand. No, not really. But whenever I went away nearly nothing happened on the construction site, because they worked so slowly. Whenever I was there the work made good progrress. So I stayed until all was done. My dear uncle was also here for a visit. I always appreciate very much seeing him. And he brought me some Easter candies.

All in all we made good progress today. But I'm going to go to bed now. Good night!

 

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Regular participants are:

Ree

Lisa 

Taia

and me. Feel free to join us!

Beautiful Morning

What a difference a little sunshine can make! It's a beautiful Sunday morning and life energy is coming back slowly.

I was just outside my door and this is what I saw, our little street in the sunlight! It's so beautiful outside!

I looked after the work we did in the flower beds in front of the house:

This is flower bed no. 1; we planted a lot, also some herbs for preaparing tasty meals.

 

Some colorful spring flowers near the entrance...

And this is flower be no. 2. It's always in the shade and very dry. I hope the plants will make it there and once cover all the soil there.

Even the bathrooms look a lot better after I worked a lot on them yesterday. I didn't manage to wall paper, because I had the wrong paste, but it looks better as you can see:

 

 

See you later with the photo challenge!

Grey Day And Grey Feelings

It's grey outside, big grey clouds are covering the sky. It's cold after a period of time with summer-like weather, it's rainy and a bit stormy.

This is what I see looking out of my window: The roofs of our garages, a piece of our garden and the street behind our house, but above all: Grey!

I should be glad this morning, actually, because there are two weeks off ahead, Easter break. But I'm feeling as grey as the weather outside. Maybe I am simply exhausted, but I have been sleeping for 15 hours this night after I fell in bed yesterday afternoon after our shopping tour. And I woke up with a bad migraine. 

Sometimes I think my last power is gone, sucked up by all the things that happened over the last years. And I'm afraid that it won't come back. I'm saying for years that there must be urgently more free time in my life, but it grows worse from month to month. To save a little bit of my energy I called craftsmen for doing the bathrooms, but I wonder if it would have been better doing all by myself, because they left so much crap, so much dirt and demolition, so much things I have to correct and redo that I wonder if their work is worth a single Cent. I did not learn all these kinds of work, but I do it much better than they do. And I'm angry and annoyed when seeing the results of their work. Hey, and it costs my money!

Monday the plumber will (hopefully, you never know if he really shows up) come for the last time and install the sinks and toilets and after he is gone I won't let in any craftsman again, I swear!

I'm sitting here, powerless, but having so much to do. The ceiling of the bathroom in the upper story has to be painted today, the floor (which one of the craftsmen layed yesterday) needs a major redo, because it's all not correct what he did, the floor in the bathroom downstairs - same mess, which has to be re-done today. The walls in the bathroom downstairs need to be wallpapered before the sinks will be installed and I have to paint and sand both doors in the bathrooms. These are my tasks for today.

Maybe I'm feeling better after a good cup of coffee...

The only good thing that happened is that Anna did her last difficult test before she can make her Bachelor of Arts. She did it well and it was a difficult test which most of the students don't pass and which could be the end for their study at all. We have been suffering a lot until the results were out on last Thursday. She passed the test very well and this was the last obstacle before her exam. You can't imagine how glad I am about her success! The next week she will decide if she does her exam at once or if she needs another seminar to make her grades one percent better for doing her Master of Arts. I'm proud of my daughter. She is a wonderful young woman.

Well, I should get ready for my work today and do my duty to get the bathrooms done before Easter. And I want to have a clean house again until then. So I should get my ass out of the chair and do something. Sigh!