Double-Half
or One Ten without ham

Now isn´t this awesome?!

Here you can see, the by Ingo declared dead Mr Mosquito is still alive, and growing :-)

Sunflowers and radish is growing, too:





Just have to find out when to "harvest" the radish... they say 4 weeks and you shouldn´t wait too long. Planted them on July, 9th.
The Salad and Parsley still don´t show. Thumb isn´t green enough, it seems...

I contacted a company for this apartment - cross you fingers, please...
It´s just 3 rooms, but, well... we could afford it! (If families do help, as they promised).

This week I took this pic - who wouldn´t love to (be able to drive and) have such a bike?!



This year I so far asked not once to go to Bornhausen (60 km one way) for a drive on our "Moped". It came to my mind occasionally, though.
The older I get the more afraid I get, too. How dumb.
First too cold, then too hot, too. Now the temp is just right.

This arvo I lay in my sunlounger, reading a book, when right underneath in the inner couryard a loud bike started - no idea if it was a Harley. Maybe a new one, ours sure makes more sound - hear here.

Hmmmm... now I´d love to go for a ride. But it´s too late, a waste of money to register her now. Season is nearly over.

So, just a pic.



This was taken at Ingo´s Grandma´s place. She´s gone two years now...

Maybe next year we go for some rides?

... The Guys I Work For Are Great

or

Beer, Beer, Beer



This year I won´t waste my company´s money, I tell ya!

Three times I was sent to professional and hence expensive trainings on Adobe Flash (not three times the same one ;-) ... advancing, but when you can´t use it on the job, you just forget so much).
Useless since a job that once three people managed is now done by... me.
I never had the time to do much in Flash.

But I want to find or make the time! I don´t wanna "mark time"!

My Boss and Team-Leader are reasonable men and hence they agreed to my idea of finding some Tutorials and working through them by myself.
That´s how I got this job anyways!

Actually I come from "real architecture", times were/are hard and to make a difference I learned to present my Diploma back then in 2000 via a website, also using Flash (4).

Well, so, today (I had to sleep longer since work starts at 8), I let the car sit on the place I left it yesterday, grabbed my helmet, hopped on the bike and in about 10-15 minutes was at work, yay!!!!!
Eight hours I just sat there and looked for tutorials on Flash and Photoshop!

Tomorrow it´s Wolfsburg again, but Monday to Wednesday I´ll have that luxury again!

Mind you, apart from not putting my life on danger on the highway and looking for a parking-space, I can learn something new, escape the routine!

I don´t have to bring anything to drink - there is water, juice, Coke, (strangely also) beer and Sparkling Wine for free (guess I should leave the last two alone, though).

We will go out for lunch - the Company is in the heart of the city. I didn´t know that colleague, but he came asking if I wanna join - but I had brought (and eaten already) stupid everyday-bread.
Mind you... I didn´t want people to hate me right away, so I skipped carrots and bought bananas - and forgot them! Me! The one who starts shaking and shivering like crazy when having low sugar!

Luckily one of the executive directors (the one who couldn´t decide between beer or a footbath) happened to "walk by" a bakery and brought a huge load of strawberry-cake - he saved me!

Really, aren´t those guys pampered there?! I´m so jealous!

On the other hand... you hear few talking - and if just job-related, no laughing at all. No personal things around... not jealous on that.

Oh, but just the fact I wouldn´t need a stupid car...

Well, I´ll get kinda pampered next half week. Sadly one of my "old" and funny colleagues, who works there now, is still on holiday then. Can´t have everything, but am happy :-)

What about your job/colleagues/environment? Am I standard?

...again!



What is it that people keep throwing out my Ton´s "brothers and sisters" - and always in July, isn´t that weird, see here for pics and the weird coincidents behind the "ton"!!!

The number of casualties from the Loveparade rised to 21 today. A 25 year-"old" woman...
I just watch the Police-Press-Conference. Ingo said it sounds like a Horror-Story.
The Police officer nearly cried while explaining the details.

I find it truly amazing that cress can really grow on a paper-towel:



This is after I took some for my lunch tomorrow:



Next time I take earth again, though. Was better. But amazing thing this worked!

Second Pic taken in the kitchen, btw.

Kitchen... let me introduce you to my carrot-man (peeler, the orange fella):



He is super-cute and works really, really well!

And he lives right beside Pinchy:



Pinchy was actually a side-B-Day-Pressie for my Bro, born a Scorpio.
Then we saw Pinchy at the Simpsons and just had to keep him.

On Cuba we made friends with two Canadian Girls, the Daughter being a huge Simpsons-fan like us.
When they had lobster for dinner, I teased her about having eaten Zwicky and just got a blank look.
Sure, you call him Pinchy from to pinch ("zwicken" in German - just found out about the whole matter now!).

I so do hate that we get translated everything to German here!!!

Yips. What an uneventful day I had, huh? ;-)

I know, the answer is 42 ;-)

Saturday a Chinese man was standing in front of the house when we came home.
Later on he rang our bell. I opened, he came up the stairs and asked in a German quite good actually if I knew a soandso. (no)

But this is K-Street 27?
No, I said, 27 must be down the street, this is 72.

... oh, I mean 72!

We repeated this funny game once more and finally someone came out who knew soandso.

Poor man.
In German we say zwei und siebzig (two and seventy).

But I wrote about this and the weird guys from France already here...

Sunday we were too lazy to cook, so the Wok-Man was our choice. He found number 72, but...

Well I just talked about sizes concerning food - I managed to eat this:



And will have a bit today, too, and the rest then sadly goes down the drain!
Why??? Just who should eat all of this???


Really do wonder what´ll happen, who´lll take responsibity for the stampede at the Love- or rather Death-Parade. I really, really fail to understand how that could have happened. How frightening! To get smashed to death by people stepping on you. In a civilised country! How horrible, too, to have to step on another human being. (or anything alife)

This is what the pic is called at stock.xchng.
The person who named the pic knew why!

Barbara has made a great post on introverted people here. I found myself there and look forward to part II.

Damn, I am like that and I can´t help it much!
My brain works in the front - yours, too? Maybe in the back. Both is fine. Though... aw, well.
I have friends, but only few, and I couldn´t handle much more. I am content and happy the way I am. My best friend is Ingo.

Extro- or Introvert, read Baraba´s post and understand those people you consider shy or even arrogant - most might be the first but very surely not the second!
Really, that post explains a lot, take your time - maybe one day we meet in person (love to, really, but... uuuuh, heart races already)! You´d understand me better!
Rodney might probably just think, ah, that´s why!. Sorry, Rodney, if I knew before, I would´ve told you!
(None the less I really enjoyed meeting you and your wonderful family!!!)

So we went into the city to donate blood at the truck (see last Dog-post).
Registration was at Mc Donald´s Café. A young man from the German Red Cross informed us about it.
In addition to the note that stuck to the truck.

One person was in line before us.
For 15 minutes.
He was a first-timer. That is good!!

But the man from the Red Cross who did the certification was an elderly.
Each time he had to search for the enter-button. For numbers and characters.
Each time he had to search for the enter-button.

Why do they do this??? Why not put the old man in front of the truck (give him a chair, huh?) and let the young man work the laptop! Geez!!!!

It´s blurry, like totally blurry, but here you see Ingo inside.




And this was for a man of 1,84m the uncomphiest "seat", too! I was far from reaching the "footrest".

Afterwards we went to Mc Donald´s to get a so-called "Small-Meal" with the voucher from the Red Cross.

I wanted a cheeseburger, Coke light and mayonnaise with my fries. Nope. That´s not a small meal!
A Small Meal is Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish... ya know.

So, we chose the Big Mac, I love those patties!

I managed to eat over half of it and that was it. Didn´t eat all the French Fries either. And I was like really, really hungry!
Why do they call this "Small"???? That´s huge!!!

I´d so love to try the new Big Beef Parmesano (Ray Kroc would love all the creations! Though, mostly I get disappointed...), but it´s just huge, too.
Same at Burger King.
And too expensive.
Why do they make the portions so darn huge???

..and call it "small"...

It´s a funny thing you call it dog-ear and even use it as a verb! We call it Eselsohr, donkey-ear - not usable as verb. We "make" those ears. Anyone an idea why we use different animals to describe this?:



I do this when I find certain passages in a book rereadable. I use my fingernails to mark the passage on the page then. You, too?

Anyhows, as you can see I made a lot "animal-ears" here - one of the best books I´ve ever read!



Ray Kroc really was an amazing man!
He sold mixers and paper cups for a very long time but had always big dreams and lived to fulfill them! He always cared for his staff, and for others. He expected a lot, too, from his staff.
He had so many ideas! And made so many come true.
On his 70th Birthday he planned to say a big thank-you to... well, everybody who made his dreams come true, by donating. One million dollars was the plan, back then in 1972.
He had so many projects at his heart, that he ended spending 7 1/2 million dollars. On his 70th Birthday alone! Lots going to health and research.

Tomorrow we donate blood at the Blutspendemobil (German, but with pic) - a truck, very comfy. Way better than donating at schools, esp first graders! (small chairs). It´ll be in the city near malls and a certain Restaurant.
As a thank you we are invited at Mc Donald´s - again.

Proofs the book right, no?

Really, very inspiring, motivating, interesting and very well written!
Started on Cuba and "found" I didn´t make the last chapter, sadly, that´s done now.

It´s got humor, too, can really, really recommend!

A Spinal disc herniation really is no excuse - guys like that can still carry bags, see?



Ok, was only maybe 5-6 kg all in all, arranged front-back, but doesn´t it look funny?

and... Again No Luck

Today we had a look at an apartment. 79,5 m² in the Easterly Ring-Area, balcony possible, 76 000 € - groceries, bakery, everything nearby (you don´t get younger, yes, I keep that in mind even now).

Yeah, great. Since it´s under the roof you can use 50 m², no more!
We could´t even find a place for our bed, which is rather small with 1,40*2,00 m!

High hopes, no luck.

Now to the cute stuff! I got my Niece-to-be a Sigikit-Sheep that she can cuddle and chew on:



It´s so darn cute, I´d like to keep it (just won´t buy a second for 20 € - but it´s high quality - they also have cute & clever stuff for the teething-phase, frogs included!).

And two cute Onesies, one even has sun-protection! This one:



It´s a Laura´s Star-Onesie.

And this one - let´s hope it stays hot:



Ingo certainly had to try Laura´s on on our Henry :-)



Which is ok, Henry has a Belly-Button, too :-)

For the Parents-to-be I got this stuff for imprints (that actually come out):

This little guy... that Baby there in my lab.
Turned into the big, protecting, caring Brother for sure!

Didn´t get my E-Mail that I cannot speak to him or Mum today. And called me - first time on this day (since it happened).

After some stupid crying on my side, we talked about my Niece-to-be and other good stuff and now I don´t feel so bad anymore.
Funny how little Brothers turn into big ones.

Bro was grumpy all day long cause he didn´t get what he wanted for his Birthday.
When I came home he changed into this! He clung to me and all was good.

Usually we constantly did fight.

Wish he was here now.

Cannot call him, would just cry.
Why does it still hurt so much? 8 years Dad has passed away, eight years! How much longer will it take to just accept it, think of him and be done with?

All day long I couldn´t eat properly, despite having "forgotten" what today is.

We weren´t close even, too much alike to not fight.
Why can´t he let go of me? I feel like a mess.

Life would be a lot easier, I suppose!
And you could see my Mum like this now still, too...

Eight years already that my Father died.

I wrote July 19th at least 20 times at work today and only now I realise what that means! Usually I was down a few days before this date.
As said it´s to the day 6 months after my 30th Birthday.

On one hand I thought maybe it´s a sign of healing, but now it hurts just even more.

Now that my Bro will be a Dad... how much would he have enjoyed this!!!
It´s so sad, sometimes life is just unfair.
He was so disappointed with me for not having kids.

Never did I guess it´s true you have to bend over from laughing.
It is true. I did have to.

Ingo Appelt was just FUN with his programm (German)! Mean. And so talented!
That guy stripped till he wore but golden undies - which was not a sexy sight, sadly. So, no pic... ok, I was shocked a bit... and it was dark already. And I had to laugh just too hard. Didn´t get the cam in time! Will you believe that, he took off all his clothes (except of said golden stuff).
He imitated fellow comedians as well as German singers - so great, if I hadn´t seen that... I could´ve sworn the guys were there - weird, wonder how one can do that?



Weird thing was... I thought the place was sold out - was not! How come???
So... lucky I didn´t go and bought tickets, saved me 50 euros!

It really was an outdoor-event, kinda weird. They took the cheapest chairs:



Does that look professional to you?

Well, but Ingo (Appelt) sure was. He even played the piano!




What it was all about? Well, men, and how dumb they are! ;-)
It was so much, too much, too funny, really, oh so mean. And oh so true!



Haha, right after the break a woman went to the stage for an autograph. Ingo (Appelt) gave it to her and immediatley a boy got up to get one, too.
He turned him down! And asked, while the boy went back to his seat, hey, what´s your name? (Bastian). How old are you? (12)
Later in the show he spoke about... sex. When it´s a about men, it´s about sex, right? And he said, "yeah, Basti, now you know about that, too. Bet your Mama wished she´d just let you stay home, huh?" And stuff like that. Bet Basti loved it more than any autograph- Luckily I wasn´t the one running for an autograph - I really thought of doing so! I hate being the point of interest.

Though I was on Sat anyways, a bit.

My friend and her husband threw a belated Birthday-Party.

They started at 4pm so I thought, uhhh, great, there will be cake.
Ding, I was the one everybody looked at... there was a whole section of salty stuff just for me... :-)
Like these kangaroos!



(I used Ingo´s plate, hence the fork)

So, everybody had cake, I had kangaroos :-)

This was one of my pressies, btw - my friend(iene) has heaps of birds, so I thought she´d love this keyholder (she did):



You can use the bird to "call"/whistle for help in emergency (I hope she never has to use that):



Isn´t the packing alone the cutest?

Oh, my, people told horror-stories about craftsmen, maybe we should just keep on renting?

Again, not one apartment to look at. None.
It´s getting really frustrating.
Everyone around us seems to own but us...

This pic wasn´t taken by me, but at least it was taken at Perth Zoo, where I have been.
I saw Dingos in '95 on Fraser Island.

What do I want to say now, you wonder?

Well, see last post. We found that English-speaking people have difficulties with my spouse´s name.
He came up with this on Cuba:

Say Dingo (Dingo).
Now leave the D... (ahhhhh Ingo)

So, if anyone was wondering how to pronounce that funny name... now you know :-)
Clever guy, I´ve got, huh?

One´s misery is my luck today.
I admit: I cheated.
In our last raffle. I really looked at the mails and let the one who said he´d so love to go win.

And man, was he happy! (you know... most don´t even bother to answer, take everything for granted. He did, and in a very funny way)
This morning, though, I found an E-mail from him. Someone in his family has passed away and he just doesn´t feel like going. If I would like to go instead?

Why, sure!
So, I called Ingo if he wants to see Ingo tonight and he said yes!

A colleague had seen the comedy on DVD and said it´s hilarious! I just hope this time they don´t seperate men from women, I wouldn´t like that.

Anyhows... tonight we´re off to Castle Salder in Salzgitter and learn from Comedian Ingo Appelt why men have to be beaten :-)

I look forward to that - hopefully there is no fuss about the tickets! They would be 25 € each, btw!
First time ever that I "won" something!

I got these awards by Allie from It´s a Wonderful Life, thank you, Allie!
Life sure is good! :-)
Mostly, at least!



What is rather embarassing... I had to look up versatile!
Thank you for that compliment, too!




What I love most... I found through Allie´s post so many new, great blogs!

Though not having children myself, I so love to see pics and read the stories of the wee ones! :-)
(maybe soon I can present the one or other pic of my niece-to-be, too!)

Ok, here we go, I nominate these bloggers - I don´t wanna hurt anybodys feelings, though! Little kids and hence cute pics and stories I love are found around these guys - they fit into both categories, too, how handy:

Flea´s Market
Snippets of Life
Me & Boo
Red Dirt Mummy
The Muriels
patrick, mandi & maya
The Spendidly imperfect Miss M

I was tagged by It´s a wonderful life to share a few of my favorite things around the apartment! So, here we go:



Our kitchen-ceiling-bull (my Brother really saw him, too... after sitting underneath for over 20 minutes!),
fake grass on a grass-mat,
our picture-frame-key-holder,
my swing,
Henry the Lion (it´s really a miniature-copy of the one standing on castle square),
my fav mug (advent-calendar-pressie),
hot-water-bottle hanging on the bedroom-wall,
we´re not like cat and dog, more like ... - they hang in the bathroom,
pirate-ship-kite above our bed,
x-mas-Lion (advent-calendar-pressie),
Vegemite-mobile, always makes me think of x-mas 2006,
plush-heart hanging above the kitchen-door with a pic of us and our Nissan Patrol in 99 in Broome,
kitchen-board with proof that girls are evil and with Elzie Anderson (he was so cute back then when he played for the Braunschweig Lions),
Froggy plate (advent-calendar-pressie),
Flip-Flaps in the kitchen-windowsill (work with solar-power)

And I certainly love all the pics of fav moments hanging all around :-)

I tag in alphabetical order:
Flea´s Market
Frugal Bastard (I hope I don´t "regret" that cause I have to look at insects? ;-)...)
Me & Boo
Red Dirt Mummy
The Journey
This is what Sed said
Writing From the Insight Out

Would really love to see what your favs are!
Just love to see other people´s places :-)
Please let me know if you joined in!

A while ago I read over at the the food pornographer about the obviously very yummy Pies you can get at Mrs Mac´s.

Sure I had a look, here from the land of no Pies.

In their FAQ´s I found this:

"Can I order on-line?
Unfortunately we do not have that facility currently.
For information on your local distributor or retail outlet please contact us."

And also that they deliver New Zealand as well.

So, I took their offer and contacted them, asking if - when online-ordering finally will be possible - they deliver Europe as well (Great Britain would surely be a market, no?).
Making pies is just such "hard" work, meaning time-consuming! Not to mention Jerky, which I miss so much (the NT-one).

I even got an answer - a positive one! Not as positive as I hoped, but... typically Aussie-like (meaning being supportive and friendly!).
I got a no. Cause it´s really difficult to get certified for Europe.
But... when I´m in Perth next time I am to call Rob and he will organise some products for me to take home!
Bummer, huh???? (Try anything (not Pie-related) like that in Germany... we´re called Service-Desert for a reason...).

Aww... if it wasn´t so darn expensive and so darn exhausting, I´d be tempted to drive to Frankfurt and enter the next Qantas right now!
Wait, no!!! You guys have winter!!! Nope, I´d wait till... late October :-)

Shown Pie btw is the last one Ingo made (in an ashtray).

My Canadian Friedene from last Cuba-Holiday suggested also to take simply muffin forms - it´s called Tards then. Any suggestions? Isn´t that more work?

The Citypoint-"Mall" looks like this now, nice, no?



Summer-holiday :-)



But, seriously... who wants to buy something like that???



These guys point out that they have aircon in their restaurant - yips, that´s not the rule over here...



As said, it´s hot!
Summer :-)

Addendum
News (German) say it´s the hottest July since they started recording weather in 1891.
In three trains aircon broke down (German), windows closed, over 50C, people were collapsing.
Fans and aircons are sold out in our town (German).
Weird times.

Eureka is back, yayyyy!
So, here we sit.
Fan in front of us, my good ole Honeywell.
Not on the swing, but on Ingo´s sofa.
Cause my receiver blew up. HEAT!!! (Yay) - Ingo can fix it.

So. Eureka will be back. Tomorrow. New episodes.

I say, "uhhh, so sexy, that guy! Uups, should´t say that!"
"No, that`s ok!"
"So... what woman do you think is sexy?"
"...."
"...."

"Cruise?"
"That´s a man, Thomas Cruise."

"..."
Me... "Pene...?"
After a while we got it!
Penelope Cruz!

That´s the woman Ingo thinks is sexy!

Hehe...
hehe :-)

Sign for public transport, "BS" for BraunSchweig.
That´s how number-plates work over here as well, btw.
Hannover gets an H, Goslar GS, Gifhorn GF, Wolfenbüttel WF... so you know straight away if the other driver is a/n (bigger) idiot (like you)... Funny enough, you´re very often proofed right!
Same in your place?

Like, when I see WF I´m prepared for a very, very slow driver.
GF either speeds like crazy or is like WF... Certainly BS are always good drivers, other than they moved in from WF! ;-))

Well. No bike-tour today. Nearly 39C.
Maybe nothing big for Aussies, but we never really have the time to adapt, whoosh, it´s cold(er) again. So, I don´t complain, but wee... no big action today!

The last cherries from this year now, as I said, nearly black!



That tree is who knows how old and still provides my family with the best cherries ever.

Amazing, here´s the story.

Our electricity supplier BE energy (German) had a campaign a while ago, making us aware of "green" energy by giving sunflower seeds in their ads.

Way too late I planted them, but hey, yesterday I needed bigger pots! :-)



My leg is full of earth there. Sunscreen really doesn´t let go of that!

And after the "hard work" a good book in the sunlounger!



I started Having our say, by or rather with The Delany Sisters. They were born 1889 and 1891 and started this project in 1991!
By that time they were over 100 and still managed everything alone! Cleaning, cooking, errands, money-stuff! Isn´t that amazing?
Their father was born a Slave but I reckon if you´re American you miight know them - those two and their 8 siblings were well educated and had high jobs, teacher, dentist...

It´s very well written, very vivid, with great humor. Sadie even made it to 110 years of age!

And, weird, huh? Guess where Bessie was working?
You can clikc to enlarge.



I´d so love to read on, but sadly there is full sun on the balcony, have to wait till tonight (34C outside).

Thanks to FiFa World Cup, we get foods from, well, all over the world. I certainly had to buy these:



Hmmm, Salt & Vinegar!

Some kiddo lost his umbrella. Someone put it up in kid´s height to be found :-)



I think I add the label "lost and put up" - should´ve done that long ago!

Went to the Hardware Store right after work today (yay, Friday!!!!), got new earth and seeds of radish, cress, parsley (yeah, I know "don´t east parsley, just for looks") and field salad.
So, as soon as the sun is on the other side of the house, I´ll get muddy with earth again :-)
Prediction for the weekend: 39C...