It's been a while...
Jan. 13th, 2008 11:12 amI know, I know, it's been a while since I last updated this journal. People are defriending me, and I can't blame them, after all, I'm not really around. I often think of my lj with longing, the kind of longing that you feel for a place where you had a wonderful vacation. And you tell yourself, that one day you'll go back there. Can't say if this post means that I am back. I want to find the time to read your posts and find out what you guys have been up to, but what I want and what really happens are usually two different things.
A lot of things have happened since I last posted. Just before Christmas, Mr. E and the girls had another big dance performance. Take a peek. Katharina is the long-haired girl on the right. Unfortunately I can't link you to a clip with Mr. E or Viktoria in it. Our dance teacher never allows us to upload clips to Youtube, because she always spots flaws in the performance.
Some of you know that our Decembers are always frightfully busy and stressful because Mr. E and daughter #1 both celebrate their birthdays just after Christmas. Mr. E helps with the preparations, he'll hoover or do the shopping if I write the list, but he doesn't help me with the planning or the who-gets-what-for-Christmas question. Also, Decembers are always a frightful strain on the budget. And, last not least, my slightly high maintanance great-auntie stayed with us for a few days. But, she's my last surviving relative, and in spite of everything I really love the old girl.
But several things cheered me up:![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xanpet2000 and shatten sent me Christmas cards - THANK YOU! You really brightened my day. Also, Mr. E's sister invited us all to Dortmund for a long overdue family get-together on the 26th. Nice, albeit a little boring.
All in all, we had a great Christmas: great food, well-behaved kids, nice prezzies. My kids bought me a Build-a-Bear voucher, so I could have my own teddy bear, and hubby bought a voucher so I could buy clothes for him. Plus Mr. E suggested the bear's name: Spike. :-) Other fabulous prezzies included: the complete Sharpe Box, the Blade Runner Box, and a few other DVDs and a few games. A good haul. The kids were happy too, even though we spent less on presents this year. Their excitement mostly revolved around the presents they had made or bought for us. The Christmas highlight: Tina and Viktoria surprised us with a lovely Xmas program of self-taught piano playing, flute playing, poem recital, singing (Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, in English, of course) etc, and then Tina dressed up as Santa. You should have seen her. She had tied a white pair of tights round her face to act as a beard. Hilarious!
On the 28th my poetry book finally arrived in the mail. I had spent weeks editing all my German and English poems and finding the right order for them. Then I uploaded it to lulu.com, designed the sleeve and ordered 6 copies. They didn't arrive before Christmas, but even so I am pleased with the outcome. I gave one to a former lecturer of mine, the one who first gave me a chance to teach at University, and he was quite overcome. Of course, I spotted a few mistakes in the "first edition", but once those are corrected I will upload it again to lulu, and then I'll put it into the lulu marketplace. Too bad, lulu won't print fanfic, otherwise I'd get Things Present - Things Past printed (at least a few copies for Marcee and myself). Still, lulu is a great site!
New Years Eve saw us celebrating with friends from our dancing club. A lovely little party where the kids were practically invisible, except when hungry, and where the adults played Singstar. :-)
A few days ago I received an Email from the local university, asking whether I'd like to teach another Creative Writing course. The course starts in April. Naturally, I accepted. It's not exactly well-paid, but I enjoy teaching, and it might just pay for a little summer vacation.
It's January now. Yesterday, Katharina finally celebrated her birthday with friends from school. She requested scones and salmon sandwiches, so I made a proper English afternoon tea for the lot, and then herded them to the nearby circus school, where they spent two hours practicing a show of tightrope walking, juggling and whatnot.
And now I'm sitting here, sipping coffee from my lovely Serenity travel cup, contemplating life, the universe and everything. I am playing my favorite CD, a compilation of songs that are supposed to help me write. The stress is finally wearing off. Mr. E and the kids are off to dance practice, I just reread my Giles/Ethan fic and will now happily tinker with it until the family reappears, later I'll cook dinner with the kids and once they are in bed I'll try to talk Mr. E into watching a movie. Yup. Sounds like a good Sunday.
ETA: Wanna see a new pic of my daughters? Go here.
A lot of things have happened since I last posted. Just before Christmas, Mr. E and the girls had another big dance performance. Take a peek. Katharina is the long-haired girl on the right. Unfortunately I can't link you to a clip with Mr. E or Viktoria in it. Our dance teacher never allows us to upload clips to Youtube, because she always spots flaws in the performance.
Some of you know that our Decembers are always frightfully busy and stressful because Mr. E and daughter #1 both celebrate their birthdays just after Christmas. Mr. E helps with the preparations, he'll hoover or do the shopping if I write the list, but he doesn't help me with the planning or the who-gets-what-for-Christmas question. Also, Decembers are always a frightful strain on the budget. And, last not least, my slightly high maintanance great-auntie stayed with us for a few days. But, she's my last surviving relative, and in spite of everything I really love the old girl.
But several things cheered me up:
xanpet2000 and shatten sent me Christmas cards - THANK YOU! You really brightened my day. Also, Mr. E's sister invited us all to Dortmund for a long overdue family get-together on the 26th. Nice, albeit a little boring.All in all, we had a great Christmas: great food, well-behaved kids, nice prezzies. My kids bought me a Build-a-Bear voucher, so I could have my own teddy bear, and hubby bought a voucher so I could buy clothes for him. Plus Mr. E suggested the bear's name: Spike. :-) Other fabulous prezzies included: the complete Sharpe Box, the Blade Runner Box, and a few other DVDs and a few games. A good haul. The kids were happy too, even though we spent less on presents this year. Their excitement mostly revolved around the presents they had made or bought for us. The Christmas highlight: Tina and Viktoria surprised us with a lovely Xmas program of self-taught piano playing, flute playing, poem recital, singing (Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, in English, of course) etc, and then Tina dressed up as Santa. You should have seen her. She had tied a white pair of tights round her face to act as a beard. Hilarious!
On the 28th my poetry book finally arrived in the mail. I had spent weeks editing all my German and English poems and finding the right order for them. Then I uploaded it to lulu.com, designed the sleeve and ordered 6 copies. They didn't arrive before Christmas, but even so I am pleased with the outcome. I gave one to a former lecturer of mine, the one who first gave me a chance to teach at University, and he was quite overcome. Of course, I spotted a few mistakes in the "first edition", but once those are corrected I will upload it again to lulu, and then I'll put it into the lulu marketplace. Too bad, lulu won't print fanfic, otherwise I'd get Things Present - Things Past printed (at least a few copies for Marcee and myself). Still, lulu is a great site!
New Years Eve saw us celebrating with friends from our dancing club. A lovely little party where the kids were practically invisible, except when hungry, and where the adults played Singstar. :-)
A few days ago I received an Email from the local university, asking whether I'd like to teach another Creative Writing course. The course starts in April. Naturally, I accepted. It's not exactly well-paid, but I enjoy teaching, and it might just pay for a little summer vacation.
It's January now. Yesterday, Katharina finally celebrated her birthday with friends from school. She requested scones and salmon sandwiches, so I made a proper English afternoon tea for the lot, and then herded them to the nearby circus school, where they spent two hours practicing a show of tightrope walking, juggling and whatnot.
And now I'm sitting here, sipping coffee from my lovely Serenity travel cup, contemplating life, the universe and everything. I am playing my favorite CD, a compilation of songs that are supposed to help me write. The stress is finally wearing off. Mr. E and the kids are off to dance practice, I just reread my Giles/Ethan fic and will now happily tinker with it until the family reappears, later I'll cook dinner with the kids and once they are in bed I'll try to talk Mr. E into watching a movie. Yup. Sounds like a good Sunday.
ETA: Wanna see a new pic of my daughters? Go here.
