Christmas Presents for me

I did get a lot of beautiful and useful things this year, I am so happy... My hobbies are pretty clearly defined and I have a lot of them, therefore I suspect that it is not very difficult to find stuff to give me. Yeah for me!

Some of the highlights this year were for example:
- the complete "Torchwood"-Box
- the 4th and 5th season of "Doctor Who"
- a very exotic perfume from Saudi-Arabia in a beautiful red flask
- a Dalek-poster (Yes, I am very interested in Doctor Who at the moment...)
- a large wooden box the content of which will be the topic of my next post, I can only say so much: It has something to do with toxic substances...

Finally... -Holidays!!!

I am so glad because the holidays have arrived at last. I've never been so exhausted before Christmas, usually I feel like a wreck before Easter, but the last two or three weeks just sucked.
I love my job and my students but I am so happy to meet only people I want to meet during the next three weeks... Hurray!

Christmas Presents Part One

The good thing about having neglected my blog is that none of my friends or family members reads it anymore. Hurray! Thus I can post pictures of my selfmade presents before Christmas Eve without spoiling anything. Although I did not have much time this year because of the ridiculous amount of tests I have to correct I still managed to make some presents myself.

This is the first: A flock of small birds made of fabric which can be hung into windows or anywhere else in the house. They have a very simple design, two flat pieces for the body and little wings made out of two oblong pieces each. I stuffed them with special stuffed animal filling which gives much better result than the ordinary cosmetic cotton I used in the past. The eyes are small black beads. Most of them will go to my mother, but one or two will be a present for my partner's mother.

Things I love in December

I stole the idea for this post from the wonderful Bronwen's Blog "Teaparties and Fairytales"...

1. http://www.swordandlaser.com/
This is an online book club, but they also publish great podcasts and videos which focus on fantasy and science fiction literature. I really enjoy following the online discussions about books and I am trying to read their "book of the month".

2. My Kindle

In spring I have moved and after having carried about 800 books to the fourth floor my enthusiam for the printed word has somewhat vanished. A few weeks ago I bought a kindle and although I feel a bit guilty because I don't support the local bookstores anymore, I am very happy with my e-reader. It has already saved me from having four more books on my shelf.

3. Watching The Sopranos
Work is really exhausting at the moment and the weather does not encourage me to go outside in the evening. Watching The Sopranos is therefore what I do after work. It helps me to relax, is not too difficult to follow and I still get the feeling that I am working to fill a gap in pop-culture knowledge.

4. "Les Petit Marseillais" - Shower Gel

My parents went to Paris last week and I asked them to bring me some shower gel by "Les Petit Marseillais". As always, they were a bit too motivated and I won't have to buy any shower gel until summer I guess.

5. Six-Ply Sock Wool
It makes knitting socks so much faster, I almost can't believe how quickly I can finish a pair of socks with this thick yarn. Especially useful to make a Christmas present in a hurry.

Tyger, tyger, burning bright,
in the forest of the night.
What immortal hand or eye
could frame thy fearful symetrie?

The answer is easy: Mine.

My brother became a father in April, and therefor I am now an aunt. (In the future, I am planning to become the "excentric aunt" with a huge hat full of feathers and flowers who smells of Lily of the Valley...)

I don't know much about small children and admittedly I am not very interested in them, but there are so many crafting opportunities for small children. The first thing I made was this great "tyger", the instructions are taken from the "Stich'n Bitch - Superstar" book by Debbie Stoller.

A New Beginning

This blog has been giving me a bad conscience for months now. I know I am not a writer, I have never managed to write a regular diary or maintaining a constant exchange with a pen pal. Thus I should not be surprised that I do not have the discipline to write on a regular basis here. Still, when thinking about possible reasons for my shameful neglect I discovered that I do not enjoy reading my own blog-posts. The main reason for this is my style of writing. I studied English and German at university and I always enjoyed writing in English much more than writing in German. Writing in English makes it easier for me to express my thoughts. I don`t know why, maybe it is because due to my limited knowledge of English vocabulary there are fewer possibilities to say what I want to say. Consequently I write down the first sentence that comes into my mind instead of pondering over countless ways to express something, deciding on the correct register and so on.
Anyway, from now on I will write my entries in English, hoping that there will be more entries. - Let's see whether this change of language helps me to be more disciplined...