Monday feast

Just a little Monday feast for two.

New neighbours

I wish I had a recorder, in order to document the laughs/noise/shouts that is going on in the neighbourhood. Love it.

And they were clever, the neighbours, they invited everybody around including myself.

Everybody brought something to eat, something to drink, and eventually there were more than enough. Bratwurst, potatoes, salads, sweets and there was no end to it.

It was a great evening, and it's lovely to see the younger generation partying like there was no tomorrow! And I got to see my balcony from a different view. Plus I got to pet Lola, a very cute and very little rabbit.

No longer friends

It's a bit of an emotional time for me. I am about to cut somebody who used to be very close to me out of my life. Don't get me wrong. It's taken me a long time, years in fact, to get to this decision.

Nevertheless, it is a bit heartbreaking.

Last time I did it, was with a very close friend for about 20 years. But when she visited me, spent a whole evening talking about how much she hated her mother and all the wrong-doings she apparently made, while my mother was in the hospital dying, I decided it was time to cut the cord.

I knew her mother, and she was a perfectly good woman, caring about her daughter. Besides, my former friend borrowed money from me and never paid back.

It comes to a point when you had enough. And this is my point.

Still, it's sad but I'll get over it. You know, when you have already gone through the worst thing that can happen in your life, you realize you can live through anything. Not always pleasant, but hopefully you become stronger in the end of it.

After all, who wants to have friends who always put you down and make you feel unwelcome and not good enough? Not me, that's for sure.

Mini-Zürich

It was an interesting day today. We went to see Zürich in miniature. In the governmental body that handles Zürich building construction they have a model of Zürich. It contains all the existing buildings in brown, and all the ones that are in planning in white. The height difference in the city is displayed, and looking closely it is made of very thin wooden slices, cleverly laid out on each other.

The whole thing consists of squares, that we think can be moved around if another building is to be added in the middle. Unless they have child labour that can walk on the wood with tiny feet, but after a brief discussion we dismissed that option.

However, I can see a lot of improvement being made. Like a glass floor on top of the construction so that my house (or any other house for that matter) could be seen more closely from above (it was now in the middle), like better lighting, like trams and trains, like having the right colour on the houses and on the forest. I was told by my friend who happens to be in the building business that the forest was actually made by cucumber! Surprising. Dried cucumber but still. And it was brown, not green.

Anyway, this is definitely an underutilized tourist attraction!

PS. My house was about 5 cm. Still the best in Zürich if you ask me :).

Being stingy pays off

I wish I had a pedometer again, today has been a good day. First I tried jogging for 20 minutes this morning. It was as boring as I remember doing it like three decades ago. However, it did get my heart rate up, and I wasn't exhausted after. Slow jog mind you.

Then I was gonna go for a cruise on the lake. Normally I'd take the tram that goes directly from my place to the harbour, but then I remembered I no longer have a travel pass. It expired and I chose not to extend it, since I don't use it that often.

So I decided to walk all the way to the city, stop off to greet a friend, then on to the boat. Did a short cruise, it was a bit windy, then parked again and stayed there for a while. After all, I need to improve on my tan.

After that I walked back to the main station, so that I could get a "Kurzstrecke"-ticket, a ticket that is cheaper but you can only travel 5 stops.

So a great day, and it only cost me 2.60 CHF!

Oh, and I saw this swan feather, made me think of Forrest Gump.

Ice!

Had a bit of a snooze late afternoon, and woke up by a scrambling noise. Immediately I got up, talking to the cats, saying "what have you done now?".

Then I realized I had a guy here earlier today, fixing my ice machine that's been broken for a while, and hurray, it now produces ice again. So the noise came from ice cubes dropping into the container.

Yippee! Can now make proper frozen drinks again, and yes, I did apologize to the cats.

How to take back a promise, anyone?

Jeez, what have I done? Was talking to a friend who lives nearby today about jogging. He does it, I do not. And he complained he doesn't do it as often as before, 'cause the guy he used to do it with moved away. That was two years ago :).

I'm not sure, but I might have promised to give it a try. I blame it on the sun and the wine.

Gad! Me jogging?

Now I've gotta do a try run to see if it's actually possible. And I take comfort in the fact that I'm fairly fit these days, and he doesn't look it. Still, this is a huge challenge.

Long lunch

Spent the afternoon having a really long lunch with friends on their terrace.

The discussion topics went from constipation (turns out I'm not the only one having had these problems, in exchange of my story I got to hear from their experiences, being advised never to take a pill in an American apartment where the walls are paper thin), to Zürich in miniature (yes I gotta see this!) and almost an argument on skin care (me: "you are beautiful, quit talking about surgical intervention", to her "yes, but some of these cremes really do work" to me "now they're not, you're falling for the marketing" while the husband was staying out of this particular discussion, although nodding to my arguments).

Anyway, it was an interesting afternoon with great friends.

Saturday night fun

Not to read for sensitive people!

Lately I had an ailment that's been bothering me, so I stopped by the pharmacy to get some medicine. Coming home this evening I thought a good dump would be a nice Saturday evening treat. Yes I know, it's a funny way to spend your time, thinking about all the thousands and millions of people out there partying.

But hey, you just wait, and you'll be there too.

When opening the package of a medicine I used before but only very occasionally, I realized these were some big tablets! And before I tried to swallow one, I read more carefully and figured out they were suppositories. Aha!

Not very pleasant but I placed one where it was supposed to be, then sat down for a drink and to watch some telly.

Ten minutes later I was in agony, sitting down on the toilet waiting for the thing to happen. Nothing. Only air. A few minutes later I started sweating, like profusely, getting dizzy and felt like I would faint.

One and a half hour of pure pain and slow release. Nah, these pills have gotta go. If I would have lived in America I could've probably sued somebody, but no. The list of possible side effects were there, but I'm not the one who thinks I would be affected.

And all this started since I began to eat healthy and doing sports. Something is wrong in this equation. Maybe my body misses all these E-numbers?

Beauty sleep

I love having friends to visit, including them staying over. But I gotta admit, this week was a bit of a strain. Every morning I got awaken by two furry ones "drilling" themselves under my duvet since there was a stranger in the house. He got up between 6.20 and 6.30am, and that's a tad earlier than I normally get up.

Three out of four mornings I got up too. Having a coffee and a chat. And after that it's difficult to get back to bed.

Tonight however, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna sleep like a log. Catching up. After all, I need my beauty sleep!

There's a cat under my bed

This week I had a friend staying over. Not that I've seen a lot of him, what with working and going out every evening and all. Like I used to.

Anyway, this evening he came home, we had a drink together, and then he wanted to go to bed.

"There's a cat under my bed", he was complaining, not understanding that it was a big, in fact huge compliment. My cats do not take to people easily. The fact that one of them was under his bed was an enormous improvement.

And yes, he left the door open to the guest room while he wasn't there so that the cats had a chance to sniff through everything. I am so glad I didn't have to!

Vtx is the new Orange

I dunno know. I'm skeptical. Got a phone call today from my internet provider. Many years ago I signed up with Orange, and recently they sold their internet connection part to Vtx. Which made sense since Vtx has provided the service as a supplier to Orange all these years.

Anyway, they called today and offered me double Mb's and ten francs off the bill on a monthly basis.

When I get offers like that, I have a hard time trusting them, but hey! Orange hasn't exactly been generous so why not? Ten francs saving a month is not to be frown upon.

But the connection has bloody well gotta work. Good thing I have the name, email and number to the sales guy.

Lobster-look

I have a good life. 32°C in the air, 20°C in the water. Today I swam for the first time this year.

And honestly, I cannot think of anything better than an afternoon on the lake, friends, food, drinks and great weather. I'm now having that sexy lobster-look.

To top it all off, we visited my fav place for a drink and a chat. A very good day indeed.

Homeless shoes

You know, once in a while it's nice to mix with the other side, like the homeless. So tonight I invited one of them for dinner.

We got an insight to how it is in the psycho-world, and why psycho-something professions are needed. We nodded and understood nothing, since we were of the opinion that if you have a problem you talk with friends.

But they liked the food, hot chili chicken with other stuff. And the cake from yesterday! Which I presented as the nouveau Schwedentorte :).

Modern cake

Having a few friends over tomorrow, so decided to prepare the cake already today. After all, it takes some time.

So this is a modernized version of "Schwedentorte", that green marzipan cake you've probably eaten in Ikea. I think Gordon Ramsey would be proud. Or not.

Truth is, there was something wrong with the marzipan I think, 'cause after trying 5 times, sweating and swearing (friggin' hot today) I couldn't roll it into a decent round piece to cover the cake with. Funny that, since the other times I made this cake it was much less problems.

Well, I hope they'll be impressed tomorrow. At least of all the effort I put in.

Basement happiness

I am so happy about my basement being clean and spider-free. I am in my basement almost every day, there is wine to be fetched, carton to be deposited to wait for the monthly pick-up, occasionally an umbrella to picked up when it rains, cat sand to be brought or books to be stored.

Now when I go in there I feel relief. It's clean, it's organized and nothing I have to feel bad about anymore.

It's funny, since it was a somewhat easy task, but it took me almost five years to do. Ok, there were stuff in there needed to be removed in order to get enough space to clean, but still.

Now it's done and I feel good about it. Next task is to go through all the papers, letters and postcards and whatsit. I always had a feeling if somebody took their time to write to me I couldn't throw it away. Now I will re-think and one of these days it'll happen. I'm almost sure.

Endurance

I've gotten tired of doing sports twice a day, so now I've changed pattern. I'm happy to still doing sports in the morning, getting sweaty and then shower. But in the evenings I want to stay clean, not sweating but still doing something. Endurance.

Like standing on one leg for two minutes (much harder than you think, try it!) and then change and stand on the other leg for another two minutes. Obviously, I'm gonna increase the time but today was the first day.

Also sitting, but without a chair, makes your leg muscles burn. And lifting those (tiny) weights 50 times in the air, or out from your body, has rendered me upper arms without bingo wings!

But sadly, the weight has now stayed more or less the same since a month. I blame it on muscles weighing more than fat, and am not really upset about it. I feel healthier, more energized and have actually reached my goal weight that I set from the beginning. Plus I eat chocolate and fatty things now and then.

However, it would be a challenge to get another 3 kg's off the body. Gotta go shopping for soup tomorrow :).

Hole in my head

The other day I got a phone call, one of these usual ones where they want to sell you something. But this was different, the woman was speaking my mother tongue, and in the end when she had talked a hole in my head, I finally agreed to meet with this "independent agency" to have a look at my health insurance. After all, hadn't done that in a while.

Today the guy came. He spent fifteen minutes telling me why my current insurance is bad, and fifteen minutes on why his proposal is much better. Independent my ass.

Ok, the price was slightly lower but he had not included something I find important, dental insurance and when a dug a little there would be this and that added to get to my current coverage.

Half an hour of my life that won't come back.

This friggin German language

In the group I was hanging with today, they spoke German. Most of them were fluent also in English, but between themselves of course they spoke their native language. I was laughed at, trying my version of their language.

But you know, I choose to interprete it like I'm pretty fluent and I make a few mistakes. I mean, if I was a total disaster in speaking German, they would've been understanding and trying to help me out. Well, at least that's what I hope.

Yum!

I like to not do like everybody else most of the time. So today I met up with a group of friends, and they all ordered a brunch plate, whereas I enjoyed a huge cheese plate all by myself. Delish, and way too much to finish!

99 and still going strong

The last few times I was working in the old peoples home, there have been few customers. Today one of the regulars came on her own, explaining that many of the other women that used to join her had gotten dement or moved on to other homes, where more care is required.

I asked her how long she had been living there, and she said nine years, "but I wasn't exactly young when I moved in, I was 90". What? 99 years old and cristal clear in her head. Looking good too.

Next time I'll ask her how one does that. Get to 99 and still going strong.

Humble, moi?

Ha! Today I was asked by a woman I met for the first time if I'm doing sports. I was flabbergasted! Until I realized that what I'm doing at home can be classified as sports.

I'm so flattered and thinking: "gosh, I must look good".

Chips

When I was at a gathering last Sunday, I noticed a bag of chips laying there on the grass (we were in a park), waiting to be opened. I was looking at it like a snake would look at a rat. A live one.

And after a subtle hint, the hostess opened it and served it on a plate. I zoomed in on it as an Israeli missile would on Palestine.

Grabbed a handful and stuffed my mouth. And then...nothing. It was like my taste for fatty stuff had disappeared. How disappointing!

But not to worry. My taste for peanuts are still there. Yes, I had to buy a bag of them and try. Got a good scare there, but I guess that living my life without chips is not such a big issue.

Except for that I am not gonna tell my cousin, who runs a chips company.

Me, me, me

You know, it's really funny with this Biggest loser on the American television. All of them, no exception, have seemingly always thought about other people and not themselves. In a whiny crying voice: "I was always taking care of other people, not thinking about myself".

I'm thinking, if that was the case, America would be a better nation than it is.

I think it's the opposite. They thought about themselves and nobody else. Stuffing themselves with fried fast-food and not thinking about their kids (raising them to be obese too!), their family, or how it would affect other people if they died.

Stats say that in the year 2015 75% of the American people will be overweight or obese. How's that only thinking about other people?

PS. I'm proud to say I always put myself first.

This bio thing

I have been cleaning my fan and part of that includes washing the three filters, that become a bit fatty now and then. Once a year is normally enough.

These filters have metal in them, and can only be run in the dishwasher at 50°C tops. My dishwasher have six different programs, but I have found that only one of them works. The one that takes the most energy, and runs at 60°C. I refuse to run another program when the dishes don't get clean.

And I have a really hard time believing that the 60°C program running for about 1,5 hours takes more energy than the "bio" program at 50°C that runs for 3,5 hours.

Correct me if I'm wrong, which is seldom, but this "bio" label doesn't do it for me.

Stubborn

I may appear as a wee bit stubborn to some people, and it made me remember a time in school when I was around 11 or 12. We had gymnastics, and were asked to "sit" against a wall, without a chair, with the knees at a 90° angle. The one who could "sit" the longest got to leave the class 10 minutes early.

Guess who won. I "sat" for 10 minutes.

Today I tried again, but not sitting against a wall. I tried bending my knees at a 45° angle for one minute. It hurt. I got this burning sensation. So this will be my new challenge, to stay for up to 10 minutes. That'll take a while...

And another thing. I can do 50 push-ups without a problem now, not involving the knees, but when I tried flexing my arms 90° outwards from my body using my 450g weights I got the same burning feeling in my arms.

This exercise thingie ain't easy.

Drunken friends

Last week I realized I was almost running out of my house wine, so to my delight I saw that there was "Aktion" on Pinot Gri this week. Placed an order yesterday, and this morning got delivery. Excellent service.

While the delivery guy and I stacked the wine boxes in my new cleaned quarter of the basement, he asked me if I intended to re-sell it. Haha. I'm probably a bit unique in ordering so many boxes of the same wine as a private person.

So I did what every sane person would do. I blamed my friends. "Oh no, I have a lot of dinners for friends and they all drink like fishes".

Arachnophobia

Today a friend of mine picked up some shelves I had in the basement and no longer had use for. I was really looking forward to this, since it meant I had enough space to clean out my basement and if not make it pretty, at least make it functional and using the space.

But after hoovering like a quarter of it, I caved in. There were so many dead spiders I couldn't take it anymore. I have a severe case of phobia for spiders, so even if they are dead, I felt ill and stopped.

Now I'm gonna have to get encouraged and doing the rest. Might not be tomorrow, but I'll get there in the end.

Cash is king

Oldfashioned me? Haha. Today I ventured out of Zürich to join some friends in a park and I needed to buy an extension ticket for outside of zone 10 where I live. The cost was 8.40. I didn't have coins, and the machine only gives change on a 20 bill. I started to walk to a kiosk to change my 100 francs bill before I realized the machine actually takes cards.

I think I'm probably the only one not immediately thinking that credit cards mean payment.

Anal issues

I know, I'm being a bit obsessed with this weight loss thingie for the moment, but bear with me, all of a sudden it's gonna change to something else.

However, one thing I didn't count on getting healthier was the shitting. I've more or less always had a stomach that worked, and that was releasing what it needed when I wanted. Now it doesn't.

And it rendered me a hemorrhoid. Painful! Like when you're shitting (or like the prude Swiss like to call it "Stuhlgang") it doesn't want to come out, and it always feels like there is something left. Plus it hurts and you have blood on the paper.

But I guess it's a relatively small problem, and I now have my cupboards stucked with prunes and figs. I'm feeling like a friggin vegetarian!

Another three?

It is funny. For the first time I was under my goal weight this morning. Not the first time I've been this "skinny" but haven't been at this weight in eleven years. And that was because my Mum died and I lost my appetite, and was skinny for a while.

I always thought that when I reach the goal I'm gonna treat myself to something. Like getting my hair done or similar. Thing is I hate people touching my hair, but I know that after it looks better.

So am hesitating. Especially since I now want to set another goal, another 3 kg's would be nice. But it's getting harder and harder, 'cause I don't want to sacrifice everything. Like if a friend brings chocolate, you can be sure I'm gonna eat it. My wine in the evening is a no-no touch. And I'm not willing to starve myself, or am suddenly feeling a need to run a marathon. So not my MO.

So we'll see. I've given myself to the end of the year to lose these 3 kg's, and if I don't, I'm not gonna lie sleepless. Life is too good to fret about little things.

I drink too little wine

Some years ago I hooked up with a wine deliverer, which was great. The sales guy used to stop by my place on Friday evenings after a weeks work, bringing all the leftovers to whatever party I had that day. And he used to stay and join the crowd.

Over the years I on and off bought some wine from them, but then I realized that I rather stick to white wine (which is much, much, MUCH cheaper in Denner) and that I have enough red wine to last me the next few years.

Since these first few years they have changed sales people many times, and every time they call me I have said no, thinking they would give up. They haven't. Until today. One guy called asking if I wanted to stay a customer or if I wanted to be removed from their list. Excellent!

We had a little chat, and he wanted to know if I had a bad experience from their company, but I kept a calm face and told him "sorry, I don't drink too much wine and still have some left".

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

PS. Actually have some of their red wine bottles still in the basement!

Protection for adults

Was up at the crack of dawn this morning (6.10!), had signed up for a course. It turned out to be really interesting. It was about...and here it gets difficult to translate....but from guardian to protection for adults. I know, it's difficult to understand but it's about people who cannot take care of themselves and need somebody to help them. Various degrees of course.

And as always in Switzerland things take time. The new law that was effective from January last year, replaced a law from 1907.

The current law began to be discussed in 1998, and it took 15 years to bring it through all the authorities it needed here in Switzerland. But still, all the 26 cantons have interpreted it differently and consequently the law is not the same in all cantons. I guess you could say that direct democracy has its disadvantages.

There are four stages, and I cannot explain them in English, but it goes from somebody who needs a little help with decisions to somebody who cannot make any decisions themselves at all.

I think the main change was that earlier it was a bit too easy to say that somebody wasn't "sane", and now it takes more to declare a person "insane", and also that now it requires professionals to make the distinction. Plus that there is a cantonal body to oversee any irregularities.

And I learned a lot. Now I know what nZGB is for example :).

PS. nZGB = neues Zivilgesetzbuch.

First cruise of the year

I was loading pics from my phone today, when I found this beauty. A tiny bush that was planted outside "my" house almost five years ago is growing into a beautiful tree. I believe I took the pic some months ago. Is it a magnolia?

Then we went on the lake today for the first time this year. Not bright sunlight, but like 28°C at 6pm and a great first cruise.

Self defence

I was just watching a tv-show featuring women trying to do self defence, and how weak they were when kicking back. That reminded me when I took driving lessons way back, and was asked to brake. Like put your led foot down heavily and brake in an instant.

I did just that, and the teacher looked at me and remarked that I was the first woman to it. Doesn't surprise me.

And I can seriously tell you, if I get threatened, I wouldn't hesitate to put a knee in the bullocks of any attacker.

5 star asphalt lady

I have a friend who refers to me as the "5 star asphalt lady". I don't get where he gets the lady epithet from, but I do get the others.

Yes, I have been known to say that to get me into staying in a hotel it must be a five star at least, and I do like asphalt. The lady-thing I dunno where he found. But we've only known each other less than a year, so maybe that's why.

And yes, I used to love to travel and didn't mind (much) to stay in shitty hotels and cheap accommodation but with the years I've gotten more picky. Now I cannot think of a hotel which can provide more comfort than my own bed, my own things, my cats and my belongings.

Plus I love living in a city. Asphalt, people, things happening, yes even the ambulance sirens and the vicinity to shops, pharmacies, trams or whatever you need, I like.

And if that renders me the epithet "5 star asphalt lady" I take that as a compliment. Apart from the lady bit :).

My body is my temple?

You know, this losing weight business is tricky. Since months I have done sports 25 minutes in the morning and most evenings another session of 25 minutes. However, lately my knee has started to feel a bit funny, so on Friday I decided to skip the evening session. Had absolutely nothing to do with the food and wine consumed :).

The result was that I lost 600 g the morning after. What? Ok, so on Saturday I decided that I had discovered a new way of this getting-healthy-business and thought, wtf, I'm gonna miss the evening session once again.

Lost another 300 g.

However, I have a funny feeling that this won't go on forever. Especially after today, when I spent the whole day with friends in the sun eating and drinking, and then later on my balcony keeping on doing just that.

And another thing that is strange. I am like 100 grams away from my ideal weight, but I cannot seem to get under it. One day I'm almost there, the next day I'm up half a kg or more.

This losing weight business is all about endurance. Good thing I have it!

Cleaning help

One of my friends was visiting today, and I asked him to help me clean a few windows. Reason is the sofa needs two people to move, and I wanted to prepare for my cleaning lady. He not only helped me to move the sofa, but also helped me clean more windows than I was planning to do today. Including the two that have never been cleaned, since they need to be screwed open.

Then we were sitting down for a well-deserved ciggie, and he remarked that the thingie under my armchair was dusty. My response? "Feel free".

He then asked if there was something else needed to be done while he was in the mood. Haha, of course. Next up was the fan.

I then started to feel a bit bad, so he only had to do the thingie in the ceiling in the shower...you know where the air goes out. Hadn't been cleaned since I moved in.

And then of course he got fed. Chili chicken wings with baked potatoes and salad with homemade dressing. Plus he got home with six lunchboxes that I prepared for him earlier in the week.

Win-win as we call it.

My "garden"

I cannot believe my two strawberry plants are bearing fruit! I mean, I love strawberries. From March to October I always have them at home, sometimes feeling bad 'cause they are imported, but always making sure it is from a country close to Switzerland (usually Italy or Spain).

Also my other plants are being happy. It's like I developed these green fingers, but I'm gonna put it down to a friend helping me and giving me advice how to manage greenery.

Coop joke

Found a photo from a friend cooking in my kitchen the other day. He had a paper bag from the shop saying "Dein Appetit hat fernweh". I know many words in German, and all of these, but still I couldn't get it to make sense.

Dein (your) Appetit (appetite) hat (had) fernweh (hmmm...fern means away from and weh means pain). My friend explained it like it is better to buy food from local suppliers than from ditto far away. Which I agree with. However, Coop certainly provides food from all over the world so I fail to take this so called marketing as serious.

Conclusion is: say what you mean and act thereafter.

Fat knees

I've always said that sports gives you injuries, and as it turned out I was right. Again. My knee has started to hurt, and when I took a good look at it (I mean how often do you look at your knees more closely?) I realized I have fat knees. How weird is not that?

It's not swollen or anything, just gives me a bit of discomfort when using my stepper, but fat knees? Come on. This is just not on.

I'm 300 g away from my ideal weight, but now I have to reconsider. I mean, who wants to hang with somebody who has fat knees?

Cars and pain

Had a friend over for lunch today. Hadn't seen him since last year, so it was a lot to catch up on.

That he is a fan of cars is an understatement. Today, again, I had to oh and ah over all the pictures he'd recently taken of his own cars. Me, who has never own a car in my life. But it was ok, he only has like ten cars so pretty quickly done. I was more interested to hear about the new speed-boat he just transported to Zürichsee. I even offered to help him clean it when the weather gets better. Of course with an ulterior motive :).

Then we talked about illnesses and he got an in-depth description of my recent root-canal :) and I was informed about the shoulder problems he has and that he has decided not to do a shoulder op, since it would prevent him from driving a car for weeks. For me it was the pain that was the reason to do the op. For him car driving is more important than pain.

I guess we're all different, even though the guy in the car downstairs seems to be a little bit more different than the rest of us.

Freak magnet

My Mum was a freak magnet. That means that everybody a bit odd was drawn to her. Maybe because she never judged, and was kind to people in general. I don't think I can be accused of that.

However, since yesterday a car is parked almost in front of our house, on the side of a driveway belonging to the neighbouring house. I of course thought they had visitors, even though nobody ever parks there. Only I thought it odd to see the man still sitting there after several hours.

Didn't think more about it, until this morning when the car was still there. And so was the man. Just sitting there in the drivers seat. Once in a while going out and digging in the neighbours garden. Hmmm.

An hour later I looked out again, and saw him sitting there masturbating! WTF so to speak? Not that I saw the wurstli, but I saw the movements and him taking a napkin and drying himself off after.

I hesitate to call the police, since they should be busy with more important things, but on the other hand I'm thinking the man is dement or psychologically ill or something. Living in a car doesn't seem normal to me. Especially not in my hood.

Nah, I'm gonna wait until my neighbours come home and then talk to them about what to do.

Just shoot'm?

It is interesting with new friends. Like there isn't enough time to find out about them. Talk, talk, talk and wow, you're surprised 'cause you (read I) thought they were gonna agree with you and then they didn't.

Among many other things today we talked about the upcoming vote in Switzerland. Which I had no friggin clue about, 'cause I cannot. Vote that is. One is about Switzerland buying fighter planes from Sweden. We both agreed that's a no-no. Big f...ing waste of money.

The second one was about pedophiles. This is where the conversation got a bit hairy. I was taking the stand of that they should be shot, or at least castrated, whereas he (a friggin lawyer!) thought there were degrees of pedophilia.

And ok, I read about this young guy, 16 or something in the US, who were having sex with a minor girl and his name got posted as being a pedophile on the internet as they do in America. Not what would qualify as a pedophile in my mind.

My friend thinks that pedophiles are to be compared to heterosexuals or homosexuals. That is you don't choose your sexuality. And we agreed that they cannot be treated. It's not a disease.

But, I still want to shoot people who abuse children, even if I don't like them myself. Children that is. But I do see the difference of a disturbed man who shows his "manhood" versus one that rapes a child.

And then we discussed the cost for the society to either keep the man in custody, the chances he would have to adjust to a normal tax-paying life after the sentence is served, versus keeping him there for a life sentence.

Seems like an odd conversation to have on a Saturday evening, but it was very interesting. And my friend cooked a really good curry.

What are friends for?

Had a friend over tonight. He was gonna help me change a water filter in my freezer. But I had to also visit the neighbour who had birthday, so I left him alone for half an hour. In that half hour he not only changed the filter, but also cleaned my oven.

I'm telling you, not many people have friends like that.

Before he left, I reminded him I have two ovens.

Fashion

One of my relatives is busy opening up a clothing shop. She was enthusiastically talking about which brands she will have, and haha, I didn't recognize one of them! That's how interested in fashion I am.

But when my niece was visiting the other day (she's almost two), she and I were dressed similarly, so maybe I'm more in touch with fashion than I thought?

Sauce!

I cannot believe I made it! But I did. For the first time in my life I made a sauce! Or gravy or jus or reduction or whatever the masterchef people call it. For me it's a sauce.

And it was delish!

The reason I tried was that I saw a food show and watched somebody make it, and it didn't look too difficult. And it wasn't.

Too bad I'm not a fan of sauce. But I actually might change my mind, however strange that sounds!

New bar stools

Some time ago I asked somebody with sewing skills to have a look at my bar stools, in order to see if anything could be done to save them. The actual structure is fantastic, even though the stools are...hmmm...lemme think...probably 23 years old, but the fake leather on top has broken.

She came, looked at them, ate, gave me a number of different options, all with various problems, and I decided to let it be.

Today I had a friend over with a nail pistol, and voila! As good as new.

And the best thing, it only cost me 27 francs for the fabric covering all four chairs. 'Cause the work was for free :). Plus a few homemade pizzas.

Blood is thicker than water?

I can safely say it's not. Yesterday I gave half a liter of my precious blood, and this morning I was expecting a huge leap downwards on my (tiny) scale. Not. The exact same as the day before.

I was thinking about it, since half a liter of water weighs something. Why don't blood?

And it wasn't like I ate like a maniac and didn't do my daily sports. Something ain't right in the land of Switzerland.

Bloody mess

It's not like I'm a stranger to giving blood, I have done it since 2005. But today I really messed up.

After the actual half liter of blood had gone out of the body, they take the needle out and you get a dressing to press on the spot. Holding the arm in the air helps. Today I got tired of waiting for them to come back, so decided to put a band-aid on myself. They are placed on a tray next to the chair you're sitting in.

Reaching for the stuff, I stopped pressing for a moment and whosh! Blood kept spurting out all over the place. Oh dear, how embarrassing. Must learn to be more patient, waiting another half minute and it would have been fine.

Masterchef

As you may have heard before Masterchef is one of my fav shows on telly. Not that I'm aspiring to be one, far from, but I like the way the show is set up.

Of course the American version is a total drama. It's tears, it's bitchiness, it's anger, it's a lot of feelings all the time but the judges are my favs. In the Australian and New Zealand shows it's a much nicer atmosphere, and even though there is the odd outburst of feelings, it's pleasant to watch. You know, that people can be nice to each other even though they compete. Plus I like the accent.

What I don't like with these three shows on the same theme, is that they seemingly have a lot of commercials, so a lot of it is repeated. The ads are omitted on youtube, but you know there's been a break when they repeat the same thing.

Masterchef UK is like the country. A bit bland.

Just started to watch Canada, and I like when they have a third judge which is a real character. A flamboyant type, who scares the shit outta the competitors.

Ireland has two hunks as judges, first of all, it is difficult to get that a country like Ireland has hunks, and second, it is difficult to focus on the actual competition when they get a lot of camera time. And I like that the episodes are half the time, no repetition, and very few feelings. A person gets elimininated, says "thank you" and leaves. No tears, no outbursts of any kind. Much more like myself. And I love the way they say "teyist" instead of taste. Reminds me of my northern Irish friend.

So I guess cliches have become just that for a reason.

Shopping ain't for me

Haha, it happened again today. I needed to go shopping in the city, went into one of the department stores and managed, once again, to get out at an exit other than the one I entered. Totally lost.

Fortunately Zürich isn't a big city, so after a while (and after walking a street in the wrong direction) I got my bearings.

I don't know the gene that navigates (!) the sense of direction, but it is pretty clear I haven't got it.

It's a very good thing I don't drive a car anymore, 'cause I would never be able to find it again in a car park.

Now I gotta think about all the other good qualities I have...

One less mess

A weight has been lifted from my shoulders. My only bad conscience. The basement. Since I moved in 4,5 years ago, it's been a mess. Shelves, stuff, bags, books and unidentified objects all over the place. Now most of them are gone. What a relief!

Turns out three of my shelves are gonna fit perfectly into one of my friends new apartment, and the bar counter that was specially made for one of my previous apartments will be a great addition to another friends flat.

End of May the shelves will be gone, then I shall hoover the place. Then distribute the remaining shelves around the walls, place all the stuff I still need to keep properly and enjoy a clean basement.

Seriously, how many people have a clean cellar?

Fatsuit

When a friend of mine had half of his lung removed, he was put on a program to train his ability to breath properly with exercise. He was told to put weights on his feet when walking to make it more difficult and make his lungs expand. Or so I guess. Actually he didn't tell me why, but that's what I think.

Made me think. This exercise I'm now doing seems to get me nowhere. I am 0.5 kg away from my goal-weight, and there I've been since I bought the mini scale. A whole week! Yeah, yeah, I did have a three course meal the other day, and I did buy sweets at Ikea, but still.

Was thinking to buy a fatsuit. I'm a fan of the Biggest Loser show and there the contestants always have to put on the weight they lost further on in the program and walk with it, and "omg, I cannot believe I had all this weight on before, and this is really embarrassing, and omg once again I cannot bear it" and so on.

It's just I don't know where to find it. In a fetish store? Ugh. Cannot bear the thought of walking in there. Doubt they have it in the sports shops.

The thing is with a fatsuit that it distributes fat all over the body, and therefore resembles what you had before. Plus it makes you sweat more and lose more calories.

Ideas, anyone?

Pizza and girls talk

Had some friends over for dinner tonight. They are a bit strange, they do not eat meat. No bacon, no chicken, no big-ass cow, nothing that taste nice. So I decided to take the approach of "make your own darn pizza". And I ignored the talk of tofu, bulgur and whatsit.

I provided the dough, rolled out into my version of "round", and chopped a lot of various veggies. Then they had to make their own pizza. Kinda like fondue or raclette or tablegrill. Excellent. Nobody can complain.

And of course I had hidden a proper pizza slice in the fridge, covered with fatty bacon, chili and loadsa other good stuff. For me.

I think we were all happy to indulge, and as usual, girls (ok, women then) talk is always enjoyable.

Live longer with alcohol

I really like those oldies in the home. Today was very quiet with few customers, so I went for a ciggie and found two of the old ladies sitting outdoors enjoying the sun. One of them remarked that she was considering starting smoking. She thought it must be good, since so many people do it. Ha, clever woman.

Another guy who usually orders wine wanted a rum punch today. That's some powder mixed with water and is alcohol free. I was surprised. Until I saw him digging out a pocket flask, topping his drink off. The guy is 98 and drinks alcohol with every meal!

That is very good news.

I'm considering false teeth

Second visit to the dentist today. If possible, even more unpleasant than last time.

He gave me an anaesthetic shot, less than last time, and I figured this'll be a breeze in comparison. Not. Drilling straight into the nerve again, and I had another near-pass-out-experience. Another couple of shots, and I was good to go, but it was strange to feel lame all the way from my left eye down to the cheek bone.

He started out with taking an x-ray, after the treatment another one, then came back shaking his head muttering "nicht gut". Oh dear. So he had to re-do whatever it was he was doing before once again. After like 75 minutes I was done.

His face lit up, and he said "now the root canal is fixed" (in German naturally). I'm not sure whether he's extremely qualified and take such pride in his work so that he won't leave it until it's perfect, or whether he's incompetent and therefore had to redo it. And in that chair it's difficult to ask that question.

Especially since I have to go back on Monday to finalize the treatment with a filling. At least that's what I think he said.

But the pain is gone (unless I bite really hard, which I shouldn't do just yet, but is difficult not to) and I have googled that it can be normal to need three treatments. Fingers crossed. Next week it should all be over (and the nurse promised me that the next treatment won't be painful).

The smallest scale in the world

Went to Ikea today with the aim to, among other tidbits, buy a scale. A scale is scary to me, since I always think it's gonna show too much and kg's you don't wanna admit to. It was decades ago I stood on one.

The reason is that I am now very close to my ideal weight, and I wanna know where I am, and then keep track of it.

But isn't it typical? Ikea were out of scales! How is that possible? I dunno anytime before I've been there and they've run out of an item. On the other hand, it's very seldom I go there with a list of specific items.

Anyway, I also needed soil to plant flowers and my newly purchased tomato plant in, so we went to Coop. Turned out Coop sell scales too. Surprising.

Very much surprising too when they brought the only one they had left. It was tiny.

I know, I have only 37 in shoe size but still. My friend stood on it, and couldn't keep it steady. Numbers kept on going up and down. We were surprised that it showed about 149, since he's very skinny.

After a brief search I found a button on the back switching between kg's and lbs. Who wants to buy a scale showing pounds in Switzerland?

And no, I still haven't been on it. If it's good news you'll hear about it. Otherwise we shall never speak of it again.

Eggs

I had an egg discussion (!) with a friend the other week, and she has ordered eggs from a farm where the chicken roam more or less free since 20 years, and was very happy with the products, so I decided to do the same. Clarification: she has been a customer since 20 years, and I assume the chicken has roamed outdoors since then too.

Today I got my first delivery of 10 fresh eggs, directly into my postal box outside the house. How convenient is not that? And it's only marginally more expensive than buying in a shop plus I always carry my shopping from the store, balancing the eggs on top in the bag, less convenient.

Now I'm looking forward to taste them, and look into other products they offer.

Onion hacker

Who would have thought that I was ever considering the purchase of an onion hacker? But I am. To be honest I didn't even know such a thing existed until recently.

Turns out that two different kinds are on offer in Migros. One plastic for 13 francs in white, and one for 18 francs in stainless steel. Am going for the second one. It probably won't go in the dishwasher but what the heck (hack). Hacking onions is not a fav, and whatever tool can help me in my cooking is welcome.

How I have changed. Earlier in life my money would've been thrown to more service-like things like restaurants, taxis and drinks, but now, just look at me. Trying to live a healthy life and buying thingies like onion hackers.

I really don't know whether I should be ashamed or proud.

25 baby

25 push-ups without involving any knee-standing! Hard to believe. If I don't watch out I'll be looking like a body-builder soon :). Yeah right, not gonna happen, but I'm proud of myself.

It's amazing what three months can do if you put your mind to it.

Cat found

Found! I finally fell asleep last night, and dreamt about my cat jumping up on the roof. Which is impossible.

I then woke up really early today, having a hunch and voila, there she was sitting outside my bedroom balcony door. How she knew how to find it, I have no clue. She has never been outdoors before.

But she's unharmed, and behaving like normal. And no, I won't restrict their balcony visits.

Let's just hope that they both have learned their lesson. And I'm so happy to have both my cats at home again.

Missing cat

After the ordeal today, I felt a bit weak and decided to go to bed early and have some rest. After brushing my teeth I went to check on the cats as usual and could only find one. One? Then I did a search in all the places they like to hide. Twice. No success.

So I realized that she had perhaps jumped/fallen off the balcony. The other one. So went outside, and called her. No reply. Fortunately my neighbours downstairs were still awake, so rang their door. Searched their terrace and the surroundings, without result.

Sent an email to all the neighbours to keep a look-out. Called a friend who didn't answer. Just wanted to talk to somebody, but at this hour it's difficult. I don't want to disturb people.

At the same time, I'm extremely worried. I go out on the balcony every 5 minutes to see if she's there. I go outside the house to try and find her.

At this moment I don't know what to do. Is she hurt? Is she hiding 'cause of fear? Why doesn't she come when I call her?

Agony.

Sweating

Finally I had to cave in and go to the dentist. He started to test exactly where the pain was by shooting beams of cold into various places, asking if I felt that. To the first one I nodded, to the second one I shook my head, and to the third...I nearly passed out from the pain! Fucketyfuck, cannot remember having such pain ever before!

My body went stiff like a board and I sweated all over the place.

Then started nearly an hour of terror, and even though he gave me an anaesthetic shot, I could still feel it while drilling. I believe he gave me more anaesthetics, but it took a looooong time before I was pain free.

Turns out I had a hole and needed root canal. What a horrific way to start Easter.

And next week I have to go back. Feeling very sorry for myself right now.

Freezing

When I was really young, like in my teens, I was freezing a lot. I was skinny, and lived in a really cold country. Freezing was normal.

These days, and especially since I moved into my thermo-insulated apartment, I have never been cold. Add to that, some hormone-related issues that have been circulating in my body lately, much to my annoyance, and that's given me even more heat, I had forgotten what it was to be cold.

Until today. That felt good. We walked in a park, me barefoot in sandals, as one does when it's sunny, but I didn't realize that the wind was so chilly. It was maybe 13°C and after three hours I was feeling cold. Like freezing.

It made me think how lucky I am to be able to then walk into a friends place, warm and nice, and be served a delicious dinner.

And now I'm back at home where it's also nice and warm. Lucky me!

3 years old today

I remember when I got them, 10 weeks old, and they were so tiny. Today is their birthday. 3 years old. Time flies, and we know each other well now. I know their miaows, they know my behaviour and we have a good life together. My darlings. I can't imagine a life without them.

Muscling in

In a couple of weeks I'm going to Ikea to refill the food I'm missing. And I've seen they have a scale for 29.95. I'm gonna bite the bullet and buy one. Except for doctors visits I haven't been on one since I was in my teens.

But now I really wanna know. Even though I have no clue where I started, I want to start keeping track of where I am weightwise.

And if it shows more than I think, I'm so gonna state the fact that muscle weigh more than fat!

PS. Up to eleven push-ups!

Hallelujah!

I love these kind of clips. First you think, what the heck, how boring can it be. Then he starts to sing, and you think, how is it possible that a man looking as boring as him can sing like that!

After the first verse, when he smiles, you realize that there is more to this man that you first thought! Especially when lifts his eyebrows after the second verse. Such subtle mimic.

I guess the conclusion is you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and let me tell you. This type of behviour in church makes me (almost) wanna go there.

Legs show-off

I did an impulse buy today that I may regret. I bought a carpenter-style jeans dress which is so long it almost covers my buttocks. On the other hand, I have never cared about what people think about my clothing style (probably not much), so why not?

Still have to think about whether I'd wear it outside the house...

Spring in Zürich

Balcony plants, ready to welcome summer.

Strawberries

Talking about strawberries. I bought some yesterday, and there were lots of them. My friend told me I should make marmelade or jam of the rest. So I did.

 

No way I'm telling him that the jar was a gift from a friend!

Absolut delicious

Last week it was time for the mixer to get to work again. Spring time. Strawberries. Drinks! Just fresh strawberries, crushed ice and Absolut vodka.

8 is a start...but not the end

Pat on back, I'm up to making 8 push-ups! Proper ones, not on the knees which I started with. Who knows where it can go from here?

PS. It't not me on the pic, no-way would I wear pea-green shoes!

Toilet paper

If there is one thing you (I) don't wanna run out it, apart from wine and cig obviously, it is toilet paper. Normally I am very organized, and make sure I have all the supplies I need, but today I realized I was almost completely out of toilet paper.

So I just have to hold it in tomorrow morning, run to the store and then I'm fine again.

Just thought I'd share.

Meeting the neighbours

I got a bit bored with the usual tv series I'm watching on youtube, so imagine my delight when I found one of my favs having a show on there called "Jeremy Clarkson meets the neighbours", where he travels around to other countries, finding out if our prejudices are true.

Jeremy used to (or still have?) a car show in England, and I, who judges a car by its colour, even watched that, but what makes me like him is his sense of humour. He's very funny.

Mayo vs Pinot Grigio

I was reading an article about somebody loving mayonnaise so much, that he wanted to be cremated and the ashes put into a mayo can when he dies.

That made me think.

Since I'm into cremation as well, rather than being eaten by worms and whatnot, I should probably be put into a Pinot Grigio bottle.

Just a thought.

5 kg's

Continuing on this losing weight stories, I had to laugh when a male friend of mine claimed that all women say "I just have to lose 5 kg's". He then went on to state all the women he knows repeating the same mantra "I just have to lose 5 kg's". There were a few, including  myself.

He himself is very skinny and do not want a woman who is, "I'd hate for our hip bones to rub against each other". Not entirely sure what he was referring to :).

But no complaints from me. I feel healthier, my blood pressure is back to normal, I fit into my clothes, no heartburn after eating, and I have more energy.

A win-win situation, as the business world would say.

PS. I'm still very doubtful about this bio-food. But I do look out for where the food is produced. Right now I'm buying strawberries from Spain, which is not optimal, but much better than Brazil or Israel. One step at a time.

Smaller but better

I get asked quite often how it is going with the healthier lifestyle and the weight loss. And thanks, it's going quite well.

This week I got positive reinforcement from a friend who normally wouldn't say anything, unless it's negative criticism. He saw me standing in the doorway and said "I can see it's going quite well". And I must admit, that positive confirmation from somebody who doesn't give it often, gives me a good feeling.

However, I've been struggling for a few weeks, feeling that I got to a plateau, and nothing happened. But today, I felt thinner for some reason. And mind you, I'm not a fanatic. If there is chocolate in sight...it's gone. And I eat when I'm hungry, but I have stopped eating when I'm not, and I try to eat healthier options. I cook a lot more and do most things from the beginning, like my own pizza dough and more greens in my food.

But I think the main thing in all this is that I try to change lifestyle, not the crazy-not-eating-anything-at-all-for-weeks kinda diet, but one that I feel I can live with for the rest of my life.

And funny thing is, this power-walking and stepping thingie is not a burden, but something I almost look fw to these days. It gives me energy and I feel so much better afterwards.

And even though a friend said recently that I'm fine like I am just now, I have a feeling I still need to keep going to lose another couple of kilos. Just for me, and then I have to find a scheme that makes me maintain it. It's a challenge I welcome.

PS. I'm two buttons away from the skinny jeans!

Spaghetti x 2

I had a friend over for dinner this evening. He's very easy-going with food (except for that he doesn't eat mushroom), and when I asked him if he had a food wish, he responded "just something light with a salad".

Haha.

I know him. Every time he arrives he's wolf hungry. Today he claimed to be "medium" hungry, and yet he ate two big plates of spaghetti and meatsauce.

But I like it. If people eat lots of what I cook, it's a tribute to my cooking. Or maybe he was just wolfie hungry :).

Cat tax

This morning I got a link sent to me from a friend, saying that from now on we have to pay cat tax. I'm like, isn't it typical ze Swiss? Now we have to pay for everything, and I was already formulating my defence. My cats are indoor cats, they don't catch any birds (except for the odd one that crosses over my balcony, like yesterday, when I found a pile of feathers out there) and so on.

Anyway, I was reading and reading and there was a lot of information from all sorts of organizations. And remember, this was in the morning before I had my coffeine shots.

But after a while, I realized there was too much info, and knowing my friend with two foxes behind each ear (does that work in English?), I stopped the response email I was writing in my head and realized, hey it's 1st of April!

Good for me, who wants to be seen as a dumb blonde?

PS. My Australian friend didn't think it was a joke, down under apparently you pay for having a cat. And she's not a blonde.

April weather all year around

Kids are really predictable. I was out walking today with a friend including a 2-year-old. It was everything from smiling being a charmer, which I like, to screaming ('cause he didn't get to taste the wine...I'm leaving you with that thought), to sitting down refusing to move, and walking at a snails pace (when walking at all). Which I don't like.

But it seems that I have mellowed with age. I no longer care so much. What will be will be kind of.

And as long as I don't have to take the little monster home with me, I'm happy. And it makes me happy that my friend(s) with kids are equally happy.

Isn't it great to live in a democracy where we all can choose what we want?

Disobedience

Today is Tuesday (Dienstag), it was in the afternoon and I believe this car owner has little respect for traffic signs. I really don't know why one couldn't park there, but hey, this is Switzerland and here you follow ze rules. Well, except for this one then.

Fake info

I thought this sign was really funny. Saw it outside a house with a cat sitting on the wall!

A walk in the park

Took a walk yesterday, and really, now is the most beautiful time of the year flowerwise.