So, I'm still busy, busy.... and more...

At the moment I don't have time to blog, and what time I spend online I try to read a few of you. But I know I'm missing some, and I'm no longer the "comment whore" I used to be. I always felt guilty when I visited someone's journal, back in the JS days, and didn't at least say hi.... it was like visiting someone and not bringing a small token along (it's traditional in Germany that, when visiting non-family members, you bring flowers for the hostess and a bottle of wine for the host).

But my busy schedule has received a few new "jobs". I'm not even sure now what I've already written.

On Friday, a holiday, I will stop by my daughter's new apartment to help her paint the walls. Yep, I haven't mentioned it openly here because too many family read here, but she is moving out with the kids, leaving her husband. So on top of some what I've already been writing, there has been this emotional strain going on. She knows she has my support, and I'll help her where I can.

This coming Sunday is Priyasha's baptism. My ex-mother-in-law wants to attend but needs someone to pick her up. So, on Friday afternoon I'll drive the 3.5 hours to her home, spend the night there, then drive with her back here on Saturday. Yes, I get along with my ex-MIL.... and I'm the one person in this family who is considered the best driver... even on the German autobahns!

She will then spend the night at my place until Monday. I finally got the closet all set up, with Wheelie's help, but it's not completely filled the way I want it.... I had to improvise until I got a couple of new boards for shelves. Those boards are now sitting here, unpacked.

I picked them up on Monday, after babysitting Shiana and Priyasha, but started to develope a bad cold or whatever. My temp went up to about 102°F and I spent the rest of Monday, and most of Tuesday (temp was back to normal, but I needed to regenerate), in bed. My apartment is a mess and no time to clean it! Today I did go back to work because a VERY important meeting was taking place. Then tonight dance classe, tomorrow telephone duty, then the other dance class... then..see above.

So, I am kind of burned out at the moment. I am losing interest in blogging, in reading some blogs, in the internet, in everything. No word yet on the new job, and my present one is still frustrating (the meeting today proved again how right I was about some things, but do you think anyone realises it? nooooo).

Anyway, don't expect me around as much. Maybe after the baptism I'll have some more kiddy pictures to share. I do still have some new Germany photos I have wanted to share, but just haven't gotten to it.

And the JS t-shirt will finally get sent off this weekend.... I HOPE!

Dorrie

The FUN part of "busy, busy"...

The fun part of my busy stuff was of course the babysitting while mommy Regina had to work. Tamara and Emely were very good!

The weather was great so, instead of taking the car into town, we walked.... I think it was at least 2 km.

We passed by this weeping willow tree which I once planted YEARS ago... it's located just behind the house I once lived in with my ex.

As a reward to the girls, we stopped at the local ice cream parlor for a treat. Emely ran into one of her friends....

Tamara, as always, is our little dreamer...

On our way home we stopped by mommy's office...

We went home together, then I left to go off on the business trip. It went well, as usual, but boy was I tried by the time I got home!

And tomorrow morning I babysit Shiana and Priyasha.... oh the joys of being a grandma...

Dorrie

Another busy, busy entry *sigh*

The days just seem to be none stop at the moment. I'm presently using my daughter, Regina's, computer... I spent the night here since I "have" to babysit this morning anyway.

And last night I could combine it with visiting the local flying club, where I once learned to fly. They were having a special evening, celebrating the end of a week of glider aerobatic training, and celebrating the 5 pilots who passed their exam. I met an old aquaintance there and we were able to exchange some fun flying stories.

When Regina comes home from work, around noon, I'll then leave, pick up a duty car (Sammi, what other word then "duty can I use? The word "business" just doesn't seem right lol), and drive off to a glider field located about an hour away.... and maybe visit one or the other airfield as well.

Then home I go and hopefully it won't be too late... I'd like to put my junk in my new closet finally.... with Wheelie's help, it is finally all set up. It took a whole week since we were both so busy. *sigh*

Tomorrow around noon a go off on a work trip again! But that'll be short and I can hopefully visit the line dance class afterwards.

Monday I took a vacation day so I can babysit Shiana and Priyasha in the morning, the afternoon should be FREE!

Tuesday afternoon, once again a work field trip. Wednesday an important meeting. Thursday? hmmm telephone duty, but I think there was something else, too. Oh, dance class!

Friday is a holiday! May 1st is always a day off.... and I always think of the scene in the movie "Camelot" with Guenivere (sp), when she meets Lancelot for the first time. I think I've watched that movie at least 20+ times.

Anyway, as you can tell, I will not have much time for posting or reading journals.... am I forgiven?

The kids are up and watching cartoons (yes, German tv also has cartoons on Saturday morning).

I need my coffee....

Dorrie

Busy, busy, busy.....

so what else is new?

Here's a quick note before I rush off to work, for another busy day. This whole week has been filled with work stuff. The weather has been fantastic with temps reaching record highs for April.... it's almost scary.

Anyway, I did want to share with all of you a few pics of the birthday party last Sunday. Since my dance classes begin again tonight, I won't have much time for posting (or reading *snif*) in the next days.

Shiana with mom and dad cutting the cake, this time not Sponge Bob motive but Strawberry Shortcake motive.

The kids really loved the inflatable hopping castle... as you can tell by their expressions...

My son set up a cool tent and as you can see, there were lots of kiddies and parents and they all had a good time.

The JS T-Shirt will be delayed before I send it off on it's next adventure. After contacting Sunny, I have received her permission that we can all sign the shirt... that should make it even more special! I will include a note with the addresses of those interested in being a part, at least those addresses I already have (Itiswell... pm me!). It's awkward that blogger doesn't have a pm system, but we still have my forum or KCL.

Remember how we got all upset and bashed the owners of JS when it got slowed or crashed and some of you couldn't understand how a server could just die like it did? Well, if you thought it only happened to small, mediocre sites.... yesterday, ALL of t-mobile crashed, nationwide here in Germany and neighboring countries! For a number of hours, no cell phones worked, and soon the hot line got overloaded and their homepage crashed. Forty million customers unable to telephone! Some thought it was their cell, like Wheelie did, before it reached the news on tv. THAT was a biggy crash!

Oooops, I better get ready for work. Please don't worry if I don't read you but, as mentioned, I'm busy, busy, busy....

Dorrie

More JS T-Shirt fun

Ah, Sunny, the T-Shirt has not yet continued it's travels.....I've got some "surprises" going on in my head and one of them I'll have to pm you about.

But one surprise is the following. As you know, I wasn't the only JS member around these parts.... Hah! Don't forget Wheelie and RFMadPad!!

The other surprise might take a little time... we shall see. *wink*

Dorrie

The JS T-Shirt ... around the world

One of the former JS's most popular people, Sunny, had a great idea. She had ordered at one time a Journalspace T-Shirt and now, with JS gone, what to do with it? Let it travel! She decided to let it travel the world to former JS's!

This is Sunny, before sending it off....

I am priviledged to be the first recipient.... and it arrived here safe and sound.

Now it is my job to send it off to some other original journalspacer, after I get to keep it for a few days. I have decided next stop will be to Wizardress!

She will then decide the next destination. If any of you wish to take part, and you need to pass on your address, then I suggest you pm it to me at my JS Fun Forum (yes, it still exists!).

OK, that's all for now.... hopefully we will have nice weather for party tomorrow!

Dorrie

So, what's been going on?

Not much actually, depending on how you see things.

On Tuesday Wheelie and I picked up the parts of my new closet... no, not IKEA this time but also do-it-yourself stuff. We carried the parts, some quite heavy, into the stairwell of my building, and pressed the button for the elevator. While Wheelie went to move his car, I put two small pieces in the elevator, pressed 8, and went up.... and got stuck! aaarrgggghhh Yep, on the 8th floor it stopped, but the door only opened half way and it was a bit higher then the floor. I was able to escape with the pieces, opened my apartment, then cell phoned Wheelie to ring the door of the landlord... who wasn't home. I went back into the elevator and pressed the emergency button. Within some seconds they replied and said they'd be sending someone over.

Well, no way were we going to carry all the parts up 8 floors, so we left it all in the stair well and waited to see what would happen. The elevator guy arrived, tried to repair it but to no avail. We then moved my stuff to the cellar so it would be in the way.

Yesterday, Wednesay, they got the elevator working again. I called my son to help me carry the parts from the cellar into the elevator und into my apartment... phew, at least that is done.

Oh, as a side note, yesterday was Wheelie's birthday!

No dancing this week because it's still Easter vacation. Today all my co-workers at my work place are going on a hike after work and then we're going out to eat together... it may be fun.

The weather has been just amazing!! But today the first showers may come. Well, nature needs it... it has been much to dry.

Oooops, it's getting late... I have to get ready for work! I'm still in my PJ's!

Dorrie

Yes, I had a Happy Easter!

Yesterday morning I drove off to my daughter's place, picking up breakfast rolls on the way. We then all had breakfast together before Frank hid stuff in the backyard for the girls to search.... and they went crazy running around the yard, finding MUCH too much chocolate eggs and bunny's and such....

Did I mention they got much too much? lol

The weather was fantastic.... spring has been skipped, we are already having summer! So, after dinner (which is at noon here), we remained the rest of the day in the yard. Frank and I set up some portable tents, which the girls claimed as their playhouse while it was half built...

As you can see, they had already removed their "dress" clothes and decided to conquer a dirt mountain... with the expected dirty results...

Later on, my son Carsten arrived with his family, including his MIL and Karen's nephew from India, who had just arrived the day before...

and I got to "play" grandma again!

My bunny cake turned out a big hit and the whole day turned out to be fun.

Today, which is also a holiday (Easter Monday), I spent perparing my guest room for installing a new closet... remember, you buy and install them yourself, they are NOT built in! That has the advantage, that you can re-arrange the furniture, including closets, as you wish. I also did some music recording for my dance class AND read a book! Multi-tasking at it's finest!

I've read that a number of my readers had a really lousy Easter weekend.

I wish you all could have joined us.....

Dorrie

oooops and THE CAKE!

In case you are unable to see any photos in the previous entries, it seems that my server, where I store my photos, is down. Well, actually, it's Wheelie's server and I have space on it for my homepage.

The address is www.dorrie.de and it's full of pictures and information about me and my family. Since Wheelie is off on a biker tour with some buddies, it may be a while until he checks it out. Yeh, he's off on his Harley, without me! And with PERFECT weather!!

It's summer here and that is sooooo unusual for April! Crazy! But I like it! LOL

I went downtown today and ended up buying new shoes.... I need shoes like a hole in my head! geeez but they were marked down 20%! hah!

Tomorrow morning I'll drive to Regina's and in the afternoon Carsten will join us with his family. And the weather is supposed to stay nice! (sorry, no smilies... they are also on the server).

Well, I better get my Easter Bunny cake finished. It's already baked, but not yet decorated. I'll do it while watching our version of American Idle......

Happy Easter everyone!!

Dorrie

The CAKE!

I uploaded it to photobucket since my server is definitely down... broken hard drive... hmmm, sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Promised baby pictures....

Sure, some of you aren't big baby picture fans... tough! I'm posting them anyway!

Yes, Justfly, Shiana did turn TWO! I know it's hard to believe. It seems "Spunge Bob", or whatever it's called, is the big hit at the moment, so a cake was decorated to fit...

Of course Regina was there with her girls... here she's holding Priyasha while her Emely comes to give love...

and Tamara changing shoes for going outside....

Yep, even Priyasha is getting to be a big girl... she's "only" 2 months old, but already wide awake and curious!

Today was a beautiful day, weather wise. I spent quite some time just sitting on the balcony. I also got some of my recording done.

This evening Regina stopped by and we sat outside, having some nice mother-daughter chatting. She also came to pick up my bicycle, which I haven't ridden in years, because her girls are starting to ride and she needs one to keep up. I've been wanting to ride again, but......

Tomorrow I'll try to bake my traditional bunny cake, and on Sunday I'll be visiting Regina and her gang for Easter.

Once again, wishing all my faithful readers a Happy Easter!

Dorrie

Spring has exploded!

Yes, spring has arrived and the plant world has exploded in a mass of color! No, I haven't taken many pictures, but I did want to share with you the following...

This was taken last winter from my car on my way to work. It's a collection of bushes within the traffic circle and, what you can't really tell in the picture, they were white with frost....

And yesterday it looked like this....

In the past days I was pretty busy, though that's nothing new. My office was renovated and all the furniture piled up in the corridor. Tuesday I could finally move it in.

Yesterday was Shiana's SECOND birthday! Of course I took photos and will share them soon... I haven't had time to upload them yet (see, I said I was busy! lol)

Today is the usual long office day, then 4 days off for Easter! Tomorrow, Good Friday, is a holiday as well as Monday, which is called Easter Monday and is also an official holiday.

Well, I better get ready for my busy day. No news yet about my job application *sigh*. The "Jerk" is now retired and gone, but the other co-worker is an arrogant idjit and he'll be around awhile, unless he gets transfered. Sometimes I wonder if the reason he came to us in the first place was because in his former position they wanted to get rid of him LOL... anything is possible!

*think positive, think positive.... *

OK, off I go... and

Dorrie

Frankfurt Impressions

After my meeting yesterday I wanted to take advantage of the fantastic spring weather so, with camera ready, I walked toward the main downtown area. On the way I ran into a few "dubious" characters like this guy....

The contrast of old and new is always fascinating...

But my main aim was the new shopping mall called "My Zeil". Yes, more and more English is being adopted, much to the disgruntlement of many Germans and I must admit, I have to agree with them. "Zeil", pronounced "sile" (think for German, "when 2 vowels go walking, the SECOND does the talking"), is the name of the walking street where the mall is located.

The architecture is VERY futuristic. The shops inside didn't interest me at all... nothing special there. I don't expect the place to be a hit in the long run. Anyway, while going up and down the escalators, I had to think of Doug and how he'd go crazy finding photo motives there. Inspired from his style, I attempted a few myself and I think they turned out pretty well... if I do say so myself.

Notice the spire of the cathedral showing through the lower right corner of the window?

Another view...

Looking down the middle ....

I then hopped on the train for home... I had started rearranging my bedroom and I needed to finish before leaving for dance class.

Today the weather is again fantastic and I think I'll give my balcony a much needed wash down!

Dorrie

Vacation? well.....

As I've mentioned in an earlier entry, my office is being renovated. The past couple of days were spent clearing stuff out, between doing work. The guys in the room next door also had to remove their stuff. Yesterday the janitor came by and removed the desks into the hall way, blocking it! There better not be an emergency evacuation or anything in the next days..... (side note: I work in a government authority that, among other things, makes sure that companies abide by security and rescue regs... )

Yesterday I set up my computer in an empty office across the hall... it is only empty because the gal who is supposed to use it, can't. During her renovation they used some kind of chemical that makes her choke up and get a scratchy throat. Well, for the one day I offered to be a guniea pig and see how it affects me. It does smell odd in there, but I survived... I think. My slight head ache and moodiness was more due to the stress that went on and not the chemicals. The room is going to be tested soon since she must move in there soon! We don't have extra rooms available and SHE is using the desk of a gal who happens to be sick at the moment. Crazy, right?

Anyway, because of the situation, I put in for two days of vacation, today and tomorrow. I had hoped to visit that big avaiation convention in southern Germany, but that won't happen...all hotels are booked solid!

But it turns out, I have to go to a meet in Frankfurt today. Yep, I HAVE to go! It's a safety issue involving a helicopter that is planning to heave some heavy air conditioning units to the top of a skyscraper soon and was a short-notice meeting with all involved. Anyway, I'll take the train into Frankfurt, and my boss will make sure I get the time compensated for. But it sure spoils all my plans. I'll catch the train around 09:00 a.m. and be in town until around 1:00 p.m., breaking up the whole day. Then later this afternoon the usual dance class...

Well, this is surely not getting anything constructive done. At least the weather is great... SPRING IS HERE! The sun is shining and the temps are getting up to almost 20°C (68°F).

MAYBE I'll manage to get some nice pictures to share.....

Dorrie

No Fool! and NO JOKE!

This time a birthday wish is right on time!!

Happy Birthday DAD!

He may have been born on April Fool's Day, but this guy is no fool and you don't joke around with him!

Take Care!

Dorrie

P.S. in the former JS site he was known as "Boatswain3" and thrilled us with some great stories of his life at sea. Anyone wishing to read them, just go here. One of these days I'll re-organise them and make them easier to find.