Very Superstitious

Friend A warned me to keep my laundry up on the laundry line over new years eve. It is said to bring ill luck. But what if the weekend is the time when do our laundry? That's what we do. Now I am not so sure ...

Any superstitious bloggers around here? Any experiences with ill luck laundry?

Superstitious men would never want a woman on board of their ship. Be warned! I will step on your boat one day. Until then, I am getting ready to fit in your codes. Unfortunately, those dresscoce-guidelines I posted below, are not available in english, since all search engines lead straight to the german website.

Garderobe an Bord
Die Atmosphäre an Bord der Cunard Schiffe ist tagsüber im Allgemeinen leger. Kurze Hosen oder Badebekleidung sind jedoch in den Hauptrestaurants an Bord zu keiner Zeit erwünscht. Legere Bekleidung ist stets im Kings Court Restaurant der QUEEN MARY 2 und im Lido Restaurant der QUEEN VICTORIA und QUEEN ELIZABETH willkommen. Höhepunkte der Kreuzfahrten mit Cunard sind die glanzvollen Abendveranstaltungen an Bord. Um die besonders elegante Atmosphäre der abendlichen Dinner zu unterstreichen, bitten wir Sie, sich zu diesen Anlässen wie für den Besuch eines exklusiven Restaurants zu kleiden.

Für die Abendgarderobe gelten folgende Definitionen:

Formal (formell): Smoking oder alternativ dunkler Anzug für die Herren. Abendkleid oder andere formelle Kleidung für die Damen. Das Ausleihen von formeller Kleidung für Herren ist an Bord möglich.

Semi-formal (semi-formell): Jackett und Krawatte für die Herren; Cocktailkleid, Kostüm oder Hosenanzug für die Damen. Jeans sind nicht erwünscht.

Elegant casual (elegant leger): Für die Herren Jackett ohne Krawatte. Für die Damen Rock oder Hose mit Pullover oder Bluse. Jeans oder Shorts sind nicht erwünscht.

Auf Kreuzfahrten ist die Kleiderempfehlung im Allgemeinen an Seetagen formell, semi-formell oder elegant leger und an Tagen, an denen das Schiff im Hafen liegt, semi-formell bzw. elegant leger. Details erhalten Sie mit Ihren Reiseunterlagen. Die Garderobenvorschläge stehen im Tagesprogramm der Schiffe und sind während des ganzen Abends ab 18.00 Uhr gültig.

Beispiele für Garderobenempfehlungen:

Kreuzfahrten
Erste und letzte Nacht an Bord: elegant leger
Seetage (max. drei pro Woche): formell
Hafentage (mit Abfahrt vor 18 Uhr): semi-formell
Hafentage (mit Abfahrt nach 18 Uhr oder über Nacht): elegant leger

QUEEN MARY 2 Transatlantik-Passagen
Erste und letzte Nacht an Bord: elegant leger
Drei Seetage: formell
Weitere Seetage: semi-formell

I love it, when manners turn into science!

Now I need to get my clothes into the washing machine, there might be a chance I can take the dry washed clothes off the laundry line by tomorrow evening. Keeping my fingers crossed. In German we say "Glück im Spiel, Pech in der Liebe" - Lucky in cards, unlucky in love. I hope this does not apply, since I was lucky and won a prize at déjá pseu's 10 Days Of Chrismukkah.

My brush can use some cleansing

Enough with all the superstition. I leave you while looking forward to eating a fish, starting from the tail, tomorrow around midnight.

Those Days Inbetween

Hello!

I had to laugh, when I opened amazon.de, searching for Downton Abbey's Season 1, because this is how amazon welcomes me these days: Yay, the drill hammer! I did it, I went to the DIY store and left with a green box and a set of drills.

4 days after Christmas and Mr Paula still has not figured out the differences between a drill hammer, a drilling machine and a percussion drill. Maybe he never will. And he was definitely NOT overly excited about the gift (I was with my family and he with his, when he opened his gift Dec 24). But I can assure you I was excited no end and quizzed him the next day.
The gift I received was at least as exciting: a spyderco sharpening tool for knives. Something I have been thinking about for years.

Yesterday Mr Paula's mum and sister and I had the best time in the kitchen, sharpening Zwilling and Wüsthof knives. I will post photos. Mr Paula's mother had the best time holding the paper while I cut it after we had sharpened the knives. Everytime she laughed out, when the knife cut the thick paper like butter. sssssssp. ssssssssp. sssssssssp.

I took 2 days off from work and transformed the rather short Christmas weekend into a Christmas holiday. Lucky me I can take 2 days off. The excitement does not stop there. I am overall excited! 2011 was a staycation year and 2012 has not even begun and I already have a hotel room booked for 2012. The main ingredients for the short trip are of best quality only:
All you need is a 40th birthday, your sister and Hamburg in late spring. You can be sure, I sit here smiling while just thinking about this trip. As you might have noticed in the past: my sister and I aren't exactly close. I guess she was right, taking me on a get-away for my 40th birthday. It has been decades since we shared a bed. It's about time!
And as if this was not enough excitement already, I am going to watch almond blossoms in early spring in Sicily, together with Friend B. I can assure you, I am this close to booking a cabin on Queen Mary. If not Miss Cellany reassured me, 40 is not the best age for joining golden agers on a cruise.

I changed the blog's design to a "inbetween-days"-layout. A soft yellow seems to suit this time of the year. Our cleaning lady will visit us tomorrow and I am not sure if I should keep the Christmas decoration or clear the shelves and surfaces. I feel straight foreward, Carneval season to come soon! With lots of traditions you are probably not familiar with. Krapfen, Bälle and Fasching.

Almost there

Hello!

December 22 and the gifts are already wrapped. Or should I say bagged? Because we changed to bags, paper bags and they go around. Last year I received gifts in those bags and this year I pass them on.
The brown creature in the back is not a mole but Mr Paula, fast asleep. I want to sleep soon, too!
But there is so much to see, lets take the investor's party that took place yesterday evening. The first new neighbours! At least for one night.
The architect was present. His car is a mobile billboard, it is covered with ads which promote the lofts on sale. I guess they did not sell all lofts yet. I can not blame the buyers for being hesitant - just thinking of the prosecutors who search the offices and files of former investores, prosecuting possible fraud. Big fraud. Massive fraud. The case already reached Liechtenstein. But that's a whole other story. I promise, the moment "real neighbours" move in, I will quit taking those nosey photos.
I took the day tomorrow tomorrow off from work, there are still some gifts left, that need my full dedication. To begin with the photo-safari my younger niece will get from me. During past birthday-family-meetings I noticed how she loves to sneak around with the point and shoot camera and take photos from every possible angle.

A photo safari seem to be the logical consequence as a Christmas gift for her. I have tomorrow to figure out which places we will visit during the day, what the mission at each location will be (a riddle that has to be solved and the photo will prove that we solved the riddle). I will join her and we will text Mr Paula at every station of the safari/marathon as soon as we solved the riddle. Mr Paula in return will send us the following riddle. And on we move.
I will have to include some stations that come with cake, hot chocolate, flowers or pizza. :-)
We don't want to starve.

And then there is this new, almost impossible idea: a gift for Mr Paula. He refused to accept any gift. But I know he needs to install lots of lamps and other stuff and we need to install the curtain rod in the living room. And that the walls that surround us are really tough to get in to. Tool time! te heh. I guess a year where I reward myself with a kitchen processor might be the right year to reward the man in the house with a decent tool. It should cut down the cursing to a minimum. Before I visit the DIY store, I should come clear with terms like drill hammer (Bohrhammer), percussion drill (Schlagbohrer) and a drilling machine (Bohrmaschine). Latest research showed, a drill hammer is what we need and percussion drills don't work very well when they hit concrete walls.

METABO - a brand which is new to me. A few hours ago I still lived in a BOSCH world. But then came METABO, on top of the google page ranks and converted me from camouflage-green BOSCH to timeless outdated petrol-blue. Not that the colours would influence my decision of course. I guess I will have to take what's left December 23.

The curtain with the stars decorates radio station's Christmas party year after year.