Incoherent Scribblings

Making Minutes Count

As most of you may or may not know, I am currently a housewife. For the past two years this has been a very comfortable lifestyle for me and I have taken the opportunity to immerse myself in my stitching.

I have been able to track the time I spend on my projects by hours, not minutes, because up until this week when I sat down to stitch it would be for at least an hour at a time and could easily stretch into three or four. In fact, one more than one occasion I have literally spent the entire day stitching because I had nothing else to do that demanded my attention. On those occasions I found it tremendously satisfying to see how much progress I would make on a project in such a concentrated amount of time.

But times change: This week I started down a path that will in the coming three to four years transform my stitching time from something that I do to pass the day into a precious moments that will allow me to temporarily escape from my hectic schedule. However, at the moment I am a little perplexed on how to integrate my stitching into such a demanding schedule.

And though this is not technically this week’s SBQ (I have one already ready for tomorrow) I am actively soliciting the advice of my readers by asking how you manage your stitching time with your other obligations.

It isn’t that I don’t have other obligations: I do. However, at present the majority of my stitching is done during the day when hubby isn’t home so I don’t really feel that I am trying to juggle my stitching time with our time together.

Be that as it may, I know that most of you have far more obligations than I currently do; such as going to school, working, or raising families. Therefore you are required to balance your stitching time with your numerous other responsibilities and I just wonder how do you do it? If you stitch during “spare minutes” (like work breaks) how do you maximize your stitching time?

Because I am used to taking my time when I sit down to stitch, even if I have the project that I am working on kitted up and “ready to go” it seems like it sometimes takes me 10 or 15 minutes to settle down enough to get that first stitch into the fabric. Once I am settled I can do at least 25 full cross stitches in that amount of time, so how do I add those 25 valuable stitches to my project in this time rather than fondling my floss or searching for my needle? How can I make these minutes count?

No matter how crazy my schedule becomes, I am adamant that I will not give up my stitching or put it aside for an indefinite amount of time, so I want to get things under control before they get out of control!

The First Day of School

So, I am sure you are dying to know how my first day of language school went.

Well, aside from the fact that I had to get up at ugly-thirty this morning (Thanks for the expression Cathy!) and my teacher has a moustache (which wouldn’t be a big deal if my teacher weren’t a woman) it was much like the first day of school anywhere. The first half of class was full of “getting-to-know-you” chit chat, we started our first lesson, we got some homework, and then the morning was over.

So far I have four other classmates and they all seem pleasant. It is always good to have nice people as your classmates but I am afraid they might not make for very interesting blog material. (Though there is one guy that sure had a lot of energy for it being so early on a Monday morning…) My teacher seems competent and is friendly enough that after half and hour or so I barely noticed her moustache anymore.

As I said, in the second half of the class we dove right in and did some work: reading comprehension to be precise and today’s subject was one that is near and dear to my heart. It is a topic that I have written about at length (though not auf Deutsch) and that topic was… DENGLISH! Yep, on my first day of German class we talked about English (although we did talk about it in German)… go figure.

I found our discussion of Denglish to be quite intriguing because I have (obviously) always looked at Denglish from the point of view of a native English speaker. However, since the other students in my class are not native English speakers, they can easily identify with issues surrounding the integration of Anglicisms into German.

Most recognize that English terminology has a place in business and media worldwide because of its status as an international language. For many young people the English language is a symbol of being stylish and cool. However, that isn’t all. Some see the penetration of English into their languages as corrupting their speech, culture and way of life.

I think that all of these attitudes are worth recognizing, but whether the permeation of English into other languages is a good thing or not is, in my opinion, not really the issue. If one has studied the evolution of languages one knows that it is natural for the leading language of the day to influence other languages.

So anyway, how do I feel about English words in German? Honestly I have mixed feelings. When it is used correctly it makes me feel a little closer to home. But when it is used incorrectly or differently it drives me crazy… Like I don’t have enough to learn trying to figure out German and now I am supposed to learn Denglish too?!

However, whether used properly or improperly, here in Germany I always take (D)English with a grain of salt and a grin on my face.

Now, if I could just say that in German…

Weekend Crumbs

Wow! Has it really been a week since I last posted?! Egads! Oh well, I have an excuse… I have been busy!

On Monday I start language school classes again; this time with the intention of taking (and passing) the German as a Foreign Language Test (from here on referred to as TestDaF) so that I can go back to the university next fall. I am sure that 5 hours a day 5 days a week from now until April (when I plan on taking the TestDaF) will not only allow me to pass the damned test, but will make for interesting blogging material as well, so please stay tuned!

While you are sitting on pins and needles waiting for my first language class story though, I will entertain you with this week’s Friday Feast:

Appetizer: Do you get excited when the season begins to change? It depends on which season it is getting ready to change into. If it is like now and getting ready to turn into autumn… not so much. As a general rule, autumn isn’t too bad of a season: I do like the smell of crisp fall air and after a hot summer, cool autumn weather is nice. However, I don’t like it that the days are noticeably so much shorter and since winter (my absolutely least favorite season) inevitability follows, I just can’t get all that excited about autumn.

Which season do you most look forward to? No question about it, my favorite season is spring and it is the one that I look forward to the most. When I was a kid, I looked forward to spring because the school year was almost over and because my birthday is in the spring.

Though I still enjoy having a spring birthday, I look at spring a little differently now. The way everything comes back to life in the spring makes me feel renewed. I love it when I see the first buds on the trees outside my bedroom window and the first litter of kittens tottering around the neighbor’s yard. Then when I realize that the days are getting longer, I just can’t help but feel better all over.

Soup: What day of the week is usually your busiest? Right now I would say Wednesday because that is the day that I do my grocery shopping. However, since I am starting school next week, the answer to this question is subject to change.

Salad: Would you consider yourself to be strict when it comes to grammar and spelling? In written English, yes: I can be quite a Grammar-Nazi. I remember when I was in high school, my then-boyfriend (who lived in a different town) was sweet enough to write me a letter every week. His intentions were adorable, but his grammar was so ugly that it made me cringe in horror!

I wish I could be stricter when it comes to spelling, but since I am a horrible speller, that would just be hypocritical, now wouldn’t it? However, I am picky enough about it that I always run my blog posts through the spell-checker before they are published.

I hope that in the next few months I will become stricter in my grammar and spelling when it comes to German. Over the last couple of years I haven’t done much in the way of practicing proper German grammar and it was quite apparent on the placement exam that I took the other day! (I must admit I was pleasantly surprised with how much I had retained after two years but… will I always have trouble with the dative vs. accusative!?)

What’s an example of the worst error you’ve seen? I am not sure if it is the worst, but that one that bothers me the most is when people say or write anyways. There is no such word as anyways! It is anyway… NO “S!”

Main Course: Who has a birthday coming up, and what will you give them as a gift? I can’t think of any September birthdays right off the top of my head, but October is a busy birthday month for me.

A.’s birthday is October 10, Dawn’s oldest daughter’s is October 16, and my baby sister’s is October 20. Dawn’s daughter and my sister will probably only get cards (though if I am ambitious I might stitch the cards) and as of right now I have no idea what to get A. He always claims his birthday is no big deal and that he doesn’t want a present, but I usually try to get him a little something anyway.

Dessert: If you could have any new piece of clothing for free, what would you pick? If you have read any of my past dilemmas concerning underwear in this country you would know that I would choose a bra and panty set where the bra was not only in my size but also “cute” and the panties didn’t go up my ass!

My First Ornament

Yesterday I decided what to stitch for my Halloween exchange, but before I start it I decided that I should probably think about how to finish it in case extra fabric was needed for finishing. I have not yet decided what to finish my Halloween exchange as, but one thing that I had thought about was as an ornament.

Of course, since I had never made an ornament before I thought I should look through my WTF pieces (that isn’t what you think… it means “Waiting To be Finished” ;)) for something to use as an “ornament guinea pig.” I found my candidate in a small piece that I stitched in April of 2004 that I call “Baskat.”

Using Karen V.’s instructions for finishing a piece using a whipped backstitching edge, I spent this afternoon making “Baskat” into an ornament. The whipped backstitch edging method itself is quite easy; however, since I am a sew-sew seamstress at best (ha ha) it took me all afternoon to whip it up.

I suspected my biggest challenge would come in the second step when I had to backstitch a border the same size as the border around the front piece on the back piece, and I was correct. I carefully counted the backstitches on the front piece’s border twice, but somehow I still managed to get off by two stitches on the back piece! I don’t know why this sort of thing happens to me, but it almost always does… sometimes I am surprised that I can do counted cross stitch at all!

Once I got that all straightened out though the ornament went together smoothly (albeit a little bit slowly) and I found it quite fun to make. I am not yet sure if I will finish my Halloween exchange into an ornament, but I can definitely see myself making more ornaments in the future!

Fabric Care

This week’s SBQ was suggested by Dawn and is:

How often do you wash your fabric for each project? Do you wait until the very end until to wash it or do you wash it more than once?

Ha, ha! This question is especially appropriate for me (and my chocolately fingers) this week… (see last night’s entry)

Normally I don’t wash my fabric until the end of a project unless something happens that makes it necessary for me to wash it beforehand. When I wash my projects I always hand-wash them in lukewarm water using dish soap, roll them up in a towel to extract some of the water, and then iron them (right side down) until they are dry. I have never washed stitching in the washing machine. Someday I would like to stitch something on a sweatshirt, but I am reluctant to do so because I don’t know how well the stitching could handle the regular washing.