Trippstadt "Hike"

About a month or so ago, Todd and I were fortunate enough to be invited to go hiking with our neighbors Freddy, Beate, and their son.  (Really they saved us from a pointless trip to the BX.)  So we all loaded up in Freddy's wagon and headed to Trippstadt.  For those of you who don't know or haven't seen the pictures we were lucky enough to find a house surrounded by the woods (German word = Wald pronounced with a "V").  Trippstadt is only about 10 or 11 km away and it has a pleothora of hiking trails.  Now back to the story ...

The hike we did started at one place and ended at another.  Freddy & family had already planned to do the hike with another family, so we actually go to meet some new people!   After the cars were put in place we were off!  The hike overall was pretty much a leisurely walk without any difficulty.  Todd and I cherished the opportunity to meet, talk with, and hopefully make friends with more germans living in a little tow.  We didn't really see too much on this hike, but we did see an old cave that I think was used as a burial site of some sort (Todd disagrees) and some swans (with their wings clipped) that were swimming with giant goldfish.

We finally reached what I consider to be the best part of the "hike" - this tiny little run down shack.  This happens to be a pretty happening place considering its in the middle of the woods and its a tiny run down shack not to mention it was also a Sunday.   Turns out this place has a small trout farm.  After Freddy's recommendation Todd and I both get our very own fish to eat.   Now I know what you are thinking ... geez, I hope this doesn't turn out to be like their fish eating adventure in Luxembourg!!  Well, this was in fact way different, and way better!!   If you want you can pick out your own trout, then its seasoned with paprika, and wrapped in aluminum foil (whole).  After about 15 minutes on top of an open fire pit/grill thing the fish is served .... whole (skin and all) with a basket of bread to share.  I will be the first to admit that even though I LOVE to eat fish, I don't really like to touch it.   Needless to say I had a difficult time skinning the little booger without touching it.   But, after some help skinning and de-boning (is that a word?) from many different people I ate the fish with great pleasure!  It was without a doubt the best fish I've had since moving to Germany.  Even just using the paprika as seasoning was awesome!

After lunch we continued our "hike".   Shortly after starting back on the trail Freddy said he needed to lighten his pack.  He then proceeded to pull out 3 beers and a full bottle of wine.   It was at this point I realized this wasn't going to be much in the way of exercise!

Betina, Beate, and I 

We eventually got to the end of the "hike" only to be at a restaurant.   Todd and I both caved to peer pressure and ordered more food we everyone else.

I can say for a fact I've never eaten more calories on a hike than I've burned until now.  But, it was an awesome day and it taught us to always say "yes" to Freddy!

RFQG

I recently found and joined the Rhineland Pfalz Quilt Guid (RFQG).  This pretty much was a result of my mom telling me to do so.  My mom is a member of the Quilt Guild in her area, so she thought it would be a good idea for me to join if possible.  Since I've joined I'm hoping that I don't have to call and harass my mom so much over the phone when I hit a problem during new projects.

Anyways, so I joined the Quilt Guild and at my first meeting (and only meeting to date) I decided to jump in and get my feet wet.  They do a couple of quilting service projects throughout the year - 2 of them being Baby Love and Quilts of Valor.   Baby Love is making baby quilts for babies that have been admitted into the NICU at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC).  Quilts of Valor is making quilts for wounded soldiers who have also been admitted to LRMC.   I volunteered to do a Baby Love Quilt.  The good thing is that all the fabric is provided and pre-cut.  All I had to do was piece the fabric together and quilt it.  The pattern I did was a tumbler pattern.  I don't think I'll ever do this again.  Most of its my fault for not reading the directions all the way through before I started piecing.  Don't get me wrong its still turned out great, but I think I made it take way longer than necessary.  The other thing I didn't like about this pattern is that I felt like there were about a million tumblers that had to be sewn altogether.  Holy crap!  It felt like took FOREVER!   I guess I really shouldn't be complaining since I didn't have to do any of the cutting or buy the fabric.  And besides, it really is for a very good cause.  So here's the final project (minus the label I still haven't stitched on yet).

Stress Relief

Lately I haven't been doing much of anything besides work.  After a full day of chasing 1 year olds around I'm about beat.  I've come to learn that all my sewing project have become a nice stress reliever.   That's not to say that sometimes I don't get frustrated with my sewing machine and want to chuck it out the window ... espeically when the thread comes out of the needle eye for about the 100th time.   With Todd being gone more frequently now (planned or not) I've gotten quite a few projects completed.  Here's what I've done since moving to Germany.

1. An Apron (for myself)

The fabric line is by Amy Butler

2. Placemats, Napkins, and Napkin Rings

This is the same line as the above apron (if you hadn't figured it out yet).  I decided to make 8 of each.  After doing most of the hand stitching to finish up the placemats (6 of 8) I got bored and decided to start on another project.  I still have yet to sew together the napkin holders.  Its all cut and ready to go, I'm just finding it a bit difficult.

3. Baby Owen's Quilt

This quilt is for a very special friend of mine.  We met at Auburn, both starting the Med Tech program at the same time.  We've both traveled across the country to attend each other's weddings.  Even though we don't get to talk as much as I'd like she will always be someone I call a friend.  Her name is Carolyon and her husband is Chris.  They recently had a baby boy named Owen.   This project was one of the reasons why I quit the placemats and napkin holders.  And its a good thing I did - she ended up having Owen a few weeks early.

I've used this line before, but I've found that everyone loves it, so I continue to use it.  For those of you who don't know its called Lollipop.  I also used this fabric for a baby quilt for my sister-in-law.

4. Diaper Clutch

I also made a diaper clutch to match the baby quilt for Owen.  This was the first time I've ever made anything like this.  It was definitely a learning process .... just ask my mom how long it took me yelling talking to her on the phone about how to do the bottom corners.  Overall I think it turned out pretty good!  Hopefully after a few more under my belt I'll be able to do these in my sleep.

The clutch should hold at least 1 diaper, a small diaper changing mat, and travel wipes

When I started sewing I had no idea it would become such a stress reliever for me, but either way I'm glad I finally got into it!

SONNTAG

Some of you may not know it, but Germany, in my opinion, has some silly rules.  I was aware of a few of them, but others I have only found out recently.  

A couple examples of rules ... 

During the week quiet hours begin at 10pm - country wide.  Quiet hours last until something like 7am.  This means no night flying for Todd (or at least in Germany).  To me it seems like it might be a hard law to enforce, but whatever.   Another rule is every day during the work week (I think) has quiet hours from something like 12p - 2p.  I think the purpose of this law is so kids don't get woken up during naptime.  I'm sure if I had a child I'd probably appreciate that law alot more than I currently do.  

Another big one is in Germany, Sonntag (Sunday) is a day of rest.  You shouldn't be doing any hard labor and shouldn't really be making any noise either (i.e., mowing the lawn).   This part we were aware of, but apparently there's more to it.   A couple of Sundays ago, in the evening before the sun had even began to set, Todd and I decided we needed to get ride of some glass bottles.  Molschbach has at least 2 separate spots that has large (taller than me) bins to thrown brown, clear, and green glass.   Once we got there we started throwing bottles in.  We had only gotten a few bottles in when a German woman who lives across the street from the bins walks around the corner of her house & stares at us.   Todd says "Hallo" & proceeded to get rid of more bottles.   Next thing we know she is yelling "SONNTAG" at us (and it doesn't sound very friendly!), more than once.   At first Todd nor I had a stinkin' clue what she was yelling "SONNTAG" at us for.  Todd finally figured it out, it seems as though we can't recycle on Sonntag.  We still don't know if its due to the noise or because no work on Sundays.   Either way we've been making fun of her yelling SONNTAG ever since!!!!  We now randomly yell it at each other!!

Side story:  A few days later Todd went back to recycle the rest of the bottles.  He decides to do this about 7:30/7:45pm.  He luckily finds a sign that tells you when you are allowed to recycle bottles .... No Later than 7pm.  Who knows what that woman would have yelled at him this time!!

Our Home Part 2

Here are some more pictures of our home.  

Master bedroom:  I think we just need to add a few pictures to finish it off. 

Extra Room in the Basement:  We still don't really know what to do with this room.  It also doesn't help that we don't have enough furniture.  We plan on putting a sofa bed along with maybe another couch or chair.  Who really knows at this point.  We also have to do something with the walls.  

Utility Room:  We don't have any plans with this.  I think its about as good as its going to get.  We are just using it as a laundry room and storage for all of our stuff that we can't use (110 voltage) or whatever.

 

We also have a small storage room that we keep tools, the cat litter, and some other random stuff in.