On Parents, Children and the Time Between

Waking up, I sometimes have the weirdest of thoughts. Today, I was thinking about the awkward situation my parents must be in. They've had two babies and now we're both officially adults. Those little kids went from fragile babies to fully grown people in an instant!

I remember that time felt a lot slower when I was little and somebody once told me that time will seem to go by faster each year. So by the time I'm at my parents' age, a year won't feel like a lot anymore. I remember that I used to think that a year is an almost endless period of time. Lately, it feels like the year has barely begun and then it's already halfway over! A day that used to have a lot of room for all kinds of activities feels like a very limited bundle of hours now. Thinking about this from my parents' perspective, my brother and I must have grown up ridiculously fast. One moment, we've been tiny little creatures that didn't really know what they were doing, and then the next moment we've gone to school and graduated. And while we were away each day for several hours, we've grown up just a little more every day, unnoticed. 

As a child, time felt like an infinite resource to me. I just did what came to my mind when I was home from school and helped my parents here and there. Later, I started thinking about time as a precious treasure and thought about what would be best done with my time. I've spent so many hours thinking about what I might want to do that I often went to bed, having done nothing that day at all. While it might be a good thing to collect ideas and decide what to do, it clearly is not helpful to spend all the time available on finding the very best thing to do right now. I've learned that the hard way, yet I still catch myself doing exactly that over and over again. 

Actually, while I'm writing this, I'm thinking about what I might do with the rest of my day. Yet, I'm doing something while thinking which isn't completely useless, so this is not time wasted, right?

About the Black Holes Inside the House

Everybody loses a few of their belongings every once in a while. While almost every sort of item that can be moved will get lost at some point, there are some that disappear particularly often - socks, hair elastics, pens, cellphones, keys. Why that? Well, one might say this is due to the fact that these are handled pretty often and that this might lead to forgetting to place them back to where they were taken from or that they are small enough to disappear among other stuff. But that would be too easy. 

The truth: there's a magic black hole in every house. And it seems to be located right below the washing machine. 

You might be shocked at this realization, but don't worry, there must be a fix for it somewhere, right? Right. So here are my tips for minimizing the amount of items that get lost in daily life. 

Take some sort of clip to join the two matching socks right when you get them off your feet. In a bigger household, you might also want to consider a seperate container for collecting the used socks and washing socks only among other socks to prevent them from getting lost inside a shirt or pillowcase. 

Buy the same socks multiple times. Well, this isn't as much about preventing them from getting lost but rather a quick fix in case one sock got lost somewhere or a sock had a hole or something like that. This way, you can match a different pair of socks from two socks that lost their mate. 

Have a distinctive place for every sort of item. Like hair elastics. Keep them at one spot and force yourself to put them right back as soon as you take them out of your hair. This is easiest if you have that collecting spot at a place where you usually take them on and off, for example in front of the bathroom mirror or on the bedside table. You can set up multiple spots for the same sort of item too and distribute the items evenly every once in a while when you run out of them in one spot. 

Don't ever put your phone to silent mode when it is not required. That way, you can simply call your own phone and listen to where it rings if you can't find it. There are some apps doing the same job, too, telling you where your phone is at the moment from another device. Certain keychains will light up or make a sound when you whistle, so if you keep losing your keys, this might be a good investment for you. 

And lastly and most mighty: ask mom. An item is only lost if mom can't find it. 

Why I love and hate Video Games

As a person who has grown up with tons of different video games, I of course do have an opinion about them. During my childhood, I've been playing various video games on different consoles and I've also had a phase in which I was constantly playing flash games. I loved video games so much that I decided to program my own once I'd be an adult.

I've never actually been addicted to playing, I just enjoyed it and I loved the fact that I could be anything in a game - be it a cute little dragon, a professional photographer or a brave hero. When I got a bit older, I started to enjoy the Animal Crossing series a lot because I didn't have to be anything, I could just dwell in this virtual world, visit concerts, go fishing, decorate my house and design new clothing. 

But among all the joy I've had while playing video games, there has also been that dark side, too. Every now and then, just like today, I've been thinking about my life and what I'm doing with it and I always came to the conclusion that video games are a huge waste of time. 

While I might be a super rich tradeswoman in a video game, all I effectively did to achieve this was sitting on the sofa or lying in bed holding a handheld console and staring at a screen. 

I always kept wondering in those moments what my life would be like if I had never been introduced to video games. I could have spent so many hours doing so many more interesting things that might have made me happy. More happy than any game can. I probably would have gone outside a lot more often, I would have met other people more frequently. But those games and apps and the internet in general always kept me inside the house, wasting my time watching movies, playing games, searching the internet for how to be happy. Isn't it ironic?

Getting Melted Plastic off the Stove

I messed up in the kitchen today. While cooking, I placed the plastic spatula beside the stove and it slid onto it unnoticed. When I saw it, it was too late - the edge of the spatula was already melted, leaving both the spatula and the stove a mess. I was pretty panicked, I mean, I just melted one pretty expencive (tupperware....) spatula and there was a melted puddle of it on the stove top..! My desperate tries to get it off while the stove was still hot were useless, it somehow didn't seem to move at all. 

So I turned off the stove, let it all cool down until I could touch it and then I tried to figure out how to get that plastic stain away from the stove. And here's what I came up with.

You will need:

* Baking soda or Cream of Tartar (some sort of chemical base that isn't going to cause damage if it ends up in your food)

* Vinegar (lemon juice should work too, since it's just an acid needed)

* some sort of hard object (e.g. a plastic spatula for a ceran stove, or a blunt knife for those ridged stove tops)

* a spray bottle

* a sponge or dishcloth

Sprinkle some baking soda onto the hardened plastic puddle, making sure to cover the edges. Fill the spraybottle with vinegar and spray some of it onto the soda. This will form some bubbles. Use the hard side of the sponge and rub over the plastic stain until you can't see the baking soda mixture anymore. Don't worry if it doesn't come off that fast, just keep repeating this and use your fingernails and a plastic spatula or blunt knife to try to scrape the plastic off the stove top. It took an hour for me to do this on one of the ridged stoves, so be patient. 

But what about the melted spatula? Well, if it smells like burnt plastic, you should better throw it away. In my case, the spatula didn't have any weird smell. So I carefully cut off all the protruding edges around the melted tip of the spatula with a utility knife and used sandpaper to smooth it all out. And it actually looks pretty exactly like it did before, except for the fact that the spatula is now slightly shorter. That was one quick fix and the spatula is working fine again. 

I hope I could provide at least some of you with a possible solution for this very nasty problem. Have a good day ^-^

Final Exam Survival Tips

Finals are really stressful for many of us. The preparations are one thing - making a check-list of what to learn, planning when and in the end actually learning it all. But when the exam is actually taking place, there are a few additional challenges to face which no one really thinks about beforehand. 

1. Get up early the day before the exam, too. If you have to get up at 7 am, it could be a good idea to get up at half past six the day before to be prepared to go to bed earlier that evening. 

2. Don't learn too much one day before the exam. It's okay to do a few quick exercises, but you should be done with all the topics up to this point and therefore should not have to learn anything new anymore. Instead, just repeat what you've already learned and take a bath before bedtime if you like. Do something relaxing. Thinking you will have that one essential realisation is probably an illusion anyway, so you should concentrate on not worrying too much instead. 

3. Don't let the others get you nervous. When you're having your final exams, you're usually asked to come a bit earlier than you're officially required to. Chances are that you'll stand in front of the room you'll be taking the test in, together with some of your fellow students. Try not to talk about the subject of the exam and if someone does, don't worry if you don't understand what they're talking about - you probably won't need that anyway and even if so, you'll understand it a lot better when you read it during the exam. 

4. Take a safe item with you. Exams can be extremely stressful and frustrating at times. That's why I'd suggest taking something nice with you, such as a lucky charm or a small plush toy. Just make sure that it's something that is allowed to be brought with you. 

5. Take some candy with you. Of course you shouldn't forget something "normal" to eat and a bottle of water either, but candy really helps calming down and thinking more clearly. And it'll treat you quite a bit, most of all if you choose chocolate. But get rid of any loud wrappers before you leave the house and just put the candy into a small lunchbox so that you won't disturb your fellow students during the exam.

6. Check how much time you needed for each assignment. In exams like this, you'll have a lot of time and a ton of assignments. If you're just a tiny bit too slow, the time loss could build up throughout the exam and you might not be able to finish all the assignments on time. So be careful to check the clock after at least every other assignment and adjust your pace accordingly.

Bonus tip: Use a biro for writing. What has been written with a biro can't be washed away by water (in contrast to ink). So if you accidentally spill your water over the paper, the thing can still be read and you won't have to start all over again. And you won't have any trouble with a leaking pen cartridge either. I suggest taking at least three biros with you, just to be sure. 

So those are my tips for final exams. Do you have any additional tips or did something different? Let me know in the comments. And for those who haven't had their exams yet: good luck and don't panic!

Graduation - the Beginning of the Real Life?

As a child, I never really thought about life; I knew I was alive and I was thinking that life would always be that way. I didn't have a lot of trouble, I was just having fun with other children, everyone around me was happy and no one seemed to have any problem that was more serious than losing a toy at the playground. 
That was until I went to elementary school. I had really been looking forward to going to school, being one of the "big kids" who know a lot of things. I hated elementary from the first day on. I hated having to spend time at school on things I already knew. There were quite a few interesting things we learned at elementary school though and that were the days when I came home and was simply happy. I spent my whole time at elementary thinking that life would be better once I'm done with school because working couldn't be worse than this, could it?
When the time had come for me to go to fifth grade, to another school, I was really excited. The holidays didn't seem to go by and my pleasant anticipation grew with every day. Then, when the holidays were finally over, secondary school turned out to be even worse than elementary. My new classmates seemed to hate me, I didn't have that one class teacher that held most lessons but for each subject I got a different teacher. And the surprise tests started. We hadn't had any surprise tests at elementary. We had known exactly when the next test would be. But in secondary, that calming feeling of security was simply wiped out. So I spent years at secondary, wondering how long it would take to get to 11th grade and finally being able to decide what I want to learn. During this period of my life, I thought that the real life would begin once I'll have retired in about half a century. To me, "life" meant to be able to do whatever I want to with the time I have. I can't remember the time before I went to kindergarten. So my real life would come when I'm old. 
11th grade came just as fifth grade has come; I was excited, I couldn't wait to finally be allowed to choose the subjects I want to take. Well, there wasn't much to choose; out of 14ish subjects I used to have, I had to pick 10, but there were strict rules concerning what can be chosen in which combinations. So in the end I was stuck with 4 subjects I absolutely hated, 2 I didn't care about and 4 I actually wanted. Turned out later that one of the subjects I wanted simply wasn't a good choice, but it's fine, I hate it but I'll get through it. In a good two weeks I'll never have to worry about it anymore, so that's great. I just remembered the saying on our graduation pullovers; it says "start life", as if life would start right after graduation. But if my life starts in a few weeks, what has this all been? What has all the time spent laughing, crying, dreaming, creating.. what has this all been if not life? It won't magically get better. We won't be happier just because we graduated. Life won't get easier. Life won't simply begin after graduation. It'll be different of course, it'll be difficult, it'll be easier at times. But we've already experienced major changes in our lives, so that's not a concept that's new to us.
Nevertheless, there's a bit of truth in this saying; it'll be the first major decision that only we alone can make. We'll decide where to go, how to get there and at which pace. We'll decide on our occupation, whether we want to study or do an internship first. We will have the power to decide, on our own, what we'll turn our life into. May it be getting famous, earning lots of money or doing what we really want to do against all odds - it will be us who decide. 

Happy New Year 2018!

Time for New Year's resolutions! As we probably all know, people are more likely to stick to their resolutions if they share them. So I'll start doing that right away!

For this year, I decided on a few managable New Year's resolutions which I will actually try to manage.
So, on the one hand I will continue learning for my Abitur exams tomorrow and I will keep repeating everything until the exams are over in about a month.
I'll be nicer and more understanding towards everyone around me and will also help more people. I also plan on spending more time with the people I like because when the exams are over, I'll have some more time to relax and hang out with friends and family.
Talking about time, I'm also keen on spending more time on sewing and maybe learning a few more skills to be able to make better plushies and clothing that actually fits. I'll start pretty soon since I definitely decided on sewing my dress for the graduation ball myself (since I couldn't find one I really liked anywhere in a store or online; you can find the prototype I made for my doll here).
I want to do more sports and eat more slowly and maybe I'll finally lose some weight this year.

So that's my list of good resolutions for 2018. What New Year's resolutions do you have? Let me know in the comments and I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!

Holiday Season Traditions

Hey guys!

So, with New Year's Eve approaching, I want to share a few of my family's holiday traditions with you! 

I personally think that traditions are great - they're the part of a holiday that make it recognizable every year. Apart from all the obvious Christmas traditions such as exchanging gifts on Christmas Eve (in Germany that's more common than on Christmas Day), there are many smaller traditions that developed throughout the years in my family.

Raclette on Christmas Eve or Day, Fondue on New Year's Eve. Or the other way around.

I don't know where that tradition came from, we somehow happen to always have that, every year :D

Singing together at my aunt's place.

We - all my cousins, my parents, brother and me - used to gather my aunt's house every Christmas Eve because it's her birthday and then we would sit in the kitchen, singing Christmas carols and pretending not to see our parents placing the presents under the tree. It was really nice, but I can understand that now that all the cousins are too old to believe in Santa, my aunt wants a less stressful day and instead we now meet at Christmas Day. But we're usually still singing and this year, I played a few carols on the flute together with my cousin who recently started playing the piano. Music's the best!

Putting up the Christmas tree no earlier than a week before Christmas.

I don't know exactly why my parents don't want to put it up earlier, maybe because it takes a bit of space or something like that, but we never put up the tree until a few days before Christmas. 

Lead-Pouring! 

Well, it's not really a family tradition since I seem to be the only one in the house who always does that on New Year's Eve :D I love pouring molten lead into cold water because I think it's fascinating to watch it harden instantly. 

Midnight snack on New Year's Eve

Uhm, we call it midnight, but we actually do that at elevenish. My mother always makes some sandwiches (but with bread rolls instead of sandwich toast). 

Sparkling wine for New Year

I think that's pretty usual but yeah, we do that too :D 

So, what holiday traditions does your family have? Are there any unusual, weird or funny ones? Let me know ^^

Dec 24th: Snowflakes for Christmas!

While some of you might actually find snow outside during the holidays, most probably won't. For those of you who aren't as lucky, I've got you covered. Today, we'll be making snowflakes! The snowflakes I mean aren't that cold though and won't turn back to liquid water when touched. But they'll melt in your mouth.
By now, you might have guessed what snowflakes are. For those of you who don't know, the snowflakes I'm talking about are a sort of cookies that are traditionally made for Christmas.
During Christmas time, a lot of cookies were and are being baked. That's why there are many recipes like the one for snowflakes that don't contain any eggs. So don't worry if you've run out of eggs lately!

You will need:

250g butter
100g powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanillin sugar
a pinch of salt
100g flour
250g starch
An electric whisk
A bowl with a lid..with a hole in the middle :D

How it's done:

Whisk butter, sugars and salt in the bowl with the lid until foamy (Note: the butter should be soft, so take it out of the fridge about an hour before starting; do not pop it into the microwave, this will ruin the consistency; it's completely normal if it simply looks like weird crumbs that will never ever combine after the first five minutes, it'll be alright).
In a separate bowl, mix flour and starch and gradually add it to the butter mixture while whisking. It's right when the mixture looks like small crumbles. Kneed the crumbles together (they'll stick to each other).
Take small pieces (about hazelnut-sized) of the dough and roll them in your palms. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper (leave enough space between the dots, they will expand). Take a fork to press them down a little and give them some texture. If you happen to have a cookie stamp with a snowflake design, even better! If you think the dough is too sticky to get your fork or stamp out again, press the fork/stamp into flour first.
While handling the dough, don't get it too warm, it'll get stickier the longer you touch it.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320 Fahrenheit) and bake 10-15 minutes. The cookies should stay light, so don't let them get brown. (Tip: the cookies will start looking wet when they're in the oven; take them out when they're matte on top)
Out of the oven, the cookies are terribly fragile and soft, but don't worry, they'll be more firm once they've cooled down.
When they're done, you can leave them as they are or sprinkle them with a touch of sugar.
Enjoy!

So, this is the last post for this year's Advent Calendar. I hope you've appreciated spending some time on crafting and baking with me!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Dec 23rd: Elf Door

Hi everyone!
Christmas is right around the corner! Yay!
Today, we'll make an elf door to let Santa's little helpers in. If you have small children around, you could use it to cover an electrical outlet near the floor.

Without further ado, let's start right away!

You will need:

Air drying clay (papier-mâché or salt dough should do) or polymer clay

Paint (I used acrylic paint)

Sculpting tools (if you use salt dough you can work with kitchen ware as well since it's not toxic)
A poster glue strip (removable without damaging the wall)

How it's done:

If you want to make the door cover an outlet, you will need to use clay that doesn't shrink while drying, so I would recommend using polymer clay here.

Take a piece of your clay and roll it to a strip of about 0.5 -1 cm thickness and a length that will easily fit around the outlet from one side of the floor around the outlet to the other side twice. This strip will be the doorframe. "Fold" it in half and twist it around itself like a vine. Lay your vine to a rounded shape to look like an arch.
Cover the inside of your doorframe with clay as the door itself and smooth it out. If you want to make it super fancy, you can make a separate door and doorframe and attach them to one another with a small hinge so that the door can open.
After making the door flat inside the frame, take a tool to make indents to immitate seperate planks. Add the texture of wood by making lines along each of the planks. They shouldn't be too even and you could add a few branch-holes as well.
Now it's time for decorating your door. You could cut a little heart or star into the door to act as a window. Or you can make a donut shape as a wreath like I did.
Add a little ball of clay for the handle. If you want to, add a hole for the key.
If you want to cover an outlet, add some clay to the back of the frame (and the frame only! No clay to the back of the door) after the front has hardened and blend it in with the frame.
Let everything harden completely and paint it in the colors you like!
To attach the elf door to the wall, use a poster glue strip.

 

I hope you liked this tutorial! Have a great day!