Mission accomplished!
Archive for Apartment
Maya Update
In the last few weeks, Maya has developed quite a bit. First, she has become very demanding! If she wants something, she will definitely let you know about it. She whines, points, reaches, squirms, and cries. But of course, that’s just fine with us, cause we just love her so much. She’s getting much closer to turning from her back to her belly, especially if we put some interesting object (like my glasses) nearby for her to stretch over to. My guess is that she’ll turn for the first time in a couple of days. We’re a little disappointed that she hasn’t done it yet, but I blame the harness that she had to wear for the first three or four months. She’ll get there eventually, I’m sure.
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Father’s Day Grill and Workout
So I finally had my first Father’s Day last Sunday – we had it in Austria last weekend, even though it’s this weekend in the states. And I have to say, it was really great! In the morning, I got my gift from Maya and Svitlana: WiiFit! Of course, I was immediately insulted, since I assume that meant I’m just not in shape, and letting myself go. But I quickly got over it, set it up, and then even the WiiFit told me I was overweight! Geez!
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A-Buhbpthhh
That’s the sound Maya has started making since a day or two. Essentially, it’s the ‘B’ sound, often followed by some spitting. 
You can tell she’s really concentrating, though, so she’s definitely doing it on purpose. She’s finally starting to speak!
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My Boring Blog
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It was pointed out by a random visitor to the site that our boring blog bears an uncanny resemblance to the above parody post at The Onion. Particularly, this post. I do realize, of course, the totally mundane quality of the things we post here, but as it’s mainly for family, it’s not such a big deal. I could go and compare our blog to something like Facebook and Twitter, where everyone posts (and notifies friends via RSS, email, and SMS) pretty much every bowel movement they have, but ok.
In other breaking news, we took Maya for her checkup at the orthopedist, and her hips have improved by a few degrees. The harness will still have to stay on a few more months, though.
Oh, and once I’ve had time to mount the other matching shelf, you’ll be sure to hear about it here – your only source for the most important and up to date information about the most banal people around!
Finally, you can claim XP for housework.
Having trouble determining who should do which chores at home or at the office? I stumbled upon a pretty funny online “game” – Chore Wars. Each person in the house/office creates a character and joins a group representing the location. You can create “adventures” (aka chores) like “wash dishes”, “take out the trash”, etc., and assign XP which each adventure will earn you. You can apparently also have a random monster/treasure drop assigned to each adventure. Also, by specifying which skills each chore..erm, adventure requires (DEX, STR, etc), you define which stats will go up when the “adventurer” levels.
It’s pretty well done, complete with Character Sheet, representative image, and classes. And you can finally settle the argument of who does the most around the house. Just compare your character levels!
Quite silly, but maybe it can make cooking and cleaning fun! Then again…
The morning the lilly bloomed…
These gorgeous white lillies finally bloomed in our garden
Thank you..mom :O)
Our first strawberry…
This weekend we have done a lot of gardening work and even gathered the first fruit. Our strawberry shared its first little baby with us.
It was very very small though, so I told Ryan that he could eat it.
But, as amazing as my husband is to me, he cut the tiny stawberry into two halves and I got to have my part. That is how you really know that someone loves you lots. :O)
It’s BBQ time again
Originally uploaded by svetikadler
We finally managed to invite a couple of colleagues of mine for a BBQ get-together this past Sunday. The weather forecast wasn’t promising from the very beginning and we all were aware that it might rain cats and dogs at any minute. To our greatest surprise, it only drizzled for about 10 min. in our part of Vienna. According to the stories of all the other colleagues at work, it rained heavily with hail all day long.
So, I guess we must have somehow pleased the weather gods.
The BBQ turned out to be great as usual. I had marinated the meat and prepared all the veggies ahead of time and Ryan – the chef master, showed off his wonderful grilling skills.
The day was really a lot of fun and we hope for more get-togethers with friends and colleagues in the nearest future. For more pictures, click here.
And they said it couldn’t be done
So I finally got around to installing the bedroom shelf that we got with the bedroom set way back when. I wasn’t really sure if it would be possible, since the wall where wanted it was only a plaster wall, and not a brick or concrete one like the shelf was intended for. That, and if it didn’t hold, it would be falling on my head in the middle of the night.
And so it was with little trepidation, that I set about mounting the shelf last weekend. I had thought it would be easy, and in reality, it wasn’t that bad, but while drilling into the wall, I hit a metal plate. I read quickly on the web that it could be in front of some electrical wires (although it was probably just the place where the plaster boards were mounted), so I had to move it over a bit. Closer to the bed. And my head.
Anyway, I finished it up, and since the anchors weren’t really in any solid substance, the shelf tilted down a bit. So I adjusted the anchors in the other direction, and it looked great! Except that extra hole in the wall. So now I had to fill up the hole with some plaster, let it dry, then I had to paint over it. And finally, it actually did look great! And it hasn’t fallen, and I’m not dead or concussed, so I guess it’s ok.
Now I just have to do the same over Svitlana’s side.
In any case, I know it’s not a big deal, but it made me happy to finish up a little project and have it come out looking good.
