Christmas!!

I know it's not quite December yet but I spent Friday afternoon getting in the Christmas spirit with Loreto and Michael (Buble).  We had mince pies (thank you Nico), Christmas tunes and lots of Christmas card materials.  It was a fun afternoon but went way to fast - can't wait for our next session!

Hot Toddy

 If it's getting a bit chilly where you are and your not feeling 100%, I can't recommend this recipe from Jo over at Cup of Jo enough!  I indulged on Wednesday night and it was delicious!

The Saturday Update

It's certainly been calmer around here this week.  Of course it was still a work week but without the extra training of the week before and the Tuesday afternoon meeting, I finally broke into my to do list from work.  Some things have been on there since before the Summer holidays so I'm feeling very productive right now.  Next week at work will also be interesting because we are visiting some of our pupils at home on Tuesday and have all day form time on Wednesday when I will also get to meet our Baby Adele from the Roots of Empathy project.

Outside of work, we have mainly been relaxing and fighting off colds from this winter weather.  The temperatures have definitely dropped this week but we are both still on the bikes.  The flat is steadily getting a little more Christmassy, I am waiting until December to go really crazy.  Yesterday was especially Christmas themed though when I was card making with Loreto.  We have lots still to do but it was great fun.  More on that next week.

Apart from that it really has been a quiet week.  I'm looking forward to the breaks in routine at work next week and some more knitting projects which only seem to progress at the weekends but I am enjoying them.  Have a good one!

Blackout!

Things got extra exciting around here on Sunday when the power went off in the evening!  Luckily Nico is well prepared and we had enough candles, torches and gas stoves to keep us going and it only lasted a couple of hours.  

After seeing the photos of New York's blackout it was especially creepy looking out of the windows and seeing the street completely pitch black.  Even indoors with the candles it was a little scary as you can see above.

It's the only blackout I can remember in a long time.  In England, it always seemed to be very brief.  So exciting!

Giving

source

Donation

I'm a very proud daughter this morning.  Yesterday, my Dad donated bone marrow!  He's been donating blood for years and one of the more recent options there was to be tested for bone marrow compatibility.  Dad ticked the option and recently received the call that a match had been found.

The process involved an interview and some tests followed a couple of weeks later by the procedure.  There are two ways to donate bone marrow.  You can have a series of injections followed by a blood donation or you can donate directly under general anaesthetic.  Dad opted for the latter so that it would be less hassle.  

The procedure had to take place in London but luckily he was there with work so it didn't take too much out of his schedule and expenses are paid. During the interview he discovered that the patient he is donating to lives in Germany - which is kind of ironic!  Also, their chances of survival will go from 10% to 60% thanks to his donation.

I'm a lot more squeamish than my Dad, giving blood is already a big deal given my fear of needles but I hope that one day I will be able to do something similar.  

Well done Dad!

Memory Lane

This week, I'm remembering my very first solo trip, the very first time I came to Germany alone - September 2005.  I flew to Cologne and caught the train to Altenburg to take the training course for teaching assistants.  It was a beautiful sunny week.