Another Healthy Breakfast for the Pfarrkirchers

I made brownies again a few days ago. This morning, Robin wanted brownies for breakfast. I was eating my yogurt and not paying much attention to how he was eating his breakfast... when looked up I found him doing this - breaking the brownie to bits and putting in on his bread (the bread already had butter on it). He said I should try it - it was WONDERFUL! Umm, I think I will stick to the "normal" way of eating brownies.

I also had a brownie with my breakfast this morning. I ate a bite of it and then worked on the rest of my breakfast. Robin was done eating before I was (which is pretty unusual - I am a much faster eater). He saw my brownie still sitting on my plate and asked if I had had too much brownie... ummm, no.... I was just saving it for dessert. Thanks for making sure though. Good to know he is there for me to eat my brownie when I have had too much :)

An attempt

Ok, I think I have explained in other posts that I am not exactly the most handy handy-woman... but I have seen on the internet (and on TV) you can take old wood furniture and repaint it to make it look wonderful. I thought I would give it a try. I took one of Robin's old wood chairs, sanded it, and tried to spray paint it white. The white spray paint was a little less than sucessful, so I decided to paint it blue with a paint brush. Much more sucessful. I'm not finished with it yet, I didn't have time to paint the bottom of the legs, but here is a picture so you get an idea.

We have three other wooden chairs that I can paint. I am thinking about painting the next chair yellow. One of the chairs has a padded, fabric covered seat. I am planning to replace the fabric with something cute and paint the chair white. We will see how long it takes me or if I even get around to it... I hope I do... it would be so cute.

'I love you' Dinner

Tonight I wanted to make Robin a special dinner. Anyone who knows how I cook (or how I DON'T cook) knows that is a hard task for me. When I read the weather report yesterday, it said it was supposed to be cool and rainy. Great :) I will make tomato soup (from a mix), and corn bread muffins. This morning I made the corn bread muffins. As the day went on, I noticed the

weather report was absolutely wrong. It was warm and sunny the whole day.... hmmmm....I decided we could have heart shaped pasta. To go with it, I went to Robin's favorite bakery and bought some heart shaped rolls. So cute.

When Robin got home, he asked what was for dinner. I told him it was a surprise. A little later I was talking with my mom online and I told her what I had planned to make. Robin heard and said, I knew it! So for dinner I made tomato soup to go with the corn bread. We also had the heart shaped rolls and the heart shaped pasta. It was very good.

During dinner, Robin said "Look at your computer". He had put two little heart shaped photo holders on either side of my computer. It kind of looked like my laptop had sprouted antennas. It was cute :)

Also just to let people who read this know how nice Robin has been this week: He installed a new light fixture in our bedroom, he rubbed my back

when it was sore, he took all the extra furniture and other trash out to be picked up by the garbage men (more about that in a different post), he came with me to file paper work to keep me legally here in Germany, and he brought me roses - twice. What a nice guy.

I am a guinea pig

My mother-in-law has been getting her hair done at the same place for several years (15-30 years, I don't remember exactly). She gets her hair cut for free every 6 weeks. In return for a free hair cut, she has products tested on her hair. I went with her a few months ago to see what it was like and to see if it was possible for me to do it as well. It might sound a bit dodgy, but is really actually pretty neat. It looks like a salon except that there are computers at each station. There are different "sections" people can be in to test products. My mother-in-law is in the natural product section. They lady who cuts her hair is a master at hair cutting and usually has people she is training close by to observe her. I was able to get in the queue with the same lady.

I went last week to have my hair done for the first time. They can do just about anything you want. I plan to get highlights but I have to wait for the ones I have to grow out a bit first. When I went last week, they were testing a deep conditioning product. I got one that was for blonde hair. She brought out two bottles. She told me that one is currently on the market and the other is not. They changed one ingredient in the product and are testing to see if it is an improvement. Most of the products this company distributes (it is called Goldwell by the way) are only for salons. They do have a few lines that can be found in drugstores, but not much selection. Anyway, for the test, they parted my hair in half. Applied one of the products to half of my hair - they weighed how much product they used. Then applied the other product to the other half of my hair using exactly the same amount. Waited 5 minutes as would be directed on the bottle. Then washed it out. She combed my hair and had me feel both sides. She asked if I noticed a difference between the two halfs (yes, I did). Then I showed her the pictures for how I wanted my hair cut. She cut and styled it and then felt compaired the two sections of my hair once they were dry. She asked one of the other stylists to see what she thought. She wrote all of her observations in the computer.

I would post a picture of my hair cut, but I didn't take any. It is pretty much the same cut I have had for the past 5 years or so. Just the way I like it :)

Das Auto

Robin and I have been looking for a new(er) car. Our little Panda Fiat just doesn't like to work well in winter. Last weekend we found this nice Mazda 626. We plan to get it once the mechanic does his inspection on the car. It is a 1997, but well mantained and very, very, very clean on the inside. We are hoping it will be a good car for us. Finding a new(er) car came at good time. This past week the Panda went in for it's safety inspection... and failed..... We have a month to do all the needed repairs be we are not sure if the Panda is work the amount it will cost to fix it... we shall see. Just incase you haven't seen a picture of our Wonderful Panda here it is :)

Pfarrkircher Frauen

Today Robin and I got a package from one of his cousins. She sent us a nice card and a picture of all of the other 5 "Pfarrkircher women". I am the 6th in the family. There aren't very many Pfarrkirchers, so they are glad that one more has joined their group.

Legal

As of today, I have official permission to stay in Germany for 3 years. It only took 2 months of jumping through all the right hoops just the right way, but we did it :) After three years, I can apply for longer term residency.