Short Update

For those of you wondering (if someone actually does anyway), I will reconsider the whole challenge/blogging thing during the next few days and come up with some changes.

The first few challenges went rather well but at the moment I feel too restricted by the 30-days-blogging every-day-about-the-progress-with-daily-picture-thing that I was trying to keep going during the last few months. I think that it was a good way to start me into action but now I feel a certain stress with sticking to this scheme. This slowed me down and caused the 1 month delay in blogging to slip, so now I'm actually up to date, which puts even more pressure on my spare time.

The first 3 challenges have proven that I can do it and that I'm not predestined to fail every project I tackle. I also like blogging but to have to come up with text and pictures for every single day is difficult at times and I think that on most days it was more quantity than quality. I decided to change that. I will no longer blog daily but only when I have to tell you something. I will keep you updated on my projects but maybe many of them will not strictly follow the 30-Day rule (e.g. the current clear-out-challenge). Also there will not be a picture with every post, only if I see fit.

If you want to follow me more closely you can follow my new twitter account at twitter.com/mark_us_now where I will tweet about my current life and status in general and also about my projects and thoughts which are too small to justify a full blog entry.

So I hope you stay with me for my upcoming project (which will be clearing out all my old clutter from my apartment) and see you soon (all of my 5 devoted readers;-)) with a new post in about a week.

Mutter-Kind-Pass-Hülle

Lang lang hab ich mich davor gesträubt, aber jetzt hab ich doch damit angefangen: mit dem NÄHEN.

Wenn man so die Blogs durchforstet, nähen eigentlich die Meisten. Häkeln und Stricken gibts oft nur Nebenbei. Ich persönlich kann das nicht verstehn ;D. Nähen ist für mich nicht nachvollziehbar. Man muss sich im Vorhinein soooooooo viel überlegen und soooooooo logisch denken, wenn man nicht andauernd irgendwelche Nähte auftrennen will. 

Nichts desto trotz hab ich mir vor kurzem eine Nähmaschine schenken lassen :))))). Man muss sich überwinden und auch im Alter geistig fit bleiben. 

Hier mein erstes Projekt: eine Mutter-Kind-Pass-Hülle. Kleiner und vermutlich schneller gemacht als ein Bucheinband. Trotzdem hab ich sie 2x machen müssen, da ich einige Sachen nicht bedacht hab. Egal. Ich machs ja auch ohne Anleitung, da kann man sich nichts anderes erwarten. 

Was man in Zukunft von mir erwarten kann sind eine Menge schiefer Nähte ;D. Darin bin ich jetzt schon Meister. Obwohl ichs eh mit Schneiderkreide vorzeichne, schaff ichs kaum, eine gerade Linie hinzukriegen. Egal. So erkennt man wenigstens schon von Weitem, was ICH gemacht hab ;D. Nichts geht über gute Publicity. 

In diesem Sinne erstreckt sich das Thema Nähen sicherlich mal über die nächsten paar Blogeinträge. Zwischendurch kommen wohl ein oder zwei Posts über unsere Garnelen ;D. Ja, sie sind inzwischen eingezogen!

Nano Cube - Woche 3

Eine Woche früher als geplant haben wir die ersten Tiere im Aquarium ... entdeckt. Wir haben nämlich keine gekauft.

Wie es aussieht, haben wir bis jetzt 3 Schnecken und einen Wurm als erste Bewohner.

Es dürfte sich theoretisch um Blasenschnecken und einen Borstenwurm handeln.

Die Schnecken sind zwar noch sehr klein, aber unheimlich schnell unterwegs. Drum ist es immer schwer, sie im Auge zu behalten. Schwierig ist es auch, Fotos von den Tieren hinzukriegen.

Der Wurm kommt angeblich, wenn das Wasser eine gute Qualität hat *freu* und bearbeitet den Boden. Also darf er meinetwegen bleiben ;D.

Derweil haben wir noch keinen Plan, dass wir die ersten Bewohner wieder los werden möchten. Aber wir werden das mal im Auge behalten, wieviele Schnecken noch nachkommen. Wenn es zu viele werden, müssen wir uns so eine schneckenfressende Schnecke besorgen.

Aber an sich ist das doch ein gutes Zeichen, dass vielleicht schon bald auch Garnelen einziehen dürfen :))))).

30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 2

Eat 5 pieces of fruit every day and reduce sugar and sweets as much as possible:

The first 2 weeks of the challenge were rather easy. The fruit tasted great and I felt my energy renewed. I didn’t reduce my other meals much though and therefore didn’t lose any weight. To reduce sugar was also easy during these weeks because the fruit were sweet enough. The remaining weeks of the challenge got considerably harder and harder. I got extremely fed up on fruit. I think maybe vegetables would be less boring than fruit. 

Three pieces worked fine for a while but even this got boring during the last few days. I don’t know why, I could eat steak every day but a month of fruit was tough. Since this challenge I haven’t eaten any more fruit. At the moment I cannot imagine to integrate fruit on a daily basis into my diet. I also noted some backfiring since the end of the challenge. My eating habits were worse than before and I ate a lot of chocolate and junk food but I think I'm over it now and my diet returns to normal.

On the whole I consider this part of the challenge a success because for the most part I managed to stick to my plan. There were some positive effects but for myself this diet is not suitable for daily use. For the future I will consider doing some kind of challenge involving vegetables or one where I will drastically reduce unnecessary sugar.

Nano Cube - Woche 2

Nach einer Woche haben wir also unseren ersten Wasserwechsel hinter uns.

Das Wasser abzusaugen war kein Problem, da das Nano Cube auf unserer Frühstückstheke steht und somit etwas erhöht. Als das Wasser draußen war, haben wir das Thermometer so umgesteckt, dass wir in Zukunft an der Höhe des Thermometers orientieren können.

Beim Wasser einfüllen wars schon etwas spannender. An sich sollte das Wasser etwas abgestanden sein (hab ich zumindest irgendwo gelesen) und vor allem Zimmertemperatur haben. Ich hab mir also einen Kübel besorgt und schon mal Wasser abgestellt.

Da es besser funktioniert, wenn das Gefäß, von dem das Wasser kommt, höher steht, haben wir nun ein Problem gehabt.

Also haben wir ein Stockerl genommen und es hochkant hingestellt. Darauf den "Spender-Kübel" und davon das Wasser runter ins Aquarium laufen lassen.

Da wir ja diesen Staubsauger-Schlauch haben is nix mit dem Mund saugen ;). Das war uns sehr wichtig ;D.

Soweit hat alles gut funktioniert. Wir werden aber versuchen, das Wasser nur alle 2 Wochen zu wechseln, da es *noch* sehr sauber ist. Mal sehn, wenn die ersten Tiere drinnen sind.

30 Days: Multi Health - Aftermath - Part 1

This challenge had a very easy start and a very tough finish. As I might have mentioned before during the first two weeks of this project I noticed that some parts were easier to concentrate on than others, so I decided to view this challenge as a kind of overview on different health related aspects of my life that I would like to change or improve. Those parts I failed will possibly be part of a future challenge were I will concentrate more fully on this aspect.

Since there were several parts to this challenge I will split my summary into the different parts instead of giving you one big summary.

I start with the part that I failed most. Drinking only Water or tea or fresh juice. I guess this will need special attention in a future challenge. I usually drink water for the most part but when I go out, the temptation to order a cocktail or a soft drink is often to great. On many occasions I only remembered this part of the challenge after I have already ordered something. I simply forgot about it. Due to the fact that I usually drink water for most of the time anyway, the effect of going to extremes might have been minimal to begin with. So I don’t feel especially guilty because I didn’t manage this part too well.

Nano Cube - Woche 1

Irgendwie haben sie uns immer schon gefallen. Seit neuestem haben wir nun auch eines.

Ein Nano Cube mit 30l.

Wirklich ernst wurde die Idee eigentlich, als wir kurz vor Weihnachten einfach mal so in ein Tiergeschäft bummelten und es dort -30% auf alles gab. Ich war aber noch zu uninformiert, als dass ich es mir gleich mitgenommen hätte (MIST! *grrr*). Also haben wir uns das mal angeschaut und es uns nach Weihnachten gekauft (Immerhin war es um 30€ billiger ;D).

Aber statt der 10l haben wir uns doch für 30l entschieden. Angeblich gibt es nämlich 3-4 Fischarten, die sehr klein und eher statisch unterwegs sind und deshalb in ein 30l Nano Cube passen. Aber lt. geltendem Tierschutzgesetz in Österreich darf man Fische erst ab 60l halten. Auch ok. Es gibt ja noch Schnecken, Krebse und Garnelen ;D.

Pflanzen haben wir uns fürs erste nur nach dem Aussehn ausgesucht. Die Moosbälle mussten natürlich drin sein. Ein paar kleine für den Vordergrund, mittelgroße für die Mitte und große für den Hintergrund.

Als Deko haben wir uns fürs erste für einen Stein entschieden. Ich wollte einen glatten, grauen Stein haben. Dann hab ich doch diesen bunten Stein gekauft. Sieht doch toll aus als Farbklecks zwischen grün und schwarz ;D.

Was für uns gleich klar war, war, dass wir den Boden etwas hügelig machen wollten, um ein paar Ebenen einzubauen. Das gefällt mir besonders gut. Bringt ein bisserl Bewegung rein.

Da wir gleich das Komplett-Paket genommen haben, war ziemlich alles dabei, was man für den Start braucht. Extra dazu haben wir uns noch folgendes gekauft:

• den klassischen Putz-Magnet. Da wir noch keine Schnecken haben, müssen wir selber die Scheiben putzen ;D. Aber mal ehrlich: Ein Aquarium ohne Magnet ist ja kein richtiges Aquarium ;P.
• Zeitschalt-Uhr. Das Nano Cube braucht ca. 10h Licht/Tag. Da wir nicht immer zu Hause sind um ein- und auszuschalten, kam natürlich nur eine Zeitschaltuhr in Frage. 
• einen Schlauch zum Wasserwechseln. Hier haben wir uns gleich für eine Kombi aus Absaugschlauch und Bodenstaubsauger entschieden. Der kommt aber erst in einer Woche, beim ersten Wasserwechsel, zum Einsatz.
• eine Pinzetten-Schere. Da das Original-Zubehör so unverschämt teuer ist, haben wir uns eine billige Variante besorgt. Pinzette und Schere in fast Einem ;D. Im Gegensatz zum Original wahrscheinlich etwas grob, genügt aber.

Und schon geht es los. 

Zuerst kommt der Dünger für die Pflanzen rein. Wenn man den vom Rand wegschabt, sieht man ihn von außen nicht. Mir ist es nicht so gut gelungen, aber spätestens in einem Jahr ist er sowieso aufgebraucht und hoffentlich "weg". 

Danach wird der Kies hineingeschüttet. Normalerweise muss man den Kies vorher waschen, was ich auch mit dem 1. Sack getan habe, da es auch auf der Verpackung stand. Da er aber so sauber war, hab ich mich eigentlich nur geärgert, weil ich die Patzerei ganz umsonst hatte. 

Wir haben hier also immer darauf geachtet, dass die Schichten nicht gerade, sondern etwas hügelig sind.

Als nächstes werden die Pflanzen eingesetzt. Ich hab sie hier von vorne nach hinten eingesetzt - angefangen mit den kleinsten Pflanzen. 

Den gesäuberten Stein als derzeitiges Zentrum haben wir gleichzeitig eingesetzt, um zu wissen, wo die mittelgroßen Pflanzen (die gleich dahinter eingesetzt wurden) hinsollten.

Den Filter und das Thermometer haben wir dann auch noch platziert. 

Danach geht's schon los. Das Wasser kommt. 

Wir haben die ersten Schritte am Tisch gemacht und hier wäre zu beachten, dass man das Aquarium JETZT auf den vorgesehenen Platz stellt ... oder man hat einen Bodybuilder zuhause ;D. 

Das Wasser schüttet man am besten mittels einem kleinen Teller ins Nano Cube. Damit wird der Kies nicht unnötig aufgewirbelt und der Dünger von unten kommt nicht hoch. Mir als sehr ungeduldiger Mensch ist das natürlich nicht so gut gelungen wie man sieht ;P.

Als schon viel Wasser drinnen war, hab ich den Rest über meine Handfläche reinlaufen lassen. 

Als dann der Filter als höchstes Objekt mit Wasser bedeckt war, haben wir ihn das erste mal eingeschaltet. 

Erst als das Wasser schon eingefüllt war, haben wir dann die Mooskugeln platziert, damit man sie besser "in action" sieht. Die hintere werd ich beim Wasserwechsel umsetzen, die gefällt mir gar nicht dort.

Als letztes kam noch das Licht montiert und mit Zeitschalt-Uhr versehen. Glasplatte drauf und fertig ist das Ding.

Was mich sehr gewundert hatte, war, dass das Wasser überhaupt nicht trüb war, was man im Internet immer sieht, dass sich alles erst setzen muss. 

Jetzt beginnt also die Zeit des Wartens. An sich könnte man nach 14 Tagen die ersten Tiere einsetzen, aber derweil wollen wir 1 Monat warten. Wir werden sehn. 

Nach einer Woche kommt der erste Wasserwechsel und dann sehen wir schon einmal, wieviel Aufwand es ist, das Nano Cube zu warten. Fürs erste ;D. 

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 30

Hurray! Another challenge is over. Today I felt a little better again. Started to eat fruit but not as much as five pieces. Fitness was difficult during the last few days because either I wasn’t feeling well or the gym was closed due to holidays. Well I will summarize my experience in the aftermath in a few days. This time I must say I’m very glad that this challenge is over even though I thought it was rather easy for the most part of it.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 29

Feeling slightly better today but still didn’t get much done. I’m still a bit cautious about the things I eat, so maybe this counts as not eating a whole lot of sugary things. I have the feeling due to my sickness this challenge is somewhat ebbing out. I performed quite well for most part, but now there is only one day left and I don’t think that I will manage to get up and going that fast.

Overall I have to say the challenge gave me a good overview which parts are easy and which parts need more focus. I definitely take some of the things with me into my everyday routines and will focus on some other parts some time in the future.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 28

At night I got horribly sick. Maybe I ate something wrong but today I couldn’t eat anything at all, let alone fruit. I also got problems with my circulation since I was laying down all day. So I could say that this might be the very first day of the challenge where I didn’t get any part of it done.

I notice that a lot of my posts seem to center on me being sick, having a headache and the like. On the other hand I say that this challenge improved my overall constitution. To get this into perspective I must emphasis on the fact that it is winter and there are some other issues that drag me down a bit. Due to those facts I am more sick than usual at the moment, even though I do feel the positive effects of this challenge. So I hope you don't get the wrong impression just because of my frequent ramblings.

Schal

Hier ein ganz altes Stück. Gleich nach *meinem* Schal, hab ich 2 Freunden als Dankeschön auch Schals gestrickt - allerdings mit einer viiiieel dickeren Wolle. Das hat den Vorteil, dass er viiieeel schneller fertig ist.

Das Muster ist natürlich genau gleich wie meiner (Never change a running system!): 3 glatt, 3 verkehrt, alle 3 Runden gegengleich.

An Ende aus den Wollresten ein paar Fransen dran machen und fertig ist das Stück.

Zufällig war einer dieser Freunde mein jetziger Mann, wodurch der Schal wieder zu mir zurückkam ;D. Leider hab ich vom anderen Schal kein Foto und auch keinen Kontakt mehr zu demjenigen. Aber ich brauch glaub ich kaum zu erwähnen, dass auch der 3. Schal das gleiche Muster hatte! ;D

Anleitung: Eigenkreation

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 27

I have no Idea for a picture today... so here you have a polar bear ;-)

In the beginning this challenge seemed easier than those I made before but after ⅔ of the time it gets considerably harder and more boring. If I can break down a bigger project into little tasks for every day then I have something to focus on every day anew but with this challenge every day is the same since there is no bigger goal behind it and if I miss something on one day I don’t have to catch up, so it is easy to lose focus, especially now that the month is almost over.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 26

The finish line is already visible on the horizon and I feel refreshed and full of energy to start a new series of challenges. I also have found new motivation to make a new review again. Since I have more time at home right now I watched a lot of movies and my love for this hobby got renewed. Also there are some creative new projects ahead and I can’t wait to wrap up this challenge and plan my course for the next months.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 25

This challenge seems to be getting really long. At least I don’t know what to write about it anymore at the moment. Maybe the break between the very exhausting writing challenge and this one now was too short and I should have used the time in between to prepare especially for the blogging, because at the moment I really run out of things that I can write about my daily experience without giving to much away of the summarizing thoughts of this challenge.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 24

A week without having to go to the office lies before me. Therefore the waking without an alarm clock part of the challenge is already mastered because I never use an alarm during my days off. All the other parts could still use a bit of improvement. Especially my bathroom routine. Usually I tend to get a little lazy when I’m at home so this will need some extra care.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 23

Yeah! Last day of work and now I have the last week of the challenge free to get my routines up to the planned level. Today I slept perfectly on time and again in one complete period. I really like sleeping without an alarm and unless I have a very very important appointment the next day I will continue to not use my alarm clock. Eating fruit is getting more and more boring but I still keep my stock at home piled up and eat at least more than half of the planned amount.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 22

Only two days of work and than I will have a week off. So due to a lot of workload I still can only manage to get the most basic parts of my challenge done. Because many parts were easy in the beginning I must concentrate not to forget about the challenge as a whole. Otherwise my lazy self will slowly drift back to my normal state without even noticing that I ended the challenge. In this part I think blogging about it helps me, even though it might be getting very uninteresting for many readers, it is at least a reminder for myself that I have to keep up with my plans. I probably will do something about improving my blog quality within a separate challenge but that will not be due until summer this year because I have the next few challenges planned already.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 21

down to three

Sleeping is really getting better. I begin to wake closer and closer to the time I planned in the evening with fewer and fewer interruptions of sleep. The other parts of the challenge are no longer at their highest rate but have leveled on a level higher than before the challenge. I tend to eat 3 pieces of fruit a day and my bathroom routine has improved in some parts. I can view that as a success so far, even though my perfectionist self still nags about not getting a perfect score.

Angry Birds Haube #4

Inspiriert von ena hab ich mich auch an einer Angry Birds Haube probiert. Ich wollte sie meinem Mann schenken.

Nachdem ich mit dem schwarzen Vogel angefangen hab, hab ich bald bemerkt, dass es viel häkeln-wieder auftrennen-häkeln-wieder auftrennen (ach, wie ich Eigenkreationen liiiiebe ;P) braucht, wenn ich die Haube von oben nach unten häkle. Das war nicht sehr motivierend.

Also hab ich (nachdem ich erfahren habe, dass er eigentlich den roten Vogel lieber mag) nochmal angefangen - diesmal von unten nach oben. Das ging um einiges besser.

Einfach eine Luftmaschenkette in der Länge des Kopfumfanges häkeln. Danach in Spiralen häkeln. Mit Stäbchen geht's natürlich schneller. Nach 2 Reihen kam der Farbenwechsel und dann einfach der Kopfform entlang häkeln. Mein Mann musste das Teil seeeeehr oft aufsetzen (und das, ohne es zu sehen ;D). Irgendwann einfach ein paar Maschen abnehmen - je nachdem, wie der Kopf aussieht. Am Ende einfach vernähen.

Die Kopffedern hab ich auch in Spiralen gehäkelt, mit Watte gefüllt und das offene Ende dann auf die Haube genäht. Leider ist mir die Wolle ausgegangen, deshalb hat die zweite Kopffeder ein etwas dünkleres Rot ;D. Die zweite Feder ist etwas kürzer, auch mit Watte gefüllt und an die Haube drangenäht.

Die Augen sind in Runden gehäkelt. Hier muss man aufpassen, dass man immer die Maschen verdoppelt, damit es eine Scheibe wird. Würde man nur jede 2., 3., etc. Masche verdoppeln, würde es sich langsam zu einer Wurst formen (also wie bei den Kopffedern). Angefangen mit schwarz, kam nach einigen Runden der Farbenwechsel auf weiß.

Da ich einen Termindruck hatte, hab ich vergessen, die Augen und den Schnabel schwarz zu umranden (was ja bei Comics üblich ist).

Den Schnabel hab ich mit dem breiten Teil angefangen zu häkeln und immer die ersten und letzten beiden Maschen zusammengehäkelt. Damit sich der Schabel etwas abhebt und es ein bisserl 3D-mäßig wird, hab ich ihn etwas gebogen aufgenäht.

Die Augenbraun sind ganz einfache "Fleckerl" - Gleiche Anzahl von Maschen in Reihen gehäkelt.

Am Schluß einfach alles aufnähen und fertig ist das Stück.

Vielleicht kommen noch die Schwanzfedern dran. Ich fand es etwas zuuuu peinlich, auch hinten noch Federn dranzuhäkeln, aber es wird durchaus gewünscht. Mal sehn.

Anleitung: Eigenkreation

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 20

Today I slept the perfect amount of time without interruptions and woke at the exact right time. This was the first time that this has worked so far because most of the time I either woke to early or woke several times during the night.

Fitness could get better and during the last two days I only ate 3 pieces of fruit. My bathroom routine is still better than the level I started out from but not as high as anticipated.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 19

I totally overslept today. I went to bed with a severe headache and was already sleeping at 9 p.m. Nevertheless I slept solid 12 hours and was late for the office. Eating fruit is getting really boring. At least the amount of 5 pieces per day is too much. I can eat 3 pieces with ease but then I’m fed up with fruit for the day. I also notice that I prefer some fruits above others not solely because of taste, but because of user friendliness. Bananas e.g. are easily unpacked (they come with an inbuilt zipper) and after removing the peel you can eat the whole fruit without much of a mess. Same with the mandarin, they can be peeled more easily than oranges and unless they have seeds (which the ones I buy usually haven’t) can be eaten whole. Apples and Pears on the other hand always leave a wet core which you have to get rid of. Another fruit I have at home are kiwi, but they are really messy to eat and you also need a knife and a spoon. Way too much effort for a snack in between.

I know I sound extremely neurotic but theses little things are often the things why a habit doesn’t really catch on. Fruit have their place in the snack department and I don’t consider them a part of a whole meal so therefore they should be practical, no mess, no cutlery, just grab it and eat it.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 18

I notice that I have frequent headaches on sunday. I haven’t found out why but it always slows me down. Usually a workout at the gym clears my headache but it is very difficult to motivate myself and it is really hurting like hell during workout. My head is pounding and I feel as if I have to throw up. But if I manage to complete the workout, usually the headache is gone. Nevertheless today I didn’t manage to motivate myself so the headache is still with me. At least I managed to do the drink only water (+aspirin) part again.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 17

We went to the market and bought lots of fruit for next week. So this part is cared for. I now look forward to another positive phase of this challenge. It is only a bit over halftime and I will try to gather my energy to make a good finish.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 16

I slept extremely bad due to too much food yesterday. After eating rather healthy for most of the month, my stomach wasn’t happy with all the meat and pastries and stuff I ate yesterday. So naturally todays workday was rather exhausting and I didn’t manage to do my fitness workout again. I was willing to eat fruit but my storage at home is running empty and I have to restock to be able to eat my fruit again.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 15

Today we had a big feast at the office so I had too much to eat and drink and didn’t manage to eat all my fruit as well. Due to a lot of work during the last few days it is also hard to keep up with my fitness workout. And last but not least the bathroom routine was also at the necessary minimum due to coming home very late at night. I guess every challenge needs at least some days where I do not reach my goal. There seems to be a rhythm to this. One week is going fine. Then there are two days were it is really hard or even impossible to get my tasks done, and then the process starts over.

Popcorn - Teil 2 - Die Tüte

Sehr einfach zu machen. Ein Kreis für den Boden. Ein viereckiges Fleckchen mit Farbwechsel nach allen paar Reihen. Am Ende näht man das Fleckchen zu einer Röhre und die Röhre dann an den Boden.

Und hier das fertige Stück. 12 Stück Popcorn passen grad für die vorgegebene Tüte. Insgesamt ist das Stück doch recht klein. Aufgrund der sehr einfachen Anleitung könnte man es aber einfach auch sehr viel größer herstellen. Man müsste dann nur entsprechend viele Popcorn-Stücke fertigen, was halt entsprechend mehr Arbeit bedeutet.

Anleitung: Internet

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 14

Slowly eating that much fruit is getting boring. I am actually quite fed up on pears and apples. Bananas are still ok, so are mandarins. It is funny that I get fed up on fruit that fast while I never seem to get fed up on meat. I could eat steaks and burgers every day and they don’t get boring. Changing to different fruit might not be helping too because I already chose the most tolerable fruit for me. Every other fruit you can get at the store at the moment is either not tasting that good or is too complex to eat. With too complex I mean that it either needs preparation or drips while eating or anything like that.

I guess that maybe two to three pieces would be ok. Five is definitely to much for the future. 

Also I didn’t see any change in weight yet, so it doesn’t seem to have any effect on my overall eating habits.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 13

If you work really really really much than everything else practically fails due to the lack of energy. More than half of our employees are not at the office because of sickness, so work is really getting out of hand. Even though I was motivated I didn’t even eat the 5 pieces of fruit today. Come to think of it I don’t know what I ate at all. There is only so many things that you can focus on during a day and today my whole attention was with my work. It is good that so far this challenge has provided me with that much energy because otherwise I wouldn’t have survived the stress of today.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 12

sorry for that....I try to improve ;-)

I begin to think that my blog entries on a whole are not so interesting to the reading audience. Maybe it is ok when you know me but otherwise there is not much information. Especially in this challenge I could have used the blog to give different links and information on health products, things to do to relax, maybe some recipes for healthy food. Well, the fact that you are only getting short entries of self centered rambling instead of useful stuff is, that for once I am new to blogging and just getting into the routine is difficult enough for me at the moment, and on the other hand I am very busy at the moment and have not prepared enough stuff to really give you more content.

As it turns out I just stamped out this challenge very fast after the failure of the last challenge and I was very exhausted. Overall it could have used some more research and preparation for the blog. The challenge itself is running rather well and is really giving me a lot of energy back that I lost during the last few months. It is just that I don’t have more interesting stuff for the blog so you just have to put up with what there is and I will try to be better prepared for the next challenge.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 11

Another day at home. I bought some fruit and this will bring me through the next couple of days but not through the whole week. I will have to go shopping again to stock up. The fitness part has been rather reduced this week since my wife is sick and I have to tend to her and to the household as well as to my daily work (and my scar was hurting - see the post before). I hope to get my planned workouts done next week. One thing about this challenge is, that everything you didn’t manage to accomplish doesn’t add to the overall burden. You cannot catch up on training or eating fruit. If you have missed an opportunity than it is over and you can only try to get back to the plan. You don’t have to worry about a growing load of unfinished work. This is in one way much better than with the last two challenges since the stress isn't building up as much. On the other hand getting lazy is also easier.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 10

Besides getting hurtful injections horizontally into my scar, the doctor shot holes into me with a  laser.

Today I had some skin surgery done on an old scar and it was rather hurtful. It was the first day were I didn’t get the fruit part finished, or for that matter, even started. I was in pain for half of the day but nevertheless managed to keep up my bathroom routine. Besides my hurting scar I feel quite well. I think that the low point of this challenge is over end now it will become easier again. Maybe this is somewhat of a weekly cycle. One week is going better and one not so much. So I look ahead to an easier week I hope.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 09

Even though this day was full of appointments I still managed to get along quite well. I think I totally give up on the „only water“ part. I just keep forgetting about it regularly. The fruit part is still going on although I am running out of fruit at home and I won’t be able to get to the market tomorrow. Well we will see. My headaches have gotten a lot better. I think that since the beginning of this challenge I really feel more healthy and well, possibly due to the increase in vitamins. Sleeping without an alarm is also going smoothly. Now it’s weekend again and I can see no problem ahead.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 08

So far it seems that some parts of the challenge are working out exceptionally well, while others don’t. Sleeping without alarm clock and eating 5 pieces of fruit a day has worked one hundred percent so far. the extended bathroom routine has worked almost every day so far, except for today. The drinking part is not going very well. I notice that there are many occasions where I let is slip (like free punch, or free refills at the fast food restaurant) so overall I have to say with the drinking bit that I do not really do anything different from what I usually do.

Popcorn - Teil 1 - der gepoppte Mais

Eine weitere Anleitung von der gleichen Seite, von der ich auch das Bretzel gemacht habe. Die einzelnen Popcorn-Stücke sind trotz der sehr geringen Größe gut zu machen. Im Wesentlichen bestehen sie aus einer kleinen Kugel, welche an einer Seite mit drei Lappen abschließt. Die Stücke haben ziemlich genau Originalgröße und sehen auch sehr realistisch aus

Ich habe zwei verschiedene Wollfarben verwendet. Ein reines Weiß und ein Creme. Die Wolle in Creme war dünner als die andere, weshalb die Stücke etwas kleiner sind. Ich habe auch zwei Stücke in Gelb versucht, wie dies auch in der Anleitung beschrieben ist, aber ich fand die gelben sehen weniger realistisch aus. Insgesamt habe ich 12 Stück gemacht, was für die Tüte ausreicht.

Anleitung: Internet

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 07

Here are my usual pieces of fruit for a day. I start the day with a banana. Since it contains a lot of serotonin it should be eaten in the morning to give you a great start into the day whilst it is not so good to eat it in the evening because the serotonin may inhibit sleep. During the day I eat one apple, one pear, one mandarin and one kiwi. The kiwi being my least favorite of them but still these five types of fruit are the once I prefer over many others that are available.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 06

Sleeping without an alarm clock might be the more interesting part of the challenge. In order to avoid oversleeping in the morning I really have to remember to go to bed on time. My inner clock is not yet tuned right but it is getting better. In the first night I woke every 2 hours checking the clock. The last two nights I managed to sleep till 4 o’clock in the morning and then till 5 o’clock. I hope that with practice I can fine-tune myself to really sleep until 6 or 7 o’clock in one go. I first thought that without an alarm clock I will oversleep regularly but in reality it seems harder to sleep through and not to wake up too early.

All in all I find it far more interesting to train myself to sleep without an alarm. If I can perfect this skill within this month I shall definitely keep on doing this.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 05

Today I want to give you a little insight on my new bathroom routine. Usually I am like most men pretty content with hopping into the shower, using only shampoo and soap, rinsing off and I’m almost ready. This might be even more than most men because many use a shampoo’n’shower-gel all in one product. So this month I try to really take some time and use all the wonderful products I have at home but never use. While in the shower I now make a whole body peeling with scrubbing gloves, I not only use a shampoo but also a conditioner. Afterwards I use a facial tonic, a facial cream and body lotion. Usually I only need about 10 to 15 minutes in the bathroom which now got extended to over an hour. But it is worth it. My skin is getting softer and smoother and I generally feel more relaxed and refreshed. Especially now in winter it is really a treat to relax in the bath.

In general the challenge is working out pretty well. Still I think that I eat to much because the 5 pieces of fruit still add to the food I normally eat instead of replacing some of it.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 04

Sometimes it seems that this challenge is too simple because I tend to forget about it completely. Especially when it comes to the drinking only water. Leaving out the sugar was easier so far than I thought. Due to the huge amount of fruit I eat every day my cravings for chocolate are manageable. The drinking part on the other hand is more difficult because I usually drink water on most occasions and on the rare occasions where I drink something else I forget that I have this part included in my challenge. So I will try to improve on that part but I guess that at least the only water goal of this month is something that I will not fulfill to a hundred percent.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 03

We have so many fruits and vegetables at home right now that I cannot decide what to eat first. We were at a local vegetable market today and bought lots and lots of wonderful food. I had more than 5 pieces of fruit today and also some fresh orange juice.

I slept well and today also had a full peeling in the shower. Usually I just shower and dress. Things like peeling or body lotion is something that I maybe do once a month. This month I try to do it every time and it is very refreshing to really take the time for this. I feel much more cleaner afterwards and my whole skin prickles minty fresh.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 02

Today was the first day where I really tried to sleep without using the alarm clock. I went to bed early and was confident to wake on time. My subconsciousness was not so confident and so I woke almost every hour during the whole night. Naturally today I wasn’t very fit but I hope that my subconsciousness will grow more confident during this month and that my sleep rhythm will come close to a more natural cycle.

Again eating fruit was not a big problem. We have plenty of fruits at home right now and even my wife is starting to eat more fruit just because it is available. Now a weekend lies ahead of me and I will try to buy even more healthy food on the market tomorrow.

30 Days: Multi Health - Day 01

I started into the challenge with a bit of a sore throat. I have felt like getting a cold for the last two days but today seems to be a lot better. Today I had my alarm clock still activated but nevertheless woke way before it went off. It is much more relaxing to start into the day without being torn from a deep sleep but by gradually waking in your own rhythm.

The five pieces of fruit were no problem, as was the only water task. As long as the fruits are at home I never have a lot of problems eating them. What I usually don’t like is going to the store to buy them so most often I give up after an initial motivation to eat healthy.

In the evening I had a salad and fish. I had a dessert for lunch but otherwise no extra sugar. This was the harder part, especially in the evening I get withdrawal symptoms.

I spent about an hour in the bath cleaning and rubbing different kinds of lotions on my body. It was rather relaxing.

So far I like this challenge. The only thing that seems a bit harder is the no sugar part and the fact that my bowels rebel against the healthy food, but I think that this will pass after the first few days. Other than during the writing challenge I really look forward to give myself an extra treat this month with focusing on the well-being of my body.

Hot Dog - Teil 2 - Das Brötchen

Hier mein letzter Post für dieses Jahr. Ich dachte das Brötchen wird mühsam, weil es aus 4 Einzelteilen besteht, aber eigentlich ging das Herstellen der Hälften recht flott. Die Innenseiten sind dabei nach dem gleichen Schema wie die Außenseite gemacht, nur ein paar Reihen weniger. Meiner Meinung nach stimmen die Maschenzahlen, wie sie in der Anleitung angegeben sind, nicht immer so richtig. Vor Allem zu Beginn ging sich das mit den Maschen in der ersten Runde nicht so wirklich aus. Aber die Anleitung ist gut genug, dass man einen allgemeinen Eindruck gewinnt wohin es gehen soll und etwaige defekte oder Rechenfehler die auftreten kann man gut ausgleichen.

Das Schwierigste am Brötchen war das Verbinden der beiden bereits fertigen und ausgestopften Hälften. Laut Anleitung soll man sie entlang der Kante zusammennähen auf einer Seite. Ich habe befürchtet, dass eine einfache Naht den Belastungen, wenn mit dem Stück gespielt wird, nicht wirklich standhalten wird. Deshalb habe ich die Kanten mit einer Reihe von Kettmaschen zusammengehäkelt. Das Einstechen durch die wulstigen gefüllten Brötchenhälften war relativ mühsam und hat daher auch etwas gedauert.

Und hier das fertige Stück. Da ich das Würstchen um 9 Reihen länger gemacht habe, musste ich auch die Brötchen im Mittelstück um die gleiche Maschenzahl verlängern.

Anleitung: Internet

Goal Outline - Multi Health

My next challenge will not deal with my hobbies as the last two did, but with my overall health and well-being. The last few months have been stressful and exhausting at work and now that it is winter time I usually tend to get lazy and depressive. So to conquer that trend I will use this month to focus on my body. I will eat healthy, take my time for sleeping and give myself a treat with long baths and time to relax. I could have made several separate challenges for different parts of my well-being but I considered that this would take up too much time and many of the tasks seem rather small to devote a whole month of blogging to them. So I put several tasks together to one big challenge.

The planned tasks for the next 30 days are:

- to sleep every day without an alarm clock

- to eat 5 pieces of fruit every day

- to drink only water, tea or fresh juice

- to reduce sugar and sweets as much as possible

- to give myself a full bathroom routine comprising but not limited to the use of conditioner, peeling, body lotion and such every time I would normally only shower and shave

Probably not every task will be easy and maybe I will set another challenge sometime in the future if one of the tasks is especially hard for me. This time I really look forward to the challenge because my expectations are to get back some energy and overcome my usual winter depression and laziness.

30 days: Writing a Novel - Aftermath

Given the fact that a particular idea for a sci-fi-novel is bobbing around in my head for over ten years now but my lazy self could never get around to actually write something down I chose this challenge to finally do something about it. Since it coincided with the NaNoWriMo I took their approach and participated. As a starting point for my novel I wrote down a timeline of historical events that lead to the world in the distant future were my story takes place long ago. I used that historical timeline together with some keywords on a general plot outline, which I also noted down years ago. This was my whole starting material. The things I missed was a strong antagonist, character names and also a big showdown. My hope was that these necessities would come as soon as I get into the process of constant writing. Making things up as you go along is a big part of the NaNoWriMo approach and since I usually need hours to develop a single name for a given character and then lose interest in writing any further this approach appealed to me very much.

What did I expect from this challenge? Well, to be honest I know that I’m far to removed from writing fiction for so long now that I rather wish for a ghost writer to just write down my ideas than to make it myself. What I wanted to achieve is some kind of text which has a considerable length and which at least plots down my novel idea in any kind of form. I was not expecting to get a sensible piece of good literature. It was more a challenge of willpower and to prove myself that it is possible to write down an elaborate and long idea. The hope was that the feeling of getting things out in the real world would give me a sense of success and motivation to go on and continue to be creative.

So what was the result? Well, as you know if you have read the blog so far, I aborted the challenge after 19 days because I couldn’t stand the process. I made it through ⅔ of the time of the challenge and managed to write about ⅓ of the planned 50000 words. I am happy that I have at least gotten some text done and I still think that with some refining my idea can be a decent novel some day in the future, but some obstacles blocked my way now so I will come to the things that lead to the premature ending of this project.

The first thing I noticed during writing is, that writing a long text as such is no longer such a special task for me as it might have been 10 years ago when I first wanted to write a novel. 10 years ago my phrasing in the fiction sector might have been better than now, but then I was unable to even imagine to write such a long piece of text. Today I write texts as a living. I write letters, patent applications and petitions the whole day and if I count the words or pages of what I write each week I think that the amount will be enough for two novels each year. The only difference is that these texts are separate pieces and never one long work of art. Nevertheless the technical process is the same. So, not only do I know that I can write this amount of words, which means that I don’t have to find this out any more, but the actual work itself interferes with how much energy I have left for writing anything else. If I already write 50000 words a month, every month, there just isn’t enough energy to double that amount.

This might have been only part of the reason why this challenge failed. The other main part was that the NaNoWriMo approach is very stressful. If you fall behind it gets harder and harder to reach the finish line. All you can think of is the amount of text you have to produce. Every time inspiration or energy fails, your goal gets a little bit further away and the feeling of failure drags me down. This leads to all kinds of physical symptoms (headaches, tension, insomnia…yes I’m very sensible to that kind of thing) and inhibits further progress so that the goal gets farther and farther out of reach. It is really a downward spiral.

What have I learned from this challenge? I learned that writing fiction as a hobby is a very energy robbing activity. It is isolating in the sense that I cannot do it while doing anything else, like talking to my wife or watching tv or anything. I have to isolate myself, concentrate hard to get into a mood of inspiration and then use this one or two hours to really get along. During writing, my emotion is spiraling up and down. Sometimes I feel like watching a movie in my head and can only barley keep up with writing down what I see. At those times I feel like a big creator, it lifts me up, I feel invincible. But then comes a phase where I doubt everything, my whole existence is at stake, everything I do or think or believe is questioned and deconstructed till there is nothing left but blackness and depression. These ups and downs transcend into everyday life, influence my physical well-being and my relations to others. It would be really neat to have my own novel in hands, but really seeing and feeling the costs of the creative process was new and this is the main part of what I learned. Often in life we all want to have one thing or the other but most often we can only fathom the costs to reach these goals. To try and do it, gave me a clearer picture and I noticed that having the manuscript was not worth the cost at the moment and hence I decided to stop.

Will I finish the novel? Yes. I’m still motivated to do this and blame at least some part of the tedious process to choosing the wrong approach for myself. I thought about two different approaches that I will try during a future challenge. One approach consists of writing every day but without looking at the wordcount. This might be less stressful and lead to less text but also to less negative symptoms. Another approach would be to split the remaining story down into plot parts and distribute the parts over the course of 30 days like I did with the crochet challenge. So far I have already planned my next few challenges so trying to write again will not be scheduled until somewhere next summer at the earliest.

What is always uplifting for me, is writing these summaries. Pondering about my past project, analyzing and planning future projects gives me great pleasure and motivation and this alone is reason enough to continue with these challenges.

Hot Dog - Teil 1 - Die Wurst

Das Würstel ist laut Anleitung viel zu kurz geworden, also hab ich im Mittelteil 9 Reihen hinzugefügt, wodurch es entsprechend der Dicke etwas länger aussieht. Senf und Ketchup wurden aufgestickt bevor man das Würstel füllt und fertigstellt. Das Sticken geht nun auch schon besser. Größte Herausforderung bei dem Stück war es eher die passende Wollfarbe zu finden.

Anleitung: Internet

30 Days: Writing a Novel - Day 19

Breaking Down.

I finally decided to quit and fail this challenge. To only think of writing anything today causes severe head aches and my body reacts very negatively to this whole writing thing. My final word count is 16472 words which is about a fourth of my novel I presume. I haven’t read what I wrote yet but I will definitely try to finish the manuscript but not now and not within this challenge.

The idea is that a challenge should more than anything else let me learn something about myself and improve the quality of my living whilst reaching goals that I think are worth pursuing. I have learned something about myself, but it didn’t improve my living and therefore hindered me from reaching a goal. Maybe it wasn’t the writing as a whole, maybe it was the approach that wasn’t right for me. We will see as I ponder more about this challenge in the aftermath.

30 Days: Writing a Novel - Day 18

I start to believe that this writing activity is so awkward for me that my body reacts to it unconsciously. I notice that this month I am far more sick than any time lately. I am constantly tired, tensed up and have a headache. I definitely know now that writing books is not a hobby that I will proceed in the near future because of all the negative aspects of the process itself. Even if I get an average piece of literature finished. The effort just isn’t worth it. My life is filled with far more positive things so I leave the writing to the other tormented souls out there.