news news news
17 Nov 2010 1 Comment
in General
Sorry guys, it sure has been a long time since I have written. I can blame it on being busy, but truth is, I could not bring anything out of me.
The construction works are not entirely done yet. This whole project cost us lots of aggravation, frustration, debts and anger. But – I must say, I also have to force myself looking at the “half full glass, instead of the empty part” and just be happy and grateful for what we have achieved so far. Considering we bought this “dump” 3 years ago, we really now have a mansion … compared … I should stop focusing on the things that are not done, but be happy for the things that are done and relax. I always have the urge to do everything at once! Therefore all my life I am chasing my own tail … so to speak. I am old enough, hopefully also wise enough with 40 to stop this vicious circle, lean back and take some time to enjoy the beauties of life.
My dear friend wrote in her blog “we must love and treat ourselves in the way we expect others to treat us”. If you think about it, it is so true, but do we do that? We should, I will start today. Life is too short. I don’t want to waste time on things that are not worth it. With this note, I will pass to my next subject.
For my 40.th birthday I got the very best surprise EVER!!! I am pregnant!!! And not only me, my sister too, she is only 2 weeks behind me. We both hope for girls!!! Keep hoping with us!
I found out 1 week before my birthday. We were overwhelmed with this great news. 40 was my deadline… and see, just in time 
Woaw it’s such a big thing for us. Ever since I found out I am on cloud 7. Must be the hormones plus the (old) age that puts me in this deliriously happy mood.
Somehow it all works out in the end. I managed to loose quite some weight before I got pregnant (thank you South Beach Diet), so even if I do gain … I will be just as “fluffy” I was before – only with a baby.
The first trimester was hell…. honestly. I felt sick all the time, especially between 3-7 in the afternoon. I could not eat anything, and the smells were just killing me. So I lost more weight, which is good!
Also I had some serious memory issues, I kept forgetting everything, I even drove by my house and didn’t stop, just continued, not that I forgot where I live… not that bad, I was just lost in thoughts…
Twice already I forgot my badge for the office door in my car, so I had to go back, yes, things like that happen in pregnancy or after 40 …:))
The ultrasounds and tests are fine! Touch wood!!! Baby is due in May.
I told the kids right away and they are happy and waiting, especially my daughter, my son has other worries, like girlfriends sleeping over, etc.
I never thought that I will have such a big age difference of 18 years … jesus, that makes me an old bag…
So now our family is really excited, everything is around the baby to come, although I am only in the 2nd trimester and I still have plenty of time ahead, but already I am counting the days, and I have 3 iPhone applications that count for me, and inform me every week about the babies development. I don’t remember being as excited in my last pregnancies. They both went by pretty smoothly and uneventfully. But this one is really exciting, feels so different, don’t ask me why.
I am especially very excited about the strollers…. I favor 2; of course both of them are the most expensive on the market, much to my husband’s dismay. He almost had a heart attack in the shop, he kept turning the price tag around to see if he reads correct. He got really pale. Actually, I saw this stroller in the street about 2 years ago and I told my husband, woaw, I want this stroller, I need a baby. I read all the Stokke vs. Bugaboo stroller reviews and still cannot make up my mind. I am only sure about the pink color … but I have another 3 weeks to know if it really will be a pink/purple stroller or a grey/brown/navy boring one…
It is amazing how the focus in life changes.
I can only say life is full of surprises 
hang on, I will update soon.
Construction works
06 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in General
… let me take a deep breath, take Valium and 20 drops of “rescue me”, count till 10 or maybe 200, and then start writing.
We have bought our “now we are 40, lets buy a house” in the suburbs 3 years ago. The old house is from the 70. The garden is huge. We have no close neighbors. Seemed perfect and a great idea at that time… We work 10 minutes away, 3 exits on the highway, one could not ask for more.
Turns out, not all gold what shines…
When we bought the house we thought, we will just make some minor changes in the house. You know, put a wall here, remove one there, paint the walls … yeah, that is mainly what we thought….
Man, were we naive…
The ‘eye opener’ soon followed, when we received the first offers for our “minor renovation…”.
Turns out, the basement was damp, the walls were impossible to remove, the windows were not properly installed … and many many more surprises. Just so you get the idea of what I am talking about, I can give a quick example: in winter when I sit on the couch close to a window, my hair is flying in the wind although the windows are closed.
Okay, the first shock absorbed, we accepted our situation, took another loan and renovated the urgent things that needed immediate renovation. Luckily we had an exceptionally talented constructor, even an honest one … imagine …that species of “honest constructors” is practically nonexistent, that much we know today.
Phew, done… we lived another 2, in the winter cold, in the summer hot, years in our old house.
Not for nothing, Austria is the nr. 2 in the world, for highest living standards… The Austrian government is offering 50% money back for renovations of houses over 30 years of age to improve and save energy. So we decided to go for another round of renovations, like exchanging the windows, covering the walls outside with 20cm styropor to safe energy and heating costs. Exchange our 33 windows, 5 door … not a big deal we thought, everybody around us is doing it too….
We thought, after our first good experience with this “alien” of skilled constructor, we can write out a tender in “my hammer” (austrian internet platform – client meets company, kind of bullshit) and see what we can get. A few companies showed up, but many did not even bother to get back to us with offers…. One turkish guy seemed reliable (good actor !!!) and we gave him the job, prepared a solid contract (not even worth the paper it is written on ….). Political news flash – all this happened before the turkish “peaceful Flotilla ship” headed for Gaza … resulting in Turkey and Israel being no longer friends, nor were we with our new peaceful turkish constructor…
We have started constructions in May. The guy, who pretended to be a constructor with over 20 years of experience, turns out does not even have a company nor a license for performing construction works…. He has hired a sub contractor, a polish lost little chubby soul, who has no idea what he is doing, nor has a clue of basic coordination at all.
Check this, the construction workers come to work around 1-2 in the afternoon. The team consists of 3 men. 2 take off about half an hour after they arrive, they say they need to go shopping for some materials to work with, and leave 1 poor bastard behind to work. 1 man show – most of the time. They return around 5 from the shopping tour, make some hammering noises, just to calm us down. At 6 they drop everything and rush home. For a couple of weeks they did not show up at all. Don’t think we have not called them. We did, and every time they said “we are on the way to you”! …. for weeks…. maybe like Moses, 40 years in the desert…
Finally I made some calls and inquiries, found out enough to threaten the “boss” on his vacation in Turkey. After threatening him with the police, Israeli Army (coming with paint-balls) and the Russian Mafia. Finally the workers started to show up around 10-11 so a slight improvement there…
We would have sent them to hell of course, if we did not pay them so much in advance, now we have to see that they will work at least for the sum already paid them… For now, I still cannot see the end of this adventure.
From all these worries and stress, I would have hoped at least to lose a few kilos, but it only increases my appetite for ice-cream and chocolates after midnight… I hope that I will not have to rename my blog soon from “not fat just fluffy” to: fat and fluffy…. !!!
Jewish mothers and their mothers
24 Jul 2010 2 Comments
in General
oy vey … this should be a book, or better a sit-com, rather than a short blog. We all know these stories before, so I will not bore you. Still, there is always a new one…
Being myself a “jewish mother” and having a “jewish mother” (which is even worse than being one yourself ) – because now your mother is not only a jewish mother – no – she is also a grandmother. Meaning, all the love she has for her children, she doubles and triples when it comes to her grandchildren!! Who, by the way, are all small geniuses and extra-ordinary in every way. There are no other children like “her grandchildren” on this planet … Though she is comparing them, very critical, to her friends grandchildren, be sure of that, and being “truly objective”, still, her grandchildren will always be ‘a tad’ better. Neeless to say, everything admirable about her grandchildren is inherited from her daughter’s fine genes – but, everything that is not so perfect – they must have inherited from the bad genes of their fathers (the poor bastard, son-in-law). Being a son-in-law of a jewish mother is certainly not a walk in the park – but NOTHING – compared to being a daughter-in-law of her favorite son ….
When I thought I knew all the “jewish mother” clichés …. I had an encounter last week myself, that even beats all the rest of my known stories so far… so I would like to amuse you with that one…
One of my dear friends is pregnant … yuppiii !! I am truly happy for her! Finally! She enjoyed a full life for far too long, she traveled a lot, had lots of fun – enough – now let her become a mother. Fun is over now, welcome, worries, fear, sleepless nights into your new life…
My friend is also jewish and her mother is not only jewish, she is a polish jew … that certainly beats all of the jewish mothers – big time !!!
Ok, so my friend is now 12 weeks pregnant … nobody can see it yet, not even me, and I really know her exceptionally well. She has not gained even 1 kilo yet … but she already wears advanced pregnancy clothes. Yes … the belly is just too voluminous and everything is pressing …. If you ask me, her belly is so flat that is seems to be glued inward to her back rather than sticking out, let alone, pressing against anything. Ok, let’s not be nasty, all first pregnancies are like that… we want the world to see our big accomplishment … Pregnant women need lots of attention, especially jewish ones with polish genes …
Truth is, we do take advantage of our “situation”. This is about the only time, our husbands will do anything and everything we want. Especially when it comes to food. You know, pregnant women have desires for weird food in the middle of the night, its not a myth… We just have to utter that we are in the mood for a falafel, but not any falafel, the one from Tel-Aviv… so what if we live in Jerusalem and the poor bastard has to drive 1 hour… he will have to go… And if he doesn’t, we will call our mother, complain about it. Right after we hang up the phone, our mother, “the higher authority”, will call her son-in-law and explain him (once again…) how lucky he is to be her precious daughter’s husband …
Now back to my friend…
After buying tons of pregnancy clothes and maternity bras, she went ahead and already bought a stroller. Just in case … the stores will run out of strollers in europe. She is in a rush, after all, she is in the 12th week and time flies … Since she is very sportive, the baby (embryo at 12 weeks) is also remarkably sportive. She is convinced she feels the baby kicking. YES, yes already !!! So what if all the babies in the world start kicking in the 19th week?! This one, is a special baby of a soon to be jewish mother…
I tried to tell her, and even showed her in google, that a woman starts feeling the baby in the 5th month, so around 17-19 weeks. However, this special little genius is already flip-flopping, throwing saltos and piruettes at 12 weeks. I told her it’s probably just gases … she doesn’t believe me.
Remember, I told you “polish jewish mother” beats them all?!! Here you go … My friend was here with her mother. When I smiled and told her again, you cannot feel the baby until about 19 weeks, the “polish jewish grandmother” said: “No No, this girl is very advanced !!! She is quite athletic, she is moving I felt it too”. What can I say to that … )) How can I argue with a soon to be grandmother of a future genius the world has never seen before??!!
So this my new jewish mother stories – so far the number 1 – I will let you know when I will get a better one. Shouldn’t be too long, I am around lots of jewish mothers on a daily basis…
Vienna weekend weather
23 Jul 2010 2 Comments
in General
The media is talking about global warming …. yet we never had such cold and long winters. Also the summers have changed. I remember having very nice 4 seasons here in Vienna as I grew up. This too has changed. Spring lasts about a couple of days. Fall, my most favorite time of the year, almost completely disappeared. This year for instance, the winter began in October, so no Fall at all, but an immensely long and cold Winter. We even had -28 in the mornings – so everybody was waiting for the summer to warm up – so quit complaining – here you go – a burning hot summer …. BIG TIME !!!
We have now in Vienna one of the hottest summers in history!!! Trouble is … Vienna does not have air condition – NO WHERE!!! So what if its 2010 … Vienna is slow. Maybe in 10 years from now, we will start to have air-conditioned public transportation, maybe not …!!!!
If you have to take the Metro on a hot day, consider taking a box of “deodorant” and give out as free gift, for your own sake; or consider bringing a little plastic bags in case you will need to throw up, like in the airplane …
One of my favorite activities is shopping, well-known fact … but see, Austrians are “very” business oriented (hahahahahahaha) They would rather safe a couple of thousand euro when they build a shopping mall worth 1 Million, than put air condition … what for? So what if it has 37 degrees outside, that is not sooooo hot, right?! Then they are surprised that sales go down in the summer …. who wants to buy anything, let alone try anything on, when you sweat like a p……??!!!
In Israel on the other side, people are smart (well, … Jews). They know their business, therefore they have put the best phenomenal air condition in every shopping mall. So people run to the malls like crazy, it’s like they go on holidays, with their children and even take along the grandparents. They spend days there, shopping and spending money like there is no tomorrow. Since it is so hot outside, and the mall is nice and refreshing, playing subtle background music, working on your subconsciousness, even enhancing your desire to buy more stuff )). I think this is why Israelis do not go abroad on vacation. Well of course, if they just go to the nearest shopping mall and can feel as if they are in Canada! See, that is business oriented, all the money (and people) stays in the country!
Another example of Vienna being slow …. they finally finally are selling iPads…, imagine, the rest of the world, even India has them already. Today !! They started selling them !!! Hold your horses … – remember we are in Vienna!!! There are no SIM cards (micro SIM) on the market yet! So great, the iPad is available – but no SIM cards, maybe in a couple of weeks, but in the meanwhile, it is an impressive piece to look at!! Even if useless, because all the WIFI in Vienna are locked and blocked….
But you know, I am Jewish, I like to cut corners, I have not patience, and the Austrian pace is just to slow for me. I have found out on youtube how to convert regular SIM cards to Micro SIM cards, so I cut my old SIM card – and – voila !! there you go! I am surfing with my iPad since 2 weeks while others are waiting for the sim cards….- he he he. Amazing you can even learn how to perform surgeries like organ transplants on youtube … I am sure in some countries that is how they study medicine
Back to the weather now – Another funny phenomena, only available in Vienna is the following. All the week from Monday till Friday the weather is just incredible, you can’t wait to get out of the office, you start planning with friends, where to go for the weekend to enjoy the lovely weather … For example, I had planned to go this weekend to a beautiful place, a party at the lake, and to this party you only wear white clothes, fete blanche…. I went and bought like crazy white clothes for me and my husband … all ready and eager to go … And than !! Taaa daaaa !!! Big surprise, Friday afternoon, clouds are coming in, strong winds and you are a minute away from a storm. Last weekend it rained cats and dogs, 100 Liter in 3 hours! But this only happens in the weekends, no worries, on Monday the weather will be just as great as the Monday before. So after you are well rested, spending a cold and rainy weekend at home doing nothing, you are just fit for another wonderful sunny week in the office This is how the Austrian weather god takes care of productivity in Austria….
Friend & Enemies
13 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in General
o oh … this can be a long post …
we have a saying: “God defend me from my friends; from my enemies I can defend myself.”
… one more I like: “Better an honest enemy than a false friend”.
Not all gold what shines – and not all your friends are REALLY your friends. Surprise; most are not.
The older you get, the wiser you should become. When I was around 30, I had tons of friends. Some friends are not by choice … they come as “built-in”, usually they are the wife/husband of a friend you do like, so you have to endure their “better/worse half”.
Now that I am about to become 40, I decided to clean up and bravely choose whom I call my friends and whom I cross out “from the circle of trust” …
At least we can choose our friends – if not our family.
This “clean-up” of my “friends” is crucial … I have to be honest and strict, not diplomatic, otherwise a new “inventory list” will be due very soon. I decided, time is too precious to waste it on/with people who are not worth it.
So what is left after my clean up are my real friends, I can count on one hand! The rest are just acquaintances or colleagues – and especially those – you seriously gotta be careful with, because they are everywhere… and smiling …
So how does it work? Lets summarize:
Age 20 – I did not even know the true meaning of friendship, but had tons of friends
Age 30 – I started to figure it out, and had less and less friends
Age 40 – I think I got the idea by now, and have only a hand full of friends
Age 50 – …. will I have any friend left ???
I had my share of disappointment with friendships, but I am also blessed to have few, but wonderful long-lasting friendships, I cherish.
I wish I could spend more time with those friends. Nowadays, with the internet it is so easy to remain in contact. God bless the INTERNET and skype )
The beauty about friendship is that it has no age difference, one of my dear friends is 70, and she rocks! Religion, or where you come from, does not matter. Who would have thought, that some of my best friends are “the others…- or – not from ours…”, (the jews will recognize the phrase: “nisht von insrige…”). But I love them for ‘who they are’. What really counts is the person and only that!
So – this – is for my true friends (and a few relatives….) – whom I truly love, thanks for being there for me always
not fat just fluffy … where does that come from …
08 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in General
Cookie - not fat just fluffy
Why I named my blog “not fat just fluffy”. This is actually a t-shirt I bought for my dog Cookie, who like me struggles with her weight. No, actually, we both struggle with our appetite – the body is just a result….
After I had my second child, my beautiful daughter, I have some kilos, that simply do not want to leave me. There isn’t any diet I have not tried. Okay, I admit, I start my diet on Mondays. Always a Monday, because you know … after the weekend … Mondays I am enthusiastically motivated, yes even inspired – thus this determination is not long-lasting and lasts until max. Wednesday-Thursday; when we usually we go out for dinner, or at least a decent ice-cream with whipped cream. Sometimes the children want Mc Donalds … it is always “them” who distract me from my diet plans… never my fault anyway
After breaking my new and “this time soooo promising” diet, I tell myself, ahhh to hell with it, just eat honey, in 2 days will be Monday again, and this vicious circle continues week after week. Sometimes I do manage to lose 3-5 kilos. When I tell my father I have lost a few kilos; his next question always would be “and how many did u find…”
When I was younger, I could eat whatever and whenever I want. I was 50 kilo, I even have photos to prove this theory, luckily, otherwise; I would not believe it myself… it seems so far back and unrealistic. I recently met a friend from my University, who must have remembered me skinny and young … She did not dare to ask me straight out … like OMG what happened to you … ???!!! She was polite and diplomatic, she did not say much really, it was “that look”, you know… So I told her: “yes, I know I gained some weight, but it is because I had a baby…”. Ahhh, that explains it! She congratulated me and asked: “How old is your baby now?” I answered: “…she will turn 12 in November…”
Friends keep telling me “ahhh you are not fat, … well just a bit you could lose, it will be healthier for you” … I know I am not fat, and the funny thing is that, in my mind, I am still “a wannabe 50 kilo”. Okay, lets agree on 60 kilo. Problem is, that is in my head; the scale however says on ‘good’ days 70 kilo, on very very bad day even 72-73 … Than I freak out and wait for the next Monday. Pushing the scale from one spot to another in the bedroom does not help. I even go sometimes with the scale to another room, and still it shows the same weight … why do I think moving the scale around will make a difference …?? No idea, but I hear, I am not the only one doing it….
However, my “wake up call” appears, when my daughter takes photos of me … We are a hobby photographer kind of family. In my mind I have a certain image of myself, but when I see myself on photos my daughter takes of me, I am stunned… no speechless and utterly shocked !!! Woaw … who’s that … ??? What a gap of 20 kilo between the image in my head – and the image on my laptop screen (macBookPro !! of course !!) … or do you think, it is because I have a wide-screen…?? No, cannot be…
I mean, I know she is my daughter, they say ‘love makes you blind’ !!! But that blind??? For god sakes, girl, at least warn me before you take a photo, so I can stop breathing, flatten my stomach and hide behind some furniture. But no! You know how kids can be cruel and blunt – click-click, here it is, in my face - another undeniable photo, another proof … screaming at me.
Denial and postponing …
DENIAL – why should I put myself on a diet? I am not THAT big (well some parts are … yes, but not all of them… yet…) ?
Besides, I have a husband, not my problem anymore, it’s his problem now… if he accepts it … his own fault.
POSTPONING – This week I cannot start a diet, I have guests coming, we will go out a lot, a diet is impossible now…
and this is how it goes ….
Hello everybody … anybody or just nobody …
07 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in General
woaw, I have a blog …
be patient .. this is the first post on my brand-new blog, still trying to figure out how it works.
Gosh, I hope to find the time to write at least on a weekly basis.
Life has become so busy. It seems that if we had 30 hours a day, it sill would not be enough. This constant race after … after what … actually??
Time passes so quickly, I find myself thinking …woaw it is July already, didn’t we just celebrate Xmas a couple of weeks ago…?? In a blink of an eye, a whole year passes, or even 5 years – and what did we do all this time?
TIME … is such a luxury … We never have enough of it, nor do we appreciate it. We never know how much we have left. Wouldn’t it be exciting to get a “time-statement” in a secret envelope, like a bank account statement. Telling us, this is how much time you have altogether. You have already spent so much. This is what is left of your time. Spend it wisely!!!
But no, in real life, “our time” is unknown – which makes it tricky. We always postpone – the best for last … but what if we never get to the “best part” …???
I want to start keeping a record of my days/weeks. As organized as I am at work, as disorganized and chaotic I am in my personal life. That’s me…
So perhaps to keep a blog, even if not for anybody else but myself, to read back and remember, or maybe leave behind for my children and friends. Every day is a gift, let’s not forget that. To let the days pass, without leaving something behind, feels like a mistake.
I will try to keep track of my days, feelings, events and happenings … yes, I still have happenings … sometimes…
