Ten On Tuesday! Burned Brötchen, Corgis, Camp Cucamonga, worst painting job ever and Grummel Griesgram.

Hallo meine Lieben! Hello lovely Lin!


Thanks for Ten On Tuesday! I love reading it! And to write my own. 


1. Corgis are awesome.
( If you consider to offer a dog a home, please go to an animal shelter or an animal rescue group!)

2. Seriously, NBC? You don't want to show the American people the whole opening ceremony of the Olympics and decided to show an interview with Michael Phelbs instead of a tribute to the victims of terror in London? Because it is not related to America? Oh, come on!


3. I forgot my Brötchen in the oven this morning. So sad. It seems like I always burn things.

4. I am carrying two pairs of socks in my purse. And I feel absolutely good about it because you never know when you need them. I always get cold feet, especially when I go to places with air conditioning like movie theaters. That's when I need my socks. Why two pairs? I really don't know.


5. Our landlord is painting the house. Want to see the worst painting job ever?

I honestly have to idea if this is the end result. He painted it yesterday but didn't show up today to do some more work. I mean, who paints the glass without using some tape? I don't know what he thinks. We will see. I am sure it's art.


6. I had a weird dream last night. I went camping and during the night Mike White scared me to death when he jumped out of a bush - dressed as a chicken. 
I don't know what that means.

7. There are some old movies I want to see again: Can't buy me love (yay for 80's McDreamy), Camp Cucamonga (German title: Chaos in Camp Cucamonga), The Burbs (German title: Meine teuflischen Nachbarn - My devilish neighbors). Has anybody else seen those movies?

8. The wonderful Alex told me that it means good luck when dragonflies land on you. I love the idea so much and now I hope that this will happen soon. How do I make a dragonfly land on me?

9. Evian is naive spelled backwards. 


10. If I could be one of Rainbow Brite's (Regina Regenbogen) friends, I would be Katrin Kleeblatt. Patty O'Green in English (I had to look that up). 
I still have my Rainbow Brite plush toys by the way. Sternschnuppe, Grummel Griesgram, Schleichmichel.....

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Spice up your life.

Hallo meine Lieben,

does anybody remember that song from the Spice Girls? I don't even know if they were famous in America. I have to say that I was very shocked when David told me that nobody knows Take That in America. Hello! Take That! They are so damn famous. How can you not know Robbie Williams. It's a shame. 

Well...talking about spices! 
I never had a green thumb. I immediately kill all the plants I take care of. Even when the sign on that plant explicitly says that the plant doesn't need much care or water or sunshine. I don't know if plants don't like me or what the problem is....but: I gave it another shot. David and I bought a pepper plant. We rescued it from stupid Walmart. It seems like they never give their plants any water. This plant looked really terrible and I felt so bad for it that I had to adopt it. And there are delicious red peppers on it. Can you believe it?
Here is the proof:

Don't they look great?
So yeah, I was a little proud about myself because this worked out so well and I decided to try to grow my own pepper plant. I like challenges. I got some plant seeds and planted them a while ago. First I thought it did not work because nothing happened but yesterday I looked at it again and it started to grow. I was so excited.

I am doing my best to keep them alive! I am so excited about this. It's a huge success for me. 
So I thought when I can grow pepper plants I can grow some basil too.

I am so happy! I can't wait for them to grow bigger and bigger. And then finally eat them!
My next challenge will be to grow my own tomatoes.

Do you grow any vegetables or fruits?
When I was a kid we had all kinds of fruits and vegetables in our garden It was like paradise!
Have a wonderful week!

Sunday Confessions! Dragonflies, cats and turtles.

Hallo meine Lieben,


I am linking up with wonderful Alyx from Every Day Is A New Adventure for Sunday Confessions!







1. When I was a kid I was totally scared of dragonflies because somebody told me that their wings can cut your skin very deep. Every time I saw one I tried to hide somewhere because I expected them to attack me and kill me. So stupid.

2. I am in love with my sister's cats Fritzy and Finnick.

3. I love to watch "vlogs" (such a weird word) but I know that it would be a disaster if I would decide to make one. First of all I have no idea how to record myself and technology hates me. It really does. Plus I know that I would talk a lot of crap.
4. Last night I realized that my pepper plant is starting to grow and I have to say that I am a little proud. I usually kill all my plants so I try to be very careful this time and do everything right. I really want to have a "green thumb". 
5. I am absolutely obsessed with the blog cuteoverload.com They post pictures of cute animals every day. So perfect for me. When I see something cute (everyday) I send the link to David and my Dad to show them. I am sure they will get annoyed really soon!

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Have a lovely Sunday!

Cute Overload - The cats in my life.

Hallo meine Lieben,

I am spending the day with my American family. The birthday of my mother-in-law was on Wednesday and we all celebrate this together at my sister's house. Which means I can finally meet her new cat Finnick. So exciting.

That's why I thought I show you some pictures of the cats in my life. You all love cats....am I right?

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend with you loved ones, you cats, dogs, bunnies, horses or whatever animal you live with.

 That's Jerry, my Dad's cat. She is almost 9 years old and loves so sleep in cardboard boxes. I think she never sleeps somewhere else. Even when the boxes are way too small for her. 

Yoda, the little kitten I visited again last week. He is such a sweetheart and it was very hard for me not to steal him away from his family. 

Lumpi, Tiger's brother. He is 5 years old and loves to sleep. He also loves to spend time with the bunnies. He likes to sleep in their hay. 

Our neighbor's cat. I don't know how old he is but he is a sweetheart. He always comes over to visit me. Every time I open the door he comes over to our side of the street. Our neighbors have 3 other cats but they ignore me most of the time. 

Tiger, Lumpi's brother. He loves to sleep in the sink. And other weird places. Like the bathroom cabinet. Which means that he has his own towel in there. The fluffiest one for sure.

This is Finnick, my sister Katie's cat. She recently adopted the adorable former stray cat and as you can see he is enjoying his new home. 

Fritzy. He is also Katie's cat and happy to have a new buddy to play with. He also enjoys to play with my parents-in-law's dog Nikki. 

Tell me a little bit about your cats, please! Have a lovely Saturday!

Book club! Do a good deed every day and fill out some lists.

Hallo meine Lieben,

A couple of days ago I helped a dog find his way home. I rode my bike to the post office and yes, I know that I am probably the only one who does that. So on my way back I had to cross a busy street and there was a dog. Standing on the street. Funny thing is that he waited for his light to turn green. But then he just stopped and waited on the street which was really weird. He looked confused and he was really old. So I ran to him because I saw some cars coming down the road and helped him over the street. He wore a collar so I thought that he must have an owner. 
I have to admit that I think that animals can understand me so I asked the dog where his home his and he started to walk. I followed him down the road for several minutes until we reached a little path. He followed it and stopped at a fence. There was another dog behind that fence who started to bark. I also started to scream "Hello?" and after a while an old man came to the fence and he was very happy that I brought his dog back. He said that the dog escaped a couple of times and that he was always scared that something bad could happen. The man was very friendly and told me to come back to visit the dogs and his wife and his daughter. Very nice. 
So yeah, do a good deed every day and you can make others and yourself happy.

I am linking up with Heather from Blonde...Undercover Blonde for the book club!

Surprise: I don't talk about a crime novel today! I hope you are not disappointed!

I want to show you this fantastic book.

It is a journal and it contains lots of lists that you can fill out and I can tell you it's so much fun!  The book has 160 pages so you can imagine how many lists there are. To many different topics. 

List your closest friends
List things most people probably don't know about you
List your best purchases
List your bad habits
List the best gifts you've ever received
List people you wouldn't mind having sex with
List the ways you've changed since your teens
List your favorite toys you have played with as a child

and so on.

There is a lot to think about and you learn a lot about yourself. Plus I am sure it will be a lot of fun to read the lists in a couple of years. I am a huge fan of books like this.

There are several books in this series and I definitely want to get more of them.
Books like:

My future listography. All I hope to do in lists
Film listography. My life in movie lists.

I would say it's also the perfect present.

Every list comes with a beautiful drawing like this one.

So if you like writing lists like me or are a lover of journals: this book is perfect for you. You will have lots of fun. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Vacation, baby! Around the world!

Hallo meine Lieben,


I am linking up with Lin, Natalie and Kailyn for another round of Random Thursday! The topic of this week is:

I love this topic! There are so many places I want to see so I would need a couple of vacations. So I guess the perfect vacation for me would be a trip around the world. I would be able to see a couple of wonderful places in just one trip.


It would be a little hard to pack for a trip like that because I would love to travel to many different places with a different climate. So I would need at least 2 suitcases. I am sure David would not pack as much as I would so our baggage won't look too embarrassing. 


And these are the places I would visit on my first trip:

Colorado, United States of America


We have been there last year on a road trip and I know that it  is David's favorite place to be. So I think it would be perfect to start our trip there. We visit some of the breath-taking state parks and enjoy the nature there. We can do some hiking and camping and get ready for our trip around the world.

Havana, Cuba


I am not sure if Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba. I have read that they are not allowed to spend money there. So I am not sure if David would be allowed to travel with me if I spend all the money. Not sure. But aside from the travel restrictions I would really love to visit Cuba some day. 
The architecture is fantastic and I would love to sit in front of a cafe in Old Havana and smoke a Cuban cigar.

Rejkjavik, Iceland


You probably know that I am a huge fan of Icelandic crime novels. And I would really love to explore this land someday. It looks so fantastic and mysterious. I would start in Rejkjavik but then travel around the whole country to see all the nature. 

Cork, Ireland


I am a little obsessed with Ireland. When I am old I want to live on a farm in Ireland with a lot of rescued animals. On my trip around the world I would love to see the beautiful nature in Ireland and drink a Guinness in an Irish pub.

Delhi, India


I started to read about the Indian culture and the country when I was a teenager and I am fascinated. Plus I really love Indian food. I would love to experience the Indian culture because it is so different to the culture I grew up in.

Christmas Island, Australia


When I was a teenager I read a book about a couple who traveled around the world. And they visited Christmas Island. I was so fascinated by their description of this tiny island that I decided that I want to visit it someday.
Every year in November the mass migration of the Christmas Island red crab starts. Millions of animals wander from the woods to the coast. And I want to see that.

New Zealand


The nature is fascinating and I really want to see a kiwi.

There are many more places I want to see but I think this is a good start. 
What is your dream vacation? Have a lovely Thursday!

Meet my wonderful Indonesian friend who loves the German Fußball Nationalmannschaft!

Hallo meine Lieben,

this is a premiere: I have a wonderful guest post for you! I am so excited!

I have met Niken a while ago and I immediately knew that we would be great friends. She is a fantastic person, lives in Indonesia, has one of the coolest jobs ever and loves Fusball!
Please go and check out her blog Read My Mind! You'll have lots of fun!
(She also knows a lot more about html codes than I do! Thank again, Niken!)

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Hello there Land of Candy Canes residents. My name’s Niken and I blog over Read My Mind. So glad to be here today and I’d like to thanks Katrin for this opportunity. Usually I might bore you to death with my uncontrollable talks about football (you might call it soccer in US of A, but really. It’s football. I mean, they use their feet) and how I can cry and cry and bawl my eyes with tears when my favorite team lost! And yes, some of my friends think I’m crazy for crying over football game (my mom does think so too), but when Katrin told me in our email conversation she doesn’t think I’m crazy and she can cry over football too, I know that we can be soulmate (coincidence that my favorite team is Germany? And Spain of course). 

But you are lucky today because I will not bore you with my thoughts on football match. Instead, today I’ll talk about my home country (hopefully I won’t bore you with this one). I’m 100% Indonesian (strangely, some people think I’m a mix of white and Indonesia) and currently live in Indonesia even though you can say I’m a nomad because I keep moving from place to place due to my job. 

Through the 23 years of my life, I’ve lived in several cities in Indonesia in a settled way, not in a nomad way. I was born in Bali lived there for several years, then my dad got transferred for his job where we moved to a city in Borneo island, then I went to college in Yogyakarta (Jogja for short), and now I’m pretty much live in Jakarta-Yogyakarta when I’m not traveling for my job.

Each living experience in these several different cities give me a tasteful life, because even though they’re still in one country, these cities have different culture. Indonesia, an archipelago country consist of more or less 13.000 islands, is rich of culture. There are so many local tribes with unique customs, language, food, dance, costume, and way of living life which may take my life time to talk about them all. But in general, here are a few things about Indonesian :

 We eat with our hand.

 

It’s not like we eat meals with hand all the time, but it’s okay if you eat with your hand instead of spoon and fork. And there is a common belief that some foods are taste more delicious when you eat it with your hand. 

 Left hand is considered not polite.

When we shake hands with other people, when we hand/pass something to someone, we use our right hand. Using left hand is an act of disrespect to the people that we face. And when we pose too, like in the picture above (kidding). 

The use of left hand. 

 We use left hand to wash out butt after we poop. I don’t think people ever use their right hand for this business even that it’s no written rule. 

We call someone older not just with the name. 

 Even if that someone is not relatively connected with us, we call them with “mas” for boys, and “mbak” for girls and then followed by their names. “mas” and “mbak” are Javanese mean “brother” and “sister”. So if the person is considered as old as or more likely like a brother/sister to us, we call them “mas” or “mbak”. For example : your senior in high school, your older sibling’s friends, etc. The call for the older people can be different in other city, like in Jakarta they call someone older “Abang” for boys, but the meaning is the same. Brother. And if you considered the older person as your aunt, even if you’re not relatively connected, you call her “tante” which means aunt, and then followed by her name. For example : your friend’s mother. 

 Thick and close kinship.

We are so close with our family/relatives. Like in my family we’re so close with our cousins, aunts, uncles, our parents cousins, etc. And when you come to a town where your relative is there, don’t even think to not come over to their house. There’s a bold chance that they’ll make sure sleepover at their house, stuff you with food, etc. because they want to take care of you while you’re in town.
And that’s my friends, are a few things about Indonesian. I can’t wait to hear about your thoughts and don’t hesitate to question me more if you still have bugs running in your hand. Thanks again Katrin for having me visit CandyCanesLand! Have a great day. :)

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Thank you Niken for your wonderful post! It was so exciting to write a guest post for you! And such an honor that you wrote a post for my blog!
PS: You can find my guest post on her blog!

Ten On Tuesday! A kitten, a card, The Blitz and a grasshopper.

Hallo meine Lieben,


It's time for Ten on Tuesday with my favorite Lin from Linny's Vault! 

1. Yesterday I visited my new friend the kitten again. They still don't know if it's a boy or a girl but I am pretty sure it's a boy. It's just a feeling but I usually trust my feelings. He is so adorable! The poor guy has a respiratory infection and needs to get medication but hopefully he will be better soon. He spent almost the whole evening in my arms.

Aww. Isn't he adorable? He reminds of a little bit of Yoda in this picture. That would also be a great name for him. 

2. The couple we visited also has a dog named Izzy. She is a mini Schnauzer. When I looked away she ate the kitten's food. That's a little mean. But she's still adorable. 

3. Lumpi and Tiger got a lovely birthday card from my friend Miki's cats Dimitri & Dante. Miki and her cats are such sweethearts and I was so excited when I saw the letter with Lumpi's and Tiger's names on it. What a wonderful idea! Thank you so much, Miki! You are a wonderful friend!

Mail for Lumpi & Tiger

A kitten birthday card! Thanks Miki!

4. I had a visitor yesterday. A grasshopper. I was totally excited about it and showed it to David and his reaction was more like "yes, a grasshopper.". I always get totally excited about things, David always stays calm. The perfect mixture. 

5. David surprised me! He ordered a Minus The Bear shirt for me and it came in the mail yesterday! As you can imagine, I was totally excited. I am in love with this shirt.

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6. I ate onions yesterday. I wanted to be polite but it was torture. I will never understand why people like onions. 


7. We watched the latest Breaking Bad episode on Sunday and it was so exciting for me because they talked German in this episode. It was so cool to hear the German language on American television. 
And Mike's last name "Ehrmantraut" sounds pretty German to me. But they never mentioned anything about that. Maybe they will.

8. I saw two Doppelganger of famous people in the movie theater last weekend. Mike from Breaking bad sat behind us and "The Blitz" from How I Met Your Mother in front of us. As you can imagine I was excited. But I resisted to take pictures.

9. I am trying to grow some basil. Hopefully that will work out. I don't really have a "green thumb".


10. I need to watch "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" again. My Dad watched it recently and told me about  out. It is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!