adventures

Hello, everyone!

This entry will be different compared to most of the ones i shared here. Through this post, you'll get to know me better. As the title suggests, I'll be sharing some memories i have from my early years in this world. 

There are many things I remember since I was a child. I’m not sure which memory is the oldest. I want to write these down so I may still remember them. 

One of the earliest is of my grandma on my dad’s side, holding me and one of my older cousins. It’s possible I was maybe older than 6 months old at the time. I remember my cousin was reaching out towards me to give me a kiss. All I remember is that I didn’t want to be kissed and I hid my face in my grandma’s chest. It is also possible I also started crying. There is at least 1 picture of that time. Now, both grandma and that cousin are dead. He actually died drowned in a lake probably a few months later than this picture. I also vaguely remember going to a part of his funeral. I remember a generally dark room, lots of people, and him in his coffin, surrounded by lit candles. I didn’t understand what was happening for sure. 

When I was 3 years old, my aunt gave birth to another son. I was at the countryside, where my paternal grandparents lived. She brought her new born so that they would meet him. This time around, my new cousin being a baby, he needed to sleep a lot. My aunt and grandma would sit with their legs stretched out, and put the baby on their legs, while trying to rotate the legs from left to right and back. The motion was comforting for the babies back then as we didn’t have any other special crib. 

When the baby would fall asleep, the person could slowly separate their legs, and the baby would not realize they’re on the bed. I realized that the motion is pretty easy to perform and so I asked if I could do it. I was allowed to do it, though I’m sure I was supervised. I also remember that despite me being 3 years old, I was still being put to sleep the same way. I remember I liked it so much, I was asking for it, until I was older and too long compared to the legs of the person I was asking. 

Speaking of the countryside, many households have their toilet outside in the yard. I can’t remember exactly what type of toilet my paternal grandparents used to have. This is the outdoors toilet my maternal grandparents used to have until recently.  

No, they didn't replace it with a modern toilet, just this construction got a bit of a revamp. Out of all my grandparents, just my mom's dad is still barely alive at 90-something years old. 

Stick around for more stories coming up in the future. 

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello everyone!

DISCLAIMER: This post was started before the illegal invasion of Ukraine happened. I'm aware of that situation. I choose to post this entry because we all want and need a form of escapism from reality. It doesn't mean we don't care about what happens out there. 

Even if you live in a country without an actual conflict going on, or generally thought of as safe to travel to, you might have other issues. They could relate to money, family, mental or physical, pets, or who knows what else. I do know that i, myself, watch videos and read blogs to escape from whatever troubles me. It's like a very short mini vacation. 

For now, i have nothing of importance to say about the situation in Ukraine. all i can say is that Romania receives refugees - either Ukrainians who want to be safe (mostly women and children, of course) and foreigners who went to Ukraine to work, travel, or to study. Talk about innocent people being in the wrong place at the wrong time, huh?  

Time management is important for everyone. This entry comes after several similar experiences with Anna at the same beauty clinic she goes to for several years now. 

I don’t want to talk about specific cosmetic procedures and problems some people have or get after. It’s your body, hopefully your money too, and you decide what you do with these. We don’t judge these aspects here. 

As you may know, each intervention has a certain duration. In most cases the doctor needs to also prepare the patient for what will happen. The preparation may involve:
    ◦    Drawing on the face
    ◦    Seeing what needs to be done 
    ◦    Presenting the various solutions available 
    ◦    Applying a numbing product
    ◦    Waiting for it to show effects 

Only after all of these the actual procedure is done. 

I won’t name the beauty clinic because the doctor has very good results and isn’t trying to make more money off of people. 

However, the clinic’s secretary is a bit annoying. She speaks quite a lot, seems to not be paying attention to anything, or even has any idea of what the services of the clinic are, or how it should operate. Additionally, she schedules the patients quite close one to the next, as far as hours go. She might have been instructed so by the doctor herself, I don’t know for sure. 

I believe the reason is that the doc may think that while someone waits with the anaesthetic on, she can proceed with the previous patient. And I understand this thinking, except it doesn’t always work out as seamlessly as it sounds. 

The reason is rather easy to figure out: the time it takes for each procedure. Some can last for 30 minutes, others for 1.5 hours and even 3. If you make a person come 1,5 hours before a long intervention ends, that person will waste time and not be happy. Plus, the doctor is also human and may need to eat, use the restroom, get a bit of a break, talk with the staff, etc. 

Today, Anna had an appointment at 5 pm. We got there on time. Some 5 minutes later, another chick comes, and says she also has an appointment at 5pm, with the same doctor, just some other intervention than Anna. This chick was called in first. Anna’s turn was 30 minutes later. 

As I type this, it’s already 6 pm and she’s still waiting for the doctor to go to the procedure Anna asked for. 

I don’t think this is acceptable considering that at times, there are even more patients in this small clinic with barely any seats for everyone. The seats i saw, for patients to sit on while waiting, are:

• the one i was sitting on when i took the pics in this entry,
• the one partially seen in the image above,
• a couch on the ground floor, seating 2 or 3 people. 

Not to mention, the interventions are pricey - well, OK, here they're a bit cheaper compared to other similar clinics, but still. 

And here i thought that I was bad at managing my time and other resources. It seems some businesses are worse than me. 

I honestly forgot if i ever wrote any entry on me starting a planner. I do remember (because i found it) that i wrote an update about it. You can read the update here. I used a planner for 4 years and a half in total. I do have another so called planner for this year, but it's mostly to help me realize when i post on my review site. 

In all honesty, what i used, can't be called a planner because i didn't make or write down plans in it. I mostly kept track of my sleeping hours, when i worked out or walked a longer distance than from home to the closest supermarket and back.  

Despite my procrastination and bad management skills, I still figure out a way to meet my deadlines while offering the best possible project. So, yea, I'm really disappointed in how bad this clinic manages their appointments and doesn't consider the time their clients has available. 

Ok, enough ranting and bragging for one entry. More next time! Bye~~~

(c) Charly Cross 2013 – present. all rights reserved.

Hello all. 

I thought I should finally end the Blogmas 2021 "saga," thing. Let's go!

Day 17

On this day we had the chance to win another premium account, by participating in the contest on Facebook. 

Since I already won, I didn't participate again, even though I want and need one for my review site. But don't worry, there's still time in the future. And at the time i didn't have a good use for it. And others also want and need it, maybe more than me. 

Day 18

On this day, we were supposed to complete our Christmas gifts. I'm going to half-ass the description for this day. I can't really remember what i already said about the gifts i prepared.  

We did find this pig statue with a feather collar. We bought it for Anna's mom. She loved it!

Anna received mostly items decorated with a pink flamingo or red birds. But this piglet statue is fabulous and i can't say anything anymore. :) 

Day 19

For this day, we were supposed to have a positive attitude the whole day. 

What can i say? since i started taking my antidepressants, having a more positive attitude or mindset is far more easy than before. 

However, i don't think on this particular day my attitude was too positive. It's silly and ridiculous to think people can have a certain state of mind on command. Actors might be able to pull it off, as this is their job. 

Day 20

On this day, we were supposed to wear or showcase a Christmas sweater. The platform also offered a 50% sale for its premium account option. 

We don't have Christmas sweaters, but we have many pairs of seasonal socks. Mostly received as Christmas gifts. You can see one of these pairs in this entry.  

We still have and use it, along with any other we will still receive in the future. 

Day 21

On this day, we were supposed to talk about cooking for the holidays. I feel this topic is redundant at this point. I feel as if we already talked about holiday foods twice already. 

One of the stuff to be cooked on this day is the cozonac. We actually ordered ours this year. We also ordered one of the next beauties for Anna's parents. 

Apparently, it was delicious! The place where we ordered it from usually sells ice cream and it's super popular in summer.  

Day 22

On this day, we had another chance to win a premium account. No more comments here. 

Day 23

On this day, we had to make the life of another better, by donating stuff we don't need anymore. 

I'm actually a member of a local free-cycle group on Facebook. We donate there various items quite often. We also took many things others had no more use of. It saves us quite a bit of money, and people scratch one another's back rather often. 

The variety or value of the items being donated is rather high at times. 

Day 24

On the last day of Blogmas, we had to share good resolutions. And I'm not sure what this means. 

This means i don't have much to say to begin with. And the result is that i finally finished last month's daily challenge set by my platform, Over-Blog. 

I hope you had a good Christmas and New Year's Eve. :)

I think the next entry will be in the first 7 days of February. Until then, check out my site with reviews. At its current URL, the posts appear twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays!

Until next time!

© Charly Cross 2013 – present. all rights reserved.

Hi all!

Let's continue with Blogmas in January. Well, if you were living in Russia, you'd be celebrating Christmas in January, actually. At least there's that, i suppose. 

Once again I'll batch a few days together, mostly because i failed to post it in December, as I mentioned in the previous post. 

Day 12

On the 12th day, we were expected to mention or make a list of our favorite Christmas movies. 

Just like with seasonal music or the wreath, I'm not a fan of such movies. 

I can't remember if we watched any movie in December. I did watch Star Trek The Next Generation. And yes, I'm more of a Trekkie, and definitely not a fan of Star Wars, sorry. :( Currently, I'm watching the Deep Space Nine series. 

Day 13

On this day, we once again had the opportunity to earn a premium or business paid account for our blog or site. 

This time I participated and ....

I actually won!!!! YAAAAAY!!!!! I'm really happy about it! :D 

Nothing more to talk about for this day. 

Day 14

Today's challenge was related to the food we planned for Christmas. If you remember from last year, i may have mentioned we usually have traditional foods we eat for certain celebrations. This link may refresh your memory.

One of the dishes you can expect to see Salad a la Russe. While the recipe is the same year after year, the design will always be different. This is the recipe I use, in case you haven't seen it yet. 

I made probably 3 plates and a casseroles of salad. The casserole went to Anna's parents, as her mother was sick and couldn't stand or sit for too long. As such, we offered to make the salad for them. 

These are most of the plates i decorated for this Christmas. I'm surprised to see just how clear and crisp the image and colors are. Well, If I'm not mistaken, these were taken with my new iPhone 8, so maybe this is why. 

For this salad, the carrots and almost everything should be cooked or pickled, including the carrots and pieces of red bell pepper. My carrots are boiled, and the peppers are raw. The salad is better with these 2 decor pieces as pickled. 

As a side note, the last image is the salad for Anna's parents.

Day 15

 I don't think I have much to report for this day. The admins of the platform said today's international tea day. or something along these lines. 

They asked if we prefer tea or coffee. Well, i prefer coffee, though I drink quite a bit of tea as well. If you want to know more about tea in Romania, this link can help you out. 

Day 16

On this day, we're supposed to go to the Christmas market. Last year we didn't have one. This year we did something organized, but it was disappointing. 

For starters, there was an entry fee, we needed proof of being vaccinated, to wear the mask, and it was MUCH smaller. Furthermore, it didn't even really have the usual stands with traditional Christmas food. 

And there was also no Kurtos Kalacz, or chimney cake, either. 

Here are some of the pictures I took at the event: 

Actually, it seems i lost the pictures from the actual market. These stalls are an "unofficial event" taking place in the heart of the city, in Union Square. 

The picture with a few chimney cakes being cooked, is from a several-year-old event happening at yet a different location. 

This year, we didn't buy anything from the Christmas market nor from these vendors. 

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello all! 

Today we continue with the blogmas for 2021. As you can see, I'm a month late with this. I was very busy back in December, and i couldn't finish it on time :( 

I'll try to catch up now, in January, as I'm not inspired to write about anything else. 

Without further ado, here they are!

Day 7

Giving a second life our entries. Hmm, this is something I'll need to think about and possibly write a separate entry. 

I guess, revisiting the entries and re-editing them to sound closer to our current writing style, yes? 

I probably should do this with some. This action is good when considering re-branding. Speaking of rebranding, this entry will tell you more about some other things to consider if you want to re-brand your blog, site, or whatever.

Day 8

For the 8th day, we had to create a wreath. If you remember from 2020's blogmas, on December 15, we had to do this. Except I'm not doing that sort of thing. We don't really care about Christmas in this house, except the gifts.

Instead, I arranged some magnets in a circle. Of course i repeated what i did the year before. This year I have different magnets I found at the dumpster (next to it). I got rid of the old ones, except for 2. The little doll with blond hair is not a magnet.

My favorite magnets are the pink Dutch clogs, the green building, the flamenco dancer, San Francisco Colorful Ladies, and the blue door from Morocco.

Day 9

For the 9th day, we had to enter a contest for a premium account.

I didn't win because I ddin't even enter. I checked the challenge too late. The next day, late. 

There's nothing more to say about this event. 

Day 10

For this day we were asked to write about "zero waste." I wrote something similar in July, called "why isn't all single-use plastic banned" or something among this line. You can read it here, if you haven't seen it yet. 

 I do want to say that i can't see "zero waste" being possible, at least not yet. The idea is actually to reduce the amount of waste we produce daily or weekly. Additionally, we should also reduce the amount of stuff we buy, and buy only if:

• we really need it 
• we really like it

Buying less means less waste and more money in our wallets. This is great!

Day 11

For this day, we were asked for Christmas gift ideas. We could also share what we bought to give away as gifts. 

Obviously, back then, I couldn't post what i bought. But now i can. Well, everything i bought was decorated with birds. The majority of the birds i got were flamingos. 

The most spectacular gift was the paper gift bag itself. This is red, with some sparkles. Then, I also got a set of 2 plates. These are also red, decorated with some flowers and birds. I think these 2 were the 

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello, everyone!

As you already know from this entry, Bucharest is currently opened for business after last year's mess that leaked into this year as well.

This meant that museums also opened, and honestly, since we don't have any Louvre or other similarly popular museums, i see no reason not to visit some of the ones we have.

One of the museums in the city, Antipa Museum, holds temporary exhibits on a regular basis. This year it held at least 2 temporary exhibits. One was dedicated to butterflies and the other one to the Moon. 

Butterflies

We first went to see the butterflies first. These were tropical butterflies and they were alive. This exhibit will still be available for 1 month or so.

We decided to go early on a Saturday morning, hoping to be alone there. This didn't go as we had hoped since several families with kids also came. Most likely because it's a bit cooler in the morning than later in the afternoon. And that day was quite the hot one.  

Luckily for us, not everyone came to see the butterflies. However, access into the museum [where the tickets are sold] was allowed to only small groups. The rule was to allow the groups to be decently distanced. 

The butterflies were not held inside the museum, but in its garden. We did have to walk through the museum to get to the special greenhouse built for them. 

We had to follow a special protocol to go in and out of this greenhouse:

• show the tickets [to go in]
• wait for the employee to let us in or out through the special curtains.

The exit from this exhibit was separated from the entrance. of course, all due to "lovely 'rona." 

As i mentioned, the butterflies were alive, so we had to watch our steps, as not to step on one by mistake. 
Besides us, there was maybe a family or two more. 

The majority of the butterflies were blue when the wings were opened and brown when they were closed. The brown side seemed to have a pattern with eyes. The picture below is a bit blurry and doesn't do the butterfly any justice, sadly. There are actually 2 of them eating. Can you spot the 2nd one?

Most of these insects were resting with the wings closed, to show the eye (or perhaps scary side) of their coloring. See an example below:

The greenhouse was small, so the visit wasn't very long. An interesting corner of the enclosure was the box in which they showed the various stages of an insect that turns into a butterfly.

Even more interesting was the fact that some of the pupae were alive, especially those in the later stages. 

There were many stages, and i couldn't capture them all in a single picture, if i wanted to understand something from the image. hello to my reflection and of random people in there, hehe.  

Despite having a short visit, the butterflies made me really happy. this happened perhaps because they're usually associated with hope. they were also very colorful, and colorful stuff is cheerful. 

When we left, we bought this stone tree. I'm not sure what most of the stones are, and thus what's supposed to attract. 

Unfortunately, after we left, Anna started feeling bad and we couldn't continue our plans for the day.

Here are a few more pictures with the butterflies:

Look how beautiful this black butterfly is!

The Moon Impact Exhibit

As mentioned, the 2nd collection we went to see was dedicated to the Moon, and called "The Moon Impact."- link This exhibit will still be on until January. 

This was a presentation with large images and some text, everything from the point of view of a billion of years globe Earth. If you believe in the Creationist theory or in the Hollow Earth, you're probably laughing at me for going to see this exhibit. 

The presentation started with the Big Bang theory, and who is not even a bit familiar with it? 

I didn't take pics at this exhibit, so, here are the tickets instead. 

I didn't take pics because i found this presentation rather disappointing. I think it was meant for kids who lose their patience rather easily. It was a small one, just like the one with butterflies. 

We also had to show our tickets before getting in, and the person checking them was sitting in such a dark corner we couldn't even see him. 

Anna and i were the only ones there, though a family tried coming in as well, but they didn't have tickets for this expo so they weren't let in.

There were 3 or 4 large cases in which various rocks and/or minerals were held. This was the only interesting part of this exhibit. 

Worth noting that the written presentation was both in Romanian and English. i completely recommend you go see something similar in your city, or even in Bucharest if you're in town until January. 

see ya!

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello all!

It's been a while since i posted. Well, i do blog for fun, not really for money, and I'm a freelancer, so this makes sense. 

We all know what happened in 2020. the lockdown wasn't easy and hit Romania in mid-March.
I don't think I need to explain what the lockdown means - we all know at this point. The only open places were supermarkets, drugstores, hospitals, along with some restaurants that do deliveries, such as pizza places. 

Walking the dog, taking a short stroll around our buildings, especially those with dogs, and helping the elderly were the main activities that we were allowed to partake in. It goes without saying that buying groceries, meds, or doctor appointments were also allowed but had to be restricted to the minimum. Going to work, for 'essential workers' was also allowed, of course. 

The times were hard on everyone. How hard was it for me? read here -link to post 1 of struggles. 

We also had to write a document stating where we went and why. This was a nightmare in itself. Why couldn't we just send a text or something to some call center or I don't know, somehow make things easy like in South Korea? Those without the paper risked heavy fines. 

When restrictions lifted, things became more bearable. clothes stores opened later than restaurants and cafes, of course. Even these places opened only if they gave food/drinks as a takeaway. 

the streets were eerie and empty the first time we ventured further away from home for a coffee:

The city looked beautiful, despite it being deserted. It looks as if the zombie apocalypse just hit or ended. The messed-up sidewalk is a sight to behold. Welcome to Bucharest, baby!

These two images are the 'entrance' so to speak, of the Old Town. Everyone gathers here during the weekend, but not only. When there's no pandemic or restrictions, of course. 

Of course, not everyone dared to go out just yet. I like the image above the most. It is also in the BEST area in the country to own property (aka an apartment). Some 5 years ago it used to look different. The blue building on the left didn't even exist.

This is another area of the city, across the street from the University of Bucharest. There are maybe 4 statues there? of various important historical people. 

These 2 images are from the Old Town. It'd obviously the same street from 2 different points.

The coffee we got was from Tedd's. I remember it as being just meh, but after 2 months of confinement, it felt like some sort of luxury. 

That's not the only place where we could find something to drink. Somewhere close to the University of Bucharest, there's a small bar called Rainbow. It serves cocktails and coffees, and not only. Most of the stuff they serve is take-away. 

I believe this is the first time we found it and we had to order something. A frappe, a fresh fruit juice, and a mojito, i believe. Drinking in public is allowed in Romania. You could get in trouble if you're getting very drunk/wasted. Besides, it's difficult to tell what the transparent drink is - perhaps some tonic water with lemon/lime, ice, and some mint for kicks, haha. 

The fresh juice is of catina (Seaberry?). It's apparently rich in Vitamin C and this helps fight this virus that messed up our lives. It' one of the best fresh juices I tasted, and it's amazing on a hot summer day. 

We couldn't sit at any table, just on benches or wherever else we could. 

I remember ordering some food from this fancier restaurant, Van Gogh. Here are some pics of the place:

Cases started increasing as soon as people were allowed to go places and do things, due to the rules relaxing further. 

One of the first things we purchased after the lockdown, was a VERY cute backpack. It's cute in my opinion, at least.

In July, we were allowed to sit at terraces with appropriate distancing. We had a raspberry gin tonic i believe and a very traditional Romanian dish.

The dish is polenta mixed with cheese, bacon, and eggs. I forgot if it had anything else added. It was delicious, rather a large portion and I was barely able to finish it. Polenta is rather filling, to begin with. 

Over the winter, most restaurants were again closed for the most part, as well as the theatres. There were no events taking place either. Especially not the Christmas market. We thought we might have it at first, but then it was confirmed they canceled it. 

As the weather improved this year, the authorities started allowing more and more businesses to restart their activities as well. Even events started to slowly take place. 

We finally went and sat at cafes this year, after getting vaccinated. We had both cocktails and coffee-based drinks, just like before.

I missed this matcha latte! I only found one other place that makes it, Handsome Monk. I did order it from there once, but it sucked. :( 

I just don't understand why they don't bring napkins anymore, now that they started having customers again. The napkins you can barely see in the picture above with our drinks? I had to ask for them! 

One of the most exciting things we did this year after everything opened, was going to see a movie! 

The movie we saw was The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. 

At the movies, there was just one more couple. This place didn't run any ads before the movie, and it was pitch black. Also quite cold inside. I started shaking and not out of fear. I was actually not really scared.

There are a few other things I want to share in the (hopefully near) future, such as the visit to the City Hall. OOOH!

The entry will come maybe next week or in 2 weeks. 

until next time, bye~~~

©Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved. 

Hello all!

So, in my previous post, I told you about the challenge with the subjects to write about in March. 

This time, I have to update you on 7 challenges. However, some of them have no signification for me, so the entries would have been too short. I'm not particularly fond of very short entries, so here I am. 

First, let's see again which are the challenges or topics I'm supposed to write about, and right after that, I can start completing the tasks. 

March 16 - International day of being nice while driving

I don't really know how else to translate that. 

What can I say? I don't drive. I did notice how some drivers thank one another for being left in front, so I imitate that when drivers let me pass. 

What I appreciate more than anything, is silent cars. Please, if you drive, don't blast the music that can be heard a mile away. Also, you don't need a very upset engine with a loud exhaust pipe or whatever it's called. That's very disturbing for passers-by. 

If I ever learn how to drive and get a car, I'll search for the most silent car. 

March 17 - Saint Patrick's day

We don't celebrate this in Romania. I have no idea what this celebration is all about. All I know is that people like to wear green if they celebrate. 

-15 minutes later- reading about him, I learned he brought Christianity to the Irish people and he explained the Holy Trinity with a shamrock. 

Despite all this, I was prepared to celebrate it because the previous day I had just completed the following skirt!

I should probably retake the photos of this skirt because the color is blue-ish here. But the real color is a deep BEAUTIFUL green. And I should also press the skirt. 

On the upside, this picture was taken on this day, March 17. 

March 18 - World tourism fair

I have nothing to say about this day. Going on a trip is a bit difficult currently. Travel has more purposes - relaxation, helping one refind some inspiration, and discover places. 

I can't travel so I'll share 2 pictures instead. I think these pictures can help with discovering places and find some inspiration. 

This is a street in the heart of Bucharest. I walk on this street a few times per month. This is the view to home. The date was Nov. 2020. 

This picture was taken back in Aug. 2017 when we visited a cemetery near the city. 

March 20 - World happiness day 

I think this is what the French means. 

These days I can get at least more cheerful when seeing certain items. That I received as a gift for this past Christmas. They are actually 2 items.

The first of them is a plate covered in strawberries, made by CLAYRE & EEF. This is NOT an affiliate link. This is a link to the official page of the brand. I wasn't able to find the plate there anymore. 

While the above plate cheers me up while eating, it has nothing on the next item:

This picture doesn't come close to telling you how stinkin' cute these Christmas avocadoes are. They SO. FRICKIN'. ADORABLE!!!! I really have no words to express myself. 

And since these are socks, the avocadoes become larger on the feet, then they return to the original size. These socks are from H&M. I wouldn't have bought them if I were looking to buy socks. But, BOY AM I GLAD I got them as a gift! 

I hope you can cheer up seeing their happy faces.. I'm losing my mind over here... 

March 21 - Spring Equinox

Welcome spring! I really feel and think spring came when I can see these flowers in bloom - see below.

These are not cherry blossoms, but very similar. They have a faint, nice smell that I can't have enough of. 

March 22 - International Water Day

Water is important for life. Correct. But lately, I only had bad luck with water... I have nothing to say more about this. 

March 25 -World Procrastination Day

How ironic that precisely on this day I get to post such a long entry. But that's because I use almost the whole year to procrastinate. 

This is it for now. Most likely, the remaining challenges will be grouped in a single entry as well. 

See you then! 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello everybody!

Today is the 17th day of Blogmas and you perhaps wonder why didn't I post daily as promised, especially lately.

The answer is pretty simple: not all the challenges were created to writing something. Or if I could have written something, it would have been too short. 

Personally, I don't like very short entries - we have Twitter for that. I also don't read very long entries, and I'm pretty sure nobody really is either. 

Let's have a look at the challenges for the missing days!

DAY 15

For blogmas day 15, we were supposed to make a Christmas wreath. You may wonder why, since for the 5th day of blogmas we had to decorate for the holidays. I mean, it does include putting out a wreath as well, right?  

And you may also remember from the same entry that we don't really have any such decors. 

Well, at the time you may be reading this entry, you may not know, but I have some updates for that blogmas day ;) 

However, I also completed the challenge for the 15th day as well. Well, sort of.... 

I had these magnets on the entrance door. and they were placed in a chaotic manner. 

Now, they're arranged (in no particular) order. But they form a circle more or less, that can be reminiscent of a wreath. a very stylized wreath, if you will. 

Can I get a T for "I tried?" ;p 

DAY 16

To be completely honest with you, I haven't even seen the challenge for this day. Like I mentioned, the challenges are posted on Facebook. 

Even if I did see it, I wouldn't have been able to write anything because I was out and about for most of the day. This involved a lot of walking. 

When we got home I was tired, I had to write for my day job, as well as cook some food. I also decided to write a review for a beer on my BeingObscure.com website. 

Writing for my blog would have been impossible. 

In any case, when I finally discovered what the challenge was, I realized I couldn't write much about it anyway. The challenge was to "be positive the whole day."

This challenge did make me think of this entry from about 2 and a half years ago. I can't believe it's been so long since I wrote it. 

I believe we'll have to change our perspective on this year and everything that happened. it's been tough, but we made it. Those who didn't ... let's pray for them and let's not forget them if they were close to us. We can only hope their suffering ended and that they are in a better place, I suppose. Let's not take our lives for granted. 

However, to keep in the spirit of the challenge even more, I'll share with you something that manages to make me feel better and more positive: some nice hot coffee.

DAY 17

Today's challenge is to update old entries. This is good practice for bloggers. Over-blog suggests a few ways in which we can do this: 

Update your old items regularly

Create an article on a theme that comes back regularly on your blog

Submit a Best-of-Your-Read Best-of-Your-Best-Read Articles

Link your articles

Repost/share old articles on your social media

I, in fact, recently updated an old entry. It's a recipe and you can see it here. 

Most of my articles have links - either to other entries on my blog or to other sites, as you can see in this entry. 

Well, this is it for now! see you tomorrow!

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Hello everyone!

Today's entry is another combined entry. And you'll soon learn why, when i talk about the challenges.

DAY 12

For the 12th day of the challenge, we were instructed to watch a movie. 

We didn't watch any movie, but we do watch a Chinese historical drama called, in English, Ruyi Royal Love in the Palace. You can watch this show on youtube for now. 

We are actually kind of binge-watching it because I'm playing about 2 episodes at once. 

Before the show though, i had to work on the project at hand with the deadline on December 31st. The current project is rather boring, and I'm dragging myself to write it, thus wasting quite a lot of time, sadly. 

We also went to the store and bought some stuff, including some minced meat that became meatballs. I have a recipe for meatballs over here. 

This time, instead of frying the meatballs, i actually cooked them in the oven. This way, i can cook more at once - this time, all of them, thus saving time. They also turn out less oily, which is better. However I didn't take any pictures, so i'm using the old one.

That day I also made doughnuts. You already know the recipe from here. 

DAY 13

For the 13th day of the challenge, we had another contest at hand. This meant we didn't need to write any entry. 

Due to some events, ahem/procrastination/ahem, this entry was thought of on this day. I wasn't able to finish it on time, sadly. 

Oh, the result of the contest? Again I didn't win. Maybe next time? 

DAY 14

On the 14th day of blogmas, we're supposed to write an ABOUT ME page. 

OOPS. I just realized i don't have such a page, but now i will have to write one. However, i need to think it out well enough, so i can't publish it for now. 

Once the blogmas challenge is done, I will write such a page and it will be linked at the top, like the others. 

Thank you for your patience with no entries for 2 days in a row. I just condensed 3 shorter entries in a single one. 

See you tomorrow. hopefully.

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.