The Park

It's been a rainy day here today and I've been locked in the house with all our removal boxes. We have finally *after 2 months of trying to figure this out* managed to decide how we want to use our rooms. The master bedroom has a very strange layout, there is not wall where a bed wider than 90cm can fit. So we have been thinking and thinking some more on how to solve our layout. It was such a relief and I can finally start ordering wardrobes and some smarter boxes for all our storage stuff.

I am hoping for some clear crisp weather tomorrow, I long for a walk in the park, it is so beautiful with all the colours. Here we are, the first autumn-looking day in mid October. It was actually a really hot day with 25degrees, but with some lovely leaves on the ground.

Anticipation

Today our house is buzzing. We are washing, shopping, cleaning and organizing for my brother and his fiance who are arriving tonight. Their flight arrives at 11pm, so the children thinks it's a bit magic. They will go to sleep in the evening and out of nowhere, uncle and auntie, will be here in the morning!

C and J has turned into a little welcome committee. They are making little presents for our guests and little hands are busy making welcome cards.

Desire

366 challenge: 27 Desire

What a morning! O has done a long row of nights and mornings with the children, so last night I asked him to wake me if J came down early in the morning, so he could have a sleep in. This morning she woke up at 7.40. A really good time, I think. I was picturing myself cosying up with her in the sofa, a cup of coffee and laptop. Just me and her. A quiet moment.

We started the morning with some exercise. A couple of rounds from top to bottom of the stairs. There is a drawback of living in a narrow townhouse, there is a lot of stairs (!) and when you first forget your bottle, then your little blanket and finally Kitty the cuddly cat, there is a little bit too much stair climbing for me.

Anyway, when J was sitting comfortably, she started making "tummy bug noises" (she has been unwell now for a couple of days), so I ran for a bucket, remembering all scrubbing labour of the last couple of days. After another 20 minutes we realized that it was false alarm.

I made my coffee and my hopes for that quiet computer moment was slowly filling me again. Just as I grabbed my coffee, a little too tired, I managed to spill quite a lot of it on the dining room floor. As I was wiping it up with a towel, I notice a whole trail of nasty stains that the cat have done on the floor. She must have caught something on her foot. So I get some cleaning stuff and started some more thorough cleaning of the floor. Finished, my thoughts of my cup of coffee is back and I put the cleaning products in the cupboard again.

As I walk through the dining room, again in a really good mood, I completely forget the wet floor and *squat* manage to make some sort of split and bump my knee hard on the wooden floor.

Now I have managed to limp my way to the sofa, my coffe is cold, but I am going to try to sip it up before C comes. I can hear him upstairs. The commotion of the day has started.

I wish I had one of those summer mornings in Sweden, when I could sneak out into my little garden patch and pick some wild strawberries...

The Return

Yesterday we took our flight back. I was wondering what it would feel like to see our "new home town", but I didn't have to wonder for too long. I didn't make it longer than to the carpark at the airport until I started sobbing uncontrollably. A good thing the children where already in the car, happily singing away to one of their favorite CDs.

So, our return has not been the most cheerful one. Before we left for Sweden, the contract with our new flat went down the drains. They refused to mention the private garden in the contract and "we've been down that road before", so we pulled out. Cs school is also behaving extremely badly, so maybe it wasn't that strange that it all felt pretty lousy yesterday.

Today, we've had a really quiet day. C happily playing with all his toys, J not so happy*very tired from the trip yesterday* whining mostly, O working and me mostly wandering around the flat with a massive headache trying to think of our future. I have started to think "what are we doing up here when O is down in Big City..."

Enough with the whining. Every cloud has a silver lining..it is bound to get better, right? I must admit, the view when flying in over our new part of the country was breathtaking with snowcapped mountains as far as you could see.

Birthday Boy II

This morning was all planned out by the children. We were going to make breakfast and sing for O in the morning. J was so excited, so instead of the usual 7.30, she woke me up at 6 wanted to sing for daddy...O also had the honour of sleeping on the sofa due to C spinning around in our bed all night...

C and J had made cards for O during the week *you can see J's card on the picture*.


Yesterday my dad was here picking up my grandmother to drive her home. He also brought C his birthday present (he is turning 6 in 2weeks time), a mega surprice, a bike! J also got a tricycle. They were very proud.

Day at the farm

Today we went to Nordens Ark, a wild life reserve close to our village. We, however didn't go there for the wild life, but the farm animals. I love the contemporary Noah's Arc style barn.




C and J, comfy on their way to the barn...



C peaking down from the hay loft


C loved cuddling with the sheep. He must have sat there over 30 minutes. 3 of the sheep almost lay on top of him in the end and he was very amused by their nibbling at his coat!

Snow

One of the first things we tasted after our arrival was a traditional cinnamon bun. Oh, this was a really good one! The children did the trip so well, first 1.5h by car, then bus to the airport from the long term parking, 2h plane ride and then another 1.5h by car, so maybe there wasn't that strange that when we finally sat down in the kitchen to have a snack, that it tasted like heaven...

The weather seems to be on our side, it usually never snows out here by the sea, but the day after our arrival we had quite a good amount of snow. The children and I made a snow man. Good thing we placed him on the shadowy side of the house, because most snow has mealted away today, but he is still standing!

Some ivy looking out from the snow.

Today, I've spent most of the day in bed due to stubborn sinuses *I've got to get them sorted out!*, but in the afternoon, I took the children to the play ground. There wasn't much snow around, but C threw himself in every little heap he could find. Luckily there was some at the playground...

Happy C.

J mostly wanted to go on the swing, but wanted me to take a photo of her in the snow as well...

Sign of life

I cannot believe I've been off blogging for over a week! Life has had it's way of forcing us to really think through our life situation at present.

We are all well (well, nothing has happened healthwise since last time I wrote), it's other things that has escalated beyond "oh, it will probably sort itself out". That together with a very manic work situation (due to potentially 2 weeks in Sweden starting Sunday *yeay*) has made me put the camera on the shelf for a little while. I am having so many ideas (and hopefully a larger amount of blissfull moments to reflect) during our time in Sweden, so I will soon be back in the game.

I've had quite a good Tuesday. O took a later flight this morning, so instead of waking up without him, he was here saying goodbye this morning, going to work, almost "normally". It gave our day a very good start. Also, yesterday I managed to track down one little bottle of nasal steroids that made such a difference in my life earlier this year (when my prescription was to be renewed, it was out of stock and something wrong with the production line, so nowhere to be found). But, stubborn as a goat, I called round to all pharmacies in our city and manged to find one, so now I am much better again. Really coping quite well, actually.

Comment of the day: J has not had her usual little nap in the car on our way to pick-up and was quite tired today. At 7pm she *who usually HATES going to bed, screaming and kicking along the way*, says: "De e mitt i NATTEN, MÅSTE gå och lägga oss!" ("it's the middle of the night, HAVE TO go to bed now!"

ok, we have another move ahead..

We went on the viewing yesterday morning. My mind was set on "it's going to be grubby and extremely dated, so keep your head cool". It was neither "mindblowingly fresh and beautiful" nor "terrible and grubby". It was in between. Beautiful with some things not really to my taste, but some other things truly winning us over. It also had a lovely kitchen, high ceilings and lots of privacy. A very homely "housey" flat.

In short, we really liked the feel of it.

So the day was spent throwing ourselves head over heals in front of another couple who had started negociating rent, but not completely made up their mind yet. And we got it!

It has mostly carpet *which is not my preferred option of flooring*, but the children's rooms where not and nor where the kitchen or downstairs hallway (or bathrooms!).

Children's rooms

There were a lot of old-fashioned curtains, which changed or just simply removed will make a lot of difference:

Looking at the above picture everything is so proportionate that you can't really see the ceiling height, but look at the picture below, when O is standing by a the window in the neighboring room:

The main part of the flat is on one floor, but there is a bonus with a converted loft and a little viewing point at the top of the house, where you, if you squeeze yourself up there, can see the sea!


We've had some set backs this week regaring O starting to work up here, so we really needed this positive injection into our life. Now I am focusing on new house, new beginnings rather than what could have been. I am so looking forward to get out of this situation, where we are constantly waiting for someone to keep their promise (regarding key to garden outside) and also we won't have anyone above us, so no more noisy parties upstairs!

366 Challenge 159: Gift

As well as being a theme of the 366 Challenge, this photo pretty much sums up my weekend. It seems as if children's parties always comes in pairs. So driving around against the clock reading the map with a birthday gift on the dashboard, has been our pleasure at two occasions this weekend.

Regarding the other big happenings in my life: the flat viewing was cancelled due to an exterminator being there spraying the house..new viewing booked Wednesday, but I will take an extra good look as to what he could have been exterminating... The car is still not working, but yesterday as we were contemplating calling someone who could just come and tow it away so we'd never see it again, we drove past a Recover van. The guy was ever so helpful checking a couple of things (he even made a little camp fire on the pavement to clean the spark plugs to C's excitement), so today we are keeping our fingers crossed that the garage can come and pick it up and hopefully there will only be a smaller fix needed...if not the recovery man told us "you might as well get a new car". Encouraging.

Also, I want to welcome Crille, who bravely decided to join the 366 challenge even later than me. He is very, very close and dear to me and I am so happy that he has joined!! It's such a great way of keeping in touch, since we live quite far apart at the moment and I know that he loves photography, has always done.

Have a look at his 366 site: http://crillesphotos.blogspot.com/

*whispering* New Possibilities

Feeling almost a bit guilty even contemplating leaving this flat, after all the lovely comments on our living room view, we have booked a viewing of another flat tomorrow. After having waited for the key to the lovely garden showing outside (for over 7 months), we realize it might never turn up. And we need some sort of garden.

It might be nothing worth the effort of moving once more, or it could be a good thing, to get a better understanding of what we would like to buy here. It is closer to Cs school (not close close, but at least your legs won't feel like falling off after walking there). It is in a neighborhood we had no idea even existed, but truly beautiful with old stone buildings. It's surburbia, but with the city on the doorstep (my goodness, I sound like an estate agent!). Anyway the flat has it's own quirky details, so if the inside is a nice as the outside, we could be living in a little treasure of a home for the forseeable future.)

My day has been spent with J at home, ploughing my way through the mess my 3days-without-O-at-home has left. It was great not having to do the school run, I've been walking around in pj all day.

J having lunch.

My stubborn little lady

Today, we went to a toy store to buy some treats for the Mid Term (2 days off school). J saw a pink doll pram, which she fell head over heals in love with and spent the rest of the afternoon wailing after it. "J vill haaaaaa looooooosa vaaaagn" ("J waaaants piiiiiiink praaaaam!"). C sat patiently with her in the back seat trying to explain that she might get one for her birthday, but only if she stopped screaming about it... So instead she went: J vill till IKEEEEEEEEA (J wants to go to IKEA!)

Anyway we now have 4 different games, pearls and 2 different drawing kits to occupy us with for the next two days, while O is off in the Big City.

O being home last week really made C open up to him again. He hasn't been completely happy with dad away every week, but now they are the best of friends again.

Having fun at breakfast.

Today is an EFIT day (One Photo an Hour), but I have pushed it until tomorrow so O can follow us, when he is away.

Happy Valentine!

Today was proof that a long marriage is the way to happiness *well, we haven't been married for that long, but it is almost 13years since the night, we became an item. *I have to tell you about this some other day, it's a little magic involved*. Anyway, my husband has never been known for being the most romantic, but today, well let me just say: "You should never say never."

Gorgeous roses from O and pretty chocolate from the children *even though C wished for slightly longer sentense..*

I tried to do some rose shooting for the 366 challenge, but I will wait until I have my macro. *I even manged to smack myself on the nose with the automated flash while trying to snap some magic shots of the roses, you know the kind that keeps popping up!, much to my family's amusement...*

Feeling almost a bit bad here, having *peacefully* been left alone with work all day, O taking care of children, shopping, cooking and the roses..

C was quite Mr Valentine today, being home with a very sore throat, he felt better in the afternoon, producing no more than 7 Valentine cards for his friends at school. *Where has he learned to put the rose in his mouth? Does Robin Hood do that?...* J is not too impressed.

Two beautiful roses.

Emma Tvartemot

C is all into football now. Sunday and Monday (after school) was spent kicking fotball at our local fotball pitch. I have such exercise strain, I can hardly walk. My *non-resistent* respect for fotball as a sport, has quadrupled. How on earth do they manage to run around for 90 minutes? How do you kick a ball all across a pitch?

C has been home today. He had a temperature this morning and J has entered a new era. The jealousy era. C was not allowed to play with her toys, cuddle with her mummy, pat her cat etc...

She's been "Emma tvartemot" *Mary, quite contrary?* all day today, with her bad mood culminating at bedtime...

At bedtime, I was just getting something from the other room, when she had managed to rip up all her bedding. (She is sitting under the sheet with all her cuddly toys, blanket and other sheets on the floor.) Really quite furious under there, I had to get the camera...

PS. The little armchair is standing against her bed since we took away the side. She was panicking the first night, not being able to relax in her new bed, until I realized that she always used to "climb into her bed". So now she climbes over the back of her little armchair...routines maintained and she can go to sleep in her new bed...

24h roller coaster

(not my photo)

Puh! Last 24h has been a true roller coaster. Company fire fighting, doctors appointment, some more phoning and organizing only to head off to the main event of the day. The talk. Today, we had scheduled in an appointment with school to discuss a situation at play ground. We were not that late out the door, but when we reached the car park we started to worry. We looked at each other. Surely we parked the car here?? It was gone.

I am not saying that we didn't do anything wrong at all, but to tow away the car within 25minutes of our parking ticket expiring? That was not expected.

8 minutes from pick-up and our meeting with the teachers, we called a taxi. J thought it was great. During our ride she sat happily at the back of the taxi, singing:

"Yeah, kasti, faster, faster!!"

We arrived just as the last pupil left the school yard and it was time for our meeting...

Paint and IKEA

The joy of living in a small city. Today, 3hours before school pick up, we decided to go a retail park outside the city, to buy some paint. In our former life this would be a carefully planned whole day event, but not nowadays.

We have decided to give our rental flat a little update (2 new girls has moved in upstairs, no parties for a week, so odds are high that party freak has moved out!)

Since we were close to our IKEA we went there for lunch. Compared to the scruffy Big City neighborhoods, where our former IKEA stores were located, this is amazing.

A tired J at lunch

On our way back I had some fun trying to snap pictures as we were driving through the city. Most of them ended up with a big truck blocking any potential nice views, but not all of them:

Baby fever

My girl, 30 September 2005 (9w old)

I have baby fever. I see little bundles of joy everywhere I go now. A little gurgle, a little sound makes me almost dizzy remembering the baby times.

Today we've been shopping for shoes. Just as we entered the store I whispered to O "does he have matching pair of socks?" When I heard the reply "no, but both are blue.." my heart sank.

Well too late now, we had promised C a pair of sneakers with flashing lights and we were already in the store. Well, if they need to measure, maybe they will only do one foot?, I though. Off course not and the "both are blue" were indeed true, however one dark navy plain sock and another bright blue, black, red sock wouldn't necessarily be described that way by me..

Anyhow, flashing sneakers we bought and C now feels like the coolest guy around. I've been working most of the day and O have been scrubbing all the floors and playing with Lego with the children.

All in all a quite ok Sunday.

Manic weather

The weather here never seases to surprise me. Today it's completely manic. Very windy, snowing one minute (so you can hardly make out the house on the other side of the street) only to be sunny and blue skies a little later. Guess what weather it was at pickup time?..

Today I felt like looking up a Miss Hooley (Balamory) sequence to announce: "It's a winndy dey todey!"

On our nearest bridge this morning. This lorry blew over. (Photo: B B C)

J and I have been in her room most of the day, she busy with just about every toy in her room. me flopped on her bed watching the weather outside, drinking ca 200 cups of pretend coffee.

One minute sunny and blue sky, this is what it looked like when we headed out for pickup. 10 minutes later J and I stood at the school gate with half an inch of snow on our hats!

Comment of the day: C has had a difficult time at school lately having been asked to look after another Swedish boy, which briefly described has not been his choice of friend, nor a very good one. I've been working very hard with him to let him understand that he is not responsible for another child, but that he should be playing with children of his own choice and who are nice to him. The Head of Early Years at school was as shocked as me that the teachers have told C to go and sit with this boy, who only wants to sit on a bench. (This has been going on for 3 months..) Anyway, he has been practicing running around playing with other children at school breaks this week and today he came home and told me that: "O and C (two girls) told me today that they love me and that we are like a family. Nar de sa det mamma, blev jag sa glad att jag nastan borjade grata, men det gjorde jag inte." (when they told me that, I was so happy I felt like crying, but I didn't)"

Min plutte!

Rain, rain & some more

It's been absolutely pouring down today, so to have something to do indoors, we did some re-organization of J's room, just to get some excitement to our day. It worked a treat and she's been in there almost all day when C was at school.

Today, I've been on the phone a lot. First to O, then to school feeling like a complete wimp for starting to cry when speaking to the head teacher of early years. Oh well I have to stop fretting about that, at least she got he message and thinking about it, at least I didn't sob uncontrollably, it was more like talking with a very big lump in my throat...
After school we went to the park, to let the children run off some steam. Not surprisingly we were alone, so they had the whole play ground to themselves.
It's nice to have someone else to push J's swing. C was goofing around while pushing her and she was laughing hysterically.


After 30 minutes C announced: "Mum, I'm worn out!"

Mission accomplished.

Out and about

We started our outing by getting into the car and driving past a couple of flats for sale. C thought we had a very strange way of driving to the play ground and was constantly asking how many minutes was left on our journey, so not really that much room for counting windows and checking the prospective new home from every angle.

When we arrived at the park, I took a little tour by myself to the cemetery. While there I realized that it was a long time since I was on my own on a cemetery, I have always loved doing that, so this was my little treat to myself.

Pure magic to me.

I wonder how long I stood watching this tree?

When I joined the others at the playground, C and J were in full swing

It's a beautiful playground and the setting is fantastic.

J, a bit small for climing ontop of the big climbing frame did good use of the slide.

A happy girl
(well at least until we were leaving, our departure was as usually accompanied by her primal screams).

Jumping around on spots on the ground.