At last we are here in England! The plane was over 1 hour late and we had to circle a bit before getting a landing slot at Stanstead. It was to say the least a bit odd going from half snowstorm with -10 and half gale to a gentle +10 with hanging mist. The flight was a piece of cake this time, I was not at all nervous, well a bit and the waiting for the plane to arrive didnt help my nerves, but as James said, its the calmest i've ever been with him on a flight.

We got some christmas presents to open yesterday when we had settled in a bit and had us a cuppa (well pepsi for me :o). Nothing much had changed around the village part from James dad putting up a new fence. But as i read in the local newsletter all is not well in the local parish council, i got the feeling of being transported to the tv series Vicar of Dibley when i read the articles and comments sent in by the locals. Aparently the council is the joke of all of Suffolk in how they conduct themselves. The new election will be in summer so we will have to see if the present regime will be kicked out, which is most likely , and who gets the task of cleaning all of their mess up!

After a very lazy morning we went into Bury St Edmunds for some shopping, i had got vouchers in my christmas presents that i had to spend! And spend them i did on clothes and more clothes plus some christmas cards for half price as well. The sales over here are so much bigger then the ones in little Falun and also it seems you can get better bargains as well.

Tomorrow we are going to the cinema to watch The Two Towers andf then it is a quiet evening at home with the treat of seeing the next door neighbours trying to blow their house up when lighting the two big fireworks chests they bought especially for the party they are holding. We are invited for drinks.....

LOL!


Who is your Ideal Lord of the Rings (male) Mate?
brought to you by Quizilla

Packing frenzy!

We are leaving for England tomorrow and i dont know what to bring! Is it cold, warm, wet, what??? Help?!

Currently listening to Phil Collins - Testify

Today it is one year since James asked me to marry him and i said yes. We have finaly decided on a date as well to when we are going to tie the knot, 31st of may. We exchanged small gifts yesterday at midnight, technicaly it was today wasnt it... ;o) I got said cd which im listening to right now and James got..... He will have to tell you himself.

It is a crisp and very cold day, had a shock when i saw it was -25 out there! It is the bus for me today when im going to work. But if its gone a bit wamrer i might walk there anyway, i do miss my walks when i dont have them. Makes you relax and it clears your mind as well. James is working evening so he might have to walk home in the cold! Hopefully there will be someone going his way who can give him a lift.

Currently listening to Enya - watermark

Its been a most productive morning today. I have cleaned everywhere! Twice it feels like! So now everything is sparkling and all that needs doing before christmas is a bit of touch up. Doesnt that feel good? Yes it does for me anyway... :)

I think everyone is pleased that we finaly got somewhere to move to, lol! And everyone is also pleased we didnt hang on to loon guys place and insted went and searched for somewhere else. And i must agree this time, you were right (you know who you are). This new apartment is much nicer, more well kept then loon guys and it is what we want. So going from our first hand choice to a second hand choice to surprisingly finding a first hand choice in the span of , what, 1˝ week? That must be somewhat out of the ordinery. I put it down to luck, pure luck and coinsidence that my mum works in the area i want to move to and that she got approached not once but 3 times about people wondering if we had found anything yet and that they had an apartment to sell us if we were interested.

Right now im relaxing a bit before heading to work. It will be pandemonium! Let me set the scene for already stressed out people. Today people will get paid, get childsupport, pensions and have to decide if its a good day to go shopping for food or presents. My bet is they will come for foodshopping, today, when im working evening.... LOVELY!

It has turned out to be a lovely day today. Work was busy busy with frantic shoppers but that was alright and fun today. I got my last piece of christmas shopping done as well. We went to see the apartment in the afternoon and we agreed to buy it and will sign the contract when we come back from England. But im playing this one carefully, not making any sudden moves or changes before we have signed. Still got the fun phonecall to make to B about us ditching loon guy and his apartment, oh joy ;o))

I went and got a christmas present for Carolina since she was coming over a bit later to have some cd's ripped. She wasnt expecting to get a christmas present and then it is so much nicer to give one, dont you think? We spent the evening chatting a bit while James sang along to the cd's he was ripping. He made us a copy as well so now we have music from the 80's, my youngun days...lol.

And now both of us are completly wacked so we're off to bed! Sweet dreams..

Ehm... In about 35 minutes my mum will be coming to pick me up so we can go and have a look at a 3 room and kitchen on the ground floor in the same house as the old couples apartment is in. Aparently my mum was approached by the person selling it this morning saying she had 'heard' we were looking around for an apartment and hadnt found anything. So of course mum phoned me and asked if we were interested. Its the same layout as loon guys place. And it is newly redecorated mum said. Anyway, im off to have a look. The asking price is 175 000 kr and from what i understood they are moving out of it as we are speaking, thing is, it is the place that the couple above had an eye out for... Dunno whats happening here but anyway it doesnt hurt to have a peek now does it ;o)

I phoned B, and she hasnt heard anything from him so i got his phone number and left quite a brisk msg on his answeringmachine that would he get in touch within the week so we would get to know if he is selling the apartment or what since we have found somewhere else and need to decide. But really i think i already have decided against him and i dont believe for a second that my phonecall will make any difference whatsoever but you cant but try.... Because even if he said he would sell it to us i doubt it will be done quickly or smoothly since he is making everyone wait for him to make a move. I am amazed that they havent done anything drastic about him, like evict the sorry piece of .... since he is owing some money to the föreing AND to the bank. Anyway i feel better about it all and my cold is a bit better so knock on wood, things might just turn a bit better so i can enjoy the fact that next week tuesday it is Christmas Eve and we swedes get to open all our presents a day before anyone else! HA HA ;oP

And it is only 13 days untill we are flying to England for our week of vacation and celebrating the new year with James' family!! Time really has gone by all too quickly. Btw we still havent heard anything from the immigrations office about James application for permanent residency. James assured me though that he would be allowed back in if we left without him getting a new stamp in his passport, he had checked it up he said.

Im off to get my hair done, i regret agreeing to this early time but what dont you do when you need your mop cut ;o)
More later when i've talked to B and heard if there has been any 'development' of loon guy

Once the first excitment has gone you obviously start thinking about if it was right or not to say you were buying the apartment. I still think it is a good buy, cheap to rent and affordable to buy and in the end it will be looking as we want it to be (well how i like it probably with a bit of input from James ;o) ). But, of course there are several buts. It isnt really what we wanted, ie its missing a room! If we do change our minds completly we could always say so before it gets too long gone. Pro's and con's then.

Good things
Its cheap
new owen
big kitchen
spectacular view of Falun and the skijumps
a lovely balcony with morning sun
new fresh bathroom with floorheating

Bad things
it hasnt got a third room
it needs wallpapering in all rooms
it needs new floor in 2 rooms and the hall
it needs new kitchen cupboard doors
it needs new kitchen worktops

What do you think?

I am getting into the christmas spirit and let me tell you it was hard work getting there. Still i get the odd dip and wonder whats the use. But from today i should be happier. Because, we have found a nice apartment we are going to buy! It is a 2 room and kitchen in the highrise just next to the troublesome one.There are a few things to be done in it but we are buying at a bargain price of 85 000 kr. I've been doodling with Paint to give you a rough idea of it, again ;o)

If you think you hear a dog bark when you enter this blog not to be worried, its just me coughing my lungs up. In other words im not going outside in the -15 and walk to work. Im not going outside today, period!
And my voice has gone all Bonnie Tylerish, im not sure i like that since i sound more like a man today then my usuall perky self. Oh well, im sure i can find some time to go play Sim City or something to entertain me now when James has buggered off to work. Maybe i will get to know first hand what that mystery parcel was that got sent to James' parents but they had to go and collect it at the postoffice. Anything to taunt him when he phones me later on today saying he is so bored at work have i heard anything from his mum... ;o)

Now im going to make myself some lunch, wonder what though, any suggestions?

Its a good thing i have a sense of humour or else i think i would have gone insane by now. Latest news on the apartment is as follows. O phoned Birgitta and told her that he had another buyer interested in the flat as well as me, to me it sounded like an empty treath as to bullying me into agreeing with his first idea, the one were we buy it and he rents it from us untill 1st of march. Anyway B couldnt understand what he was going on about and i told her that he must be some nutty twat thinking he would get away with it. (the chairman of the förening is notified since O isnt allowed to sell it privatly, he would probably bolt with the money)

Thinking about all this i decided to take a chance on my luck and phoned Kopparstaden up when i got home and asked if you can regret leaving your notice on this apartment. And yes you could as long as no one else had signed a contract for it. I must be a very lucky person because they had put a block on this apartment since it will be needing some renovating in the bathroom before anyone new can rent it. So after consulting someone in the office this nice woman told me it was alright and i now have retaken this apartment and dont need to fret about someone elses lunacy in searching for a new place to live. As you can imagine the relif is ENORMOUS!
Now i can tell him to take his puny ickle apartment and stuff it well and truly where the sun dont shine!

I still want it though so i will hang in there but i wont do anything foolish before everything is signed and handed over. (He only has 3 months to sell it in or it will be reposessed and sold by the bank) Btw im going to leave an offer on this other one we had a look at last sunday. And mum has found us someone else selling her apartment. I think i ought to change my career, mum too...LOL

No, i havent gone insane. Even though my previous post might lead you to believe i have. Its just so....AARRRGGHHHH! What is, you may ask? Well of course it is apartment rant time again!

We had a look at the elderly couples apartment which is the same as the guys..... But all they had in common was the layout of it. The couples apartment needed following: wallpapering in 3 rooms, change of carpets in at least 2 rooms, a new stove, a new fridge and freezer, an extra cupboard to the kitchen to hide hidious wenttunnel and most sadly, a bathtub. They only had a shower but the bathroom was all new and fresh. It is not worth the money they are asking, no way. They asked 175 000 for it, im willing to pay 120 000 for it.... We'll see, i have to give my answer in on tuesday just to let them know and then its up to them.

So, i've phoned B and asked how it is going along with this guy O. She hasnt got very far, which i expected. But now she knows our terms if there is to be a purchase. We will not pay anything in advance more then the downpayment when signing the contract, and he has to move out. If he wants the money quickly he will have to move out 1st january. We've said its either 1st january or 1st of february.Its no problem for us to move and pay two rents if its for such a short while. And im sure that the girl taking ours might want to move in earlier. It is all down to how he will respond to our terms. Keep your fingers crossed will ya! We need all the help we can get in this deal it seems.

Excuse me people, but i think im going to go and bang my head against the wall for a while!

Yes i know, another test, but im trying to fill my blog with other stuff then my usuall rant these days ;o)

A formidable creature half lion, half eagle, the griffin is said to be one thousand times stronger than any lion and five thousand times as farsighted as an eagle. It has a strange talent that when people are around it, they find themselves unable to lie. The griffin is also said to be fierce and untamed. It was a protecter against evil and people often wore talismans of a griffin's claw to protect them from demons. Griffins were often used as transport for the gods. They were also reputed to swoop down from the mountains on occasion and pick up goats and small horses and bring them back to their nests for their young.

What mythical beast best represents you?Take the quiz!

Btw, we didnt win anything on the lotto again this week. I wish i wish i wish we would!

Ehm... it is true isnt it that if nothing happens for a while, everything comes crashing down at the same time.

Well, since we are a bit weary about buying the apartment from this guy O (he doesnt seem to be able to make a deal without everyone waiting for HIM) we went looking elsewhere as well. Mum phoned yesterday. And to make a long story short, the couple who my old teacher (she lives opposite to were we had planned moving) thought were selling their flat, which they werent a week ago but now they are. And they had tried all week to get a hold of my mum, but since mum was home with a cold she only got to know on friday. She then called me as soon as she could and i called the old lady up and had a chatter to her and we are going to have a look at their apartment tomorrow!!! Im not saying anything and i promise i will stop this ranting about apartments as soon as we have something sorted! There hasnt been anything else in my posts lately. Sorry.

With a good nights rest and some advise from both my sister and mum and from Mary, i think im none the wiser, lol! One thing is for sure though, if this deal is going to happen it will be on our terms and not his. Of course the worst scenario being that he wont sell it to us if we dont agree with his idea, but we are already in the worst scenario bit with nowhere to move to. Btw i dont think his idea will be allowed if he ows the förening money. And i cant imagine that a deal would be able to pass that quickly if the bank have some interest in whatever money he can get a hold of by selling the apartment.

Also we got a tip from my sister that there is an apartment empty at Hasses parents förening. Its a 3 room and kitchen as well, bit more expencive to rent and buy but its a much better location, just up the hill from us. Hasses dad would poke around and see what he could find out about it and if it is going to be sold by an estate agent or privatly. Aparently it is in a 'dödsbo' since the old lady who owned it has died, and im not sure if that means they want to sell it for as much as they can or as quickly as they can. But we will hopefully get to know a bit more in the weekend since we were invited up to Hasses parents to have a look at their apartment which is an exact copy of the empty one. Isnt it strange how much of your life depends on friends and family...?

Part from that we have an offer on a 2 room and kitchen in Bojsenburg, i got the reply last night that we were in the list of people getting an offer to it ;o) So im going to phone them and ask when we can come and have a look at it since we have to answer yes or no to in before the 12th of december. It is an already empty one because you have to phone the local buildingoffice to go and have a look at it.

Hmmm...
Ponder on this please people and tell me if i am paranoid.

Today B finaly called saying the guy had got in touch with her, but only to say in so many words that if we were still interested in buying the apartment it had to be NOW and give the money to him and he would pay US 3 months rent so he could live there untill 1st of march. This because he needed the money to clear off some loan he had so he could buy an apartment himself...????
The more i think about it the more i think he is going to pull a fast one on us and run with the money and what ever of value there is in the apartment or stay living in the apartment saying he has the right to it?? I dont feel comfortable paying him in advance without having a look at the place so it is in the same state it was when we viewed it. And certainly not letting him stay in there, even if he pays us the rent for it, after we've bought it.

What to do..?

Phenomenal Women
By Maya Angelou


Pretty women wonder where my secret lies,
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I am telling lies
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenally woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room,
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees,
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I am a woman,
Phenomenally
Phenomenally woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I am a woman,
Phenomenally
Phenomenally woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
‘Cause I am a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenally woman,
That’s me.

So we are back from Gothenburg.

It felt like it was a weekend spent in the car and then sitting in the sofa watching tv and some more in the car going back. It was awfull weather driving down, half storm and lots of snow. Going back was alright. My sister was alright but my mums cold got worse when we were down there so we ended up doing nothing much at all. At least we got to see 2 new films from my sisters exstensive collection ;o)

No news on the apartment, phoned B but she was not in so i left a msg to get back to me as soon as possible, no news on the Acorn/Bcorn event, James is not going to finish his bird before christmas so it looks like im winning a bet ;o) We have signed up as interested in a rental apartment in Bojsenburg, 2 rooms and kitchen, but it all feels a bit...bleeergh. Because i WANT this other one!!!

It has gone from raining cats and dogs (giggle) to snowing dasslock (swedish word, look it up ;o) ) To being cold and now it is snowing again. I think the weather is muchly confused.

Life is stressed in general but recently it has been going into overdrive. No word of the lost apartment owner, now the chairman of the housing association is going round his to have a talk, well to try to have a talk to him so we can sign the contract. I've told B (realestatewoman) that i'll give him 2 weeks, but after that i think we have to change our minds and look elsewhere.... We are going to my sisters for the weekend, and thinking about past issues between my mum and sister earlier this year it will be to say the least an interesting weekend.... Then next week i have a dreaded day on wednesday to try to get through.... Not to mention that work is getting to be more stressed out in time for Christmas. I think that as long as we get past wednesday next week, it will be fine or worse, at least we will know!

Help...?

God morning everyone, anyone want an outdoor shower this morning hmm?? In other words it is pouring down outside and i have to go to work soon. Poor James was called in to work since there were someone sick. They phoned 30 minutes ago and i woke him up asking if he wanted to go. The poor brave soul got up and is off to work now, with only 4˝ hours sleep. Well i am going to work as well but i knew i was. That is the worst part really for him i think, not being able to plan anything because he might get called in with short notice. At least he has got 3 weeks planned work starting next week. I was getting more worried then him about his work!

As for yesterdays post, there were no news to have when i phoned and asked the real estate woman. Maybe it is just me getting hysterical, its only been 2 weeks since we had a look at it. But really i thought you wrote the contract as soon as possible??

As for other interesting news we have to pay for the restauration of 3 (!!!) small holes in a couple of doors in our apartment. We are talking nail size holes mind you. They have been to examin the state of our apartment since we are moving. Mum was litteraly speachless when i told her, so was i when i phoned James to hear about how the inspection went. I phoned the inspector up and asked about it and it all seemed very VERY serious.... But please, 3 holes??? I wonder what they will say about the holes we made in the walls putting up various shelfs and to hang paintings up. Im going to talk to him again this morning and also get to know how much money we are talking about. Another annoyans to tackle in these already stressed out times!

Anyone up to bet about if this real estate woman will phone me today??? Hmmm??
Mine is that she wont!

So the first person has been to view our apartment. I think she was impressed with the size of it and the layout. Im quite impressed as well by our apartment ;o)
Makes you wonder why you want to move in the first place doesnt it. But to be frank, it is too damn small! It was alright for me and in the start when James came over, but since then we have acumulated more stuff and the storage is already bursting its seems so i think we took the hint and went looking. The other one interested in our place is coming round in about an hour. She just phoned.

Somehow i still think it is karma that we ARE supposed to move. The one we were thinking of is at number 13, we went and saw it on the 13th and im born on the 13th.... And the girls coming to look at our place is Marie, Marianne and my name is Maria... Its just a bit...odd to go unnoticed by someone, well like me. Supersticious like i am sometimes and believe in faith and whatnots this is a bit spooky.

The real estate woman is calling me on monday so will get to know a bit more then about what is happening. We are going to show the apartment to 2 interested people on sunday. And if things go pearshaped with our future apartment im going to have a backup plan, so we are going to have a look at another one in the same area that just has come up as for sale, also im going to keep an eye out for what comes up through Kopparstaden. BUT I think im going to be very quiet about the apartment business from now on untill it is all finished and done with......

I am wondering.. can you jinx things? Like if you talk about the new apartment something bad always comes up? Or rather it doesnt. The owner has gone missing! We were ment to sign the contract this week but he isnt answering any phonecalls from the real estate woman.

And now my mum came with some news that there had been some waterdamage to the bathroom but no one ever told us about it. It is all fixed and stuff but isnt that information that should be disclosed to us as buyers?? So naturally i got quite concerned and phoned the woman up and asked about it, if she knew and if she did why she didnt tell us about it! She didnt know anything about that but promised to have a talk to the chairman of the board at this 'bostadsförening'. And to make it even more interesting mum said it might have to go through Kronofogdemyndigheten(repoman??) since the guy is in debt and hasnt paid rent for quite some time. This are rumours btw, but i trust my mum and she has a bit of an inside deal on this since she works in the area. But still, what you say, its the what calling the other one something? Or making a chicken out of a feather...

Now what do you do, keep calm and think positive that it will all work out just as planned or go make a backup plan just in case. Im not generally the one buying the pig in the bag, swedish saying. So, now everything seems to hang a bit loose and we have got 3 months to solve it, depending on if the guy has changed his mind about selling the place or what...? I hate being left in the dark with no answers but that is the situation right now. It could be worse i suppose. But this is quite dramatic as it is! So as we were getting ourselves in gear to move house we might have to have a change of plans and find somewhere to rent!

I just took an iq test and am a bit amazed at the result of it.....

Hmmm, today we were going to sign the contract for the apartment, but the real estate woman cant get a hold of the guy selling it. Is this a bad sign? Or is he just busy working, he is a lorry driver. Anyway it seems as the moving in date wasnt so important for him so i asked for an earlier day to move in. Like i feel now i would like to move before christmas, but that would be too quick. Besides it is hectic enough at work all december without having the hassle of moving place.

It's my day off and im going to relax today. Maybe i'll have a look around in town for a christmas present for my sisters bf. We are going down to Gothenburg in 2 weeks time since it is my sisters birthday. And it seems like they wont be able to come up for christmas so we will drop our christmas presents off at the same time. My sisters presents are already bought, but somehow it is always harder to buy for a guy isnt it! Any ideas to what you can get?

Dreamkitchen....

Sorry, but all i can think of right now is how we can change the new place around to be just like we want it to be. But even though im severly tempted to go ahead and redo everything at once when we move in i think im going to listen to my mum this time and wait a while before doing anything. But knowing me i want to do everything straight away!

We did a bit more packing later on and my mum came over for sunday dinner as well. She provided the roast and we did the roasted tatties and complementary vegetables and lovely gravy. It feels a bit more under controll now when we have wrapped all the small itty bitty glasses away. I must be a controll freak! And yes i know Mary will agree with me about that. I am THE MOST organized person around, i have already written my christmas cards ready to be posted later on in december.. I wish someone would save me from myself sometimes! Well my excuse is that i was bored and couldnt come up with anything else to do at the time..... ;o)

We did a bit more packing this morning. Now all the glaswear and vases and fine china are put in boxes neatly wrapped with some paper. And James figures we can squeeze in at least 6 or so more boxes in the storage so we can get some of the more unused things out of the way. Im trying to sort them already as to what is coming with us and what can be given away or trown away. It is only a small one room and kitchen appartment but there is a lot of crap gathering dust on the shelves i'll tell you! I must be as bad as my mum in hoarding stuff, they might be usefull one day, some day, maybe not, but still good to have is her philosophy.

Its gone all misty and wet outside. There is still some snow around but it is melting since it rained yesterday. Work was fine, i didnt do that much actually because i didnt want Mr T to think he was getting a free day off from doing anything.

We did a bit of packing yesterday, just some glases that we dont use that often and some other bits and bobs. Even though I want to pack and move NOW its no use in doing too much too early or else you will just be going through every box for just that something that you did need after all. I will get to know next week when we are going to sign the contract as well. I will ask for a different date to move in since the one we have now, 1st march, doesnt fit with how I work and how the people helping us are working. It shouldnt be a big problem though to move the date one week up. Our appartment has come up in the list of available appartments on Kopparstadens homepage and has already been booked by someone. Fingers crossed it will go smoothly and we might be able to move sooner then said :o)

You will have to excuse me for a while because I will go on and on about this moving business. You see, I've never owned anything before, just rented. So it is quite a big step! And there are a lot of things I want to do or change or just dream about and I do have a need to speak out loud about it. So instead of tormenting my friends over here I've decided to torment the lot of you ;oP

The wizard was very kind and granted us a loan. So now i have given notice about this appartment and it looks like its all a question about when the new tennant can move in if we can move out earlier. But preliminary moving date for us is 1st of march. It also has to be timed with the guy selling us the new appartment so we'll see how it turns out.

We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz! Hopefully he will give us some money so we can be on our merry little way of buying ourselves a home! Wish us luck!

There are noisy snowplows going outside our house. Im glad they are coming round now to push teh snow off the road and not later when im asleep. I always wonder if the world is ending when they scrape the road in the middle of the night and you wake up thinking something is very very wrong!

I've changed back again, there was an ickle problem with my counter not recording on the new template, once figured out it will be back, i think..

Ok, we've been to see the appartment and.........
It is lovely. Its more squarely laid out in plan then the other one. But i liked this one better. Its bigger as well and not so much of the space is poured into a big hall. Hall is big and welcoming, directly to your left is the bathroom next up to the left is the kitchen. Its a bit narrow where the cupboards are but opens up to a big seating place by huge windows. To the right from the front door you have the bedrooms. First one is a bit smaller. They are quite the same with 3 wardrobes in each room. The livingroom opens up from the hall and somehow it feels bigger then it might be, its got wooden floor and structure wall paper. The balcony has morning sun and is quite big also. I made a rough plan in Paint to try to explane how it is laid out. Oh i love this!



The wallpaper was very nice, structurepaper usually isnt my thing but these were in a lovely cream color. Kitchen was boring white, standard i think but you can always redo that one later, but the best part, there's a dishwasher! Over all the colors where light and not too offending. Could do with some color though and im sure we will get around to it.

Well, it all rides on what the bank says tomorrow i suppose. And if Kopparstaden will be meanies and not let us out of our contract quicker then 3 months. But, if the bank says yes tomorrow im saying this appartment up the same day and if it has to be three months so be it. :o)

Btw, hasnt anyone noticed something around here lately????

Since ten o'clock today it has been SNOWING! And no not the ickle pittle little flakes but HUGE monsters of snow! Bliss!!!

I laughed my head off at this, note the binoculars.... The caption was " The worlds most powerful eyes"......!

We wont be looking at the apartment today, the lady phoned and said she couldnt get a hold of teh key untill tomorrow. So will go there tomorrow at 3 and have a look. Suits me fine since it is my day off and James hasnt had any work so he could tag along as well.
Btw, is anyone interested in employing a cute and cuddly half swede? He is very helpfull and always tries his best, even at cooking, like he is right now. ;o)

This is cute, have a look and a snigger... ;o)

Psssst...it was -20 when i walked to work this morning!

We're going to have a look at another appartment tomorrow or wednesday. The lady handling it called me today after i sent her a mail enquiring about if it still was for sale on friday and when we could come and have a look at it. If you go here again and then look for the one at Herrhagsvägen 13A you could have a sneak peak at it following the link Visa fler bilder which means more pictures. The appartment is bigger then the previous one we looked at and cheaper to buy, rent is the same so if it looks nice and "feels" alright we might make a deal. Fingers crossed!

On the good side, it snowed a bit last night...YaY!

I still got a cold. Most of all i want to be under the covers and sleep. But like the little coward i am i didnt dare phone the boss to say i would be home sick. So wether i like it or not im going to go to work with a splitting headache and a sore throut and the most excellent red nose you've ever seen! I bloody well hope Santa will be nice to me this christmas since im making such an effort ;o)
Oh yes, btw im delirious as well...

I got a cold!
AGAIN!
I hate this, and its gone all wet and misty and yuckie outside as well. Where has all the lovely snow gone???
I'll sulk, bigtime!
Starting NOW!!!!!

James was phoned in early today to work so i've been a bit restless tonight. Bored out of my mind i would say! I watched Stargate and that made a couple of hours pass, and i suppose i really ought to get to bed soon since im working morning tomorrow. But im not tired! Well not yet anyway. I did have a chat to James about the appartment and if we could afford it with the mortage and if he liked it or not. But getting answers is like pulling teeth sometimes! But finaly i got some answers and we still like the appartment and all. But question is if i am able to get the loan. Besides if there is someone else interested as well who can go high in the bidding theres no point for us to get in it. There's been a few adds in the local paper about other appartments. I would like to get a 3 room and kitchen if we're buying it. Thing is to get something with a reasonable rent.

While James is napping a bit with a hot waterbottle on his bum i will blog a bit i think. The waterbottle was mine to put on my aching back but since i was going to get up he asked for it on his bum while napping, strange you think? No, very comfy actually.

So today was veggie day. My usuall day to get pissed off at Mr T and today was no exception at that... Oh how i wish it would have been different though. Then my back wouldnt be hurting like it is now! Anyway i asked Big Boss what to do with all the extra veggies Mr T had ordered (as usuall) and just like before it was alright to send them back at first but then he had a change of heart and said to put them in the dairy storage since i didnt have room for them over at my storage. Talk about stocking up on things we already have a lot off! But never mind that. Things wont change so will just have to keep on telling Big Boss about it and see if Mr T gets so fed up with working at the store that he quits. Which i actually think is quite close to the truth.

Got back home, had a takeaway kebab and then went back to the same area as the store is in to have a look at this appartment. You could see it was getting close to 4pm. People were popping up from everywhere. All in all i think we were 8 couples going to have a look at the appartment at the same time. It was to say the least, a bit crowded. The appartment was very VERY nice. I could certainly see us living there. The hall was very big and welcoming, kitchen a bit smaller then i had thought, both the fridge and stove looked 'oldish'. Both bedrooms were ok with 3 closets in each room. Bathroom was small, but still had a bathtub in it, a plus for the floorheating. Livingroom was smaller then the picture suggests, but the balcony was perfect and BIG. All in all? Yes i would like to live there. A few changes in wallpapering (there were a lot of PEACH) and a good sanding of the woodenfloor in the livingroom, maybe some new doors to the kitchen units but other then that, not much else is needed.
But, yes of course there is a but. The price is too high. We did an online quickcount on our livingexpences if we borrowed all the money and the monthly rent would end up somewhere around 4500 kr with the mortage. And that im afraid is too much for us since James doesnt know about his work. I can afford a rent of about 3500-4000 by myself if things come to a push, but this would be a bit to much. I know that it would get cheaper once you've paid off some of the loan but still... Not sure, will have to have a talk to my mum about it.

But right now im going to go and claim my hot waterbottle back! ;o)

Since James is looking around for another template (yes, AGAIN) so am i, i get inspired fromw hat he does and then i go and change all of mine. So, we'll have to see what i come up with then as well as what James do with his side

Part from that nothing much has happend today. It was a boring day at work today. Even though i was chirpy as anyone it couldnt lift the day. Will have more to write about tomorrow once we come back from looking at that appartment at Jesper Svedbergsvägen. But somehow i've gone off that one, mostly due to the pricetag i suppose...

If you do just one good deed a year, please consider this one. Sponsor my James to run the half Marathon in Stockholm next sept followed by the London Marathon in 2004. He will have a chance to run with his hero Chris Moon but also to raise some money for a very worthy cause. Please feel free to add the button to the right on your site as well to help further the sponsoring.Thank you :o)

Also, thank you Lynn, who made the cute little button since we havent sussed how to yet.. ;o)

As everyone else i got dragged into doing googlisms, but take a look at these and then read the last 2 ones, spooky isnt it!

maria is hopeful?
maria is a mystery
maria is in heat for how long???
maria is crowned by her director
maria is everywhere
maria is driving down the road in her car singing genie in a bottle by christina aguilera
maria is cracking me up right about now
maria is crowned rose
maria is a chicken maria is a chicken maria is a chicken
maria is accepted once again as a priestess
maria is trying to better understand conditions in the shoe market and she asks you for help
maria is married to robert faulkner
maria is a beautiful texture
maria is simple but crucial to understanding the origins of its name
maria is a dark liqueur
maria is still in love with connor but maria is lizs best bud
maria is a bad cook
maria is well known for her assessment of the interaction between economic policy and political trends and their effect on investment returns
maria is arrested
maria is to wed a rich german banker
maria is its residential character
maria is the most beautiful
maria is a high
maria is important as a catalyst that institutes anarchy into the structured world of the working class
maria is organized to make this closeness most effective and efficient in rendering services to its people
maria is more aggressive than arnold
maria is considered more economically priced than nearby neighbors'
maria is a featured guest on the piece "the secret life of maria k"
maria is the only other adult that james meets who is actually sane
maria is represents everything james wanted in a wife

..........

House hunting then.. Hmm a bit tougher to solve just like that. Right now there isnt much movement in the apartment bit. There are a few that im interested in though. But all of them have a downside that i dont think i could live with. Either their to expensive, both to buy and then to pay rent for, or they are in the wrong part of town which would mean we need to buy a car so i could get home when im working late evenings. So either way it would get more expencive just to live and that wasnt what we wanted now was it.

Hmmm, and besides we dont know if James will have work for a while after the end of next week. Its wintertime and not so busy in the world of bookprinting apparently. Well im sure it will work out alright, and besides James might get the time to do a swedish course in swedish economics and get it on paper he did a swedish one as well for his english credits.

Part from all that i had great news today. Mary, the irish rambler is thinking about buying a house here in Sweden! YaY to that! She phoned on the mobile just as we were going out so we had a chatter while walking. Which was interesting since i had to think really hard to walk uphill while keeping track of the news she was telling. I phoned her later on today and had a good natter(strange word) and helped her out a bit with her blog. Feel kinda proud to be co-admin! ;o)

Im listening to a set of cd's with The Boss set on random as i contemplate what to do with the wedding, the apartment hunt and whatever else comes into my mind. I suppose the wedding will sort itself out, its just a matter of deciding what you want to do.

I would like to have it on Valborgsmässoafton(30 april) i think.... Let me set the scene a bit for you all.
Big bonfire with firecrackers and a warm drink, the traditional songs sung to welcome spring and then have the weddingservie there while the bonfire sends sparks up into the darkening sky. And then we all go to the hotel for a delicious 3 course dinner with further merryment and dancing and end it all with a lovely firework finale before me and James sneek away for our wedding night...
Mmmh?
Waddayathink?

I thought this was soo cute im going to share it with all of you...! Arent i in a loveable mood today then..huh? ;oP

ps. found it here d.s

I think im getting weddingsickness!
Sweaty palms, trembling hands, no idea to how to have it, does that sound like it to you????
And to make matters worse we finaly got a reply from the place we were thinking about holding it at and it all of a sudden made it feel real. And i got hit by the fact that there's SO MUCH to be done and organize and were the heck did my nerves just go off to!!!!!!

James isnt at home since he is working evening shift. So it is only me and Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and soon to be ready hamburgers with chips mmMMmm...

Today was alright at work i suppose, it always helps that your mood is good, like mine was today. It will be a busy week anyway since it is Halloween, or as we have here in Sweden, Alla Helgons Dag. It is more of a remembrance day for us, but the more commercial Halloween is making big progress over here as well. Of course it helps that it is being cheered on by the commercial powers as well. We went down town today a bit before work, mainly because we wanted to know how big our chances were of getting a loan if we decide to buy ourself an apartment. The woman at the bank looked very stressed out when i wanted a draft from my account since it doesnt add up with the statement i got in the money machine and what i keep at home in my money spreadsheet. She said their computers were down and that they would be up and running at the earliest by noon. And when i asked about a loan she gave me a form to fill in and told me to send it in and she would answer yes or no in a day or two. That was a bit odd, because last time i asked how much i would be able to loan i got an answer straight away. Maybe this is because i didnt recognize this woman at all, and she didnt recognize me either. Maybe i will phone in and ask for an appointment with my usuall bankwoman. Oh well, the overall feeling she sent was that no we wouldnt get a loan since it was only me going to sign the papers. It might be just in my head, but somehow i think they will see me as a risk and not lend us the 245 000 kr.

So back to the drawingboard. Maybe we should by one a bit further out of Falun and invest in a small car instead?
Anyway, its not bothering me, yet. But it will start to bug me that we really need a bigger place soon. For one it would be nice to have a hobby room where i could have my sewing machine up all the time and get a move on doing the quilt for our bed!

More later since i think my dinner is getting ready!

This is Sundays post since blogger went all pearshaped and didnt let me post ANYTHING! Im most displeased!


Today was a really really CRAP day. It must be hormones because i've never felt this...evil... without a just cause. Does the word spiky help? And very touchy, agressive type..? ;o)

Oh well, that is fading as we speak so never mind that. On to more fun things, like WEDDINGS and PLANS and where and how and most importent WHEN! We (james and me) have had a "serious" chat. Hrmpmmm well more like 'well we really should' and more of 'it is about time soon isnt it' that kind of talk. Anyway, we have decided (almost) that our wedding will be held in springtime (a date will come as soon as this place returns my mail with questions about availability) It is really a very nice place just outside Falun. If you interested to have a peek you go here. Sorry but it is only in swedish, but there are nice pictures! ;o)

We've seen an apartment that is quite nice. But its one that you buy and the prize is a bit steep. Ok, its a 3 room and kitchen with a rent below what we pay now, but to purchase it we have to come up with at least 245 000. It might go even higher than that if several people are interested in it. My mum thinks it is a bit too much, and im sort of thinking it might be. If you look in here and look for the one at Jesper Svedbergsväg you can have a look at it

It is the dreaded friday the 25th. That is when a major part of the swedes get paid and they all rush off to the supermarket to stock up on food. Or so it seems anyway when you see the queues at work straight away when you get in the door.

I stayed home yesterday due to migrain, couldnt bother to do anything much at all since my head felt like it exploded on a regulare basis and once it calmed down felt as thick as concrete, and just as heavy. It's been quite a while since my last migrain so i had forgotten how bad they really can get :o(

No news on the apartment side, no new nice apartments to let either. And the Acorn/Bcorn competition is still in a stalemate, no sprouting in sight! Wonder what you have to do to get them going? Or rather mine to get going ;o)

What a disappointment the appartment was¨.
Not in a million years will i figure out why people live like they do....
The apartment looked bare and very very lonely and cold. Maybe it just was how the interior looked like or maybe it was how she lived in it that bothered me. But straight away when i got in the door i felt like, naaah im not going to live here. And still you have to look beyond how the person in there has it arranged and imagine your own stuff and style in there, but this time it was impossible. A place has to have a ...ahem.."soul" to interest me. And this one was dead... oh how sad because the balcony was EXCELLENT!

*ATCHOOOOO...!*
Beware, entering this blog might cause you to catch a cold!

Why do i have to feel like shit on my day off??? Only thing i can do now is go and have a look at the flat and scrap all the other plans i had for today. I will have to send James off to gran today since i dont want her to catch a cold at her age. Also i will have to see if i will manage the other errands i was suppose to run today or if i'll just crawl under a rock and sleep for the rest of the day once back from taking a peek at that apartment....

Having a cold sucks... big time!

To rent or not to rent, that is the question...

We're in a bit of a dilemma, well not a serious one but anyway. I've been seriously bitten by the house bug and want a place that we can call our own, in other words, no rentals. But there isnt anything nice available right now so it is a bit frustrating to apartmenthunt right now. At least we got to know this morning that we have a chance of getting the penthouse flat since it was offered to us. Question is if anyone else also is interested in it and got more points then us, because then it will go to them. I called the tennant up this morning to see if we could come and have a look at it today or tomorrow, but it was a very weird conversation. Here this girl is going to move and she HAS to show the apartment to people but still i had to DRAG an answer out of her and really push her to let me come see it tomorrow before she goes to work. I only have untill friday to give a yes or no to it so i would like to have seen both of them before deciding anything. The trouble is though that since James is working mornings and the girl start her work at 3 he wont be able to come see it with me. But there is a similar flat available as well and we are first in that queue so he will get to see how it looks like anyway as soon as the other lady returns my phonecall and tells me how she could arrange me seeing the apartment since she is living up in Sundsvall and it was her son who had been staying in it.

Another tuesday....
Im not sure i like being in the veggies anymore. I dont get to say anything about what to take home, all that is gone. But maybe Mr T will be gone soon as well.... Lotta had heard some mumbling from his general direction that he wasnt going to stay much longer when she was in the kitchen yesterday morning. And seriosuly im not surprised. When Big Boss gets it in his head to test someone he wont stop untill you exceed his expectations or you snap and fail in his eyes. And Mr T doesnt work that well under pressure.....

It had apparently been high life yesterday morning when Boris thought he could say whatever he wanted about Johanna, but since she has had enough about his bullshit and is going to quit soon anyway she took him by the horns and told him that if he had any complaints about her come see her instead of running around like a 5 year old telling on people. I thought the last bit was the most amusing. Because being at work is like being in a kindergarten sometimes when Boris doesnt get what he wants. Have you ever seen a 32 year old baby? No? Well please do come see our Boris! I wont charge any admission, promise!

Btw, Boris had of course run to Big Boss and 'cried' about how bad Johanna had been telling him off but the boss told him it was his own fault and he would have to go and apologise to her, which he did, but with a truck load of explanations about how it wasnt his fault?? He was very low the rest of the day, but i think it was good for him. It cant be good to get away with lie after lie after lie and not be found out. But since he is a compulsive liar im sure he has stored away and rearranged it all in his head so that in his mind Big Boss didnt tell him to go and apologise at all and he will come up with some fantastic explanation to it all today when you talk to him. Its scary actually to see him go off on one of his tirades. And he really believes himself to the point that he gets really offended when found out and angry at the person exposing his lies. What do you do? Really what do you do?

It is snowing with a capital S!
They promised some but i never believe the weather report. James is going around mumbling something about "silly white stuff" and just grunting at it. But me im very pleased, i LOVE snow.

I wasnt so pleased yesterday though. We bought 2 new lamps that i was thinking to hang by the windows, but since there isnt a plug for them there i had to connect them and draw a cord to the wallsocket. Only thing is, when i had finished connecting them and plugged them in it went all dark in our apartment!! The man at the store didnt say you had to use two of the connecting cubes so i hotwired it to one..... Anyway, no harm done more then a blown fuse and a shattered ego. I was very proud to have got it all togheter....
I phoned Lotta and asked about what to do and she said that he had been a silly man saying i could do it like i had when there was an easier way to do it, and a safer way! So today im going with her up to Coop and buying the proper stuff! I feel like an idiot though not making sure how to connect the leads, you shouldnt play with electricity if you dont know what your doing. A fried tigs isnt what i want at the end of the day!

Btw, we have a deadline for when we have to do our washing, in 2 days. Thats when James' underwear runs out... But you could of course do like he did yesterday, in despair looking for clean underwear he wore his long-johns with the legs folded up, maybe he will start the next fashion trend? ;o)

And the race is on!
In the first lane we have Acorn (James') in his slightly smaller terracotta pot and in the second lane we have Bcorn (Marias) in the bigger terracotta pot. The rules are simple, get yourself a wee gardener to take care of you and make yourself sprout, the first one showing signs of life wins the prize to be named later.
As the first day ends, no sign of green, so it still seems a dead heat. Bets are taken to whom will win the secret prize (any suggestions to prize is appreciated)

YES YES YES!!!
I finaly got my archives back and running and i made the error 503 disappear!!!!
Am i a genius or what!... ;o)

Im wondering if this is things to come when trying to phone Marie. Either no ones at home, which is fine, or there is a constant busy tone. And now im wondering, is it her daughter clogging up the landline with calls to friends and then internet surfing??? Hmmm????
Please let me or Lotta know if we can meet tomorrow for a fika, ok Marie?.. :o)

I've chopped off my hair again and colored it brown red. I dont know why, but this is much more me then my ordinary mousy blonde color... I've not had my own haircolor for ages now. Wonder how it would look like. Im sure people wouldnt recognise me straight at once if i had my natural color....

Other then that i dont have much to write about really. Life is just stomping on as usuall. We're casually looking for somewhere else to live but since i am so picky i doubt we will find anywhere quickly. There is a lovely looking flat available, but since i've only seen the layout online the final decision has to wait untill i see it in person. It is anyway a penthouse suit (of course ;o)..) Heres a layout of it.


kök - kitchen
sovrum - bedroom
vardagsrun - livingroom
hall - hallway
bad - bathroom
klk - its a walk-in-closet ;o)
Notice something? The HUGE balcony stretching almost across all of the apartment. Thats what i fell in love with, also that its on the top floor with no neighbours part from the underneath ones.

Im kicking YACCS out! Im so tired of the long loading time so im going to try this other commenting system out. Please let me know if it is slow or what else you think of it, still got some fiddling to do since you can add piccies if you likes and me likes that! :o)

Birthday cards will probably come tomorrow, if the postman is willing to drag them off to my doorstep! ;o)

Happy birthday to meeeee, Happy birthday to meeeee, happy birthday dear Mariaaaaaaaaaa, happy birthday to MEEEEEE!

So, its my birthday. I thought it would be a quiet little affair with my mum only. But oh was i ever wrong! James, yes he himself, had gone and orchestrated a little surprise party for me! Well it all started last night really when i asked if i was allowed to open one parcel after 12 o'clock which i could. And i opend the very smelly one from James' parents. I got some Lush bathbubbles and a bath ballistic and some shower gel and soap scented with honey. Lovely, will use them for my shower tomorrow morning. I also got a nice blank book, which i might use as a guestbook. But i forgot to ask people today about writing in it *slaps forhead* I also got a fridgemagnet with some words of wisdome, all this has been stowed away since James' parents were here in sept, and i can tell you its been hard not to have a peek before today!....lol

I had changed my shift earlier this week so i worked early and got home at about 3 o'clock, jumped into the shower to get ready before mum was supposed to come at 4 for dinner and coffe. Mum came as mum usually does, before the time stated. She had made a cake and had bought me an orchid (dark crimsone flowers with white speckles and a yellow center). I also got a gold necklace with a pendant and a pair of nice darkblue lace table cloths from my mum, sister and gran. I got some lotterytickets from my brother, i won 2 new tickets. (YaY) We had our lovely chicken and rice dinner followed by lovely James-made bananacake and icecream. I got a birthday phone call from James' parents and earlier James' gran phoned as well before the storm.

And then they all started to drop by.....
First came Rosie and she sang for me and gave me 4 cheers that must have been heard all over the building, i got a nice umbrella rack for my hall and some flowers, i also got a little something from her parents. Then next in line was Lotta and Marie who had bought me an orchid, a great big one with darklilac flowers with red and white bands in them and 2 lottery tickets, didnt win anything though (boo). And then after a while longer Carolina came by and i got Jamie Olivers cookbook from her, sadly i had that one but she will give me the receipt so i can change it to his second one. I like his cookingstyle so i was pleased anyway. We then had mums cake with 30(!) candles in it and i managed to blow them all out without setting off the firealarm so i got a birthday wish! And then there was a lot of cackle going on and laughter and it was a most pleasant and fun evening. From what i thought would be a quiet little day to one like this... and all organized by James, i didnt have a clue! And that says a lot of how good it was organized and kept secret because i usually cop on to these things but not now.... Chucks, i must be getting old!

We won on the lotto!!!!!!

Before you all get overexcited and ask where the champagne is to celebrate i have to tell you we won a measly 25 kr, about Ł1,70...
But we're getting there! At least there is a bit more to go into the kitty for our future night out. Have to get the numbers off Marie yet though, havent heard anything from her, maybe she's won big and ran off with it all! ;o)

Tomorrow is the big day, i thought i bake a cake and take with me to work. Its one of those heavy, sticky, absolutly gorgeous rich chocolate and toffee cake with crushed almonds on top... Yummie! And as things are, only the people that i like at work will be there tomorrow morning, well maybe not all of them, but those who i would like to make a cake for are there. If others can be picky, so can i!

I got some more flowers today, but they are for tomorrow so cant really boast and say i got them just-because this time.... Still, its lovely to get a bunch of them from time to time. Why dont men understand this?!? If they knew how much we women will forgive them for just the odd ickle flower i think the florists would have a field day all year round! Dont you..? ;o)

I have a lovely bunch of roses sitting on my coffetable.. 20 of them, dark red. I got them on wednesday, for no apparent reason it seems.... Made me smile big time though, still do when i see them.. :)))

I might lose my bet about James not finishing the beanybag bird before christmas. But then again i might not since seeing as James did sew the other pair of wings up wrong so he ended up with two left wings instead of a pair of them.. Makes me wonder as well how he will manage the tricky bit of getting the rest of the body togheter. Made me laugh though today when he told me what he had done when i phoned him from work. He is cute you know.. ;o)

I need to unwind

I think im going to have a long bath....
With Lush bubbles.....

My day off...

Am going to grans soon and doing a bit of shopping, then im going to go and buy some eyes to the teddy beanybag bear im making. James bought a book about how you make your own beanbag figures. He has so far got one (1) wing cut out and put togheter, not sawn toghter or anything just pinned togheter so he can run around flapping it from his shoulder, very cute i know but it makes you wonder about the sanity of this guy sometimes. And mine as well since im marrying him! ;o)
Bet you he still will only have one wing by the end of the year, you see it was too much hassle cutting all the parts out, oh not to mention to copy them off the book first! I mean, he is worse then me when it comes to completing stuff you start!!

Any bets on how long it will take him? Booky Tigs is now open, my odds are 20-1 that he will finish it before christmas.... ;o)

Did you all know its my birthday next sunday...?
Well if you didnt you do now
The Big 3 0.....
What am i saying! Of course i wont be that old, i'm just 25! Yes thats a nice age to be isnt it?

It snowed today! YaY!!! Super early as well but who cares, me i LOVE snow!

But it makes for an interesting day when the first thing you hear from James in the morning is, "for fucks sake!!" followed by a very heavy sigh and a lot of grumpy noices at the sight of snowflakes slowly falling outside. This is before we've even got out of bed. I was to say the least very surprised. He used to look forward to snow and go out and jump in it when he first came over here. But now...? I hate to think about how winter will be with James if this is the start of it! But maybe it has to do with that he will have to walk to and from work when there's no buses at night. Or maybe that he usually falls over several times in winter because he walks on like theres no tomorrow and absolutly no snow! Well he just has to get used to it, anyway if he is to live here.....

We went to the big market in Rättvik yesterday. And i had a promise from Mr James that he wouldnt complain and nicely carry my bags. He did quite well untill his small toes got cold (awww) then he started to look very droopy and i knew it was time to poke mum in the side and say it was time to go home. As usuall the market had grown bigger, lots more to have a look at, but i agree with James, if your a sock fetisicht, your in heaven. Cant they come up with anything better to sell??? They had the odd good stall. And of course the candy ones in abundance. But generally i just walk by those and all the other common ones. I always keep my eyes open for the odd one, or the arty one that has quality insted of tatt in it. And i found some this time as well. I found a lovely rug for my kitchen, handmade by the older lady selling them at the market. Since i am into weaving myself i saw it was a good one and i know how much work goes into making one i do appreciate them. Could have spent more money there but resisted. I also found a nice handmade chip basket in different colored wood. James still thinks it will end up in the storage. And maybe it will, but it will be used before it goes out into the big black hole of our storage! Oh, i bought myself a new handbag as well, of course... James didnt bat an eyelid at it, good boy, but he did complain later when i was looking at these nice drawings of elk and bears by Jan Norman. I already have 2 big ones by him hanging over my sofa, one is of a pack of rĺdjur (small deer) and the other is of 2 grazing nordsvenskar (swedish horse breed). I also have one where he pictured a dalmatian. I like his style and thought i might buy one since you cant get a hold of them so easy but then James put his foot down and stomped off after saying that we dont have anywhere to hang it and that we have some pictures still to find a place for! Tssss, i have lots of stuff i cant find a place for right now, i sometimes swop them around but he is right you know. Argh that did hurt to say, James ... is... right...! But i still would have liked to buy a picture!!! And there are plenty of room to hang pictures still, just have to rearrange the ones i got to fit the rest of them in. Its more or less that whats keeping me from framing the others. Do you KNOW how tidious it is to get them all aligned and hung straight?? There must be an easy way to do that, but i havent figured it out so it will have to wait.. Maybe it will be done when we move... :o)

They are very quiet about what happend on the cruise. I suppose we outsiders arent allowed to know what happend! They can have an animated discussion and then when you walk into the staff room everyone shuts up and looks at you a bit like, 'did she hear anything?' Definetly time to get another job....

It is nice out side right now here in Sweden. All the trees have changed color into bright yellows, reds, very dark crimson red and orange tones. And all is framed by exceptionell fine weather. Sun and clear blue sky. Im in awe how beautiful it looks out there right now. No wonder i like autumn best. But best of all is you get the first frost covering everything in glittering snow that twinkles like a million diamonds when the sun rises and taws it away.

The cruise has been, it will be interesting to go back to work today to see who is talking to who and who isnt, and who is too embarassed to!

It is a lovely autumn day outside, sun is shining from a crystalclear blue sky, it is around +3 and a bit windy. Can life get any better? Yes it can...

This weekend a load of people from work are going on a cruise to Finland. No, i've not been invited to go. Since it is the shrewed Big Brother who has arranged it all only a few 'selected' people from our place are going. All in all, 20 of them... Some of us unwanted people have to stay behind and mind the store and slave on because it is a big weekend here (people got paid today). I really dont care that they are going, it is the way they have arranged it that bugs me, they call it a 'staffparty', but how can they do that, theres been no list to sign up to, no information that there would be a trip, nothing. And i suppose if Boris wouldnt have got to know about it we wouldnt have known before it was a fact today that there are people missing.

Ever since Big Bosses brother came to work at the store things have gone from being us the team, to we and them. Theres an A-team and then theres a B-team. Is that a good way to run a store? I dont think so, but the boss dont want to interfere since it is his brother doing the splitting up. Chicken or what? Or maybe it is the old story about men watching out for each other. I know i stereotype a lot now, but hey that is how it is at my work. I am very objective about what goes on, thats one of my best sides people keep on telling me, or worst, depending on how you see it. But at work lately it is all gone to be like 'The Boys Club'. No not mans club, the BOYS club. Note the difference i make..

Just take a little episode that happened now on tuesday. I was on the veggies doing my stuff and when i was checking the order coming in that morning i saw that Mr T had ordered double of lots of stuff we really didnt need or already had quite a lot of. So i was thinking, should i keep my mouth shut and swear while i put it all in the cold storage or should i go and ask the boss what to do with all the extras. I thought, no way am i keeping my mouth shut this time. So off i went to the boss and asked if it was alright to send some of the grocerys back since Mr T had orderd too much. He came out and had a look and said it was alright, i then asked if he would go down to the storage and have a look to see what else there was too much of, really just so he would see for himself so he couldnt say i was imagening things later on, at this point he was irritated about Mr T and said he would have a talk to him. I dont know if he ever went down to have a look, i was putting in the new prices in the computer at the time but later when i went to ask him something completly different he brought it up and dressed it up to that it wasnt that bad anyway and that i should keep the stuff we had got. I must have looked very surprised because off he went on one of his rants about him taking care of it and that he would help Mr T when doing the order the next day and see to that he worked it out alright, and there wasnt a real problem more then me being a bit picky, that i should help him more, and really just making me more irritated by the second by putting some of the blame on me. Or really just walking around the real subject to confuse and trow in a lot of crap comments to make you go away. He is like this my boss, seriously he is. So no wonder i am looking for something else to do. Its a shame really that the boss cant see who really is working and who is really just making a grand show of them doing some work, but really they just sit and drink coffe, chattering.

To be fair, i sit and relax a bit as well if there is a slow day, but really since you work at the tills as well you dont get to do that so much since you have to be at hand out in the store. At some times i think that we, the cashiers, are the only people with a work ethic worth mentioning at the store, and being cashiers we constantly get overlooked, 'becasue we only sit all day anyway' That is an actuall comment from my boss. He really really thinks we sit and do nothing at the tills. Oh we never take care of your angry customer, lift at least 3 tons a day in grocerys(fact), make sure that people leave the store with a good impression, smile and just make small talk to someone who maybe dont talk to anyone else that day. Small importent things, that without them, you wouldnt have any customers coming back because, who wants to go shopping in a store were they treat you like dirt and give you poor service?

Rant over, but i still got more so.... But maybe not today since the weather is fine and life in general otherwise is absolutely wonderful!

Im getting to be spoilt about computer space, here i am sitting writing my mails and blogging a bit and listening to LOADS of music i saved on the computer...
Long live KaZaa! ;o)

I have said it before and i will say it again, what do people think we(shop attendances) are, their own personal slaves?? How do YOU behave when shopping? I want to know, because im getting fed up with being told how worthless i am by customers who are having a bad day or are generally just pissheads because they can be!

It is really about time i change jobs, so i dont need to bite my tounge every time it happens. Oh the joy of being able to speak your mind and dont need to worry about what the boss migth say once he gets to know about it. Its no good having a job where you end up hating someone so much you would gladly see them slip into the paperpress out back...! ;o)

I dont like when you cant blog, Blogger was being really silly yesterday so i didnt bother with trying to get in. Work yesterday was exhausting. I dont think i would like to work full time like that. Maybe when i was younger, but now, no way in hell...
I fell asleep before James got back from work and that is unusuall.

Part from work being a bit of a drag nothing really interesting happend at all. I finished burning this cd im going to send Jessica. And i managed to figure out all by myself how to do the cd cover as well. It got a quite cool picture of a white tiger on it. Well it had to be didnt it since i am the Divine Tigs.... ;o)

Am off to work soon, hopefully it will be calm and i might be able to sneak home early, but i suppose i really shouldnt be doing that, my boss might get the wrong idea and give me lesser hours if i keep at it.
No reply about the other job i applied for yet. Not that i was expecting any either, but a little note saying we received your application would be nice to get. Im not so sure they got it you see, but they must have!

I was asked on monday if i wanted to work on wednesday instead of having my day off then. So i agreed and in the end i agreed to work the whole shift since Mr T is sent on a course this week.
What a difference a day can make.... my boss was in the veggie section yesterday and it looked absouloutly smashing! Hopefully people will notice and tell him so he might have another consideration about Mr T, but i seriously doubt it. If anything Mr T will get hassled a bit more then usuall but thats about it i think. Mind you he is losing money quickly in his department and if it is anything the Big Boss doesnt like is losing moeny.... ;o)
But what do i care, i am in a hunt for another job, now once i have started i am going to keep at it, and on work that i wouldnt considered before as well, you cant but get a no. As Lotta did put it on saturday, one more day is one to many..!

Im sitting waiting for my mum to turn up so we can go and do a bit of shopping. There is an offer out on Pepsi, the essential drink in this household, so will go and stock up on it while i get a ride there and back. If i wouldnt have i might have considered going up there on my bike. For one i need to offload my presents to Al at her parents house since they are going down to Gothenburg this weekend for Robins birthday. And besides i am in a change of habit i think. Me and Jamie went out for a walk around the lake Tisken on sunday. It is about 5 km around it and we made it in an hour and a bit which i thought was exellent sicne i havent been walking at all since last winter. Biking is my life but not in wintertime, guess i got worried i was out of shape walk wise and wanted to find out if i would be crawling back home. But i wasnt at all tired when we got back home.
Might go out to walk for a bit after the shopping is done, it has really turned autumn like since sunday. It has been raining and is quite cold, around +10, colder during the nights. Wont be long now untill we have our first frost, YaY me says becasue then all the wasps will die off. They are really annoying at work and they are so slow right now i might end up sitting on one at the tills if i dont keep on watching out for them! Somehow they like our chairs we got at the till.

I got a list in the post today, a list of where people from my old class has ended up. Surprisingly many of them have moved to Stockholm. But also a great deal has stayed put here in Falun.....

This over at Michelles just made me laugh insanely as i am a Monthy Python fan myself... ;o)

We have a high school reunion party coming up in october and im still pondering wether to go or not... It would be hilarious to go and see what the others are doing though. I went to the official website where you can sign in and chat to others that went at the same school as you and also see if anyone else in your class left their email or phone number if you want to get in touch. I get all sentimental when i see who has been in and written. Sadly though i am still considering NOT to go since the high school days werent the happiest of memorys to carry around with and i feel that im done with all the shit that went on then. Dont get me wrong, i like my class and had lots of fun with them, but when you start 7th grade you shift from a nice and cosy little school close to where i grew up to this HUGE one in town and from then on i hated it, tremendously. Or rather i hated certain people.... I didnt like going to school again untill I started collage (gymnasiet)

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH!!!!!!
I've just applied for another job, im certain i wont get it anyhow but still, I DID IT!

It is election day in Sweden today. Somehow i doubt there will be a lot of changes done to the government. People will vote for socialdemokraterna and thats it. Even though the polls are showing the right wing parties as the leaders im not holding my breath about us getting a change.

Today is also my mums birthday, YaY mumsy ;o)
And since i invited her here for a dinner and fun and games on the computer i had better get cracking. Got a roast dinner to prepare and get on the way, also have to make a cake and go and vote!

We have had James' parents over for a week now. Sorry for not posting anything but as you might have guessed I have been busy busy.
This time they wanted to rent a cabin since they thought it too expensive to stay at a hotel again since they had no summer offers on anymore. And i agree, hotel prices in Sweden are astronomical off-season which i think is odd. But never mind that, you cant get a boat and free bikes included in a hotel for the price of a cabin by a lovely lake now can you? Ok it is a bit out of town, but think of the upside, you might spot the odd bear or elk as you sit sipping your morning coffe or tea... Not very likely but there is a chance of it out that way. So i thought i would warn them of it... Bad move i think since all they can think of now is getting back to the cabin before nightfall and they are constantly looking out for bears... ;o)

We have had absoloutly smashing weather all week, sunny and quite warm. Only thing coming to Sweden this time of year is that all the tourist attractions are closing down or have already closed, as we discovered on wednesday when we went around the big lake Siljan and did a quick visit to Leksand. The views off Vidablick was fantastic but sadly the viewingtower was closed for the season.
The rest of the afternoon we spent at their cabin, having a go at rowing the little boat and just relaxing.

On thursday we went out to the cabin early in the morning since i wanted to see if we could catch some fish. We spent a few hours rowing around and trying to fish in a drifting boat, we had no anchor, but in the end we gave up since it was so windy we just drifted into the shore all the time. But we had fun all the same, and watching James trying to coordinate himself enough to be able to row us back to the cabin was to put it mildly, fun... ;o)
We played a boardgame called The Labyrinth and had a few games of boule before heading back into town. I wanted to go shopping a bit for some presents for my mum and my friend Ann-Louise's son Robin who is having his first birthday soon. I found a lovely bedspread in lilac and goldstrips, but it was mucho expensive. But maybe if i ask nicely i might get half of it payed by James...

Friday the 13th...
Do i dare go to work?
Do i WANT to go to work?

Sunday, and only one day left to clean up the place for James' parents! Its not that bad really but im a bit concerned how much mess the painters will do next week.
They (Kopparstaden) have decided to paint our windowpanels and frames next week, so i will have to get everything out of the windowsill's and take my curtains down. I asked if they couldnt do that the week after since we are having James parents over, but he said they were doing all of the building at once so it would be a bit difficult. It will take 5 days to do it though. I mean, how can it take that long? Ok, first day they scrape old paint off and put on a base, let that dry to the next day, then come back and put one layer of paint on and let it to dry and then next morning put on the finishing one??? Or how many layers do they actually do??

Soon it is the weekend. And im so looking forward to it this week.
I was called in early today. Big Boss still hasnt filled anyone on Jurgens shifts after he quit a few weeks back since he was going off back to school. So we are constantly one man short on the shifts. Well you can imagine my surprise when i got to work today and Sabbi said that they were one extra since Boris had been playing boss and called in Ulla already without telling anyone about it. So really i had 2 hours of wandering around looking for something to do. I couldnt bother with going back home, besides it was thundering so I didnt really want to either. I had a bit of a strange day you could say. I ended up doin a bit of all sorts including doodling a bit in meatcutting. It wasnt as difficult as i thought. And Vera said it looked good what i was doing so...

We had Rosie and Per over yesterday evening. First time meeting Per i was, to say the least, very nervous. But i think he was more nervous then me in the end. Guy meeting his gf's best friend, who she has talked to about everything, wouldnt you be just a tad nerovus about what she knows? ;o)
We talked politics(!) and lots of other stuff as well, and i showed them the new computer, of course. It was nice, and a change from our usuall evenings lately. Not that im complaining, but a bit of variation is good for the soul. I at least got a good laugh when Rosie instead of saying that she had had an avlyssning said avsugning, that made my day, and Per's who couldnt stop laughing either. For all you who dont know swedish, avlyssning is when you listen to something and avsugning is a blowjob.... ;o)
Its much better in swedish though!

When i got home today i noticed two quite big boxes in the halway, alright i thought what has he bought now. And when i went to check my emails i noticed something very strange with our desk. Someone had attached a steeringwheel to it in an attempt to drive it away! There were even some pedals on the floor! Im just waiting for the speeding ticket to arrive on the monitor window now... ;o)
And when i turned on the speakers i got a shock from the subwoofer hiding ontop of the computer tower. He said something about being out shopping a bit earlier when i phoned him from work, maybe i should take him out 'shopping' more often if this is what he comes home with! Btw, the sound is superb!

Alright, i think im getting to grips with a bit of css stuff now. Please go here and say what you think. It is sort of finished, im not quite alright about the translucent thingy, still think it looks like a pair of stockings pullded over the text, which makes the quality of text quite poor. But never mind, its early days in my design career.... ;o)

I've been to the dentists this morning. After being there last week to fix a broken filling i thought i might as well go for a checkup and got the time for today. I almost overslept though! It must be subconcious, i knew where i was going but really didnt want to... ;o)
Anyway i woke up in time and just had a quick youghurt and a brush of the pearly whites before biking there as quickly as i could. I got in and the dentist had a good poke around and a scrape or two, also took some x-rays. But no matter how much he poked he couldnt find anything to fix. Im very relieved about that! I hate drilling, its scary! I feel so sorry for Paul who has just pulled out a tooth, i have only done that once since one of my wisdoom(!) teeth decided to grow outward into my cheek. But mine never broke, still it was the biggest tooth i've ever seen with a double root. Yeuch....

So, what to do on my day off. James is sleeping, and snoring mind you, so must be very very quiet. Maybe i will go into town a bit early and do a bit of shopping before heading of to grans. Yes it is once more granny day! Other then that i dont know what to do with today. Mind you it is lovely out there so i might lure James out a bit earlier ,if he isnt too tired that is, and go for a long bike ride.

I was wondering, how long does it take for my blog to load?

So it is night time again and no James to keep me company in bed. But i really have to go to bed and sleep! Im getting up early in the morning so...better be beddie buys now, and thanks to blogger being silly earlier i havent been able to do any more work on my template since access was denied when i tried it out. Also a long post vanished into thinn air since i forgot to copy it before posting the damn thing. And i cant be bothered to try to rememeber what i wrote in it anyway.

Its been a crappy day at work for me today. The only thing i liked doing, im not going to get to do anymore... Big Boss said it was best if Mr T got to order everything for now untill HE knows how to do it, i mean if the guy hasnt improved from when he started at this, ages ago, do you think he will?? Seriously?? Or..else they think im crap at it and thats why im not getting to do it anymore. But why not say so to me then instead of this? I anyway think it is a truck full of bullshit! Pardon my french!!

This is as far as i got for now, have to rush over to work now before im late! Leave any comments about how it looks like. I am thinking of moving the tiger to unde rthe text bit but i have to figure out how to make a translusent textblock first though. Any tips?
Despite that i asked James to do it for me i have been fiddling myself with a bit of help from him. So, bare with me with this one ok? ;o)

Alright, im getting a new page done by James. I asked very nicely if he wanted to redo mine as well since he had a fiddle with his and it turned out very nice. So fingers crossed he will start doing mine up tomorrow, he is such a sweet thang..... ;o)

I bought myself a new orchid today from the market. They were selling lovely looking ones for a quite a nice price if you compare to the prices in the flowershops. And it is from a very good but small gardencenter so i indulged myself and bought another one. This one is light purple with a yellow white sort of middle, i found a picture that matches it quite nicely.

I went with Lotta today to a garden center. And of course i bought a flower. An orchid actually. I had one before that Rosie gave to me since she didnt think it would survive much longer at her place. But it didnt like it at mine either and withered. Will have to see how this one copes with staying in here. They are really beautiful plants, but very picky so... It's a phalaenopsis if that says anything to you. The most common sort of orchid in wedding bouqes so im told by this leflet im reading. Anyway it has lovely light pink flowers with a very dramatic dark purple/yellow center.

No good going shopping today me thinks. I got home with both a new keyboard and a new printer! I hid them under the blanket so James wouldnt see them when he got home, but i think the big bump in the bed gave them both away and he found them anyways! The keyboard is one of those multifunctional ones from Microsoft. It is wide as a ufo me thinks but it is gorgeous to write with. Soft touch buttons, oh heaven compared to my old one which sometimes needed a quite a hard punch to get some keys to work, to much crumbs under them i suppose.....lol.

The printer needs an USB lead to work and since it wasnt included and i didnt read well enough to realise i needed to buy one of those, James will have to trot over and get one tomorrow before we can test it. But right now im going to write a few emails and enjoy every minute of it... how sad can you get about computers and gadgets, like James? ;o)

Oh im so clever i amaze myself!
Here we have been having a bit of trouble getting the keyboard to use swedish letters as well and i had a look around and found where you go and change the settings. So now i have swedish keyboard settings by the press of an ickle button on the taskbar or a key command, arent i clever?

We'll have to see if we get ourselves a new keyboard, i quite fancy this one but im sure i can be convinced that a Logitec one is much nicer to type on and they have these nice shortcut buttons on them as well... Have to see if i will go over to OnOff for a peek of their selection. But not right now, my head is hurting so am going to take a Alvedon for it and go have a catnap me thinks. Still very chuffed i solved the problem with the swedish letters though, especially since James couldnt find where you do it. That is typical male really, you know where i found it? In the Help section of course....... ;o)

I was reading some blogs and stumbled over these jokes/riddles.. They are exactly the sort that James comes up with and drives me nuts with

What makes this noise OOooooo?
A cow with no lips

What do you call a deer with no eyes?
No idea

What do you call a three legged donkey?
a wonky

And maybe my favorite, well not mine but James'

What's brown and sticky?
a stick.

I mean...AAAAAAAHHHH"!
lol

I have a new favorite tonight. Bruce....
I got his new cd through the post today, gods bless the internet and the cheaper prices on cd's and dvd;s and videos and books and...!
I've been waiting for his new cd to come out. Missed his hoarse voice and melancholi... Perfect for a summers night with a cold drink and the subtle breece through the open window.

Are you lonesome tonight.....?

What is it with the mystery and attraction of Elvis Presley? Im listening to a cd with his olden goldies and reflected over the cult that is around his person. I swear there will be The Church of Elvis soon ,if not already there is such a thing i might add! I have a vague memory of seeing some tv program of people getting married by some Elivs inpersonator and that he also did requests on songs to the wedding cermony. Anyone got any ideas why? I mean he was a brilliant singer , misguided though trough his career. But still brilliant.
Is it the early death? The "misspelling" of his second name on his gravestone? What??
Or maybe there is a hidden urge for guys (and girls mind you!) to dress up as him and shake those hips untill they plop off... ;o)

Have you ever thought about how good you feel after having a shower?
Me and water, its something magical. Mum used to say i was a water animal when i was a kid. We were lucky to have a lakeside house when we grew up. And every summer you knew where you would find me, down by the lake, playing, splashing water around on everyone that came to close. I was very slow in learning how to swim, so one winter when i was around 7 we went on holiday down to Austria and stayed at this hotel with a lovely pool. I guess i didnt think (as kids do) when i went to the deep end of it. I almost drowned as i walked out too far, but my brother rescued me and carried me to the shallow part. But ever since then i am a bit vary of water. Not that i dont swim or so but i just dont like it when it gets deep under you.

I did learn how to swim later on in school. But i didnt get over the fear of deep water, and the instructors never understood what had happen to me to make me so scared of deep water. So as i was trying my best in learning, obviously they didnt think i was doing well enough and gave up on trying to teach me the more advanced things. I passed the very basic test and could proudly show off my little swimming knowledge badge you got after doing certain things, jumping, diving and swiming a certain distance. But after that i always came up with an excuse when it was time to go swiming with the class.

I just thought about this today when i heard some people in the store making plans to go swiming later on tonight in the moonlight....
I wish i could go too..

So another week of work, sigh.
I really REALLY dont want to anymore!
Its no good complaining i suppose. It wouldnt be so bad if i only had to work weekdays and have my weekends off. But since im on an every other weekend schedule it is a bit hard. But if Big Boss gets any ideas about keeping the store open for longer in the evenings i will go on strike. I think it is bad enough as it is now when you work untill 8, your not home untill 9 if your lucky when you count your till and wait for the others when we lock up. Im all for regulated shop opening hours. We used to have that before see, but since that got changed you can really have any opening hours you like. And im not so sure it is progress to be able to go down to your local supermarket at 10 - 11 in the evening to buy yourself a liter of milk or whatever it is that you have missing. Im sure people who dont work in supermarkets think it is GREAT, but believe you me, it isnt if it is you who have to work those hours.

Check out my new and improved Guest Map. It is very ...nifty...;o)
Also pls take time to read whats behind the Free Mr Bear button. We cant let the teddy bear go missing like this!

I've just sent James out for a bikerun by himself since i was getting on his nerves fidgeting all the time while watching a film according to him. I was not fidgeting! I just couldnt get comfy, we were trying out the dvd player in our computer and since we didnt get it to work with the leads to the tv we had to watch it on the computer. Which was fine i thought untill i realised it meant laying in bed. I dont know what it is about that since i am half slumped in the sofa anyways watching telly. But it just didnt seem as comftable on the bed as it does on the sofa. Anyway, hopefully he will come back a bit less restless and then WE can go out for a longer bikeride somewhere nice and cool. Preferable by the lake so i can do a bit of fishing, maybe.. ;o)

With the new computer comes MSN Messenger, so i thought i would use it. So anyone want to get in touch, please do to divinetigs ;o) If i can get it to sign me in that is!!

At last, i used to have this before but prefered ICQ, but with the new computer and all i dont know if i want to bother to put ICQ back on since i only use it to talk to one person. Will have to persuade her to change to MSN as well... ;o)