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

..........