Warning Chocoholic ahead!

I am all sticky from tasting and making Christmas sweets. I've just finished off making a batch of dark chocolate truffles with lovely smooooooth cognac(Prince Hubert De Polignac V.S) in them. It has to cool down now enough to handle so am waiting for the fridge to do its stuff. Then I'm going to roll them into balls and dust with cocoa powder. Yummieee... There are also Ice Chocolate Éclairs sitting cooling off in the fridge and I have a lot of Cocoa Crispies cooling on the kitchen bench, they didn't fit in the fridge! It feels like I've rolled a hundred of little marzipan balls as well that is waiting to be dipped in chocolate. I ran out of the nice milk chocolate since someone, no naming names, had eaten a WHOLE 250 g bar (minus a little row I had last night but that was crumbs compared to the whole bar!) I got to find a hiding place for my sweets I think or there wont be any left for Christmas. I was going to leave them here for a treat for my mum and sister since we wont be here for Christmas this year. We are going to spend the holidays with James' parents. I am very excited about that because I have never had an English Christmas before. Only thing that is wrong with that is that I wont get to open my pressies until Christmas Day! Here in Sweden we open our pressies on Christmas Eve. Which to me is the right day...

Done diddely darn done!

YES, finally I am done with the Christmas shopping for this year! It was a slow start this morning but once I got going and got a few ideas of what would be suitable it all seemed to fall into place quite alright in the end. But now looking at the big pile of wrapped pressies we are going to take with us to England I am seriously doubting we can fit any clothes in our suitcases or we might be overweight checking in!

We'll just have to squeeze some thin clothing into the little spaces left and wear a double set when going. Now that could be interesting at the airport when going through the security check!

Fiddle fiddle fiddle sticks..!

Well yes I couldnt help but to fiddle a bit with the new blogger beta.. I dont know if I like it yet or if i will up sticks and move somewhere else... I quite liked the old blogger but then my dear James updated his side and suddenly mine was hijacked because he was put as a contributer to mine and i couldnt accsess it as easy as i did before. Something weird and it wasnt, isnt his fault.. :)
Another weird thing is that the spell checker isnt working. I use it when im not sure about spelling and it helps in the I and the 'nt that im too lazy to put in when typing.

Chrismas shopping... woho..

No, not one of my favorite things to do at the moment since I am out of ideas. I've been doing a few bits here and there but these last few ones seem to be dragging on and dragging me down as well. I had actually promised myself to cut back on who I buy pressies for and just do it for the family and a few friends but every year it seems that the list somehow magically enlarges to a long scroll. But I have been thinking about it lately and really am going to stick to the guns this year and only do family and a few friends, period.. maybe. No matter how much angst im getting for not buying for the others. At the same time as I like Christmas I dont like the Silly Season which is what I call the time leading up to Christmas when you get bombarded with tips and ideas in how to make this Christmas the most happy and wonderful one, if you just do this or buy that.. You know the feeling? Well I 'spose theres nothing for it, nothing to make me linger any more at home. Up and atom... ;)

It is a very weird winter going on here. It has been hovering around +10 for 3 weeks now. No snow, no frost, plenty of downpours and they say it will keep like this for quite some time yet! Mind you i dont complain too much, no snow to shovel away and the house is quite warm inside since it isnt cold outside, we have crap heating that doesnt cope when it gets below -15 ish you see. But it feels odd. There should be hard frost nights with snow falling, really there should, but there isnt.. They are talking about it being an effect of global warming, which i could well believe, and some say it is because we are getting into another El Nino period. I just feel spooky about it since it seems so out of wack.

Currently playing Astral Projection - Solid Electronics

The computer music center is going in full swing and the roof and walls are absolutely coming down on me any second now. Or at least the neighbours will think we are having a full blast rave party going on. The only thing missing at the moment is the strobe painting the night sky!

I have a very diverse music taste. I can listen to opera one minute to swing completely and listen to Death Metal because there is this one song i like or like now trance music full blast. I enjoy serene music like Enya but also blue grass , blues, heavy metal, classical music, really you name it and I'll listen and i might find something i like and keep in my library.

It is such a shame it is illegal to download music. You really got so much to choose from on the Internet and there are chances you might find the next Britney Spears or Madonna by searching and listening and sending a good song on to your friends. You still do of course, download i mean, illegal or not but its such a shame that it couldn't be free. I know the artists have to get paid as well and it is right that they should be but looking at the price of a CD in the shop i cant but help feeling that we the customers are getting screwed big time by the big music labels. Thinking about what the prize for a new CD is at the moment , 225 Kr, I understand why people search and download.

I came across this one from my old entries and thought it worth being posted again.

On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, a middle-aged, well-off white South African lady has found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant over to complain about her seating.
"What seems to be the problem Madam?" asked the attendant.
"Can't you see?" she said. "You've sat me next to a kaffir. I can't possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!"
"Please calm down Madam." the stewardess replied. "The flight is very full today, but I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class."

The woman cocks a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her (not to mention many of the surrounding passengers). A few minutes later the stewardess returns with the good news, which she delivers to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self-satisfied grin.
"Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I've spoken to the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in first class." Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continues... "It is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, I have had to get special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious person." With which, she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman, and said:
"So if you'd like to get your things, sir, I have your seat ready for you..." At which point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation while the black man walks up to the front of the plane.

People will forget what you said...
People will forget what you did...
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

DIY time!

We did block off a doorway into our lounge earlier this autumn and now I'm finally getting round to plastering the joints and trying to make it blend in with the rest of the wall, still got the wallpaper to do on one side and painting the other side. Also James and his dad boxed in the chimney breast that was showing in the lounge and I am also trying to make that one look nice. But bugger it is hard getting the corners nice and sharp on that one! I've sanded it once and patched up were I missed so I'll just have to sand it down once more to see if that will do or if there is more to patch up. We also have to get around doing the skirting boards in the lounge and the frame for the attic fold down stair. All the doors need seeing to as well since most of them had been clad with plywood to hide the nice old frames and the paint is peeling on some of them We might even repaint the hall, still thinking about that one though... I just want everything finished! It has been lingering on for quite some time now but I suppose we'll have plenty of time this winter to get all things done..

If you ever feel like you got too much time on your hands and don't know what to do with it or if your just plain old bored go Grow something. I dare you to get it working at its maximum.

Currently playing Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah (on repeat..)

Weird that, you know, sometimes you find a band that you like immediately. That is what happened when I found this one. I've heard the hit 'I don't feel like dancing' on the radio previous and thought hmmm might be good. So I decided to get the CD after a radio show featuring them and I got to hear a bit more of what they play. I think I might drive James round the bend though if I play it much more when he is at home...

The more it snows a tiddeli pom...

It has come about 20 cm of fresh new crisp white snow! I love winter, especially the snow and the clear dark nights when you can see the stars go on forever and ever. There is nothing that compares to a late evening walk in the moonlight and it is all quiet and the only sound is the crunch from the snow under your shoes.

I remember from when I was little that we always seemed to be out later in winter when the lake had iced over and the snow had come. You could play cops and robbers in the dark or more fun have snowball wars with your own castle made of snow to protect. If you were lucky dad piled all the snow into one big mound where you could bore holes and make little chambers inside and sit there with a candle lit eating your sandwich pack that mum used to prepare with that warm choco in a flask which always seemed to go cold just too quickly. We played we were astronauts at night walking around in the cold empty space(usually down by the lakeside) and used dads old binoculars as our telescope to see if we could spot any UFO's or alien invaders. We never got very close to the stars but it made it all much more magic when you could see them a bit closer to you. Sometimes we'd see the northern lights glimmer and flicker its band across the sky and there were shooting stars raining down on us. You don't see them in summer since the nights are too light and I do miss them. So I always welcome winter like a good old friend, a wee bit too cold at time but still the very best of friends.

It is raining

And I really mean RAINING! No little dripdrops, I mean full front on pouring! And I will have to go out in it later to go collect my car. It is at the moment at the garage for a long over due service. Me, I'm due for some serious sleep but cant really since there is a bit to do in the house and I have work later on. It has been three days with really early mornings since I've worked the weekend and today was just too much when I really should have been able to stay in my much cosy warm bed instead I had to get up and go. Thankfully I got a lift back home courtesy of the garage or else I would have been even more miserable getting back home in the rain on the bus, even more so since I forgot my umbrella at home...

Near miss

Just a bit north of us they are now covered in the white cold stuff. Apparently it has come around 10-20 cm of it. We just got the sideways rain.. But I am happy it missed us this time since we haven't put on our winter wheels on the car yet. That appointment isn't until tomorrow.

The garden is almost sleeping. Just got to get some rose cover and rake up the leafs and apples that are falling as soon as you turn your back. It was a lovely day yesterday so I thought I'd make the most of it and got the dahlias up and tucked in for drying. I also turned the flower bed over and moved some of the perennials that had got too big for the spot they were in and cleared of the last of the marigolds and petunias. Parsnips are now down in the cellar for winter storage all scrubbed up and tucked away. There are only a few summer flowers left in the garden and they are still so nice I don't have the heart to pull them up just yet. Especially since they have promised a bit warmer weather for next week. It will be a new record for me to still have flowering Margueritas in late October not to mention the lovely crawling and sprawling Nasturtium I have in front of the porch. I wish the frost would hold of just a bit longer so I can take a picture of it for you to see.

We've had the smell of snow in the air for 2 days now but nothing as of yet. But it is getting colder the longer the week wears on so I wouldn't be surprised if we did get some of the white cold stuff soon. It has been a weird autumn my dahlias are still in full bloom and the last of the marigolds are budding, my lovely dark pink roses are flowering again and got lots of small buds coming and we haven't had one night of hard frost yet! I am dithering about if I should cut my dahlias and bring them in for storage or let them flower until the frost gets them. Everything else is more or less tidied part from the parsnips that still are going and the late salad which is covered by some fleece anyway. James has kindly turned half of our vegetable patch and I need to find some fir tree branches to cover up our roses when it gets colder. Yes I know, how ironic that we did cut our fir trees down..

We've been busy over here. I am getting into this thing called eBay you see.. Am trying to sell some of my surplus postcards and have managed to sell two (2!) so far. I also managed to have my birthday and had a very nice gift from James, my own web site, which is in development. I had lots of other nice presents and a two day celebration as well! Is it silly wishing it would have gone on for another day? I have been a bit slack with everything online-ish but now when winter is setting in I will get back in the saddle and start writing more regular. There wont be much to do outside anyway when everything is covered with snow or it might just pour down with rain. You never know now a days.

Far too much is going on in real life to be able to fit any extra blog time in. It is a shame and I really shouldn't be able to call this a blog anymore. But I'll try and make it better soon.

I've been trying to sell some of the surplus junk we got in a car boot sale which went quite alright but it was really too little people to make for any good money. But what we got was alright. Shame though that you have to haul all the leftover junk back home, that wasn't intended you know! But maybe later in the year I'll try again and sell some more off. I've been trying to get my other enterprise off the ground with a bit of help from James, more on that later when I have something to show.

Gardening is slow and enjoyable. I have been making a few bargains at the plant nurseries when they have their end of season sales. James has been very nice and dug me a bit of a bigger flower border that we started off with two bushes and not complained too much to me for buying more plants and bushes. You do get into some sort of frenzy though when you have a blank canvas to fill up with plants. Because when we moved here it was just lawn, one old rosebush, a few apple trees and one, 1 !, tulip bulb. Next year I am going to try and grow some more perennial plants myself if the ones I did this year come back next spring..

Onward upward eh?

Btw..

Just a little brainteaser until i blog again... My score was a struggling 13.

Gardening is slowing down. We've picked all the potatoes, carrots and parsley, Still got some beet roots left and the parsnips aren't done yet but getting there. We might be getting some late salad if the warmth lingers a bit longer. But it is getting quite cool at night. Apples are getting there and we've had loads of plums that I've turned into the most lovely tasting jam I've done so far. Imagine ripe red-blue plums spiced up with a vanilla pod, yummie. Dead simple recipe too. You take 2kg of plums, halve them and take out the pips, boil with 2 dl of water until soft and mushy then add 1.2 liters of sugar and one big vanilla pod, you add both the scraped out black seeds and the whole remaining pod, boil for further 10-15 minutes to a nice consistency, de-foaming it if necessary then put in warm jars and seal.

We've had very rainy wet weather with sunny warm days in between perfect for growing but too late for the year I think. Today is a Change day. You know the kind, pelting rain one minute, sunny spots in between but also quite a fierce northern wind blowing. Definitely a Change day. Me, I'm home with the first cold I've had for ages. One by one got hit by it at work so I was just counting the days really until it was my turn. It isn't too bad, sore throat and fever and general tiredness but not really any running nose and coughing, yet I might add...

Just cant pass over a test can i.. It is pretty accurate as well.

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have high conscientiousness. Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life. Most things in your life are organized and planned well. But you borderline on being a total perfectionist. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high. In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas. You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits. A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Do you ever get the feeling that there is a change even though nothing obvious has changed? I had that feeling today when i went outside. It just felt like the summer is ending, strange because it is still nice and warm outside, but you know there is a time when the garden turns. Lots of things are ripening and it looks like we will have a great year in the size of crops we are getting. Some of the summer flowers have ended though, surprisingly early but i think it has to do with the long dry spell we had earlier and now that there is rain it really doesnt help.

The garden has looked better this year and will do even better next year i hope. Our new hedge did suffer a bit from the dry weather but hopefully it will spring back next year and get going. We have to start pondering about the Big Dig next year. Considering the amount of downpours we have had it is time to do something about our damp foundation. So that is something we would like to do first thing next spring. Also there is this wast amount of space around the tree stumps that could need a bit of work and planning. I would like to make that part of the garden a bit of a wild spot, bushes, small trees, ferns and flowers of course. Like a little hideaway with paths around and in it. We'll just have to see.

What is keeping me busy...

Untill i get my writing skills back again i am doing a little photoblog. Feel free to visit.

Should i stay or should i go...?

At the present it seems i cant find the time to blog and when i do i get writers blog.. So, what should i do?

Summer has arrived with a BANG!

Lovely blue skies, temperature is hovering around +20, the Syringa hedge is in full bloom with lovely lilac flowers and all my summer flower seeds are growing like anything now, plus all the weeds of course.. Not to mention the lawn and there isn't anything we can do about it since our lawn mower decided it needed some service and was making this horrible sound when James was going to cut it last week. The damn mower is only 1 year old but James thought it might have to do with that he by accident drove it over a piece of rope that tied itself around the knife last time he cut the grass. Oh well, helpful neighbour let us borrow his mower once so it isn't a complete jungle out there. Hopefully we will get our own mower back soon. Anybody got some sheep we could lend?

We've been digging new flower beds as well as putting up a little willow fence to try and get people from cutting across to the Finn neighbours. Will see how much help it actually is later on. The new hedge is coming along, slowly. We've had loads of flowers on our plum tree this year and not so many on the big apple tree. But the huge old apple tree in the corner is covered in flowers so we'll see how much we'll end up with this year again of uneaten apples. I mean there is a limit to how much you can do and eat with apples in it before you get so tired of it you don't want to see another apple pie for as long as you shall live.

The vegetable patch is on the go, don't know how much will actually come up though due to a large flock of magpies. They are forever there picking at it so don't know how much spuds we got left or any other seeds. We did try to scare them off with dangling CD's but they soon learned that it wasn't scary. We did cover the seeds up with fleece but on closer examination there are now huge holes pecked in the fleece by them. Any suggestions to what to do about it? Part from shooting the buggers! Which isn't allowed anyway...

Flowers are going better this year but it has been nerve racking a couple of cold nights and I'm sure some of my climbers have been frost bitten because they look ever so sad so I've started a new batch just in case they don't pick up. Trying to organize the flowers and new shrubs in a way that is nice is fun but frustrating as well. It's sometimes a bit hard when you start off with a little little shrub that is supposed to grow as big as 2 meters and visualize how it will look in a year or two. I want instant BIG and bold plants. It is always easier as well to see how they will match each other when they are bigger and I wasn't planning on moving them in the near future but I might have to if I got it wrong.

Anyway it is nice that some plants survived the first year and are now coming back bigger and hopefully flowering better this year. I had some casualties that didn't make it through the winter. Sadly my big red poppy didn't like it where it was planted and was rotted away and also I don't have high hopes of my big, white, wonderfully smelling lilies coming back, no sign of life yet where they are but all other lilies are coming along nicely.. But surprise surprise all the tulips came out even though I did plant them way to late last autumn.

Currently playing Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush Dont give up

I've finaly got around to sort out all my mp3's and stumbled over some old favorites of mine. It has been sort of a night with music overload. Got rid of quite a lot of crap music as well. Everytime i hear this song i get goosebumps, i really dont know why, i just do.

It is still cold and wintery over here. The snow is slowly melting away but it is still a thick layer on the lawn and not a flower in sight. We have now finished our decorating inside and are preparing for the big push in getting the garden in shape whenever the frost has gone. First of all we have to get rid of all the fir tree branches that remained after we cut down the 3 big trees earlier. And then there is just a the question of what to do with all the space we now have.

It is snowing

Not just a little but a lot and it is wet and heavy and just plain old horrible! I am soon to do the last few strips of new wallpaper to our bedroom and hopefully that will be it until we have saved enough money to renovate the bathroom.

So onward getting all glued up it is. Back with pictures later

Morning walk

We went for a walk today to the local auction house to have a look at what they were going to auction out later on today. I think we saw all in all 3 people on the road there and it wasn't that early, around 10 I think. Partly I think people kept inside because it was Sunday and Vasaloppet (90km long ski race) was going on up in Mora and was being showed on TV. But also it was cold and windy plus they hadn't cleared much of the snow that came during the night. It was bit hard going on the smaller roads but we managed to get there without slipping over even though James did his best impersonation of a skier without skis. The auction looked more interesting on the pictures online then it did in real. There were the odd bits and bobs that I might have wanted to bid on if they didn't go too expensive but nothing really special.

We are going to my mums today for a Sunday dinner. My sister and her bf are picking us up in about 1Â? hour so got to think of something to do until then.

The more it snows a tiddelie pom...

At the moment it is still snowing, third day in a row and James has started to throw the snow past the big ridge of snow that is now enclosing our drive or else he wont get it over the top soon. We have started to shrink the driveway as well so it will just accommodate our car and a guest instead of 3 since we haven't got anywhere to put all the snow that is coming!
But hopefully it will ease off after the weekend. It's really not too bad compared to what I am used to from my childhood but still, I think it must be one of the few winters of late where there has been plenty of snow.

Yesterday and today have been spent looking at wallpaper for our bedroom and looking and trying out a new bigger sofa. We were thinking of getting a corner sofa so we didn't need to shuffle around and try to fit in 2 armchairs with our old sofa. So in search of the perfect sofa we have looked everywhere and did find a very nice one at Lidens but realized once we came home and started measuring up the lounge that there wasn't a chance in hell for it to fit in. Even though we used various option in building it James got it right when he asked if we wanted a lounge or a sofa. That is how imposing it would have been. So yesterday we went back to Mio here in town to have a look at a similar one but slightly smaller version of a corner sofa. But that one would have been too big as well, it would have fitted but maybe just. We were getting quite despondent at that time before we looked at another option that we are favouring at the moment, it is a wide 2,5 seater (longer then our current sofa)with a corner divan stuck on it and would fit nicely without taking over the room completely. We even took some fabric swatches with us home and James had to agree that my favorite color, a mild green, actually worked very well with the rest of our new lounge even though he protested at the start and said NO we have plenty of green (our hall and my sewing room). But we will have a bit of a think before we decide yet.
As for wallpaper, would you be surprised if we said we have actually been looking at black and grey prints? There is this collection by eco that just have the most lovely black and grey prints among other colors as well but we just fell in love with the black and grey ones. But knowing me and just how much color actually affects me I don't think I would put it in the bedroom. We looked for other options and found a very nice chocolate brown with a darker brown hazy floral print from Midbec that we are quite in agreement of. We went today to see if Falun had any better options before deciding in favor of the choco one but couldn't find any that tempted us as much. But it still is an open issue what we will have in the end.

Nostalgia

I've been reading some books that pictures Falun how it used to look like and what it looks like now. I am still very attached to that town even though we have moved and are now living in Borlange. I sometimes do wonder about the good of progress and change, at least in the way how towns change over the years Somehow I would like to smack the silly people who thought progress was to knock down charming old houses and destroy complete blocks and replace them with bunker looking complexes all in the name of progress and the future good. Borlange I think is a brilliant example of how it can go wrong. The town center looks like it is a set of concrete boxes put together, no curves, no greenery, no surprises just this grey, beige mass of concrete and glass from the seventies. No wonder people don't like to be in town and that the businesses are moving en mass to the big shopping mall Kupolen just outside the city center. But I must say that Falun did patch up a lot of the damage done by redoing lots of the buildings as to make a softer skyline.

Just as an example the house we now own is from 1925 but you really couldn't tell, that is how massive and damaging the renovation to it is. The former owners must have ripped every feature out of it because bloody eck we haven't found ONE original feature, part from the doors which I am surprised they kept. But also very pleased that they did because they will be lovely once we have stripped them of I don't know how many layers of paint and repainted them in a soft white. I am quite sure that at one point they must have had a balcony above the porch and most likely a glass veranda entrance underneath it. Also I think there must have been a wooden staircase inside even though the one in here now is made out of the much used MDF and then covered with plastic carpet (shudder).

There is quite a lot I would like to do with our house in terms of renovation and putting a bit of the features back in or at least try and give it a bit of its charm back. At some point we will renovate the bathroom/sauna/utilityroom and the kitchen. Most likely we will get rid of the sauna, I quite like saunas but haven't tried ours out because it has been packed with books and other stuff when we were doing the lounge and bedrooms upstairs. I much more prefer to have a bath tub installed and a better way of having the washing machine/dryer tower placed. The kitchen is a problem in itself as it is now since there really is only one way of having our kitchen table and we cant fit any free standing cupboards in since the walls are too narrow and you got a fire in one corner. It would be very interesting to change everything around in there and move the fire into the lounge plus put in a better fitting window where the sink is today. That's another thing that is annoying me just a bit, there are at least 6 different styles of windows in the house, somehow it makes it look lopsided. But there are good points as well with the house or else we wouldn't have bought it, but I like to dream a bit of what it can be made into. Just to ease James' worries I'd better put this disclaimer in; I am just talking out loud and not making any firm plans to do anything or all of what I have written in here. Better love..? :)

Golden Sunday

Sweden won the Olympic hockey final today over Finland, YaY to us!! Hockey is one of the few sports I do enjoy watching and it was a nail biting one as well since it was a close match from start to finish. Not to talk about the last few minutes when the Finns really were throwing everything they had against the Swedish goalie, taking out their own goalie to gain an extra player and the Swedes were diving in to stop the puck with their own bodies if anything else failed. It was really tense and people at work who snuck in to watch it on the staff room TV were shouting and jumping and then the last second ticked over and we WON!!!! Poor Susanne was sitting at the till all alone while the rest of us was shouting in the kitchen but I don't think she minded and there were hardly any customers in at all during the game anyway. Everybody was home watching it just as they have been during any other Swedish highlight or chance of a medal in the Olympics.

It's that time again.

You know, when you look around and get the urge to change everything around you?
You don't know it? Oh good for you because it is a hard bug to shake once you've attracted it. We are now getting in gear to redecorate our bedroom after having a wee bit of a rest from the stressful pre-Christmas rush getting everything nice and finished. We are starting slowly by looking at wallpaper and taking home endless amounts of catalogues and test rolls and you really don't want to know. We've gone off the idea of the one we had decided on before Christmas, partly because it will be the only thing in the house that is blueish and we don't have anything that will match it, not to mention any bedspread that will fit with it. And I have an inkling that I wont be allowed to buy yet another bedspread just because I have such wonderful puppy dog eyes when I really want something from James. He might have fallen for it earlier but he is wising up ...! It's a bit tricky this time too with a north facing window meaning not a lot of light in winter and huge white wardrobes, white floor and white newly painted ceiling. At the moment it feels a bit bleak and too white. I do like white and shades of white when seen in magazines but I don't think I'd like it so much if I had it at home. Because if I did we wouldn't have decorated the house so much since almost everything in it was white or beige to start with! I'm more of a colour girl but not bright ones since I cant stand it loud and bright everyday. So the question for the next couple of days and weeks is, which colour do we pick for our bedroom, not to mention the pattern....!

Work is as work usually is, boring but pays well. Stressful and intrigue filled as well as of late. I'm really really REALLY trying not to get sucked into all the gossip and bullshit that is flying around and just do my stuff and get out and home before anyone has the chance to start asking me what I think of this and that and have you heard of so and so... But it is hard to close your ears especially when the person talking has this loud and shrieky voice that will penetrate steel if necessary to get her point across as the one that should be heard and obeyed and oh yes we will do as you say Mrs B, not really, up yours and leave me alone is what I really want to say!

Spring is not sprung but mini springing as the snow is melting at daytime and freezing again at night time. Hopefully it is not too far away since we both are eager to get started with the garden and getting various projects going.
I've asked James if he would build me some flower boxes to hang on the side of our porch. I also want a trellis for a climber plant to grow on as to shield us from the wind on the left side of the porch. Also we have to get the rest of the boxes for the raised beds made and put in place, all fir tree branches cleared off and the freed ground surveyed to see what to make out of it. Raspberry bushes bought and planted, black currant bush moved from the allotment to a suitable place in our garden and flower beds dug in various places if there is time. Lots to do and plans to be made. All great fun eh? :)

I've cut my hair

Not just trimmed the ends a bit, oh no I have really really cut it all off... It feels weird not being able to put it up in a pony tail as I am used to doing to keep it away from my face. There wont be a pony tail for ages! But it has it advantages as well, no more frizzy hair in winter when everything is so dry you could almost touch the air inside. And at the moment all I need to do before going to work is ruffle it up a bit, add a bit of hair spray and off I go. It is also fun seeing people doing the double take when they don't recognize me at once. I got to look different if they walk past and then stop and have a second look before saying ' oh it IS you'.

We have had some cold weather for a while but now it is finally easing up a bit with warmer weather in the daytime at least. Right now it is close to 0 and the snow is melting a bit on the sunny sides but still loads of snow left since we had some more the past week. I managed to capture a sun halo with my camera when it was -20 the other day you can really see how misty and cold it is I think. Hopefully it wont be getting that cold again for a while.

A wall of snow coming down

That is what it looked like a minute ago when I glanced out the window. Here we have had absolutely perfect winter weather with up to +8 degrees for a week and now it is back to old miserable snow and cold. Sigh..

I hate to be fooled into thinking it might be getting warmer and a bit more like spring but its not spring but you could have fooled me the past couple of days! It's only February I had to remind myself over and over again. I was getting really excited about the warm weather but to no avail. Everything is once again covered in a white blanket and I'm sure it will remain so until late march if we are unlucky. Booo hiss!

Bloggers block or Just to damn tired

I've not written anything for ages partly because we have been very busy before and during Christmas and New Year as my family decided on to have the Christmas dinner at our place this year and we also had James' parents stay a week after Christmas.

And after all of that i naturally got a cold that is still lingering on and making my voice disappear. Oh joy of sitting at the till all day tomorrow trying to get my voice to make an audiable sound and not just a little huff and puff crow. I went to work on Tuesday barely being able to say hi but my boss didnt think it such a problem as to let me of till duty when i asked if he could let me off. He just asked me why i hadnt got some medicin for it. I looked quite dumbstruck asking him what sort of medicin you would take when your voice is lost and he looked even dumber when mumbling something about me sorting it out myself.. I shouldnt have gone back to work but hey you think you are being nice and loyal by going back as soon as possible since you know that they do struggle when someone is ill. That's gratitude for you!

I had a very pleasent surprise the other day when Mary phoned us to see what was wrong since I hadnt blogged for ages and James hasnt even glanced at his blog since i dont know when. We had a little talk and it was good to catch up and i seem to recall me promising to get back into blogging again so voila, here i am! Mary can work wonders you know.

But now when im here i really dont know what to blog about. Before Christmas we were so busy with redecorating, that was all that i blogged about. And i still have a few things i would like to change around the house but im in no rush really anymore and i cant bother you all about the pain of finding the right wallpaper and all that stuff again. I'll take some photos and post here to show you all the hard work we've been doing but i'll have to wait untill the batteries for the camera is charged up again. I've not touched that camera for so long it was dusty when i picked it out of my cupboard! Shame on me, shame!

It is snowing at the moment outside. We had been treated to a few days of +5 last week but it all seems to be changing again. You get that longing for spring when it does get that warm in the middle of winter, not so nice when you get blasted with -7 and a hard wind making it even colder the next day. They've promised lots of snow for tomorrow so we'll have to see if it is back to getting the snow shovel out and back into action again.

Spring... oh there is lots to do outside in the garden this year when spring has sprung and i've already bought some seeds and cant wait until it is warm enough to get them going. Got lots of ideas in my head what to do with the new space that the 3 big fir trees left us with now that they have been chopped down. Also we have to finish building the boxes for the raised beds we dug out last autumn. I dont think i'll have anything growing close to the house this year just in case we do decide on doing the Big Dig this year. Plus we had an awful lot of bindweed in that flower border and along the house itself that i'll have to spray this year in a feeble attempt to get rid of it. We got to prune the apple trees now in February/March and i'll make an attempt at getting the middle size tree a bit more even looking since it has been neglected and is growing far more at one side then the other. It looked like it would topple over last year when all the apples on one side was pulling it down, i really thought the branches would snap when we were surpised with some heavy wet snow when there still were apples left in it in late october. But it survived but i cant say that about a bush we have close to the old shop, it was looking really sad with branches cracked and all hung down by the heavy snow. i managed to keep the rest of it intact and hopefully it will grow back this summer. And hopefully our new lilac hedge will grow very well and tall this year so we can trim it and make it nice and thick.