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!!!