Yesterdays dinner with the girls went down very well. I was a bit tired and it was quite loud in the restuarant but it was fun. Hopefully we can all keep in touch via a new blog im putting up. It will be open to all who has ever worked in our shop and want to keep in touch. Some have moved abroad and some have quit to study. Hopefully it will be interesting to the others and that they will sign up. Right now it is only me in there, but that might be because i started it yesterday... ;o)

Lately i have been getting more and more interested in Feng Shui... I promise i wont become a nut about it but does anyone know of good places to look in the internet or any books?

I know i've been absent lately from bloggin about my life. But i really havent had any energy to write and when i've sat down to put at least a few lines in i give up after a couple of minutes thinking i have nothing to say. But now im going to try and write a bit each day.

Today has felt like one big run-around. In the last couple of days both my bike and James' have been poorly and not been able to keep the air in the tires. Somehow i felt it was a conspiricy when it was both in the rear tire which is most difficult to take off and put back due to all the gears and hooks and thingymagics that is attached to it. Of course James' went fine to change and fix the hole in. But when it came to mine that has fewer gears it all mucked up and the gearbit fell off! Its not supposed to do that i found out today when i had to bike( on first gear all the way since that was the only one working!!) to the bicycleshop to get it fixed by the nice man working there. It was, to say the least, funny to bike there, no matter how much i pedaled i could JUST get up to speed so i could pass people walking! Bit embarrasing as well i might add....

Anyway the nice chappy took my bike between the jobs he had since i pleaded with him i biked all the way from the other side of town to get there. I told him it was probably me that messed everything up when removing the wheel but he assured me he'd seen worse when people try to fix it themselves.... He showed me how to unhook the gearline so i knew how to do it the next time, it looked fiddly but a great deal better then the way i had done it. After the visit to the bike doctor i went up the hill to go have a peek at a new shop that has opend. It is a new low price chain that has opened up here in Falun. It was full of people doing their best to clog up the aisles just standing talking to people they knew instead of moving to one side so other shoppers could get around. I shopped a bit and stood in line for the tills for about 30 minutes to get out. Bit crazy i know but when you can do bargains why not.

After that it was off to my gran for the usuall shopping and going to the bank day. She is getting on a bit now and has taken more and more to lay in bed. But she seemed perky when i came and she was up and about for the while i was there.

And now im cooking lunch waiting for James to get back from work. Later on this evening im going out for a dinner with some girls from work since there is 3 who are going to leave this week. Wonder how late that will get.

I think a picture says more then words sometimes. This one just sums up very nicely how i think this summer has been.

I bow to the precens of genius...... Maybe not a Fucking Genius as some but still. He is well on his way of becoming one in my eyes because he fixed our computer! Thank Gods i married him... ;o)

I hate viruses!
The last couple of days we have been battling msblast and the patches doesnt stick or dont install! How frustrating isnt that? Plus the cleanup tool didnt work or else we got a new msblast once we thought everything was sorted. Anyway, the update page is down so cant get the patch from there, the automatic update says we have the patch installed already, but why did we get another worm today? When trying to clean up it still sits in windows\prefetch as a pf file and i dont have a clue how to get rid of it, james wants to delete it manually but im a bit hesitant, what if it creates havoc, im not doing the reformat! Anyway, i've cleaned it up as best i can with the help i've got online and have installed a firewall.

When sat reading my mails today i found out that an online friend is in hospital due to a bad car accident earlier this week. He is one from the #Cheeky fookahs gang that once rambled the land of IRC. Geeez that was ages ago but still you have close ties to people you met and talked to all those years ago. It seems he is on the mend slowly and surely. Hopefully i will have more news once my emails have been fired off to others.

I've been troubled by the bloggers-block-bug. Couldnt find anything even mildly interesting to write about. Talk about boring life or just a boring outlook on life. Even considered taking this one down and vanishing from the net. I might burn and rise again as the phoenix in a different form, who knows. All i know is that now im utterly bored and cant keep boring you all with this nonwriting malarky. Decisions decisions...

While surfing through a couple of blogs i got a whiff of this site. And for a moment i thought they were serious, but they cant be, or could they...? At least it made me laugh so loud im sure the neighbours thinks im a loony!

I must be in a white period. Everything in our apartment is turning white or lighter shade of grey. The new sofa, white. Our old coffetables, painted white. New curtains for the bedroom, white. Seating in the new pinnsoffa, offwhite with white garlands. And maybe some white glittery wallpaper for the hall. Havent decided yet on the hall though, have to know if we can get someone to do it or if me and my mum will try to do it ourselves. Maybe it is because i saw an article in a decorater magazine with lovely pictures from a home that i really really liked. And everything in there were shades of white with splashes of colour to accent but mainly it was, white..

Or else it might just be me wanting a calmer surrounding after all the stress we've had with planning the wedding and moving house. Its just a speculation though.

Sorry for not blogging, but we've been really busy bees. And somehow being on vacation makes you have a life away from the computer! I've finaly finished painting the wardrobe doors, still have the ones in our bedroom to do. But the guestroom is looking nice and sparkling white now with new doorknobs as well. It is strange how things just seem to multiply when you start to do some DIY... First it was a matter of getting the wardrobes painted, now its expanded to re-wallpaper the hall, paint our old coffe tables and put them somewhere else and buy a new NICE coffeetable to go with our new sparkling sofa and do something with the 'pinnsoffa' we bought on monday. We went to an auction on sunday, no luck with any furniture but lots of goodies in the nicknack shelves. I bought some boxes with linnen, christmas things, and a box containing all sorts of curtains, old lace and old lace tablecloths. That went quite high because there were some true gems folded in with the curtains. Pictures will be up later.

But he furniture was really tatty or very old and in dire need of careful resturation and sicne that isnt my strong side i didnt bother about them at all. But we got ourselves a pinnsoffa - wooden sofa for the kitchen. Rosie tipped us off when we went to her parents house for dinner on friday night (they are house sitting for a week) that there was a nice pinnsoffa just arrived in the secondhand shop she works in. So went to have a look on saturday and had it reserved in case of we found something nicer at the auction. We went and bought it yesterday and it is now sitting stripped of its old seatingcover waiting to be upholstered by me any day now. See i told you DIY multiplies!

Finaly!





Doesnt it just look gorgeous! It is like a huge white meringue all fluffy and soft to sit in. And it has finaly arrived, silly buggers at IKEA losing it... *mumbles*

Am off to do some weeding at our alotment. Havent been there for a couple of days since it has been raining nicely and no watering needed then. But have to go and see how much has come up. The other day all the spinach seemed to have taken and where popping up all over the place, and the peas started to come up as well. But i could only count to 4 potatoes growing. Will post pictures of it later. Time to get all muddy!

First day of my vacation...

Im not allowed to gloat when James is at home that im off for 3 whole weeks! But i just did, didnt i... ;)
Oh well he will get a week off later on this summer so he can gloat at me then that i have to go to work. First day of vacation and what do you do if you'r Maria? You clean and put stuff away so you can enjoy the rest of the vacation without wading through loads of clothes and other bits and bobs that have accumulated over the last few weeks on the floor! I dont get it, how can so much just linger around even though i try to put stuff away. It just seems to reappear just as quickly! I think i have found my suspect to all this but im not allowed to moan at him because he did the washing and was generally very good at the auction when i spent some money.. ;)

Im off into town in a while, going to check out how much a river cruise to Gagnef will cost. Mum was interested in going and asked if we wanted to come along. We might if it isnt too expencive. You go by boat to Borlänge, get transported in a vintage car through town and then get shipped up the river in a different boat and have a meal as well as coffee and cake or 'fika' as we swedes say. Fika means you have coffee and cake, or drink and cake, it doesnt really matter what you have to drink as long as there is something small to nibble on with it.

Im also going to go get our weddingpicture in the newspaper. And other bits to sort out, we still have all the Thank You cards to send out but cant do that untill i get the pictures back from the shop. What else was i going to do...? Oh im sure it will come to me once im in town. Oh yes, change my bank card! Well i'd better be off now, blog more later.

I just had a msg on the answering machine about our sofa. It seems that it at least has left IKEA in Gävle and is now stuck in transit somewhere. The helpful chappy would get back to us on monday since the post and delivery is closed on weekends. Hopefully we will have it by tomorrow or tuesday.

Other news, we have been to an auction today, Lotta, me and James... And i saw very beautiful things there like a chandelier in baroque style with flat big prisms but that went for 2300 kr and it was a tad too much even though i liked it alot i couldnt persuade James to like it too. But when it came to my 'Emma fĺtölj' i was allowed to bid.

We had been into town to have a look around in the antique shops to have a bit of a reference in prices so i was prepared it might sell for at least 500 kr so to my surprise it just went for 300 kr, to me! I think it is a cute little chair and it fits snug in our bedroom where i had intended it to go and the covering is very well looked after and not at all faded, i suspect it has been reupholstered but that doesnt bother me since the colour is a very nice warm pink. Not my usuall color of choice but i couldnt resist it. Also i bought a big white bowl with blue decorations on the outside and an old swedish wooden box called 'svepask', it is made out of one thin plank wrapped around a bottom piece of wood and then stictched togheter with a string made out of roots. Very traditional here in sweden and almost everyone has one at home. It seems that anything made out of wood went for a high price, so it must be in demand right now. Lotta went after a nice chest of draws made out of big solid planks and no nails. It was painted in a dreadful white paint though that she said she would strip off. But otherwise it was a nice one and if James would have liked it i would have outbid Lotta with 25 kr since she had set her target at 1000kr. But there will be more auctions this summer since Lotta got very keen on it in the end and asked if we could go some more times and winked that it would be better if we left James at home then and i'll take care of his wallet.... ;o)

Our sofa has gone missing!

I phoned up IKEA customer services today and asked where our sofa has gone since it hasnt arrived within 5 working days as they promised. The girl said there wasnt any order with our number so she passed me on to this guy who tried to contact the shop to hear what they had done with our order. But he couldnt get hold of them so i still dont know where it is! He will try to phone them all this weekend and let me know whats happening but if he hasnt had any luck i will phone monday and raise some hell because i REFUSE to pay any shipping costs if they have buggered it up that much!

We want a sofa!

I think James got the better half of the deal yesterday, the part where he is sitting nice at home all cosy and snug and DRY! Did it rain you asked? Pah!! Thats not a word worthy of what we had! It POURED down! And there we are sitting all nicely waiting for the concert to start wishing we were somewhere else, part from the real nutters who have been parked on a bench since the park opend for the day. How the heck do they cope? Dont they feel wet, miserable and just want to go home?? Thats what i felt after 2 hours in pouring rain with windgusts as well! But it was free........ !

For all you non swedes, Allsĺng pĺ Skansen is THE main event for many people, its become kult. Its a mix of the audience singing and guests singing and a bit of fun trown in as well. And the king of Skansen is Lasse Berghagen, and since it is his last summer of doing this, hes been at it since 1993, naturaly the interest is huge to get so see a glimpse of him and sing a long with him. We call it allsĺng, dont know a word similare it in english. But you get a big crowd gathered and you sing togheter, period. Thats it really, but since it has been televised they have to have a few tv friendly guestartists as well. So yesterday we got treated to Per Gessle, one half of Roxette, Jerry Williams the swedish rocknroll star who is as tough as they come and a swedish version of Monthy Python - After Shave. It was fun in the end and we waved each time the tv camera came passing by, but no one saw us so they must have cut us out. I can now say i did it but i wont do it again unless they promise fantastic weather... and Lasse of course... :o)

Im off to Stockholm in a few minutes. I've been invited to go and see Lasse Berghagen do his thing on Skansen. Rosies bf Per couldnt come so instead she asked me if i wanted to tag along with her parents and i jumped on it. But that means James will be home all alone all day.... awwwwww... ;o)
Im sure he will spend it nicely relaxed infront of the computer!

The joys of the internet, right now im chatting to Mary on ICQ and surfing and generally dillydallying because im not tired at all!

In the olden days i would lay in bed counting sheep or watching some silly rerun on the telly, now i can surf to whatever nutty site there is or go online in IRC and chat to some complete stranger who is even nuttier then the site i've just visited

Finaly we are done with the little alotment, everything is weeded out where we are going to plant stuff, the plot is turned over to make it a wee bit softer after we walked all over it. And it has been raining for the last couple of days so no need to water it yet! Couldnt have asked for a better start to our seeds i suppose, but now it has to get a bit warmer since its dropped to only +9 today.

We are also getting around to send people our Thank You cards for our wedding gifts and all cards we got. Difficult part is, how do you phrase them??

Ouch!
It is back breaking to have an alottment, anyway an untidy one! We've been there first time today and had a little start at getting rid of all the weed. Since it is clay soil i think we will have to have it turned once again before setting anything, depends on how heavy we think it is tomorrow after we have done the other half of the raspberry row and marked out the small paths around it all. Today at least we got rid of some old windows thats been used for a coldframe or something similare. And also discovered that frogs and toads loved it underneath all that rubble! Im sure we scared a dozen away when we rattled their home underneath the pains of glass and chucked it all away.

It is somehow very satisfying to clear everything up and to get a start of an outline to how it will look like finished. We've discovered that we had some strawberry plants underneath the raspberries as well. I managed to rescue two plants and James set them on the good soil doubt they will yield any fruit this year though. Also we have two currant bushes instead of one as i thought. I think one is black and the other red currant. We have to see if we manage to get any berries or if the birds will get them first. We are doing more tomorrow and mum will come along and help us out. Hopefully i wont be all stiff and achy since i might have done a bit too much today, but i was eager to get in and do some gardening!

For now James have gone off to get some take away food, we are having kebabs with fries. Sounds just right for me and after that im going to indulge in a bath with some Lush bubbles Specificly some Flying Saucers bubble bar slices....yumminess...!

I just signed in to blogger and got a surprise, the layout is different! It looks pretty and simple. Uhm, something just happend...wonder what. Oh well im sure it was just a little hickup. If this doesnt post i know it was something else serious!

For today there is work ahead for me in the afternoon. I've gone from liking working afternoons to dreading it. Maybe i am more of a morning person as to getting things done, i do that better if i have worked first and then have the afternoon off. For example, today, i have done nothing, nada, nill! Well i dont count ordinery household work like making the bed, doing the dishes and vacuuming. But still i had no energy and a headache that felt like a concrete helmet being pushed over my brow. Yumminess for the afternoon ahead. Maybe it is the weather since they promised on tv last night some thunderstorms. But havent been out so cant say if it is stuffy or just a bit cloudy.

I am going to take my weddingblog down. Now that im married and the stress levels are down to normal i think i can cope with just one blog. Today i got another letter stating that as being the new Mrs James Last i have to change my driving license. So it is off to take an ugly picture, they NEVER turn out alright, and send it off togheter with the payment slip of 150 kr. Got to have my bankcard changed as well and get a new passport ordered. But part from that i dont think i need to do anything else. Oh yes, i might go and spend some of OUR money on new things but im sure James will hold tightly onto them and not let me get too carried away! I at least went and had a quick look at new sofas at MIO (furniture shop) But i wasnt impressed with the fabrics you could chose from or the prices even though it said it was on sale i thought them to be way to expencive for us. We might take a trip to IKEA at the weekend but dont know yet. Since we got ourselves a little alottment that has to be taken care of as well this weekend if it doesnt pour down with rain. Will take some pictures before we clean it up and after when it is growing some potatoes, spinach, peas, dill, basil, onions and stuff like that on it. At least we get 2 rows of raspberries that are soon going into bloom. Hopefully they will give sweet fruit and not the sour old type!

I'd better be off for work now since im walking it, got my bike in the shop getting the backwheel fixed. Blog later!

Finaly back and unpacked and almost sorted out!
It has been a lovely 2 weeks, with the wedding and the honeymoon to Prague. As James is telling you bits of it in his blog and have some pictures up already i will come back to my side of the story once i have my picture album up and running as well.

So this is it!
I am soon going to get picked up by my mum and off to the hairdressers where my bridesmaid will be waiting to hold my hand! I am so nervous but still all giddy and i cant stop smiling!!!
I think i havent forgotten anything! Relax...relax...relax...

You know what? It is an amazing wonderful day out there. Sun and blue sky, not a cloud in sight. What more could you ask for, your husband to be, family, friends and a cool summer breeze in the old oaktrees as we say I Do to each other. Life doesnt get much better does it...

Currently listening to Julio Iglesias - La Paloma
Im listening to Julio again, am i insane???

Well never mind that, we are soon going out to the market in town. Its a 4 day event ending on saturday. There was cruising last night with big beautiful american cars, today im not sure what there will be. But we are going in to have a look. Besides it is lovely weather for it.

Countdown to the Big Day on saturday has begun! We went out to Rankhyttan today to hand over the placecards we made and also the order of seating. And we got to see what rooms they had to offer us since the bridalsuit was taken and i was disappointed at the new Spa section room so we settled for a bigger room in the estate itself. With or without ghosts that is were we will be sleeping. Im sure it will be alright. Just have to make sure we get everything with us since it is a bit out of the way and you just cant nip back if you forgot something at the last minute. As usuall im sure i will be in charge of getting everything togheter, even though James does help, he can be a bit neurotic when it comes to tickets and passports. He keeps on checking them and so on. Whenever we travel togheter i let him check them once and then keep them with me instead of handing them over to him since i know he will be checking them every ten minutes or so just to make sure they stll say what they did ten minutes ago. I never forget the first time we travelled togheter and we were standing in the check in line and i jokely said i dont have the passports, dont you? The frantic look on his face combined with the staring eyes were amusing for a second before i felt sorry for him and fished the importent documents out of my pocket. He actually thought i had forgotten them! Am i evil? ;o)

The timetable for the day is in line, will check with the florists on friday though to make sure it is all ok. Everything else can go wrong as long as i have the dress and flowers. Dinner and bowling is booked for friday night for James family. It seems that some of the girls from work might come over on friday so i might just stay for dinner but ask if Lotta could come pick me up before the bowling. Weather wise they have promised a very nice and sunny day, so fingers crossed...!

Something weird has happend to our VCR. It wont start up after i pulled the plug earlier today since they promised thunder and i was going to work. Update: it will start up when i plug it in the bedroom socket but can i be bothered to put it in with the tv and dvd and decoder tonight? Naaah, i'll watch a dvd insted, wonder if it will be Lord of the Rings... ;o)

I can feel the sweet tingle of panic creeping up my back. Why is that you might wonder? Well in just one weeks time now im going to become Mrs James Last and i am sweating under the pressure that we (me) have got everything organized! Did we forget something, did we book everything, not to mention our trip to Prague the day after! Maybe thats why i have stomache flu. Was home sick yesterday and feel pretty sorry for myself today so im home now as well. Well maybe better i got it this weekend and not the next huh? And it doesnt help that James has slumped into a depression like state, nothings fun and he has no energy and EVERYTHING is boring!! HELP ME!

Play it again Tigs! Raul Malo - I said i love you

I cant help it, this song gets me in a great mood each time i listen to it! And now you have to excuse me, im going to go rumba with James! ;o)

So, Tom, Dick and Harry have arrived. Dont ask me why but James thought they were suitable names for our new pets. They are females though so they might get offended if i call them by their names in public. Never mind that, what are they you might ask, they are fish. Siamese fighting fish to be more accurate. I have a photo to show you how the species look like.

The fish on the left is a female and the more flamboyant one is a male. Our three ickle females are red, white and blue....
We got them from Marie at work, she is going to move to England in september so instead of trying to kill them off she asked if we were interested in taking them on, all she asked for the tank, fishfood and fishes were a bag of my home made buns. I thought i'd made a good deal! Once i cleaned the tank out and rearranged the stones and added a few bigger ones as caves and stuff i let the fishes back in, they were being held in a little shrimpsallad container while i was mucking about. I think they liked it. Its very hard to tell you know. At least they ate all the fishfood i dropped in afterwards. If you have any better suggestions of names for them we gladly take them in the comments section :o)

What can i say, its been a WONDERFUL day. After James had done half of his leaflet round i thought it would be nice to get away and just do nothing, think of nothing but what shapes the clouds could be while laying on a blanket with James' stomach as my pillow. I needed to unwind a LOT. So after i quickly got a chicken sallad togheter and we packed some lovely chocolate cake as dessert we went off on our bikes. Town was full of people laying around in droves on every available lawn. Or sitting in cafes drinking cold beer or eating a melting icecream in the shade. But we didnt want to stay in the too warm town so we biked out to the lake. And we were very surprised to see that no one was at the swimingplace in Källviken. We had it all to ourselves, it was just us, the ducks, bright sun and a warm breeze to keep us comfortable. Talk about perfect sunday...

If you ever feel bored go and try this one out, i guarentee that you will fell very artistic after a while!

Me, i just managed to get totaly sucked into doing ickle men and women...lol!

Currently listening to A*Teens - A perfect match
I got some new music in the post this morning which i am listening to right now. There are quite alot of new music i would like to listen more to. Thank gods for Kazaa i'll tell you. Free music and if you dont like it just delete it!

Its been a very productive day off. I vacumed a bit this morning, went to grans to do her shopping, managed to clean out her fridge a bit as well. Anyone know when porridge grows legs and walks by itself? I think i have a rough idea by now... Also went to Borlänge with mum to renew her visa and to see if we could find some shoes. Oh no shopping with mum i thought but it all turned out very good. Both me and her found some new shoes. Just have to wear them a bit now before the Big Day. I also found a nice top that my mum 'helped' me buy, as thanks i bought her a fika at Almas cafe. And when i got home the Rankhyttan people phoned up and gave me an estimate, more over here. And a bit later Marie phoned up and asked if it was alright for her and Malin to come over for a fika which it of course was. They came and had bought us a housewarming present, a lovely lantern from my favorite shop (Indiska). I was surprised to say the least. We had some cold juice and buns and chattered away happily in the kitchen untill Malin had to get going home before her bf reported her missing, he wanted his dinner i presume ;)

And the rest of the evening i've spent listening to music. Im surprised at how little i listen to now a days. At one time in my life i couldnt live without music on. But the last few years have been very quiet. Not that i've stopped completly but it became rare to put a cd on just to sit and listen to it. Btw i think Sugababes are my new favorites.

Currently listening to Celine Dion - I drove all night

Im surprised of how much this song reminds me of when i was younger. Swedish summernights can be magical and so bittersweet if you dont have anyone you can cuddle up with... Always in springtime i get this heartache about lost love, puppy love if you like. Do you remember your first crush? I do, it was the class sweetheart who everybody just forgave when he had done anything naughty. They just took one glance at his puppydog blue eyes and shiny white grin and everything was forgotten. I did ask if he wanted to be my boyfrind once in second grade and he agreed! For a week i was in heaven but then some other girl got the courage to ask him and he said yes to her!
Why do i think of this now? Because it was that same song i had on the stereo years ago, but with Cyndi Lauper singing it, when reading the morning paper and in an article read about some young guy being killed in a bike-car accident the night before. And then the next moment the phone rang and it was one of my old schoolfriends who rang to say he had died, that it was him they were writing about.... I never forget that moment or that song...

The weekend...

Its a working weekend for me though, maybe thats why the sun is shining and it is pretty darn HOT outside! It is just not fair is it. Because i can bet you anything that next weekend when i am off from work there will be rain and hail and other unpleasent things flying around outside!
At least i didnt need to get up at 5.30 on my weekend off to go to work and do a stocktake now did i James... ;o)
Sulk over.. am feeling much better now.

In other news? Not much really, my life at the moment is at a standstill. Wedding ahead, but not so close yet to make everything spring into action. It is a bit sad that the only interesting thing happening is when i have a small argument with James over what we are going to eat for dinner. Silly but i suppose you grasp after anything that could turn the temperature up a notch into INTERESTING when the rest of your life just seems plain and dull.
Is it a bad sign wen you look at a desk and just have this urge to sweep all the crap that is on it into a box and trow it away because nothing gets put away anyway? Or it might just be the hormones...

Then Almitra spoke again and said, "And what of Marriage, master?"
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Guess who :)

Oh its been a boring week. And its not finished yet either! And as the days just seem to dwindle away our wedding is getting closer and closer and there will be lots of stuff to be managed starting next week i think. But right now its just standing still... could it be the calm before the storm i wonder....

James ran the Spring i Benen race yesterday. He finished in the middle somewhere of what i could make out which is very good i think. He also got a medal and i took some little videoclips of him running on our digicamera, go and have a look. See if you can spot the Running Blue... :)

After the race we went to Rusta, a discount shop, and bought a fold away table to hang on our balcony and two folding chairs in akacia wood. Bargain really considering it is solid wood.

In the afternoon Rosie and Per came by for some swedish 'fika'. Fika is when having coffe or tea with cakes, buns, sandwiches anything really that you can munch to while chatting, i think it is an excellent word and havent come across anything similare in english. We chatted away and watched a film while it was snowstorming outside! So no game of Kubb or boule yesterday either. Btw it did come 5 cm of snow and it stayed untill about now when the sun has come out and is melting it all away.

We walked into town to see my gran and walked back as well this morning. Thought it might do my back some good since it is hurting like buggery right now. Dont know if i have pulled a muscle or something when lifting stuff at work last week, something is getting caught at times and it really hurts like....! Right now im sitting with a hot waterbottle wedged between the chair and my back when typing this. Any suggestions to what you can do? We might go for another slow walk later since that seems to help me to relax and stop tensing up so much. If it is as bad as today tomorrow morning im not going to work. Oh the joy of telling my boss that, anyway i'll do whatever he wants me to do if that means going to see the so called 'company doctors' he has a contract with and get a certificate that yes i have a poorly back and can stay home so he dont think im faking it. In any case im going to phone up my chiropractor and ask if he got a time for me to see him. He might be able to help.

In other news, i went shopping for weddingclothes with my mum on wednesday ...... And it is only a true miracle i came back without a MAJOR falling out between my mum and me! Sigh, this is a woman who says she cant find anything to wear in a shop FULL of beautiful and various clothes styles. One who takes one look, not even that, and says oh no she cant wear that. It would help to try them on you know, it might surprise her once in a while....
Anyway it got so bad she was saying something along the lines that she might as well not come to the wedding when i was getting a bit frustrated with her reluctance to even try some suggestions out! Thank the gods that i was in a good(ish) mood, any other day i would have told her that that was just fine and if it was so much trouble for her to find something to wear she might not as well make an effort and stay at home, ending with me stomping off in a mood and probably crying as well. Ok for not wanting to wear a dress since she is convinced she doesnt suit in one, and alright i suppose you have to be able to wear it afterwards as well. But please, no black trousers and white blouse as she thought of buying. Am i being unreasonable?
Anyway, after much grumping she tried out a lovely light blue skirt with a subtle floral print and a nice middle blue blouse as i told her i prefered to see her in a skirt since she refused blankly to try out some lovely summer dresses i showed her, and yes she would have looked fab in them dont care what she thinks. So that is now sorted and i remember why i never go clothes shopping with my mum, its just too emotional to try to convice a stubborn missus No that she could wear anything else then her usuall attire.
I still love my mum, she is just very trying sometimes....!

Currently listening to Raul Malo - I Said I Love You

Now there is a reason to watch Parky, you stumble over someone like Raul Malo playing a dancy happy song. Think Latino Lover in english... :o))
Weird i know but it works, it makes me want to jump to my feet and pull James up out of bed(he is napping) for a funky latino rumba!

I would offer it to you as part of the Divine Tigs Jukebox but how do you write the code so i works? We got enough space to place a mp3 but how do you link it right. Help?

What have i been doing all day today you wonder? Well even if you dont wonder i will tell you, so shut up and pay attention! ;o)

Because today i am so proud of myself. I sat down and sewed my curtains that i have been shuffling from one side of the apartment to the other for ages it feels like. Finaly today i felt like doing something about them. It helped that it was pouring down with rain outside and i didnt have anything else to do for the rest of the afternoon with all the re-potting of my seedling plants done and dinner out of the way as well. I had bought these second hand curtains for over a month agao thinking they might fit nicely in the bedroom, but since they were a bit on the short side i decided against it. But i couldnt just trow them away again so i pondered a bit about what to do with them. Then i saw these other curtains that were half white and half pattern in the Elephant shop (Indiska to all swedes, but i rather use James' renaming of it) and thought i could do that with mine! So off i went and bought some nice white material and laid it all out to see if i got any inspiration from it. But oh no i didnt so it all went into the guestroom, waiting for the inspiration to show itself. So today i did the lot of them. Even managed to remind James that he had a run to do today, not listening to his whine about it raining outside i managed to get him up and out doing his 10k run in the rain (i smirked as he went past the window but im sure he didnt see me.. ;o) )

Of course there is a picture!

I'll write more about Valborg tomorrow because i need my sleep, well at least the 5 hours i get since im working early tomorrow doing the bread....But im not sleepy! I know, i'll hyptonize myself into getting sleepy.

You are getting very sleepy.. Very sleepy... Your eyes cant stay open.... You have an urge to count sheeeeeep...Sleepyzzzzzzz...zzzleeepy...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Its been a hectic weekend at work and now i am completly beat, still I have to go to work in about 10 minutes. i hate early mornings! Besides it always makes me so sleepy when i get back home, tuesday is early day and of course nap day. Isch i feel old.....!

Part from work nothing much is happening. How is that possible with us getting married soon! But everything is just boring work at the moment. Must do something to change that, but what...?

Btw it snowed the other day, it was mixed with rain but anyway, it snowed! At least with the rain that fell yesterday it will be allowed to have these big bonfires on Valborgsmässoafton (wednesday) again since the ban on burning has been lifted. I wonder what we are going to do for Valborg, usually we go to some bonfire or the other and listen to the speech and the songs anf go ohh and aahh when the fireworks shoot off. Probably we will go to the mine and have a listen anda freeze if it s going to continue to be this cold!

It has been a busy week after easter. So sorry for the lack of posts. But i'll try to recap a bit whats been happening this week at least while James is doing my supper. Just got back home from work you see and am relaxing with some lovely cold Pepsi and just finished checking my mail.

So, this week, hmmmm... The picture from the post below(James took that one) is from sunday when we had been out so see our friend Rosie and her bf Pär in her parents summercottage. It was lovely weather and we had an indoor bbq since there was a ban on any outdoor burning because of the dry weather we have been having the last couple of weeks. Still havent rained. We stayed there for a full day and had lots of good food and loads of laughs and a few mosquito bites but never mind that. We walked around the stuga(cottage) area and snapped away some pictures. Both some on James digital one but i brought my Canon EOS with me as well and managed to use up 2 rolls of film. All in all a very relaxing day, even got a bit sunburnt so might not look so pale anymore.

On monday we both had a day off so i asked my mum if she wanted to go to IKEA with us, which we ended up doing. They were rebuilding the shop so it wasnt as big and tidy as usuall but i found some lovely, coulorfull material that i've made into a table cloth and also a big, white( i wanted the squeeky green one but James put his foot down) plastic container on wheels with a selfwatering system in that im going to plant some runnerbeans in later on in may when its warmer. We also bought a loooong curtainpole with attachments on the side, it seems the lenght of a window in Sweden isnt longer then 3 m because i havent been able to find any that are longer then that, we need 3.20, so i was very pleased to finaly find something other then the usuall drab one that comes with the apartment.

Tuesday was boring work and as usuall i was very tired from the early start so i wasnt much use afterwards. Though we did bike out to the surplus shop on the other side of town to have a look at outdoor chairs(they just had ugly white plastic ones) and i got my bike fixed in the bikeshop on the way, the chain has been hopping off so it needed tightening a bit.

Wednesday we had lots of things planned and i think we managed to do most of them. I phoned the county hall to see what they needed from me since they had phoned up earlier before easter. Just need to hand in name and adress of our witnesses for the wedding. Also i phoned Rankhyttan to ask about food and that we will get the table flowers from the same guy who is doing my bouque, but all this you can read in my other blog. Also i got to talk to the chef about some ideas we have about what we want to eat at the wedding. We went around town doing various small errands, getting James a nice white shirt and silver grey silk tie was one of them. He looks really really handsome in his new suit. I also had a look at shoes for me but couldnt really find anything in town, might go to Borlänge one day next week to see if i find anything there. The only good shoeshop in Falun closed earlier this year, well the only one i ever went to anyway. The two other ones are too trendy, well you know the kind. Ones that dont have any comfy shoes that you can wear next year as well, get my point?
I also had a first fitting of my dress later on in the afternoon so we were spending the day wandering around town untill it got to 5. More in here

Yesterday was a bore at work, Lotta was home sick so i had to settle for Mrs Boris as company at the tills.... I neednt say more. But we finaly got round to buying some window boxes we're going to hang outside on the balcony. Got them in a nice deep blue colour and quite long ones, also bought some pansys to set out in my little square metal pot. I'll take a picture later on tomorrow. And James got his bike back as well all fixed up since the back wheel hub had cracked and broken down and needed replacing.

And today was just the usuall Big Friday when people get paid and rush over to us to spend all their money at once, or at least it felt like it today. To say im pleased im home is an understatement! Enough babbling, time for dinner! I'll post more later, hopefully

I've changed my flower picture to one that this guy has taken. What can i say, im in awe of his lovely pictures and i will watch his next step very closely and wait for the next set of pictures to appear on his site. He even inspired me to take pictures again, which i havent been doing for quite some time.

I do wonder when you stop having enough TIME to do stuff you really liked to do. Does that come with age? I dread the years to come in that case and i really REALLY hope i wont become like all the senior citizens i see stressed out in the shop each day because they dont have the time to wait in line for their turn. They rudely remark they havent got the time to wait! They gots things to do, people to meet. Isnt retirement supposed to be just that, retirement. Not saying you have to sit in a chair and slowly fade out. But that you finaly have the time to do all that stuff you were planning but never got the chance for when you were younger when raising kids and working all hours of the day took all that precious time.

I've always thought there's more to life then your work but recently it has all been just that, work, work, work. And i dont even do very inspiring kind of work part from my 2 days in the fruit and vegetable section. People(yes you know who you are) are always hassling me to change what i do if i dont like it and i do know they are right. Maybe one day i will do just that, but not right now... I really dont know what would be needed to get me to change. But it would be something major or at least that i have a better job landed already.

How about you people coming here, yes i know you are a few, still, would you be doing what you are now if you had a choice and could do whatever you would like to?

There are little witches and witchmen running around distributing Happy Easter cards in exchange for sweets and kronas. Its a swedish tradition that the ickle people dress up and in a sense go 'trick or treating' on the thursday before Easter, but if they dont get anything they dont trick you here. Now last was a very rowdy gang of boys with painted mustaches and awfull big hats. Dont think they were more then 11 - 12 years old. Will see if any one else comes round. Usually they should only do this on thursday but lately they come all the days before and during easter. They should stick to tradition me thinks! ;o)

Can i say i am SOOO glad to be home from work? I just sat and watches as a trail of people walked into the shop this morning when i unlocked the entrance door. The first 5 minutes was just people pouring in through the door. And 10 minutes later the queues started to build and was at a constant untill i went home. Im sure they are still long as we speak even though we are supposed to be closing now at 8. But i didnt mind the people because i got to go home after half a day of it and dont need to go back to work now for 4 lovely days. And they have promised excellent weather all through the holiday, so im not complaining, besides it made the day go so much quicker.

I read The Alchemist in one day, its not a thick book i agree, but it was a while ago a story got hold of me so i couldnt put it down. Its a simple but yet interesting story about a young boy finding out the meaning of his life. If you care for some food for your brain, and soul i might add, you should read it and tell me if it was crap or if it was good and why you thought so. Im interested in knowing what you thought.

Why do you celebrate Easter? Is it for the chocolate eggs? Is it for the time off work you get? Do you know why we have Easter at all?

Me, i do it to celebrate that we are one step closer to summer and the coming of spring. And today has truly been one of the first REAL days of spring. A pleasent +14 and a sparkling sun, birds going crazy singing to their hearts content. And people sitting around in the park, which is still not so green, but still, sitting there indulging the warmth and the sun. Catching a few rays on that pale winter skin. And trying to forget it actually snowed this time last week.

And in order to celebrate the coming of spring (and easter of course) we swedes take twigs of birch, bring them inside and put multicoloured feathers on them and hang decorated eggs on them and call it Pĺskris. A little known fact is that in the olden days they used said bunch of twigs to wack all your old sins out (so there would be room for new ones no doubt). Dont know where the feathers came from but eggs are an old fertility symbol so naturally you hang them on the twigs, but only after you've blown all the content out and painted them in bright colours. Have you ever tried to empty an egg without smashing the shell? It is damn close to impossible! But with a little bit of help from your old cellotape it can be done.

This is our bunch of twigs, quite muted in colour compared to what i've seen.
Notice the ickle yellow ducks with colorful hats hanging in there, my mums choice of course because what is an Easter without ducks... ;o)

Do you do something special when you get home from work just to make a point your not longer at work? My little ritual is to have a glass of pepsi, take my watch off and go online. Well i drink pepsi a lot and go online frequent enough but it seems like that when im not working i dont wear a watch, to James' irritation i might add because it always seems to end up that i am asking him every so often what the time is.... :)

Well sitting here and listening to the sorry whinging from James, who actually did volunteer to do the dinner, that he cant find anything to make and that we dont have anything he could do something with it amazes em that he wont look up a cookbook and find something he fancy to try out! Thats what i would do, that or do the sure thing, takeaway. Lets see what he says when he reads my post...... ;o)

Work today was utterly boring, busy but utterly boring. It is total crap to work weekends with Boris, becasue the only thing you want to do is strangle the poor sod and stuff him in his freezer! Thank the Gods that Big Boss is coming back from his golfingtour in Holland tomorrow. Maybe it will make things go back from being Boris' private playpen to a normal workplace! And maybe Big Boss can calm down the lynchmob that will otherwise assemble in the kitchen tomorrow morning.

Have you ever wondered what your fairy name would be? Well according to this Goblin mine is:
Morlenma SpringCheeks of the Warm Dale

Suits me fine to live in the Warm Dale, it is snowing here, AGAIN!
Thanks to Lynn for the giggle

I've been dabbing a bit at re-upholstery tonight. After i got home from my lesser eventful day i waited for James to get back from work before making any plans whatsoever. After dinner we decided to go for a bikeride to my friend Rosie and her secondhand shop. Only thing is that we met mum just as she was finishing work and instead of biking there we left the bikes by the garage and got a lift there thinking we would have a nice pleasent walk back home afterwards. Well once inside the shop i found some bare necesseties for someone who likes to sew, lots of marked down zippers, perfect for my future pillows im going to make, one day, soon, yeah you know... ;)

We also stumbled over some nice chairs...and a long bench....
In the end, we bought the bench and one chair for the desk plus the zippers. Thing was, we were walking, i couldnt phone my mum to ask if we could borrow her car since she was going to her friend, whom i dont know the phonenumber to! So either you reserve the stuff and come back for them later, or you do as we did, walked home carrying them... Now you might think we decided to do that since it might not have been so far from home. But oh no, this place is at the opposite side of town so it was quite a trek. But at least we had something to sit on when we got tired, one of the good things that James pointed out when we had to stop so i could change the hold on the lighter chair for i dont know which time! Well he at least got the fun bit of doing a bit of benchsailing when the wind caught him...lol!

It took us well 1˝ hour to walk back home but at least we got home before the sun set which i had doubts about beforehand. Since we got home i managed to make a cake, just in case Rosie and bf was coming over later, dived into my HUGE pile of various fabrics and come up with some suggestions for James to look at and i also managed to change the cover of the chair. It was not at all hard and quite fun as well. As we were walking home we went by an upholsterer and he was still open so i bought some padding from him. All in all i am very pleased with how the new chair looks like with the new cover. And the bench is neatly set on our balcony so we have somewhere to sit once it gets a bit warmer and doesnt blow as fierce northwind as it has been for the last couple of days. I will make some cushions for us to sit on as well since i now have the space to spread out on when sewing.

James took some nice pictures of the chair, one of those before/after thing. So behold, the bold and beautiful new chair! Notice that i got the white star in the center, just were i wanted it, arent i clever? ;o)

It's one of those days that doesnt really turn out like you had planned. Today was meant being spent in IKEA in Gävle, but since James work caught us before we got out the door, he had to go in. Well he really didnt need to but work has ben slow for him over the past week or so, so naturally you grab everything you can get. Well that is all and well but that leaves me in a bit of a dangle since i dont know what to do with the rest of the day. I was so set on going i contemplated to go alone, but how fun is that when you are supposed to look at furniture togheter. I might had found something nice that was considered buying and now i cant because the other half of the deciding party had to work.... :(

Its a wonderful day out as well, but my mood is in a dip so cant really be bothered about going out even! Suscpect my hormones have something to say as well but im trying not to listen to them today. So therefor i am going to force myself out the door and borrow mums car and go for a drive and have a look localy for new furniture.
See yas later when im home.

YAWN!!
I've worked extra today, so had to get up at 5.20 this morning, yes 5.20 this morning Maria went up and asked herself, is she stoopid! But im not, just have to work for Malin since she very kindly worked for me when we moved house earlier. It was alright once you got there and got started. And the day went very quickly for being a saturday. Anyway as a result of the early start im yawning my head off and so is James since he also got up a bit later to do some laundry at 7. After work we went to my mum for dinner, we decided to bike there. But since there is half storm outside it was alright going there but the trip back home just took the last bit of energy out of both of us i think.

There was a storm on yesterday, some roofs got lifted off a couple of apartment buildings in the next town, but nothing major here. Just a few powerlosses and lots of trees falling down. But that is expected when it is so windy that you can almost lean into the wind without falling flat on your face! And theres been some snow, both wet and soggy laying on the ground stuff and that hard prickly stuff that stings you when biking home from mums!

Oh well, what better way to relax then to have a look at The Two Towers laying in our sofa vegging away. Oh did i just say that, but how is that possible you say since it hasnt even come out on video yet. Well, i will just say that the nice toothfairys left it for me under my pillow since i have had a rotten toothache for a couple of days. Getting your wisdom teeth does that to you. Or i might just be delirious.... ;o)

Its been a very hectic tuesday. Theres a new deli opening next door to the shop so of course we have had lots of curious people walking in asking where is the fish and deli shop was and if it all was a big april fools joke. It looks very nice the new shop. Mainly they have a large selection of fish but also they have some other deliproducts, like snails with garlic butter, ready to put in the owen... Or as i spotted large steaks of tuna. Might try that since tuna is one of the few fishes i like. Naturally there was lots of people coming in to us as well to have a look and a shop around. So i've been a real little busy bee today. That might explain why i after coming home and having sausage stroganoff felt like having a nap. I went to bed and it took just as long as for James to go out and pick up my bike that the wind had blown down for me to be sound asleep! Im a bit amazed that i just nodded off that quickly. I only had an hour worth of sleep but it made me feel better. Just as well because im all achy in my hands and feet, it happens when you lift several 12kg crates of apples and a dozen of 18kg banana boxes!
I am very thankful i have tomorrow off!

Part from that, life is mellow and slow. Spring has seemed to come to stay, even though there was a fierce cold wind today and the odd snowflake flying around. I havent seen any tussilago yet though but im sure they will be springing up like little miniture suns just about everywhere soon. As will the white star of vitsippa nod its little pretty head in the wind. I like spring in Sweden. What i dont like is the yearly explosion of pollen that follows!

Oh, i've just realized i have been blogging for a whole year! Me, that rarely stay on the same thing long enough to get an archive...lol! So happy anniversary to me and my blog i thinks.. :o)

So yet another weekend and im working. And of course it is lovely weather outside! But usually the weekends go by without too much hassle. Depending on who is left in charge of course.... If Boris is in charge its a sure thing something will be shouted about at work. I do wonder, dont he get it that no one likes his style?? Never mind...

The war has been going on now for a while, what is it, a week? The news trickles in and the sure and arrogant 'shock and awe' seems not to be having the effect they wanted it to have... Also they are upset about the iraqi soldiers disguising themselves as civilians surrendering and then ambushing the american or brittish soldiers meeting them. Well, what did they expect from someone like Saddam?? That he would leave walk over? I think they are making a huge mistake thinking Saddam will follow any 'rules of war' and it certainly doesnt help to be a cry baby in the news about it.... Why dont you face it, you've taken on a psychopath, there are no rules, he makes the rules, period. And since we all know what sort of a twisted mind Saddam has i am not at all surprised. I am more surprised he hasnt used his biological weapons, but maybe he is saving them for when they try to take Baghdad. Oh war, how i hate it. Just as much as i hate arrogant men who think they rule the world..

Finaly tapped the last piece of wood into the floor yesterday. Now all we need to do is get the old paint off from the skiritngboards, paint them white, try to figure out how to nail them to a concrete wall hard as a diamond and yes then we are finished for this time. Oh and put up two more curtain rails. Did the bedroom and kitchen one today. But now the trouble is, i dont feel that my old curtains fit in with how it is looking here.... What to do? Make do with the ones i have (multiple choices there), remake some of my old ones (got a couple of ideas) or buy brand new ones?

Part from doing the odd handy stuff early on this morning not much have happend. I went to see my gran as usuall today and did a bit of shopping for her. Then went home and pondered what to do while waiting for mum to get off work so we could go to Rankhyttan and discuss our wedding with the new management. I invited mum in for dinner, i just cant cook for ONE person, its so sad to see two ickle potatoes paired with a few meatballs. Thats not cooking, thats desparing! Anyway the day has been quite productive, but still it looks a royale mess in here! I just cant live with boxes unpacked and strewen all over the apartment and unfinished skirtingboards littering the hallway and guestroom anymore! But James said he would do it all tomorrow so we can paint the boards at the weekend. It is still to be seen though.... ;o)

*creek* Ouch! Oh how I wish we would have a bath at times like this. That was me creeking by the way when I got out of bed this morning. My hands are aching from holding the planks when sawing and from pushing and banging on them when they wouldnt fit neatly into the other planks!

But despite all the aches today, I must say again how FANTASTIC the new floor looks like! It is such a difference from when we moved in Im almost tempted to move our bed into the guestroom!! Im going to get cracking soon with measuring how much new skirtingboard we have to buy at Coop. The old ones are very dry and in some places crumbly now when it is off the walls.

James is out doing a 10 k run this morning and im up very bright and early for being a weekend. But i suppose it is good because then i have time to finish all the odd little jobs that are left now, like painting the little bit above the tiles in the kitchen and measure out where the curtain rails are going as well and drill holes for them. Not yet though, have to consider the neighbours a bit. I think they had enough of our powersaw yesterday.... ;)

Aaaahhhh....
Im looking at my new floor and thinking, bloody heck that looks FANTASTIC!
But it was very hard work to lay it all. Lotta and Roland came over at 9 this morning to help us out. My morning mood isnt the best even though i try to controll it but i think James was a bit niggled by me telling him to push and drag and press not specifiying what to push, drag or press.... I cant blame him, i was a real pain in the a.... But nevertheless, the floor is there, all straight and looking gorgeous.

L and R made the kitchen that is a bit more tricky with more corners while me and James went for the straight and square guestroom floor. And they say it is sooo easy to lay it by yourself! Well if it would only lay still once you got one piece in alright and are TRYING desperatly to fix the other plank in wihtout moving it all out of line!!! But in the end we got the hang of it. We only need two skimpy little pieces for the end bit close by the wall and for that we have to slaughter to fullsize planks to get said pieces. But that is for tomorrow, now it is time for beddybyes i think. Tell you more tomorrow. I am going to try to make a picture gallery and link it from here so you all can see how it looks like, but thats for tomorrow as well. Before i go, here is how it looks like in the kitchen right now, dont mind the dishwasher..... ;o)

So, it has started then..... And as usuall it will be a televised marathon program about it untill the media thinks it is no longer news. Meanwhile thousands of people will die, mostly civilians, of course. Or as they are teaching us to think right now, collateral damage..

I am not pro war in any way, but something has to be done about Saddam. But war? No, surely there must be some other way, just dont know how. And i do think it is wrong that America went its own way and took it upon themselves to act world police again. Oh i've heard so much about how they will bring democracy to a tormented people and that the iraqi people will welcome them as their liberator. Somehow i doubt though that anyone thats been bombed to pieces will ever thank the bombers who did it to them in the name of democracy. They are showing snippets from Bush's speach on the news and it gives me the creeps everytime i hear them. He sound so righteous and arrogant, like no one can be of so high morales as the americans....

But what really makes me wonder is how God and religion has got involved in this. I've always thought that politics and religion are separet things and should never mix, because whenever they do get togheter it seems like it gets worse. Im not a religious person, never have been, but when an american president MUST have a strong christian belife (or at least fake it convincingly) to get into office i just shake my head in disbeliefe. Just as any other leader says that God is on their side and will help them out as long as they have faith...... I do think that God is pretty tired of these sort of statements from people who really cant give a fuck about God, if they did they would not drag religion into this. But since people in general need something to believe in i understand why they do it. Oh i know im rambling and im sure some christian will call me various names and say whats on their mind and how i shouldnt say anything and bla bla bla. But these are just my thoughts at the moment, i do admit im not into this as many other bloggers that are very well informed about all the goings on. I just feel very tired and weary about war even before this one has started. I think it is info overload from the news flashes.

They say a picture can say more then words. Well i got a word for fiddly paint that wont do as i want it!

!"¤&#%"¤"¤!!!!!

Well at least it looks nice now when it is done..................

So finaly, we are BACK!
Covered in dust and paint but never mind that. It is all in the joys of owning your own place now isnt it...;o)
The move went very smoothly and quick. Getting it all togheter is seeming to take much longer.... But hey thats what happens when you decide to keep on doing a bit of home improvement after a week of thinking about the pro's and cons of doing it straight away. Also taking into account how much it will cost us to do it all at once, well almost all.

So this week it is painting the kitchen and removing the old plastic floor in there and putting in new wooden floor with a bit of help from Lotta and her husband this weekend. Also while they do the kitchen which is a bit more tricky , me and James are going to tackle the guestroom at the same time. I bet that Lotta and Roland will be finished well before us even with the tricky corners they have to do compared to our quite straight forward square room. Anyway it will be a laugh and it will be all ours :o)

James has had a bit of bad luck while we've been offline. First he managed to lose our mobile while biking back from work and yesterday he managed to drop his wallet while biking back home as well. Something tells me he will be keeping his possesions in a tight grip in his inside pockets from now on, well belted up and chained! Its so annoying when you lose something that you take for granted. The mobile was easily enough replaced by a cheap offer in a shop in Borlänge. But the creditcards and id-cars which are a bare necessity here in Sweden will be a bit more of a hassle to get new ones. Also to cancel all the cards and make sure we report the loss of the id-card to the police so that if someone starts using it we have a report to fall back on if we are asked to pay stuff we havent ordered.

So, we're all set for the final mad rush for the weekend now. We went and paid the apartment today so it is now allOURS! (Well more correctly the banks) Since the phone and internet will be cut off by tomorrow this is the last post for a bit. I'll get back to you with more news once we are set up over at the new place.

I am completly beat. We did paint the ceiling in the livingroom today. If my poor arms wasnt dropping off before they certainly are now! It looked quite alright when we left but it was getting to be a bit dark so i dont know if it was any good. It will all be revealed tomorrow morning in the bright light when im going there again to have a look and see if i am able to lift my arms to do the second coat and start on the hallway. If not i will have to leave it to James to do when he comes over after work. I will in that case get cracking with removing the wallpaper they have put on the wardrobe doors....! How can people be so silly! Now we have to repaint them as well since they are yellowed by time and the glue. The paper on the wardrobe in our bedroom came off quite alright, but the ones in the guestroom are being a pickle in the arse to get off!

Anyway, i might take the camera with me so you all can see how it is progressing. The ceiling looked much better even with just one coat of white paint since it was quite yellowed from age.

This worked the first time alright, but then gave the wrong one, but the other two were correct, dont know what to make of it, have a go and see what you make out of it

Guess when i got up this morning?
I got up at 7! I woke up by the phone ringing.
They phoned from James work and asked if he wanted to work so now he got a full week of doing the morning shift. Which is good and a little bit bad. Means he will only be able to help in the evenings with moving and painting or whatever else needs doing. But it is also good that they think of him when phoning around for someone. I will try and have a go at painting the ceiling on wednesday. I will try out how it looks like in the hall, it is a bit darker there so maybe you dont notice any blips i make before going into the livingroom... ;o)

I've had a morning full of various odd jobs and phonecalls to make. Now we are signed up to an electricity company, we know what papers we need from the swedish foreign office (i phoned early and was put in a loooong queue anyway) so that we can get married. I prewrote the note that James needs when he will go pay it in advance at the post office. I've also had a quick look at what our honeymoon will cost and phoned my sister to tell her. We will get the money put in our bank account since it was easier if we paid it all when booking instead of my sister booking and paying down in Gothenburg. My sister is giving our honeymoon as a weddingpresent to us. She and H are so sweet and generous!

I've sent out our new address via email to friends and family and resent the address since me my stooopid fool wrote the wrong addy! LOL

I've also written the postcards with our address preprinted on to our swedish friends and family, no chance of having to rewrite those at least... I've also done our bills for this month and I dared to calculate how much the moving will cost us and got into organizing the final homestretch with renting the van, getting everything packed and thought a bit about where everything will be going in the new place and and and.....(silent scream)..... No wonder someone said that moving is one of the most stressful events in ones life right along getting married!

So the moving has started then. All weekend we have been shifting boxes with our stuff from one side of town to the other. Backbreaking buisness but it has to be done. Thankfully we havent got all that much stuff since we only have lived in a one room and kitchen flat prior to buying this 3 room one. Also the wallpapering is done in the bedrooms. All that needs doing really is a touch up of the ceiling paint in the livingroom, hall and kitchen. We might paint the walls in the kitchen as well as soon as we can decide on a colour. I was thinking a pale fresh green or a light lilac. Im not all that for heavy full colours so whatever we choose it will be light and fresh. Do anyone know how to lay down wooden flooring? Want to come stay and do the bedroom and kitchen for us??? ;o)

Since we will be quite busy this week and our internet will be taking 18! days to move to our new home (talk about slow internet) i will be very VERY slow in posting, if any untill we got ourselves a bit more sorted over at the new place. So for now, take care and see you from the other side of town... :o)

There is not much to tell right now, just getting everything organized for the move and just really waiting for the weeks to go so we can get started in the new place. Im itching to get in there and make it ours! Mum has talked to the decorater and he will start doing the bedrooms for us tomorrow monday. He is also going to paint the ceilings in those two rooms. Mum was over today and had a look at the apartment to see if it was empty. We might have to paint the kitchen as well, one of the corners were a bit black of sot. Will have a look myself to see how bad it is or if it will come out when mum cleans. The old lady hired mum to do the cleaning, which is good since that means we can start moving bits and bobs a bit earlier. It went a bit pearshaped earlier this week when James couldnt get a hold of a removal van for us to hire for the date when i had roped people in to help us. So now i was in a bit of a panic to get a van or something before everything was taken. Anyway i got one for 4 hours on sunday! So had to rearrange everything with the guys from work, but hopefully they can still help us. And i have changed all of my weekend so im off completly when we are moving. There always has to be something hasnt it....!

AAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHH!

Im listening to Julio Iglesias and liking it! Someone please shoot me!
Amor...something spanish...lalalal...!
Oh the curse of Kazaa....LOL

Im quite tired today, not from work, just tired. The weekend was alright, with a bit of fun when i went with James to watch him ski. I even took some pictures and a little video clip. But part from that there wasnt anything happening. Just a dull grey weekend....

So to cheer us all up, here is a joke i got in the mail today from a good friend down under........

My girlfriend and I were dating for over a year, and
so we decided to get married. My parents helped us in
every way, my friends encouraged me, and my
girlfriend? She was a dream!

There was only one thing bothering me,
and that was my mother-in-law to be. She was a
career woman, smart, but most of all beautiful and
sexy, who sometimes flirted me, quite obviously too,
and made me feel uncomfortable.

One day, she called me and asked me to come over, to
check the invitations.
So I went. She was alone, and when I arrived, she
whispered to me, that soon I was to be married, and
she had feelings and desires for me that she can't
overcome. So before I get married and commit my life
to her daughter, she wants to make love to me just once..

What could I say? I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word.
So, she said, I'll go to the bedroom, and if you are
up for it, just come and get me. I just watched her
delicious behind as she went up the stairs.
I stood there for a moment, and then turned around and
went to the front door... I opened it, and stepped out
of the house.

Her husband was standing outside, and with tears in
his eyes, hugged me and said, we are very happy and
pleased, you have passed our little test. We couldn't
have asked for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.



Lesson learned: Always keep your condoms in your car.....

I've just moved our phone, 500 kr! AND the internet will cost 595! And still take 18 days, mind you, they only need 7 days to move the phone...!!! The marvels of technology eh...?

Yesterday was busy!
We went to the migration office in Borlänge to get the long awaited PUT stamp for James. We did have to have 'enskilt samtal' roughly mean you went in one by one and had a private talk where the casehandler tried to pick our story and see if it wasnt true. Anyway she believed us...... So now James can stay indefinet and only need to get a new stamp every 3 years.

After that we went to the big shoppingcenter and went in to see if Marie was working, which she was. So we managed to have a little talk and i could finaly give her the christmas present i bought for her. A bit late i know but what do you do when you dont see each other that often ;)

I was shocked yesterday when James himself suggested we go and have a look at shoes for him!! And he tried on every pair i gave him and made a finaly decision without whining or anything and he listend to my suggestions to which pair was nicer! Im still...speechless!

Also had a brief look for fabrics for my wedding dress, no real luck though. Had a lovely lunch in MatPalatset and then took the 12.10 bus back to Falun. I went on to see my gran while James went home to see if work had phoned after him, which they hadnt. But they did that this morning so he is at work right now. He also got work next week, it is such a reliefe whenever he gets work. Especially now when we have so much to get done and money will be flowing like..wine?? (It flowed a bit yesterday but more about that later)

Did you know that it will cost us 1050 kr to get the form we need from the English constulate that allows us to get married????? I was shocked (again) when i quickly read the response mail to James question how to go about it all. And we have to go pick it up at the consulate in Stockholm and bring his passport with us and ...! I'll have to get to know if we cant apply from here only anyway because that sounds ridiculous!

Anyway, mum came by later on in the evening and we went to have a look at some more wallpaper for the other bedroom. We ended up with the colourclash. Im sure we can stand it untill we save up some money for the new floor. Here are 2 ickle pictures what we chose.




The nice yellow roses are going in the bigger bedroom with the blue floor...... And the other golden flower one is going in our smalller bedroom togheter with a caffe latte color on the other 3 walls. It ended up not being too bad pricewise to buy the wallpaper since only 2 rolls where on the expencive side. The yellow ones were on sale at 69kr a roll and the caffe latte ones turned out to be half price since we hired someone to do the wallpapering for us and we got to use his discount number!! Still, it set us back 1157 kr for the lot, but divided onto two rooms i thought it wasnt too bad, what you think? Of course you have to add on what the guy is taking for doing the job, but i think it is worth it if it means you dont have another thing to think about when moving. Our schedule this spring is a bit loaded as it is already dont you think?? ;o)

It is getting closer and closer to when we are getting to move in! I must remember to change our phone over and get the internet moved. But it will take up to 18(!!) working days for them to move the broadband! So it will be very quiet on the posting front untill we get internet back up again. :(

So, we have been busy choosing our new wallpaper going into the smaller bedroom. We could finaly agree on the same one even though i wanted to go for a dark lilac one or a very nice green. We ended up with a nice golden color with darker flowervines for the headwall and then a nice, hmmm caffe latte colour?, for the other 3 walls. Now the question is, do we consider the old floorcolour in the bigger bedroom when choosing wallpaper for that one or do we live with a colour clash untill we have saved enough money to get a wooden floor laid?

We have also been thinking about where to go on our honeymoon. It is likely we end up in Prague but anyway, where did you go OR where would you like to go on your honeymoon? This is the place we are thinking about staying at if we are going. I've got the all clear from my sister since she and her bf are going to give the honeymoon to us as their weddingpresent. But what do you think? We have a reservation put on the Attic suit but havent confirmed or anything yet.

Oh yes, while i remember, Marie? Vi har 475 kr i kuvertet, fika eller lunch eller nĺtt vore kul, jag har menat att ringa dig men det har inte blivit av med allt som har surrat med bröllop, flytt och annat. Vi kan väl snacka ihop oss om nĺtt plus vi ska ju vinna den stora vinsten i helgen eller hur? ;o)

If you ever need a bit of a chuckle, go here.... :)

Watched the news tonight...

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of- wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never Lark, or even Eagle flew -
And while with silent lifting mind, I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr, 1922-1944

(Borrowed it from here)

We have been busy looking at different hotels and accomodations in Prague tonight. And there are quite a lot to choose from. We've got our eye out on a few of them. One of them is a penthouse apartment dead center of the old town with great views from the terrace that curves around the whole apartment. Another one is a nice little Pension in the old town as well, only a 3 star one but with a very nice romantic attic suit. Anyone been to Prague? If you have, please tell me what you thought about the town. We were thinking of going there for our honeymoon..... My friend Rosie has been there twice and she thinks it is lovely so does my sisters bf who has been there as well.

I've just had a very weird conversation with our (new) casehandler at the immigrants office. Since it was time to renew James' permit we sent in the correct forms early on in november and got the usual paper back confirming they had got the forms and that James was allowed to stay in Sweden while they process it. But we heard nothing from them so today i called to ask what was happening. Because the previous times we have done this it has gone very smoothly and we end up getting the renewal before the time expires on the old one. It seems that this time we had got mixed up with the people applying for the first time. So she had been planning to call us for an interview sometime in march! But i quickly set her straight when i understood what she was going on about because she wasnt the most precis woman i've ever talked to. She had a better look in her papers and came to the same conclusion as me, that it was time for James to get a permanent permit, or a PUT (permanent uppehĺlls tillstĺnd) as they call it. I knew this, because i do read the fineprint in which it says that after 3 years in Sweden you are intitled to a PUT or you have to leave the country, and I was wondering if that was why it was taking so much longer then before.

Anyway, been through this mess of red tape 2 times before i dont expect it to be any more pleasent then the last time when we got this old bat asking ME if we really were a couple and wanting to see the engagement ring i hadnt got yet and so forth. But on wednesday next week we are going to the office in Borlänge to get everything sorted. And after that James will only need to go and get a new stamp in his passport every 3 years, like my mum does since she is an english citizen as well.

Mood is better now, not so desperate, but still no comments, i really NEED someone to tell me to not panic these days!

I need some serious help! I dont know what im going to wear at my wedding!!!!

We've been scrubbing(me), packing(both), leafleting(james) and dismanteling the bookcase into nuts and bolts(me, james,mum). So it has been a full day, plus everything else i lost a post that i wrote earlier today. I dont know what happend, if i saved it or just lost it because i got busy with doing the kitchen again after having a short break. Anyway, i've managed to look at some dress suggestions so head over to my wedding blog if your interested in such things, otherwise, have a nice night, i know i will now with some nice toast and whatnots! Just the bathroom left to scrub! Yuck.

So now i own 10 percent of the apartment! Would that make the entire little bedroom? Or maybe just the storage space next door. It was very exciting to sign the contract, 8 times i had to do it as well! I will trott off to the bank with their copy on monday and then there is the long wait for february to end so we can move!. Laurel and Hardy from work have promised to help us move. It was very kind of them because i was only kidding when i asked them at the very beginning of this story for help once we were going to move house. But true to their excellent nature they are sticking with that promise.

There's been something bit uneasy happening at work lately. We think that someone is taking stuff home without paying for it. And it is to say the least a TAD delicate since the person in question is one of Big Bosses "favorites". What do you do? How do you approach the boss about your suspicions? And what do you say!? Or do you just leave it for him to figure out? I've seen it twice now. First time we were a couple of people wondering whos bags of grocerys were laying in the ladies dressing room. And when we found out we asked the people who were at the tills if she had payed for the lot. But they said she hadnt... And now it happend again yesterday.... I only got around asking one of the girls about it before i got cold feet and left it at that. Because if im wrong... all hell will break loose and i would hate to be the one with accusations that werent holding up! In the mean time while im making my mind up and talking to a few other people at work im just making notes on when it happens and ask very discretly around if she did pay for them. I hate when this sort of thing happens :o(

Finaly! We are going to sign the REAL contract for our new apartment tomorrow at 3. Im also going to take a few pictures from the apartment and count how much wallpaper we will be needing for the little bedroom which will be our bedroom. We decided it would be better to have the smaller one as ours and use the big bedroom for guests, computer, gadgets, hobbies, whatever we can think of. E who is selling it to us said we could get entrance to it earlier if we wanted to do some wallpapering before we moved in. She is a very reasonable old lady, a true saint compared to knucklehead in the other apt!

We have almost decided on what paper to put up, well to be honest i've decided and James have said uhm or hum to my suggestions. We will have a patterned one on the wall where our beds headboard is and then a nice simple colored one for the other 3 walls. The floor is white plastic so the colorschemes could be anything really. But i think i'll stick to my favorite one. It is a white background with vines of flowers in cremecolour. They had a very nice variation of that pattern in a dark lilac that i was severly tempted by but i resited knowing i would have got tired of it very soon. Will have to see what i think when we see the apt again tomorrow.

Another success for Salon Tigs. Yes you guessed it, James is all newly shawned. It is quite fun doing his mop of hair. I dont know why it feels so satisfying to shop it all of using a wizard philip shave! But all i can think of is "what if the clippers doesnt work all the way through his hair?" Lottas sister managed to do half her husbands hair before the clippers stopped working so he had to go a whole weekend with half of his hair cut! And to make matters worse he had quite the long hair before he decided to get it cut by her. So everytime i say oopps when cutting James hair he goes "what what, what have you done!?" Because of course i told him about the little episode .... ;o)
It is so fun to be cruel....!

Im reading a hilarious book right now! Its by a swedish author and has already been made into a film, or is it that the film was made into a book? Anyway it is a FUN book, but also very sad in the end. Yes i've already read it (a cantputitdown type of book!) but i just had to tell you all how good it was! It was a freebie from James' work..... Isnt that just excellent? A bookworm like me getting NEW FREE BOOKS on a regulare basis?? ;o))

YaY to Kopparstaden!
We get to move out already 1st of march! So we dont need to pay double rent AT ALL! That was a big load off my chest i'll tell you! Now all i have to worry about is packing packing and some more packing and not to forget, cleaning!
Got to dash, work is calling!!

*skippetyskip!*

In a couple of minutes im going to go down to the office and leave my notice on this apartment in, again. But im going to try and get a deal done with them so i can move out earlier and Jeanette move in as soon as possible. Jeanette is from work and she got to know from Lotta that i was going to move out of my one room and kitchen soon. Hopefully we can strike up a deal with Kopparstaden so we dont need to pay double rent for more then one month. Usually i think they are quite alright about doing deals as long as they get new tenants in quickly to pay the rent. But you never know, it all depends on who you get to talk to i suppose. It would be ideal if we move out 1 march and Kopparstaden came and did the bathroom up here, as they had planned when i was moving last time, and Jeanette can move in 1st april. That would mean just one extra month to pay for us. Which would be a relife since we are going to pay for the wedding and all soon. I almost had a nervous breakdown when we started to count what everything costs and such! But it will work out alright, just have to think once or twice on what you want.

There was a bit of a drama at work today. We had a store detective working today and she spotted this gang of russians who has made it a living going round the shops lifting stuff and then taking it back home to Russia to sell for hard cold cash. Anyway the detective called the police to ask for assistance when she was going to aprehend the persons, but they said they had no car to send, so insted of risking it to get ugly all staff available went around keeping all eyes on them untill they noticed they had been spotted. One of them went out very quickly and he moved the car to across the street, we got the licensnumber. And then it was just a matter of waiting untill the other guy went out. But he didnt go before trying to scare us into leaving him alone by staring at Vera following him. It didnt really work, Vera got a giggle attack when she saw him bulging his eyes at her so she had to go behind a shelf before exploding in laughter. I think it was then that he realized we werent going to let him go out with the stuff he had picked up. So he offloaded various items(razorblades,chewing gum by the boxes) around the shop, closely followed by us, before he went out. At times talking on the mobile to his partner in crime asking what to do i suspect. The shopdetective was disappointed and a bit miffed at us for crowding him so much but i rather have it that way and he leaves without anything then him fighting his way out with the detective.

For you swedish people who occasionally read my swedish blog, i've put it to sleep. It wasnt going anywhere so i thought i might as well end its miserable existens.... :)

For Your Information I have decided to start another blog, its just a temporary one that will expire on the 31st of May this year, since that is when im getting married to this crazy person. I will try to get comments working in there as well since i really like to get feedback from friends and James' mum.

And also it is somewhere i can rant on and on about flowers, dresses, invitations and other importent stuff like that... ;o)
I like to keep the few readers i have you know, so cant go on and on and tire them out with everything that seems oh so importent at that moment but really is what color goes were...

So at last, im back on my feet again and not feeling all wobbly on them for once. I went back to work yesterday already but i wasnt in any fit state to blog yesterday. That my 11 hour nap can vouch for! Going back yesterday was a mistake but one i always get pushed into doing since i dont want the boss to frown upon me being away from work. But to my surprise i couldnt care less to what he had to say or rather he didnt say, of course, you always asume he will come down on you for being off a lot but then when you think he is about to go off on one of his rants he tells you that Mr T has quit, just like that. Apparently Mr T came in on monday as usuall and then left after an hour to go to his new job! No 4 weeks notice no nothing just up and went, pfffft. If that would be one of us trying that stunt it would turn REALLY ugly.

Oh well never mind that, the new one in charge is going to be Ulrika. She has done a bit in the fruit and veggie section earlier but she really has education for being in the meatcutting where she is right now. But i guessed he had to swop people around after Big Brother quit because it was getting very overcrowded in there. Am i surprise to be overlooked again? No not really, i know my boss will never give it to me anyway. I've been to ill, too poorly with my shoulders, back, you name it, to get anything mildly importent or interesting to do in the shop. Its just another push for me to go and look elsewhere for work. Trouble is i dont know what i would like to do besides this. Im 30, i should have a vague idea about it shouldnt i? But no i just dont know what i want to do when i 'grow up'...

I'll tell you all straight away, DO NOT try out the winter vomiting illness. It is WORSE then they say. Trust me on this one people....

Blog on hold due to illness. Normal service will resume shortly....hopefully

Currently listening to David Gray - White Ladder

Just so you know... :)

We are all set for the next few months of excitment to begin then. First we have to go to the bank today and get the deposit for when we are signing the contract for our new home on monday and set a date for when we want the loan payed out. Then we have to go and sign the papers on monday... Next we have to go and leave our notice on this apartment, again. Then we have roughly 5 weeks to run around and make up plans and pack and get organized and clean and EVERYTHING before we can move into the new apartment on the 27th of february! Anyone care to come over and help us move??

Well the fun will begin with us (me) chosing the new wallpaper in the bedroom and maybe a new color to the kitchen wall. Also we have to contemplate if we are going to put down some wooden flooring in the kitchen straight away or if we will wait a while. It would i suppose be better to do it before we move our furniture in and save us the hassle of moving everything out again when we decide that we do want to redo it anyway, doesnt is. Oh well, plans can be made and unmade into the endless nights before we (me) make our minds up. So beware readers, this blog is turning into your own Home Improvement show versus Changing Rooms! But hold the mdf..... ;oP

Oh, btw, Happy New Year too all!

It was a bit of a sudden new year yesterday night, we were watching some program on the telly when the neighbours dressed up as scotsmen(fake red hair and tartan looking shorts?) came running through the backgarden to set up their fireworks and quite distracted us from the fact that it was almost 12 o'clock! And no the neighbours didnt burn down their house, the buggers left the chests of fireworks out in the field and lit them there. They were very sparkly and loud. We cheered in a bit of bubbly and James' parents went over to next doors for a quick drink while me and James stood and watched the fireworks display instead in the safety of the livingroom.

What a game!!!
Ipswich - Millwall 4-1.
I was there, i saws it with my own eyes, and it was actually FUN, EXCITING and and and... GRRRRRRR!

Yes i know, it is me, who didnt CARE about football before. I still dont live and breath football like some other people i know ...., i have no idea really. It just was an exellent game to go to as a first. I mean how can you say it is boring after this, the roaring crowd, the singing fans, the quite good football played, even I jumped up and down when Ipswich scored their second goal after Millwalls equalizing goal in the second half!!