We are getting guests on thursday!
It is James' parents and his sister. It was supposed to be a surprise that his sister was coming too but we fumbled a bit in the start and James guessed it quite soon after he got to know that his mum wanted to talk to me alone one day. Its no good having a too clever husband! Makes it damn difficult to get surprises organized without him poking his nose in it!

Sweet but... Bizarre

We went to a viewing of the house I mentioned in my previous post. I'm disappointed. From the pictures it looks alright and actually very sweet, just our size and price range as well. Once you're in the house it feels a bit like a small dolls house with slanty roofs and floors, there wasn't a right angle anywhere to be seen and we discovered when we had a look outside that the whole house was sinking in one corner. I don't think I have a problem with that, you can always correct the foundation (expensive but manageable) but the main bedroom felt very.. off. Don't know why but I felt I would never be able to relax in that room. The kitchen was a big old style Swedish one, it felt like the heart of the house, which was good but the bathroom was dreadful and might hide some water damage since the wallpaper was ancient and peeling in the corners.

The guesthouse was really just a shell, you would have to redo it completely since it has been very neglected and the owner had used it as a workshop! My heart just cried when I saw this lovely old Swedish kitchen turned into a workbench and filled with oily and rusty junk! They still had the old wood fire oven even though it was old and tattered you would be able to save it. It would have made a lovely guesthouse all made up with a new sleeping loft and renovated kitchen.

I guess we just have to keep on looking. I think though we are pretty sure about what we want with a house and aren't afraid of doing stuff ourselves. But the house itself has to feel a bit more like 'home' then this one did. I don't mind tattered and neglected as long as the house isn't sinking and the roofs sagging inside like this one's was. Location was perfect, not overlooked at all and a pretty good sized yard out in the sticks. It was a 5 minute walk to the lake as well so we would have been able to have a boat.

Sweet isnt it?

Its gone from very very warm to ridiculous rain and thunder and wind, in a week the weathers been transformed totally. And the trees are turning yellow already! Yesterday we had the mother of all thunderstorms and I had to bike home in a quiet part of it, thankfully there was a quiet part, if not I would have had to stay and ask for a lift with someone else. I just got back home when it decided to start rumble again and huge flashes shot across the sky. I hid on the sofa with a newspaper to distract me from it all, its cool to watch a storm when you have somebody else there, not so cool when you are alone! At the end of the first batch the setting sun reflected on the misty clouds and it went all yellow outside, literally. Very spooky and a bit uneasy I watched the light turn from dusk to a brighter shade of yellow and it got lighter then it was at 6 o'clock! It was amazing though, against that big eerie yellow cloud these big fat thunderheads of dark blue grey clouds just stood out the more and you could really see the clouds tumble around from the winds in them. I should have taken pictures of them but never got around doing that, the flashes didn't make me any braver to go outside, I'll tell you!

Wait a while, i have to fan myself with some paper.*swish swish swish*
I am down in gothenburg with my mum to visit my sister and it is almost 29 degrees and it is 8 in the evening!! And my sister dont have a ceiling fan like we do back in Falun. So major question is if i will sleep with the window wide open, inviting all the bees and wasps or if i sleep with a closed window but butt naked...

I do hope that James is behaving himself at home, but me thinks he is too busy with all the things on his To Do list to make any trouble. He opted to get home one our earlier today because he felt so overwhelmed by the To Do list, or so he said when i phoned to let him know we got here alright. Bet you he is sitting in front of the computer looking at this running sites and noticeboards and not at all doing the watering and what nots. I hope he remembers to cook some food for himself for tomorrow(no flaming hamburgers though i hope). But if not there is always the cantine at work.

Tomorrows plan is to go into gothenburg and do a bit of shopping. I have no idea if that is such a good idea in this heat but i rather do that then sit in here with not a slight breeze through all the windows that are wide open in hope of some relieve.

Shit shit shit!

I just worte a mega blog and i had an error msg when publishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am NOT rewriting it!

*sob*

The allotment is yielding quite a lot right now that needs to be taken care of. Mum and me went up to pick some peas for the second time(got 2 pints after shelling them) and I picked all the parsley and gave some away since we had way to much for ourselves, mum took some of the beet roots that were getting too big and has now pickled them for us. They are sitting nicely in our coldroom storage ready to be used. I took most of the broccoli side shoots and I think that they are coming to an end now. The runnerbeans are really running away whit loads of flowers and beans coming along very nicely. They are next for the picking. Also the tomatoes are turning red now, faster then we can eat them, well I'm not surprised since the weather has turned very warm and humid, who needs a greenhouse!?

The sweet corn is coming into bloom and onions are getting to be huge. Only thing not growing so good is our rhubarb plant and the salads are pathetic this year even though we've been watering when its been dry. Oh well you cant have everything now can you, at least we seems to be having very little pests this year. I've been planning a bit on how to restructure the little plot of land we got. Right now the raspberries are falling into and over the little pebble path we've made and its not really very convenient to have it there. So, either I move the path or I take away the raspberries on the left hand side. I'm leaning to moving the raspberries and the black currant bush to the other side and have a long border with either only flowers or you put your salads and herbs there. Hmm, a herb border would be nice.. plus some marigolds and other flowers of course!

Lynn was talking about getting rid of old stuff and reaping the rewards of earlier projects. Well I'm reaping what I've sown earlier but I'm not so good at the getting rid of old stuff. Due to that we will be getting new windows installed in September I have to make sure they can get into the storage to change 2 small windows there. Talking about getting rid of old stuff, so far I think I've managed to chuck 2 small, pitiful looking boxes away to charity and one (!) little bag of garbage. I just cant do it, well not good at least. Ever since I was a kid I have been told by my mum that it could be useful later, that applied for anything at all, no matter how small or weird, you'd save it for later, put it in a box and voila when you needed it you didn't remember you had it anyway so you bought a new one that also went into a box and so on... Help me??

Peas, peas, everywhere I look peas!

Mum was kind and picked the peas that was ready yesterday and today I have been shelling them. When you think about it its not very much you end up with when you have discarded all the shells. But never mind that, they taste delicious and are together with the broccoli James took home yesterday going to be part of our dinner. How does pork file roast in honey marinade and fresh vegetables sound to you? Yummie if you ask me! We might get our first tomatoes soon as well if this warm and nice weather holds for a couple of days more. We have 2 right now that are slightly orange looking. It seems to be a crap year for flowers though, the marigolds are barely scraping to flower a few heads and the sweet peas are tiny still. And of all the flowers I sowed this spring only a handfuls of poppies and marigolds have come up. Thankfully the hollyhocks did come as well and will be lovely next year (crosses fingers AND toes for not too hard frost)

I went for a little walk around the lake across the road after lunch and I found this cute little landing stage. I took some other pictures as well but this one turned out the best

The auction on Sunday was interesting and I came away with a postcard album with 140+ cards in it for 520 kronor. I thought it was quite good since it makes out as roughly 4 kronas a card, besides I have already sold off 2 of them for 60 kr. Wheeler dealer eyh?
I also spotted a nice glass jar with a silverplated top but it was put into a bargain box that went a bit too high plus I didn't want all the other crap that went in there. But I went over and asked the lady who bought them if she would sell me the jar since that was all I was interested in. She said she was going to think about it since she hadn't had time to have a look yet what was in the box! I decided to wait a while before asking again and in the mean time I saw how she very carefully looked at the jar wondering is she had made a bargain and why I wanted to buy it off her. So just before we left in the afternoon I went over and asked if she had thought about it, which she had. She wanted to keep it but then I made her an offer of 80 kronas for it and she hesitated and caved. So I got it!
isn't it cute?

We also have been up at the allotment and it is growing much better now when it finally started to be a bit warmer. We have a truck load of peas to pick, onions are really growing well, tomatoes are slowly turning bright red, sweet corn is struggling but growing taller, potatoes flowering and we already have picked some of the broccoli heads, they made a lovely chicken pie with some cauliflower and leak. Also the runner beans are flowering like mad but I'm not so sure we will be able to have those in peace. We have deer! Pesky little deer nibbling at our pea flowers last week and they also found their way to the beanstalks cutting the buds off! Shoot the buggers!

We went around looking at cars yesterday. Both me and James have agreed on that our tank drinks too much petrol and it would be cheaper in insurance as well with a smaller new car. Not to mention easier to drive, James still takes wide corners like he's driving a lorry. Makes for interesting comments from me when I'm thinking he missed the turning! Cars seem to be very expensive though if you buy them from a car dealer, naturally off course but still you cant get any decent cars for under 60 000 kronor! I've also had a look online for people selling privately and you can get them cheaper but anyone want to help us out in buying? Haven't got a clue what to look for more then the obvious, rust and tires. Plus any tips on what make of car is a good buy is gratefully accepted.

VACATION!!!

Can you see I'm excited about it??

Sorry for the lack of posts but its been hectic and I've not really been in the blogging mood. But I thought I try to write something now when I don't have work to do, well unless you count all the housework, gardening and stuff like that. Housework cant wait either really, hmmm why is there only 24 hours a day? Never mind I have a set list of priorities, auctions first and then whatever needs tending to. Yes, you guessed right we are off to an auction today. Poor James is working but I'm going with Lotta and my mum to an auction in Nyhammar. It is a bit to go so we are going to set of soon. Lotta is picking me up in 10 minutes and I'm all set for whatever weather there will be. They promised scattered showers so umbrella is in the handbag but also I have sunblock just in case the sun does come out. I don't want to end up red as a lobster as I did once last year. I also have applied amply of mosquito repellent since we are going to be outdoors in the sticks. It sounded as a good auction so book is with me and I'm going to have really good look around. Better go now or I will be late!

So we went to have a look at the house yesterday. It was as i thought, lovely garden, wild grown of course but lots of surviving plants in the weeds but the house needs too much doing to it. The layout wasnt the best i thought. You'd step in from the nice front porch bit and was greeted by the wall of the hall since it spread like a T, livingroom to your right. A strange semi room with an open fire to your left, from there you had the small bedroom to your left facing towards the front next to it the bathroom with a huge ugly boiler on view. To your right in the semiroom you'd go into the kitchen which had a view to the back, overlooking a huge mound which contains an oldfashion larder down under ground, from the kitchen you also would access the bigger bedroom (bigger ha! would hardly get your double bed in there) and from the bedroom you have a door out onto the patio.

 
If we would have bought it we would have redone the layout completly and the  kitchen totaly ripped out plus the foundation needs a ventilation put in since it was getting damp. But we knew this. We quite quickly agreed the house wasnt for us, but we both loved the garden and extra sheds.

Yes, yes i know. Another silly test but i like these!
Found via Belle


You are a true nature girl!


Which Ultimate Beautiful Woman are You?
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The estate agent phoned today and wondered if thursday suited us since he was showing the house to a family as well. I said yes thank you it suits us fine. He informed me a bit about the house, what needs doing and how big the acres are. There is aparently a plot or two of land going wih it but its not next to the house and yard itself which was disappointing. Mind you, we are NOT seriously thinking about this house, just looking. Im curious to how it looks like inside because from the pictures on their site it looks just about the right size and such for us as a first house. Mum made sure of that we werent going to look and buy it on a whim, as if we would. But thats my mum for you :o)

Weekend rushed by as usual. We went to IKEA on saturday with mum, Lotta and ?sa. It was a bit of a disappointment though. Not at all up to its usual standard it felt like a let down. The sales werent no good in the shopping center next door either. At least we had a day out. We didnt do anything in particular on the evening, i made a bit of bread and lounged in the sofa and James went for a run. On sunday there were lots of auctions going on but James was to tired and i couldnt bother to go to the local one seeing as the weather was a bit unsteady mind you it never rained. We had a look online at houses for sale instead. I do believe that James has now got the housebug as well. We biked out to have a look at one in Falun, it was dark and dank and definatly not worth the asking price of 990 000 kronor and we decided to take a trip to Borlänge to have a look at another house for 550 000 kronor. It needs doing up a bit inside and the garden bit is quite grown wild. I made a note and posted off a mail saying we wanted to have a peek inside it to the house agency. Will see when they phone back.

Some good news and some bad (well, yes)

So I've had my first treatment of acupuncture this last Wednesday. It was, interesting, to put it mildly for someone who hates needles! Anyway good news is that whatever he does with them it seems to be working, elbow seems to be on the mend even though I never would have thought so after the first session. Talk about sore and groggy! I knew that you would get whoozy headed and tired but nothing had prepared me for that. I don't know if I did the sane thing but instead of going home and getting in bed I went shopping! Well it worked for me, after half an hour of slowly walking around town I felt much better and called James to see if he wanted to meet me in town after work. But he had left his mobile at home so he didn't get the msg before then. But lovely as he is he came into town anyway to go and have a look at some baskets I had seen and was wondering if I should get for our mini recycle station under the kitchen sofa. I thought they were nice but a bit hefty on the price so we decided to wait until we've been to IKEA they usually have nice wicker baskets and other sorts.
The bad news being I have to go back for another treatment next Wednesday. But hopefully it will get better for each time, will just have to see how many treatments I will need before it being acceptable again. He is not cheap either, every session costs my boss 350 kronor ca ?27 instead of me going to the company healthcare center for ?6... But I've totally lost confidence in them so they can go jump in the lake and my boss can pay up for my treatment at this chiropractor/acupuncture center.

Between working, looking after the allotment, bbq-ing, cleaning, restoring a kitchen table, shopping, picnicking, biking, getting a poorly elbow and sleeping there has not been much time to do any blogging at all. Still my to-do list is huge and haven't gone down at all. Because every time you knock one of the things off it 2 more are added so it just goes round and round and never ever ends! I want vacation!!! No, wrong, I NEED vacation, NOW!

Working in a supermarket as I do you do tend to get your aches and pains from time to time. So it has come to my elbows attention that it had had enough and is right now throwing a major ache tantrum. It was giving me some serious trouble before midsummer last week so I stayed at home on Thursday thinking a day or two with rest would help. Of course it helps, for that space of time. But as soon as you get back into doing stuff with it it just laughs you straight in the face and hurts even worse. This being the case I went to the company doctor on Wednesday this week to see what it could be and if I could get any help for it. The doctor (being a total git) sat there explaining what I had and what he didn't believe in would help, nothing about what WOULD help more then maybe some acupuncture but he didn't issue any orders for such. So I left quite disappointed with a sicknote for when I had been home but with instruction to go back to work and see' how it works out' and a vague order about getting some acupunture done by someone.. Well said and done that is what I did yesterday and now it has worked out so that I cant stretch my arm fully because of the pain in the elbow area. Thing is I got work over the weekend, do I go to work today and the weekend and strain it even more and just 'see how things work out' or do I tell my boss today that its no use for a while and stay home until I get to Monday when I can call the doctor and say 'it didn't work out at all give me a new elbow now that you've ruined the one I had'? Well one thing it has taught me, never go to a doctor that looks like a toad peering underneath too big a glasses. He'll just send you home to 'see how things work out'!

More pictures from the allotment, it is growing well after 2 days of rain. The fleece over the spinach is about to break since they are striving so hard upward! My mum is going to pick them tomorrow so we can sow something else. I thought about either early carrots or some more lettuce/dill. And the broccoli have exploded in size. And we have a few flowers coming on the strawberries, got to remember to put some netting up so the magpies dont eat them all for us!

I have been busy as usual on my day off. James and I went to put the cars winter wheels in storage at my mum's. Later after James had left for work I didn't really know what to do but mum came to my rescue when she popped by and wanted a chat, she was waiting for the washing machine to be done washing her mops (she cleans for the building society) Of course I had the brilliant idea that we might as well go to a flower nursery while waiting because I wanted some plant soil since I was going to change the flower boxes over from pansies to summer flowers. Instead of pansys I potted cuttings of my big red geranium earlier this spring and also sowed some light blue with darker nerve petunias which now are all ready in their boxes. Also I wanted to see if I could find something nice for the allotment at the nursery. Mum wasn't that hard to persuade to come with me, or rather give me a lift there in her car.. We found some nice plants and some soil. In the end I picked out 2 pink Marguerites, one giant poppy in dark orange, dark red rudbeckia(?) and a yellow something like rudbeckia I don't know in English, but it gets really tall and looks like daisys but different colour.

At the allotment I weeded some and prepared the border where the new flowers wére going and I also checked the tomato plants and beans. Our sweet corn is dying off one at a time, wonder if we have some pest of sorts? Everything else is coming along nicely. Mum's spinach is ready for picking and I took the night fleece off the beans so I hope there wont be any more frosts or nearly frost at night, it is very late this year! But weather has been colder then usual and we didn't have any frost nights at all in late may as we usually do.

I snapped these few pictures earlier last week but it looks much the same part from the broccoli really getting big now and the peas are taller. Notice the darker green small tomato plants? They were the ones I potted, the bigger ones are mum's that she had in milk cartoons. They already have fruit ripening! The pea's we got from James dad is really doing well as is the dwarf runner beans. We just need some warm weather now. It's been lingering around +10 for too long now. Ok, we do have warmer days with sun and around +20 but they are too few!

Shamelessly stolen from scenic route.

This is a list of the top 100 grossing films and i've only missed 17 of them! Is that good or bad? I've higlighted the ones i've seen and added my score of good - bad at the end.

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459 ***
4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444 ****
5. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375 **
6. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)$377,019,252 ****
7. Passion of the Christ, The (2004) $370,025,697
8. Jurassic Park (1993) $356,784,000 ***
9. Shrek 2 (2004) $356,211,000
10. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) $340,478,898 *****
11. Finding Nemo (2003) $339,714,367 ***
12. Forrest Gump (1994) $329,691,196 ****
13. Lion King, The (1994) $328,423,001 ****
14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $317,557,891 ***
15. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) $313,837,577 *****
16. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $310,675,583 ****
17. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $309,125,409 ****
18. Independence Day (1996) $306,124,059 **
19. Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) $305,411,224 ****
20. Sixth Sense, The (1999) $293,501,675 ***
21. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) $290,158,751 ****
22. Home Alone (1990) $285,761,243 ***
23. Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) $281,492,479 **
24. Shrek (2001) $267,652,016 ****
25. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)$261,970,615 **
26. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) $260,031,035
27. Jaws (1975) $260,000,000 ****
28. Monsters, Inc. (2001) $255,870,172 *****
29. Batman (1989) $251,188,924 ***
30. Men in Black (1997) $250,147,615 ****
31. Toy Story 2 (1999) $245,823,397
32. Bruce Almighty (2003) $242,589,580 ***
33. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) $242,374,454 ***
34. Twister (1996) $241,700,000 ****
35. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) $241,437,427 ****
36. Ghost Busters (1984) $238,600,000 ***
37. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) $234,760,500 ****
38. Cast Away (2000) $233,630,478 ***
39. Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997) $229,074,524 **
40. Signs (2002) $227,965,690 ***
41. Rush Hour 2 (2001) $226,138,454 ***
42. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) $219,200,000 ***
43. Ghost (1990) $217,631,306 ***
44. Aladdin (1992) $217,350,219 ***
45. Saving Private Ryan (1998) $216,119,491
46. Mission: Impossible II (2000) $215,397,30 **
47. X2 (2003) $214,948,780 ****
48. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) $213,079,163 **
49. Back to the Future (1985) $210,609,762 ****
50. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) $205,399,422 **
51. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) $204,843,350 ****
52. Exorcist, The (1973) $204,565,000
53. Mummy Returns, The (2001) $202,007,640 ***
54. Armageddon (1998) $201,573,391 ***
55. Gone with the Wind (1939) $198,655,278 ****
56. Pearl Harbor (2001) $198,539,855 ***
57. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) $197,171,806 ***
58. Toy Story (1995) $191,800,000 ****
59. Men in Black II (2002) $190,418,803 *
60. Gladiator (2000) $187,670,866 **
61. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) $184,925,485 ***
62. Dances with Wolves (1990) $184,208,848 *****
63. Batman Forever (1995) $184,031,112 ***
64. Fugitive, The (1993) $183,875,760 ****
65. Ocean's Eleven (2001) $183,405,771 ***
66. What Women Want (2000) $182,805,123 **
67. Perfect Storm, The (2000) $182,618,434 ***
68. Liar Liar (1997) $181,395,380 ****
69. Grease (1978) $181,360,000 *****
70. Jurassic Park III (2001) $181,166,115 *
71. Mission: Impossible (1996) $180,965,237
72. Planet of the Apes (2001) $180,011,740
73. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) $179,870,271 ***
74. Pretty Woman (1990) $178,406,268 ****
75. Tootsie (1982) $177,200,000 *****
76. Top Gun (1986) $176,781,728 ***
77. There's Something About Mary (1998) $176,483,808 ****
78. Ice Age (2002) $176,387,405
79. Crocodile Dundee (1986) $174,635,000 ****
80. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) $173,585,516 **
81. Elf (2003) $173,381,405
82. Air Force One (1997) $172,888,056 ***
83. Rain Man (1988) $172,825,435 ****
84. Apollo 13 (1995) $172,071,312 ****
85. Matrix, The (1999) $171,383,253 *****
86. Beauty and the Beast (1991) $171,301,428 ***
87. Tarzan (1999) $171,085,177
88. Beautiful Mind, A (2001) $170,708,996 *****
89. Chicago (2002) $170,684,505
90. Three Men and a Baby (1987) $167,780,960 ***
91. Meet the Parents (2000) $166,225,040 ***
92. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) $165,500,000 **
93. Hannibal (2001) $165,091,464
94. Catch Me If You Can (2002) $164,435,221
95. Big Daddy (1999) $163,479,795
96. Sound of Music, The (1965) $163,214,286 ****
97. Batman Returns (1992) $162,831,698 **
98. Bug's Life, A (1998) $162,792,677 ***
99. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) $161,963,000
100. Waterboy, The (1998) $161,487,252 *

Sorry for the lack of posts. But its been a wee bit hectic since we got back from James running the marathon way back. Work has picked up as it always does in the summer months. Plus that I've been busy sewing a cat costume for Rosie. She is going to play in a children's theater on Sunday and asked if I liked to help out. Also I whizzed down to Gothenburg to get our car on Tuesday. My sisters new one had finally come so I went on the train on Tuesday and slept there for the night and drove ol' Betsy back home Wednesday. It's like a good old rocking chair that Mercedes. Bit slow on the take up but once your up and running its quite alright. But its huge, just like driving a tank! And its rusty, more rusty then I did remember. But driving it on salted roads wintertime eventually does that to a car. I also got a ride in sisters new car, a coupe Mercedes, don't ask what number, cant remember but it is a big piece of serious muscle car! I'm impressed.

To top of the hectic week or so I've had there was a mad rush at work today. Loads of people and lots to do and no extra staff either. How yummie is that on a scale? Pfffft....

Me, I' tired, me going to bed now. Oh yeah I even cleaned the apartment from top to bottom this morning. What an interesting life I lead hmmm?