It's all His fault!

Well, I can hardly believe it is true! I have actually lived twice as long as I thought I would! I never expected to live to see 20, let alone 30! Now here it is, the day I celebrate God's grace on my 40th birthday! There have been so very many chances for me to lose my life, yet, here I am, still pulling pranks and telling horrible jokes! (Even if they are not shark jokes!) You see, as a high school graduate I moved to Kansas for a while. I needed to know what would happen to me if I did not have God in my life. I quickly reverted into the wild life I knew before moving in with my God given family. I started drinking, smoking and doing drugs, even more than before. Wild orgies and partying were a part of normal life. One night we had to buy our coke (cocaine) from a new source- our normal guy was caught and in prison. It costed a bit more, but we had no one else to buy from. So, we partied into the night. as the evening wore on and the pot wore off, we took out the coke and started to sniff lines.We took the normal 2 lines each till it was all gone. Then it started to hit us.What we didn't know was that the coke we bought was not cut near as much as the stuff we were use to. It was really pure. We all took more than twice the normal amount of coke! We all got hit at the same time. We were laying on the floor, all were wide eyed with terror. Not a one of us could move! I remember the feeling of my heart beating slower and slower, and how my lungs were protesting every breath. I felt no pain, I felt nothing at all! As I felt myself drifting off to sleep, I remember praying, "Dear Jesus! Please let me survive this night and I will give you back my life. I will NEVER touch drugs again. I will share my story and give you the glory for saving me." Then everything went black.

I woke up the next morning, fairly surprised to be alive at all. I called home to Mom and asked to be able to return home. I knew I would need the support of the church to get and stay clean. I threw all my stuff into my car, and left right away. I do not know if anyone else died or survived. I just knew I needed to get away from there.

I have no idea exactly where I spent the next week, detoxing. Maybe that is a good thing. I do remember meeting up with some friends that went to college in Kansas and driving back to PA with them. I do remember that the first bit of time back home was filled with nightmares, and strong cravings for drugs. But I was determined to keep my promise to the Lord. I spent a lot of time praying, reading the Bible and excersizing to burn the extra energy from the shakes!

God was good! He saved my life, and I did indeed live to see 20! The past 20 years have been filled with all the bonuses I never expected to have. God has been so good to me. Every one of my dreams has become a reality. Every desire of my heart He has seen fit to allow to become real. And more!! My life is so blessed, I hardly know what to say. Every valley that I have gone through I have felt the hand of God leading me on. When I was too weak to go, I felt the presence of friends and family supporting me and carrying me. Through thick and thin (both situations and my body shape) I have been truely blessed to feel and know God's leading.

So, now I am blessed with a beautiful family, daughter and son, and such a wonderful husband! We have been through so much, and he still says "I love you". He still comes home at night, and gives me a hug and kiss. (and sometimes more!;P) All that we have ever dreamed of has come true, we are truely blessed and we know it!

On this, the 40th anniversary of my birth, I want to say, " Thanks, Lord Jesus! You are the most blessed thing that has happened to me, for me and in me. I give You the glory for allowing me to live this long. I give you the glory for the joy in my life, and I thank You for all the blessings you have given me. It's all your fault! Thanks!"

Gum in my hair!

Today I was at the gym again. I am getting the weight rutine down pat, and it goes a bit quicker. I am actually enjoying the 20 minute bike ride at the end of the session.I ususally read the paper and solve the sudoko while passing the time. Tomorrow I will go swimming and do my inder water pilates and jogging. I still run till I get out of breath and then kick it into overdrive fo a couple minutes more. Then I take a steam bath for 5-15 minutes before hitting the showers.

Today I got my hair cut. I have noticed that it takes about 15 minutes of blowdrying to get my hair dry, and that was too long. So, I am short haired once more. I had to go get a new supply of hair moose, spray and hair gum. That's right, hair gum! Now it is the thing to do - put gum in your hair!! Use to be that gum in the hair was a major problem, envoking a panic attack. Now they have specially canned goo (it's light blue) to put into your hair. It performs a lot like hair wax, but holds the forms a bit better. Wax in the hair also use to be a bit of a problem!

I had fore warned my family that we would take the family picture tonight. But some people will do just about anything to get out of taking a picture! Both Kris and Katrina were home today. Kris still has a fever, off and on. Katrina threw up this morning and has a high feaver too. I think I will stay away tomorrow too, so I don't get what they have!

We have decided to stay home on Christmas eve and go to Luleå Christmas day. We have friends there that have invited us to come. So, we will. I found a dog sitter for Jackie, and have only to pack for a couple days. It will be nice to meet up with the Öbergs again.

The job as a youth leader has been presented to the elders in the church. They want to meet with me on Monday night to talk about a few things. The offer on the table is a trial until the summer. Then if all goes well, it can be extended. So, I will be looking into what paperwork I need to do to put my buisness in a rest mode. I will still have to wait till January 7th for the OK from the congregation.

Well, I need to go do some wash. There are at least 6 loads downstairs. If I want to get caught up by christmas I need to get busy. Working out almost every day creates a bit of wash too! So, here we go! Have a good on yall!

Job oppertunity

Today we are going to finish Christmas decorating, then I hope to go to town to the gym. I didn't work out at all yesterday, so I want to squeeze one in today. Then I can take a day off tomorrow.
Yesterday I bought new decorations and a new tree (artificial). I was looking all over for a nativity scene, but couldn't find one. So I prayed and all of a sudden the people that work there came out of th stock room with a bunch of boxes. I asked if they have any nativity scenes, and she said,"Right here, mam". Talk about ask and it will be given unto you...
Kris is still in New Your, comes home on Monday. I am thinking I will treat him to a day at the spa. Then he can relax a bit and drink some glogg (wassle) at home.
A job oppertunity has come up, but I can't write too much about it yet. Just that it is a position as a youth leader in at a church I could see myself working at. So, prayers are welcome. I can write more details later about the job, after I have had some feedback from the church.
Have a good day yall

Double workout

Yesterday was a workout day. I took Katrina to school and went to the gym for a swim.Ihave been doing a combination of swimming and under water pilates. Then I "run" in the water for 10-15 minutes. I love running and have missed it a lot. Even though it is not the same as running outside, I love the feeling of running under water. Maybe some day I can start jogging again?!
At 10:30 we met to plan next semester of the younge believers class. It will be full of fun, I am sure. I really enjoy the group that teaches together, and how everyone helps out. We work well together, we are all just a little on the crazy side.There are some changes but I will have to wait a little til I can say what they are. The planning went well. Just as we finished, I got a call from a friend who wondered if I was going to come to the gym with her to work out. So, back to the gym I went. We did a weight workout together, and had a good chat and lots of laughs. (Try doing crunches while you are laughing!!) I think I will take this morning off. I might fo swimming this afternoon. Katrina needs to be picked up in town at 4, so I might take a quick dip in the pool.
Kris called from NYC. He had off yesterday and took the oppertunity to go shopping. He got some Christmas presents and a few things for himself. Now I know where Katrina gets her love of shopping from!
I remember when I still lived at home how we would take a family picture every year. Sometimes it was hard to get all the schedules to mesh to have everyone there, primed and ready and in a good mood. Then we smiled goofed around and were blinded for the evening by the barrage of flashes. Good laughs then and when we looked at the pictures. Now I am finding it hard to get my hubby home and still long enough to snap our picture. We had set a date to do it, then Bjorn went missing! (He was at a friends house playing on the computer) NExt time Katrina was sick in her stomache. Then I fell asleep and no one woke me up! And now Kris is in New York City. He will come home on Monday, so our next date is Monday night. With a little luck, everyone will be there, well, and awake!! We have all used up our allotted one excuse, so now it's time to grin and ... snap! (hee hee- cute pun, huh?)
Well, time's a waistin, and I have a messy house to clean and a floating couch to weigh down.Have a good one y all.

specs and sore ligaments

Yesterday I had my first workout with weights. I am not feeling near as much pain as I thought I would. I do have some aches, but compared to the stretched ligaments I already have, it's nothing! I will go in today to swim. I usually do a little pilates under water while in the bubble pool.

Katrina needs to get a present for her friend, so we will go to town after that. I have already been in town today.
Björn had an eye exam at school because he couldn't read the blackboard from his seat. We were advised to take him for a proper eye exam, which we did today. Yep, the kid needs specs! He picked out a pair HE liked (I would have never picked them, but I don't have to wear them either!), we paid and decided to look for a present for Kris. We will pick up the glasses next week.
Now, i love my husband dearly. He is so kind and hard working (maybe too good at working?), loving and respectful. But the poor man has so few hobbies! He plays piano, but we have a lot of music books, sheet music and a tuner. He reads a lot, but has already read all the latest (swedish) releases. He is a computer geek, but I am somewhat technologiclly impared. So, we (Björn and I ) went toTechnique Magazine and found a little gag gift.
Then we had lunch. (I had a chicken sandwich and a bean sallad, diet coke. Keeping up the diet!)
On the way home Björn said that he had a stomache ache since breakfast. He drank some milk that was a little sour and has not felt so good since then. So I let him stay home this afternoon.
Now I am on my way to the gym. Have a good one y all

wet and weighted

Well, today was my second day at the gym. Yesterday I was there to meet with a trainer and set up a program. Jonas (my trainer) and I talked a while to decide what kind of program to have. We decided that I really don't need any more muscle mass or strength. Both were enough for two women! (And even some men!) Bone structure is strong and stable, as are muscle tissues. My weak link is what holds it all together- senew(muscle to bone), ligaments(bone to bone) and cartilage(those semi hard pliable areas like the nose and between the joints). So, I have 5 excersizes to strengthen my senews in my hips, elbow, knees and shoulders. I have unlimited access to a warmed up pool, a steam room, a bastu, sauna, relaxsation rooms and weight rooms. There are classes I can take with water gymnastics, pilates and streatch a little later. I am also to take a 15 minute walk once a day, 5 days a week.
Yesterday we went through all 5 excersizes and which position I need to have, which muscles to activate or inactivate. The whole rutine starts with a 20 minute bike ride. Then I work the knee/hips, then the shoulders (two seperate excersizes) then the hips again (different excersize with a giant ball), followed by hamstrings. Then it's back to the bike for a final 20 minutes.
After that I can go home or swim or sit in the bastu ...
I have already noticed a big improvement in my energy level. My afternoon naps have decreased or are absent and I am able to be up and alert later in the evenings. The kids have been a big help too. They are great about walking with me in the evenings- we take Jackie for a walk and play hide and seek with her. (The kids hide, Jackie finds them) It will be interesting to weigh in on Monday to see if anything has changed. I am so tempted to check now, but I know I may only weigh myself once a week.
Last night we were at Kris' sisters place. It was her birthday. She had cake, and I was proud to have only taken one SMALL piece! I even drank only water with it.
Well, it is time for lunch, so I will have chicken and veggies . Björn is home today, so we can eat together. Have a good one y all.

WAKE UP!!!!

After my mom had a scary run in with memory loss due to stress, I decided to take a closer look at my own health. I have been a bit concerned lately with a lack of energy, a lot of pain and being overly tired. So yesterday I had a physical done, and the results were ... more than expected.

I knew before I went in that I am over weight. I had changed some of my diet before summer and had lost a little weight, and have kept it off. But I have a long way to go.

Diabetes runs in my biological family- both sides of it. So I knew to be on the look out for it. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with Björn, so I got a fortaste of what it is like to have Diabetes. It is no piece of cake- literally! I had been feeling some of the same symptoms as when I was pregnant, so I knew it was a warning sign.

So, when the nurse said that I was overweight, I was not surprised. When she said that I had a condition that comes just prior to full blown diabetes, I got scared.

When she told me I have high colersteral, I got concerned. I had already changed my diet, and she said that I did that just in time. my numbers were just over the edge now, so they were probably higher a few months ago.

When I showed my nimbers to kris last night, he also pointed out that I have high blood pressure on top of it all. (140/80) Just a couple years ago I had 120/60, so I was a candidate for a heart attack within 10 years, full blown diabetes in 1 year and probably death in 15 years.

OK, I got my wake up call!

I had already mentioned to Kris that I wanted to get a membership to the gym, but I think I will not wait till after Christmas to do it. I will be calling today!!

Being over weight has caused me to have lots of pain in my joints, and makes it really easy to stretch ligaments and the fibers that attatch muscle to bone. I had succeeded in stretching 4 such fibers in my hips, so walking is a real bummer. Many years ago I ripped the ligaments in my left knee, so it is a sensative area. I was in a car accident and compressed the vertibre in my neck. Migrains and neck pain are a constant companion. Two years ago I over worked in a school kitchen and messed up both my elbows. (tennis elbow in the right and golf elbow in the left one) All these injuries make it hard to come up with a training program. I cat just begin weight lifting, and walking is really hard right now. So, swimmimg seemed a good solution.

So, my plan is this:

1. Minimise food intake- no more second portions.
2. only 100 grams of nuts, candies or sweets per week (to be lowered in the future)
3.start with short walks- 5 minutes out, 5 minutes home. start at a slow pace, and twice a day. Increase time and speed as weight drops.
4. Go to gym at least ½ hour, 3 times a week for swimming. (Katrina goes to school close by, so I can pick her up and take her home afterwards. Time and distance to increase sucessivly.

Future plan-
1. Pilates 20 min/day, 2-3 times /week
2. Gradually increase walking distance to 5 km in 1 hour.
3. Increase strength in muscles by weight training- low weight high repetition.
4. Increase time and distance in swimming, add water gymnastics to program.
5 Buy a new wardrobe! (Ugg I HATE shopping!)

Well, these are my intentions, my new project. Knowing that I am only a few fractions away from some very serious deseases has snapped me into a realisation. I cannot be of any help to my children or husband if I am a vegetable. Laying on the couch unable to do anything would be a real strain on my family. Thus the excuse that I don't have time to take care of myself is nullified! I must take the time to get back into shape for my family and for myself. I have been living too long saying that I never expected to live this long, and start saying , "I want to live at least 40 year longer!"

So, I would appreciate all the prayers and thoughts you have as I begin my journey back to health. Please ask how it's going if I don't write about it. Could be I am in a slump and just need a little smack on the head to get going again. (or a hammer, anvil, piano,...)

Thankyou for listening to my old woman griping about my health. Hopefully there will be good reports of weight loss and increased activity and energy. Below are the statistics so everyone knows my starting point.

height- 169cm =5'7'' weight 119 kilos = 262 lbs.
BMI 41 stomache measurment 123 cm=48½''
blood pressure 140/80 bloodfats colesteral 5,06 triglycerides 3,42
Sugar: fasting 5,7 2 hours after sugar dring 8,7
Energy level (1-10- 1 is bad) 2 Motivation: 10

I finished the toyota today, and the customer seemed pleased with the job. We chatted a while, then she paid and left. It is so nice to get a job done, even if it is a small job. I had videoed in the process of fixint the scratch, so now I can edit the video, film in some filler footage and put it all together.
I got a call at 10. Kris' sister was on her way to work this morning and her car died. She wanted me to pick her up from work at 2:30, take her to a gas station for gas and jumper cables, then to her car. If it still didn't work I was to toe her car home, then take her to pick up her little girl at day care. Hmmmm....
One of the ladies from church came by with a bag full of apples that I plan on making into apple sauce tomorrow. Bjorn said he wants to help, so I will wait till he gets home from school to start. He might bring a friend home with him to help as well. The guys think it is fun to help make stuff the old fashion way! (I must be real old to know how to do that stuff!!)
Tomorrow I need to plan for the teaching at Younge believers on thursday. I can work on that while the kids are at school. Till then...
Have a good one ya all!

My heart is saddened today. The tragic news of a massacer on an Amish schoolhouse has really effected me. My heart goes out to the 3 families who have lost a daughter in this tragedy as well as the families with a loved one in the hospital. We will be praying for you all. I can't even imagine how those poor children felt being abandoned by their teacher and the rest of the adults, not understanding what this crazy man wanted (the 6 years olds probably didn´t know very much english), and seeing a classmate killed/injured. We will be praying for them as well. The news was internationally brodcast, and we heard about it here in Sweden within the hour. The community there must be outraged, as I expect it would. These peacefull people were innocent bystanders in our hectic life. They should have been left alone!
This whole incident has led me to wonder- am I ready to go? If a crazed man should walk up to me and shoot me, would I be ready to meet my maker? Am I seriously prepared to die? I realised that I have a few matters that I need to take care of, and some paper work I should take care of. (Last will and Testement for example) I think it would be more difficult to handle if one of my kids were suddenly gone. Who knows? One thing I am sure of- I am prepared to meet the Lord, my heart is already there. And should some other tragedy strike, I am confident that the Lord will give me the sanity and strength to be able to cope with it.
On a more daily basis, I didn't finish the car yesterday, so I need to finish today. I had sanded a little too hard and went through to the base paint. So I needed to repaint the red area and let it dry overnight. I will go out this morning and wet sand it, then buff and wax it to a glass shine.
Yesterday I also took care of my tax return stuff. I took the papers to the accountant and called the tax office to answer the questions they had, and let them know that I will be re-filing one form. (I messed it up reallllll gooooood!)
Other than that, we will see how the day goes. It's another rainy cold day, and my allergies are kicking in fairly well. (I get hives- itchy mosquito like bumps that can be painful if on hands or feet) I think I will need to wear gloves to keep my hands warm. I hate having hives on my hands! Makes it hard to typppe;P.
I guess I will go to work now. Have a good one, ya all!

The dog made me do it!

Here we go again! I had already typed in the entire message to post today, when Jackie came and pressed the delete button! I tried to control+z, but that didn't work. So, here we go again!

So, what have I been up to lately? Not a whole lot! My poor decrepet body has been a bit shy of cooperative lately. The soggy cold weather isn't helping matters either! I recon I need to resign myself to the fact that I am not 16 any more! (Nor would I want to be for that matter!)

I have had a few jobs come in here and there. Right now I am fixing a scrape on the back door of a Toyota Corolla, and will finish it today. There is a younge man that wants to repaint his moped, and is in the process of taking it apart. So, that is an upcoming project.

I have also started recording an instructional video, but will need to record a bit more before I start to edit it. It is in Swedish, but hopefully it will go well.

Jackie continues to amaze me. She has taken on the role of care giver. When she decides that I need to relax, calm down and take it easy, she pulls on my pant leg and leads me to the couch. When I sit down, she jumps up in my lap, and smothers me with kisses. She will NOT get off until she thinks it is OK for me to get up again. Usually I wind up laying down. Then she crawls up onto my neck and puts her head on top of my face. ( Sometimes it is a little hard to breath! Mmmm- furball!) If I try to get up too soon, she gets a deep throated growl that would make even the toughest biker crap in his leathers! Now, I don't know about you, but I kinda like my face the way it is, freckles and all! So, I am not going to contest her canine canines, especially with her teeth being 1. much larger than mine and 2. in close proxcimity to my nasal ceptum and optical orb! Besides that, I kind of like having an excuse for taking a nap in the middle of the day. I can just say, "The dog made me do it!"

The natives are stirring now, so I need to go get grub on the table. Breakfast today will be 2 sandwiches, fruit and juice. Sandwich #1 is a soft full corns bread with hummus, smoked ham, sliced fresh tomatoe, a thin slice of swiss cheese and topped with basil. Sandwich #2 is a sesame seed hard bread with messmör (a creamy sweet cheese spread) with tomatoe, and topped with spicy peppar seasoning. Served on a plate with a manderine and grapes and with a glass of tropical fruit juice.

Have a good day ya all!

Dance mats and fermented herring

Well, I recon it's about time to make another entry! Things are calming down now that the kids have returned to school. I have started chacing down a few jobs and doing some PR work. Of course I always have cleaning and dishes and laundry to do in case I get bored! That's to say nothing of the script for the instruction videos I am planning in swedish, making new stencils, and making an advertisment folder for the company. I think I need a nap just thinking about it all!
Our latest adventures have taken us to a "surströmmingsfest". Here is the translation. Strömming=herring (a kind of small fish), fest= party, and sur (in this case) means fermented. So I went to a party that had fermented herring served! Here is how it is eaten. First you take a large piece of very thin hard bread and (try to) spread butter on it. Then you take the herring (minus the bones and skin) and put the amount on the sandwich which you can (tolerate) eat. Here is where it gets interesting! I am still a bit green (inexperienced, not yet nautious) in eating this ... delicacy (?), so I usually smear a whole (tiny) fish over 4 sandwiches. Kris is a pro at this feast, so he usually takes 4 fish per sandwich!
After the fish are on their buttery bed of bread (hee hee- say that one fast if you can!) , you add raw onion, cooked fresh potatoes, and some sour cream. Eat either open faces or with a "lid"on it, and wash down with a clunk of beer. Most time is spent preparing the fish, all those little bones! And one more thing- it MUST be eaten outside, the cans must be opened outside as well. The reason for this is the umm.... fregrance.... (yeah, right!) of the fermented fish. Forget fermented- they smell ROTTON! THEY STINK! to high heaven! IT's so bad that the smell is detected blocks away, permiates into your clothes and even has a little laugh of it's own. It's not enough to have survived somehow getting the slimmy suckers past your teeth and into your stomache. The flavor comes to haunt you the next day in the form of the foulest burps you could ever imagine! It is worse than morning breath of the local swine! And, there is flavor added to it.I am not sure which is worse, the smell or the flavor left behind! But this is not the last laugh. Those sneeky little devils have one more trick to play. Sometime around 24 hours after the party (and 12 hours after the burp-a-thon) comes the other end of things. That's right, the "utfarts". Everything up till now was preperation for the real nasal challenge. Now, those fish had been "fermenting" in a can for 1½ years, plus the 24 hours in the digestive tract. Something happens to create a chemical (and aromic) inbalance. So, when the final release of the air bubbles is at hand, it might be a good idea to have a gas mask handy. The odor is unbelievable! If you are a farmer, or work in the forests or in absolute solotude (preferably outside), this stage is not that detrimental to the well being of your friends and loved ones. And if you are not fond of those you work with, than this stage is an advantage! (Be sure to have a cat or dog handy to blame it on!) But if you happen to work in an office building or anywhere that there are any living beings around, a forewarning is the minimum you can do, and practice up on the apologetic face and truely sorriful "excuse me"-s. Another option is to call in sick and say that it was something you ate. No lie there!! A few creative options could be to spray skunk perfume in your office, or have some "fart in a can" handy and say it is a new revised version- isn't it attrocious?! Then there is always the one where you walk to another persons desk, descretly fart (sorry mom. This one is not for you!!), and walk away. Return a few minutes later and comment on that discusting smell, what is it? Oh well, you get the point.
The whole ordeal is over when at last the funky fish make their exit and rest eternally in the sewer system, only to return again in 364 more days.
So, anyone coming over next year?

Music and dancing

I finally recovered from Saturday! I was at Starkesmark musikfest from 12 noon till 2:30 am. (14½ hours) The musicians were great, and my fet couldn't keep still. I even went down to the front of the stage to dance a while. I only survived through two songs. Being up late is fun every now and again. This is really strange for me, as I normally do not stay awake past 9 in the evening. To be up so late is really rare! And to keep my wits about me enough to work is even more amazing! But I did feel the effects of it on Sunday. When Bjorn woke me up at 7, I was not a happy camper. Nor was I extatic when Jackie woke me at 8, and even less thrilled at Katrina's wake up at 9. So, when Kris came down at 10:30 and was all cheery and nice, he was a little surprised to kiss me awake and get a big growl out of me! The poor man was only trying to be nice, and got a very negative responce instead of kisses and hugs.
Of course, the house was in a bit of disorder till I got home- no one to tell if things were "forgotten" or left out. And Sunday I was just too tired to do anything about it either. So, today it is time to be the big nag again. I am finding out quickly who the most forgetful in the family is. But I won't embarass the person by writing it here. (No it is NOT me!!)
On sunday Jackie, Katrina and I went to the puppy course. We had a surprise visit from our former neighbors, and I lost track of time. We got to the class a little late, but had a fun time anyway. We discovered that Jackie seems to have a real nack for tracking. So, I am going to have her do more hide and seek when the kids are out walking with us. Maybe even a few more walks in the woods would be in order.
Today I don't have much planned. I need to take the money I made on saturday to the bank, and do some grocery shoping. Maybe I will try to paint the last bit around the kids windows today- just to get the job completed. Kris put a second coat of paint on a few places yesterday, so I will need to go touch up a few blue places where he slopped.
Kris is on call Wedn. eve, and has a lot of paper work to take care of. I expect him to be late every night this week, and away overnight on Wedn. night. He will be going to Övik on Sunday, and working there for a week. What his schedule will be like after that I have no idea- and he doesn't either!
This is the last week of summer vacation for the kids. (Yaaaaaa!!!) Katrina needs a few supplies. Bjorn and Katrina both need new back packs. Here in Sweden, the school supplies the students with paper, pencils, note books, ring binders, and everything they need. It sure makes it easier on the budget. So, I guess we will go to town this afternoon.
Have a good one, everyone.

Chocolate soup, skin head and super pooch

Summer is winding down, and soon the kids will be returning to school. The yard work is mostly complete, the house is painted. We have had a number of adventures this summer- Boda Borg, picnics, rock climbing, swimming and sun bathing. Books and magazines have been read, movies watched. We got new neighbors and have enjoyed a few barbques with them, and are looking forward to a "surströmming"(fermented herring) fest next weekend. I've driven my motorcycle to Norway and back, had a stand at the local market, and repainte our kitchen table. Bjorn cut off all his hair and shaved his hair. Katrina took up cooking- especially with chocolate. Jackie became a teen, and had her first heat. Kris did the bulk of repainting the house, has woorked out in the weight room, and has taken to reading a lot lately. It's been a nice, warm summer- sometimes even hot!

Tomorrow I will be doing t-shirts and tattoos at a music festival in Stärkesmark from noon till midnight. It is the last big thing if the summer. Knowing my luck, it will rain tomorrow. But that isn't as unpleasant as it sounds. It hasn't rained in weeks here, so it is needed. It would just be nice if it would wait till Sunday.
Thanks for the comments on the Norway pictures. It was fun to check up on the rest of the family as well. Hope you all have had as nice a summer as I have had. Have a nice weekend y'all.

Baggy britches and flat fannys

Wednesday morning we awoke to the earitating sound of my alarm. I usually don't have a hard time getting up in the morning, but this was one of those occasions. My back was hurting, legs must have been injected with lead, elbows were bent backwards (or felt like it) and there was a really annoying fly buzzing around my head. (Bugs, I hate bugs!) My innards felt like they were sat on by and elephant Which also probably caused the back pain. My brain was replaced with cotton dipped in green nail polish, which was half hardened-semi hard and semi sticky. My eyes must have played in the sand box all night, and some of that brain cotton had leaked down to my mouth. My throuat felt like a pin cussion- pins included. If this is how Kris feels every morning ,then I understand why he hits the snooze a gazillion times before he finally rolls out of bed!
I grabbed the saline and rehydrated my contacts. (I sleep with them in because otherwise I wouldn't be able to find my contacts to put them in, thus creating a very interesting catch 22.) Then I rolled over, looked at Eitz eyeballing me as if she had just done the same inventory of her aches and pains. Neither of us seemed super alert, but knew we needed to get out of bed. After 4 (somewhat pathetic) attempts to awaken my bones I succeeded in sitting up. Then with a major exertion of my quickly depleting energy stores, I swung my legs out of the bed and onto the floor-COOOOOOOLD!! A quick retraction back under the saftey of the blanket! (What was Eitz laughing at? ME? WHY?) Then TB helped me. A Sudden urgent message to my nail polished cotten brain finally registered that we were hitting the critical stage and needed to move it or lose it! The green nailpolish turned vibrant red and I braved the cold floor not wanting to wet the bed. (Though I actually did consider it for a few seconds.) After that it went much better. I blew my nose, forcing all that colorful cotton from my head, took care of TB, washed the fly snot from my face and arms, and went for some breakfast to reinflate my squished innards.
After breakfast we packed the bike and went through the long procedure of dressing up. No, we didn't put on nylons, heels, skirts and blouses! We put on (over our shorts and t-shirts) leather pants, riding boots, leather coat, leather gloves, MP3, earphones, sunglasses and helmet. Why don't we just ask God to make us into cool cows instead? Now there would be an interesting Far Side! Two cows with shades and MP3s riding on a bog Harley down twisting winding roads! There would probably have to be a warning sine for people x-ing!
Next comes mounting the bike. I am not the most adgile person in the world- about as nimble as a newborn puppy with rollorskates on a frozen pond. Add to this the fact that there was still residue of the green nail polish and cotton in my head, and that there was some dew on the seats, well, it was an interesting sight! Somehow we both managed to get on. Then I remembered that I forgot to hand in the key. We rolled off, handed in the key and started over again. (After a long search through all 256 pockets to find the huffen key)So, with a wink of my eye and a swish of my hair, we were on our way home.

We had decided to drive the whole way home in one day. We would stop often both for gas and for leg stretching. We hit the road by 7 am and were on our way. There was not much traffic, and the rising sun hit the dew creating some really spectacular sights. The sun was just coming up over the tree line, illuminating the river and lakes in the valley in the distance. Even the snow dotted mountian seemed to have a hard time waking up this morning. I think it was Gods way of saying (in a sugary sweet honey coated voive- high and peepy) GOOD MORNING; Y'ALL!
So, we were on the road again. We stopped every now and again for photos, gas (for the bike), or to try to reinflate our oh, so flat bottoms. The ride went well, and we made good time. The traffic fre roads were nice, and I could sneek a few more looks at the mountians and rivers than before.
While still in Norway, we came across a very peculiar warning sign. I chuckeled when I saw it, thinking that someone probably put it there as a joke. I had seen a few cows along the way, greeting them with a big "MOOOOOOO" each time, and had seen a flock of sheep a few times as well ("BAAAAH"). But they were in fenced off areas, like I was used to seeing. Well, sure enough, we went around a corner and right in the middle of the road- 2 sheep were taking a morning walk. I slowed down and stopped and they turned their heads to look at me. So there we were- them looking at us and us looking at them. They were probably thinking- "dumb tourists again! " and I was thinking- "stupid sheep". For some reason the picture didn't come out (I forgot to take off the lense cap) so you will have to take my word for it that there really were sheep on the road!
We drove to Tärnaby, where we gassed up the bike, and took a break. I need to explain that Eitz had borrowed my husbands leathers. My hubby is quite a few sizes larger than Eitz, resulting in a quite comical apperance. Not only was the jacket big enough for 4 people, but the pants were super baggy. In some fasion circles, this is not a problem. But when ridin on a motorcycle, baggy means that there is lots of extra material to flap in the wind. Now, when I got off the bike, I get a bit of a floppy fanny just because everything gets mushed into oblivion when sittin so long on my prosterior regions. But add to that an excess amount of cow hide- well, I guess we were both in baggy britches!To add to the comedy, the person that rides on the back of the bike is sometimes refered to as the bitch. So, we have us a flat fannied, baggy brithched bitch! (Say that 5 times fast if you can!!)That is an interesting title for a youth leader, don't ya think?
Anyways, on with the trip. We had this beautiful view as we rested out fannies and bones. Most of the green polished cotton has been replaced with grey matter now, and after prying my fat flat fanny from the plastic chair I was sitting in, we went through the clothing routine. (After a trip to the toilet of course) We decided to stop in Storuman for lunch and a longer break. We said goodbye to Tärnaby, and traveled on. We rested about an hour in Storuman before going on. We were getting closer to home, so it was easier to ignore the screamings of our bodies to quit torturing them. We gassed up in Lycksele, and made only one more rest after that to have and afternoon fika of bananas and peanut butter. We drank some water and started on the last leg of the journey. Our next stop would be in Vännäs, where I dropped Eitz off at home. We racked up 1285 kilometers on our trip! Then it was home to see my indians and the pooch. Hubby was on call, and wouldn't be home till 8. Did I feel like cooking? Hmmmmmm... I sent the kis to go get food from the local pizza shop! That was the yummiest kabab roll I ever ate! I unpacked and told the tales of my trip to an awestrukc audience. I showed the pictures on the camera, and relaxed with the pooch in my lap. Hubby was surprised to see me- I hadn't told him that I was coming home. He greeted me with a big old hug, a slobbery wet smooch, and a....well, I recon you can figure it all out on your own. I slept soundly in his arms. It was good to be home again. Now I just have to figure out where I am going on my next trip!

Tunnel terror and a good laugh!

After our fika (coffee break or snack) we set off to drive out to the coast to see the ocean. It wasn't that far as we looked on the map, so we hopped on the bike and took off. The roads were all I hoped- windy, twisting, turning, up and down! Then we came to the tunnel... I was aware that there were some tunnels along the way, but I was not prepared for this! The roads were narrow to start with, but right before the tunnel, it got even smaller! The tunnels were not very high and had an arch on the top. The first one was looooooooonnnnnnggggg, dark, damp, clammy, cramped and very cold. It was really creepy driving through it, and I had a real hard time seeing where the sides of the road were. There were no pavement markings, no lights and because it was curved, you couldn't see the end of the tunnel.
Then the truck came! A huge tractor trailor came straight at us, driving in the middle of the road. He had to drive in the middle, so he didn't crash with the arch on the side. But this left me in a comprimising position. I had to drive off to the side of the road and let him pass. This was real fun because I couldn't see the road, the walls, the roof, or the side of the road! The only thing I could see were the lights on the truck. (Is this a John Deer moment?) We survived without a trace. I realised that I had been so scared that I didn't even toot my horn- though I almost wet myself! The next tunnel was not quite so long, and there was almost no oncoming traffic. When I the third tunnel came I had a thought. I might actually be able to see a little better if I would pull down my sunglasses! It is amazing how much better you can see when the blinders are removed!
Well, the last 3 tunnels were not at all as scary, though they were still cold and damp. It was like watching a scary movie with no sound. all the suspence is taken away.
We drove on for about an hour until TB gave me a hard time again. We found a place to stop, and I (quickly) ran into the forest to water a tree. Now, men of course have the advantage over us women in this life necessity. But add to the normal torments of clothing, positioning, and the need for paper, when there are multiple layers to be taken off to get into the right position, it can be a bit time consuming. This was the position I was in. First the gloves, then the helmet, MP3 player turned off, earpluggs out, and dismount from bike. Next it is off with the jacket, then run into the woods. (Nervous blatter makes it all the more fun!! My bladder has ADD,DAMP and a whole library of problems!!) While running, pull down zipper on leather pants, pull off suspenders. Find a place. Then I am finally at the place of most females in the same need. The only thing to remember is that the suspenders have a high back and need to be pulled out of the way. (Learned from experience!) Once relieved of the burdens of life, all that stuff needs to be put back on. More than once I was putting on my helmet only to realize that I had forgotten to pull up my suspenders. So the only thing to do was take everything off to get to the suspenders and put them on. (I admit that on occasion I didn't think it was worth it and left the suspenders off. The only problem is that when you get off the bike, the leather pants fall to the ground)
We decided that it was getting late enough to return to the room. We never did make it out to the ocean, and the last tunnel was still a bit scary, but we did have fun riding. On the way back we stopped for a meal at a resteraunt. It was nice to not do dishes or cook. We hit the sack a little early after a walk and a shower. We will be riding hard and long the next day, driving the whole way from Norway home.

Morning seaside

We woke refreshed and ready for the day's adventure. OK It was not an early morning- we crawled out of bed sometime around 10 and ate breakfast. Then we decided to stay one more night for sure, checked with reception that it was OK and headed out to town. I had spied a few nice places last evening, and was eager to share them with Eitz. First we went to the bank to exchange money. (Their one crown piece has a hole in the middle and they have a 200 crown bill. Swedes don't) Then we went to a dock to sit and enjoy the view. It was an old wooden dock and the tide was low.(lower center in the picture) We didn't want to go down on the last couple of steps because they were slimey and slicker than snot on a door knob. We just sat there , mostly in silence, and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation. I think we both were also picking out a route to climb up the mountian at one time or another. We watched the fish in the water, and imagined how tough it must be to be a fish.
Here is the view we had while sitting on the dock looking out toward the fjords. We would later be riding motorcycle in the mountians in the background and beyond. The dock you see in the picture is where we had our morning fika before we walked around in the old town.



It is next to impossible to explain the feeling of sitting on the water and having a huge mountian rising up beside you. It is both intimidating and comforting, awsome and steadfast. (Kind of reminds me of God!) Those mountians have been there for centuries, and I suddenly felt small. That made all my worries and problems seem very insignificant! If those mountians can have that effect on me, how much more so should my God have an even larger effect on me, fact being that He has been around longer than the mountians, and think he is probably a bit bigger than those mountians as well.

We walked around the old shopping district, picked up a few presents for the family, and bought a few food stuffs (macadamian nuts, fruit, etc.) Then we went back to the docks to have an afternoon fika(coffee break or snack for those of us who don't drink coffee).



Here is the view upriver to the left
and down river to the right.


I will have to continue tomorrow. Have a good day everyone.

Majestic Mountians

We woke the next morning (Monday morning) feeling a little sore, but ready to hit the road. We ate breakfast that we took along (Actually, Eitz ate a normal breakfast and I ate left over spaghetti from the night before.) We cleaned up, packed the bike and were on the way- just had to pay for the room. At the reception, a man said that there was a lot of construction work on the road between Hemavan and Mo i Rana. There was a lot of large gravel on the road, making it difficult to keep control of motorcycles . He suggested that we drive 15 kilometers back to Tärnaby, and then drive in to Norway from there. We would end up a little south of Mo i Rana, but it would be a worthy ride. So we opted to take his advice. I called home to let the kids know of our change in plans, canceled our reservations in Mo i Rana, and we hit the road.
The new road was a bit bumpy, but compared to the gravel, it was just fine. We started seeing more and more lakes, and beautiful mountians behind them. We stopped at one rest area to take a few pictures and to rest our weary bottoms. (By now we both were feeling the effects of having riden a long time the day before and the bumps and hops inthe road we were on.) We had a quick break, took some pix and were on the road again.

It wasn't long till we got to the Norwegian boarder. Of course we had to stop for a foto or 12.

They had cut down the trees and cleared a path to mark the boarder the whole way down one mountian and up the side of the other mountian! There was a boom but it was up, allowing us to go right through without checking our passports or anything.

It honestly looked like the road went into the sky! I couldn't help but think of an old song- "On the highway to heaven" So, we started off again, and soon we were greeted with some absolutly majestic mountians! The mountians in sweden were ant hills compared to these monsters. Some of the mountians even had snow on them- in the middle of a very hot summer! It really was hard to concentrate on driving and I found myself drifting to the wrong side of the road on more than one occasion. The view was awsome! I felt a little jelous of Evelina being able to sit on the back and soak it all in. But soon the green eyes went away and I started laughing histericly.
Anyone that has riden a motorcycle for any length of time knows how boring it is on straight roads. After a while, you start wishing for winding, turning roads to be able to tip the bike, accelerate and brake.
One sight of the winding twisting roads of Norway had me almost jumping up and down with glee. I laughed out loud and started the fun ride to our youth hostile. The aches and pains of the trip thus far disappeared. We stopped at a gas station to rest, and have a snack. (I splurged a little and bought a large hot dog with bacon wrapped around it) We rested a little longer, talked with some other bikers from Sweden, then drove north to Sandvik, where we were hoping to be able to sleep. They had one room left, and we took it.We had arrived a lot sooner than we anticipated, so we took it easy, had a nap, ate some supper. I felt like taking an evening ride, but Eitz was a bit worn out. So, I drove back into town, gassed up the bike and checked out the town to see if there were any interesting sights. (There were) I decided to stop for a light beer before I headed back, and stopped at a resteraung. The waitress said that they could not serve me a beer because I was driving. They could serve an alchahol free beer... I ordered a diet coke. Then I returned to our room, still thirsty for a cold beer, but just not thirsty. Oh well! While I was away, Eitz had made an aquaintence with a fellow from Switzerland. We chatted while Eitz and I played rummy. Then he asked if we knew how to play poker. I said that I would not play for money, but that I knew how to play. So, the rest of the evening we played Texas Hold'em using another deck of cards as chips. Our friend had never been on a Harley before, so I offered to give him a ride. He really enjoyed it, and offered me a beer for the experience. FINALLY! I could only drink about half of it, but boy did that taste good!
It was a little after midnight till we finally got to bed. I said my evening prayers, solved a couple sudokos and fell asleep to Keith Green singing, "Oh Lord, my Lord. How majestic is Thy name in all the earth..."

Majestic mountians

I am back from Norway. What a great time I had too! Our original itinarary was slightly changed, but the length of the trip was the same. I spent the evening before departure packing my stuff in zip lock bags (keeps things dry in case of rain)and going over the road map. It's a little hard to check out the map when you are riding he bike, so I needed to be sure of where I was going.
Saturday eve Evelina was here to plan the rest of the trip and we went grocery shopping. We decided to take along some food to save a little money. We had heard that food was expensive in Norway. I had already made reservations at a couple Youth Hostiles, so it was just to get there.

We started out early on Sunday morning- I picked up Evelina 7am and we packed her things in the one saddlebag. We took it easy and stopped often, especially since my T.B. was agrivated by the vibrations. (Tiny Bladder) The trip to Tarnaby, Sweden was long, but nice. We enjoyed the wonderful weather and the beautiful mountian air. There are lots of lakes in Sweden, and we saw our fair share of them as well. We arrives at Tarnaby sometime around 2, checked in, and took a nap. Then Evelina and I went for a walk in the mountians.
















On the way up we found some beautiful flowers that look like cottonballs on a stem. Of course I just had to take a picture or 12. It was a perfect picture- blue skies, green fields, and an unusual object to photo. I admit that these are my favorite photos of the trip!

We were on the top of a mountian with a view on all sides.The view into the valley was marvelous. There was a waterfall and a path to be able to walk down right beside it. Where we were standing was a sheer cliff that went almost straight down. We wanted to be able to keep climbing, but needed to think of our long journey ahead and that I am an old woman ;P. Evelinas knee hurt a little too, so we opted to return to the camp and take it easy.
We talked a little while before hitting the sack. Because we were up so late we decided to sleep in the next morning and set the alarm for 9am. I solves a few sudokos and fell asleep sometime around 1am.
Thats it for now, campers! More tomorrow on the next day of our trip.

Norway, here I come!

Well, the day is soon at hand! I will be enbarking on a motorcycle trip to Norway in the morning. Seems a bit surreal to be honest! I wonder how everyone will cope?! Wonder if the house will fall apart?! Wonder if ... I guess this is what they call seperation anxiety. I have full confidence that my kids have been well trained and will take every oppertunity to bug the living daylights out of each other at every oppertunity! Seriously, I know they can handle it. I will miss them, but not the dishes, laundry, vacuuming, dusting, mowing the grass, ...
Evelina and I will be heading off at 7 am. The first day will be a grueling 8 hours of driving, but then the most of it will be done. After that there will only be a few hours a day until we decide to go home. Then we will drive the whole way home in one day! Of course, I will have to put up some pix when I get home. So, pray for nice weather and safety, and I will tell the tale when I return. As far as when I return, we have no specific plans as to which day we will return, but at the latest, we will be back by next Sunday. Have a great week everyone, and check back in a week for some pix and tales! Love, hugs and exhaust from Sweden!

I'm so blue... and grey and green....

It was inevidable, it was going to happen sooner or later. So we decided to do it and get it over with. It was a huge task to undergo, but it needed to be done, no ifs, ands, or buts. So we bit the bullet and started. We had never done it by ourselves before and maybe we were a bit nieve. But after three weeks, it is actually almost over!
So, what's the big deal? Curious? You really wanna know? I guess I can tell you. We repainted the outside of the house! It was a light grey base with a darker grey around the windows and doors. We kept the lighter grey and put a smokey blue around the windows instead. I am thinking about painting the front door a sea green instead of the boring old dark brown it is now. We'll see.
That is what has been consuming my time the past 3 weeks- besides the normal washing, dishes, meals, taking kids here and there, and our weekly adventures planned by the kids.
This weeks adventure took us on a picnic to the local damm. We ate blts and fresh fruit at a picnic table and then went rock climbing. We even dipped our feet into the water for a while. Jackie was with us and really enjoyed climbing all over the place, but didn't want to get wet.We had a relaxing time. I admit it was nice to get away from the paint buckets for a while!!
Today Kris and I visited our former neighbors in Umeå. They seem to really be enjoying living in town. I am happy for them and wish them the best.
Kris had 2 weeks vacation, but spent most of the time scraping, cleaning , primering and painting the house. He has another week of vacation, but planned on working in O-vik (a town south of Umeå) to earn a little extra cash. He has been very dilligent in working out lately, and is (as I write) watching CSI and pumping out on the stair master! He has become a really beefy guy. No vegetarians here!
Katrina turns 13 tomorrow, so I guess the whole day will go by doing things for her. She wants me to make her cake, and do "special things" with her. I have no clue what I will do yet, but the creative juices usually don't let me down. We had already bought her an expensive pair of sneakers at the beginning of the year, so that is already taken care of. Bjorn bought a gift for her that she will get tomorrow.
Tonight I will finish planning my Norway trip. The Youth leader (Evelina) and I are riding motorcycle to Norway on Sunday and will stay there till wednesday. Exactly what we will do is not decided. We will see what is going on when we get there.
I will have to sign off for now. Have a good one everyone!

Chocolate and primer

Katrina has been cooking up some really awsome stuff! The other day she made a white chocolate moose with a fresh pineapple base, a dried pineapple chip and a dried banana chip. It was like eating a bit of heaven! It took her 4 hours, but it sure was worth the wait!
Yesterday was work on the house day. Kris scraped the whole house, I washed it off and we started to paint on the primer. We didn't get it all done, and today it looks like it might rain. Kris needs a break anyways, and I need to get ready for the local market which starts tomorrow. I am going to be doing temporary tattoos all 3 days. Last year I made quite a bit, and am hoping for a repeat this year.
Last night when we finally gave up (at around 11:30 pm) Katrina had made us some hot chocolate. It wasn't the kind that you mix a powder with milk and warm it either! She melted real chocolate, mixed it with cream and added the sugar. We got Bjorn out of bed to join us for an evening mug of chocolate! We sat around the table talking for a while, then I went to bed. Kris stayed up a while, but I have no clue when he came to bed. It was nice to sleep on a nice, very yummy cup of chocolate!
It's starting to thunder a bit outside, and the clouds are rolling in. Looks like the rest of the painting will have to wait till after the weekend. (;)
I need to go out and clean up in the yard before it dumps water on us. Have a good day everyone!

Mountian heat

Our days have been filled up lately with getting a new heating system installed. It works like this (if I understand it correctly):
A hole is dug into the ground, past the top layer of earth and into the mountian. They continue to dig down. A pipe is installed the first bit, through the crust, till they hit rock. Then it is just a hole. After the hole is dug, 2 pipes are put into the hole. They have been connected at the bottom, and at first, there are only 2 pipes sticking up out of the hole. Then they dig a ditch about 1 meter deep from the house to the pipes, drill 2 holes in the house wall, and put the pipes into the house to a circulation pump. The pump makes the fluid in the pipes (a cool looking green goop) circulate, pushing the cooled fluid down the one pipe, and pulling the warmed fluid up through the other.
Inside the circulation pump is another set of pipes that are filled with regular water. The water gets heated up, and pumped either to the radiators that warm the house or to the hot water tank. Thus, we have warm water and a warm house, and only have to pay electricity for the circulation pump.
Confusing? hope not! What is nice is that we will cut our electricity bill almost in half! We did take out a loan to get it all installed, but it will pay for itsself within 7 years! Then it is just an asset.
In the garage I have been working on a moped. I thought I just put on the last coat of clear, but I found a few runs, so I will have to scrape them flat and re-clear tomorrow.
Bjorn has a soccer tournament today and tomorrow. They tied their first match and won the second one. They did lose their last game today. They have one more match tomorrow. If they win their match tomorrow, they are in the finals. If they are in the finals, that match will be at 2 tomorrow afternoon.
This time I was smart enough to wear a hat and shades so I didn't get a sunburn! We (Kris and I) went to Sonja and Ingemar to play a swedish lawn game called kubb. We enjoyed a rubarb crumb pie and vanilla sauce. We made it a short visit, as Kris and I are both really tired.
Kris has been on call 5 nights this week, so he is pretty tired from staying up late so often. Last night I went to an art exibit in a neighboring village and stayed out till 2am. This is really rare for me to first of all, be out without hubby or kids, and second to be out after 9pm! But I had a wonderful time. We had a sing off, a slight incident with a candle out of control, and even did the American national anthem! (One of the artists is an american- Andrea) We really had a blast!
Katrina has been in a cooking mood. Today she made cream bullé, and did a fine job. It was DDDDDDlicious!
Well, I feel a nap coming on, so I will sign off for now. Love and sunshine to all!

Summer fun at Boda Borg

Today the kids and I went on an adventure! We went to Boda Borg. It's this cool place that has lots of rooms with things you need to figure out and/or do to be able to go to the next room. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes you have to work together. The room that was #1 on the easy side was in the pirate room. You simply had to go to the button and push it. There were a bunch of wall climbing things on the walls, and it looked like you had to climb on the walls to get to the button, but pirates are good at fooling folks! The hardest one was a room where you had to have one member climb a wall, and push the buttons for the correct flags on one side while another person pushed the buttons for the right flags on the other side! We never did find the right combonation! In one room, the energy room, you had to step on letters to spell the password. We couldn't figure out the password till we had already decided to leave!! Grrr!!
The whole idea is to use everyone to solve as many problems as possible, work together, and don't feel too stupid if you don't get it the first time! To get the "stamps" at the end of each "room, you had to succeed in 3 excersizes. There are no instructions, only a few clues and your own wits!! Next time we have to take Kris along to pick his brain!!
On the way home we stopped for hamburgers and milkshakes. This evening we are just relaxing after all the hard playing earlier today.
Tomorrow is midsummers eve. I am going to be doing tattoos from 4 till 7, but then I will spend the evening with the kids. Kris is working from 6pm till 9 am, so it will be the kids and I at home. Have a good Midsummers eve everyone!

Soccer and sunburn

So much has been happening, I've hardly had time to breath! Bothe the kids are on summer break now, and enjoying the summer weather. It rained last night, but I am glad. We needed the rain.
Let's see. I guess I'll go backwards, starting with yesterday. I was in the mood for some shopping, so Katrina and I went into town to get some clothes. I am getting tired of wearing just plain t-shirts all the time, even if I have painted a nice picture on them. So I got a nice summer shirt and a pair of linnen white pirate pants. It took a while to find something I liked, but it was funto be with Katrina all day! She needed a few things too- a bikini top, and a few make up needs. So we got those as well. We had lots of laughs and lunch at an indian restaurant. I did a few errands as well- Got the neighbor to sign a relese form for when we dig for earth heating next week, mailed it off to the enviornment authorities, repaid the 200 krowns I borrowed from Sonja, (Details coming) got a dog sitter for Thursday, and got a bunch of Diet Coke for Ingemar. I had also paid some bills and did a little bookwork in the morning before we left. We got home from shopping in time to make supper, and then I needed to go back into town to pick up Kris at the airport. He was returning from a doctors convention in Helsinki, Finnland.
Monday was a R&R day. We all agreed to sleep in till 11:00 if we wanted to. Of course, Jackie didn't want to! She got up at her usual 6:50 am! Luckilly, she fell back asleep after relieving herself (outside) and slept till 9:30. Then we got up and had breakfast and read the paper, solved the sudoko, and cleaned up in the livingroom. (real exciting, huh?) Then Katrina and I mowed the lawn. Our lawnmower had broken down, and the grass was not cut for almost 2 weeks, so it was a real jungle! It took quite a long time, and we didn't get it all done. There is still a small patch that needs to be cut, but now it has rained for 2 days! Then we had to stop for supper and clean up. We took Jackie to the vet to get her nails trimmed.
Now, some of you good folks may be thinking," Why don't they cut the dogs nails themselves?" We tried! On more than one occasion, we attempted to trim her nails, and were bitten, scratched, growled at , barked at and in many other ways threatened and warned by our adorable (?) little pooch. The last occasion had both Kris and I walking away with punctures on our hands and arms, and scratches on our arms, faces, chests and legs. Who would have thought that one little creature could be so decisive on such a small thing as trimming her nails!! We gave up after 1½ hours of fighting with her and feeling more like hamburger than person!
The anoing thing is that it took the vet and her assistant no more than 5 minutes to trim all 20 nails! We only succeeded in trimming 1 in an hour and a half! So I gladly paid the lady the 200 krowns (about $15) and went home determined to let the vet do it every time for a while!!
Sunday 18th
Sunday morning began with waking early and driving 100 km to a soccer game. Bjorn plays on the local team and they had a tournament this past wekend. They had their last playoff game on Sunday morning at 8:20. So, off we went. Everyone seemed to be well rested and they played well. It ended 5-0 with his team winning. That put them in the final! But the final was only played at 2:15 in the afternoon. So, we went home in between. I dropped off the kids and went to church. It was the pastors last day. She will be taking on a new job in the south of sweden, and was giving her farewell sermon. Unfortunatly, I needed to leave before the service was over, so I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Home to get the kids again, and off to the final! It was obvious that everyone was tired! The poor guys didn't have the energy to run anymore, and the heat didn't help. They didn't win the game, but still came in second. Some were disapointed, but most of the team was satisfied. The coach was really proud of them, as were the parents!
We stopped at Mc Donalds on the way home for supper, then came home and collapsed! TV watching rounded off the evening and we all fell asleep on the couch, Jackie too!
Saturday was totally consumed with the Soccer tournament. We met at the school at 9:00 in the morning and were in Furunäs all day, getting home at 8:30 in the evening. I had gotten a really bad sunburn on my face, and even succedded in sun burning my eyes!! (This was a new one for me!) So I am stuck wearing glasses for the next week, and looking like a weeping child for a while. We were of course, exausted, and glad for Katrina taking care of us. (She had stayed home with Jackie) We crashed hard! Luckilly, Jackie woke us up in time!
The week before was fairly un-eventful. Tuesday was the last day of school for Bjorn, And after that, Katrina and Bjorn went to the swimming pool.Bjorn got really burnt, and spent the rest of the week inside. I had a normal work week. My latest project is doing a kitchen table. When it is a small circle table, there is a checker board in the middle of the table. The expansion board (to make the table bigger) will have a monopoly board on it. The table is done, and now I am working on the monopoly board.
Well, the washing, dishes, and projects are awaiting me, so I guess I ought to get to it. Have a good day all y'all!

Breakfast at Lindmarks

The rainy weather finally broke and it was warm and sunny this morning. So we decided to eat outside this morning. It was sooooo nice! A great start for the morning.
Today will be a busy one (as usual!) Katrina needs some accessories for her last day of school party, so I will go into town with her this afternoon. Evalina (a close friend and our youth leader at church) wants to fo see Ice age 2 this evening, and will come by here to hang out a little before then. Today I plan on painting a little on the Ford, fixing a few places where there was rust and a dent. Christoffer did all the preliminary work, so it is ready for some color.
The lawn needs to be mowed, so I will need to get oil and gas for the mower. Maybe Kris can mow it tomorrow. I am hoping to eliminate the wash pile between today ans tomorrow, now that I can hang the wash outside to dry.
We started to plant a hedge along the back edge of the property. There is a playground and a mini golf area that often has people in it . We decided on a little privacy. When we were buying the hedge plants we saw a cherry tree that wasn´t too expensive, so we might get that as well. We didn't have enough time to plant all the plants we bought, so we might finish that on Saturday as well.
Yesterday was full and runnung over all day! Besides work, I needed to bake 3 cakes, make chocolate balls and have it ready for Björns soccer match at 6. Bjorn and a friend made the chocolate balls, and I did the cakes. At 3:30 I had to leace for the younge believers class in Vännäs. Home by 5 to get supper going, cut up the cakes in pieces, and get over to the soccer field by 5:30. The game started at 6, and lasted till 7.(Bjorns team lost, but he had a lot of nice saves! Bjorn is the goalie on his team) At 7 there was a meeting with Bjorns class to meet his new teacher for next year and see where his classroom will be. That lasted till 8 when I finally came home for supper! I ate, and did some cleaning up. Then I fell asleep watching ... I don't even know what I was watching!!
Sunday we are having a pot luck dinner here. I have no idea how many are coming or what we will do. I am hoping we can have a good timetogether in the Lord. So in preperation for that, we need to do a major house cleaning!
Well, that is about all for now. Have a good one ya all, and be just a little bad today- make someone smile! Love from Sweden, Miki

new heating system and a dead car

These past two weeks have just flown by! I can hardly believe all that has happened since I wrote last. Where to start?
Our neighbors have moved! They bought a newly built condo in Umeå and sold their house. I am sorry to see them go, but I also understand their need to start out new again. I wish them well in their new home and look forward to visiting them in the future.
After a couple of years of heating our home on electricity, and having high electricity bills, we decided to dig a big hole and use the natural heat from the earth to warm our house instead. It will cost a bit for the initial installation, but it will pay for itself in 6 years. Plus that we will have a HUGE savings on our monthly electricity bill and increase the value of the house.
The ford died, but will soon be resurected! The engine in my car got fried and died. The car is not too old (97), and there is still a bit of worth in it. So, we decided to have it fixed. It will cost us 7000 Krowns (650 dollars) but then it will hopefully last a couple more years.
My painting classes are almost over. I only have one more oil painting class on Monday night, and then they are all over. I am looking forward to the extra income too. (To pay for the car!)
I need to try to get some sleep, so you all have a real sweet week now, ya hear?

Yesterdays class went well. Katrina followed along to keep me company and have a little mommy time as well. On the way home we stopped off at a family in Vännäs for a short visit. Katrina hung out with Evelina (our youth leader) and Olivia, and I had a cup of tea with Karin. Then we headed home for a relaxing evening. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, though. We had given Jackie a lamb bone after supper. She disappeared from sight for 2 hours! Man she liked that! Unfortunatly, all that went in, had to also come out! Her digestive track decided that the right time was during the night! We went out 4 times during the course of the night, finally settling in at 3 am. Then she had to go out at 6 am again (normal rutine) and has been awake since then! I feel a nap coming on this afternoon.
Bjorn had his first match yesterday. He played defense back, because one of the other players was too tired to play forward. So they put him in the goal. They didn't win, but Bjorn says that he had fun anyways, despite the rain! (A true sportsman!)
We had snow and hail yesterday afternoon. The temps have dropped a bit as well. We had freezing temps overnight and it won't get too warm for the rest of the week here. I liked the weather a couple weeks ago better! Sunny and warm! Man, give me summer again!!
My work week will be caotic again. Not near as much pressure, but I do need to get everything ready for Saturday's tattoo session! A few mechanical parts need to be bought and put together, and check to make sure the tent parts haven't gone on vacation. So, I recon it's about time to get busy! Have a good one!
Love and colors...

Jet another week has past. The first full week with Christoffer in the shop has gone fairly smooth. He is picking up on a lot of things. He's got a really nice personality, easy-going. He even has a good sence of humor, something needed in to be able to work with me!
Today I have the second to last class for my Sunday group. I will miss the rides to Bjurholm on Sunday afternoon, but look forward to being able to go visiting with friends! Kris is palying piano at church today. The free churches in Vännäs are having one service together today, and I am sure it will be packed. So I decided to stay home this morning. Katrina is still in bed (missed the 9:00 am deadline to get up) so she will get to do the dishes after lunch! I just heard her on the stairs, in heals! She is all girl!!
Bjorn has a soccer match later this afternoon, but Kris will have to see to it that he gets there on time. He will be playing goalie most of the games. Last year there were 2 goalies, but this year it's just Bjorn. We are glad he likes playing soccer, but want him to be more active. We will see how it goes.
I have been preparing for the summer, making t-shirt stencils. They turned out nice for a start. It will be nice to expand the options as the weeks go on.
We need to go do some grocery shopping now. Have a good one!

Snake teeth and busy wek

Time sure goes by fast! Now it's Sunday evening and I am looking down the barrel of yet another busy week. It was so nice to get everything done last week, but now there are new projects to get going and a few things to prepare for this summer. I need to contact Vännäs to reserve a stand for the market in July,and find out when the markets are in Umeå and how much they cost. I decided not to go to the markets further away, but to only do those which are a reasonable driving distance away.
This week I will get Kristoffer to start preping a table top for repainting as well as to keep practicing his airbrush skills. I don't think he will be able to pinstripe, as he has a shakey hand. It will be interesting to see how much detail he can manage once he gets the airbrush teknique down.
Monday night I have the oil painting class. Tuesday our small group is to go to clean out the camping area that our church has part ownership of. Wednesday is a working day, and if the weather is nice, I will do some yard work in the evening, as well as some wash. (Hung the first loads of wash out on Saturday. Boy, did they smell nice!!)There is a group of scouts coming to get tattoos in the early evening, but that should only take an hour or so. Thursday's another work day, and I have no idea yet what the evening will call for. I know that Bjorn has soccer practice on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. He likes it when I watch the games and the practices. It's a nice chance to talk to the other parents and to get away from the house and work.
Friday- work day. Friday evening- nothing on the schedule. I am looking forward to the evening off and plan to do as much of nothing as possible!
Kris will be at work late on Monday eve, and away (in Vindeln) from wednesday till friday. Friday night he practices piano with some ladies that will be singing at church on Sunday. This weekend Katrina has a youth retreat weekend and will be gone Friday till Sunday.
Gotta write about a little prank that's going around! When I was in high school we did a little thing called rattle snake teeth. We took a hair pin and bent it open into a "v". Next we threaded a rubber band through a button and put it into the middle of the rubber band. The 2 ends were threaded over the ends of the hair pin like a sling shot. Then we twisted the button around and around. Carefully placing this wound up button and hairpin into an envelope was tricky, but if you hold onto the button from the outside of the envelope, it would not release. Next, you write "American Eastern Diamond Back Rattle Snake Teeth" on the envelope with a danger symbol. Now, it is set, just look for a victum, and ask if they want to see some rattle snake teeth! Most people will cautiously agree and carefully start to open the envelope. Curiosity.... When they open it to look inside, the button releases and taps on the side of the envelope, making a sound similar to a snake rattle. The force usually makes the hair pin "jump out" of the envelope, and you have got your first victum!
Well, of course I had to test it on someone, and there was Kris! He didn't jump or scream, but he did jerk a little! Good enough! Next came the neighbor lady. I told her I found a strange bug in the basement, could she take a look? Sure! (he hee!) She jumped, screamed and threw the envelope down! I showed her how it worked and let her open it a second time and she ... jumped, screamed, and threw the envelope down. We laughed histerically and agreed that we HAD to do it to her husband!! (He had the same reaction followed by threats of revenge!)
Most everyone I've tried it on have reacted the same way. The youth loved it and have promised to take one home and show their parents!! (I am expecting a lot of mad emails and threats from said parents within the next week!)
If I don't write any more entries, it is because some frantic histeric parent has had enough and has done me in. Either that or the snake teeth have found their mark!
Love and colors y'alls!