Kitty’s Place

This week is flying by. My fellow will be done work in a few hours and then we have vacation for 4 whole weeks. It will just be a treat to sleep in a bit in the mornings. *smile*

Our vacation plans are still tentative since the car is back but needs to be driven a bit before we head out on an 1800 km road trip with it. They replaced that expensive part as well as the fuel pump and we have had it back already once this week to have something adjusted. *laugh* We will make a trip to Månkarbo this weekend and see how it goes with that before finalizing details of our big trip up north.

Today we had breakfast at McDonalds. It is the first time in forever that I have had an Egg McMuffin and the first time the kidlet has ever tried one. He really liked it, although he insisted it was a hamburger. *laugh* He has grown so tall that I had to shop for some new long pants for him. They had 50% off sales at a bunch of the stores, but I ended up picking clothes that were full price. So he is outfitted for another few months, until his next growth spurt. He thought we should buy pants for pappa too, until I reminded him we just got pappa two new pairs a few weeks ago. Notice he did not suggest mom could use new clothes. *laugh*

We took the train to Upplands Väsby to check out how the computer repair was going. We took it in Monday since it kept shutting down, a problem that has been occurring intermittently since we got it 11 months ago. They replaced the bios once but the problem has continued. I called Tuesday and they were working on it. I called Wednesday and Thursday and either got a busy signal or a pick up that left the line open for a couple minutes then hung up. So a trip to the store was in order. *smile* Apparently the problem is still a mystery to them, the motherboard is fine, the CPU is ok .. blah blah .. so this morning they replaced the power supply and if it is still running by 1800 then they will call and we can pick it up. The kidlet has asked every day at some point if he can play a game on pappa’s computer and then laughed when reminded that it is not here. He really does have the attention span of a gnat, but I think that is true of all 3 year olds. *smile*

Now I have to turn off the tv (that big distraction) and get this kid to put his toys away. He has them scattered over the entire living room and since I need to vacuum, he needs to pick up. Yesterday he had all his cars on the floor and I said he needed to pick them up before we went to farmor and farfar’s. 30 minutes later he was still stalling so I said we would not go, since he could not do what was requested of him. Ten minutes of sobbing and picking up later, the cars were away. When I asked if it would not have been easier to have picked them up when asked, he answered with a no. *laugh* So we did go and have dinner with them after all.

I did try to do this with my name but it said: “kitty sue is” - did not match any documents. So I had to use Kitty and came up with these.

Kitty is hittin’ the feathers
Kitty is clearly tuned in to environment
Kitty is the cat’s meow
Kitty is what Kitty eats
Kitty is CUTE
Kitty is indifferent
Kitty is one of the many
Kitty is quite sexy
Kitty is very beautiful
Kitty is curious
Kitty is a cute little white kitten who loves making friends
Kitty Is a carnivore
Kitty is a little tiger
Kitty is EVERYWHERE

You can see what showed up as images if you look here.

My two fellows let me sleep in this morning. It was such a treat and I slept until 1030. *smile*

The kidlet and I went to Hässelby and I cleaned. Won’t go back now until mid August. I made my weekly stop at the pocket book store at Stockholm Central station and finally found the book I have been waiting for: ‘Black House’ by Stephen King & Peter Straub! I saw a new Marion Keyes book I would like as well and I also picked up a new Jonathon Kellerman novel, ‘Flesh and Blood’. So I will be a reading machine during our vacation. *laugh*

When we got home I put on dinner while my fellow popped the kidlet into the tub. Once we had eaten and he was settled in for the night, I called and had a chat with my brother and sister-in-law in St. Catharines. They sent a lovely postcard from Ottawa, where my brother was for transit related business. While there he attended a dinner where he met the Prime Minister and actually sat at the head table with Chretien and half a dozen other people. It sounds like it was a very exciting time. One of the reasons I called was to tell him that when we make our next trip to Canada, I promised the kidlet that Uncle Eric would show him the bus garage, since the kidlet is crazy about buses and trains. *smile*

Now I am relaxing in the nightgown Aunt Maud brought for me when she was here, with a cup of hazelnut cappuccino and my book close at hand.

We have had a nice long midsommar celebration. *smile*

Thursday we went to öppna förskolan. It was the last day they are open until late August. We had a midsommar meal together there. There was myself, one swedish mom, one mom from Iraq and one mom from the Philippines as well as the woman who runs the place. In total there were 6 kids between the ages of 18 months and 5 years. We set up two tables, one for the kids and one for the adults. Our meal was 3 types of pickled herring, new potatoes cooked with dill, sour cream and chives, a fresh salad and prinskorv. None of the kids would eat the herring but they all loved the mini sausages. *laugh* We then had fresh strawberries and ice cream for dessert. We sat so long eating and chatting that it was 1330 before we headed home, even though the place officially closes at noon. *smile* So my plans of going in to work were put off until tomorrow and we went grocery shopping instead. I can’t believe it, but the kidlet wanted McDonalds after we got to the mall, so we went and he actually ate most of his hamburger, half the fries and drank all his pop. I don’t know where the room for that came from, he was one of the most vocal in requesting “mera korv mamma!”.

Friday morning my fellow’s mom called. They had been away on a cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki. She was exhausted and said we could come there and bring our grill and fish since they had not shopped and were so tired they were going to sleep for a few hours. I had a feeling that might happen, so Thursday the kidlet and I shopped for the entire midsommar meal. It was just the six of us, farmor, farfar, faster, kidlet, fellow and me. We had 3 types of herring, gravlax (dilled marinated salmon), new potatoes, gräddfil (sour cream), chives, fresh veggies cut up, potato salad, hardbread, cheese and then I grilled salmon fillets and spareribs. Dessert of course was fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. My fellow’s sister had gotten a small bottle of alcohol free red wine on the cruise and she had some of that with dessert. We had coffee and his mom chilled a bottle of Inniskillin vidal icewine from 1997. I haven’t had ice wine since moving here so that was a real treat.

The high point for the kidlet was the gifts waiting for him from their cruise. He got a container of assorted candies and the cutest little suitcase with Mumin on it. Even the pulls on the zippers are little Mumins. It has wheels and a handle that pulls out so he can drag it along behind him, as well as the handle on the side for carrying it. He is now ready and willing to go to Canada and Egypt (he who only 2 days ago said that he didn’t want to go visit Aunt Maud, she could come back here *laugh*) to visit. We also got candies from my fellows parents and from his grandparents. They were not here for midsommar, they went to their son in Sköldinge for the holiday. They will be back this week though, so we can see them then.

We stayed the night there since it was after 2130 before we were done dinner and dessert. We popped the kidlet into pj’s and he fell asleep on farmor, watching tv.

This morning I was up about 0830 with the kidlet (his dad was up with him earlier when he woke up thirsty in the night). We went down to the rec room and played while the others slept. Farmor and farfar were up about 0930 and my fellow and his sister slept until noon. We did nothing all day and it was lovely. I read half a book, farmor caught up on her magazines and newspapers that were piling up, my fellow watched tv, farfar read some too and did a few little odd jobs that the kidlet helped him with. We grilled up the remainder of the salmon fillets and had leftovers for dinner. We got home around 1830 and it was hard to keep the kidlet awake until bedtime. *laugh* All in all it was a lovely holiday! *smile*

Picture this. Tuesday morning, 0720, I say to my fellow “what time is your meeting tonight?” and he asks what meeting. So I get out his day planner and point to the meeting he has noted. He points out I am looking at last week. So I look at this week and say “Ha, there! You do so have a meeting tonight!” Whereupon he replied, “Is this Wednesday?”. *laugh*

So off we go to öppna förskolan and I make mention of the fact that we didn’t want to miss the final two days. Inger pointed to the schedule on the wall and said “we have 3 more days”. *laugh* So I am batting zero on days of the week. *grin*

We had a nice time at playgroup. I took in my pumpkin gingerbread and it was a hit. After we left there we went to farmor and farfars. We had lunch with farmor and then the kidlet played in the kiddie pool out back. We sat in the sun and drank coffee and visited. She told me our car was broken. *laugh* I love being the last to know. Apparently when my fellow left in the morning the car wouldn’t start right away, so he called his dad and asked him to look at it. His dad picked it up and took it to the mechanic. I really don’t know what needs replacing but the problem is something to do with the gas not getting to where it needs to be for the ignition itself. It isn’t fuel pump or carburator, but it is a part that will cost 7000 SEK new. After much running around in his own car between here and Uppsala, farfar found a place that can get the part used for 2000 SEK. So now we are waiting on it coming from up north somewhere. After work my fellow met us at his parents and we had dinner with them, fish soup. He is using the work car for now so he still has wheels. *laugh* The kidlet wasn’t sure he wanted to ride in that car but he decided it will be ok while ours is broken. *smile*

Today we were the only mom and kid at öppna förskolan. The kidlet got to play with the new toys that were still in the office and Inger and I chatted. She doesn’t speak english, although she does understand it. I try very hard to use swedish as much as I can and she actually mentioned how much my swedish is improving. We came home at noon, took the dog for a long walk and then stayed in the cool apartment, where I cleaned and tried to catch up on a backlog of email. My fellow asked if we wanted to go to his parents for dinner, so I switched laundry time and we went over and had the rest of the fish soup and the kidlet got to swim again. We are still not sure about midsummer plans. I would love to have them here, but it is a one bedroom apartment and we will likely be 10 people minimum for dinner. So I suggested we bring our bbq and the fish over to them. We will decide soon, since there was also some talk of going to the cottage also. I would like to go the celebrations here this year, since we went to Sigtuna last year. I love the raising of that flower covered pole and the singing and dancing.

So here I sit with a cup of tea … and it is Wednesday. *laugh*

Saturday was Valstadagen. It reminded me of the heritage day celebrations back home, with a real political presence added into the mix. We got to the centrum about 1400. My fellow is a candidate in the upcoming elections, so while he was blowing up balloons with the party symbol on them and other assorted things, we made the rounds. I am the recipient of a big pile of political brochures and I didn’t have the heart to tell any of the nice people handing them out that I can’t vote here yet. *laugh*

First thing we did was go to the where there were fire trucks and the kidlet got a little red plastic firemans hat. From there we went to the fish pond and he got a little red fire chiefs car. Then my fellow caught up with us and we went to get balloons. The kidlet got one that was helium filled and my fellow got razzed about it since it was for another party. *laugh* He also got a big balloon from his dad. From there we made the rounds and checked out all the booths, then the kidlet went on a pony ride. He looked so cute up there in the saddle with his riding helmet on. I took him to get his face painted (he became a cat) and then we found a second fish pond where he got a bag of candy. We went and got ice cream and sat with pappa for a bit, then had a second pony ride. By that time the kidlet was hungry so we checked out the food tables. We had choices of Indian, Syrian, Ethiopian and a number of others but of course the kidlet just wanted a hot dog. *laugh* I got him sausage on a bun and he was a happy camper. Everything started to be taken down after 1700 since they needed a clear area for the dancing that was starting at 1830. We stayed until my fellow had helped load up boxes and such and them came home. We did go back around 1930 for a bit so the kidlet could see people dancing. He had the greatest day. *smile*

One really nice thing was how many people I knew there. Of course it was people from our area of the city at our local centrum so it makes sense, but it still was nice to stop every so often and chat with someone, sometimes in swedish, sometimes in english. There was a band playing all day and probably 90% of their songs were in english, so it really was a comfortable atmosphere and I got to sing along. *laugh* I talked to one of my nieces and one of my nephews on MSN in the evening and then called home to my grandparents later on. So it was a nice family day too.

Sunday we slept in, relaxed some and then did one of those mammoth grocery shopping trips. *laugh* When we got home my fellow said we had better not need anything else for a month after spending all that money, to which I replied that I need money to shop for some more things this week. *laugh*

Today we went on a picnic in Sigtuna. We met Marilyn & David and Wafaa & Mohammed Ali at the centrum and took the bus to Sigtuna. It was a lovely sunny warm day and we found a picnic table near the lake. The kidlet fed half his bread to a bold duck that hung out right at his feet and he tried to chase the geese (Canada geese), but they just looked at him with that “I don’t think so” look and he came back to mom. *laugh* All three boys had loads of fun. We walked around a bit of the town and then LL and I went to the used book store while the others went on to browse at the shops. I got 10 paperbacks in english for 190 SEK, not a bad deal when one english paperback costs about 140 SEK new. We got home about 1400 and I did the usual bedmaking and picking up. I have pork chops marinading in a sweet chili marinade and am going to throw together a salad in a bit.

Tomorrow we will go to öppna förskolan. The woman who runs it and has been off following a heart attack, is back. We left early this morning so we could stop in and say welcome back before we had to catch the bus. The kidlet was thrilled to see her as he has missed her these past 3 weeks. Tuesday and Wednesday are the final two days it will be open until school starts again in late August, so we want to spend those mornings there. *smile*

PAST:
first grade teacher’s name: Miss Thomas
last word you said: nej
last song you sang: White Rabbit

PRESENT:
what’s in your cd player: Styx, Crystal Ball
what colour socks are you wearing: black
what’s under your bed: at home? 2 suitcases, cot, 2 storage bins and dust
what time did you wake up today: 0700

FUTURE:
where do you want to go: to visit? Egypt
where are you going? Lysekil and Luleå
how many kids do you want: 2
what kind of car will you have: Morgan

CURRENT:
current mood: content
current music: Bob Dylan: Knockin On Heaven Door
current taste: strawberries
current hair: red and straight
current clothes: pink t-shirt with blue flowers on it, burgandy slacks and black socks
current annoyance: nagging headache
current smell: rain
current longing: Taco Bell burrito
current desktop picture: Jean-Paul Avisse print
current book: Critical Mass by Steve Martini
color of toenails: natural
current crush: my fellow
current hate: GTA3

You:
What does your (nick)name mean?: When I first started on IRC I was kitsue and then my fellow started calling me kissemisse, which is one letter too long for most IRC nets, so it became kissekat
How old are you mentally (as in are you mature?): 26
Describe yourself in 5 words: happy, impulsive, friendly, chatty, thoughtful
What are your worst qualities: impatient, hold a grudge, slapdash housekeeper
How long does it take you get ready in the morning: 30 minutes

Sleep:
Do you dream at night?: yes
Do you remember your dreams?: sometimes
What time do you wake up on weekends?: usually about 0900
Do you sleep with one pillow or two?: two
School: not currently
do you like school?: yes
Why/why not?: I love learning new things
What’s your fave subject?: english & history
Most hated subject?: geography
Ever had a crush on a teacher?: yes

Friends:
Do you have heaps of friends?: no
Do you have a best friend?: yes
Do you have more guy friends or more girl friends?: girl friends

Family:
Do you like your parents?: mmhmm
Ever run away from home?: no
Ever thought about it?: yes
Do you feel your parents spoil you?: they surely did
Do you not get along with any of your family?: I get along with all of them
Do you have big family get togethers ever?: not any longer, we did when I was growing up. Most of my family still get together for occasions: christmas, easter, thanksgiving

Relationships:
Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?: common law spouse
How long have you been together?: 5 years
Ever done something stupid to them?: more than I care to admit
Have you ever experienced unrequited love: yes

Morals:
Stolen?: likely when I was kid but I don’t really remember specifically
Shoplifted? as above, perhaps candy as a kid
Gotten into a fight?: yes
Are you more innocent or guilty?: innocent
Have you ever had to look after someone who was a drug addict?: yes
Are you racist?: no
Are you discriminatory to anyone?: no

So the phone rang a bit after 1600 and it was farmor. She talked to the kidlet and then to me. She asked when my fellow would be home and I said his flight back was at 1840. Then she said that since her daughter is away and her husband had gone out to the cottage, she would be having dinner alone, so why didn’t we join her. I thought that was a great idea and she said she would stop here on her way home from work and we could shop and go on to her place. Just before 1700 I was putting away the vacuum and the door opened and in walked my fellow. The kidlet saw him, started to run to say hello and then stopped and burst into tears. He thought that since pappa was home, we could not go to have dinner with his grandmother. Nice welcome home. *laugh*

He went off with farmor a bit after 1700 and we drove over an hour later and had dinner together. So he got alone time with farmor and dinner with all of us and was a happy boy.

We finally have had rain. Real hard, long, water to the roots rain. It has cooled things down and made everything fresh. *smile*

Tuesday we went to McDonald with 2 other moms and sons. We went in the morning and the boys had lots of fun playing. We also had 4 power outages during the day. The first was about 0930 and lasted just a few minutes. The second was about 0950 and was an off and on type thing. Then while we were at McDonalds the power went out and stayed out for about 2 hours. So our plans of doing some shopping were changed. The last one came about 1330 and again was a short off/on outage. No idea what caused them but the poor woman before me who was doing her 2 loads of wash starting at 1000 didn’t finish till close to 1500. Luckily for me there were no more outages and I got our laundry done just fine.

Wednesday we were to go to Sigtuna on a picnic but one of the other kids had been feverish the evening before so we postponed. We did go and play with the boys at Wafaa’s for a bit and then when we came home, we had a picnic here in the living room. About 1430 I was struck by a severe headache, right out of the blue. I got severe pain, threw up and then had such pain and pressure in my head that I felt as if my teeth were going to pop out of my head. I lay down for a few minutes and then my fellow came home from work, early and unexpectedly. So I went to sleep since he was here with the kidlet. About an hour after the headache started we got the storm and the rain came down in buckets. I woke when the rain started and went right back to sleep until 1730. When I woke up the headache was gone. So I am guessing it was the storm approaching that did it.

This morning we went to öppna förskolan and then did a bit of grocery shopping. I was up at 0430 and made tea and a sandwich for my fellow. He in turn crawled out of bed at 0510, didn’t have either and rushed to make it to the bus to the airport. *laugh* He flew to Göteborg early and will be back late this evening. Some work trip. I wanted to go along but we couldn’t. *smile* So we have been cleaning. Dishes, dusting, vacuuming and floor washing. I just have to finish picking up the mess of kid toys here in the living room and then we are done. In the meantime I am sipping on a cup of tea and the kidlet is drawing pictures. *smile*

It was a nice funfilled day today.

The kidlet slept till about 0800 and was in a great mood when he woke. We had Pooh cereals (sugar coated puffed wheat) for breakfast, a quick bath and then we went out with the dog. The kidlet went on his trike. All his friends have 2 wheel bikes this year but he is quite content with tricycle. We talked about getting him a bike but decided if we wait until next summer, he should be old enough to ride without training wheels (which all his little friends have this year). The kidlet just likes to bike regardless of number of wheels. *laugh* We left the bike at home and went to öppna förskolan for a while. He wanted to “baka” so we got out the play doh and he made cookies and assorted food items. Then he played some with beads, arranging them on a form so they made a pattern and then stringing them. Then we went out and played “fotboll” (soccer) with another 4 year old. The kidlet thought that was great.

From there we went to the home of another of his friends. We played out in the sand box for a while and then went in and had lunch there. The boys played for a couple hours. It rained buckets while we were eating lunch. We really needed the rain here. While the boys were playing we moms made plans to take them to McDonalds tomorrow and then we will go to Sigtuna Wednesday and have a picnic there.

We got home around 1400 and there was a postcard here for the kidlet. It was from J&T, a picture of Piglet on the front and a sweet message on the back saying they missed him and hoped he was getting out in the sun to play lots. I read it to him (in swedish), then read it again in english. He just got the part that it had his name, not mom or dad and it was from Tina & Jonas. *laugh*

Supper was a scream. I cut up onion and falukorv (sausage similar to baloney) and fried it with some garlic before adding crushed tomatoes. The kidlet helped. He got to use the garlic press and peel the outer skin off the sausage. I only cut up half for dinner and while it was frying I came in to talk to my fellow. When I went back into the kitchen, the remaining sausage had 3 bites out of it. *laugh* I asked the kidlet what happened and he said he didn’t know, he was just looking at it. So I asked if those missing pieces just jumped off and into his mouth. He liked that idea. *laugh* I showed it to my fellow and he laughed too at the jumping story. He asked the kidlet what he did to the sausage and the kidlet again said nothing, he just looked at it. After we had finished eating but before we left the table we had a talk about it. We explained to the kidlet that it is important to be honest and own up to doing things. That mom and dad didn’t care if he took those bites, but we did care that he tell us the truth. So he said yes, he had done it because he was hungry. I did like the jumping idea though. *laugh*

After dinner we got out the squirt guns that my aunt brought over from her friend in Canada. First pappa and the kidlet watered the bushes and flowers from the balcony. Then mom joined them and it degenerated into a soaking contest. *smile* I can’t think of a nicer sound than a child laughing. After the water pistol fight we came in to calm down. The kidlet got out his toy cars, a collection of about 300 matchbox & hotwheels (some were his dads, some my niece and nephew gave him on our last trip home and some he has picked out himself). We spent an hour playing with those and then he was told he had to put them away since it was bedtime. He stretched out the putting away for 30 minutes by lining all the cars up and then driving them one by one into the big bag they are stored in. I thought it was quite a good way to forestall bedtime. *smile*

After he was asleep we watched “The Practice” and then I spent some time mapping out our trip north. Since it is about a 12 hour drive to Luleå from here I think we will do it in pieces. So we will go as far as Sundsvall, camp for the night, go on to Umea, camp again and perhaps visit with Andreas. Then we will go to Skelleftea and camp for a day or two so we can visit with Beverly and finally we will go to Luleå and camp there. I have scouted out the places we can rent cottages along the way. It is the greatest thing to be able to rent cabins where you just bring along your bedding and everything else is there. Since we have to travel with the dog and cat, it is not feasible to look at hotels and with a cabin we can leave them for a few hours in the day and do touristy things, without worrying.

Now I am going to have a tea and relax before heading off to bed. My fellow is out on the balcony with the laptop and I see that he is deep in a programming discussion on IRC. Think I will drag him in for tea as well. *laugh*