Kitty’s Place

Well, thanks to the sweet and lovely Jennifer and her post about KLM, the kidlet and I are Canada bound for 3 1/2 weeks.

We will arrive there Thanksgiving Monday (canadian thanksgiving) and will be able to be there for both of my grandparents birthdays and Halloween. (Deb, I am still debating surprising G&G so please don’t mention it to them yet *smile*) I was pretty much resigned to the fact there would be no visit this year but the seat sale news came on the heels of reading about 2 friends who lost close family members last week. It made me think, did I want to wait for a “better” time or did I want to go now when my family is healthy and we can enjoy time with them.

Still no chiropractor. :/ Today I actually resorted to using elevators to go up one flight of stairs because my legs just would not co-operate. I really hope she reappears soon as I would like to deal with this disc problem before getting on the plane for that long flight.

We went to öppna förskolan and had pictures done this morning. After we came home and got Ibo off to work I called and talked to Lori for a bit. That was fun as always. Then the kidlet and I went in to work. We got off the train at Karlberg and then stopped at a shop called ‘Gadgets’ on our way to the subway. We have been looking in the window for a couple months but they are usually closed when we wander by, so today we went in and got a couple little things for my fellow.

The kidlet got all excited as we were walking from the train and I couldn’t really understand why. He kept mentioning and pinball. Then it clicked. The day we went for waffles at Jennifer’s we walked that particular way from the train. So he thought we were going to visit her and play pinball. He was content that we would have to wait for “en annan dag” though.

We will be going to the cottage tomorrow since Ibo needs to help with some work out there. I think I will take my swedish course books with and study some.

We had a lovely birthday party yesterday. It was just the 8 of us, nice and cozy. I added the extra leaf to the table and we had crayfish, fresh bread, tossed salad, potato salad, cheese and assorted extras. After we ate, the kidlet got to open his gifts. He got some really fun stuff.

Farmor, farfar and faster “sandra” got him a ‘Dino-Chi’, an interactive dinosaur and new winter boots. The dinosaur is really cool, it walks, plays music and roars (so far at least).

J&T got him an Alfons book and a neat Lego racer car. He loved the car because he had to put it together (mom didn’t, it is just more little pieces of things she will have to watch for when vacuuming *laugh*). I haven’t looked at the book yet, but I like the Alfons books so I am sure we will enjoy reading it.

Aunt Maud sent a package from Canada. There were a really cute pair of slippers for our cold winter nights here, a 3-D plastic puzzle of the dashboard of a car, a winnie the pooh drinking glass, a face cloth with a green cartoon snake on it, one of those clown dolls that is sitting on a wooden swing so you can hang it up, two sticker books and a package of clothespins (I think it is great that she remembered how much he loves playing with them). There were two cards, one from her and Uncle Allan and one from my grandparents. LL opened both himself and read them himself “this is for Llywellyn from Aunt Maud”. *laugh*

From us he got the train station to go with his Brio train set, a new battery operated engine (the old one broke), a 4 piece Brio train, a wooden tray puzzle, a bubble making machine and a gluestick (we go through those like crazy in our cutting and glueing ventures here).

After the gift opening we had cake and ice cream. I make a chocolate slab cake and put a train on it. I also found a “4″ candle the day before his birthday so it went onto the cake as well. Everyone headed out about 1930 and then we walked over to the centrum to shop for candy (after all it was Saturday *laugh*). We came home and he had a glass of pop and some candy then I asked him to put on his pj’s. I was washing up the dishes in the kitchen when Ibo came and got me. The kidlet was sitting on the couch, sound asleep, wearing his tshirt, socks and pajama bottoms. *laugh* So he must have had a great day, it wore him out.

After I finished the clean up, I decided to have a glass of wine, a rare thing these days. So I got out the bottle of Merlot I bought last month and started to open it. The cork was so dry, it popped into the bottle instead of out. So I guess I will need to drink this bottle up quickly, since it has a cork floating in it. *laugh*

This morning we were up early, but the kidlet slept in until after 0830. My fellow had to go in to work today (and is still there :/ ) and I had to go in and clean at my job. We made the trip today in record time, caught every bus and train on time going there and even caught an extra subway train so we were in time to catch an earlier train home. There was a note on the table at work saying to please help myself to coffee or tea and that they have buns in the freezer too if we feel like one. Have I said enough times how much I love this job? *smile* We are going to go in a bit earlier this coming Friday, since the kidlet has been asking when he will get to see “alla girls” again. We took the Dinosaur to work with us and now that we are home, the train station and new engine are getting a workout.

We were home about 1630 and I put in lasagna to bake. I was going to try Riika’s pizza crust recipe today but my fellow was really upset that I was going to “mess with” his food by trying something new. Men can be a pain some days. *laugh* So I will do the pizza for lunch this week and let him sample an “itsy bitsy” piece to show him what he missed. *grin*

If the weather cooperates, we are going to do the mini track & field thing tomorrow at öppna förskolan. Farmor and farfar have already said they will keep the kidlet Wednesday night and he will spend Thursday with farfar again. I could get used to this free ti
me. *laugh* Actually I was thinking that I would get some of the deep cleaning done then, since the windows need to done inside and out and all the rads are in need of a good wiping down.

4 years ago at this time (canadian time) I was sitting drinking tea with Aunt Maud. It was a Sunday afternoon and she came for a visit and brought some baby stuff, since I was due to have the baby in 6 weeks. I complained about the backache I had had all day and how it made it hard to sit for any length of time. After she left I barbecued the kebabs she had brought with her for us. We never got to eat them. *laugh* 4 hours after our tea visit, I was in the car on the way to the hospital and 3 hours after that Llywellyn was born.

I can hardly believe he is 4 already. We had a fun day. When we got up there was an email here from Aunt Maud. I sang Happy Birthday to him, since she had written it in the email. We had breakfast, showered and then went to öppna förskolan. I baked cupcakes and took ice cream also, to have a little party there. LL got a cute little motorcycle to assemble and disassemble, from David. It came with a little screwdriver and a little drill. The package said it required two C batteries and I didn’t think we had any. After playgroup we came home and had lunch, then he played computer games and I went and laid flat for a bit to relax my back. He wanted hamburgers for dinner, so we went to McDonalds and got take out.

As we were leaving Eurostop, he kept saying no, we had to go to the store. I could not for the life of me figure out what he wanted at the store, then it clicked. He wanted batteries for his drill. When we got home I searched in the cupboard and unearthed two C batteries. Well, it was too funny when I tried to put them in. Although it said C batteries, quite clearly, in 4 languages, the drill need AA’s. *laugh* So we got it working and he took apart the motorcycle.

As we reading “Are You My Mother” (or as he calls it “är du min mom”) the phone rang. It was Aunt Maud. So he had a chat with her and then crashed while I was talking to her. I guess the little bird will have to wait with the dog until tomorrow night. *laugh*

We will have his party tomorrow with Ibo’s family. We will have dinner, crayfish was LL’s request and cake. He will open his gifts then. So it will be an extended birthday.

In other news, SFI is going well. I went to class on Wednesday and the first thing I did was set off the alarm on my way to the bathroom. *laugh* The election is over and the Social Democrats got 21 seats here. Ibo was #23 on the ballot so he has a reserve seat. The whole process is much easier to understand now that I have been through one election. My back is still out, although it is a little less painful since I have really been being careful with not overdoing anything. On that note, I have been sitting here long enough and will go and do up some dishes. *smile*

It has been a fairly quiet week here. Since I am having some trouble walking as well as problems with my arms, I haven’t done much. We did go to öppna förskolan every morning except Thursday. We were making a letter book, I wrote the letter on one page, Llywellyn cut out a picture starting with that letter, pasted it into the book and then wrote the letter himself on the facing page. It has been great fun. Friday the kids painted little wooden discs yellow. Monday we will glue them onto construction paper circles and make medals. Then we will have a mini track & field with the kids at the end of the week and they will “win” their medal.

Monday I rested, Tuesday we grocery shopped, Wednesday I went back to swedish class in the evening. Thursday I cleaned a bit since the kidlet slept over at his grandparents Wednesday night and then spent Thursday with farfar. Brenda came for a visit in the afternoon. Friday we went in to Stockholm and then on to work. Luckily for me there is not much to do there at the moment, since it is a slow process to do even the most basic things. Yesterday was a quiet at home day, as was today. Saturday we picked up a package at the post office from my brother in Canada. He sent the greatest engineer hat and wooden train whistle for the kidlet, who is crazy about trains. There was also bubble bath, kool aid and maple syrup in the parcel so it was a big treat day.

My fellow has been busy all week with election stuff. Today was the election here and now he is gone to wait with the rest of his party for the results. I think he has enjoyed being a candidate and I do hope they take enough seats for him to be elected.

SFI class was ok, we basically got a tour of the new facilities and then wrote a placement test. The teacher is one I have had in the past and I really don’t care for her method of using sarcasm as a teaching tool. As I understand it though, we will only be with her half the time and the other half with the other teacher. She already got my back up and we haven’t even had a real class yet. *laugh* They moved to a new location this term and it is about 5 minutes walk from home. That is nice since the time changes also and we will be there until 2100 instead of 2030.

On a happier note, my chiropractor should be back this week and then we can get to work on fixing this disc and getting me mobile again. I really hate feeling like I can’t cope with the daily routine of life.

Last week was not a good one. The food poisoning was much worse than I first realized. It took most of the week to actually feel human again. I did do all the normal stuff but in little spurts of time and then had to literally lie down and rest. Sent out some parcels, mailed off some cards, took the kidlet to playgroup and slept every chance I got. My computer finally said enough and programs started dying completely so it got a format and complete reinstall. The month end was the end of the August dieting support challenge and I had a total 16 lb weight loss in August. It isn’t really noticeable to the eye but I can feel it in my clothes.

Friday we took the bus out to the airport so we could go to the liquor store. The one here is under renovation and the temporary location had little stock. Since it was not beer or vodka I wanted, I was out of luck here. *laugh* We made our purchases and then had lunch at McDonalds where the kidlet watched planes taxiing and taking off. We came home and I straightened up some then after the kidlet’s aunt and her friend arrived, got ready for our night out. We went to a kräftskiva (crayfish party) with the people from my fellows job. There were 16 of us, 14 adults and 2 kids. We brought our own crayfish and whatever we were drinking (white wine and sambuca for us) and the hosts provided the rest. It was a lovely evening even though we called it a night fairly early. We visited, ate, visited more and then had a little karaoke thing. I like this bunch of people, never feel out of place with them and my fellow laughs so much when he is out with them. I think it is going to be very hard when they are all gone from his job.

The kidlet had gone home with his aunt to sleep there and we got to sleep in some. She ended up keeping him until well into the afternoon since they went shopping and to McDonalds. He thought it was very cool to sleep at farmor and farfar’s when they were not home. *laugh* He was tired when he came home so we all napped in the afternoon. Even with a long nap, I still went to bed early.

Sunday we went in to work. The kidlet and I headed out at lunch time and left my fellow to watch his race and have some quiet time. We got back around 7 pm, had dinner and the kidlet went to bed.

Monday was playgroup in the morning and in the afternoon I worked at making headway in cleaning, which has suffered badly the past week. We had pizza for dinner and were in bed before 10 pm. This morning we were up at 0430 since my fellow was flying down to Göteborg. I have spent the last couple hours sorting out old files that were on my computer, so that I can just restore the stuff that is important, not all the things that you save for some reason and never look at again until you delete it 2 years later. *laugh* What I really want is to go back to bed, but that is not on the agenda.