Kitty’s Place

The pictures from Meaghan’s visit and recent ones of the kidlet are here.

Thursday was a quiet, relaxing, housework kind of day.

Friday the kidlet and I headed into the city and shopped at Gallerian for gifts for my fellow’s birthday. From there we went to work and I got the letter I needed from my employer (arbetsgivare intyg) to send along with the citizenship application. We picked up pastries and headed home. My fellow picked us up at the train station. Was home in time for my 1730 - 2100 laundry slot. I washed all the rugs, but the drying cupboard had no heat, which I noticed when I went to put in the second load of rugs. Luckily I located the reset button and solved the problem without having to call maintainance. *laugh* The down side was that the heavier rugs were not dry by 2100 so I left them in the cupboard and booked 0700 for next morning.

Saturday I was up early since I had to go back to the laundry room for 0700. Did the little bit of other laundry as well. Fed the pets, made breakfast, walked the dog, did dishes and cleaned the bathroom. Then I made lunch and was ready to go out shopping, all by myself! Sadly that didn’t happen. My fellow decided to take me to shop because I mentioned something I had seen Thursday in Stockholm that his sister might like. Since it was at a store that we have here at Eurostop, we went there. Of course they didn’t have it in Märsta, but we did shop for the kidlet. He has been asking for a “spark cykel” (kick board) since he saw Sofia with hers at school. So we got him one. He was one excited kid. We went card shopping and while I was looking the guys got impatient and came in too. I still have no idea why, but my fellow got a big sulk on while in the card store. I was trying to get LL to chose one card for his aunt and he would pick one and then cry because he wanted the other. We changed cards 5 times. My fellow was looking at comical ones for his sister and showed me a bunch. Then out of the blue he got all grouchy. I picked a card and we paid. Then we went to the bank machine and I offered to take the bags so he could get out money. Since I didn’t hear an answer I went to take the bags and he yelled at me “I said no!”. At that point I lost my temper. After all, it was my shopping trip, supposed to be my time alone and he not only came along but then got all snotty. So I went ahead and picked up the few groceries we needed and cried all the time I shopped and all the way home.

It was Eurovision on Saturday night. I made nachos for my fellow and he had one of the hoarded bottles of Dad’s root beer I brought home last time I was in Canada. It was a pretty tense evening though. I was sulking at that point. *laugh* Eurovision was fun, I didn’t see all the groups (had to walk the dog and such) but as usual, there was some really bad music to be heard. *grin* (the 80’s are coming back! *laugh*)

Sunday was Mother’s Day here in Sweden. I got up about 0930 and made breakfast. Then it was shower time and we all got ready to go to my fellow’s parents for his sister’s birthday party. The kidlet drew a card for farmor while I was showering and he had made a picture for his aunt at preschool last week. We put it in an envelope and then attached his card that he fretted over to that. He thought it was great.

We took the electric grill with us and had a lovely time. Alexandra seemed to like the gifts she got, we saw Jonas and Tina, had a great dinner of grilled marinated ham steak and grilled marinated salmon, with potatoes and salad, followed by ice cream and coffee. LL brought in envelopes to farmor and to me. He had not only made a card for her, he had done one for me as well and my fellow added scratch tickets. I won 30 SEK on the scratch Bingo one. My fellows mom also gave me a really pretty silver sugar bowl and milk pitcher that she got a flea market. The kidlet got to play on his spark cykel and everyone had a nice time. Jonas gave me the address of a store in Stockholm where he has seen a whole lot of Star Trek movies for 49 SEK each. He knew I would love that. *laugh*

Monday … oh what a day! We got ready early and my fellow dropped us off at the train station on his way to work. We headed in to Stockholm on the 0904 train. It was not raining at Karlberg but the sky was black, it had just started raining when we got to the Central Station. Within 2 minutes we were in the middle of the greatest thunderstorm! It was raining buckets, the lightning was supurb and the thunder was actually shaking the building. I loved it. Growing up on Lake Erie and then living on Lake Ontario for the rest of my years before coming here, I learned to enjoy thunderstorms. Since moving here 3 years ago, this is only the 4th thunderstorm I have seen and the most dramatic one. Of course the down side was that it was raining hard and we had no umbrellas. *laugh* So down we went to the subway and headed for the store with the Star Trek movies. It was on Folkungagatan and when I typed that into the SL website, it said to go to Slussen, take the bus to Ersta sjukhus stop and walk from there. Well I had a bad feeling about the directions but I followed them. We got off the bus literally blocks away from the store and by the time we got there we were soaked through to the skin and the kidlet was shivering. But we got there, we found it! It was closed. *laugh* Why do stores in Stockholm open so late? This one opened at 1100 and we were 15 minutes early. So we walked up a bit more and found a Sandy’s sub shop. I got the kidlet out of the wet jacket and got him warmed up. We ate and had a drink. While we were there, the rain finally stopped. So back we went to the store and found all the Star Trek movies. Sadly they were not the actual movies though, they were Star Trek Voyager series tapes, not something we would watch. I asked the salesperson if there was an easier way to go back to T-Centralen and he said if we went out and looked up the street the opposite direction of how we had come, we would see the subway. So I was right. I had a feeling that I should get off at Medborgarplatsen (or however that is spelled) and if I had, we would have never gotten so soaked. Next time I will trust my own instincts. We headed back home but by the time we got here it was too late for the kidlet to go to school. Our internet connection was down and I thought maybe it was something to do with the storm. The kidlet played computer games and I did laundry … this time it was washing all the curtains. (tomorrow I will do the normal laundry and get back to my once a week schedule *laugh*) Then I did cleaning, the stuff that gets left for “next time”. I scrubbed baseboards and things like that. My fellow called and had me power cycle the router but it didn’t help. He was a bit late home but he had no meeting so that was a nice treat. I surprised him with a sub from Sandy’s. He said it was ok when he had it in the evening while watching tv. Nothing beats Subs Plus, a place in St Catharines. I worked at sorting out kids toys. I have a big empty box in the living room and a whole lot of toys are going down to the storage. *grin*

Today I washed windows, inside and out, sorted more toys. I filled the box my fellow’s Playstation steering wheel came in, with McDonalds toys. That is scary. *laugh* My fellow showed up with the guy to fix our internet connection. Apparently a connection had come loose in the room under the stairs. I was glad my fellow came with, I really dislike dealing with these telecom guys. I have only ever met one who was not an arrogant jerk. Apparently he tried to tell my fellow that there was no problem with the line when he tested it from where he was. Reminiscent of when we had the ISP and our line was done for 36 hours or so. Our supplier kept saying there was no problem there and it must be our equipment. We kept saying no, we had checked all ours and the problem was somewhere between us and them. They even sent someone to change a piece of their equipment we had onsite with no results. Then finally they listened to us and sent someone to the Hamilton POP and low and behold, someone had accidently disconnected us. Until that experience I had always given telecom people the benefit of the doubt, but I lost all faith after that. *laugh* So we have our connection back here and instead of hanging curtains back up now that the windows are clean, I am updating. *smile* I took the kidlet to school this afternoon and he went with his spark cykel. He did not want to go inside, he wanted to play outside with it. *laugh*

Have been basically computer free since Saturday. *smile*

The lemon computer we bought 2 years ago stopped working a couple weeks ago. Since this happens every few months I have taken to only turning it on if I need some specific program that is on it and not on mine, or need to download pics from the digital camera. When it quit I just turned it off and left it off. I finally got around to pulling it out and opening the box to make sure everything was ok from a hardware point of view. Of course it was and I just left it alone after that. My fellow took over then and backed up all our files then reinstalled Windows. On Saturday the kidlet was playing a game on my computer while I was doing dishes. I heard his father asking “why did you do that?” and when I made it back in here a few minutes later, my computer was shut down. When I turned it back on, it didn’t work either. LL was playing some game, got frustrated, lost his temper and just turned the computer off manually. *laugh* He is so much like me it is scary. So now we had both Windows computers offline and the unix box off as well because we need a new scsi drive in it. My fellow was working away at fixing his, but he was really sick with allergy/sinus stuff.

Sunday we went in to the city. We got up at 0700 and were at the station to catch the 0804 train, but the trains weren’t running because of “electrical problems?”. First we were told they would have extra busses to take us to Stockholm. Then we were going to be able to go on the train as far as Rotebro where we could get a bus to Central station. Then it was busses again, then after 40 minutes we finally were underway, supposedly still only as far as Rotebro (3 stops from home). As we pulled into Rosersberg they announced that the problem was fixed and we would go all the way to Stockholm. We had breakfast at McDonalds then went to work. It went quickly and then we started back home. We stopped at Odenplan so LL could get candy out of the machine on the subway platform, something he asks for every time the train stops there. Imagine the look on his face when after 2 years of saying no, I said “ok”. *laugh* He got a candy bar and we caught the next train. We were home in time to make lasagne for dinner and my fellow was a mega crab, since he was still sick. I dosed him up with some Benadryl and it did help to clear up the sinus symptoms.

Monday and Tuesday my fellow was home from work. We went to playgroup and the kidlet went to preschool. My fellow slept most of Monday and was feeling almost human on Tuesday. He got this machine working and then got mine working as well, but I have no access to any of my files on mine. Of course I was upset about that and made it known. That was not really nice, since he had worked hard getting them both online and instead of saying thank you, I bitched. He never said that but he did get even more grumpy than his usual I feel rotten grumpiness. So last night I got a chance to look at mail and to check out a couple of the forums I usually read. I hope we can retrieve my files eventually, since I have phone numbers, addresses etc that are not recorded anywhere but there.

Yesterday we picked up a package with part of Ibo’s birthday stuff in it. It is only 8 days away now and we are getting organized. LL has been working on a gift a playgroup.

Yes, time does march on. It is 2 years today since my dad died . Where did the time go?

Monday we went to öppna förskolan in the morning. We have 3 of them in Märsta and the local government has decided to close 2 and keep only one running. I can understand their reasoning, at most we have a dozen kids at the one we go to and some days only 1 or 2. But what I don’t understand is the current choice as the one to remain open.

Where we go now is a little house, set away from any main roads but accessible from 3 different walking paths. It has a large sandbox, a small playhouse, a shed for all the outdoor toys to be stored in, a swing set, a teeter totter type of thing, a paved area for the kids to ride their bikes on (important for kids who are still learning), a wooded area and a large hill for the kids to roll down (slide down in winter). It has a large well equipped kitchen and dining area for giving the kids lunch, 2 bathrooms, one with a change table, a large room layed out with craft tables, a sitting area for parents, room for babies to crawl or toddle along, a room with a door that has dolls, wooden stove and cupboard, wooden table and chairs, a closet with dress up clothes and another room with pocket type sliding doors where kids can set up train tracks or build forts out of pillows. The beauty of those rooms is that the older kids can separate from the tiny ones and don’t need to be on constant watch for little fingers and toes.

Now the place that has been chosen to be the single one left open is in a highrise, where the local doctor’s offices and dentist offices are. It has no outdoor facilities. It is located near the main road, it is not laid out to allow the kids to separate into age appropriate groups and I suppose my real gripe (since I have never taken LL there since it opened) is that the woman who runs it is not good with kids. She is great at the other things she does, she used to share the same facility where our playgroup is and she runs programs for parenting, groups for kids whose parents have divorced, baby group for new moms etc. She is great in an administrative roll, but I always found her to be rather curt with children and she exuded an attitude of “can’t you see I am too busy for you??”. I don’t know anything about the 3rd present location, except it is on the other side of town, while these 2 are both within a 3 minute walk for me.

So Monday I went in and the woman running our playgroup said sadly that she was so upset about them closing it. I said I thought we should protest the closure and contact the local paper, she said no, the decision was made. I said we should let the government officials know why our facility was more suitable and the other parent there said it was too bad they were closing us down. I began to wonder if people here really are so laid back as to not even put up a fight. So I came home and talked to my fellow about it. He said that the decision has not been made yet, it is still a proposal. I wrote out a draft for a petition in english.

Tuesday we stayed home because the kidlet wanted to. He watched tv and played around and had a happy home day. He did go to school in the afternoon though and I did laundry. He invited his teacher to come and visit us, telling her we had apple juice, ketchup and honey here. This is the second time he has told her that. I guess those are the best treats in the world to him. *laugh* My fellow had no meeting so we had a nice long evening together after work.

Wednesday we were back to öppna förskolan and there was much grumbling. The parents from the facility across town had gone to the paper! Imagine the nerve. *laugh* I said we should do a petition and that still met with looks of “why bother”. I said that the final decision wasn’t made yet and that too was met with apathy. So I said to my fellow I will leave off what I wrote and they can do what they want with it. At this point I don’t need öppna förskolan, since the kidlet is now in preschool, but I wish the parents with little ones would try to keep this one open. After school my fellow asked if the kidlet wanted to sleep over at his grandparents and go swimming with farfar on Thursday. Apparently last weekend when they asked him he said no, he wanted to go back to Sköldinge, not swim. *laugh* Of course when faced the choice again or swim or stay home, he was ecstatic to go to his grandparents. We went food shopping and then my fellow picked us up after work. His parents came here and got the kidlet. I had taken him to McDonalds for dinner before we shopped so he was all ready to go when they got here. Pappa brought gifts home as well. A bag from farfar with a bell for the new bike and a tire pump, so we could put air in the tires. We had a quiet evening and were in bed about 2230.

I am working away at my citizenship application. Am slowly getting all the papers I need to send along with it. There is no rush now, since I found out I can vote in the referendum in September. I would like to have it before my PUT needs renewing in November though.

So today is a mom day. I am home alone and have a number of things I want to do. Better get to them. *smile*

We had a lovely weekend.

Friday we had a leisurely dinner then had chocolate pudding and whipped cream later while watching tv. The phone rang about 2100 and my fellow answered. I heard him say “You are there! Did you just now get there?” “How was .. ok, bye”. *laugh* Obviously it was not our son’s idea to phone because he was off the phone as quick as could be. *grin* He had fun waiting for him! We went to bed early, just after the Revenge of the The Pink Panther started (at least I think that was what was on), as my fellow was tired from the travelling all week and I was just plain tired. *smile*

Saturday I woke first and got up about 0930, my fellow got up a bit later. I did dishes, made breakfast, fed the animals and walked the dog. I also made the bed but that was a waste since we crawled back in about 1230 and snuggled up. My fellow dozed off and I am sure I followed suit within minutes. I don’t know when he got up, early enough to watch the Slovakia - Czech Republic bronze medal match. I woke just after 1800. Why is it parents sleep so much when they are kid free? *laugh* After a quick shower, we got ready and went out for dinner. We went out for sushi at Märsta Sushi. It was closed the last time we tried to eat there but we were in luck this time. My fellow had sushi and I had peking duck because he remembered me saying a long time ago I wondered what it was like. Meaghan’s name came up when he saw the ginger on his plate and noted she should be with us. *smile* It was a nice little place, really friendly staff, good food and a nice variety on the menu. Just after we were seated, parents of one of the kidlet’s playmates came in for dinner and friends of Ibo’s were already there when we arrived, so it was fun and cozy. We chatted through dinner and coffee. We never lack for conversation when we are out, which is nice. The soup I had was very spicy and the duck was nice, but not something I would likely have again. We had ice cream and some coconut concoction for dessert. Then we headed home.

We watched tv and chatted more. I had a glass of wine and my fellow had a scotch. We are not big drinkers here, the last wine I had was at new years and it was sometime last year when he last had a scotch. *laugh* It was nice. It was almost 0300 when we went to bed. The kidlet did not call. *smile*

Sunday we were up around 1000. After a quick breakfast I headed off to work. My fellow had a meeting at 1300. I went in and cleaned and then headed back home so we could watch the hockey game. The kidlet had arrived home just before I did and was sitting in the hall putting together the toys he had accumulated at McDonald’s over the weekend. He said he missed us “just a little bit”. I made dinner and we watched the World Cup hockey final, with Canada vs Sweden. I wanted Sweden to win because my fellow said he would hit me if they lost. *laugh* Seriously though, I was really surprised by the rough play by Canada and more surprised that the referees didn’t pass out more penalties. I guess in last games they allow a lot of latitude, but there was some out and out nasty plays that were let pass. Not that Sweden didn’t get in a few shots as well, I just thought Canada was more blatant with the rough stuff. It went to sudden death and then after Canada scored it still wasn’t done, since it had to go to a goal judge and be reviewed on tape. Finally after an eternity they ruled it was a goal, something we at home saw the first time they showed the close up with the puck under the goalies leg pad, but definitely over the line. I really hate watching sports, had my fill of it years ago when my ex watched TSN for hours on end. At least we only watch hockey and soccer when it is this type of medal competition, not every day. *smile*

The kidlet came home with a cute bank, a red and white bead necklace that Tina made for him, a bunch of McD toys and all his money still in his wallet. *laugh* He was really reluctant to go to bed at 2000 but I insisted because he looked tired out. He tried numerous stalling tactics but when it was obvious we were not going to let him stay up, he gave in and fell asleep in about 2 minutes. We watched Pretty Woman, my choice because I think it is the funniest movie and laugh way too much when I see it. Then my fellow watched something while I read a bit and we were off to bed about 2300. We read in bed for a bit, I am currently reading “The Blood Doctor” by Barbara Vine and my fellow read funny things out of the Bathroom Reader to me as well. I was clock watching after we put out the lights and had to stay awake so I could see it read 2345 … sometimes I am too odd. *laugh*

I just remembered I haven’t written down what books I got in the parcel that arrived Thursday. MJ sent me 5 books: The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans, Weep No More My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, The Five Bells and Bladebone by Martha Grimes and The Lamorna Wink also by Martha Grimes. I am so looking forward to reading these.

The kidlet is off to Sköldinge. Farmor phoned while we were at öppna förskolan this morning and asked if they could take him with them. So he got his wish, to go to Sköldinge on Friday.

We went to öppna förskolan this morning and he had fun, played with the other kids and drew a picture for farmor. They had fruit salad and whipped cream, since Friday the kids “fika”. He liked the “red thing” (cherry), but not the white things or yellow things (pear and peach). I guess the peaches did look anemic and yellow. The whipped cream was a hit though. From there we went to the store and got him fruit for preschool, then home for lunch. He was really excited when his dad called during lunch to say sure he could go with his grandparents (I said we had to ask daddy since we make decisions together, so we left a message on his machine). Then it was off to preschool.

I got to clean some while he was at school and packed for him. His grandparents decided to go to McDonald’s for dinner so he was some excited about that. I also packed his wallet with his 120 SEK in it and told him he could buy something at the festivalen (I think it is an annual craft show they are going to down there tomorrow). When farmor got here he said he was going to pay at McDonalds. *laugh* As he was leaving he asked if I had packed his “teka”, I told him what was in the bag and he was sad because the teka wasn’t in it. So I thought perhaps he meant “teckning” (drawing) but that just made him cry so it was obviously wrong. Then I said “show mom” and he took me in and pointed at his bed. He wanted to take his “täcke” (blanket). Poor little guy, it must be hard for him to try to make his point when mom doesn’t understand his swedish and others don’t understand his english. The blanket was packed, but not his pillow because they have pillows there (so he informed me). So he headed out of here about 1605 and my fellow got home about 1620.

I am making mushroom chicken and will have the left over rice and noodles, corn, peas and salad with it. With my fellow not taking a lunch all week, we have lots of leftovers.

Ibo’s birthday is coming up. Leslie was sweet and got me some books for him in the States, I am getting him a bottle of that ‘Famous Grouse’ scotch (well I think it is anyway *laugh*) because he loves that bird from the commercial.

When I was in Katrineholm I saw a place that sold clothes like they wear in “Wild Wild West”. The high collared shirt, intricate design vest, black pants, long cut jacket etc. I want to get him a suit like that for his birthday, but the place in Katrineholm has limited hours, they open only in the afternoon so it is hard for me to manage a secret trip there and back. I know there are online places that sell this type of clothing, but I don’t have a credit card so that is out.

So I am asking if anyone has seen a place in the city that sells that type of men’s clothes? I know where to shop for the style of boots he prefers and found a place in Stockholm that sells those “Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” type dusters and hats he likes, but have not seen anyplace that sells this type of clothing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! (and no telling that I put a link to that old picture of him *laugh*)

Today is definitely a better day. The sun is shining, it is warm and breezy and just a nice spring day. After a couple good cries yesterday I was not so emotional. But I am still terribly terribly lonely for my family in Canada. It isn’t like life isn’t good here and my family here are not wonderful, I just miss home. It will pass but in the interim I feel very hermitish and just want to sit in the quiet doing nothing. *smile*

LL rode his tricycle to school this afternoon. He has been asking for it for weeks and just has no intention of riding the bicycle he got for christmas. I am not sure if he is scared of it or just doesn’t want to give up the trike. He is making good friends at school which is nice for him. There is no swimming this week, since farfar is out of town. The kidlet is determined he is going to Sköldinge on Friday. He even told the teacher on Monday he was not going to be there Friday. I don’t know why he thinks that, we have told him we are not going there, but he is certain we will. I think perhaps Jonas may have said something like “maybe you could come here Friday”, the last time he called, since the kidlet always says we will come to visit “tomorrow”. His grandparents are going there for the weekend but since they have not offered to take him, he is out of luck. *laugh* Last night at dinner he even suggested that “pappa can drive me there and come home”.

My fellow is going to a course in Solna this week. So I passed over my bus pass to him and am even more grounded than usual. *laugh* Between work and meetings I feel like we have about 2 hours a day together and that time is usually spent with him in front of the tv with the laptop and me reading or in front of this computer. Last night he came home from the course, ate, went to his meeting, came home, got on the phone and talked about political stuff for well over an hour. I went to bed. *laugh* I guess this is the life of a “politician’s wife”. *smile*

There is a package waiting at the post office for me. Will pick it up when I get the kidlet from preschool. It is from a woman on one of the mailing lists I have been on for a few years, she said she was sending me some books so I am excited to see which ones.

Today is a very blue day here. I have no idea why, I am just terribly down and weepy. Nothing is wrong, there is no strife at home, I just am sad and want desperately to go home and see my family in Canada. Hopefully the sunshine will make me feel better soon.

In a couple weeks I will have been journalling online for 2 years. Today I saw this: “Journal entries: 300″. I honestly never thought I would keep this up but I have been much better at keeping this journal than I ever was with my paper ones. A big part is the interaction that takes place on livejournal. I have met friends, keep in touch with friends and family and have developed new interests through this site over the past two years. Looking forward to the day I see “Journal entries: 600″. *smile*