Kitty’s Place

I was all for staying in bed this morning, but my fellow had to work. *laugh* So I was up at 0730 to make his tea and pack his sandwich. I had read in Metro on Thursday that the Arlanda Express was running free today because it was their 4th birthday. So instead of staying home and getting things ready to put up tomorrow, I took the kidlet to Arlanda and we took the fast train to Stockholm. He was ecstatic. *laugh*

When we got there we went to NK and saw the christmas windows. This year’s display is just wonderful. But of course it was an absolute zoo since it was Saturday. After we walked the windows twice, we walked to Panduro. I got a few little things for our christmas crafts. The wait in line was almost 30 minutes and it was back 3/4 of the length of the store. I was reminded of why I never go shopping on the weekend if I can avoid it. *grin* From there we hopped onto the subway and went to Odenplan. I picked up some moss for our advent candle holder and we went into the used book I love there. I got 3 books today. He has a wonderful selection of books and the prices are great. There were at least a dozen english paperbacks on the 10 crown rack and a wonderful assortment of english books on the 15 crown shelf (it runs the length of the store). I got a book of lovely Monet pictures on the 40 crown shelf and the kidlet sat and “read” books from the kids section. While there the flimsy bag we got when I got the kidlet 2 boxes of kokosbullar from a street vendor, broke. The bookstore owner offered up a new bag for them as the kidlet informed me that now they were all likely broken. *laugh*.

We had planned on going out for stirfry for lunch, but the Wok place was closed. I asked the kidlet what he wanted to eat and he said “raw fish”. That made me laugh since I know he does not really care for sushi. The reason for his request is we had gone past a Japanese restaurant a few days ago and it was called Raw. He settled for McDonalds. So we went back to the Central Station and he got his happy meal, followed by a raspberry dream. Then it was back to the Arlanda Express. They had people handing out candies and gingerbread cookies and ballots for a contest at both ends of the trip. The kidlet loved that. *laugh*

We got back to Arlanda about 1600 and then made our way out to catch a bus home. Just as we were pulling into the bus station, my fellow called and said he was still at work and did we want to come and meet him there. So we switched buses and went to his workplace. We were there about an hour and then we came home. The kidlet wanted to go out for pizza but we said no. Once home I went to the our small storage space and dug out the boxes with christmas decorations and then pulled the christmas curtains out from the storage container under our bed. I washed them recently so it is just a matter of ironing them and hanging them in the morning.

The kidlet has not had a fever today but he is still hoarse. He says his throat doesn’t hurt at all. The sty finally drained and it is beginning to heal. I have a fever and chills at the moment, so I am done with working here tonight. I did get the rings for his advent calendar so I think I will snuggle up on the couch with a cup of tea and sew them on.

There were a couple incidents today that I want to record. One just irked me and the other restored my faith in people in general. *laugh* The first was a little boy who looked to be LL’s age. His dad wanted to go into the grocery store and the kid didn’t want to. So he was standing about 5 feet away from his father saying no, he wanted to go to another store and his dad kept saying they would only be at this store a short time and then they could go where he wanted to go. Every time he approached the child, the kid ran away … in the parking lot. The father was almost begging him to just come to the grocery for a short time and the kid was screaming no to him. I was thinking that if a car backed out and ran over the kid, would the dad stand and beg him to get up? I understand that you have to let kids have some freedoms as
they grow, but for goodness sakes, if your child is in an unsafe situation, then a parent should have enough control (for lack of a better word) over the child to make them stop and become aware of their surroundings. My son is far from perfect, but he knows when to stop pushing. Both his father and I will only take so much and then he starts to lose privileges. We do follow through. He also will stop in his tracks if either of us say “STOP”. He knows if we do that, there is some sort of dangerous situation and that he must listen. The longer I live here the more it bothers me to see the lack of parenting among so many families. If you do not teach your child boundaries and gain their love and respect as a toddler, then you can be sure you will have an out of control teen to deal with later. Which, in my opinion, is why we are seeing more and more vandalism and outright attacks on people.

The other incident was a little elderly woman on the sidewalk near NK. She tripped as she stepped up over the curb and fell, scattering the contents of her large open purse out onto the sidewalk. Instantly there were 3 gentlemen at her side, one was an elderly man, one was a middle aged fellow and the third was a man who looked to be in 30s and was obviously an immigrant from his accent. Two helped her up and the third gathered up all her belongings and handed her back her bag. A young couple also responded at once and were busy asking her questions to make sure she was ok, when we got to where she was. She was uninjured and was busy thanking everyone. I thought about all the times I have read about people being injured and no one responding at all and was so proud of those people who stopped to make sure a stranger was ok.

Just the first 7 are new, the rest you likely have seen already. There are a couple of my fellows and some of our christmas ornaments. Don’t look at my poor little boy’s red eye though. *laugh*

We have spent the day at home. When I picked up the kidlet yesterday he was very hoarse and his eye was more swollen. So I told his teacher he would not be back today and I would see how he is next week. We came home and he had some popsicles and we did warm compresses on the sty. My fellow had a “council meeting” (kommunfullmäktige in swedish I think) last night, so he was home late. The kidlet had pancakes for dinner and I got him settled in bed about 2030. He slept ok but he had a really “whoopy” cough all night and we both kept going in to check him.

This morning he had a real laryngitis thing going on and the sty had begun to drain some. My fellow headed out for work about 0830 and we have been lazy all day. The kidlet had yogurt for breakfast and then we began working on christmas ornaments. That was lots of fun but not too tiring. He was quite creative, he really loves doing craft things. We did more compresses and then after lunch he spiked a fever, so he had some Tylenol for that. He really is a good kid when he is sick, he never complains at all. I took pictures of what we made this morning and will post them when webshots is more cooperative. *smile*

I have whatever he has (minus sty) and in addition to the sore throat my ears keep popping. *laugh* So I have done little of substance today. I am feeling really sad at the moment. I read a number of online newspapers including the St Catharines Standard. I read the obituaries there as well and last night I read that one of my old friends had died. I met Janice when she was a nursing student and eventually we became coworkers. She was a sweet caring vivacious woman. We worked together on the night shift for a long time and I got to know her very well. Eventually she moved on to work in a different unit and we only met up occasionally but we always stayed friends. Once I moved to Sweden though, I lost touch with all my old coworkers. I miss them very much and think of them often. So it really hit me hard when I read of Janice’s death. She was younger than me and I have no idea what happened to her, but I do know that someone I cared about is gone and I cannot be there to pay my respects to her family and her memory. This is one of the worst aspects of living abroad, you are not there for family and friends in your country of origin, when they need you. Since moving here I have lost my dad, my uncle, my aunt and 3 friends and was not there for any of their funerals. I don’t think my fellow really understands why this bothers me, since they do not have the same customs. But I was raised in a family that does the 3 days of viewing at the funeral home and all the corresponding grieving stuff, like taking food to the family, sending flowers, making donations and most importantly going to the funeral. I have spent the day thinking about my friend and the fun times we had and that will have to do.

It has been a hectic few days.

Monday the kidlet went to school and I puttered about here, cleaning things up and organizing stuff.

Tuesday school was closed. I had planned on going to my workplace to drop off the keys but Karin called on Monday and said they would not be there and my boss would only be there between 0930 - 1030. Since it takes an hour and a half to get there, I decided to wait. Instead, once the kidlet was up and ready to roll, we went in to Stockholm and saw the Piglet movie again. He was just as enthralled this time. *laugh* Then we shopped a bit. I went to a craft shop looking for rings for his advent calendar. He wanted to go home and play a game. I did a quick walk through, there were no rings but I did find a paintbrush I wanted. While we were standing in line he decided to perform. He put his hand over his mouth and started mumbling at me that it smelled bad and we had to leave. Then he took to fake retching (he really is dramatic these days, a 5 year old trait). I told him to stop, we were in line and would be done in just a couple minutes. Instead he began retching louder. I put the paint brush down and took him out of the store. Once we were out, he started to sob because I didn’t get my paintbrush I wanted and he felt bad. He wanted to go back and I refused. So he cried more, all the way to the subway platform. While he was sobbing away on the bench I noticed Karin waiting for the same train. So we sat with her and visited until we got to our stop. We picked up some christmas cards to mail out (the ones that are little advent calendars, I thought they were neat for a card exchange I am doing) and the kidlet bought a car he had been looking at for a few weeks. He had saved up his money and had enough to pay for it finally, so he was very proud to pay out of his own wallet. *laugh* Then we headed home on the train. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some vegetable and he decided it was a good time for a repeat performance. When he said it smelled bad, I said that obviously he must be ill so when we got home he would have to go to bed. End of performance. *laugh*

Wednesday we were up extra early. My fellow dropped us off at Löwenströmska sjukhuset at 0800 for our 0830 appointment with the logoped (speech therapist). We popped into the store in the lobby for some juice and the kidlet discovered Beyblade trading cards. So we got him a package and that held his attention until appointment time. It went well, she was very good with him. After 40 minutes of working with him, she and I went over the 4 pages of questions I had been filling in and then she said that he has no problem at all understanding, he does have a problem making certain sounds and it is a very common problem in kids his age. We will go back in January and she will work with him a couple of times and teach me some exercises to do with him. She said that with a bit of work, his speech will be fine when he starts school in 2 years. He had really been worried about seeing her and was much relieved when it was just like I said, only talking, no poking in his ears or drawing of bloodwork. *laugh* We managed to get out and catch the bus at 0945 and were back here by 1030. We dropped of his cards and went to öppna förskolan. Last week Tova had asked if she could come home with us but it was not a good day. I said another time and her mom said maybe next week. Well it was all LL talked about for days, that Tova was coming to visit. So even though I was beat, had a nasty headache and just wanted to veg, we went. I think disappointing kids is one of the hardest things to do, so it takes a lot for me to do it. It was fun there, LL played and I chatted. Then LL, Tova and I headed home. I made them swedish pancakes for lunch. My fellow came for home for lunch as well, so they all had fun at the table with their pancakes, ice cream and raspberry jam. The kids played before and after lunch and then I dropped both of them at school at 1300. She is really a sweet kid, not a surprise since both her parents are very nice people and are terrific parents. Llywellyn wants to have her come over for lunch again. *laugh*

This morning we were up and out the door early yet again. We hurried in to Stockholm and went to Äventyret. I dropped off my keys and got my final payslip, a christmas gift and the all important arbetsgivareintyg (reference letter). Ingrid said that when the men came to remove the furniture they commented to her that she had a very good cleaning person because it was clean under things, not just around them. *laugh* She gave me glowing references, which I really appreciate and asked what my plans were for the future. We talked about her plans as well and then the kidlet and I headed back to Märsta, on the run again, because today the talpedagog (speech teacher) was going to be at preschool to talk with the kids and assess them. I was reluctant to let him go because he was hoarse and has a sty in his right eye. He also felt quite warm but I checked his temperature and it was normal, so he must have been warm from having his winter clothes on all morning. Two weeks ago he woke with a laryngitis that only lasted one day and he developed a sty in his eye. I never connected the two then, but last night he started getting hoarse and by bedtime we could see a sty was developing. I hope this isn’t going to be normal for him. I always know when I am going to get a bad cold, because first I get cankers on the roof of my mouth and it has been that way all my life. I should be doing something now, working on cards or ornaments, but I am tired and cranky and so I am relaxing and updating. *smile*

While I am showing pics of where we live, I thought I would add some interior shots.

These pics are from christmas 2 years ago, I don’t really have any others. *laugh*

Our kitchen with all the christmas things in place.

The living room, I took a before picture of the tree and then forgot to do an after one. *laugh*

Also the living room, the computer corner. It looks different now, since we got rid of one computer and added a printer.

The bedroom, my fellow’s mom and grandmother made the curtains and bedding.

These seem to be a very swedish thing, a drying cupboard, used instead of a tumble dryer.

Here we have it with some clothes ready for drying.

And just because I found this when I was going through old pictures, here is the kidlet at 2 hours old. *laugh*

We had snow today and the kidlet had so much fun. I uploaded some pictures. The first few are of where we live, I took these foggy day series because Andy mentioned that I should post some pics of where we live. The rest are of today’s snow adventures. You can see all of them here.

Today I took the kidlet to see Nasses Stora Film (Piglets Big Movie). We went in to Stockholm, spent a half hour at the toy store, met up with Jenny Li for a few minutes and after getting directions from her, headed for the movie theatre. We were early so we wandered about a bit at Hötorget. Bought a couple more christmas gifts and the kidlet had a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, which he managed to wipe on his coat and mine. *laugh* (thank goodness I always carry wipes with me)

So at noon we headed inside and bought tickets, popcorn and coke. We had to wait a few more minutes and then we went in and found our seats. I always forget that here in Sweden there is assigned seating at the movies. The kidlet had never been to a movie before. He wasn’t sure he liked the “big tv” and he did not like the “loud noise”. But once the movie came on, he had a wonderful time. It was too funny watching him munch on popcorn and drink his pop without taking his eyes off the screen. He laughed, got scared and got sad. It was a really cute movie and I kept forgetting it was in swedish. *laugh* He took his little Winnie the Pooh with us, because he knew Pooh would want to see the show too and he kept propping him up on the top of the seat in front of us. When the movie was over and I had his coat on, he turned around with tears running down his face and gave me a huge hug, told me he loved me and that this was the best thing he had ever done. So I guess he is old enough for movie going now. *laugh*

We took the long way home, the tunnelbana to Kista, shopped a bit there, then took a bus to Sollentuna Station and the train home. It was a really fun day for the kidlet.

I am reading a bit here but after a week of this horrible headache, I cannot spend too much time in front of the computer, so I am on a break from reading and posting and will do both in short little installments until the weather changes and the migraine hits the road. *smile*

My fellow came home long enough to drop off the car and get the bus pass last evening. Then he went out with some people from work. I have to say that I really love the fact he leaves the car at home when he goes out, so there is never a chance of driving after even one drink. He got home about 1130, just after Fame was done. I was pretty excited to get to see it, it is one of my favourite movies.

This morning the kidlet and I puttered about. I did some housework and then we worked on christmas cards. You can see our work in progress here as well as a picture of our wax paper/leaf project. He did a good job printing Merry on his card but I printed the Christmas part and he went over it with the glitter glue. He also had some adjusting to do, so that he didn’t make big gobby looking decorations on the trees, but by the 3rd card, he was doing great.

I went to the school after I dropped him at his school and have arranged for one more term of SFI, this time going half time instead of one evening a week. Next fall I will start taking swedish at komvux. After 2 terms of that, I can go into the medical course. In the meantime I will see if socialstyrelsen will accept my 2 year degree and let me go through their process instead. At least I have some direction for when the kidlet starts school.

We had a lovely sunny day. I opened windows and let some fresh air in with the sunshine. The kidlet is off to spend the night with grandparents tonight and then go swimming tomorrow with farfar. I think I will sleep in and hopefully lose this headache once and for all. *laugh*

Today we used the wax paper that Jennifer sent. LL picked out and arranged some of our dried leaves on the wax paper and then I ironed two pieces together so it looks like a picture. He picked out a colour for the frame and after I drew the lines, he cut out and we glued it in place. Then he decorated with some leaf stickers. It looks cute and I will try to get it scanned soon. I got supplies to make christmas cards and that is what we are going to do tomorrow. He loves drawing so I think he can do the artwork and I will write on them.

At the moment he is running about with a balloon behind his back, one that he drew a face on. I don’t know why he has it there but he is having fun at least. *laugh*

When I picked him up today I stopped outside the door of the school and watched the kids playing. I could hear the teacher and David’s mom talking but was not paying any attention to their conversation. LL used his rake to make a pile of sand and then David stomped on it. This is the usual playground play. The other boys build things and David destroys them. I have told LL that he has to stand up for himself. So today he was doing just that, telling David quite loudly to stop and leave his hill alone. I glanced at my phone to check the time and heard my son begin to cry, not the angry cry, the hurt one. His teacher did not even look out the door until I went past and started towards the sandbox. David apparently didn’t like LL standing up to him, so he whacked him across the back with a rake. LL was fine, he was bundled up in 3 layers of clothes. He stopped crying almost immediately. The teacher came over and asked what happened and David’s mom asked me if I saw him hit LL. She then made him apologize. But he really didn’t see the point in that, he wasn’t sorry at all. *laugh* Kids get aggressive in the playground and some are worse than others (and my son is no saint, I have seen him throw sand and get into pushing matches with the other kids). It just proves again my position that the teacher should be outside with those kids, not inside with the door open.

My fellow is finally on his way home. Tomorrow will be another late night but then the course is over. We are talking about going to the real estate office Thursday. That will be fun. *smile*

Today was a bit brighter day, both literally and figuratively. I have the migraine from hell and have had 3 crying jags so far, but I actually am not so down as I was yesterday. *laugh*

I forced myself out of the house and went to see a studievägledare at Komvux. But they were all at meetings today so I will go back tomorrow. I am trying to decide what I am going to do with my life, now that the kidlet will be going to school next fall. My fellow has told me that if I really want to go home I can and believe me it is tempting. But I am not leaving him behind, we have done that whole long distance thing and it is not fun. Besides, I truly believe this is the best place for Llywellyn. I just want to be able to go back to doing the job I love without having to first go to school forever to be able to do it here. He suggested I pick a different job, but nursing is what I have wanted to do since I was 3 years old and I am good at it. So I am going to talk to the school about the omvårdnadsutbildning they offer here, while I wait for socialstyrelsen to evaluate my degree from Canada.

Yesterday when we were grocery shopping we had a checker who was obviously new. How did I know that? Well, she held up each item of produce and asked what they were called. Even the potatoes. *laugh* She also rang items through twice and played around on the register after doing it, but never actually removed them. So there was a line of us going from her register to customer service for refunds. *grin* It was nice to see that no one got angry with her at all. She was obviously trying hard.

Llywellyn has this obsession lately with “bleybleys” which is those spinning tops from the cartoon Beyblades. When we were shopping on Saturday his dad got him one of the tops. But it didn’t say anywhere on the package that it was just a top and you needed to buy the spinner. So all evening Saturday he kept saying he wanted to go and get the other piece. His grandparents took him to the store on Sunday but they couldn’t find it. So we went yesterday and I got him the spinner part and another top. He has played with them non stop since. Apparently they are played inside a plastic “arena”. So last night after he was all ready for bed, he said to Ibo, “can I have the bowl for throwing up in”? (we had one under each bed a while back when the two of them were so sick with that virus). He was told ok and got the bowl out, then spun the top inside the bowl and that was much cooler. So another spinner and some more tops will be picked up for advent calendar and stocking. *laugh*

I didn’t forget my moment of silence this morning. I did miss having a poppy to wear. Things like Remembrance Day just kind of disappear when you are living in a different country, but I made myself a promise when I first moved here to never forget the one day a year when we honour those who died fighting for a better world.