Kitty’s Place

That is what Rusty was on Saturday after I removed 10 ticks from him. *laugh* Ibo took him out in the woods and then left him with me while he went to the airport. I was sitting at the table studying and put my hand out to pat him when I saw two ticks. I removed them and started checking and found a couple more. At last I went and dug out a lice comb I bought a couple years ago when lice was rampant at LL’s school. That yielded 3 more. Number 8 showed up when I was talking to Aunt Maud on the phone, 9 I discovered when we were on the balcony in the sun, it was the only one that had actually attached itself and then the last one I found shortly after Ibo removed the attached one. The dogs have had their tick medicine and we keep a close eye on them, but I have never removed more than a couple after a walk in the woods. I guess the reports about this year being a bad year for ticks, are correct.

On that topic, I am debating getting LL the vaccine for tick borne encephalitis. We looked into a couple years ago but the doctor felt there wasn’t much risk here. With the increased number of ticks though and the fact he is outdoors in the woods at school, I think it is time to re evaluate.

It was a nice weekend. Friday Ibo went to work, LL went to a friends’ house and I went in to school to study and do some photocopying. Saturday I studied, LL had a friend over and in the afternoon I went with both of them to the carnival. We stopped and dropped off a few things at farmor’s apt on the way, Ibo was picking them up at the airport at 1630 and knowing how tired they would be after 20+ hours of travelling, I thought it would be good if they had milk, fruit and yogurt to tide them over till they had caught up on some sleep. I got flowers and left them as well, it is always nice to come home to fresh flowers.
Sunday LL had another friend over, I did housework, Ibo puttered on the computer and then clipped both dogs. When he was done clipping fur, I clipped nails. Then I took the boys to the carnival and we went from there to famor’s for fika and saw her parents, who were on their way home to northern Sweden. At the carnival LL won a huge chocolate bar, which was a box with 2 kg of chocolate bars inside. He also won 3 more stuffed animals to add to the 4 he won previously, so it was a fun weekend on that front.

We had vegetarian chili for dinner and S & J joined us. We invited her to come along to LL’s dance recital this week, since Ibo has a meeting and can’t make it.

I am back at the books but taking a little break for a coffee and updating.

Wow, it is the 1st of May already? Life is running by at a mad pace lately. What have we done since my last update you ask? I had a lovely birthday, no big fuss, dinner out with Ibo and Llywellyn, which is just what I wanted. There was also a surprise party for me at Ibo’s uncle’s, the excuse for going being that we had not yet seen their new son. He is a darling little baby and it was funny hearing his mom say to a 3 week old, “this is your cousin’s sambo, she just turned 50″. *laugh*

We attended something called a party district congress, a meeting for social democrats from the Stockholm region. I was not picked as a delegate, Ibo was of course. But I was asked if I would be a reserve delegate if someone didn’t show. So at 0715 on Saturday morning, the phone rang and it was Anna saying that I needed to go along. *laugh* There were activities for kids as well, so we all went and it was a very interesting weekend. The only difficulty I had was when one of the speakers was from Denmark and it took a couple minutes to accustom my hearing to his accent.

I am in training for Tjejmilen again. This year I want to jog it, not just walk, so I started their training program last month. It has been a bit erratic with the kidney stone treatments but it is going well.

Kidney stone …. I am booked for a fourth session of blasting in 2 weeks. Monday after the 3rd session I saw pictures. The stone was originally the size of the first joint of my thumb and was located high up under a rib. It was not an easy angle for blasting but after the second session it moved down to a better spot so when they were done the 3rd blasting it is now the size of my thumbnail. As long as it is not moving it doesn’t hurt and hopefully the next session will be the last.

School is going well, big exam next week. Family is doing well, Ibo is as busy as ever as is LL. Ibo has started training Rusty to search and he seems to like it. The first morning they went out I was home and after Ibo dropped him off and headed off to work, he sat beside the door and cried for ever so long. Susan is the same as always, she sleeps, eats, sleeps, eats. I have been taking her along when I train, it is a good pace for her. Rusty wants to run so I don’t take him, I am jogging not running and I am worried that he will pull too hard, in excitement and my shoulder will dislocate again. We do go the dog park so he can play with his friends, whenever I have a self study day. Majong eats, goes out, plays with all the neighbourhood cats and comes home at night to sleep. He will be a year old soon and Rusty will be two next month. Our Applegrove “kids” are growing up. *laugh*

LL is playing violin now as well as dancing. He has a little circle of close friends that visit back and forth and he is settled and happy. It took a long time for him to be settled again after the summer of 2006, but he is finally almost back to the happy carefree boy he was before.

Me, I am content, we are getting along and happy together, as a couple and as a family. I take each day as it comes, I will never really be the trusting, naive person I was 2 years ago, but life is like that. You live, you learn, you move on. *laugh* Post accident, my arm has almost full range of motion but it is still nowhere near as strong as it should be, but it is getting stronger. My sight is the same, I can’t read for any extended periods without blurring and have to sit in the front row for lectures, but there seems to be some improvement, albeit minuscule.

Yesterday was Valborg, so LL and I went to the carnival and the bonfire together and stayed to watch the fireworks. Ibo was out with Rusty and a group of politicians, nattvandring (night walking?). Because Valborg is a big night of drinking for kids, there were a lot of different groups out walking and checking that no one got into trouble or hurt.

Today is labour day here so there were festivities at the local town center, it was fun, I took Rusty along but Susan stayed home. LL met a friend there and they had lots of fun. The guest speaker brought along a friend from the US, who is a supporter of Obama and he made a speech about why Obama is going to be the next US President. It was fun to have a speech in english for a change. *laugh* LL went off with his friend to play and we came home, both night hawks are now napping.
That is the story of life in our house at the moment. *laugh*