Me and the Boys

Today was Henke's first day back at work after a long vacation and some paternity leave. It's the return to the "real" life as we say... when everything that we have been putting on hold because of "vacation" rules kick in, and ohh I'm already drowning in the pressure of it all.

After tripping over kids left and right while trying to get some cooking, baking, cleaning and organizing done I finally threw in the towel and towed the three bears down to the beach with me!
Yet another sunny warm day that couldn't be wasted... if you remember my post about the Swedish sun culture!

Well my friends I'm going back to the kitchen to continue organizing my Nigella pantry into a Martha Stewart one.... sans the crumbsnatchers at my feet!

Finding a gemstone!

I woke up this morning itching to go down to the garage and look at our new cupboard that we found at the flea market outside of town. It's funny how something like bringing a new piece of furniture can inspire you to get started on those boring "things to do", for almost a year now I have been meaning to organize the pantry, and since I need to go through my kitchen cupboards to fill the new one, I said "right" today's the day! So this morning armed with a strong cup of coffee I started the task... lets just hope I can stick it out and complete it! As you see I'm taking a computer break, and now I hear the twins waking from their morning nap... well watch the progress by Friday the entire kitchen should be done!

The Summer Stress of Sweden

Coming from the west coast of Canada I was a bit spoiled, I mean yes we get a lot of rain there but the winters are mild and spring comes early, and basically everything in between is great.

Moving to Sweden made me realize why the people here have an obsession with the weather... lets face it on my little island from October to March it's dark cold and windy! So when the sun finally comes out, the Swedes flock to the beach to soak it up like a man that's just crossed the desert without any water! This month has been extremely hot and sunny... I don't know how many times I've used the Swedish phrase, "passa på", which loosely translated is "enjoy it while it lasts" the only problem is, when you don't make it to the beach you feel guilty about staying inside. Constantly, in my head I'm saying "wow the weather is so great we should be outside..." let me tell you, I've never said this to myself in Vancouver. Anyway my point is, after a good solid 2 weeks of enjoying the weather outside, I was praying for rain just so I could in all good conscious stay inside for the day! Well, it was a hallelujah moment yesterday after giving the twins their breakfast, the rain started coming down in buckets with lightning and thunder!

And yet today I wake and here comes the sun again, uhhh! The irony is, two months from now I'll be ready to shell out some hard cash on those fake sun energy lights that simulate an hour of this glorious stuff that we're getting free right now!

Where does the time go?

When I say "where does the time go?" What I really am doing is hearing my grandmother's voice, if I had a dollar for everytime I heard her say that... wow. Is it me, or once you have kids do things just automatically go on fast forward.... but the real question is does it ever slow down?

Sometimes, I think that all of these conventions that we have to save time... really steal time in the long run. What ever did we do before everyone had cell phones, microwaves, tivo, email, or even the Internet for that matter? I mean wasn't life less stressful then? Or was it that way, just because I was young and didn't have any kids?

My new summer resolution (yes you can have those) is to not stress so much... because like it or lump it, life isn't stopping for no one! So in the words of Bueller "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Skinny Jeans!

Last night Maria came over and hung out while I catharticly cleaned out my closet, stuff to throw out, stuff to donate, and stuff to one day dream of fitting into again. Just as I finished going though the last shelf / basket in my closet there they were.... my skinny jeans, and as I opened them up in front of me, lifting them over my head to get full view, I realized something... man these are some pretty outdated ugly jeans! Which sent my mind racing, when exactly did I have these jeans on last, yes I remember, like the day after my wedding 11 years ago. Man have I been fat for over a decade! Talk about depressing, now I have to go out and bye new skinny jeans because who is going to be motivated to try in get into something that was cool in 1999! Not me.... you see, now I've solved the riddle of why I just can't lose weight, I had the wrong skinny jean motivation.... God knows I'll try everything to be thin again... well besides diet, and oh I'm not so keen on the working out part either!

The chore list!

So today I spent the majority of the twins nap time vacuuming the house. It seems that I spend a lot of my time doing this chore lately, something that I loathed as a child. It was always on my chore list since I was the oldest and therefore the strongest! Why might you ask is strength a requirement when vacuuming, I'll tell you in one word "fliterqueen". Yes this was the R2D2 of vacuums and it weighed a ton and never went in the direction that you wanted it to go in. Man I hated that thing, and I thought it ironic that they call the steel nossel the beaterbar,,, yah you could beat someone with this. I'm telling you someone breaks in forget the baseball bat reach for the beaterbar, it's longer! and has a bunch of cords sticking out of it, with brass prongs!

So now I am older and a total transformation has happened, a miracle if you may, I actually enjoy vacuuming, the hum drowns out the background noise that I am otherwise listening to nonstop and it leaves me with my thoughts. Who needs expensive hyper floating tanks? Not to mention my favorite part when you hear the dirt getting sucked up it's like your the Rambo of cleaners, destroying small villages of crumbs, sand, and stones. In my head I hear the Mafia boss saying "send in the cleaner"!

Anyway, back to what I wanted to share with you, as I said earlier I hated vacuuming as a child and teenager at home, and every time I had to do it you can bet I complained to which my father always rebutted with the same question.... "You don't want to be like Linda Capper do you"? Who may you ask is Linda Capper, well if she only knew the impact she has made on my life, not a vacuuming session goes by without her name popping up, still to this day, and now I am sharing the infamous Linda Capper story with you.

Linda Capper, she was the daughter of my Nana's best friend and rival Joyce Capper. Linda was one of two daughters that never had to lift a finger at home, their mother waited on them hand and foot. So the answer to my Dad's rhetorical question that he always asked when the vacuuming discussion came up was... "You don't want to be like Linda Capper do you? She got married and didn't even know how to turn on the vacuum- then her husband left her!"

So there you go, this summer Henrik and I will be married for 11 years, all thanks to those great vacuuming skills I picked up in my youth! Linda, Linda, Linda, let your story be the beacon for all kids hating the duty of vacuuming!

What are you talking about?

Who ever came up with the expression "sleeping like a baby".... I think people are using it in the wrong context, I mean I suppose when we say "I slept like a baby" or "He's sleeping like a baby" we are talking about good sleep. Well if you think about it, sleeping like a baby could also mean waking up 4 times a night screaming your head off waiting for someone to come in and give you something to eat! Hej wouldn't that be nice!