... by the sea.

Thursday Thirteen #3

2006-08-17T21:17:00.000+02:00

Thirteen top songs when I was 13
(TeenGirl's idea)

1…. "One Bad Apple" -- The Osmonds
2…. "Me & Bobby McGee" -- Janis Joplin
3…. "She's A Lady" -- Tom Jones
4…. ""Just My Imagination" -- The Temptations
5…. "Brown Sugar" -- The Rolling Stones
6…. "Aqualung" -- Jethro Tull
7…. "Maggie May" -- Rod Stewart
8…. "Imagine" -- John Lennon
9…. "Proud Mary" -- Ike & Tina Turner
10…. "What Is Life" -- George Harrison
11…. "Knock Three Times" -- Tony Orlando & Dawn
12…. "Theme From Love Story" -- Henry Mancini & Orchestra
13…. "Joy To The World" -- Three Dog Night

BONUS: Does anyone remember any of these songs? And can anyone figure out in what year I turned 13? No Googling!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Wordless Wednesday

2006-08-16T11:34:00.000+02:00

Wordless Wednesday

Thursday Thirteen #2

2006-08-10T09:29:00.000+02:00

Thirteen Reasons I Hate Being Sick
(As I was all week long)

1…. I don't get sick often. That makes it harder. (Hey, it's my list.)
2…. Poor TeenGirl gets "Dani duty". NOT.EASY.
3…. I have to take care of myself, because Hub won't take off work
-- unless I stop breathing.
4…. Little sympathy from Hub (of course he's the world's biggest
baby when HE'S sick).
5…. Always prolonged because I don't get enough rest.
6…. All the lovely mess is left for me to clean after I get well.
7…. Everything goes to my lungs first.
8…. Fluorescent green goo. (Sorry).
9…. Coughing up a lung.
10…. Coughing up so much, my ribs hurt.
11…. Coughing so hard, I break blood vessels.
12…. Headache. Headache. Headache. Headache. Headache.
13…. Giving it to the kids. =(

NOTE: I will give some credit to Hub. He cancelled the appt. w/ insect-spraying people instead of leaving me to face it on my feverish, hacking and snotty own. That and the fact that it's so poison, even humans can't be in the premises for FIVE HOURS after spraying. Um... NO. Now where did I put that diatomaceous earth Carrie sent me... ?

Is this good or bad?

2006-08-08T09:08:00.000+02:00

You Should Rule Jupiter

Huge and hot, Jupiter is a quickly turning planet with short days and intense gravity.

You are perfect to rule Jupiter, because you are both dominant and kind.

You have great strength and confidence, but you never abuse your power.

You are always right. Even if you make mistakes, you compensate for them... before anyone knows it.

Headstrong and ambitious, you always have a goal in mind. You are optimistic and believe thing things will always work out.

What Planet Should You Rule?

The Sabbath

2006-08-05T16:44:00.000+02:00

Those who have read my xanga blog know that I keep the original Sabbath and not "The Lord's Day" on Sunday. But I'm fairly new to Blogspot so I thought I would take the time once again to explain why.

Sabbath (Shabbat) was instituted by the Creator at the time of creation.

"On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce." (Gen. 2:2, 3)

The Sabbath commandment is a sign of God's promises to the nation Isra'el.

"Tell the people of Isra'el, "You are to observe my Shabbat; for this is a sign between me and you through all your generations; so that you will know that I am ADONAI, who sets you apart for me. The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested." (Ex. 31:13, 16-17)

God's covenant with the nation Isra'el is written as a marriage contract. The New Testament does NOT supersede that covenant but is an extension of it. Jesus kept the Law, quoted Scripture and celebrated the Feasts during His lifetime. As Believers, we are grafted in and partakers of the covenant.

Jesus specifically stated, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20)

Sabbath is a perfect picture of what life in Messiah is to be. Paul wrote that the feasts and Sabbath are a "shadow of things to come" (Col. 2:16,17)

Just as Isra'el were slaves to Pharaoh who worked them without rest, we too were slaves in Satan's kingdom under the bondage of sin (Romans 6:17). Even more, just as Isra'el could not deliver herself out of physical bondage, we are not able to deliver ourselves out of the bondage of sin. (Romans 3:10-12, Ephesians 2:1) Our deliverance was accomplished when Y'shua (Jesus) atoned for sin, setting men free. (Eph. 1:7; 1:13,14; 2:13-15)

Our life before rebirth is the picture of slave labor to sin, and it is through Him that believers enter "the seventh day rest". In accepting the gift of His sacrifice, we stop trying to gain salvation on our own (which is futile) and rest in the finished work of Messiah.

The Sabbath is a weekly reminder of what Jesus has done for us. Just as Isra'el wanted to return to Egypt, we have a tendency to go back to the old ways of trying to "achieve" righteousness on our own, and it is essential that we remember not to do this. (Galatians 3:1-3)

God blesses those who observe the Sabbath in the way He intended.

"If you hold back your foot on Shabbat from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call Shabbat a delight, ADONAI's holy day, worth honoring; then honor it by not doing your usual things or pursuing your interests or speaking about them. If you do, you will find delight in ADONAI - I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Ya'akov, for the mouth of ADONAI has spoken." (Isaiah 58:13, 14) "And the foreigners who join themselves to ADONAI to serve him, to love the name of ADONAI, and to be his workers, all who keep Shabbat and do not profane it, and hold fast to my covenant, I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer... for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples." (Isaiah 56:6,7)

The Eternal Sabbath was kept:

By all the Old Testament Prophets of the LORD God of Isra'el.
By the early Christian Church long after the death and resurrection of the Saviour.
By all the early Apostles, including the Apostle Paul.
By Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus Christ)
And by GOD (YAHWEH) Himself.

"So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God's people. For the one who has entered God's rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his. " (Hebrews 4:9, 10) "For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will continue in my presence," says ADONAI, "so will your descendants and your name continue. Every month on Rosh-Hodesh and every week on Shabbat, everyone living will come to worship in my presence," says ADONAI." (Isaiah 66:22, 23)

I choose to keep the Biblical Sabbath instead of man-made tradition. Please don't be offended; I'm not saying that I'm better than anyone else. But this is what was revealed to me and I am sharing it with those who may not have heard or who may wonder why I am following Christ so "differently" than everyone else. May God be glorified.

Shalom.

Monday Bullet blog.

2006-07-31T09:57:00.000+02:00

How was your weekend?
Poor Hub was sick.
He virtually never gets sick.
If he does, it's gone in 24 hours. No kidding.
Sometimes I wish I had his constitution.
This time, it was different and I was getting worried.
No matter what we did for him, he got worse.
It started with a sore throat and runny nose.
By Sunday, he had a fever
the shakes
was nauseous
he just felt terrible.
It suddenly dawned on him at about 6 pm
he hadn't had coffee since Friday.
After one cup, he felt much better.
All of his symptoms gone except for the runny nose.
Yep, caffeine withdrawal. ROFLMBO!
Today he is right as rain and off to work again.
No, we aren't going to let him forget this one.
Treatment will begin with coffee from now on.
Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain.
Sounds lovely, dunnit?
Thank You, Lord (literally) for the lovely respite.
My garden is standing tall again.
There is nothing like a soothing rain ...
Wondering if the "bugmen" will show up today.
Friday morning, I heard a preteen scream and came running.
It looked like somebody threw an ant bomb in the bathroom.
Just as many winged females as males.
EVERYWHERE
In the only bathroom.
Danibear has reverted to using the potty chair.
I have to put her kiddie pool outside to get her to bathe.
She absolutely refuses to go in the bathroom now. *sigh*
Two steps forward, one step back.
Shell has shut down her weblog. *cries*.
Xanga was my only contact with her.
Miss you, Shell.
Haven't been able to log on to Yahoo IM either.
Rats.
Introduced my kids and Hub to "Starman" last night.
I love that movie although the FX are a giggle.
Not so pleased with "Enough", which I hadn't seen before.
It was okay. The best part was the last 15 mins. or so.
Anyone want a husband beaten up?
Just kidding.
Here comes August already!
Tell me about your weekend.
Shalom.

Thirteen Explanations

2006-07-30T16:04:00.000+02:00

Some have asked me a few questions about my TT list. Here's a short explanation:

I spent the first 6 years of my life in Dracut, MA. My mother died when I was five and nearly one year later, we moved to Tyngsboro, which I consider my hometown. Thirty-five years later, I am still in touch with some of the people I knew there. To my horror, we moved from our small rural town to the big city -- Lowell -- when I was in Jr. High (middle school). I really hated it at first and fantasized that we would move back to Tyngsboro for years (like some kids wish their parents would remarry after a divorce). I never did adjust to city living. I lived there until I was 18.

By that time I was married (at 16, actually) and with child. My then-husband was in the Army and stationed at Ft. Ord, CA. He went ahead to get an apartment and I joined him in Seaside, a military town 7 miles or so away from the Army post. Our first child, a girl, was born in the Army hospital on Ft. Ord.

Some years later, Ex had to choose "overseas duty". At that time, the choices were Alaska, Hawaii and Korea. I couldn't accompany him on a Korean tour of duty, so I wouldn't have seen him for nearly 18 months if he chose that. Neither of us were interested in Hawaii (we had heard a lot of things from others who lived there) and we thought Alaska was intriguing. So with two girls under the age of three and pregnant with daughter #3, we moved into Army quarters in Ft. Wainwright, AK. My daughter was the last child born in the old maternity ward at Ft. Wainwright so I had the whole wing to myself. It was cool. We lived there for three years and even though the weather is extreme in the winter, we adored living there. We tried everything we could not to leave, but when the Army calls, you run. I was so upset, I became sick at the thought of leaving. But we had to go.

For a while, I lived near my Aunt Suzy in Addison, MI, a tiny village (Pop. 96) in southern Michigan. Suzy was my youngest aunt; only 11 years older than I was, she was more like the sister I never had. We love each other deeply and I spent as much time as possible with her until Ex sent for me to join him at Ft. Hood, TX. I had to take a bus from Michigan to Texas, 8 months pregnant with our only son, Roan and accompanied only by three children under the age of 4. It took three days. The only way I can figure we managed with no problems is that God was truly watching over us. It still amazes me to this day.

We lived a few different places in Texas and some years later, Ex left the Army. We decided to try living in Springfield, MO for a while as the brother I am closest to lived there. By this time we had one other girl, making a total of five children. Ex and I were having problems with our marriage, as he was not able to adjust to civilian life. He thought that life in Springfield was boring and wanted to move to his home state of Kentucky. He didn't believe I'd leave, so he lied about not being able to find a job and talked his family into finding us a place near them.

Our marriage never recovered. During one of the many times we were separated, I moved the kids to Florence, KY, which was closer to my new job. It's not a bad place but still too "cityfied" for me and I met very few nice people. We moved quite a few times in the 12 years I lived there, but I never adjusted to living in that place. It wasn't the state itself but I seemed to keep meeting the wrong people. I finally divorced my husband.

It was there that I met my current husband, Gunnar. By this time my youngest was 16 and doing well, so she stayed with her biofather to finish her education in the States while I moved ahead to Sweden. Daughter #4 never finished school under her father's care and when she turned 18, she decided to stay in KY to be with her boyfriend. Gunnar and I lived inland in a place called Vetlanda (Wheat Land) for quite some time. We have three daughters ages 14, 12 and 4. This year he found a better job and we moved to Gothenburg. We live in the country, on the outskirts of the second largest city in Sweden.

I lived in Hollywood, FL and Coalville, Utah while in my teens. I've lived in many more places in the States, but I thought these were the most interesting.

The question I was asked most often is, "Where was your favorite place to live?" I would have to say it is a tie between Alaska and Sweden. Alaska is beautiful and the people are wonderful and warm, but it is incredibly expensive and the winters are so harsh. Sweden is also beautiful; it's about the least polluted place you will ever live. But Americans (and immigrants in general) are not very welcome unless they "become" Swedish. It is difficult for immigrants to get a decent job here -- and much much worse as a female immigrant. Food is fresh but terribly expensive and SAHM's are frowned upon here.

If I could have a combination of Swedish and Alaskan land, the Swedish medical and dental system and environment and Alaskan people in one country, I'd be a totally happy camper. Our next "target" is England. I'd love to see what it's like to live there...

Thursday Thirteen #1

2006-07-27T21:24:00.000+02:00

Thirteen Places I've Lived
(Borrowed from Gina)

1…. Dracut, MA.
2…. Tyngsboro, MA.
3…. Lowell, MA.
4…. Seaside, CA.
5…. Ft. Wainwright, AK.
6…. Addison, MI.
7…. Springfield, MO.
8…. Ft. Hood, TX.
9…. Florence, KY.
10…. Hollywood, FL.
11…. Coalville, UT.
12…. Vetlanda, Sweden.
13…. Gothenburg, Sweden.

Bullet Blog

2006-07-24T08:38:00.000+02:00

I apologize for not updating sooner.
We really have been busy.
The garden is doing very well.
We've done lots of berry picking.
And putting up of said berries.
Hub has been helping me sort out the school books.
And he finally got ALL but 6 moving boxes done!
He cleaned out the storage area.
Sorted out the boxes in the house.
Dumped a load of junk. Wow.
Inside the house, we assembled Danibear's loft bed.
She is so excited about the "big girl" bed.
Went to bed on her own last night, no fuss.
Yesterday was TeenGirl's birthday.
She's 14. I can't believe it!
Hub arranged a ride in a race car for her.
She can't wait to drive *gulp*
Anyway, she's been wanting a double bed for her room.
Yesterday, we suggested that she and her sister go shopping.
Birthday money burning a hole in her pocket. ((LoL))
While she was gone, we bulldozed her room *snort*
Then set up the new bed.
She was sooooo surprised when she got home!
Then we took her swimming, which she loves.
Had to make them get out of the ocean.
It was getting dark.
Today, I'm making her favorite dinner.
Taco pie, salad and a Boston cream pie for dessert. Yum.
We have two cats, Phoebe and Joey.
They became pregnant at the same time.
Phoebe delivered six kittens a week ago.
Yesterday, Joey had five. (We lost one).
I now have a DOZEN cats! ACK!
Hub and I finally have a bed of our own.
We have 2 twin beds that can be made into a king.
There is now a king-size bed in my living room.
It will have to do for the time being.
I'd love a murphy bed but they're so expensive.
That's the past two weeks in a nutshell.

Steal this meme:

2006-07-08T23:35:00.000+02:00

Wikibirthday to you.

"Go to Wikipedia and do a search for your birthday (day and month only, exclude the year).
Post three facts, two births and one death on your blog including the years."

Here are my facts:

1276 - Magnus Ladulås crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
1930 - Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
1981 - First International Women's Day for Disarmament.

Two births:

1819 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
1956 - Michael Jackson, Northern Irish clergyman

One death:

1543 - Copernicus, astronomer (b. 1473)

Shabbat Shalom!

2006-07-08T11:43:00.000+02:00

Hot Enuf Fer Ya?

2006-07-07T14:34:00.000+02:00

Wow. After enduring the coldest, wettest spring weather in this area since 1925, the past 10 days have been unbearably hot (in the 30's C -- that's the 90's to low 100's F). I'd forgotten how humid it was to live on the coast. (Don't care; I still chose Gothenburg over Smaaland any day!)

Any cooking is done in the cool of the early morning or late at night. We had some leftover pancakes so I decided to treat the girls to their first masoor dal, a delicious and spicy stew from India. Masoor dal is also the name of the pulse; they're red lentils (which are actually shelled brown lentils). Confused yet?

Lentils are beneficial to the heart and circulation, they stimulate the adrenal glands and support kidney health. They have the shortest cooking time of all the pulses. Anyway, at the risk of this becoming a foodie blog, here's the recipe:

Masoor dal

approx. 250g split red lentils soaked and washed
1 large onion chopped
2 or 3 carrots chopped
2 or 3 potatoes chopped (optional)
3 teaspoons of veg or other boullion
2 teaspoons of turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin powder
2 teaspoons of coriander powder
OR a liberal amt. of Garam Masala spice powder
2 teaspoons of dried coriander leaves (or use fresh coriander liberally)
finely chopped fresh garlic and fresh ginger
4 tablespoons of olive, garlic, or chili oil

Method
Soaking and washing the lentils helps to improve their digestibility. Wash until the water runs clear and soak for at least 30mins before cooking. Discard the soaking water.

In a soup pot or dutch oven, use half of the oil to fry the spices on a medium heat. After about 1 minute add the chopped onion and fry until soft, but not brown. Add the chopped vegetables, the lentils and about twice as much water in volume as the lentils and vegetables. You may add more water later as the lentils absorb it.

While the water is heating up, add 3 teaspoons of boullion and 2 teaspoon of dried coriander leaves or any pot herb or sea veggie like kombu. Bring this to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer. It will take about 40 minutes to cook, but keep an eye on the pot in case you need to add more water. The lentils should be soft and mushy. Remove the kombu.

A few minutes before serving, fry the rest of the olive oil in a little pot on a medium heat adding 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic and ginger if liked. Fry until just about to turn golden brown. Stir this into the dahl just before serving. Add salt and pepper to taste. It makes a pot full; at least enough for 4 people.

Now what are the pancakes for, you say? You've missed something if you've never had beans and pancakes. All right, I see that face you're making; my kids made it too -- until they tried it. Just take my word for it -- if you make the dal, pour it over a few pancakes in a soup bowl or just tear the pancakes up and mix into the soup. It's yummy poured hot over rice too, for you less adventurous folk. On a hot day like today, we make a pot, let it cool and put it in the fridge, then eat it cold. YUM.

"Stolen" from a friend.

2006-07-05T13:12:00.000+02:00

What does your first name mean?
Alyx is a derivative of Alexander, which means "defender of mankind".

What does your middle name mean?
Teresa (Theresa) means "harvester". I kid you not.

What does your last name mean?
It's Swedish for "sandcastles" or "sand fort"

So what does it mean put together?
I'm the guardian of the sandcastle who likes to grow food and forage? Does that sound like me? Slightly?

What would you have been if you were the opposite sex?
Well, my mother had a son before she married my father and his name is just "Ricardo" -- that's it. However, my other male sibs are "Philipp Geoffrey Joseph Roland" and "Roland Philipp Joseph Geoffrey", so I would probably be "Joseph Roland Geoffrey Philipp" or "Geoffrey Roland Joseph Philipp". It's scary. Please don't ask. I have no idea why, nor do I want to know...

Any other name oddities?
What? Isn't that enough? Yeah, it gets worse. My maiden name, "Ouellette" is pronounced "Wool-ETTE" -- which makes for all kinds of interesting childhood nicknames: omelet, quillet, owlet, woolite, etc.

Do you like your name?
I like it well enough now, but hated it when I was younger. As if my last name wasn't traumatic enough! When people heard my first name without seeing me, they thought I was a boy; if they saw me, they usually thought it was "Alice" and I'd get teased about being Alice in Wonderland. Ugh. I INSISTED that everyone call me "Teresa" until I was well into my 30's.

What do you like best about it?
As a writer's name, it's short, it's concise, it describes me to a "t".

What do you like least about it?
The Swedes call me "AWW-licks". It's creepy and obscene. I wanted to name Danibear "Drew" but Gunnar told me no Swede would be able to pronounce it.

If you had to change your name (witness protection, pen name, whatever), what would you want it to be?
Something silly, like Crystal Klier, Liz Tourine or Inga Pengar -- which is Swedish for "No Money". BWAHAHAHAHHA! And I look soooooo like an "Inga"

At a loss ...

2006-06-29T12:16:00.000+02:00

In Sweden, mothers are given a year's maternity leave with 70% pay and guarantee of their position afterwards. Sounds great, right? They don't tell you that after the first 365 days of your baby's life, you are expected to just hand him/her over to daycare until he/she is old enough to go to school. Then stick the child in there from 7am until 7 pm, when you can pick him/her up after work and have dinner together, just in time to tuck him/her in and do something for yourself before going to bed.

Most have a summer cabin and they spend July camping (or take a trip abroad) and to Liseberg (biggest amusement park) but that is usually the extent of their "togetherness". The state teaches your children that they (children) are superior to their parents; an independent unit entirely. Swedes are taught from birth not to display affection -- especially in public. It's little wonder that Sweden has one of the highest rates of child suicide in the world. The Swedish "family" in a nutshell ...

TeenGirl is on the threshhold of womanhood, and desperately wants a "dad". Her biological father deserted her when she was three, but she was willing to give her stepdad a real chance. She loves him and wants to do father/daughter things together. She is going through a rough patch right now (14 isn't easy nowadays) and needs a "daddy" to talk to and lean on. She is looking for a hero.

Because of his upbringing, my husband does not recognize her needs. I've tried explaining to her that people show their love in different ways; in Hub's case, he treats her fairly most of the time, goes to work every day and provides for us. He's not perfect, but he does love her. Sadly, it's still not what she NEEDS and she sees his cool distance as total indifference.

No, it's not just her; he treats our other girls the same way. Yes, I've tried talking to him. I could see it coming a few years ago but Hub still does nothing to improve the situation and TeenGirl has become resentful. I keep praying for wisdom and that their relationship will be restored -- I won't give up. But in the meantime it seems I must stand here, stuck in the middle of it all, and watch them drift apart.

It breaks my heart.

So shoot me.

2006-06-28T23:57:00.000+02:00

I cook by instinct. I never measure anything; just ask my sister-in-law. For the first year her brother and I were married, I always made a funny face when she asked me for the recipe of whatever it was we were eating. It was because I just kind of throw things together and they work; I didn't know what to write but I also didn't want to offend her.

I made vegetable soup today. My kids would sell one another for a bowl of my soup. Either it's very good, or I have very weird kids. At any rate, I have herbs in my garden and always use a lot of homegrown or foraged fresh foods in my cooking. This time, I plopped a rosemary sprig into the pot at the very last, for flavor.

Now, for the past few days, my girls have been giving me the dickens. For a dozen years, Teen Princess and Preteen Girl fought like cats and dogs. Recently, they decided to get along. The only problem is, they're just as noisy when they get along as when they were fighting. I don't mind, but they are robust girls and every now and then, the fun turns into a fight. Then they revert back to the old way, bickering and tattling on each other until I want to put my head through a concrete wall. After that they're best friends for a while ... and the cycle begins anew.

Today, we are in "best friend" mode, but my nerves are still a bit frazzled. So when Preteen Girl followed me into the kitchen, jabbering away as usual, I saw the opportunity for revenge. "Time to check the soup," I said when she took a breath. I lifted the pot lid with a flair -- and froze.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"Get me a fork please." She obligued and I lifted the sprig out of the pot with a mixed expression of puzzlement and disgust. It was perfection.

"What in the world?" I asked, not smiling one bit. "How did this get in there?"

Preteen Girl recoiled from what looked to her like a piece of pine branch in the sacred soup. "Ewww!" was all she could think of saying.

I knew I had to go in for the kill or I'd laugh and blow it. "I hope there weren't any bugs on it." I managed to mumble. Sniffing the herb casually, I shrugged my shoulders and threw it back in the pot.

You should have heard the screams. Mission accomplished.

*snort*

I'm On A Roll!

2006-06-25T02:27:00.000+02:00

Check out the chick on the sidebar...

Town Day.

2006-06-20T18:24:00.000+02:00

We have a number of things to do: the kiddies monthly junkfood takeaway (takeout?); buying two back summer tires for the Audi; trips to the grocery and the gardening warehouse. All this (and a bit more) must be accomplished, plus tummies must be filled before Gunnar goes to the football (sorry, soccer) game in Gothenburg with The Guys.

Gunnar called the municipality to get a list of the school books, so we can buy copies of the Swedish history, nature and language books for grades 6 & 7 of the coming year. She was out, but people are good about calling back here. And we don't have to tell them we're homeschooling (causing animosity towards us from Square One).

TeenGirl News.

Stop the presses! TG recently decided to accept her sisters' differences and be kinder to them. She's keeping her word. Plus, she is washing the dishes and doing chores each week for money; I haven't had to remind her once to do her "job". I'm so proud of her. Could my baby be growing up? Even more important: does this mean I might actually SURVIVE her teenagehood? Stay tuned.

Danibear News.

Dani seems to have graduated from the little aqua potty chair to the toilet (but 'we' still don't poo in there). Considering that the average age for an autistic child to be potty trained is supposed to be 7 to 9 years, I am pretty durn satisfied with what she's doing.

Either Dani is one big kid or Victoria is tinier than I thought. Dani is now wearing the clothes V wore when she was TEN YEARS OLD. *faints*

D-bear also has a new obsession: Alice In Wonderland (Disney 1951). She doesn't like any other versions, but will watch that one over and over. She kept walking around the house calling "Alyx? Alyx?" and I thought she was talking about me. Thought that was pretty strange -- considering that she calls me "Mama" -- until I realized she was looking for "Alice", using "movie speak" as spectrum kiddies are wont to do. *BG*

PreteenGirl News.

And last but not least: PTG has a job admin-ing on a virtual Swedish kids website and spends a lot of time there. She just finished the Jump Start 5th Grade adventure (again) and is reading through the Narnia series this summer. Now if I can just get her to go ride her bike ...

Full report when we get back. Have a good Tuesday, All!

A few pictures.

2006-06-18T00:01:00.000+02:00

First of the front/side beds; I love being able to grow things again! Click on the thumbnails to see the full picture.

Hello, the ocean!

2006-06-10T22:45:00.000+02:00

We spent the day at the ocean. Boy, am I piling up the pics to edit. A preview...

Click on the thumbnail to see the full size. This is the boardwalk we had to follow to get over the rocks to the water. BTW: Those two white dots are Victoria and Danibear. Yikes.

I'm here.

2006-06-04T17:39:00.000+02:00

Sorry for the slump, Everyone. I've been spending every spare moment (*giggles hysterically*) working in the garden beds with Victoria and Dani. Will have pics soon!

It's going well, but we still have the biggest bed to cultivate (have to do it by hand, too -- no rototiller). I have to do it ASAP so I can get the melons and potatoes planted in time. That would be NOW.

I love gardening; it's so theraputic. And having the girls to work along side me, even with Dani's kind of "help" is a true joy. Shalom

Back To Reality.

2006-05-26T00:56:00.000+02:00

Elliott: He's a man from outer space and we're taking him to his spaceship.
Greg: Well, can't he just beam up?
Elliott: This is REALITY, Greg.

Phone calls to the family brought with it a lot of news. Not all of it was good.

A while ago, my sister Rachel had a tumor removed from her arm -- and to our joy, it was benign. Now there's one growing on the back of her hand and we pray the diagnosis will be the same. She had a BIG prayer answered about her living arrangements. And we are most grateful.

Morgan (DD#3) is only 27. About a year ago, she was diagnosed with SVT (heart problems). She has acid reflux. Now she has just been diagnosed with emphysema. But the outlook is good for her; the doctor says that everything she has is reversible. She's being a good girl and taking her meds religiously in order to help her body heal as much as possible.

Alicia (DD#4) is only 24 and at the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. But she has developed heart trouble and her blood pressure has shot through the roof. She is swollen with water. The doctor is talking pre-eclampsia and wants her on bedrest. Alicia and the father of the child just split up (after she quit her job to be bedridden. Yeah, nice guy.) and she is terrified. Please pray for the women in my family if you are so enclined. Part 2 of 2006 is beginning to look more than a little bit rocky...

Scarybear.

Um... apparently Danibear is reading. We thought it was pretty neat that she could recognize logos from (telly) commercials. Then she began to "read" the titles of her favorite books, but Gunnar dismissed it because " we've read them to her so many times and she can identify the books just by sight". But last week, she brought me a book and as looked it over, she picked out "come", "back", "yes" and other simple words from the story text. Each "guess" was a correct one.

Last night she handed me a CD she found and said, "Look, Mommy! Harry Potter!" I looked at the label, and sure enough it was. I was convinced, but he still wasn't. "She must have recognized the letters from all the times she's seen it. Doubting Thomas, eh? I would agree if it was the famous "lightninged" text, but there was nothing to give it away, only a pictureless label with the words written with felt tip pen by Hub.

Today we were in the store and the girls were looking at some ceramic banks. "Come, Mommy." Danibear beckoned me. "Look -- it's MY love!" I strolled over to where she was, only half paying attention. Then I stopped in my tracks as I saw the statuette: a little girl, holding a picture frame where the caption in BIG letters read, "My Love". There's no way she could have possibly guessed or identified it. She HAD to have read it.

So I bought some magnetic letters and put them on the fridge to see what would happen. The first thing Dani did was spell out her name. "Look." she smiled. "Dani!" I'm thinking about starting her on the McGuffey's Primer ASAP. Don'tcha love watching the "light bulb" blink on when something just "clicks" inside a child's mind? If life with Dani has taught me anything, it is to not take anything for granted.

Shalom.

UPDATE: Okay, now this is getting scary. Hub hid an RPG that Dani likes on his computer. It's a spy game called "No One Lives Forever" and in mid- April we decided that hewould take his computer to Gothenburg and the game would "disappear" forever because we don't like her "shooting" people -- not even "spies".

It is five weeks later and she is playing games when suddenly the old intro fires up! It seems that the little genius opened a file and typed "no one" in the search window. Four years old, and she's already outsmarted Dad. Can't wait to see her in ten years. Yikes.

Red Letter Day.

2006-05-25T23:08:00.000+02:00

Today is officially "Ascension Day" in Sweden and Gunnar had the day off, so we decided to go to the HUGE plant store in Gberg and take advantage of the Mother's Day sales (Mother's Day is this coming Sunday if you live here. Father's day is in November, but that's a whole other post).

We bought:

A dozen strawberry plants - to plant in the bed where the huge-antic rhubarb plant lies. Yum.
Ten packs of seeds: some flowers whose name I only know in Swedish; late-season carrots; pumpkins; sugar baby watermelon; red sails lettuce; parsley; yellow onion; broccoli; onion grass and two different kinds of marigolds (which are natural bug repellents). We already have some herbs and a cherry tomato bush growing at home.
Various bedding plants: petunias, daisies, impatiens, alyssum to plant in the boarders in front of the house.
A spider plant and candy-striped geranium to go with the gazillion other house plants.
A kiddie pool for Danibear. We only have a shower and it freaks her out. It's no fun having to drag her in there kicking and screaming EOD and I feel sorry for her. No one believed it would help but when we got home I made sure she saw me place it in the shower and start filling it. I tossed a few of her toys in and after I turned off the water I asked her, "Do you want to play?" She couldn't tear her clothes off fast enough. Jumped right in and even asked for more water. Now will they listen to me? Prolly not *sigh*.

We also picked up some groceries and a few other things. We were supposed to be buying gifts for me with the money I got from Gunnar's aunties but I have more fun giving so I spent about 1/10th of it on this adorable ceramic bank for me and bought some toys and trinkets for the girls with the rest. If it's hard to figure out by the photo, it's a little "jeans" backpack, complete with "pocket" and "straps" in the back. It's so detailed, it even has the cloth fabric pattern in the clay. I just fell in love with it so now I have something cute in which to throw my spare change.

I got a few more things done -- not bad for an invalid, eh? (Note to Jordan: the boys' birthday gifts are now on their way). Gunnar went through some more boxes (yay!) and he found my headphones (YAY!), put together the TV shelf (Woo hoo!) and hung my kitchen shelf (DOUBLE YAY!!) In return, I made chicken and rice for dinner and a strawberry-rhubarb pie with some of our freshly harvested rhubarb. I even made a smaller pie for the couple upstairs and still have plenty to "put up". And this is just the first cutting of the year!

Anyway, it's back to regular life tomorrow. I plan to make some time to garden and play with the girls outside if the weather permits. We have bubbles, badminton and this thingy that launches round plastic helicopter blades into the air to choose from. Then Shabbat to celebrate at sundown, with good food and family time. Yes, life is truly exciting in the Sandborg household. ((sNoRt))
Shalom.

DSL Drama (cont.)

2006-05-23T13:04:00.000+02:00

Rackin' frackin' DSL. It should have been on and ready to set up when we moved here May 1st. Hub has made repeated calls to the provider.

List of excuses:

Week 1: It may take extra time to register, as you moved out of your municipality. (The whole population of this COUNTRY is less than NYC, everything is electronic and they couldn't "find" us?!?)
Week 2: The account wasn't transferred properly and you and your wife must sign these contract papers. (We did. Nothing.)
Week 3: You have a balance of $19.96 due. (We paid it. Still nothing.)
Week 4: Oh, we found the problem! Someone connected it to your old phone number and of course it couldn't go through...

Hub smiles at me, "Well, at least they figured out the problem. And they're going to give us a month free of charge (we pay quarterly)."

So now we have to wait ANOTHER week for it to kick in. I mumble, grumble. "They'd BETTER give us a month "free"! We have been with out DSL for a whole month now; why should we pay for a service we didn't get?" (If you feel sorry for Gunnar, don't. If he'd have let ME talk to the guy, I'd have yelled at him instead. Gunnar is smart; if I DID yell at the guy, we'd probably never get our DSL ...)

Anyway, it really pixxes me off that the guy on the line tried to make it sound like something special: "Oh, and since it was our mistake, we're giving you a free month..." GRRRRRRRRR! Am I being unreasonable?

Speaking of phones, we gave the Teen Princess an early/late birthday present. (Early, because her birthday is actually in July; late because we promised her a phone last year and the one we bought never worked right.) This one is a red Sony Ericsson z1010, with a built-in camera, video and voice recording, bluetooth and polyphonic ring tone. It also stores/plays mp3s and has downloadable games -- she loves it. For a service provider, we chose Halebop, a Telia company. Mobile-to-mobile calls are free and the monthly payment for each phone card (mobile-to-phone calls) is around $2.50 each (we have three cards).
What a phone-y post this has turned out to be!

Stole this from Harlem_Lady:

How to make a Chasing_Dani

Ingredients:
1 part friendliness
1 part humour
1 part ego

Method:
Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of caring.

Welcome Xanganites!

2006-05-21T20:50:00.000+02:00

For those who don't know, for personal reasons I have decided not to continue writing about my life/family at Xanga. I didn't want to give up the account, because someone dear to me gifted me with a year's Premium but couldn't figure out what to do. Another dear friend advised me to turn the Xanga blog into a photo blog and since we have so many things to show about the second biggest city in Sweden, the gift will not be wasted.

The same friend who suggested the photoblog also suggested (a while back) that Teen Princess and I should try our hands at podcasting, and I'm going to try it. (You always have the neatest ideas, Buddy.) Soon you'll be able to hear my child-like, southern-gal-with-a-Swedish-accent voice warbling at you semi-regularly from the world wide web. Scary.

I'm a bit psyched because I've already begun to lose weight again. I don't know how much because we don't have a scale, but I do know that my clothes are looser than they were three weeks ago. Gunnar lost 15 lbs. in the first two weeks of his commuting, because he couldn't raid someone else's refrigerator or eat a gallon of ice cream at 2AM. (He did, however, use their bathroom scale.)

We have a HUGE patch of rhubarb ready to harvest, the cherry tree is dropping its blossoms already and I've counted three large currant bushes (so far). I can't wait to plant the garden; Gunnar wants potatoes and I want some melons, bush beans and pumpkins as well as the standard salad veggies; the front bed will be planted with strawberries and the small beds in front and alongside of the house will hold a variety of flowers. I'm planting edible blooms and herbs too. We'll have lots of fresh stuff to eat.

I'm so much happier here; Gunnar's making a real effort to keep his promises. Of course, it's easy to tell that he's happier here too. Shame on me; I was overwhelmed with responsibility and sooo busy feeling sorry for the rest of us that I didn't realize how much he missed living in the place of his youth. We were both fish out of water...

Busy, busy, busy

2006-05-13T11:26:00.000+02:00

But it sure is nice

This week I've been unpacking and sorting more boxes and the weather has been gorgeous so I've been outside with the girls, working on the garden/flower beds. There are two HUGE garden beds that need to be weeded and tilled and three big flower beds that look like no one has tended them in forever. So each day I do a little bit and then today Victoria worked on one of the garden beds while Gunnar and I weeded the huge flower bed out front. He mowed the lawn and V & I trimmed. Nila played with Dani and then picked up and dumped the pulled weeds. We took a break to buy Saturday candy and found this nice confectioner's shop in downtown Kungalv. It was a good day's work -- and the yard looks nice. It will be beautiful when we get the stuff we want to plant.

Shabbat.

We had a lovely fresh cod for Erev Shabbat. Gunnar showed me the old Swedish way of boiling up salted water (with onions, carrot and peppercorn) and putting the pieces of fish in the water to cook as the water cools. The fish was perfect with boiled potatoes, white sauce with chopped boiled egg and veggies. We had a nice, relaxed dinner and I read to them from "Celebrating the Sabbath", which tells why we should celebrate. Grape juice for everyone!

Gunnar and Dani were tired and fell asleep fairly early. The girls and I stayed up a bit late because I was telling them "Twilight Zone" stories. I used Epguides.com as a prompter and explained the chilling tales for them. I hope one day we can get the sci-fi channel so they can watch the show like I did when I was a young person. No one gets past the censors like Rod Serling did.

Alyx "goes" to the movies. (*Spoilers*)

After sending them to bed, I was still awake (okay, so I was a little spooked!) and I watched this Italian movie (all Italian movies are weird) called "Arturo's Island". It was weird but actually pretty good and way ahead of its time (1962). Arturo is a 15 year old boy who lives on the Island of Procida in the Bay of Naples. He fends for himself, for his mother died at birth and his German father is always going away on long "trips". One day, Wilhelm (the father) brings home a gorgeous 17 yo girl named Nunziata and marries her. But he is a moody fellow and soon feels trapped on the island, so he leaves one day and stays away for 18 months with no word to his family! Arturo and Nunziata learn to depend on each other and become very close, as Nunziata gives birth to Wilhelm's child. Arturo falls in love with Nunziata but feels he can never reveal his love to his father's wife.

The movie covers a lot of subjects in a non-distasteful way: homosexuality, coming of age, bad parenting and survival. If you can get past the strangeness of a movie that is not American, you'd probably find it as fascinating as I did.

Nope. No Title.

2006-05-08T14:39:00.000+02:00

Summer reading. Gearing up for next year. Amusing.

Yesterday we went to the island of Marstrand to tour Carlstens Fortress. (I have photos I will post when our DSL kicks in sometime this week.) On the notice board was an announcement that "Taming of the Shrew" was going to be performed locally in September. How perfect that our rotation of Shakespeare this year for Ambleside begins with "Taming"! It was just a good omen of the different kind of life we'll have here. Guess what is going to be a part of our summer reading program? Of course!

I know this school year isn't over yet, but I am already getting psyched up for next year. I finally got to unpacking some of the books and loved being able to place the books about Rembrandt and Michaelangelo on the homeschool library shelves as well as more books that, IMO, the girls are ready for this year. The foreign language dilemma (which, like everything else, is a financial one) is solved: the girls will do copywork from the NIV Bible in English, while Teen Princess will copy corresponding verses using the Spanish version and Preteen Girl will copy hers using the French version.

In the "Ludicrous Dept.": We were in the Vetlanda news again today. It seems that the municipality is suing the court in Jonkoping because they feel the court did not act quickly enough in the matter of fining me (for refusing to hand our children over to public school). Either Herr Svensson (AKA "Evil Director") has gone completely bonkers or he thinks he is making an example of me to discourage other parents from taking back their parental rights over their own kids. Or maybe both?

The funniest is the part that reads (translated): "The American mother has fled Vetlanda with her two children. Their whereabouts are unknown." Everyone who knows us knows this is about us -- and they also know that I am neither scared, nor running. Neither Svensson nor the media is fooling anyone; it would take about 15 seconds online to find us. But that would be futile as they can do nothing to us anymore.

All I can do is shake my head in disbelief.

In Retrospect ...

2006-05-05T12:56:00.000+02:00

In March, the landlord asked us to move out by the 1st of April and Gunnar (hub) signed a part of the lease releasing the apartment. It may have been the language barrier but I got the impression that we were being evicted. It seemed strange because the landlord never complained when Gunnar was on sick leave and now that he's back at work, we'd started paying off the back rent as well as the present rent payment. But anyway...

Hub has been working 200 miles west of where we lived in southern Sweden. He stayed in Gothenburg all week (at relatives') then spent weekends at home. I was having a time of carrying it all (the kids, the homeschooling and allllll the packing) on my own and it has taken its toll, let me tell you. For two months, everything was my responsibility. I give all the credit to G-D because if it were up to me, I'd have been plucked bald or sucking my thumb in the corner by now.

Sorry; I digress. We did find a place (this time near Gothenburg) but it wasn't available until May 1st. We had been searching since March and this was the first apartment available, so Gunnar paid the deposit and signed the contract. We prayed for a place to stay during the month.

The only option we had (besides a shelter) was to stay with a friend of Gunnar's -- a 60-something minister getting ready to move himself to a smaller home, as the parsonage was a HUGE place that the county decided was too expensive to maintain for one family. I could see why when we got there: I counted eight bedrooms on the top floor alone! As it turned out, Krister (the priest/minister) was mostly moved out already and we barely saw him. We basically had the whole estate to ourselves and it was wonderful... except we had no Internet connection.

We had a great time, me and the girls, doing things together (reading, playing games, going out for walks among other things). When the day finally came (April 30) none of us could sleep; I woke up around 4 am and the older girls shortly thereafter. I'll write more later; hopefully I will have pics soon too but not a good thing to upload on dialup.

New Blog.

2006-04-20T11:25:00.000+02:00

Starting a new blog to go with our new life on the west coast of Sweden. Skål!