Starting to look good!

Sarah and I went by the house after I picked her up yesterday afternoon, and it is starting to look good. I am very excited! Here is a preview...

A Blast from the Past

I have mentioned before that Ken's family really have no grip on their family roots. He knows his grandfather is from England, living in Florida, but still a UK resident. But other than that there is no real sense of roots.

In my family we have several very enthusiastic genealogy researchers, mainly some of my aunts. They have been doing this for over three decades now! This has, needless to say, amassed great knowledge about our family and where we came from. Most of the research have been done on our maternal side, and it reach as far back as there are records.

My mother was born on Gotland, but she was actually a Danish citizen (that is how I became Danish). My grandfather is from Denmark, and he has both Danish and German roots.

Sarah, this is for you:

Your maternal ancestors (that we have pictures of):

This is your grandmother Anna with me on her lap. This picture was taken about 3 months before she died. She was born 1950 and passed away in 1975.

This is your Great Grandmother Wivan, which you have been lucky to meet, and hopefully will meet again soon! She was born 1931.

This is your Great Great Grandmother Ester. She was born 1899 and passed away 1974.

This is your Great Great Great Grandmother Albertina. She was born 1881 and passed away 1967.

And this is one of my favorite pictures, with all of them together!

Tuesday at the hotel

Just sent Sarah and Ken off. Sarah actually went by free will, I was afraid she was going to give us a hard time again! The bad thing is I forgot to make and send a lunch with her! She is a super picky eater, and she rarely will eat anything they serve in school. I feel really bad, she has a long day today! Luckily she ate a good breakfast...

Got lots of work to do today. Luckily I slept much better than the first night. It looks like it might be some rain clouds out there, perfect for working... Bob and Stan decided to make one of the little couches into a dog bed, and they are both bedded there underneath the covers.

I went buy our house at lunch yesterday to pick up the mail and water my plants, and what I saw through the window it looks like they had tore up the tile in the hallway. The carpets are easy to get out, but the tile require some jackhammering. We will see this afternoon how the progress is going!

Our hotel room

A quick video from our hotel room:

Empty house!

Yesterday was a long day. We started out by having breakfast out, and then it was non-stop for about 5 hours. The dogs were not happy about all the furniture disappearing, one piece at a time. They figured something big was going on!

When it came to the last pieces, the office desks, we had to ask a neighbor for help, I just couldn't lift one of those desks if I tried all day! Unfortunately the guy was a bit too old and weak as well, they dropped one of the pieces and damaged it. Next weekend when it is time to put the stuff back, we will ask a younger, more muscular neighbor for help ;-)!

I shot a short video of the before look, and will add another video after everything is all done.

The floors were horrid. And all that weird stuff we found underneath the couches! So glad to see that nasty carpet go. And the not so wonderful teal tile.

We checked in to the hotel around 5:30 PM last night. Everything here has recently been remodeled, so that entire place has a very fresh, almost Scandinavian feel to it.

I am not so happy to be crammed into a small hotel room with two dogs all week, but all for the sake of new floors.

I have a lot of work to do this week, and first I was very upset when there was no outlet to hook my regular computer up to. They had told me over the phone that there would be. We still had our laptop, but all my work stuff is on the big computer... Ken was luckily able to tap into the wireless Internet with his portable router, so now I am all set (though at a tenth of the speed I am used to from home!).

Here is the before video:
(Sorry about the "upside-down" sections, I thought the camera follows the movement like it does when taking pictures, still learning how to use my new camera!)

Yikes

Had the dryer looked at. The problem with fancy modern equipment is of course that there are more sensitive components that can brake. In our case it turned out we needed a new control board. It pretty much looked like inside a computer when he took the cover off.

It is going to take a week to order the part and it costs all in all $306!!! I could get a low-end dryer brand new for that... Grumble... But it is a $1,000 dryer, so I am not giving up on it that easy. Half the cost is labor, the other half is parts. The control board is essential a mother board, just like in a computer, therefore the high price...

So that was the money I had planned to use for a new grill. I guess that will have to wait!

The worst thing about this is I was planning on doing lots of laundry, since we will be in a hotel all next week. I am doing one big load of the essential stuff this morning, and then I will take that stuff over to L's place and use the dryer there, they have a coin operated laundry room. It is for residents only, but since we lived in that apartment complex for 8 years I don't feel too bad about using one of their dryers...

It is getting down to the minute here: only today and tomorrow left to pack everything up! A huge benefit is that I haev been forced to empty all drawers and what nots, and there is STUFF everywhere right now. But this also means I have had a golden opportunity to weed out stuff that really isn't needed. I have been dropping off load after load at Goodwill. It also turned out to be a great opportunity to teach Sarah about donations and why I am doing it. Well, to get rid of a lot of crap, naturally, but in doing so actually benefiting someone less fortunate. She was really thinking about the concept yesterday after our visit to Goodwill, and the fact that everyone else is not just like her. That there are people who need to seriously pinch their pennies.

I better keep packing now. It is going to be a loooong weekend with a lot of work. I will try to take some pictures on Sunday after the house have been emptied, so we can get some before and after pictures. Very exciting though!

Great day and secret stash

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. After picking Sarah up we grabbed some lunch and went over to L's house. After helping her with some software, we headed to the pool. It is still a bit too cool for me, but I heard the ocean is actually 75F/24C now, and that is not bad! Maybe we will have time for a beach visit on Saturday...

I put my old Sony camera up for sale, they seem to be pretty popular on eBay. It was $800 new, so I was hoping to get something out of it. It still takes good pictures, but it just wasn't keeping up with me anymore. The auction has 5 more days left and it is already up to $70, not bad! The Mavica has a rewritable mini CD-rom instead of a memory card, and that is apparently an attractive feature for some. It can store huge amounts of pictures in there! And this is a high end model, so even if it only has 4 mega pixels, it has a lot of cool features.

This morning I was driving around looking for boxes, but nothing. Nada, Then I had a brilliant idea! What is one place that receives lots of boxes all the time? Goodwill! And they always load all their donations in large bins for shipping. So where do all those boxes go? Well, they go into a huge stack of boxes kept for people like me that comes by and asks for them! I was so happy I could have hugged the donation center lady!!! I will surely come back with a few of the boxes full of donations here soon anyway...

Lots of boxes!

But life is not always all great. Last night I had washed a load of sheets, and the stuff had been in the dryer for a while. To my surprise the dryer was spinning, but there was no hot air! Most likely just a fuse somewhere, but I am not going to fiddle with that, so a repair man, at a minimum fee of $65, is coming out to look at it between 1PM-5PM.

The washer and dryer are the nicest set I have ever used. Ken got me the extra nice once as a present when we moved into the house 4 years ago. I really, really love my washer and dryer!

My beloved Whirlpool Duet washer and dryer

Boxes?

I am slowly realizing we now have a signed contract, that the floors actually are coming in on Monday!

I have to pack! The entire house (except for the two bathrooms which will be a later project) is being tiled. That means the entire house has to be emptied! We have a hotel waiting for us on Sunday, so that is the day the actual emptying will take place.

I am trying to pack up all loose items (a lot of stuff!) in boxes, so just the furniture is left. But I can't get boxes anywhere! I am not willing to pay $3 each for boxes.... It seems like most stores now a days compact all their boxes after they are unpacked. No more going behind a grocery store to get a bunch of sturdy banana boxes...

I asked at Wal-Mart, and they said I could get as many boxes I wanted. If I came in when their trucks unload. Which is between midnight and 4 AM. So not so interested in those.

We have an Office Depot just around the corner, and it seems like they just fold their boxes and place them outside in a recycle container. We were able to get a few there over the weekend. I think I will stop by there today and ask if they have a good stash hidden inside. Just in case! Anyone have any good tips on how to get free boxes?

After picking Sarah up we are getting some lunch and then heading over to our friend L's house. She needs some help figuring out a new software she needs to use for work, and then we are going to hang at their pool for a while. I got a new pool float I can't wait to try, I am like a big kid that way! :-)

Do I need a degree for this?

I just (finally) got the camera, Not counting the user manuals in Spanish, there are 4 different manuals! One regular, one advanced, one for direct printing and one for the software. This camera is a bit different than my old Sony Mavica CD400, so I might need some time to figure out all the mind boggling options and things this little power house can do! Can't wait for the battery pack to be charged...

What the...?

As you know from below I finally sold our entertainment center yesterday.

I had a posting on Craigslist.org, but hadn't really had more than inquiries. I had previously had it listed for a higher price, with only one offer lower than what we were asking. Now when we had decided to go down in price, I emailed the guy who had offered the lower payment previously.

He said he was still interested, but that he would not be able to pick it up until the following week. He asked if he could come by to look at it and decide if it was what he wanted, and then let me know if he wanted to buy it or not. I said sure, if you come by and decide you want it I will hold it. He was suppose to come by on Thursday, but he never came, called or contacted me in any other way. People change their minds all the time, so no big deal. This other lady called, and they came and looked at it and took it on the spot.

Now a few minutes ago the guy emails me and asks when he can come by and take it. I informed him someone else got it.

I get this email back:

You broke a verbal contract which is the same in U.S. law as a written contract. I could take you to Small Claims Court. Aside from that you earned yourself a poor reputation on CraigsList and showed what you are really made of.

What? We never agreed on anything other than I would hold it IF he decided he wanted it AFTER he looked at it! Which he never did. That really pisses me off, threatening me like that.
I am not sure what he means with "poor reputation on CraigsList, since it doesn't have any feedback like eBay have. Stuff like this really gives me a bad taste. Fia, you if anyone would know, is this a problem for me? Yeez, now you can't even sell your own crap without anyone going postal on you... Creepy!

Bud

Vi handlar ganska ofta på Internet, flera gånger i månaden i alla fall. Det beror ju på lite vart man handlar, men standarden är normalt bud, (auktionsvinster kan oftast vara vanligt post) vilket brukar vara antingen FedEx eller UPS. I min mening så är UPS helt klart den bästa vad gäller hur snabbt man får hem grejjerna. FedEx kan vara segt som sjutton. Och så finns det lilla DHL som man får tas med ibland.

Nu när jag köpte min kamera så var det ju gratis frakt med DHL, och då får man vara glad för det. Men DHL är seeeeega! Jag har följt trackingen för paketet, och enligt detta anlände mitt paket i Bradenton i lördagsmorse. Jag hade då hopp om att de skulle leverera under lördagen, eftersom de ju faktiskt har lördagsleverans. Men icke.

Imorse stod det att paketet har lämnats över till den vanliga posten. Va?! Kan de inte leverera sina egna paket, DHLarna!?? De har ju varit hos oss flera gånger förut, vi får ofta dokumentleveranser för båda våra företag via dem. Mystiskt. Och eftersom den vanliga posten redan har varit här så lär det ju inte finnas mycket hopp om något paket från DEM idag. Fast ibland kan man få specialleverans från posten, speciellt när det kommer paket från Sverige, har jag märkt. Då kör de ut med en liten van. Så liiite hopp har jag allt.

På tal om Sverigepaket så talade min mamma om att hon idag skickat ett paket till oss. Men hon ville inte säga vad det var, så nu blev jag ju väldigt nyfiken! Vi får väl se vad det är nästa vecka, om nu någon behagar leverera det till oss...

Bugs, horses and wolfs!

Saturday night I was getting ready to go to bed. Ken was still sleeping on the couch. I was on the toilet, brushing my teeth at the same time. I notice some kind of movement next to Ken's sink. I look up to see the biggest freaking cockroach! I hysterically try to scream as much as I can for Ken to come, but it is hard with toothpaste in my mouth. He comes running after a while, asking why I am acting so crazy. Crazy? I am stuck on the toilet with a killer cockroach ready to attack! I can just see his very long antenna twitching, ready to pounce (you now these critters can actually fly too!).

Ken is to no help, so I end up having to spray the disgusting thing myself, and I watch and see it slowly die on the floor...

We are pretty lucky to only see one of these once in a while, usually in the bathroom. Anyone living in Florida knows this is a state big on bugs. And you know those really REALLY big cockroaches? The once called Palmetto bugs, aka American cockroach ? Well, they are named after the city of Palmetto. Which is our sister city to the north. 'Nough said... They can be 1½ inches long, that is 3.8 cm! The worst cockroach incident I have ever had was when I just had my surgery, and I was hanging out on the couch. I felt something on my leg, and as my sister can attest to, you have never seen a newly operated woman get up from the couch that fast before!

On to a much more agreeable creature: horses! Yesterday we attended a birthday party for one of Sarah's best friends. This friend is really into horses, so the party was held at the stables where they have their horses boarded. It was a great afternoon! Lots of yummy barbecue, cold drink and horseback riding! Sarah got to try riding on a smaller pony as well as a really big horse named Rocket. She was so funny, she pretended to throw a lasso and yelled yee-haw! Cracked us up pretty good...

They also had their "dog" with them. I say "dog" because he was 60 % wolf. What a beautiful animal! And a nicer dog than Tail you would have to look hard for. He was extremely affectionate and obedient. I sure made a new friend yesterday!

Wolf hybrid breeding is pretty common in the US. It is however prohibited in some states, while other states have some pretty tough regulations, and other states have no rules at all. In Florida hybrid breeding is allowed as long as it is less than 74 % wolf. Too bad I didn't have a camera, it was a very nice looking animal, for sure the biggest "dog" I have ever seen! I think this one was bred with Labrador retriever, it might explain why he was so mellow.

Today my new camera is being delivered, can't wait! We also sold our BIG entertainment center yesterday, and since I decided to wait to get the new TV stand, we have our old, puny little 27 inch TV on one of our side tables right now. The living room looks kind of empty!

Sarah decided to be a very bad girl this morning. It is often a fight to get her to go to school. She wants me to take her, but since daddy passes by her school on his way to work, it is of course better if he takes her in, and I pick her up. But she always fights us on this. This morning she was particularly stubborn, and she kept unbuckling her seat belt and getting out of her car seat. I tried hiding the buckle under the seat, but she is big enough now that she figured out how to get it out. I told her we wouldn't go to the pool if she didn't go to school. But no. Finally Ken had to go or he was going to be late. I gave her a last chance to let me take her to school, but at that time she had worked herself into a frenzy, so no.

I told her she can stay in her room. I didn't say when she can come out. She is in there now feeling sorry for herself, and unfortunately she is as stubborn as me, so she might be in there for a while. Well, she had a good breakfast and she has lots of things to do in there, so she can stay in there. I don't know what to do with this kind of situation. I am obviously not going to do anything physical, I got beat up all the time as a kid, and it doesn't make anyone any good. I have tried to talk to her, and it works fine until it is time to get in the car. And some days she will happily skip out to the car like it was nothing at all! If she has mood swings now, I can't wait until she is a teenager! :-)

Hiding place

She is cute that kid of mine. She likes to hide and jump out and scare me.

This is her hiding under her bed. I have no idea how she fit under the bed, with all the stuff that is crammed under there... Lady bug rug from IKEA.

Words

I am very proud that Sarah is starting to have such an interest in words and reading. Yesterday she had computer class, and they had learned about scanning. She had some papers with her home, and she spelled the word on one S-C-A-N-N-E-R - scanner! Wow! Pretty good!

Then came a not so proud moment: I was in the kitchen and I ran the kitchen disposal. Most of you here in the US know it can be rather load. When I turned it off I hear from the other room: "That fucking scared me, mommy!".

Oops. We will blame that one on daddy...

Renewal

I have noticed that I seem to be in a state of renewal lately. You know, you here about people who for instance break up with a boyfriend, cut their hair off and start fresh kind of.

This has of course everything to do with the very successful surgery I had back in October. It turned my life around greatly, and I am very happy about how it worked out. I was just thinking about the fact this morning, that if I had decided not to have the surgery, or postponed it, who knows what could have happened, considering there was cancer in my colon? It was meant to come out, that is for sure.

I just feel so free now, ready to start a new chapter in my life, one with as little medical problems as possible.

And right now I am renewing and cleaning out here at home. Out with the old, in with the new! I just feel like getting things done, sprucing up and weeding out. Kind of that haircut; off with the tired old stuff, let new growth come out!

Another thing we had to get here before the floors are fixed is a large rug for the living room. We have a heavy stone coffee table, and we don't want it to scratch up the new tile. Plus, I am sure both Sarah and the dogs will appreciate something soft to hang out on. Plus our living room (a so called great room) has a very high ceiling, so a soft rug would dampen any echo effect.

Our decorating style (MY decorating style) is pretty simple. I am not a knick-knack collector, I like clean, simple and modern lines. But I also like some tropical accents here and there, especially palm trees, we DO live in Florida after all. So this is the 5x7 feet rug I got:

Have a great weekend!

Fixat!

Ja det blev lite felstavat här under, TV-bänk var det ju! Tack för tipset Fia, men IKEA var ju såklart där jag tittade först!

Har nu dock hittat en som passar precis. Rätt storlek, rätt färg och i 100 % riktigt trä, villket inte var lätt. Ska hämta den på lördag, den finns i ett par olika affärer, så förhoppningsvis har en av dem den på lager.

Sä här ser den ut:

Hjälp!

Jag har ett enormt stort I-lands problem just nu... Har under en längre tid försökt hitta den perfekta TV-bänken, den som passar oss och har alla de rätta finesserna. Problemet är ju att det är hundratals som skulel kunna vara rätt. Idag ska jag beställa, och jag har oerhört svårt att välja vilken! Ja ja vi får väl se vad det blir...

Other

Sarah has this odd thing she likes to do - it is very important to her to press down on the correct "dimple" on top of her fountain drink - you know, those little things on the soda lids that you can mark what kind of drink is in the cup, so you won't mix them up if you have ordered several.

She likes to press hers, and since she never drink root beer (RB), Coke (COLA), or anything non-sugar (DIET), her drink is usually a lemonade, which would be OTHER. And she always asks me: "Which one do I have, mommy?", so she can press the correct "dimple".

After we had lunch today we were in the car, and she asked me from the back of the car which one she had, and since not all lids are the same, she wanted me to look at her drink. I informed her I couldn't since I had to drive. She was very impatient, and finally I told her she had OTHER and to just look for it herself. She starts to sound out the different options and finally I hear her spell: "O-T-H-E-R - OTHER! I got it mommy!"

Wow! She actually managed to read the word and figure it out! Not bad for an almost 5 year old! So now I am a very proud mommy... See what a little bit of motivation can do? :-)

Blah!

We were denied the request to switch schools for Sarah when she starts Kindergarten this fall. SO now it is uniforms all the way. That sucks! And she won't be able to wear Crocs anymore, that will really not make her happy. Has to be closes toe, closed heal! Fuckers...

Unreal

I can't believe that our new floors are almost here! It feels almost unreal! I have been dreaming about this for years now, so it is an extremely pleasurable thing to finally see it happen!

Not this weekend, but next, we have to empty the entire house. It will almost be like moving! Great opportunity to go though stuff and clean up.

On Sunday the 27 we will be checking into a hotel for a week, dogs and all, and when we get back, voila! A fresh new house!

I just need to sell our entertainment center before next weekend. It is huge and solid wood, so it weigh a ton. It would be nice not having to deal with that then. Our new TV won't fit in it, so I have to get rid of it. We will see if anyone on Craigslist has an interest...

Finally got a new camera!

I am so excited! I just ordered my new camera, and after weeks of reading reviews and trying cameras out in stores, I settled on the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (IXUS 950 IS in Europe), part of their ELPH line. It had an Excellent rating on Cnet.com, and seems to be crammed with all the features that I really want.

I was looking around for the best price and finally found a really good deal on Amazon.com! I was able to get the camera $70 cheaper than anywhere else, with free shipping. They also had a special going on, so I got a 4GB memory card for only $10! I got a nice Canon leather camera bag too. Can't wait to get it!

Gulp!

I went by Target to pick up a few very needed items, plus to have a quick hot dog lunch with Sarah after I picked her up; there were 5 new projects waiting for me when I got back! And they all need their projects NOW, of course. And that is plus the two I am already working on...

A busy week indeed! I don't mind, because the money is a huge bonus right now! I work great under this kind of stress, but I have a tendency to tense my throat muscles really bad, and it feels like you have something big stuck in your throat, a very uncomfortable feeling! First time this happened it really freaked me out, but now I know it is just muscle spasms, so I don't worry about it. But it is majorly inconvenient having this feeling someone is choking you with his or her bare hands! Yikes!

Wohoo!

Tomorrow is the official last day of the TAX SEASON. That means we slowly will starting to get Ken back in our lives again. It is a very tough time of the year, and his firm doesn't even focus on tax clients. Nevertheless, there are about 350 tax clients that have to be serviced, and they all want their returns right away.

This year has been a bit different, since I myself have been working like crazy too. It actually have worked out great, since I haven't had much time to even notice that Ken hasn't been around.

My business seems to continue to boom, and I am planning on taking full advantage of that until my sister comes on June 14. Then it will be vacation time with lots of fun stuff!

It feels great making money, I don't care what they say: money DO make you happy!!! :-)!

I better get back to work, got lots to do this week!

Beach or $$$?

I was planning on working until lunch and then do either the beach or the pool after lunch, but then I got an unexpected job this morning. Mostly I do not get jobs sent to me on a Saturday, since most translation agencies are closed. But I did. It is a $500 job. Would it be worth skipping it and go to the beach instead? I don't think so, that would be a very expensive beach visit!

And just to let you know, even if you slather sunscreen all over your body so not to burn your winterized skin when you hang out in a bathing suit for the first time of the year: if you forgot a spot, however small, the sun will find it and burn it! Hence, a very red, very burned spot on my right knee!

It is probably a good idea to take it easy with the sun in the beginning of the beach/pool season anyway...

And I still have breakfast on the beach and some fishing to look forward to tomorrow!

Turtle in the yard

I was just taking the dogs for a quick walk around the house, when I noticed a weird, dirty stone in between our house and the neighbors. Then the "stone" hissed at me. It was a turtle! It looked like it had dug itself a hole.

I took the dogs back in and returned with the camera. That is just so odd, why would the turtle be hanging out on our grass? He should be in one of the many lakes around the neighborhood. These turtles are also very shy, and it usually is very difficult to sneak up on one.

It appears to be unharmed. Maybe it is dying? Or maybe laying eggs? Or maybe it is just nuts?

I think it is a Florida Cooter, there are many different kinds of Cooters, I am not sure which kind of Florida Cooter this might be. Very beautiful!

2008 premier

Lots of work to do today - but with temperatures above 90F (32C), we decided it was finally time to take a dip in the community pool.

We got the whole pool to ourselves, and it was a bit chilly for my taste, but Sarah was having a great time! 1½ hour of swimming, so she should sleep good tonight.

Ken will be home in 40 minutes, I am taking everyone out for dinner tonight at a local grill called Gecko's. The kitchen is a mess, I am tired and overworked, so a dinner out it is!

We are hoping to make it to the beach tomorrow, now when everyone is well again!

Have a great weekend!

Jaha

Jag tror inte att jag kan VÄNTA ända tills den 28 april på att få nytt golv! Jag ska dock få proven för murbruket som ska sitta mellan plattorna idag, så vi kan välja vilken färg vi vill ha. Alltid nått.

Och idiotkunden på Irland som är skyldig mig $2 500 är seeeg med att skicka pengarna. De kommer säger de. Fattar de inte att jag är pank, eller? Ja, ja. Inte mycket jag kan göra åt det.

Ska tydligen bli infernaliskt varmt idag, upp emot 35 grader!

Sinuses clearing up

Glad they seem to fix themselves, I really wanted to stay out of the doctor's office as much as possible this year. I can actually bend over without my head feeling like it is going to explode!

So we might actually make it to the beach this weekend, the previous try was a total bust due to the cold.

Otherwise the work stream seems to be keeping up around here, I am very happy about that! Now I definitely do not have to feel bad about getting a new TV!

We better take the dogs for a long walk now, they are starting to pace. If I can tear Sarah from her computer that is...

Tomorrow is picture taking day in her school, so I have to remember to put her in the bath too!

Clogged up

I haven't been up to writing much lately. It looked like I escaped most of the nasty cold Ken and Sarah had, and it just kind of fizzled out after a day and a half. Maybe all those zinc pills I took worked?

Anyway, I coughed my way through the end of last week, and then Friday/Saturday I started to notice some pressure in my head, and I have been battling a sinus infection ever since. Usually only about 5 % of all sinus infections are caused by bacteria, most just a virus, so I didn't see any point to see my doctor unless it gets worse. Plus, all the drainage looks pretty clear to me.

I have tried all the tricks I could come up with, and now it seems only the upper sinus cavities are still clogged up. But I am convinced I can battle this on my own. No way I want to chance it and take antibiotics after all those horrible rashes I had to endure in December. I better be half dead before I go through that again!

So all I need to do is keep my head up straight at all time. Because just a slight bend HURTS!

Mountain Cabin

For years we have been talking about driving up to any of the nearby mountains and rent a cabin for a few days. Just relax, enjoy a different kind of nature with mountains and rivers.

My problem trying to find a place is that there are so many!

Our idea was South or North Carolina, or maybe Georgia. Preferably somewhat close to Florida, since it most likely will be a 9-10 hours drive up there.

So do you have any ideas? Just of an area, the cabin itself I can find after having figured out where I am going to look. Only requirement is that it is in a mountainous area with rivers.

I am not looking forward to the actual drive, with the dogs, though they tend to mellow down after 30 minutes of driving or so...

Just something we are thinking about at the end of summer when the temperature is just unbearable here. A little getaway, change of scenery. A bit of R&R.

I have made up my mind

I am definitively getting myself a new TV! Since we are having the house emptied anyway for the new floors at the end of April, it might as well be a good time to renew a few other areas as well.

I put our old entertainment center up for sale on Craigslist, the new TV won't fit in there anyway. And that center weighs a ton since it is all real wood. So if I can get someone to buy it now and haul it away, the better. I won't mind putting our existing TV on a small table temporarily.

Then when we can move everything back in again I will buy the new 47 inch Philip's beauty that I have picked out. I can get a great deal at Sam's Club, their price is several hundred dollars lover than anywhere else I have looked.

The TV I picked out.

And I just found a nice little entertainment table that I think will look great on overstock.com. No more big, clunky entertainment centers here!

...and the TV center that I most likely will get.

So I will wait until the floors are in, probably the week of Sarah's birthday. I am really looking forward to all of this!

AGHHHHH!

The project I am currently working on is bleeding my brain... I will never want to hear about an extruder machine again! It is slooooow, and due on Saturday. I have a feeling I will be up late tonight... Grumble...

Luckily I can do smaller jobs in between this to save my sanity. This manual is one of those gems written by an Asian (in this case Japanese) engineer. The English is eye brow lifting at the best, and you have to start adopting a backwards reading capability, because the English is almost like Japanese; backwards!

But when I feel like just give up I think about this job as my new TV. Because it is. Sigh...

Ödleförspel

Glömde att nämna att just nu håller ett gäng med ödlor utanför (PÅ) mitt fönster på med någon sorts parningsritual. Det varkar vara en hanne som är speciellt på hugget, och han vecklar ut någon sorts "segel" liknande skinn under hakan för att impa på honan. Vi vår väl se om han får sig ett nyp eller inte. Lite underhållning sådär på morgonkvisten.

Den vanligaste ödlan häromkring är en så kallad "Brown Anole". De är bland de vanligaste ödlorna här, de finns i massor och det nästan rasslar på marken när de springer undan då man går ute. Det låter kanske inte så kul, men de är en så vanlig del av livet här så man tänker inte ens på dem. Och de är helt ofarliga, till och med ett nyttodjur med sitt glupska insektsätande.

Här är en bild på en som ser nästan exakt ut som den utanför mitt fönster:

Jobb

Jag tror faktiskt inte att jag har jobbat så mycket som jag gjort de senaste tre månaderna någonsin i mitt liv! Jättekul! Mycket har nog att göra med att jag mår så bra just nu...

Och jag behöver verkligen pengar (vem gör väl inte det). Ska betala en del av golvet nästa vecka. Känns ju kul att bidra till det! Fast jag funderar fortfarande på det där med en ny TV. Det blir nog en inom de närmsta två månaderna tror jag... Lite kul ska man väl få för allt hårt arbete man lagt ner?! Eller?

Ja det finns ju inga problem med att göra av med 15 000 dollar om man så säger... Fast det är ju inte lika kul att betala räkningar :-)

Sarah är förtrollad av Bamse på TV just nu, så jag får fortsätta att jobba tills filmen är slut. Då är det dags med långpromenad för alla. Det är ju en fördel med att jobba hemma med barn och hundar, man sitter aldrig FÖR länge framför datorn. På gott och ont när man ska jobba. Det blir ganska skönt när skolan börjar igen nästa tisdag, både för mig och Sarah tror jag.

Beach!

Planning on going to the beach on Saturday. The first visit of the year! Though the beaches have been packed around here for weeks already. It is going to be in the upper 80F, so it will be warm enough. The water temperature in the gulf is now over 73F (23C), so that is OK. Though I can't wait until summer when the water temperature reaches the upper 80F or 90F (well into mid 30C) ...

I am going to be working like a slave all week, so I could really need a few hours in the sun. Sarah is going to be pretty bored with me by then too, being home on spring break and all. Lucky for her we are getting a rare visit by grandma on Thursday, and she is staying the night, so that will be fun.

I will have no time to clean before mother in law's visit. Oh crap. Oh well.

Hey, L, if you read this and is back in Florida by Saturday (I think you said Sunday night, but in case I am wrong), do you wanna come to the beach? We would leave around 10ish probably.

Ken just said HE wants to go to the beach, but since he has to work 7 days a week now during the tax season, it will be for a dinner visit. So Sarah and I get two beach visits in one day! Cool!

Ok ok!

APRIL FOOLS! April, April, din dumma sill...

In regards to the previous post: There was no bug in Sarah's ear, just some fluid :-)!

Several family members have contacted me feeling bad for Sarah, so I better fess up. A pretty good one, huh? By the way, that is an actual picture of a bug someone had in their ear...

Have a great continued April Fool's Day! He he...

Sarah had a bug in her ear!

We went to see Sarah's doctor yesterday afternoon. Her regular doctor was off this week for spring break, so we got to see Dr W instead, but he is just as nice, so that was OK with us. They quickly discovered what was wrong with her ears! Dr W took one look in her right ear and found the problem. It turned out some kind of small bug was stuck in there, blocking the ear canal!!! Oh my freaking God!!! That is just so disgusting! In Sweden we joke about ear wigs (tvestjärtar) crawling into people's ears, but I have never ever actually heard of anything like this in real life before! Dr W said it is actually more common than one would think.

They quickly got it out, and it was hard to tell what kind of bug it was. It was obviously dead and not in the best of condition anymore... Luckily Sarah just thought it was really cool, and she even asked if she could keep the bug to show daddy So she got it home in a jar...

My camera is not working, so I had to take this with the cell phone (not great quality , but I just HAD to take a picture. Gross... But at least she can hear fine now!