Spore

Today it is the world premier of a new computer game called Spore - Creature Creature. We got it in advance a few days ago, and I have to tell you it is pretty addictive creating your own aliens. At only $10 it is a pretty cheap thrill. Of course, a more advanced game will come along later on that they want you to buy, but for now, this is pretty fun.

You can download a free version (limited what you can do), but for only $10 I think it is worth buying. Sarah is in love, she loves creating her own monsters and give them individual personalities.

This game is from the creators behind the wildly successful The Sims series, so you can imagine it is pretty well made.

Check out SPORE Creature Creator and build your own alien. Cool!

Keep it coming!

As you all know by now I work as a freelance translator. I have been doing this full time (as much as being sick and having a new baby allowed) for the last 8 years.

This year seem to have been my breakthrough year. Mainly probably because I am not battling my disease anymore, but I have just become more established and my name is in more translation agencies databases. I have a nice bunch of regular clients that are happy and keep coming back, and I get more referrals from happy clients.

This all translates into more work, which in its turn translates into more money for me. In the beginning it was not at all easy to make a living as a freelance. In fact, I would never been able to survive on my own, without Ken.

But now it seems to produce a regular, decent income! I am so happy, worrying about money is never fun. Yesterday I landed my biggest client as of yet. To start I will do 120,000 words, and that is almost $15,000. In a couple of months! And it seems it might be more coming from that client as well. To top it off nicely the agency manager is very nice and easy to work with, the project is fairly easy, they have a good reputation as to their payment practices (after all, what good is it to make money if they don't pay me?)


I got the first 20,000 words yesterday, due next Friday. This means full time summer camp for Sarah next week, and full speed for me. I should still be able to take time off for both my Swedish visits coming up, first cousin Mari on August 28 and then my mom (grandmother) and aunt on September 21.

And this is on top of regular work that I will be doing to. My plan is to pay off a high interest credit card I have. I am not sure what happen, I know I am not the only one, but all of a sudden interest rates on credit cards just started to go up a LOT! So this gets me a chance to get rid of that. Then I have to pay a large chunk of payroll taxes and some of my student loan that is due in the end of August.

But this gives me a fairly good position for spring to work and put away money for another trip to Sweden... I just wish it was as cheap to go to Sweden as it is for Swedes coming here!

It is a nice feeling knowing I will have money this fall. They say money doesn't make you happy, but it sure make me very happy! :-)

Summer Boredom

So what do you do when your 5 year is whining "I'm booooorrreeeedd, mommy"? Well, if you like me are trying to work, you get frustrated.

So we took a break and went over to Target, we had to start stocking up on school supplies for Kindergarten anyway... I found this cute little play tent in the clearance section. It had been $39.99 and was now just $5. A pretty good bargain! Sarah has now been busy setting up her new "clubhouse" and playing in there. Perfect on a rainy day like this! Turned out to be a good investment...

Roadkill Bob

I know Bob is on the plump side. And that he doesn't move a lot... but today he was apparently mistaken for roadkill!

Sometimes I let him hang out on a leash in the front yard. He loves basking in the sun, and I can see if anyone tried to go up to him from my window (not that he wouldn't bark their head of first).

So when he started barking this afternoon I figured it was just a kid on a bike that went by or something. To my surprise I found to vultures ("gamar" in Swedish) walking around Bob in circles. There were no other roadkill or anything else nearby that I could see as being interesting to them. They saw Bob and saw a meal. Poor thing! Check them out below:

Dentist

Siting here and waiting for my dental appointment. Have to fix 3 small cavities, the kind that only shows up on X-rays and is between the teeth. I hate drilling. Luckily I very rarely have cavities...

Sarah is at Summer Camp all day today. This morning I felt so tired so I went back to bed after she and Ken left at 7:45 AM. Slept for another 1½! That was a long time since I did that! I knew I only had a few smaller projects that are easy to deal with for work, so I didn't feel that bad.

The only positive thing about going to the dentist in the middle of the day is that I can blame that for not having time to clean. Aw shucks! Darn, and I who just was looking forward to cleaning sooo much...

Cypress Gardens

We took the little longer, scenic route to Cypress Gardens, which is located in Winter Gardens, in the mid central Florida. It took us almost 2 hours to get there, but I rather look at farms and pastures than the boring I-75 and I-4 highways roadsides...

We had a very nice day, riding rides and enjoying the beautiful surroundings along Lake Eloise (I can't keep from singing that Swedish "dansbandsdängan" "Eloise" when I hear that name.. Eeeeelloooiiiiss!

We even got Ken to ride several roller coasters, which is extremely rare! There was one of those things that takes you really, really high up in the air and then just drops you in a free fall. Sarah and I went on that, and I was like shivering jell-o after that one, but Sarah didn't mind, even though she didn't like the ride. She got nerves of steel, that kid! On one of the roller coasters Sarah and I stayed on 4 times in a row, since the line was so short.

The scariest ride by far was the "Pharaoh's Boat", you know, one of those ship things that slings you high up in the air until you think it is going to topple over. Not that the ride itself was that scary, no, in the middle of the ride all of a sudden I felt a sting! I look down inside my shirt, and out flies a hornet. Ouch! Right on my boob! That looked a bit swelled and painful for a few hours, but now I just have a faint bruise where the stinger was. But don't get stung on a boob, I don't recommend it! ;-)

Before we left we took a stroll to the beautiful butterfly garden. One of the butterflies took a liking to Ken, as you can see here below:

Sarah and I on our way up in the Ferris Wheel, we got a bit crazy in the rain!

Ken and his new friend.

Sarah and one of the classic "Southern Belles" that stroll around the Gardens.

Crikey!

Just came back from picking Sarah up from summer camp. I had just finished the last work project for the day and figured it was a great stopping point for work, it being 4:15 PM and all.

I did hear the thunder storm outside, but I normally have no problem with thunder, in fact, I love it!

That is, when I am safe and sound at home... Today I had Ken's car, a convertible with a fabric roof... Those lightning bolts were coming from all over and I saw several hit things along the road! I drove all hunkered down in the car, as if that would do much good if some lightning came my way. The dogs were with me in the car as well, and they were just as scared as I was. It didn't help that the rain was so bad I could only see a little bit in front of the car...

I guess Tampa Bay is not called the "lightning capital of the world" for nothing... Apparently 10 people die from lightning strikes in Florida every year. And the statistics say people in their 30s are the most likely to be hit! Yikes!

Fat and healthy...

I saw my rheumatologist the other day. He was all giddy over how good I am doing after the big surgery, but he was especially happy that I had plumped out so much and gotten juicy. Apparently that is the best sign that my body is doing great, that I am able to utilize the nutrients in the food that I eat.

Of course I am not very happy! I had gotten quite happy with feeling skinny. Well, most good things don't last for long. And since I was only 125 lbs after the surgery, I now feel like a stuffed sausage. I gained 20 lbs! I know, I know it is a sign I am doing great and bla blah.

But seriously. I need to start thinking more about what I eat. Not going on a diet, that is a big no no for me, just skipping all the sugary temptations I so crave. All. The. Time. I am a true sugar addict I might add.

So my plan was to stop buying crap and just eat my three regular meals a day. Not diet food, just regular food. No candy, no baked sweet goods. When my sister was here we all went overboard with the eating, really enjoying ourselves.

Now I would like to fit into my old pants again. But on the other hand, I don't think my body is really designed to be a size 6. But a size 8 would be nice. I am a large size 10 right now. But since I am 5 foot 8, (173 cm) I still don't look that fat, more like... little bloated.

I have actually been able to loose 4 lbs this week just by sticking to the good stuff and skipping the junk food. See! But I would like to weigh no more than 135 lbs. Oh well, good luck with that, since I have two more Swedish visits to look forward too, I just couldn't say NO to a great big bag of Swedish "smågodis" now could I? ;-) That would be downright RUDE of me.... ;-)

Leg and work

I probably mentioned earlier that I had a mole removed that turned out to be cancerous. No big deal for me, since it is not exactly the first time. I go for check ups twice a year and I am very aware of all my gazillion moles.

This particular mole was a little tiny black dot on my left leg. Nothing much, but since it wasn't there during my last exam I asked her to slice it off. And sure enough, it was a bad bugger!

Usually when they slice things off that is it. If it was benign, good. If not, they usually got all of it. This time (as a few times before) they didn't get quite the clean border they needed to have to ensure it wouldn't spread. So they had to cut some more.

As soon as she started to cut I knew the numbing meds hadn't taken. So she had to give me more. And more! I got 4 times the normal dose, but still felt a little, but at that point I just told her to cut anyway, since I just wanted it over with. Since this is a secondary cut it is a bit deeper and will likely leave a pretty good scar, so I will make sure to really take care of the wound for a long time to minimize that possibility. This is the first time I had a secondary removal in such a visible spot, so I really want to do what I can to minimize the scarring. Ken thinks I should tell people the scar is from a shark bite or something like that. Sounds better than saying you had a mole removed, ha ha!!!

Since it is a deeper cut I also have to have a pressure bandage on for a while, before switching to regular bandages. Sigh! A bit hard to work today with all that throbbing pain. I might have to dip into that bottle of nice little white pills they gave me for the pain... But hey, at least I am cancer free (for this time)! :-)

Summer slump

I don't know what it is, but I just haven't ha dmuch energy for blogging latly. Maybe it is teh hot summer days... I haven't been doing much but work and clean and othe rboring things the last few days. We did go out and saw some really nice fireworks on 4th of July, downtown Bradenton.

Sarah had her first day back in "school" today (or summer camp as it is called). She was extra excited about going to Smuggler's Cove mini golf park today, something she has been wanting to do for a while. They have a pirate ship and real alligators swimming in a mote!

On Saturday we are planning on going to a place called Cypress Gardens. This is one of Florida's oldest amusement parks.

Founded in 1936, Cypress Gardens was a showcase for Central Florida and paved the way for other parks such as Disney and Universal to follow. The beautiful botanical gardens became the backdrop for beautiful belles and peaceful boat rides, as well as many movies and thousands of advertising campaigns over the years. Familiar Starlets who have visited include Betty Davis, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, Esther Williams and Elvis to name just a few.

Proclaimed the Water Ski Capitol of the World, Cypress Gardens became the birthplace of performance water skiing in 1941.

The park was closed in 2003 after a severe blow to the tourism industry on September 11, 2001.
The park is now reopened and more beautiful than ever! Everything has been renovated, and the park has so many fun rides it is hard to ride them all in one day. The great gardens around the lake are still in full swing, and it is just a family vibe over the whole thing. I think the park is still struggling, since their location in the middle of Florida makes it a bot difficult to find. Last time we were there we could stay on all the rides and ride as many times we wanted, since there were that little people. They also have a nice water park within the park itself that is included in the admission. And that we got 1 free ticket and one at 50 % off doesn't hurt either. Should be a fun day!