Sweden is best!

Now I feel very proud ... and jealous since I don't live in Sweden and never have experienced being a mom in Sweden! According to Save the Children (Rädda barnen) Sweden is the best country in the world to be a mother!!!

125 countries were ranked in the annual Mothers Index based on 10 indicators. The Scandinavian countries took home the top spots, Niger came in last. US came at a shared spot with the UK at number 10.

Startling enough the differences for a mom in Sweden and one in Niger are huge. A Swedish mom is expected to live until she is 83, and she has an average of 17 years of education. A Nigerian mom can only expect to live until she is 45 and has only a meager 3 years of education.

Smoky haze

I just came back from a long walk with the dogs and it is really eerie outside - there are several large uncontrolled brush fires going on in Florida right now, most in the Central and East state, but the wind direction brings all the smoke over us, it is like a thick blanket of smoke! You can see a few news clips on Bay News 9 web site. Florida has been under a State of Emergency since the fires got out of hand a few days ago. Since the start of 2007 over 150,000 acres have burned in Florida!

It is all yellow and hazy, almost looks like a creepy twilight. And don't even ask about the smell... I don't think we have anything to worry about, since we are surrounded by water, but I feel bad for people in more risky areas...

Today it is all work until I go to pick up S. It is her birthday today! She turns 4! Can't believe she is so big already... She didn't really want to go to school, but the thought of the other kids singing Happy Birthday, the cupcakes we brought in and the fun treat bags she will give everyone, well, it got her chin up. K has to work late today, so I am taking her straight to Hungry Howie's Pizza after school. They have these fun computer games with touch screens on the tables. I normally very seldom cave in to her whining for a dollar, but today is a special day and daddy hooked us up!

My clothes actually reek of smoke after my walk, it is pretty bad out there!

Birthday Party

S had a really great time this Saturday, she loved her princess party! We were 14 people and I had worried there would not be enough food, but no problem there! The cake came out really good, with the princess cake topper's she had picked out. I made a large cake with almond cream in one layer and strawberries in another, iced with whipped cream mixed with almond cream and topped with fresh fruit.

We also had turkey chili, hot dogs, grilled chicken salad, dips and crackers, fruit, cheese and other baked goods. Yummy!

Here are some more pictures from the party:


S shows how many years she is turning


S and L


J and S with their kids S and H

R and R (she is a quarter Swedish!)


S and Z getting ready to dig in


Everyone is stuffed after lunch!


She could barely wait until it was time to open presents!

All in all it was a great day. On Sunday we spent the entire day at Busch Gardens in Tampa, just having fun. Great weekend!

S and I just got back from the beach where we had our official first dip in the ocean for this year! We had a great time!

Bugs!

I forgot to ask... I am under attack! Or I should say my hibiscus plants are! When we moved in here in April 2004 I planted 5 hibiscus shrubs along the walkway up to the front door in different colors. They are great! I usually get the usual bugs like lice, but they are super easy to get rid off, just a spray of water and they are gone.

Now I have some other kind of bugs that are messing up the leaves, turning the yellow. The only thing I can find out is that they might be thrips (trips, blåsfoting in Swedish). They look like the little tiny bugs I see and they seem to act like them too. I have an organic bug killer that I used, but it doesn't seem to work that well. But I am not very patient either...

I don't want my poor hibiscus to loose all their leaves to these tiny critters! Any ideas?

Almost party time!

I was up to 2 AM last night watching TV, darn 2 hour Grey's special! I tried to sleep in a bit to 9:30 AM this morning, but there is so much to do. I was having some problems with the Internet connection as well, very frustrating. Finally I was done with some work I had to do, and for some reason I thought it was 8:30 AM. It was almost 11:30 AM! A bit of a chock! We went to do some errands, some fruit and veggies for the party tomorrow, get a prescription at the pharmacy and to drop of some donations at Goodwill.

The afternoon is going to be brutal since I have been slacking so much! I figured I would start with the baking since that will leave a mess, then clean the kitchen and the bathrooms. After that it is pretty much just cleaning the tile floors left and do some prep decorating for tomorrow.

Oh, I am so excited! My sister just got a blog! Cool!

Well, better get going. This is what happens when you haven't cleaned your house thoroughly for a while, a lot to do! Plus I want her party to be extra special, she is so excited about it. Can't wait for Gräddtårta!

Puh!

Hon är inte arg! Bara mycket att göra på sistonde, plus tydligen hade hennes Hotmail rensat bort mina e-mail... Jag pratar förstås om min älskade syster! Jag får ta och ringa henne senare, ska ut på stan ett tag först. Så här gulligt skriver hon:

"Snälla älskade syster...

Det finns ingenting i denna värld som du skulle kunna göra för att få mig att bli sur/arg på dig. Du är ju min älskade lillasyster."

My sister

I am starting to get worried about my sister. I haven't heard from her in a long time. She lives just outside Sundsvall, and before I moved here I had never met her. Her mom was married to my dad when they were teenagers. She is ten years older than me. We did, however, keep pretty good contact over the phone for many years. And when I was six months pregnant with S she came to visit me here in the US!

We are very alike in our values, but also very different. She has two daughters, wonderful girls. She is a great mom!

We usually talk quite often, but the last few months I haven't heard a pip. I am starting to wonder if I did something?? I don't know. I don't think I did. What would that be? I have been so sick so it has been hard to keep up with long distance relationships. If something serious had happened I would know, since I read her older daughter's blog, and everything seems fine there. Weird. And I am too chicken to call and find out... We will see if she answers my latest e-mail.

I got so much done yesterday, so that feels good. Today S and I are going to finish off all the laundry, then we are going to bake a little for her Saturday party. I think I will make Drömmar, I have a lot of Hjorthonssalt, and the really are dreamy cookies. Then we might just make some brownies too.

Tomorrow I have to do the floors, but first i need to bring S to school, we need to have a meeting to determine if I should put her in the Florida voluntary Pre-K program this fall. Florida has a new program that allows everyone who has turned 4 before the fall semester to attend FREE Pre-K. Her current school is a provider, so she would stay where she is now.

The great thing is that the Pre-K is 5 days a week, 8:30 -11:30 AM, and then I can add on teh afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday for a little extra work time for me. The bad thing is the Pre-K is 5 days a week, 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM. That means you pretty much have to pick her up right after dropping her off. But she really has benefited from school, and if K can drop her off I can pick her up. The only caveat about that is that it is a bit late in the morning for him to drop her off, but hopefully we can work around that.

The Pre-k follows the school schedule, so it will be a great way to ease into school readiness, since she will be starting Kindergarten next fall. Oh my! My little girl is growing up so fast! Anyway, with the free Pre-K and the extra two afternoons I would only pay $45 a week (paying $80 now). The same amount of hours would cost $135 a week without the state paying the Pre-K, so it is a great opportunity.

Work or ... work?

I can't decide what to do. I have a project that needs to be done, but they don't need it right away. It is short but complicated, so it would be nice to get it out of the way though. On the other hand I have a LOT to do this week to get ready for S's birthday party. We will be 13 people, and the house needs a major overhaul. I was thinking about baking the cake base today and freeze it. I already got most of the groceries, I just need to get the most perishable stuff on Thursday or Friday.

I really would like to get out and thoroughly wash the windows too. Maybe even bring out the power washer and really get the grit out.

So I am not sure where to start. Plus all the other things I can clean. I decided to steam clean the yucky carpet on Thursday when S is in school, since it will be wet for a while. That way it has a chance to actually stay clean until Saturday as well.

I need to do all the laundry, wash the dogs, you name it. I figure if I spread it out over the week it shouldn't be a problem. I never have enough energy nowadays since I have been so sick for a few years, I used to be able to do a big cleaning in ONE day.

At least my cold is gone, I am just stuck with this bone rattling cough still, but that is OK, at least no more fever, it really knocked me to my knees!

Mother in law picked up S around 1 PM yesterday and kept her until 7:30 PM. They had a lot of fun, went to the park and played, and checked out the camp ground where she is staying. She is going to be gone for a very long time, most likely we won't see her again until Christmas! She is leaving tomorrow, first stop Texas. Then she is going up to Colorado where she rented a cabin so her daughter (K's sister K) and her kids can come and visit. Then she will go into California and go up trough Washington and cross into Canada to get to Dawson's Creek where she is meeting her friends and embarking on the 48 day long caravan tour of Alaska. Pretty gutsy for being a single 70 year old!

K came home about the same time S did last night. I made some yummy Thai beef with broccoli, and then he was out on the couch, with only 2.5 hours of sleep from the previous day. He was pleasantly surprised when he came back to the office yesterday. He had a nice talk to his employee, and when he checked the log on the software he noticed she had worked hard all day, no goofing off at all. So maybe there is hope that he can keep her. We will see.

Well, I better get started on SOMETHING around here. Maybe I should go outside and do the windows. It is suppose to hit 90 degrees today, so it might be a good idea to do it while it is still in the 70s...

Overloaded husband

I feel really bad for my poor husband. And for myself as well.

Tax season is over, but he still has way too much work. This past week his only employee was out sick for the most part. So he got stuck doing her job as well. She has been with him for a little bit more than 4 months so far, and she isn't cutting it. Her job is not difficult, general office work, some basic stuff. But she forgets everything! She has no detail orientation at all! And I am not talking about anything complicated. She has an employee handbook that outlines in detail each day what she is suppose to do, since K often is out and about. All she has to do is open the current day, look and see. Things like "sweep outside the front door" on Mondays, "water the plants" on Fridays... She forgets all the time! More importantly she forgets to write down appointments with clients. She gets a call, writes it on a Post It and then promptly forgets about it... They use an online Google calender, so she can enter in an appointment and K can access it from wherever he is. But that won't do much good if she forgets to put the appointment in!

yesterday he had to print some stuff from her computer, and he noticed she had made several visits to a few job sites. He installed a surveillance program right after that, and since he is out of the office all day today, he will most likely find out tonight if she is looking for another job. Her contract states she can't use the firm's equipment for personal things, so that would be grounds for dismissal. She is 30, so she shouldn't be that forgetful! He has had several talks with her, given her many chances to step up to the plate, but she continues to fail him.

He really needs help, but real help. It might be better to cut his losses and fire her. The entire hiring process is so daunting, it is really not something we want to go through again. But, people can look great on paper, you just never know until you have worked with them for a few months, unfortunately...

Last night he had to stay until 4:30 AM (!) just to finish payroll for several companies, just because he also had to do her job. I had to call him every few hours to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep... Then he came home and slept for 2.5 hours and then into Tampa for a consulting job. Not exactly the kind of life either one of us wants.

All this working really takes away from our relationship, it puts our lives on hold, which is very, very bad. It better stop soon! I want my husband back!

Vuxenpoäng

Hoppas att denna envisa förkylning ge rmed sig imorgon! Det finns hopp!

OK, denna utmaning har gått runt på sistone, och den går ut på att se hur många ”vuxenpoäng” man har… Själv har jag 32 poäng, så då får jag väl anses vara rätt vuxen…

x Jobb (1p) ? Jo ett av de bästa man kan tänka sig

x Visitkort (1p) ? Ja

x Konferens (1p) ? Då och då, borde åka minst en gång om året dock

- Bor hos föräldrar (-2p) ? Nej

- Vara sambo (1p) ? Nej

- Vara förlovad (1p) ? Nej

X Vara gift (2p) ? Ja sedan 1998

- Skild (3p) ? Nej

x Äga villa (2p) ? Ja

x Ha en bil (1p kombi + 1p) Ja, men ingen kombi

x Hund (1p) ? Ja, 2, Bob och Stan

x Lån (1p) ? Ja, huslån men inget annat som tur är!

- Gemensam ekonomi (1p) ? Nej gillar att ha hand om mina egna pengar

x Pensionsspara (1p) ? Ja

x Storhandla (1p) ? Jo det blir oftast 1 gång i veckan

- ICA-kundkort (1p) ? Nej, men Publix-kort :-)

x Använda rabattkuponger (2p) ? Jo ibland

x Äga hushållsassistent (1p) ? Flera olika sorters mackapärer

x Äga diskmaskin (1p) ? Ja

x Dubbelsäng (2p) ? Jo

x Ha julgran på julen (2p) ? Jo sedan dottern kom in i bilden så

- Gråa hår (1p) ? Tror inte det faktiskt, har inte färgat på ett tag och har inte sett nått

x Celluliter (1p) ? Tyvärr

x Prenumerera på morgontidning (1p) ? Ja

- Lösa sudoko (1p) ? Nej gillar inte siffror

x Välja att inte svara i telefon (2p) ? Jo, men sällan

x Putsa fönster (1p) ? Ha, ha! Vad är det! Ska dock göra det den här veckan så…

- Svampplockning (2p) ? Nej gillar inte svamp

- Långfärdsskridskor (1p) ? Nej!

x Parmiddag (1p) ? Jo, men det blir par med barn!

x Vinprovning (1p) ? Jo det vore kul med oftare

- Danskurs (1p) ? Nej, gillar inte att dansa (förutom hemma för mig själv)

x Partaja till gamla 70-talshits. (1p) ? Jodå.

- Dricka konjak alt. calvados till kaffet (1p) ? Nej

- Däcka före 23.00 dagligen (1p) ? Oftast inte

x Föredra soffan hemma före krogen/puben med bästa kompisarna (1p) ? Absolut

- Spela Bingolotto (1p) ? Nej

- Tycka att Ernst Kirchberger är en riktig pudding (1p) ? Vem?

x Ha höftproblem (1p) ? Jo tyvärr

- Köa till Allsång på Skansen kl 7 på morgonen (2p) ? Nej

x Bli förundrad över "ungdomen idag" (2p) ? Jo *skratt* man börjar väl bli till åren!!!


Alla är utmanade!