Dinner with friends

Yesterday we headed over to our good friends for a nice afternoon and evening with good food and lots of talking. The kids had fun playing soccer before dinner in their backyard. Too bad they are thinking about moving to California, we sure will miss them dearly. But I understand, they have most of both their families there...

Sarah and S are only a year apart, but Sarah sure is a tall one!

Ken plays soccer with Sarah and the other girls.

Lots of running around!

Signs of change?

The presidential election is coming up here SOON! I am so hoping we will see Obama in office...

It is kind of odd living with a Republican, when most of our political views differ. But on the other hand, Ken is very graceful and never difficult. He is very Democratic in thinking everyone has the right to their own beliefs. We have been following the Presidential debates, and after the last one here the other night Ken is convinced McCain is toast, and that Obama will win. And that is from a Republican!

I did get another good sign yesterday... I was walking the dogs when I walked by two of our neighbors' houses. One had an Obama sign and the other one a McCain sign on their front lawns, just a few feet from each other. I was looking at the signs when Stan the Dog briskly went up to the McCain sign and pissed on it. A sign? Lets hope so! :-)

Supergod kycklingpasta

Igår lagade jag en kycklingpasta som blev mer än godkänd. Hur enkel som helst dessutom!

Spenatkyckling

Du behöver:
1 grillad kyckling, urbenad och skuren i småbitar
ca 150 gram färsk spenat, grovhackad
Soltorkade eller marinerade tomater, enligt smak, upp till 8
2 klyftor finhackad vitlök, strimlad
3-4 dl grädde
salt och peppar
Smör att steka i

Stek upp spenaten med vitlöken och tomaterna. Salta och peppra lite. Häll på grädden och låt småputtra ca 10 minuter. Lägg i kycklingen och låt den värmas upp. Smaka av med mer salt och peppar om så behövs. Servera över pasta eller ris.

Fy vad taskig

Jag känner mig riktigt elak. Imorse skickade jag Sarah till lekis fast hon sa att hon hade huvudvärk, och hon hade lite feber, men lite Tylenol för febern och så åkte hon. Hon är inte den som klagar i vanliga fall...

Men när jag hämtade henne på lekis såg hon väldigt urlakad ut, röd i ansiktet och kändes varm. 40,5 C i feber... Stackarn! Jag har bäddat ner henne på soffan och fått i henne lite juice och febernedsättande. Själv har jag lite feber och har haft ont i huvdet. Så jag vet inte om det är en reaktion till influensa vaccinet som vi båda fick i tisdags eller bara en förkylning, men det är väl detsamma. Usch vad jag känner mig dum som skickade henne till skolan, hon skulle ha haft en dag på soffan med isglass och TV. Hon får lite extra kramar!

Det var ju pressgurka!

Igår kom svärmor, och det var ju kul. Jag hade lyckats städa och jobba hela dagen, hur det nu gick till. När hon kom vid 2-tiden tog hon Sarah till lekparken, och de var borta i nästan 3 timmar, vilket var bra så att jag kunde jobba lite mer.

När det var middagsdags slavade jag rejält för att hon skulle få en fin middag, jag gjorde wienerschnitzel, potatismos och bondsås, och till det hade vi lingonsylt och pressgurka. Pressgurka! Kan ni fatta att min mormor har smugglat en flaska Perstorps ättika ända hit till USA så jag skulle kunna göra pressgurka så som jag kommer ihåg den hemifrån!

Smakade hon? Nä! Hon åt bara en liten, liten bit kött och potatismos, inget annat. Jag fick tvinga Ken att smaka en bit, han kan ju inte säga att han inte gillar det förrens han har smakat.

Så nu sitter jag med en stor skål pressgurka. Tur att det finns leftovers till lunch av allt... JAG tycker i alla fall att pressgurka är toppen! Och lingonsylt! Min kusin riskerade hela sin packning när hon smugglade in ett helt spann av det röda guldet (ett spann gick sönder i väskan...)

Men hallon-, jordgubbs-, blåbärs- och björbärssmulpajen som jag gjorde gick ner bra, med svensk vaniljsås...

Vaknade med en redig huvudvärk i morse, känner mig febrig och inte alls på G. Det är väl för att jag har så jäkla mycket med jobb att göra just nu...

Sarah var också hängig, men med henne vet jag att hon hellre går till skolan än sitter hemma. Hon hade lite feber med, men fick febernedsättande. Kan ju vara en liten reaktion från influensavaccinationerna från i tisdags, men de säger ju att det inte ska vara möjligt. Det är väl bara en liten förkylning.

Tillbaka till jobbandet nu!

Flu shots

It is that time of year again! Last year I couldn't get a flu shot, since I was pretty weak all fall.

But I do not want to get the flu again; the last two times I had it I was so sick I ended up in the hospital. For people like me, with a compromised immune system, a flu shot is a given. But for anyone it would be a good idea, I think.

Both Sarah and I got ours yesterday. Sarah also got hepatitis A vaccine, sine we will be traveling in the Caribbean/Mexico in December, and Hep A (mostly food borne) is pretty wide spread there. (Though you here about cases here in Florida now and then too). I will get my Hep A shot hear soon too. If I got that I could end up very sick, since I have no colon and my water uptake is minimal as it is.

Ken has had a second tax deadline, the regular that everyone knows about is of course April 15 here in the US, but for people that have their tax returns on extension, October 15 is the final deadline. Of course, people have been waiting until the last minute to drop of the paper work at my husband's firm, so he has been working like a crazed man for over a month now.

Yesterday it was finally over almost, and he was home before 4 PM so he could come with us to Sarah's flu shot. She did good, no crying at all, just a bit scary with those two big needles!

I have a lot of smaller jobs to do today, and after Sarah gets out of school (early today at 1:15 PM), my mother in law will be coming over. We haven't seen her since May, so that will be great. She will be staying over night, and Sarah is very excited about that. But of course, that means I need to clean as much as I can before she gets here... And cook dinner and make a pie tonight.

Well, this weekend we are going to a dinner party at a friend's house, and we are also planning on visiting the Amish Pumpkin Festival, it was great last year! (Sarasota have Florida's only colony of Amish and Mennonites, though they are not as strict as the people you will find in Amish country up in Pennsylvania.

Have a great day!

Blödig?

Jag älskar att läsa bevis om att mänskligheten fortfarande kan vara, ja, mänsklig. Dett inlägg från Konsumbloggen i sin enkelhet fick mig faktiskt att lipa...

En dam kommer fram till mig och frågar vad en krabba kostar. Jag upplyser henne om priset och hon berättar att med hennes pension så har hon inte råd med sådan lyx. Hon ser mycket ledsen ut över att återigen behöva avstå från något hon tycker så mycket om (jag känner verkligen medlidande för denna dam, men som lågt stående i butikshierarkin kan jag faktiskt inte göra så mycket).

Jag börjar istället att ta hand om kunden som stått bakom denna dam, en äldre herre som är stamkund. Han köper två krabbor. Medan jag delar dessa och sätter pris går han och hämtar damen som precis varit där, tar upp sin plånbok, frågar mig om priset på krabban och ger sedan damen pengar och krabba och säger:

- Denna ska du ha, och så är det med det.

Damen och jag börjar näst intill storgråta och vet inte vad vi ska säga och mannen lunkar sakta men säkert bort mot brödet.

It is too sad...

Sarah summed it up very well when we dropped Wivan and Ewa off at the airport yesterday: "IT is too sad". She was very distraught and had a hard time saying good bye. On the way home we talked about why they had to go home, and that we hopefully will go to Sweden soon and see them.

The promise of going to see the new Disney movie, "Beverly Hill's Chihuaua" perked her up a bit.

But the house is oddly empty now, that is for sure. Thanks for the visit, we had a great 3 weeks with you guys here!

After getting home from the movies I decided to try and fix my car. For the past week the stereo, clock and electrical outlet has been out. I was fairly sure it was a blown fuse. My husband is of no use fixing this, he is too busy working. It is always a hassle to leave your car at the mechanic's, so I was determined to fix it myself. Changing a fuse is does not affect the waranty, so if that was the case, I would fix it.

I studied the owner's manual and located which fuse it was, then got a new fuse with the correcte amperage (the main fuse box under the hood has spares).

I had a picture of a good fuse and a blown fuse, so I knew what to look for.

Good fuse

Bad fuse (blown)

But figuring out how to get to the blown fuse, that was a bit harder. It required some real gymnastic moves, since that fuse box was located under and behind the steering wheel! I had to lay on my back with my head on the pedals, and with the help of a flash light and a special tool, I managed to pull out the correct fuse, check it and determine it sure was blown. I quickly replaced it with a new fuse, and now everything works great!

It sure made me feel awesome, being able to fix that all by myself...

Today laundry is the activity, but Sarah and I might head over to the mall for some shopping a bit later. Ken is working from home today, which is nice.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Yesterday we headed to Florida's best known botanical gardens - also one of the top ten in the entire US - The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

They are particularly known for their over 6,000 rare and awesome orchids. We enjoyed walking around the gardens marveling at nature's awesome displays.

Can you see Ewa amidst the jungle?

Check out my new knockers (way more environmentally friendly than silicone!)

Canopy of banyan trees

Waxplant, or Hoya. (Porslinsblomma in Swedish)

Banyan roots

Ewa and Wivan in the tropics house, surrounded by orchids

Orchid

Walk among the lush trees

The gardens are surrounded by Sarasota Bay, and at low tide the Egrets enjoy looking for food

Wivan enjoys the view over Sarasota Bay

Hey, maybe these Spanish moss hair extensions will go with my my new coconut boobs?

The sky looks endless over the Bay just after a rainfall

One of the many odd looking orchids we saw

Or what says about this one?

Spa visit

Today we didn't have much to do, so I took the ladies to a local spa just around the corner from where we live. There they received a refreshing Spa Pedicure.

It tickles!!!

After the pedicure itself they got their legs massaged and wrapped their feet in hot towels.

Wivan having her tootsies painted...

Closer look...

Ewa gets wrapped up too...

Happy with the result!

Today we didn't have much to do, so I took the ladies to a local spa just around the corner from where we live. There they received a refreshing Spa Pedicure.