Meet our latest addition!!

Say hello to Bella!!  She's our new baby!  She's 10 weeks old at the time of this post and a total gem.  We picked her up today from a really sweet family.

She is half leonberger and half bernese mountain dog.  She is going to be a very big dog!!  She seems to have a very laid back temperament, and loves to lay around and sleep.

I saw her on Blocket.se and well talked my boyfriend into going to look at her in person last weekend.  We drove 1½ hrs to see her.  Spent the same amount of time there playing with the puppies.  For me it was a toss up  between 2 dogs.  But for my boyfriend there was only one.  The only puppy that had white toes, our Bella.

So we went home and talked about it.  I was an absolute yes, and he was a maybe.  As you can see, in the end....I won.  :)  We had some hurdles to overcome and some logistics to figure out.  But it all turned out wonderful.

So we picked her up tonight, and had to drive home again 1½ hrs.  After finding out the puppy got car sick and threw up on the way home from the vet's earlier.  lol.  So we were a little nervous.  We put a blanket on the backseat, and I decided to sit back there with her to keep her company.  So as soon as the car started moving she came and laid down next to me.  A few times during the car ride she seemed to get a bit agitated.  But we managed to make it home without any incidents.  By the end of the car ride though she climbed into my lap and wouldn't leave my lap.  Even when we pulled into up to our apartment and I opened the car door.  She didn't even try to move (which is good at her age...I just hope she stays that way).

We got her inside (See video) and let her explore the apartment for a few mins.  Then we put out food and water for her.  It seemed as though she was afraid of the food bowls.  At one point I had to feed her out of my hand, and got her real close to the dog bowls.  She even decided to drink some water and briefly stuck her head into her food dish....but then it moved and she jumped away.  Hahahaha.  But I guess later on she changed her mind about the dishes.  :)  Sorry for crappy quality.

All in all we are super happy with her!  She's very sweet.  We hope she will become more comfortable with us and here and all the kids and other dogs in our neighborhood that are dying to meet her.  So far she doesn't seem to want to be far from us.  She is absolutely adorable when trying to fund down the hallway to one of us.  She just looks like a rhino or a bull (in miniature of course with fur).  She's just so muscular and strong looking.  Built like a tank!

Now, a little bit about dog shopping here.  Dogs are more expensive here then in the states.  We don't really have pounds and shelters here like back in the states.  People spend an insane amount of money on their dogs ($500-$1000 for mixed breed and $1500-$2500 for pure breed).  There is even a law here that says you can't leave your dog home alone for more then 4 hrs.  And people bring their dogs with them just about anywhere.  During the summer they are everywhere in the town square where all the restaurants and cafes are.  So buying and owning a dog is a bit different here.

Oh and she did the cutest thing tonight!!  When she was exploring, she walked under our coffee table and stopped and stared at the tv cable box.  Then all of a sudden she started growling at it.  It was hilarious.  She is apparently very sensitive to sounds, including the dull hum the cable box makes.  Hahahaha.

All in all I'm thrilled to death and we are so happy!

It's Official!!

I am a permanent resident of Sweden!!

My temporary visa was approved on October 13, 2008.  It was valid for 2 years (so expiring next month).  So 2 weeks ago I went to go and renew it.  We went to the immigration office in Västerås, and spent about an hr there.  We turned in our application for renewal as well as additional documents.  Spent 200 kr the night before getting passport sized photo's taken, only to discover they don't use those anymore.  Now there is this biometric machine thingy that takes the picture for your visa's and passports and stuff.  Then we find out it was more then 30 days until my visa expired, so they couldn't issue me a decision then.  So we would have to come back another day (closer to the expiration date) and do our "interviews" and get our decision.

So we went back today since it's less than 30 days to expiration.  We met with a case worker, who had to ask us some questions.  He made my sambo leave the room, asked me the questions (and we chatted about life and stuff for a bit and about or latest family addition), and then had my boyfriend come back in and asked him the same questions to make sure our stuff matched up. Some questions such as:

• Are we still in a relationship?
• Do we still live together?
• Do we intend to keep living together?
• What are some future plans?
• What does each do for work (or school)?

We passed.  He said he believed we were in a serious and real relationship and had no problem issuing me a permanent visa.  And he told me that Sept or October next year I can come back and apply for citizenship and after a passport.  :)  So I'm all kinds of happy and excited!

So now Sweden is stuck with me!

It has been a fabulous day!

-FXA

Misc. Stuff

Okay, so I'll be honest, I don't know what I'm actually planning to write about here.  I just know it's been weeks, and I'm past due.  I guess I could do a misc. Sweden blog?

1.  It's election time again.  Every 4 years the parliament is up for grabs.  And this is the lucky year.  I don't know much else other than that.  I can't vote yet.  Need to be a citizen.  But what I have learned is so far Sweden has a substantially higher voter turn out rate then in the states.  Something like 90-95% of the population comes out to vote.  My boyfriend isn't into politics at all.  But when I ask him if he is going to vote, he says "most likely".  I'm not sure the turn out is such a great thing if many are like my boyfriend and don't care.  But it is nice to see people attempting to take an interest and take part.

2.  Driving in Sweden.  Holy crap is a license here expensive!!!  My American license was good here for 1 year, and after that I had to get a Swedish license to drive.  And most cars here are stick shift.  Well like many modern Americans, I grew up driving an automatic.  So, I need to learn how to drive manual.  I learned 15 years ago, but never used it.  Here's the thing, both me and my authorized driver (my boyfriend Nick) have to go to a class (which is only in Swedish) to get approved for a learner's permit.  Then once that's done, I have to study a book about the rules, and practice driving.  Somewhere along the way I have to take an alcohol class and get an eye exam done.  Once I feel ready, I can go ahead and take the written test.  When I finally pass that I have 2 months to take and pass the practical driving test as well as the hazardous road condition test (mainly for icy roads).  Once all of that is paid for and passed I get a license.  I may have missed a step somewhere, but ugh my brain is already hurting.  Oh and did I mention all of this stuff adds up?  Especially if I end up taking any classes at the driving school.  It's just insane!!  But I've got time to worry about it.  :)

I think I'm going to end this one here.  I promise I'll try to write more.  I have several things to write about this week.  Lots of updates!!

Furnished Apartment Tour.

I did one tour video before we officially moved in.  So here is an updated tour video, where you can see our new HOME that is furnished.  :)  It's not totally done, we still need little things here and there (and curtains in some rooms).  But those things are a long way off.

Oh and I sound like I have a lisp or something, but I think it's just because Nick kept making me laugh.  :)  I hope you guys enjoy the video!  Oh and I took the video using my digital camera, so it's not the best quality. Sorry.

Apparently foolish

In answering my last blog post, it was foolish.

I went back to school this week.  And by school I mean swedish language class through Komvux (adult ed courtesy of the swedish government...and tax payers).  I pulled like 15 kg of crap out of my backpack for class. All my workbooks, insanely heavy dictionary, notebooks, reading books, etc.  Well my teacher happened to view upon Stieg Larsson's first book in the millenium series...in swedish.  Immediately afterwards she pointed out that the book was still too advanced for me, and would take far too long to read.  So it has gone on the back burner.

In the meantime, she gave me another book to read and listen to on tape.  And when I say tape, I really mean tape.  When she showed me the cassette tapes I had to stop and think if we had any equipment in the home to actually play a tape.  Sure enough my sambo still has a boombox from 15 years ago that has a tape deck.  The book is called Den Röda Vargen by Liza Marklund.  That translates to The Red Wolf.  My boyfriend says that she is one Sweden's most popular writers and has won awards so I have high hopes for the book.

So Stieg out, Liz in!

Optimistic or foolish?

As many of you may know I am an American now living in Sweden.  I have been here for almost 2 years, and have struggled miserably with the language.  Nothing against the swedish language, I've struggled with all languages.  I was even in the slower reading group in primary school in America (but thankfully I've overcome those shortcomings).

So I had this ingenious idea, thanks to my boyfriend's mom.  I figured I'll work on my comprehension and vocabulary by reading a swedish novel.  I mean, I did the kids book thing, and my swedish teacher at Komvux (long story, will explain later) gave me a book to practice reading with.  Wasn't really for real young children, and yet not for adults, nor was it a novel, but rather like short stories.  So a few weeks ago my boyfriends mom gave me some books she said were must reads!  All in swedish of course!  So what does she give me?  Stieg Larsson's millenium trilogy.  You know The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the other 2 books.

Random FYI:  In case you didn't know this already, the author is swedish, and they have already made the books into swedish movies.  Which have been quite popular here.  And I hear now they are intending to turn them into american movies.  And I hear that Stellan Skarsgård (Alexsander Skarsgård's father....he plays Eric in the True Blood series), is in the running for a role in the american trilogy.  So there's a bit of swedish entertainment facts and speculation.

Now, bare in mind that I watch tv english tv here with swedish subtitles and I can sometimes read the newspaper and easily navigate swedish websites.  So I figured a novel couldn't be too much harder.  Hahahaha.  So tonight I started reading the first book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Well, needless to say, I couldn't get very far without my handy dandy swedish-english dictionary nearby.  I didn't need to look up every other word, but anywhere from 1-3 words per sentence.  So I guess that's not too bad.

I mean, I'm really not that good with the language.  I can't speak it to save my life.  I sound like a blathering idiot.  And my vocabulary when listening and speaking seems to be quite basic.  Yet when reading I can generally understand or figure out what the word is, and then what the sentence is talking about.

I'm hoping that by this time next year I'll be finished with the 3 books.  If they were in english, I could probably get through them in a month or so.  But it took me 20 mins to read one page tonight.  lol.  I don't have the highest of hopes.

But I do hope the book lives up to all the hype.

Telia = Incompetence

I have never in my life experienced such idiocy.  This could be a super long blog, but I'm going to try to get the cliff notes version.

Our new apartment in Torshälla doesn't have cable already in the building.  Just antennae.  So we have to arrange our own cable.  And since the cable doesn't come into the building, most companies won't offer us service.  So we have to get our cable through the internet via only 2 company options (Telia or Boxer), or via satellite (and the equipment is super expensive).

Here's the kicker.  To get tv through the internet, you have to have your internet through that company.  So it kind of ends up having to be a package deal.  So we decided to sign up with Telia for phone, tv, and internet all through DSL.  Here in Sweden you have to give your utility companies 3 months notice if you plan to terminate.  At first we were just going to move the, but then that wasn't an option.  So the month before moving, my boyfriend calls and gives everyone notice (since he had 3 different companies for all 3 different utilities).  Well Telia says they'll handle the switch over, and we can get our boxes before we move so we can connect them ourselves we get into the apartment (as we were moving over a holiday weekend).  Yeah. FAIL!!!

First, no boxes.  Second, just about everything told to us when we signed up with them proved to be false.  Third, every person we spoke to on the phone over the course of about 5 weeks told us a completely different story, reason, date, excuse, etc.  Then we got our boxes (3.5 weeks AFTER moving), and they forgot the box for our second tv, and the box for our first tv doesn't work.  So we got a non-functioning HD record box and a modem.  The following week we get our replacement box (still missing box for 2nd tv but arrives a few days later), and they haven't switched over our phone from a land line to internet line.  So we get a bill for a phone line that we didn't order (which was 3x as much money).  Then the next day they switch over the phone to internet, but every time the phone rings or your pick it up to make a phone call the tv stops working and then the modem reboots itself.  Are you freaking kidding me?!?!!?  Well last week (1 week after having the new replacement box), there is an issue and the tv stops working.  I talk to 5 people over 2 days about getting it fixed and each person I speak to tells me a different thing, gives me a different reason for the outage, and then one tells me they need to send us ANOTHER box to replace the 1 week old HD recordable box.  Turned out to be a software issue that was fixed after 10 mins on the phone!!!

So I've pretty much been the one handling all of this crap for the last month or so.  My boyfriend is quite passive and isn't much for making a stink about things.  So every time I had to call I asked to speak to a manager, only to be told there are no managers there.  Say what?!?!!?  Well I end up getting a number to a complaint line, speak to them, get connected to their compensations department (bet your sweet ass there's going to be some compensating going on!).  So I deal with this nice gentleman who does his best to speed things along.  Been dealing with him for about 3 weeks now.  We are getting a decent financial compensation and we get a bit longer then normal to test out the company and see if we want to switch.

Now, this is the short version, trust me it was a lot worse then just one paragraph.  So, most of you are already probably thinking CHANGE COMPANIES!  That's what I've been saying, but my boyfriend doesn't want to switch to boxer because the channel selection sucks and they are more expensive.  I suggested switch to satellite tv and keep the phone and internet with Telia (as those haven't had too much of a problem).  But we have to pay for the equipment up front (approx 3500 kr or approx. 500 usd) and again might increase the monthly bill.

The good news is so far this week there hasn't been any major issues.  Or even minor ones for that matter.  But when I was speaking with the guy from the compensations department I asked him if they actually trained their employees and for how long.  Because I have never seen such incompetence in all my life.  And no, it's not a call center in Dubai or something.  I mean, they can see our file on the computer screen, and all remarks made by the previous people we talked to, and yet every single time we spoke to someone we got completely different and contradictory answers and remarks.  It was astonishing to say the least.  Well the guy said they do train them for 3 weeks.  Perhaps thats not long enough.  Total lack of consistency.

So the end result.  We went about 3-3.5 weeks without any internet or tv in our new apartment.  And then spent another 1-1.5 weeks having issues with one or all 3 of the utilities via Telia.

So I'm going to give them 2 thumbs down.  I even tried talking to Sweden's largest newspaper about running an article on their customer care and incompetence.  Only to read in the paper the following week about how Telia reported record high Q2 profits.  Only god knows why!

If your reading this in Sweden and looking for a company to switch to for your home services, don't bother with Telia unless your ready for a massive headache!

-FXA

Lets get our read on!

Since I just spent the last 3 weeks without tv or internet I spent a lot of my time doing some reading.  Granted not all of it sophisticated high brown reading (i.e Percy Jackson and the olympian series).  But hey, I read!  It counts.  lol.  I've actually noticed that since moving to Sweden I've read an insane amount of books (by my own standards).

When I was in school as a child my mom couldn't get me to read a book to save my life.  Each year they had these contests in elementary school to get kids to read.  Yup, I never won one.  I think I came in dead last with each contest as a matter of fact.  Hahaha.  But as I got older I discovered I did like to read, but was very picky! In high school we had to read a bunch of books each year for our english classes.  Yeah, I wasn't the biggest fan for most of them.  But there were a few that caught my eye.  As an adult, I found I liked to read more mystery, thriller, with the occasional fantasy/sci-fi book.  Now I find I like a whole host of books, ranging from the classic, to history, to biographies, all the way to sci-fi and murder mysteries.  Only genre I'm not a huge fan for is the romances.  Ugh, gag me!

I digress.  I found this website a few months ago to help keep track of the books I've read, and to get inspiration for new books I'd like to read in the future.  It's called Good Reads I think it's fabulous!!  You can even do an online book club thing with it.  Which I would actually like to do.  Trick is finding people who want to do one with me, and finding a book everyone can agree on.  But I think it would be exciting.

With the few books I did like in school, I really enjoyed discussing them in class.  And one movie I absolutely adore is the Jane Austin Book Club, I would love to have something like that (minus all the drama and of course not actually meeting in person).  lol.

So I just wanted to dedicate this blog post to the literary world.  :) And share a good website with everyone.

Also as an additional note.  I'm considering adding to my ever expanding list of miscellaneous crap to blog about on here...a book review section.  To discuss books I've read or am reading.  But I think I might postpone that for a later time when I figure out how to have separate blogging pages on here so I can divide everything up into sections.  Hmm...Anyone have a solution for me?

Happy blogging AND reading! :)

-FXA

Possible short term absence

We are moving this weekend into our new apartment!  Woohoo!!! Yesterday we actually went and bought a new (used) fridge/freezer combo to add to our kitchen.  The one that comes with the apartment, just won't be enough.  :)  So I will finally have more food storage space!!  We also picked up a new (also used) coffee table.  I am so loving it!  I can't wait to get the rest of the furniture into the apartment!

This weekend is also the biggest holiday weekend in Sweden, midsommar.  So virtually everything is closed and coming to a grinding halt.  Including the installation and transitioning of our utilities.  Namely, cable and internet. They say it could take a week maybe 2 for it all to be up and running in the new apartment.  If that's the case, I won't be online, let alone blogging, for a while.

So this blog is to serve as a little warning just in case.  :)  But I will try to write up my blogs on MS Word during the down time and just publish them as soon as the net is up and running.  So there might be an onslaught of new blogs in a week or two.  Hehehe.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!!

Happy blogging all!

-FXA

Tour the new Apartment!!

So as you may remember from my previous blog posts that we are moving soon.  Next weekend to be exact.  And our new landlords have finished wallpapering and fixing up the apartment from the previous tenant.  My boyfriend went and picked up the keys today so I decided to whip out the digi cam and shoot a quick video showing you what it actually looks like.  In a previous post  I posted the floor plan I drew up online using a cool website.  In the floor plan you can see where we might place the furniture.  The apartment is completely empty in the video.  So you'll have to either refer to floor plan from previous post or use your imagination as to what it'll look like with furniture in it.  :)  Enjoy!!!

Bashful you say?!?

Well if your the bashful type you don't belong in Sweden.  I say that because you have to be prepared to let it all hang out when you go for many medical things here.  Getting a chest X-Ray??  Everything on top needs to come off.  What? You want a gown or a blanket or something to drape over you? DENIED!  Going to the gyno for your oh so fun women's exam...everything off.  That is kind of the same here, but here you don't even get a paper drape to put over yourself while your laying there with legs in stirrups.  Seriously!  Cannot be bashful here.

The best part is the use of windows EVERYWHERE!

I go into my gyno's office today and there was an entire wall of windows and the blinds were angled open so I could see down to the street (they were the horizontal blinds).  Naturally after stripping down and looking up and seeing the sun shinning and people walking around outside I said to my doc "umm, they can't see in here right!??"  Her response "nah, only one that could possible see anything is someone up in the church tower across the street."  So my response (being the smart ass that I am) was,"well it's not so far fetched to find a creepy man of the church!"

Two weeks ago I had to get chest x-rays done to try and find the cause of my 6 week long cough that wouldn't go away.  And the woman tells me to take off my top, bra and all, and oh by the way one wall of the x-ray room was a wall of windows into the centralized computer room for the department that handles xrays and mri's.  At any given time there is a handful or more of people in there.  And oh yeah, again blinds open.  I couldn't even keep a tank top on with bra off.  Nope!  Needed to be totally topless.

So yeah, can't be the least bit of shy and bashful about your body and nudity here.  That being said, it's not so far fetched to see people sun bathing nude or topless here either.  I guess it's a European thing.  It's definitely taking some getting used to.  But it's also teaching me to be more comfy with my body.  So I guess it's not such a bad thing after all, eh?

-FXA

Updates!

So I have surgery in less then 36 hrs and will be in the hospital for 2-4 days depending on how I'm feeling and if there are any complications.  And after that I intend to be bestfriends with some pain killers and next week we are moving and then I have my 2nd surgery.  Insanity right??!?!  What this all adds up to is I'm going to be very busy, very stressed, doped up, in pain and not likely posting much.  Just a forewarning.  :)

Now onto the updates.

Moving process is coming along nicely.  And after Wed it won't be my concern anymore.  As I'm exempt from packing, moving, etc thanks to my surgery.  Hehehe.  It's a valid exemption!

The veggies are doing alright.  My poor pepper plant has been invaded by aphids and alas I think the battle against them is a lost cause.  I still have pepper fruit on the plant and some new one growing, but virtually every leaf is yellowed.  I even tried the soap and water solution, but I think it might have been too little too late.  Everything else is growing wonderfully!!  I have already started using my parsley and dill that I grew from seeds in recipes!  And my green beans are about ready for their first harvest!!  The sugar snap peas have yet to bloom let alone produce, but they have managed to grow to about 4 ft tall.  Oh, and last week I decided to try planting broccoli seeds!  The little seedlings have already broke the surface!  So now it's a wait and see what happens game.  :)

Swedish language.  Well I have started speaking swedish in public!  Shocking, I know right!?!?  I have also begun chatting in swedish my "mother-in-law" on facebook chat.  While I haven't been in school since April due to illnesses, doctors visits, and all the other madness that is my life, I am still trying to soak up the language.  I even watched a few swedish tv shows.  And I'm bringing a couple of workbooks with me in my hospital bag to provide "entertainment" while in the hospital.  Because you know, when your high as a kite and freshly sliced open, the one thing you want to do is to study a foreign language.  Hahaha.  At least I'm making an effort.  Right?

So there's the latest and greatest (well maybe not greatest) of whats happening now in my life....on the other side of the planet!

-FXA

Let the car season begin!

This may come as a shocker to many of you (most of you in America), that Swede's are really into muscle cars and hot rods.  Especially American muscle cars.  Every summer there is a HUGE car meet/show here that is actually the largest American car show outside of America!  Its called Power Big Meet.  This blog isn't actually about that.  That's in a few weeks.  But my boyfriend is a huge car enthusiast.  He even has his own baby.  A '94 Chevy Camaro (Gen 4).  He's a member of the Camaro Club of Sweden also.  As a member we get to go to car club meetings, and we get to go to other car meetings as well via invitation.

So this past weekend the Camaro Club of Sweden was invited to attend a Hot Rod/Classic Car meeting in Västerås at the Autotek Garage.  So Nick and I went.  We were one of maybe 5 camaros there.  For the most part it was classic cars with a few newer ones thrown into the mix.  There was even a drag racer there, and it was a woman!!!  That made me happy!  Girl Power!  She gave us a display of her muscle.

So I'm not a big grease monkey like my honey.  So I just point and say "Ooh, pretty car!" Hehehe.  But I do have a fond appreciation for some of the cars at this show.  I do love some classic American cars.  They just don't make them like they used to anymore.  I actually told my boyfriend that I wouldn't mind if one day we owned one of these 50's-60's style cars.  I mean, talk about riding in style!  I asked if he'd be interested in one day buying an old one that needs some love and rebuilding it together.  Gives me a chance to learn more and us a chance to do something together.  :) Yeah, he wasn't thrilled about that idea.  He said he loves cars, but not that much to do all that work to them.  Hahaha.  Wimp!

Are you like foaming at the mouth yet to see what cars were there?  I know you are!  I bet you can't stand to read one more line of blathering dribbles.  You just want the pics.  Okay, here they come!

I did mention video too didn't I?  Hmm.  Well here it comes.  My apologies for the lack of visual and audio quality.  I took the video using my digital camera.  It was much more impressive in person.  Being that it is a small side street, she didn't have much room to let her rip.  Towards the end of the summer I'll hopefully be going to Mantorp which has tons of drag racing and drift racing.  I'll try to get better video then.  :) In the meantime, enjoy!

So there's the highlight of my weekend!

-FXA

Madness, Mayhem, and Moving!

June is proving to be like the craziest month of the last few years for me.

On June 16, I have one surgery.  June 27 we are moving into our bigger apartment.  June 28, another surgery!  Insane right?  I know!  Believe it or not, I didn't plan this.  My surgeries were supposed to be earlier, but had been delayed.  It just so happened that everything ended up having to be close together.  Oh and did I mention Sweden's biggest holiday is June 25/26 (Midsummer)?

Plus side for me is thanks to the surgery, I don't have to actually help with the moving.  Woohoo!!  Now, the negative side is that because of the surgeries and the moving, I've had to get a head start on packing and all that fun stuff.  My boyfriend will be working pretty much everyday he's not by my side with the surgeries and after-care.  And he's like the worlds biggest procrastinator.  So I don't expect him to get much packing done.  So between all the stuff needed to prepare for the surgeries, moving, and the fact that allergies and illnesses have kept me in bed on and off for the last 6 weeks I have been insanely busy!!!!  It seems as though I currently live in the sovereign state of chaos!

My boyfriend said to me last night that I am not to even be at the new apartment helping direct where to put things.  He seems to think I should stay at his moms in bed while everyone puts everything where ever in the new apartment.  HA!  Does anyone believe that is really going to happen?  In case I was physically forced to stay behind, I decided to make up a floor plan of our new apartment and to get an idea of where the furniture and things should go.  So I found this nifty website to help with that.  I was able to draw out the floor plan to the best of my non-architect abilities and then furnish it.  I could even change the flooring.  I was a little bummed I couldn't change the wall colors.  That would have been much cooler.  Oh, and it has a 3D option. They have different level accounts, but mine was just basic and free.  So I'm sure there are tons more cool things I could have done with a better account.  Oh well.  Below is the floor plan I drew up.




Note:  It's not exactly correct with measurements or any of that.  I didn't get that into detail. And a few things had to be substituted (we don't really have 3 fridges in the kitchen, we'll only have 2 combo fridge/freezers).  As for the furniture, again just used what they had on the website.  The colors are exact.  And we don't have a dining room table yet.  It's on the I really really want list.  :)  And I decided not to include all the piles of boxes that surely we'll be cluttering up the space for weeks if not months to come.  lol.  And I haven't completely decided that's where all the furniture is going to go (mainly in the living room). 


So there you'll see a pic of our soon to be new home!  When we get moved in and unpacked and all that I'll be sure to take pictures and maybe even a video.  :)


Bare with me over the next month with all the stuff going on, in case I don't post as much.  


Happy Blogging All!


-FXA

My apologies for the delay!

Hey all!

Just wanted to apologize for being lazy with the blogging.  It's amazing how the days just slip away.  I said to myself, got to post at least one blog a week.  Then last week I was like eh, too busy.  And this week I was like eh, the world won't stop spinning.  So it's my bad.

Quick little update on things.  The indoor garden is doing alright.  My pea plants are trying to see if they grow all the way up to celing.  My green bean plants got all kind of out of control so we had to go all mcguyver on them and construct a climbing and detention system.  My basil and chive seedlings are flourishing and i'm being equally as lazy about potting them as I have been about blogging.  Hey! It's on my to-do list.

Moving in a little over 3 weeks!  Lots and lots of stress to be had for all!  With that and surgeries coming up this month as well I have found myself stressed to the max.  Too much to do, and too little time to do it in! :)

So there's the quick version.  More to be coming later!  I won't slack this time.

-FXA

Calling 112 (AKA 911)

Swedish people do tend to enjoy their alcohol.  Especially since at the ripe old age of 18 can an individual start legally consuming alcoholic beverages.  Oh boy!!  Well, just because they like it, doesn't mean they can handle it, and definitely doesn't mean they should be imbibing it!

So at like 1:15 this morning I'm laying in bed reading Brisingr (Book 3 of the Inheritance series about dragons and stuff). I like to read before bed, it helps me wind down and shut my brain off from the chaos that is life.  I need to get up at 10 am to get ready so I can go to a camaro club car meet with my boyfriend (that's a WHOLE set of blogs of it's own one day).  We have no AC so I've got the window open and considering how close we live to town centrum(a whopping 5 min stroll) we often get to listen to harmonic sounds of drunkards stumbling home from the bars in the middle of the night.  Tonight was no exception...or was it!?!?

Well (see above stated time), I start hearing drunken swedish screaming and then some weird thumping noises.  I pondered what it could be, but then the noise stopped.  So I went back to reading, and about 1 min later I hear glass shattering everywhere.  My first reaction is someone just broke into one of the cars on the street, so I run to the window to look out and check if I can see anything.  This way if a crime is being committed I can attempt to help the police or victims out.  I realize the glass wasn't from a car when I notice someone walking out the entrance to our apts downstairs (I live on the 3rd floor of a building with 5 separate entrance doors).  I stick my head out my kitchen window, see a drunk dude stumbling across the yard in front of our building walking away from our door and I noticed the sound of crushing glass as he's doing this.  Oh and he's screaming in drunken swedish all the while too.  Did I mean I don't fully understand spoken sober swedish?  So drunken swedish is way out of my ball park!  

Anyway.  So then I'm kind of freaking out.  I'm fairly positive a crime is taking place, the building next to us is dark, the only people I see outside the building are the ones involved in the scuffle and random drunk people stumbling in and out of shadows.  I'm home along as my boyfriend was at work.  So I'm like oh crap! Do I call the cops? Unsure of what is the appropriate response, I tried calling my boyfriend to tell him what happened and ask if I should call the cops.  Of course is work phone is busy, and his private cell is still in his truck while he must be making his delivery (he's a truck driver..wow lots of tangents huh?).  So I keep trying and trying to no avail.  All the while I keep an eye on whats going on out front.  The drunk dude in the white shirt (who I suspect is the culprit) was then sitting on the curb in front of the building across from us and a girl was with him trying to calm him down.  Then I see a taxi pull up about 10 ft from them, and I think oh good they are going home now.  But NOPE!  The guy then got up and started charging for our building and our entrance screaming!  His female friend was chasing him down and trying to stop him and pull him back while he's screaming (I think) "Magnus kom hit! Kom hit!" Translation: Magnus come here! Come here! 

So it becomes clear this little tiff isn't over and if I ever want peaceful sleep tonight I'm going to have to call the cops, with or without my boyfriends opinion.  Here you dial 112, which I did.  Thankfully the guy who answered spoke english, so I explained what was going on, then he transfers me to the police and I explain to them what's going on.  And about 30 secs after I hang up the phone I pop my head back out the window and see a cop is already talking to the drunk fella down stairs.  So I suspect someone else must have called before me.  

Long story short!  The drunk dude and his 2 female friends left in the cop car.  After that I went down stairs to see what the glass breaking noise was that I heard.  Part of me thought just maybe it was just a beer bottle.  WRONG!  All 3 glass panels of the front door to our apartment building were broken and laying on the floor inside the building.  Which means some tool (idiot person, not instrument) from the outside smashing in our door.  Wonderful!

Now, let me say this.  We don't live in a bad side of town.  Not that there are many of those here in our town.  Not in comparison to anywhere of mediocre interest in the US.  But anyway.  It's relatively calm and normal here.  Yes we have the drunk people walking home from the bar at 2 or 3 in the morning who like to sing as they walk along.  But not usually an issue with violence or anything to this degree.  

So here's the irony.  My boyfriend has lived in this building for like 10 years, and has never had an incident like this happen here before.  And in his 31 years of life, he's NEVER called 112.  I've been here 1.5 years and I beat him to it.  Lucky me.  lol.

So there's my excitement for the evening.  Hope everyone out there is have a safe and responsible time this weekend.  And people.  Please know your limits with alcohol and under that things made of glass, can break!

Land of the Midnight Sun!

So hopefully as most of you readers know.  I live in Sweden.  Granted I live in central Sweden, so it's not like I live up in the arctic circle.  But one of the things that comes with living in this part of the world is LONG summer days.  When I say long, I mean LONG!

I originally come from South Florida.  And there, the sun goes down between like 6 pm (18:00) and 7:30 pm (19:30).  I got quite used to that.  So 3 summers ago when I came to Sweden to visit for the first time, it was midsummer weekend.  Which is actually the long days of the year!  Here in Sweden, people like to party and get plastered to celebrate midsummer.  It's actually the biggest holiday of the year here.  But I digress.  So, my 2nd day here in Sweden (3 years ago), we went to a party.  I was kind of drunk from drinking snaps (Swedish booze with herbs, and quite strong) with dinner.  Another Swedish tradition.  So we go to a friend of my boyfriends to party some more.  Well people came and went throughout the night, but at one point I noticed only a handful of us were left.  Through blurred eyes I looked out the window and saw how light it was outside.  I freaked!  I thought during my drunken stupor I lost all sense of time, and it was like 5 in the morning or something.  So I freaked and told my boyfriend we had to go, and we had to go since it was so late.  Everyone just kind of laughed at the silly ole American.  Then I stuck my watch in my eyeball to try and focus to read the time.  Only to discover it was like 2:30.  That's right, I said 2:30!!!!

Well my this being my 3rd summer here, and next month being my 3rd midsummer here, I do believe I have finally gotten used to the wacky world of time and days and nights that go on here.  In fact, I found myself really enjoying the long bright and sunny day today.

Some of the random thoughts that the weather today triggered:

1. Wow, I really am the whitest Italian girl to walk the earth.  (I'm actually and Irish/Italian American mutt, but I have Italian skin).
2. Oooh, my plants and seedlings are probably really happy today!
3. Thank god the snow is gone!!

So needless to say I felt a picture was necessary. They do say it's worth a thousand words right?  Well I took this picture at exactly 8:59 pm (20:59).  I apologize for the blurriness and the dead balcony plants (we are moving so going to dump them when we move everything out).  Notice how bright the sky is.  This picture just doesn't do it justice.

So if your a vampire, and albino, allergic to the sun, or just hate long days...well Sweden is not for you!  At least for a few months of the year.  :)

So as I'm winding down and getting ready for bed, I can't help but think now....Thank god for blackout window shades!!!!  Hahahaha. 

Happy Blogging All!

Indoor Garden Part 2

Welcome back! So it's been a week since my last gardening post.  And 2 weeks since my little seedlings have been planted.  It's amazing what a difference a week makes!!!!

Since I'm living in an apartment in Sweden, I have decided to divide up this years crop between the kitchen window (north facing), and the living room window (south facing).  The living room window gets probably the most and strongest sun but only really in the afternoons/evenings (don't forget land of the midnight sun).  The kitchen gets easier morning sun.  We don't have a massive amount of room on the sills in each window, so it's hard to decide which plants get the sunnier side and which ones get the more moderate sun.  So here's how it stands. 

Kitchen = Radishes, Chili Peppers, Basil started plant, Parsley started plant, Parley seeds, Dill seeds, and Chives seeds.

Living Room = Rosemary started plant, 2 x Green Bean seeds, Sugarsnap Pea seed, and seed starter box

Now onto this weeks progress report and pictures! :) 

We decided to move the beans and peas seedlings from the starter box to proper pots, as those bad boys were growing super fast!  So now we have two pots dedicated to green beans, and 1 pot for sugarsnap peas.  One of the bean pots is the seeds that were planted right away into the seed starter box, and the other pot is the seeds I pre-soaked.


Closest Pot = Pre-soaked (only one seed seems to be growing)
Farther Pot = Seed starter box (they are flourishing)

Above:  Sugar Snap Peas

My radishes seem to be doing alright.  I'm fairly positive I planted them too close together.  Big fail for being lazy!  lmao.  But I'm still hoping to see one or two little red gems.  :)  

The chili pepper plant is doing alright, but nothing seems to be ripening.  Am I doing something wrong?  We bought it with chili fruit already on it, and more babies growing.  I read online somewhere that you should take  a q-tip or your finger and rub the open flowers every day between 2-3 pm (when polenation is at it's most optimal) to self-polinate plants like this that are grown indoors.  So that's what I've been doing most days.  I'll admit, a few days I got lazy and figured eh, who cares if the flowers aren't getting any.  I'm not sure how long it takes for the green peppers to turn red.  But my understanding is Apache Chili peppers should be red (for optimal strength).  I'll give it another week before I start scratching my head.

Above Image:  Closest is radish pot, with pepper plant behind.

Next up...herb tray!  In the kitchen, we have an herb tray where we directly planted some seeds (I didn't include pictures last week as it was just a pile of dirt).  Over this last week all the seeds planted have started sprouting!  We planted parsley, chives and dill.  I have another pot on the tray that will hold some green onions if I can ever get them to grow!

Parsley (Persilja), Chives (Gräslök), Dill

As for my seed starter box.  Well Basil and Chives are doing alright.  I think the chives are growing better inside the herb tray rather then the seed starter box.  And my green onions...well they are proving to be the most difficult little runts!  In all fairness, I did buy the seeds last spring, and tried to plant them on the balcony box last year and when they finally started to grow like 4 months later they were all funky shaped.  Maybe I got the reject seeds or something.  But it seems that out of the 4 seeds planted, only 1 wants to grow.  I'm debating on how much more I should let the Basil grow before taking them out and putting them into pots.  Hmmm.  Any suggestions?  

Left to Right: Basil, Chives, Green Onions

So, long story short!  Mostly everything is growing wonderfully.  Having a few hiccups, but not too bad.  I'm on the verge of giving up on green onions.  But at the end of the day I'm just glad nothing is dead yet!  Woohoo!!  So far already a vast improvement on last year! :)

There's this weekends update on my attempt at indoor gardening! 

Happy Blogging All!

Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread

Woohoo!! Kudos to me for not making a total failure!

I just made 2 loafs of "sourdough" bread, gluten-free of course.  I got the recipe out of a gluten-free swedish cookbook.  I'm not sure if this is exactly how it was supposed to be, but I do think it turned out alright.  I'm not the biggest bread eater to begin with, so i'm not the best judge.

I did start off by making a sourdough starter.  I used yeast, GF Flour, and water.  This particular recipe did not say anything about needing to feed the starter.  So I didn't do that.  To the left is my starter, after 3 days in a plastic tub w/cover.

Even though I was sure I totally screwed it, as it smelled so foul and looked so loose, I kept on with the recipe.  And here (to the right) is the dough sitting in the bowl attempting to rise.  Which it did, pretty much double in size.

The recipe is actually for 2 loaves of bread, so after an hr of rising, I went ahead with the kneading process and then divided it into 2 pieces and formed.

And let them sit and rise for another 30 mins.

After that, popped them in the overn for 30 mins to bake.  I did get the harder outside crust.  And I found the inside to be rather soft.  It didn't crumble to pieces upon slicing or holding, which I think is always a major plus when dealing with gluten free baked goods.  I thought the consistency was perfect for gluten-free bread.  The outside didn't really color much.  I notice that seems to be rather common with gluten-free breads.  So if your looking for the darker toasted outside, keep wishing.  lol.

Ratings (out of 5)
Ease of making: 3/5
Taste: 3.5/5 (Again, I'm not the best judge, as I'm not a big fan for bread)
Consistency: 4/5
Overall:  3.5/5

If anyone is insterested in having this recipe, I will be happy to do a blog post with a translation of the recipe.

Happy Blogging All!

-FXA

This years attempt at indoor gardening

As I live in apartment in Sweden, my best option for growing things is in the window.  We do have a balcony but as it's way too cold here most of the year (summer is like end of June till end of august), I can't really grow much out there.  Or the time frame for growing is too short.  Last year I attempted to grow onions, carrots and green onions out on the balcony.  Yeah, my carrots grew to about 2 inches long.  lol.  Failed!

So this year I'm going a different route, and keeping everything inside.  We even bought one of those seed starter boxes to mimic a greenhouse kind of environment to help the seeds stand a better chance of me not killing them. Did I mention I have never really been able to grow much in all my years at attempting to be a gardener.  I guess I just wasn't born with a green thumb.  So what the hell, lets try again.  If at first you don't succeed try try again, right?

So on this years attempt list, we have......

Herbs

1. Rosemary
2. Parsley
3. Dill
4. Chives
5. Basil

Vegetables

1. Sugar snap Peas
2. Green Beans
3. Chili "Apache" Peppers
4. Green Onions (2nd times a charm?)
5. Radishes

I bought mostly seeds, but I did buy the chili and rosemary already as a plant.  Everything else is starting from scratch.  We started off by planting all the seeds in seed soil.  Some we put directly into the pot they were meant to grow up in.  Some we planted in the seed started box, and some we planted in both (such as the chives and green onions).  I also pre-soaked the green bean seeds and the parsley seeds for 2 days.

Everything was started on Monday May 3, 2010.  It's only been 5 days and already we've got little babies growing!!!  It makes me so excited!  So far nothing is dead, I think.  Which means I'm already off to a good start!

From left to right:  Unmarked is green beans that were pre-soaked, then green beans that weren't pre-soaked, basil, chives, green onions, and then sugar snap peas.




Left:  Chili "Apache" Pepper Plant

Right: Radishes

So there are my little babies.  I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful garden!  We are moving into a bigger apartment this summer, and I'm hoping if these all turn out to be successful, then I can expand and grow more things at the next apartment.  As the babies grow, I'll continue to update on their success or my failure.  Haha.

Welcome to my blog!

Hey everyone!

If you'd like to know more about the author, then click on the about me page to the right.  :)  As for my blog.  Well it's all about my life here in Sweden.  The ups, the downs, and everything in between.  :)  I'm an immigrant here, having moved here from America 1.5 years ago.  So I figured this would be a great opportunity to document my journeys starting a new life...on the other side of the planet.

Warning:  I'm not the most savvy html user these days, and I haven't quite figure out how to divide up my posts onto different pages to allow for better organization of the posts.  So for now...all the posts about all different subjects will fall under this main page.  Some of the subject areas will be, politics, social health care, indoor gardening, books, movies, cooking/baking (gluten free) culture, language, my obsession with makeup/beauty, and just general gripping and praising of life.  :)

So I welcome you all to follow me on this often interesting and sometimes boring journey.  Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment.  I'm all for hearing your stories as well!

Thanks!

-FXA