Loves of My Life

Better late than never

2010-06-06T23:48:00.003+02:00

Gosh I'm so lousy at this! The media is perfect for me, and still I manage to leave this blog in limbo for almost a year! Well, it's summmertime again! Gorgeous right now, but rain is on its way. I just started working, did my first work in the cleaning business. Not too bad, I only work 15 hours a week so far! But the work is tough. One can tell I haven't had a physical job for....25 years or so! So in a way it's perfect to work so little. I'll keep job hunting though.
Made a rhubarb pie yesterday! Yes my dears, it's an event, I very rarely bake anything at all! It was completely delicious. Used my own rhubarbs too:-)
Tomorrow I really really should do some cleaning at home. The last thing a cleaner wanna do when they come home is clean. I wonder if we have the dirtiest homes....Or if we feel forced to have the cleanest homes since everyone knows our occupation.....

Summertime

2009-07-22T13:58:00.002+02:00

It's in the middle of summer. It's been a good one! A nice mix of hot weather and thunderstorms and rain. I must admit I prefer cooler days the older I get, but I do love the feeling of walking barefoot outside and wearing very few clothes. I got no sun tan. Try to avoid tanning (although I enjoy it for a while), I just get a bad rash. But those days, when being tanned was important, are long gone. There are advantages to getting old (older)! Some things just don't matter anymore. I rather be white and without skin cancer.
The garden is as usual giving and giving and giving. So far I've gone through strawberries, cherries and wild strawberries. Now I'm doing raspberries and black currants. Still not ready are blackberries, plums, pears and two kinds of apples. I'm pretty lucky! My freezer is still pretty full from last year, so lots go to friends and neighbours. I just have to pick everything, can't see it go to waste. I never do anything, like jam or desserts, but I eat fresh berries in my yoghurt everyday. Still, I pick so much more than I eat!
The other day I bought a lawnmower. With a motor. Every time I've been mowing the lawn (manually) I've thought that I was on the verge to get a heart attack. It was just TOO TOUGH. Good exercise, yes, but not worth dying for! This mower is excellent and I wish I had bought it last year already!
Tomorrow I'm off on vacation for almost a week and hope to write a bit about that when I get home. I'm so bad at this blog, but I feel I want to try and get better, I haven't given up yet.

Why???

2009-05-08T21:50:00.002+02:00

Excuse me, but WHY would I want to wear something so insanely ugly? I've seen some ugly fashion through the years, but these are definitely in the top five. Thankfully I haven't seen any in our little town yet....

Love no. 12

2009-04-08T13:22:00.004+02:00

What better thing to write about these days than spring! Spring is so much more lovely than summer, at least here in Sweden! We live the endless dark, cold, wet, grey, long winter behind. Suddenly there is a warm breeze, the sun is actually warm, tiny flowers poke up in the flower beds. The left over leaves from fall are begging to be raked. Everyone takes out their garden furniture, start cleaning up the gardens and within a week or so we will smell the first barbeques. The streets are getting cleaned from all the gravel poured on icy roads. We take off the winter tires and put on the summer tires. We change into daylight saving time. We get spring tired and spring colds, but still it's a sweet, sweet time of year! Yes, I do love summer, but spring is the best. I start to live again. I come out of hibernation.

Love no. 11

2009-03-10T22:27:00.002+01:00

Fridays.

Love no. 10

2009-01-24T15:34:00.003+01:00

Since I'm presently deep into re-reading The Dark Tower books, I must admit that Stephen King is one of my loves. As an author of course! I started reading him in 1982 when I was au pairing in San Francisco. My au pair-mom gave me "Carrie" and said she was positive I would like this author. I had never heard of him, but when I found out he was behind The Shining - a favourite movie of mine - I was quickly caught. I ended up buying everything I could find of Mr King, and has so ever since. For some reason I only read him in English. It just feels better....The Dark Tower is definitely a favourite, and it's so loooong and lasts for a while - seven books or bricks, only the first one is thin (and not so good IMHO, but necessary to read nevertheless). I'm also reading one of his latest right now, Duma Key, but the urge to read The Dark Tower was strong and I put it aside for later. This is ka.

Love no. 9

2009-01-23T18:37:00.002+01:00

I'm an addicted tea lover. Never drank coffee. Oh, I've tried, several times and in all shapes - with or without sugar, with or without milk, with alcohol, in chocolate, in cookies, in icecream. Can't stand it, it makes me physically ill! But I like the smell though! Tea, on the other hand, I can drink 24/7. I brew it, I use only Earl Grey and I drink in a tall glass. Teabags will do if there's nothing else, but it sure isn't the same! I use a little bit of honey or sugar, but am trying to quit this nasty habit!!!! After all, ten glasses of tea each day adds up to a lot of sugar.....

Not my morning chores

2009-01-22T20:12:00.003+01:00

One would think I got plenty of time in the day, being unemployed and all. It just dawned on me how occupied we can be if we really did everything we should. And that is taking the best care of our bodies! How about this:

Wash your face, but not in winter. Use a face wash for your skintype. Don't use soap. Put on a moisterizing face lotion. Put on skin toning cream, wrinkle cream, powder, make-up and don't forget sun block. And let the skin dry up between each layer.
Wash your hair, twice with shampoo, once with conditioner and don't forget extra treatment at least once a week. Towel dry, don't blow dry. Brush many strokes. Use styling products.
Shower, but preferably not every day, it dries up the skin. Use bath oil and peeling for body and peeling for face, and avoid the soap. Shave here and there if you wish. Scrub your feet. Once a week, do it spa style. Afterwards, put on body lotion, foot cream, hand cream, face cream.
Don't forget to take extra care of the feet at least once a week, with a foot bath with salt, scrubbing, toe nail clipping, massage, foot cream. At the same time, do your hands and nails as well.
If you're past your prime like me, take extra care to look for traces of a mustash or beard. Remove. Check the eyebrows as well.

You know what, by now I'm already late AND exhausted, so I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing - not much of the above.

Challenge

2009-01-13T18:36:00.003+01:00

I have been challenged by Spacegirl.

4 of my favourite TV shows:

CSI
Prison Break
Criminal Minds
True Blood

4 things I did yesterday:

Went to the gym
Went to a board meeting
Made decos
Wrote a letter

4 things I long for:

Spring
A job
Losing weight
Deco meeting in Kungsör

4 favourite restaurants:
Don't have one, but most Asian restaurants will do.

4 things on my wish list:

That my brother will get well
That I either get a job or get loads of money
A new car
A Wii with everything included

I challenge:
Johanna
Martina
Marthe
Laura

Love no. 8

2009-01-09T16:13:00.007+01:00

Been a while since I last visited this blog! Christmas is over and a new year is here. Feels good!

For my next love I've chosen vintage. Not anything and everything vintage, but in particular I love vintage photos and making crafts out of them. Decos mostly, but also cards and pictures. Yesterday I made the three displayed here. It's quick work but I still think they look lovely!

I save the vintage stuff I get and have a little display for them. There I also add the most beautiful decos I get back. I see this everyday - it's at my computer, and I'm there A LOT - and I love looking at them, touching them. Beautiful pictures, pretty embellishment and some great artists behind the work (that includes myself of course, ha ha!).

Love no. 7

2008-12-12T13:28:00.009+01:00

I think I'm totally addicted to notebooks and pens. I find it VERY hard to just pass by a pretty notebook in the store and I can stand forever trying out various pens. It's safe to say that I have enough notebooks and pens to last me a lifetime (unless the pens dry up of course). I love starting a new notebook and even invent new purposes. I'm sure I have at least ten in use right now. And pens pens pens everywhere! And some notebooks will never be used.....They are too pretty! Silly, I know, but hopefully I can find some special purposes for them!
Now I started up altering note books to give away. Just made three as Christmas presents, for children, and I'm quite pleased with the result. Just hope that they will like them as well! This is so much fun, and very easy.

Love no. 6

2008-12-03T21:56:00.003+01:00

Since I just came back from a visit to Sweden's shopping Mecka "Ullared", I guess I can add shopping to my loves. But I'm not the normal female shopper. I don't like clothes shopping - I get clothes when I have to, and why not second hand. I buy very little make up, absolutely no perfume and I can't stand handbags (but I'm trying to learn since a backback easily gets too heavy and my back hurts from it!). Shoes - only when necessary and definitely no highheels.
But.....I love bargain shopping, and also second hand shopping. And as a craft lover, I absolutely love shopping for craft supplies. I could easily do that everyday! And even better when it's cheap so I can get LOTS! I also like bookstores, and small gift shops.
Ullared was fun as usual, a bit less hysterical than usual. But the trip home was a nightmare when a snowstorm hit us. It took us twice the time to get home, about six hours. But, of course, we're already thinking about when to go next.....

Love no. 5

2008-12-01T08:47:00.007+01:00

I'm crazy about penguins! Penguins have been a passion of mine since 1983 when I got a poster of a Rockhopper. Since then I have been collecting penguin items. ANYTHING with a penguin really. And the Rockhopper is still my favourite!
Compared to others my collection is on the small side, but I'm truly fond of it and it keeps growing all the time. I buy what I can afford and what I like. Presently my most treasured items are a Martini glass with a hand engraved penguin (specially ordered for me), a couple of crystal penguins, a beautiful lighter and embroidery made by my sister. And I love all the other stuff too! Oh, and my tattoo of course!

To mention a few things - shower curtain, bathroom carpets, toilet brush, beer glasses, bottle opener, soap dispenser, pencil sharpener, kitchen timer. Handmade clay penguins on rocks. Plush Pingus. Framed posters, one oil painting and one painting by a famous Swedish artist. T-shirts, perfume, chocolate, books, soap tray, straw, toothbrush, pencil cup, eraser, note pads, tea mugs, fridge magnets. A radio with a penguin that moves to the music. A telephone. lots of calendars, postcards, stickers and such.

To me penguins are pretty fantastic creatures in many ways (see March of the Penguins, and you will agree!), but mostly I love them because they are beautiful and cute. On the internet I've found many friends with penguins as a common interest. If you collect penguins, you are not alone!

Do I have a penguin dream? Yes. I'd love to go to Antarctica. I'm pretty sure I never will (expensive and cold), so I'll settle for Plan B - I'd like to be really close to a penguin (preferably wild), maybe even touch it. I hope to go to South Africa one day and visit the penguins there.

Love no. 4

2008-11-28T11:46:00.003+01:00

To dance well you need music. Preferably good music, music you like and enjoy. I've been a music lover all my life, starting off with a battery-driven record player which played Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" over and over, and then I got Slade "Live" and was in heaven. In the nights I listened to Radio Luxemburg and tried taping it on my cassette player. Those were the days...Now music is so easy accessable, but back then you could search forever for a certain song or artist. I still have all my singles and vinyls, but plan on selling most. I never play them anyway. My place is full of CD's and the computer is full of music, and the radio plays an endless string of hit songs.
My favourite music era was the 70'ies, but also the 80'ies. Rock, pop, punk. Now I listen to almost anything, including country which I started loving when I started line dancing. My favourite artists are for instance The Police, The Clash and Queen. And loads of others come very close behind!

Love no. 3

2008-11-25T09:04:00.002+01:00

OK, can't help it, I gotta say a few words about my daughter before I continue with the less important loves I have. She is of course number one. A brilliant eight year old, beautiful and smart, all in one package. Since divorcing I have her with me every other week. The weeks without her are empty and long, the weeks with her full and short. Yes, I do appreciate a lot of time for me and my other loves in life, but there's no doubt I would prefer having her all the time.
But, we have a great time together and even share some hobbies, like crafts, movies, music, travel, the computer. We can talk for hours, or just be quiet and do our own things. I hope we will be best friends when she's older, but who knows with teenagers! Either way I have the feeling that she will grow up into a great person.

Love no. 2

2008-06-24T15:10:00.001+02:00

For years I searched for a sport or exercise that I actually thought was fun, and longed for doing. Tried everything - soccer, badminton, tennis, swimming, workouts, yes, I even tried jogging (won´t be so stupid again, promise).
Five years ago I finally hit the jackpot - dancing! And to be specific, line dancing. It´s all fun, all the time, every time! I´ll be starting my sixth year this fall and can´t wait. This year I will also train to be an instructor. If you haven´t tried line dancing, be sure to! It´s a perfect sport in the golden middle age, as long as you´re not senile, then it won´t work....You have to remember the steps and the dances! That said, it's also perfect for all other ages!
So, line dancing is, and will be, a real love of my life, and hopefully for the rest of my life.

Love no. 1

2008-06-24T00:59:00.001+02:00

OK, no order here, no 1 is just the first one I list. One of my loves. I guess I should write my daughter here. Or even myself. Or Mom. But I intended to write about hobbies and passions. Well, we´ll see where I end up eventually.....
So, back to no 1. I must pick decos. Mostly because I spend WAY too much time with them. Because I want to, I need to, I have to. I need my fix everyday and I´m committed to fulfil swaps. Gosh what a burden it is....not....
Been decoing for a couple of years now, I practically feel like a deco veteran! Half of my living room is dedicated to craft stuff, decos, the invaluable computer.
So, am I blogging now? Finally? Can´t promise for sure, but it´s a start anyway.....