Tired randomness...

I changed the background...again! I'm sooo itching to use one with falling autumn leaves in their beautiful yellow, orange and burgundy colours but...naaah... Sure, it's almost September, an autumn month, but...I'll hold on to summer for another little bit. ;) The previous woodsy green meadow was nice but too mid-summery so I went with this river one instead. :) The big rocks are like the ones in Viskan that runs through/past our little town... :)

So, how did my first, sleep deprived, day at Uni go? Fine...

Not sure what I'd expected but this was sort of not it. It wasn't bad by any means, it was...fine. We were trailed through the different buildings, showed this that and the other place (already forgotten most of it, but will figure it out on my own) by our slightly disorganized "guides", we listened to the principal speak about what a brilliant University Borås (of course! ;)) is and...got a horrendously late, but free, lunch and then I came home... And I picked up my new course litterature at the "post office" too! :D LOVE new books! ♥ Even if they're "boring" school books. ;) That was the most exciting part of my day...! *lol*

There's stuff on at the university (pub) this evening but I'm way to knackered to go, I will join in on some stuff on Wednesday/Thursday I think... now...I'm going to bed!

♥ E.

Awake!?

OK, it's 4.50 am now and I've been awake since 3 when both kiddies wet their beds, Erin managed it even with a nappy on...

I can't fall asleep...! Normally just being patient and waiting for sleep to arrive works for me but no, I gave up trying after an hour and got up. :/ So...maybe I'm thirsty? Hungry? Warm? Cold? Nervous?? No, no, no, no and nope! Just awake! :[

What's worse is I can already feel that churning feeling I get in my stomach when I've not slept enough... I just know my appetite's going to be completely off all day and whatever socializing with other students later tonight is not going to happen if I don't get a chance to nap...! :[
...4 (maybe + ½) hours of sleep is not nearly enough...not for this worn out mommy.

*grumpy mutterings*

And if I now go and try to get another snooze, about ½ hour before my alarm goes of and I have to get up, is that going to help or just make it worse...??

E.

What's going on...?

I've been feeling totally out of sorts this week... Not myself at all.

I feel I should be so busy organizing/shopping/preparing for and excitedly awaiting the start of my University Years and I just feel...blah...! My head is somewhere else completely, though don't ask me where exactly it hovers, I have no idea...! I've got my books ordered (I think it's the right ones, haven't made sure - so not me!) but that's about it. No new notepads or pens, nothing purchased or prepared...is there anything to prepare...?? :/

I'm not sure if this is a "new" kind of nervous I'm trying out...or what...! Because, at least nervous would be an expected type of behaviour just days before starting off at anything new... but I just feel indifferent...?! :/ And it's sort of freaking me out...if I could be bothered freaking out...!?

Sure...I'm feeling a bit under the weather this week but come oooon...this can not surely be "right"...!? :/ :\
♥ E.

Motorway Mindfulness?

Today was my last work day (at least for this summer!) at Å. and I ended my fairly slow day at big sis's where Stephen and kiddies already were waiting. Mum and lil' sis were, as per usual :) , also there. It is VERY rare that the H family be at Sanna and Boris's without anyone else in The Family being there...we sort of stick together and enjoy it too. :)
Mommo gets to see all her girls and the grand kids in one go, Erin got to see (currently favourite aunt) Anna and all kidlets (both S&B's and ours) play of steam...all while the grown ups fika and gossip! ;) It's a win, win, win, WIN situation for ALL of us! :)

S&B have been reorganizing their house for the arrival of MiniP. Their kiddies playroom was moved upstairs and the master bedroom is now downstairs but there's also been painting, and all that that entails, involved and buying new storage stuff for both upstairs and down...and... *phew!* I get tired just writing about it! :D
The Final moving of the bed+stuff and us bringing the baby cradle today finalized the move and they are now READY for MiniP to get here. We're all SO exited! Sept 21 is the date and we're getting desperate to meet her! :D Yep, they couldn't wait to find out so we know it's a her! ♥

And now...back to what I was actually going to write about...! ;) (this was going to be a short/quick post before bed! Yeah right!) My motorway mindfulness! :D

I love the drive we have home from S&B's... It's soothing to be heading back home and I never tire of the just short of an hour's drive we have from theirs to Home. Sure, Stephen's still doing most of the driving but I enjoy it just as much (if not more! ;)) when I'm behind the wheel. :)

Mindfulness is about being in the moment and funny enough I find myself being in the moment most often right there on that motorway...! :)
Here's a few pics I took on our way home today, just being right there...


Road and more road and the sun's setting behind us...
Kids asleep.

My absolute favourite spot!

Grandalen
The motorway goes down into this valley and straight ahead, driving down, you can see nothing but pine trees for miles... No signs of anything but trees (and the monster road that you're on! ;)). It never looks exactly the same as the last time - even if you journey the route twice in the same day.

It changes from frosty blues to snow white in the winter and from crisp to deep to mossy green in the spring and summer and rusty tones in the autumn mixed with majestic blue and grey shades in the rain. It is always breathtakingly beautiful!

My favourite of favourite times to drive into the valley is just after a rain shower when the mist is rising through the pine trees and just...blows my mind away...! :) Right there on the motorway... For those few moments that the view is "just right" - when you can see more trees than road... :)

I wish it'd be OK to just pull over and take a proper photo of it but nah...I just hope that if we ever break down on our way home and have to pull over that it'd be right there...and the day that I have a good camera with me! ;)

♥ E.

Lamp swap-around!

(Edited on Aug 22 to add photo's)
Yesterday after taking Erin to the dentist for her three year old check-up (all smiles and thumbs up from Grumpy the Dentist!) , we all went in to town for some bits and bobs. We ended up being out most part of the day. :)

We were short one ceiling light and we've been thinking perhaps the light in the stairwell isn't just right just there... We really, really like it but the light is a bit to harsh in that tight space. So we thought, perhaps it'd look better in the hallway?
But what light do we want in there instead?
How about the living room "chandelier"? That's only been a temporary solution anyways as it used to hang over out "dining room" table in our old place... :)

Well...? What in the living room then?? :D Something not possible for the kiddies to swing on is a good start, maybe something like the plafond light (not sure if that's what it's called that in English?) we've got in our bedroom?? How about the one we have in out bedroom?! :D

But two lights the same...? Nah...! The light in our bedroom is a bit too big/strong for my liking anyways so we'll just move that one too! :) OK!

So! What in our bedroom then!? ;)
A new smaller, softer plafond ceiling light!

Just to recap! ;) The stairwell is now in the hallway, the living room light is in the stairwell, the bed room light is in the living room and our bedroom has a new light! *phew!* With a small purchase and some light swapping we've redecorated the whole house in a day! ;D




♥ E.

Erin's new 'do

Finally! It got done today and it's nice to be able to see her again! :D Her hair is so lovely...crazy curly and if I was allowed to brush it and/or pin it back a little without her having a fit about it or if she wore her hair back with a Alice band or like I'd never cut it! :) It'd be long, wild and gorgeously curly.

BUT! :/ She screams, cries and has fits about anything I try to do with her hair and it just had (again) gotten to a point where it had to be cut, again... and look how CUTE she is in with it cropped short at the back! :)
Cute, cropped, sweet! Hair out of her face and tangle-free! :)

Her own opinion was "Cool". :D

BEFORE


AFTER


♥ E.

House photos

So here's a few photo's of the most recent changes with old or ancient before-photos. I didn't realise how difficult it'd be to find a before-photo of the hallway...! Then again... How often do you take a photo there?! :D I managed to find two, from early 2007, to show some of the horrible structured (structural? Nasty! :)) patch work wallpaper we had before. :[ It was blue/white melange topped of with a blue and white floral border...yuk! :P

When we took down our sauna we were left with a lot of good wood paneling from it and I'd had a vision of our hallway upstairs being a bit "old style" with, what apparently is called, a dado (thanks to google translate+wiktionary+wikipedia!) so we went all high fashioned ;) and recycled the wood from the sauna! :) Instead of a cornice/dado rail (?) we're going to put up a picture ledge. For photos, paintings and other bric-a-brac... ;) I thought it'd be a bit different... :D But still nice...?? :D

The dado has gotten a first coat of white and above the colour is blue tone, in Swedish it'd be called duvblå - translated to "pigeon blue" :D :/ that doesn't sound right but...! The blue has a grey tint to it and is gorgeous! :D

What's left to do is to sand down the skirting board, doors (except front door) and door frames and paint them white and then sand the floor and paint it light grey in a high gloss paint. :D We'll see when/if the floor gets done or if we'll leave it 'til we do something with the rest of the flooring upstairs.



In daylight and at night time...



The kiddies bedroom "just" got redecorated with a new bunk bed and new shelves. The dresser now has space to be in their bedroom rather than just outside, in the mess of a soon-to-be-playroom. :) Found an old not even before-photo but an what-it-was-like-way-back-when-photo...
Stephen's done an amazing job...! I mostly just agree with his building ideas and give input on placements of windows/walls/doors and say what colour I want things to be... Living in a house, at least this one, would not be an option if he wasn't the handy-man fix-it-guy that he is! :)

Tired...!

Just home again after working all day and I'm knackered... Working is hard work...! ;P Not as easy peasy as being a student sitting on one's behind being smart! ;) ;) ;)
Sitting here hoping/wishing/wanting to have the energy to put kiddies to bed but I don't.

They shouldn't be too difficult really...they've gotten their "new" (at least to them ;)) "Kura"-bed and even though it's very exciting it is most often just as tiring (as it is exciting...*lol* yep, tired!) but I'm quite happy to leave the putting-to-bed to Stephen tonight while I sit here drinking my tea...

I'll post a pic soon of the bed change soon (Stephen is good a fixing/building - not tidying ;)) and the progress of our upstairs hallway too... I LOVE how it's turning out just like I saw it in my mind! :)

♥ E.

Me, in The Dress. :)

*slightly embarassed*
OK, here are pics (taken with my mobile phone by/of myself in our bedroom mirror) as promised to Née! ♥ :)


Front, back and unhitched ;)

To work the other day I wore the dress hitched up with wearing green tights + my hot pink t-strap flats, instead of the white leggings and grey flats. I think darker leggings will complete the outfit better... ;P
♥ E.

Charter for Compassion

http://charterforcompassion.org

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

In slightly over formal Swedish, but perhaps still more easily understood than in English.
Urkund för Medkänsla

Medkänsla är grunden i alla religiösa, andliga och etiska traditioner, att vi alltid bemöter andra så som vi själva vill bli bemötta. Medkänsla får oss att sträva efter att lindra våra medmänniskors lidande, att inte ha oss själva i centrum för våra liv utan istället sätta någon annan där, och att ständigt värna varje individs okränkbarhet genom att bemöta alla, utan undantag, med absolut rättvisa, jämlikhet och respekt.

Vi måste också såväl i samhället som i privatlivet alltid undvika att skada andra. att handla eller tala häftigt av illvilja, chauvinism eller egoism, att vägra någon människa grundläggande mänskliga rättigheter, eller att föda hat genom nedsättande handlingar – även mot våra fiender – är att förneka vårt gemensamma mänskliga värde. Vi kan tillstå att vi inte har förmått leva i medkänsla och att somliga dessutom har ökat lidandet i religionens namn.

Alla människor måste därför ~ återupprätta medkänslan som det centrala i all religion och moral ~ tillämpa den gamla principen att alla tolkningar av religiösa skrifter som uppmanar till våld, hat och avsky anses vara ogiltiga ~ medverka till att ungdomen informeras korrekt och respektfullt om andra traditioner, religioner och kulturer ~ uppmuntra kulturell och religiös mångfald ~ bidra till en upplyst empati för alla lidande människor, även dem som vi betraktar som våra fiender.

Vi måste snarast göra medkänsla till den självklara och dynamiska kraften i vår polariserade värld. Grundas den på fast beslutsamhet att ersätta själviskhet, kan den bryta ner alla murar som byggts i politikens, ideologiernas, dogmernas och religionernas namn. Eftersom den föds ur vårt djupa beroende av varandra är medkänslan nödvändig i alla mänskliga relationer och i mänskligheten som helhet. Den leder till förståelse och är nödvändig för att skapa en rättvis ekonomi och ett fredligt världssamfund.

♥ E.

Look what I bought...?! :O

I'm not a dress person, I don't do dresses.
I've just figured out the whole "skirt thing" which feels sorta good but still kinda weird...'cause it's just not that "me"...but perhaps will be one day... :)

Dresses, I don't do!

Or, at least I thought so! ;) :D Because today I bought one!? :) Yep! True!! :P The last dress I bought before this one must have been my wedding gown...which is over 7 years ago! I just don't do them...it is most definately not my thing, I'm not a dress-girl! I'm the jeans&t-shirt-gal! :D

This is definitely a dress...and a "poofy" one at that! :O It can be un-poofed but looks better poofed. I can't believe I just uttered that thought!? :D To make this change over from being a no-dress-never-girl easier on my already stressed out mind I think I'll wear it with my black trousers tomorrow and pretend it's a tunic? *lol!* ...then I can delay having to deal with the fact that I've bought myself a dress!? ;)




Again...Can't believe I'm thinking this!? but! The dress looks better on me than in this pic... Sometimes being curvier, rather than a mannequin-size, is a good thing and this is one of those times. ;)

♥ E. - Knackered after not doing much at all today...just a little shopping with very pregnant and quite sore big sis and then hanging out with mum (who's back from her Finland trip!) and little sis while kids ran amok (giving slugs a bath at one point *eeek!* :P) in our garden...! :D
A Perfect Day Off! ...apart from the slug-bit! *yuck!*

Update?

I've not been up to much really...just work work work really now that my foot's alright...and squeezed in whatever hanging-out-with-friends/family-time I can manage to in between work shifts. :) I posted a LONG letter to my soul sis Née yesterday! :D We've also managed to get a few e-mails sent to each other too...! :) I wanna go to California!

I've got this week(+end) and next + one final weekend of work left before I have two short weeks "off" to get myself sorted for Uni starting! *nervous!* What does a mature university student wear these days? ...and what pens should I get? What-if I'm the only "grown up" there...? ...and OMG I haven't got any of my books ordered yet!?!
*panic!*

*breathe!*
AND I have to remember to register too of course!?! :O With my luck I'll probably forget!

*running out of air!*
OK, not wanting to think about all this uni-stuff anymore! :/

*breeeaaaathe!*

♥ E.
off to raid the cookie jar... if only I had one!