Needing a visit from the Tidy Elf!

*sigh*
I'm sitting here with my cup of tea wondering/pondering/delaying the inevitable... Why does tidying feel like such a chore?! I LOVE how good I feel about myself, my house, my family and Life after it's done! Yet, here I sit just wondering/pondering/delaying...

I'm not a neat freak by any means, organised chaos is more my thing but I feel...unwell when it's is too messy about the house, when my organised chaos has turned into plain ol' chaos. Which is where we'll be in another few days...everywhere but in our bedroom as that got thoroughly done before we all moved up! :)

I want to tidy, I know exactly what needs done and I know how fantastic I'll feel afterwards but...nope. I even know it wont take too long to do it! But...here I still sit, blogging, sipping my tea, waiting for the wash to be done - that's about what gets done tidy-wise at the moment as it has to get done for anyone to be able to leave the house! :]

Why? Why? Why does it feel like such a chore?
♥ E.

Mini!

Ah, of course!! :D We got to see "Mini" (still nameless!) on Thursday!! Can't believe I forgot to mention it! :O :) She's soooo tiny and soooo adorable and soft and sweet and tiny and cute and amazingly fantastic!! :D :D :D

She's already a heavy sleeper and she has blessed big sis and brother-in-law with as good as all night sleeps from the get go...! I wonder what kind of sleep-gen those two have?! :D All their little ones have been amazing sleepers from early on. :) Mine didn't sleep a full night 'til they were about 1½ years old!! :D

Oh...I could just eat her up!! :D That's how cute she is and it'll be about a week 'til I get to see her again and I'm craving her (not one of my own! ;)) really really bad...!

♥ E.

State of affairs

So, the sad, sad outcome of the election has given me (and a lot of other people) a swift and hard kick up the behind. Take a stand, speak up and speak out about all the things you think doesn't matter in the big scheme of things... They do matter, you/we matter and enough's enough!

I for one will and am taking a stand and after the next election, in 4 years time, I will be able to say that I have done what I've could for humanity, equality and solidarity.

It started for me on Friday when I made a choice and became a member of the youth branch (yep, I'm still counted as a youth in political terms! ;)) of the political party that I feel represent me the strongest. Which particular one doesn't matter, what matters is that I've done the research and made my choice.

This afternoon I went to demonstration against what SD stand for but more importantly a manifestation for diversity and openness...! I feel good about being me today and it's just the beginning! :)

On the non-political state of affairs... ;)
This weekend's been full of birthday parties. It seems like all the kiddies friends are autumn "babies". :) I blame it on those long cold winter months we have, when we "have to" keep each other warm... ;)

Erin got to go to her very first without-mummy-being-there-friend-party today (Anton was also invited). My BIG girl! :D

We also moved our beds upstairs yesterday and put blinds up today, curtains will follow when S has gotten the curtain pole up. :) He's brill on the handy-man stuff but doesn't have the patience with the knickknack stuff... Then I'll take some pics for you and post them here.

Tomorrow I'll find out where I'll be doing my work placement (am.eng. practicum?). If I've gotten things straight the place we're going to is The Place where we'll be throughout the whole teaching program... First trial is only a week away!?! :O :D A bit nervous about where I'll end up...would really like to "get" the school that kiddies most likely will go to.... :) Exciting stuff! :)

Now, a cup of tea and then bed!
♥ E.

Damp follow up...

Nope, it has not miraculously dried up and not needing fixed...! We've gotten a few quotes for the job and are "just" needing to check some details with The Guy to make sure we're comfy with him doing the job. Then The Guy can get started and we should be dried up by the new year...? :P Honestly I don't know when we can move back downstairs... Firstly we're needing to move up again! :P :P :P

That's what "we've" been busy doing the last...week...or so? Gosh, I seem to never be able to keep up with time! Any hoot, Stephen's been fixing and sorting, taking the old ceiling down, putting plasterboards and "fix-it"-wallpaper (that now makes plastering redundant! ;)) up. This weekend we had help from my auntie M and her S. and we got loads done...though Stephen had already sorted the worst of the walls out by himself. Now there's a bit more painting (and drying!), putting back/on window frame left to do and then the room will be ready to house 4 people again. :]

Late evening. Work already underway and some plasterboards are already up.

Ceiling's horrid and about to come down.

A good bit there now! Ceiling's down and painted and last of fix-it-wallpaper's going up.
Auntie Merja explains to the Men how it's done! ;)

New Bedroom Light.
There something 80's about it which made me a bit hesitant but, it looks good!(?) :)
I'm really glad that the room's all pretty and done up, it would have driven me mad living in the state it was in, again. I just wish it wasn't such a need for it to be done...
♥ E.

MiniP

She's here!!
♥
Born 11:02
weight 4655 gram and 50 cm "long".
Proud aunty,
♥ E.

Finally...! ♥

A little bit later today, possibly before lunch,
I'm going to be an aunt for the 3rd time!
♥
I'm so NOT going to be able to pay attention at the seminar later on... Don't care! :) MiniP's finally arriving!
♥ ♥ ♥
♥ E.

...

Late last night the results were disappointing and I was deeply saddened by the Sweden Democrats getting into Parliament... :( Early this morning the results were still devastating. Humanity has taken a hard kick in the gut...I feel hollow inside. I'm in shock. How...?

I can't believe how the political parties can have failed so miserably to keep SD from getting seats in Parliament...? How, why, have we all failed to put humanity, solidarity, compassion in the forefront of everyones mind...!?

About the election in NYTimes, CBS news, BBC news, guardian.co.uk...

/E.

Election Day

Election Day today, for me it is a day where we choose another 4 years of viewing people as workers/machines - only good for what they can produce and useless when they can't or 4 (hopefully more!) years where the old, sick and infirm are seen as human beings. Where all of us have worth and deserve being treated, not as a burden to the system/society but, with humanity and respect... When people are included rather than excluded...

The wind is unfortunately not blowing in humanity's direction. Sadly in hard times people grow hard - "What's mine is mine!"... Without realising that perhaps, right now you are the "giver" but tomorrow you might be on the receiving end, needing empathy and understanding rather than rejection and contempt...

Mother Teresa cradling an armless baby orphan at her order's orphanage in Calcutta, India, 1978
"Solidarity is not a matter of altruism.
Solidarity comes from the inability to tolerate the affront to our own integrity of passive or active collaboration in the oppression of others, and from the deep recognition of our most expansive self-interest.
From the recognition that, like it or not, our liberation is bound up with that of every other being on the planet, and that politically, spiritually, in our heart of hearts we know anything else is unaffordable."
- Aurora Levins Morales
♥ E.

Blog Slumber Party

I've been invited to a virtual slumber party by Diana over at OneCraftyFox's and it's just what I need at the moment! :) Some good quality chill out time...!

This is what I'll be wearing and what I'll bring with me... :) ;) :)
♥ E.

Sense of Coherence

:) Today was strange. The lectures were kinda rubbish and the last one started weird too... But sort or half-way through it he got to the point (I think!) when he explained what he's line of research was all about and I went YES! OF COURSE! (not out loud ;))

The lecture was about school democracy, influence and learning and the lecturer's research had shown that children, students, lack a sense of purpose/meaning with their studies. They quite often ask slightly "strange" questions (or at least they would be in any other situation than a class room) like should we be taking notes? Will this be on the exam? etc. and so on without actually being aware of why or what for they are there. Most of us agreed to have asked the same things ourselves on more than one occasion...! :]

School isn't always the place of learning that it is supposed to be, a lot of the time is a place where we are told what and how to think and act and are forced to do exams before we are ready. So there's the cramming of information the day before the test and the test doesn't take into consideration if the students have actually learnt whatever they are being tested on or if they've just produced the "right" answers to pass. Why not test students when they know the material? Why limit knowledge to one right answer??
A very interesting thought...

There was lots of other specifics to his research to that I'll not bore you with but the point he made (I think ;)) was that there needs to be a sense of coherence (also known as Salutogenesis or KASAM in Swedish) to one's studies. And this is when I wrote a big fat Yes!! in my note book! :D

I've heard and read about salutogenesis before, but never put it into a studying context where it of course makes perfect sense! :) Naturally meaningfulness and a sense of purpose is of utmost importance in the learning process! :D
Amen!

So, this sort of rubbish day turned out to be quite inspiring! ;)

I hope you've had a good day too.
♥ E.

12th September 2010

Going to Best Friend Calle's Birthday Party.
All excited, can you tell!? ;)

Erin's out of nappies and got she a "sparkly" Big Girl bike from Mommo for the achievement. ♥

Of course we had to go outside too, when dad got done fighting with the stablizers! ;)
It'd been raining all morning bt thankfully the sun came out just in time. :)

Anton's out-grown his bike but we'll probably wait 'til the spring before he get's a new one.
He's fast on the one he has!
♥ E.

Damp...?

Alrighty then...! :\
We apparently have a "damp-issue" in our basement...! Just when we've gotten it all purdy and done up and our own rooms! So Typical! :[ We'll need to re-do the drainage of the house (not sure I'm saying it right in English) and that just sort of sucks 'cause we'll need to have the garden around the house dug out and pay someone lots of money (that we don't have) for doing it...

*sigh!*
We'll need to get another few quotes on the job and fix up kids playroom (our old bedroom)upstairs again for us all to move back up into..! :/ Oh joy...! Not.

Yep, kinda not wanting to be a house owner right now. What does that help when we'll not be able to get rid of it either in its current state...?

Onwards and onwards...
E.

So frustrated!

I am so frustrated...! Not about this Friday's exam/seminar but over the uselessness of the Student Union! They're supposed to be organising a great introduction, with lots of fun stuff for all the new students!! :D And...it's just pants! :[

SURE... I had a BLAST last Thursday at the pub crawl...after I had figured out where and when we were meeting up, that we were to bring our own drink (for the "förfest") and then slightly nervously waiting for all other students to arrive (I was the first one eedjit there). One (a few!) of the "sponsors" was/is lovely and fantastic but I'm sorry...that's just not enough...

This afternoons introduction schedule told me "English Café" - have a chat with the international students of Borås University kinda thing and even though I'm not a great "meet new people"-person I thought I'd give it a go. I had some time to spare before going to the dentist and needed a break from reading/writing for Friday.

I waited for a bit...didn't wanna be the first one there ;) and I came "fashionably late" only to be greeted by 6 Swedish student and 1 foreign student - who was one of the "top" people involved in the Uni's International "Student Buddy"-system... He informed us that the international students were in their Swedish Class (?!) and that it was "someone else" who was supposed to have organised the "Café"...which by now consisted by perhaps 8 Swedish students and 2 foreign ones sitting in a ring!? :O *sigh* ("Hello, my name is Erika and I've been an eedjit for 1½ weeks"...) The only foreigner left us to try and score more of them so that we'd feel a little bit less pathetic (?) and they dropped in so perhaps we were about half and half when it was about time for it to be over... I couldn't wait to get to the dentist! THAT'S how much FUN I had!! *mutters*

Am I to think the situation SO pathetically sad that I decide to join the Student Union just so that I perhaps can save other new student for the same disorganised mess that I've experienced...!?! :/

♥ E.
Oh! ..and to top my fab day off, the bus driver told me that me talking to BigSis on the phone was disturbing him driving the bus so if I could please end my conversation or go sit at the back of the bus...!?! :O *sigh!*

I ♥ My Mum!

I might be ever so slightly biased but...
I have THE GREATEST mum in the whole wide world!! ♥ I'd be completely lost without her! ♥
She's helped me/us out on countless occasions and most recently - today when Stephen had an important appointment and I was "stuck" in lectures. Both of us had a hard time getting out of our commitments and then mum stepped in and helped us out! ♥ She's just The Best, and I am eternally grateful for having a mum who can and wants to help out. ♥

She talkes and shares, guides and listens, sometimes scolds, preaches and teaches... :D She doesn't blaim or judge - she lets us learn our own lessons.

She's all I can ever hope and dream to become as a mother... If I manage to get even just halfway there I will have done OK! :)

AND! ♥
...on top of having a fantastic mum I'm blessed with fabulous sisters (both by blood and by heart&soul! ♥) who are here for me and lift me - even when I'm not down! :)

♥ E.

Things are settling in...?

This morning I sat down to try and get my head around the new schedule and...I think I managed it...sort of... :) I've put my lectures and study group times/dates in my calender and it sort of makes sense... Now I'm going to sit down and read through the "manual" for this course and see if/what preparations I need to do before each lecture and write that down too. So that I have it all in one place rather than on random sheets of paper, somewhere amongst all the other bits of paper. :)

The pub crawl on Thursday was fab! <:D I was home about just after midnight and in bed just before 1, not too shabby for an old broad! Eh? ;) I woke up at 4 for some reason and realised I was still pretty heavily "under the influence". :] My alarm rang about 5.30 and I managed to get up just after 6...feeling well rough! *lol* After eating rubbish for most of the day (I had Maltesers+Pringles with Fanta for "lunch") I started feeling alright when it was time to head back home again. ;)

Friday was also the introduction to my very first bored-out-of-my-mind-lecture... OhMy*sigh!* WHAT was the point of that exactly..?! Nah... I had to really focus to not fall asleep! ;D Oh well, it's surely not going to be my last one but hopefully we'll not have another one like that in a while!

Yesterday my niece Elsa had her family birthday do, she turns 5 on Monday. As Stephen and I had been invited to the first grown up party in years, mum kindly agreed to take the kiddies of our hands for the day/night. ♥ Dad, who lives nearby, took kiddies in his car to S&B where mum then took over. All has gone well, though Erin seems to have gotten a slight fever during the night. :/ Nothing that mum couldn't cope with but just a bit "typical"...
Anton gets to go to Elsa's friends-party too before mum brings them both home this afternoon, so S and I got a proper lie in this morning! ♥

Stephen and I had a lovely time out, although I did have a bit of a pathetic moment whilst getting ready... *lol!* Felt like I was 16 again...and not in a good way. ;) I was huffing and puffing in our bedroom feeling like screaming I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!! >:[ *lol!* I did find something eventually and like I said, we had a really nice time! :)

♥ E.

1st week...

at Uni...so far... with (almost) two more days to go (late start today!)...!

*InFoRmAtIoN OvErLoAd!!*

Cheeeezuz! My brain feels like its about to explode...! We've been fed information, and more information and then some more... information! Next day - MORE information and this afternoon we'll hopefully get to unload some of our confusion to our tutor, in our assigned "study groups" - that we'll be working with this term.

First time in the big auditorium with all my new 'class mates'. It's one of two that can hold the whole 'class' of 200. :)
SOO much info, SOO much new people, stuff, buildings, corridors, cafés.... - the University's IT-bit-stuff-things are just mind boggling. Not difficult I'm sure, when we've figured out what teacher's respond to only e-mails or only to "pims" or both or maybe someone only replies to phone calls?!? *lol*

Any hoot, my student grant/loan came yesterday so today I'm gonna unwind student-style with all the other "kids" (great spread in age throughout the students actually) at the student union pub with a pub crawl afterward... :) We'll see how long I last. ;) I'll probably be home by 10! :D

♥ E.