Words to Live By

A friend of mine sent this to me recently and I thought it would be nice to post this for others to read. These kinds of things remind you what it is to be human and humane to others. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, and wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion.
    
22. Over prepare, and then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyfu l.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don't ask, you don't get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Walking on Water (and other things Texans are good at!)

LOL - man, do I crack myself up. That's good, since I am by myself 1/2 the day on Thursdays and Fridays.

Yes, ladies and gentleman, today I walked on water. Granted, the damn lake was frozen but it still doesn't mean I didn't WALK on it. It was, by far, the strangest, creepiest thing I have EVER done. Reagan and I both weren't too sure what to make of standing in the middle of a lake we were just at in December with Mya. Incredible!!! What's cool about this community (and it probably exists elsewhere, I just have never been to a frozen lake before) is they measure how thick the ice is as well as plough a path for ice skating and skiing. This particular lake's ice is 18cm thick (go ahead, do the math - I just call my husband who said "yes, it's thick enough to walk on"). There were a few people out there with us - some skiing, some skating, some walking. It takes about 20 minutes to get there and I'd say about an hour to go around the lake so tomorrow I will be a little more prepared and walk the whole thing.

Tomorrow marks the end of two weeks in my Swedish class. It is going really well and some students even look to moi for help. Of course, at the beginning it didn't seem to be going so good. At one point, I had to look at my paper to say the alphabet and count. That's pretty pathetic since the alphabet is composed of all the same letters as the English alphabet (minus the W) plus the 3 extra letters (which I will not include here as I still have an English keyboard, thank gawd, and do not know the shortcut keys to make them). My brain was having a hard time understanding what I was subjecting it to at first, but by last Thursday it had located the "learning a new language" section and it was full speed ahead.

The class, naturally, is filled with people from around the world. I am the only American and there is only one other English speaking person in the class (from England). Of course, most of the other students do know a little to a lot of English so I can communicate just fine. I think sometimes it would be more helpful and easier for me to start learning Swedish if I didn't know English. The students from Iraq only speak Arabic so their grasp tends to be better. However, that being said, Arabic is so far from Swedish it is quite difficult for them to even hear the sounds in addition to writing. I can't imagine how overloaded their brains must be at the end of class each day. At least with English, there are quite a few similar words so it is easy to figure out what things are. Writing in Arabic looks like a doctor's signature and has nothing even closely related to Swedish. Plus, they read right to left so they are literally learning from scratch. I get exhausted just thinking of what their minds must be going through. Kudos to them for attending these classes - I think it is important for people to know the language of the country they live in so they can be a part of society. I won't get on any kind of rant, but I do wish the US offered something like that to our immigrants. Unfortunately, I think the situation is so far gone it wouldn't really help.

Moving on (geesh, where did that come from?!) - to follow up on the mystery night Anders had planned for us back in January of 1977 (no, it hasn't been than long - give me a break). He ended up taking me to the restaurant, Pontus by the Sea, which hosted an English comic troupe which acted out quite a few and very funny scenes. The food was a "choice of" menu and was incredible. In addition to an awesome venue, I also got to enjoy it with Marie and Freddie - two of my most favorite people. For those of you who don't know them, Freddie and Marie were two of the first people I met when I came to Sweden in 1999. I enjoy hanging out with both of them so much and it was such a surprise to see them (especially Marie, as I hadn't seen her since we moved back - silly, I know!).

My mom said that quite a few people (including one of my Aunts - you know who you are) said I must be busy since I haven't been posting lately. Well, let's just say I am getting use to having only 3-6 hours of free time during the week instead of all day. It's a struggle, but I think I will persevere!!!! Ha, ha, ha!!

Have a great Thursday, Friday and weekend everyone!!! Wish me luck in that Reagan and I don't fall through the lake tomorrow!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Walking in Cross Country Tracks

So yesterday turned out a bit differently than I expected. My tutor cancelled and I ended up having the entire afternoon to myself. It was such a beautiful day that I couldn't pass on taking Reagan for a nice long walk through the forest trails. Plus, I realized today would be impossible as I had a bank appointment in the city this morning, my tutoring later this afternoon and then a return trip into the city for the Anders Suprise (sounds like a fancy dessert, huh?).

So, at 2pm Reagan and I took off on our forest walk. Like I said, the day was amazing - sunny and crisp with not a cloud in the sky! We took our usual 2KM route through the forest. Now, the only other true winter I have ever experienced was in Boston. That's Boston city - not a suburb or anything like that. I lived in the North End - a very city place to live. So we didn't have a lot of opportunities to get out in the snow and walk through the trails. The only time I even experienced that was in New Hampshire and it was on trails set aside specifically for cross country sking. To walk through the forest with all this snow on the trees and on the ground is an unbelievably calming experience. You hear the crush of the snow underfoot, see the snow falling from the trees as a bird flies off - really, really peaceful. So here we are, walking down the path. I notice on the path that there is one side that isn't being used as much and has what appears to be motorcycle tracks in it. So, being the novice snow/ice walker, I choose this side. Besides, the other side is really "spy ice" - ice covered with snow, trying to be snow but really it's ice and you slip and slide A LOT! As we are walking through the snow, observing nature's beauty, I hear some huffing and puffing coming up behind me. I turn around and see an older gentleman approaching me on cross country skis. Reagan and I step aside to let him go pass and as he gets closer he says something like "bork, bork, bork". I say, in my strongest AMERICAN accent (if you say it with a British accent, they still might misinterpret you and think you speak Swedish), "Sorry?". Without missing a beat, he looks me straight in the eyes, all the while sking, and says "Don't walk in the ski tracks". I immediately respond, "oh, Ok" and keep walking...for a few more seconds...until...OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!! I've been walking for the last 10 freaking mintues through those tracks. In my big ass snow boots my sister bought me specifically for these types of walks. They're like huge, er mostly because I am tall and therefore need big shoes. And here I am, with my freakin' dog, 'clomp, clomp, clomp' all through their precious ski tracks. I wanted to crawl under a rock. Better yet, cover myself with snow. It was horrible. I then also remembered the words in Swedish for "sorry" and "I didn't know" - but the man was far gone and I was too embarassed.

Well, anyone who knows me knows that my karma is not far behind. Now because this was certainly not intentional (although, thinking back I am not sure how I thought those were motorcycle tracks - I mean, there were two tracks, side by side and it was smooth - not jagged like a tire) my karma only punished me a little. You see, as we continued with our walk on the WALKING side of the trail, another man approached us coming the opposite way. I big thing for the older folks (75 year+) is to use cross country ski poles to walk with and this was exactly what this man was doing. Again, Reagan and I go to the side to let him pass, which just happened to be on "spy ice". Actually, this was like "Russian spy ice" because it was a mini pond underfoot that began to crack immediately upon us stepping on it. As he passes us, he says to us something like "bork, bork, bork...". I immediately say "sorry" but he continues with the Swedish. I finally say, in Swedish, "I don't understand. I don't speak Swedish" and then in Engish "I speak English". UH, WRONG!!!!! When, WHEN will I learn to say "Lo siento, yo hablo espanol". The probability of them speaking spanish is way lower than english and then I wouldn't get stuck for 20 MINUTES on RUSSIAN SPY ICE listening to this sweet old man, who probably is just lonely, go on and on about his accordian playing!!! Poor Reagan, at one point I feel something between my legs and look down to see her face sticking out looking at me like "Mom, can you shut this guy up". The whole time he is talking, whistling, etc. about his accordian he is also swing his poles around coming dangerously close to knocking me or Reagan out. Meanwhile, the Russian spy ice is crackling up with laughter under foot. Ah, alas...karma.

After finally pulling away from him, it was pretty uneventful...thank gawd. We did see two deer run in front of us - Reagan wasn't quite sure what they were or what to do but she did pick up on their scent when we got closer to their crossing. When Dad and I would run at White Rock, there is a section near the sailing club that has a ton of squirrels. Reagan loves her some squirrel. One morning, we started running through this area and I swear (Dad will back me up), there had to have been over 30 squirrels running all over the place. I had to stop running, tighten Reg's leash, and WALK through this section. From that point forward it was named "Squirrel Alley". Something tells me that she would be frightened of the deer if we got very close - she generally doesn't like to pick on anything bigger than her (unlike her mom! HA!).

Today is a lot busier (I can all hear your collective sighs - I know, I know but I swear days go by faster when you DON'T work). I've already been into town to add myself to our account. The "funny" bank guy kept joking with Anders and saying that I was going to spend HIS money and did he really want to add me to HIS account. Excuse me JACK A$$?!?!?! Let me straighten you out, for a second, K? Don't worry, Mom - I didn't say any of that. I just politely laughed because I am pretty sure deep down, he knew I could whoop his butt in 2 seconds flat - ha!!!

Hope everyone has a great day and remember - DON'T WALK IN THE SKI TRACKS!!!!!!
Later~
Monica

Monday Morning

Ah, Monday morning and it is still snowing. I forgot how much I really, REALLY like the snow. Today is is lightly snowing and the sun is shining. It's like tiny crystals are falling from the sky - just beautiful.

This week marks the beginning of the end for me - ha! Now, but seriously, I begin my English tuturing today which happens Monday through Friday from 4pm-5pm. Not bad except that I have recently become addicted to Las Vegas (we just started Season 3 here) and that is on at 4:30-5:30, boooooo hisssss!! Hey, give me a break - at least it is not Oprah.

In two weeks I also begin my Swedish classes. Anders and I tried the other night to only speak Swedish to each other. Needless to say it was a very quiet night. It got to the point that I made a new rule that during the ENGLISH moving Shark Tale, I was allowed to speak English. HA!

This past weekend we got together with the other American/Swedish couples for another game night. Always a good time and it is nice to get to know them a little bit more each time. Sunday, as you saw, was spent enjoying the snow. It is so deep and beautiful - I have to say even better than in Boston mostly because we live outside the city, so it doesn't get as "dirty" as fast. I'll take Reagan out to the forest tomorrow, as it is still snowing today.

As for the rest of the week, not much else going on. Anders has some kind of surprise set up for me tomorrow night - I think this was suppose to happen last Wednesday but something didn't work out. I love surprises and just hope champagne is involved somehow!! HA!

Later~
Monica

A Snowy Sunday

Winter has arrived and brought with it almost a foot of snow - LOVE IT. Today we went out with Reagan to the daycare behind our complex and let her off leash. It has a ton of playground area and a fence surrounding the perimeter. I made sure to close and latch all the gates, but Reagan didn't seem to want to run away. She had a fantastic time and wore herself out (as well as Mommy & Daddy). Of course, our camera has now died on us, so until it's fixed you will have to put up with cell phone pictures. Blogger is also acting up and is still only allowing me to post one picture. AAAAHHHH, le sigh.

Hope everyone had a great weekend - I'll update more tomorrow!

What do you do when you wake up and it is below freezing?!

You make Aunt Willie's Homemade Biscuits!!! And they were damn good too - hope everyone is having a great weekend.

(note to reader: this will not be appearing or be even mentioned on my "healthy" blog, the running gourmande!! ;-)

I might not know a lot

but I do know that this piece of paper is telling me I start my Swedish classes on Monday February 5th. WWWOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOO!!! This is cause for celebration!!!!

*mental note to self: you now only have 3 weeks left of complete and total freedom...ah, bittersweet.*

Could Winter Finally be HERE?!

So yesterday afternoon mother nature decided to pay a little visit in the form of major, hurricane type winds (in the southwest part of Sweden) as well as rain and snow. I remember when I first moved to Boston and one of the girls told me it was snowing outside, and it was dry snow. I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. I remember clearly saying "isn't all snow wet?!?! I mean, it's a form of water, right?!?!" It was only after a few snowfalls that I realized there is a difference in the types of snow. Dry snow is usually made up of those big, fluffy flakes that look like the snowflakes we use to cut out in elementary school. The wet stuff, while good for making snow balls and snow men, is just gross and never coats the ground like a carpet. Last night, it was wet snow. This was accompanied by wind gusts. The gusts must of been at least 30MPHs because at times I thought I was going to be pushed over. This morning, I was really hoping to wake up and see a nice fluffy layer of snow covering the ground like a big shag carpet - nope, not goin' happen. Instead, it's that crappy thin layered berber style carpet and it is sleeting. UH, gross!!!! Guess I don't have any execuses to avoid cleaning the apartment.

Last week was insane for us!!! We spent the majority of it in the house sitting home getting our stuff gathered up and cleaning up as well. We were finally moved back and settled by Friday afternoon. On Saturday, my mother in law closed her clothing store in exchange for retirement. We decided to go down and surprise her and Jan, showing up with additional food and wine. They were so appreciative and completely surprised. I really thought I could remember the code to their apartment but when we got there, it just didn't work. We ended up throwing pebbles at the kitchen window to get Jan's attention but instead he thought it was rain pelting the window and gave an evil, whathafa look out into the parking area. Finally, they saw us and realized what was going on. Funny enough, the code to enter the apartment was the 4th of July!!! What kind of person, especially an American, can't remember that?!?! I kept telling Anders to try 0415 - tax day!!! HA!

Well, I've got to get moving and pack these decorations AWAY!!! What a mess - oh well, I've got nothing but time. Later!

Sweet Tooth

Blogger is still acting up again with picture posting so sorry again for the formatting of this post. Just wanted to share with you, though, a couple pictures of the sugar cookies and sand tarts I made for Christmas. Much to my surprise and amazement, shortening is sold here and I was able to make my Aunt Polly's cookies. They were the biggest hit and I credit this to the insane amount of butter and shortening involved in this recipe.

This weekend has flown by and soon we will be back in our apartment. We took a load of stuff home today, just to ease our pain when we officialy move back on Thursday. I'll spend the week picking up the house, making sure we don't leave anything behind. I hope everyone had a nice weekend and is geared up for your first long week again. I remember always dreading this week after the Christmas, New Year's holidays. Speaking of work, still no word from the Täby kommun on when I can start my Swedish classes, so Anders will be giving them a call tomorrow.

Have a great week!!

Who is RG?

Curious? Click here to find out more!

Coming Up Roses

Aren't they beautiful? What can I say, my husband is a romantic. Now most of you may be saying - "so he sent flowers, big deal? I send/get flowers all the time on special occasions". But that is just it - Anders has NEVER sent me flowers in all of our 7 1/2 years together. Not even once. Sure, he's brought home the occasional red rose, tulips but he has never had anything delivered to me. And that is just what makes this even more special and unexpected. Top this off with the fact that he actually picked out these four flowers and you've got a seriously romantic night ahead (swimming in enough sugar, yet?).

After I made my way towards Stockholm, we first went to this restaurant/bar called Gondolen. It is an amazing restaurant as it overlooks all of Stockholm and during this time of year you can really see the lights of the city. After having a couple of glasses of champagne, we headed over to one of our two nostalgic places. The first is a bar we originally went to when I visited Sweden for the first time in 1999. It's changed design, style and crowds quite a bit since then, but it still brings back memories of us sitting down, drinking a beer and trying to find a hotel in Stockholm. After having another glass of champagne there, we headed over to the other memory lane place - the italian restaurant we ate at in 1999. It is still as delicious and authentic as it was in 1999 and we enjoyed ever bite of food. We had such an enjoyable evening filled with really good food, drink, tons of laughter and a lot of ease dropping. Poor Anders, he kept trying to talk to me and all I could do was try and figure out what the italian family next to us was saying. They sit people REALLY close together in restaurants here, especially if you are only 2-4, so it is really hard to concentrate sometimes. What can I say?!?! I am nosey!!

This weekend is our last weekend in the house so I will start gathering up some of our stuff and take it back home. I am sure Kissel is ready for us to come home - yeah, right! Not much else is going on, for the moment. Blogger is really giving me a hard time about posting pictures so until it's resolved, there will be a lot of single picture entries. Sorry!

Happy 4th Anniversary to Us!

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago on this date Anders and I were married. So much has happened and it still feels like just yesterday when we were saying our "I dos".

Here's to another year and another adventure. We love you ALL!!!
Monica & Anders

Happy New Year!

Yes, yes - I know, I know. Do I have to start every post by saying that?!?! No, not this year - I am going to live life to it's fullest and not care what other people think. What? What's that? You think I do that anyway? Well you haven't seen nothing yet!!!

But seriously, there are a tons of things to look back on and reflect on in 2006...I know you all can agree with me on that. But why should I? Just to prove I have zero memory left?! No thanks! But what I can say is that Anders and I were super blessed in 2006 and are thankful to all of our friends and family for support. Cheers to you all for getting us through one of the most difficult but rewarding years of our lives.

Life continues to be idylic and peaceful here in the countryside. I say country, because the other night we took the bus into Stockholm and waived it down at least 200 feet from it's stop. When we got on and thanked her for picking us up, she said no worries and that is how they do it in the countryside. HA! I've become a little more adventurous with my daily afternoon walks with Reagan and Allan (the dog I am currently dog/house sitting for). Yesterday we ventured down towards the water and through the most amazing cluster of lake side houses. Today we walked away from the water and through another patch of beautiful homes. We even came across what appears to be a pretty long, FLAT, running trail so Reagan and I will check that out tomorrow.

New Years Eve and weekend we spent lounging around, shopping and just enjoying ourselves with Anders' best friend, Daniel, and his girlfriend, Carina. We cooked a lot, drank a lot and slept a lot. New Years Eve night was incredible. Describing it or even posting pictures (which I have none, by the way - and don't ask why!) would do it absolutely zero justice. Let's just say they sell fireworks here (mostly roman candle type things) in the mall and you can fire them off ANYWHERE. Even in Stockholm!!! The sky/horizon is filled completely with exploding fireworks for as far as your eye can see. The sound of all those going off is a bit overwhelming. Reagan could have cared less and didn't seemed frighten at all. Allan, on the other hand, who has grown up with these things around, spent the evening shaking in the corner of the bathroom. We all felt so bad for him, but there was nothing we could do. Right before midnight we went out to the balcony and just watched. An amazing site that one really should experience!!!

And the reason for the pictures on top? Well, either blogger hates me or this computer at the house sitting house hates me. Anyway, I think you can figure out what is what, but the last picture was taken on our long walk yesterday and I just think it is plain cool.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!!

In Sweden, Christmas Eve is actually the bigger holiday and is filled with drinking, eating, gift giving and cartoons. Yes, you heard it correctly. If anyone wants to invade or take over this country, you only need to wait until December 24th at 3pm. You could literally walk through immigration without so much as a peep from the officers because most likely they are away watching these cartoons. I think what is so interesting (at least with my Swedish family) is that the cartoon clips they show are from the old Walt Disney classics such as Cinderella, Snow White, Lady and the Tramp and sprinkled with other Walt Disney classic cartoons such as the one where Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck lose their jetstream trailer on the mountain. Oddly enough, the clips of these classic movies are all that the Swedes see. Most of them have never seen any of the movies in their entirety.

Today has been spent relaxing by the fire and taking a nice walk through the neighborhood with Reagan, Gunilla and Jan. It was nice and warm yesterday, around 45F. Today, it is below freezing so burning the fireplace is very welcome. Normally, Anders and I fight about when it is OK to have a fire - in Dallas it had to dip below 50F. This rule was established after Anders built a fire and it was in the 60s. I had to turn the AC on just to survive it. HA!!!

Gunilla and Jan will stay the night and I plan on using my new Les Creuset dutch oven ti make dinner (thanks Mom & Dad)!!! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday. It may be a few days before I can post some pictures. Since we are housesitting, I can't really upload anything onto their computer and our computer was infected with a few viruses, so I need to pretty much reload all the windows applications. OH JOY...oh well, I've got some time.

Much love to all my friends and family!!

Monica

Santa Lucia Day

So yesterday was Santa Lucia Day. Huh? Swedes celebrating an Italian saint? Go figure. The way I look at it, it was just another day to drink.

Apparently, there is no clear understanding of why Sweden celebrates this day except that at one time December 13th was consired the shortest day of the year. In order to ward off the darkness, I guess the Swedes decided to bring in a little help. And of course, just like Mid-summer, the longest day of the year, you have to have some good food and drink.

I am definitely NOT opposed to any of this and decided to get in on the fun. Since we don't have children, we didn't get to participate in any of the children's lucia processions, but from what I understand it is really beautiful. I've provided a link HERE, so you can read about Lucia and all that goes with it. I did, however, end up making the saffron "cats" or lussekatter, Anders picked up the mulled wine or glogg (still no swedish keyboard - there are suppose to be two dots over the O) and we celebrated. Our friends, Helena & Calle, stopped by on their way home as well.

As some of you may know, Reagan loves bread. Any kind of bread - waffles, toast, biscuits, birthday cakes. I had caught her earlier licking the counter to remove the extra flour (what a big help she is, huh?) so I knew she was really wanting to try the end product. As our guests were leaving, I noticed that Reagan had decided to go back into the living room and in two quick bites, she polished off one of the buns. How do I know it was only two bites? Well, let's just say this morning's walk confirmed it. ;-)

Mom, can't I please just have ONE more?!?!

Love, Monica

The Weekend in Review

Whew - what a fun, exciting and busy weekend we had. Let's just get right to it, shall we?

On Saturday, we drove (yes, I said drove - more on that in a second) out to Ekero, which is west of Stockholm and about an hour by car, for game night with the American/Swedish couples I have met. To most people's horror, we did a lot of SingStar (a PS2 karoke game) and a music trivia and general trivia game called Buzz (again, played through PS2). We had a ton of fun and ate lots of good American junk food like hot artichoke dip, chili with cornbread, hello dollies, rotel, etc.. It was fun to get together and just act stupid. Here the girls are after batteling it out all night. Unfortunately, I am not as good of a singer as I thought - I lost everytime EXCEPT when Leslie's 9 year old son challenged me to the Run DMC song, Tricky. I won that (barely!).
Sunday, was big errand day. One of the guys that Anders' works with let us borrow his car over the weekend so we seized the opportunity to go to IKEA and pick up some things. After spending 1 1/2 hours in IKEA, we had a quick lunch at McDonalds (shocked, I am sure) and then headed over to El Giganten - a electronics store. We'd been talking about getting a new TV for a while, so we thought we'd check out the merchandise. Well, we walked out of there with a Christmas gift to eachother - a new flat screen TV. We really didn't want a flat screen originally, but they just don't make anything else anymore. There was a small corner filled with regular TVs, but they just looked so old compared to all the new flat screen ones. And there were so many choices, it made it even easier to find a good deal.

With our car fully loaded, we headed back home. The funny thing is that this outlet/shopping area is only about 20 minutes from our house, but when I originally went it took me almost 2 hours to get there! It felt so good to have a car - like we really live here. I even drove Saturday night and Sunday morning. At first glance, the traffic signs seem really confusing but once you are behind the wheel, they really make a lot more sense.

After unloading everything, Anders brought up the Christmas tree for me to decorate. It definitely feels more like Christmas now that I have that up especially since Kissel still thinks - after 13 years!!! - that he can eat it. Every morning I wake up to a new pile of Christmas tree puke because obviously you can't eat plastic!!!

Monday was spent indoors. It was really rainy, cold and windy - not a good combination - and I had two dogs again. Here they are both staring at Kissel who is in the box - don't you wonder what they are thinking?!
We were only able to go on one long walk and the girls were pretty much stir crazy the entire day. I can't say that I blame them - I was sick of being inside too. When Anders got home from work, I made him take me to dinner at the hotel nearby. I just had to get out!!! Plus I needed an excuse to wear my Dad's parka he gave me. Let me tell you - it's so thick and heavy (must weigh at least 8 lbs) you don't even feel the wind against you - it's like wearing concrete and I loved it!! I was so warm and comfortable that I am looking forward to the winter again knowing that I will be just fine in this thing.

Today I have the puppy again, but it is sunny so we have already been on a long walk! They wrestled a little this morning and are currently sleeping *sigh*. We'll go on lots of walks today because you just never know when it is going to turn nasty again.

Have a great day, everyone!

Love, Monica

Two Are Better than One?!

I knew yesterday morning when I went for the morning dog walk it was going to be a beautiful day. You know how I knew? Well, for one thing I saw some people at the daycare all standing outside, sipping their hot coffee and looking towards the sunrise. I am not sure what they were saying but I am sure it was something like "damn, isn't that just the most amazing sunrise?". It was really beautiful and what seemed to me, unusually bright. It was more like a spring time sunrise (in my humble, never lived this far north opinion) than a fall/winter one. In any event, the sun shined all day long. This was the second day in a row with sunshine so I just had to go on another exploration walk - and yes, this time it was with TWO dogs.

After looking at the Taby map and consulting a more reliable one (the street map), I came to realize that there was a lake in what seemed to be much closer proximity to our apartment. I leashed up the dogs, loaded my bag w/ water, a scarf & the camera and away we went. The walk took us through a very nice green space area between two neighborhoods. Tons of little paths jutting here and there, but I kept on the major path until I saw this:

What's that, you say? Just a stupid stream? Oh contraire mo frare (or however you spell it). It's actually run off that has been manipulated "a bit" as on the other side of this picture is a big, concrete pipe. Not too photogenic, so I only captured it from this angle. BUT, what this drain off does tell me (and my Father would tell you too!) is that cities typically direct drain offs to bodies of water sooooooo I knew I was headed in the right direction!!!

OK, moving right along - the afternoon really wasn't that suspenseful but it was a peaceful and idyllic area nonetheless. Just a few minutes from the babbling brook (me or the stream?!) we came to the lake. It's actually a really nice lake that appears to have trails along it's perimeter. We didn't continue along the path because it was going to get dark soon and I wanted to get back so the girls (all 3 of us) could rest a little. Plus, I could see there was another dog on down the path that was playing with the ducks, leash free, and I wasn't really up for being dragged across the dirt by two excited goldens. Speaking of two excited goldens, here they are "posing" for me:

And here is Miss Mya watching the birds very closely. She loves birds like Reagan loves squirrels. She is really good on the leash, hardly pulls and has that cute golden retriever skip in her step. However she is a MAJOR "counter surfer" right now, bringing me all sorts of goodies from the kitchen.

Thursday was a total change from Wednesday - they pretty muched just chilled all day long, with a few wrestling matches here and there. This morning, they both slept in with me (I usually let Reagan out of her crate after Anders leaves for work) and were really good. Another thing about a puppy like her is you can tell how important the first few months are in shaping the way they behave. Now I am even more happy with Reagan's progress but realize that some of the things I wish she could do (go off leash at my mother-in-laws unfenced summer home) simply will never be because she is too old. When they are puppies, it seems they want to be with you every moment outside and are scared to go anywhere without you - I could probably let Mya off leash and she would be fine. Reagan is old enough not to be scared (but not trained enough to know CARS KILL!) so it will never work. Boo, hiss - we can always dream! I think the best part of having two dogs is when Reagan wants to play tug of war with her toys - Mya is all too quick and excited to be part of that game, even though it means she will be dragged around the apartment!!

This weekend we are laying low - we have a game night over at the American/Swedish couples house on Saturday but that is about it. Of course, that's how last weekend started out and we ended up having three things to go to!!! HA! Apparently, our landlord has a small, artificial Christmas tree in the basement, so Anders promised me we could put that up after Mya leaves. I think that will round out the decorations and I won't have to go buy more. OK, maybe a tablecloth, but I NEED that!!!

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Love, Monica

Puppy Sitting

So yesterday we welcomed a (temporarily) new addition to our family. Another golden retriever named Mya. Mya is only 4 months old and probably 1/2 the size of Reagan. Interestingly enough, judging by the size of her head and paws, she probably won't get that much bigger. We have friends who own golden puppies and their heads and paws are HUGE. Of course, in true puppy form Mya, despite her small stature, has zero coordination and trips on just about everything.

As I mentioned, yesterday was the first day Mya was in our home. Despite peeing on the floor 3 times (2 I caught, 1 I didn't - ugh) and wrestling with Reagan until she snapped (quite literally, I might add) it was a good day. I can honestly say I never realized how good of a dog Reagan was until this comparison. Don't get me wrong - Mya is a sweetheart of a dog, she just has a lot of energy and will need lots of training in the future. To see me walk these two is a miracle in of itself. Thank goodness for Reagan's patience - I couldn't do it without her!

In other exciting news - well there is just nothing to report. Two dogs in a small apartment is a bit like daycare - you can never really take your eyes off of them. Thank goodness yesterday and today are both partly sunny days so we can go on LONG walks. Since I have been so boring, I will leave you with some other boring pictures - our living room (before Mya! ;-)

Clementine Cake

And now, for the long awaited Nigella Lawson's clementine cake post - ha! It is finally done and you can cast your eyes upon it's beauty...Doesn't it look yummy? Well it is. Especially considering how easy it is to make and how few ingredients you really need (I was even short one egg). I used 1-2 more clementines than the recipe calls for, but that was because I was trying to make up the difference for the lack of egg. The smell of the clementines boiling was unbelievable. It wasn't as orangy as I thought it would be and instead almost had a cinnamon, buttery smell. I would suggest covering the pot while you are boiling the clementines because mine boiled dry an hour into the process. It would taste really good with a dollip of whipped cream too.

What a perfect winter dessert - now you know what you can do with those crates of clementines they sell!!! Click HERE for the recipe.