Day 318

Daniel will leave for a couple of days tomorrow morning, and we are having a cozy dinner tonight. We have cooked blue mussels, fried scallops and avocados with shellfish sauce. It was all very delicious, served with white wine and nice company. =)

Day 317

Grandma picked Linus up at daycare today, and when we had finished working we also went to Grandmas house, to have tacos and stay until tomorrow.

Here is Linus and Grandma reading one of the toy-store Christmas folder that has come now. Linus is pointing at everything "cool", and hope Santa will bring it for Christmas.

Day 316

Kindergarten is pretty far from where we live, about 10 kilometers. Almost everyday when we pick up Linus he tells us some about his day, and then fall asleep. So he ends up having a nice 10 minutes sleep in the afternoon, which isn't so bad after a busy day at daycare. Today he was a little tired still when we got home, so he rested in the sofa while waiting for us to get ready to take a walk with Ebba.

Day 315

Lol, funny-ear-Ebba. Boxers supposed to have nice folded ear-flaps that covers the ear. Ebbas are folded, but in the other direction, so her ears look more like those on an amstaff dog (uncut of course, all dog should have uncut ears, IMHO). Anyway, when lying down, the ears often gets straight up, and she looks more funnier than usually. =)

Day 314

To be honest, this picture is taken a couple of minutes after midnight, but I'm gonna use it as todays picture anyway. =)

Daniel has two work colleagues from Stockholm here this week, and tonight we decided to join them for food and beer. It was a nice night out, but it got a little late, hence the late picture.

The picture shows our two cats playing/teasing with each other. The younger, Zoey, at the bottom, is a real tease sometimes, and Zelda gets really annoyed. This encounter included high noises from an unhappy Zelda.

Day 313

Niklas, who's party we went to on Saturday, is a devoted barbecue chef. There were pulled pork with accessories and a fantastic chili for dinner that evening, and late at night the ribs were served. As we had to leave right about then, we got a doggy-bag with ribs to take home. And tonight we had them for dinner, with French fries and a side salad. It was very yummy this time too!

Day 312

Happy International Digital Scrapbook day!! A little belated, as it was yesterday. But I was busy yesterday with going to the party, so I set out for shopping Digital Scrap supplies today. Here is a kit from Flergs that I have had my eyes on for a while, and finally I bought it. Hopefully I'll have time some day to scrap with it. :)

Day 311

Congratulations Niklas on your 40th Birthday!

We were invited to a friends Birthday party, along with a lot of other friends whom also work at Ericsson. It was really fun and they had made a delicious barbecue of pork and chili. The birthday child is in the middle of the picture, surrounded by friends and family.

Day 310

I haven't read books in quite a while, but the other day I ordered a book and now I can't stop reading. There is a movie coming up now, based on this book; My Sister's Keeper. I read about the movie, but when I found out there was a book behind it I decided to read it instead.

The story is very touching, and really shows that the world isn't just black or white. What is right from one point of view can be totally wrong from another, and I find such stories interesting as it forces the reader (or at least me) to work my mind around what I believe in.

And I also enjoy reading a book again!

Day 309

A picture of the snow; some small snowflakes landed on the hood of my jacket while walking the dogs this morning. Later on it started raining, and right now it is very dark and wet. I would prefer white snow, it makes everything a lot lighter.

Day 308

It snowed today! Yep, first snow for the season, and I had no camera while it still was daylight to capture it with. But writing it here is also a placeholder for remembering. =)

Instead of snow you get a tropical flower; one of my orchids. For some reason they all have sprouting flower stems. I don't know if it has something to do with the changing light or the fact that the radiators have started to produce warmth, but it is very exciting. I almost forget between the blooming times what color they have.

Day 307

The moon was really incredible tonight; large and detailed, just below the tree-tops when we drove home from picking Linus up at kindergarten. I'm sure it would have made a great picture, but when we got out with the dogs it had already gotten too dark and the moon had risen above the trees, and the perspective made it's size look more ordinary. Oh well, a not-so-good-picture is also a picture, right?

Day 306

This is my gym-bag. Every Monday and Wednesday night I pack the bag so that it is ready on Tuesday and Thursday morning to go with me to work. At lunch Daniel, I and another work-friend, Britt-Marie, works out at the gym before eating. It is fun to work out together, and it is very motivating. I can't just skip a training because I don't feel like it, that is not accepted. Only sickness and traveling are cause for not training. =)

By the way, aren't the stuff well coordinated? ;) We got the back-pack from the company, and the water bottle as well. The fact that my shoes matches the bag is completely coincidental! But I kind of like the colors anyway, it is a happy orange color.

Day 305

Today was all grey and cold, and I wanted something warm when we got inside again. So this is what I poured up; glögg (mulled wine). This one is non-alcoholic and perfect for an everyday-warm-up.

It is a little early, we usually wait for the first of advent before we start drinking glögg, but I like it a lot and as they had started selling it in our grocery shop I thought it would be nice with a glass and some gingerbread.

Day 304

The way back from Åland is almost as fun as the night before. We had a good time just relaxing, and also enjoying the pool-area for a while. They had a wonderful sauna with panorama windows and a beautiful view over the archipelago. Even if it looks cold and unpleasant outside, it was almost tropical inside.

Day 303

We only worked half the day today, cause the bus for Stockholm and our cruise left Linköping at lunch. Yes, it is time for another cruise to Åland. We were five work-friends that got on the bus, and we met up with five more friends in Stockholm.

The picture above is taken while we waited to get on our boat; it is the Old City of Stockholm.



Here is Daniel and Maria, who is the one arranging this trips for us. She makes all the bookings and arrangements and we only pay and enjoy. =)

As always this trip was tons of fun, good food and happy people.

Day 302

Nothing too much special today. This picture is from our afternoon walk with Ebba and Emma. It is getting darker earlier now, and the sun was already under the horizon when I got this shot. There will be lots more indoor-pictures to come now when we hardly get any sunlight in the afternoons!

Day 301

Tonights dinner; snacks. =) Vegetables and two different dip-sauce, one with sourcream and onion taste and one with pepper and onion. And of course some cheese. I like cheese a lot, almost any kind, and this one is called Primadona. Yum!

Day 300

Day 300... wow. Congrats to all of us that have kept this up for this long!! =)

My 300th picture shows Zelda in her favorite place (at least right now); behind the TV. I think the TV is a little warm, but also she sits in the middle of our view. When we look at the TV she thinks we look at her, and she is so happy to be center of attention.

Day 299

The fall colors are everywhere now. We don't get the green-yellow-orange-red mix in our oak forest. It is more like the whole forest first turns yellow, then shifts into orange/brown. But it is fascinating and very colorful.

Day 298

Emma, Daniels parents dog, is back with us again. She isn't really filled with joy over the arrangement, and our cats are a tad unimpressed. But Ebba is happy as ever, even if she does her best to not show it in this picture. I think she is mostly curious about what I'm doing on the floor pointing the camera at them...

We got to sleep another hour this morning, as daylight savings time is over for this time. The evening immediately got dark very early, and winter is knocking on the door. At least we got about 10C (50F) and even five minutes of sunshine between the rain falls today.

Day 297

Hungarian liver of goose. Daniel has been to Hungary with work this week, lecturing a course. As a gift from the ones attending the course, he got a piece of Hungarian foie gras, prepared the Hungarian way by the wife of one of the attendants. It was a very thoughtful gift, and we ate it as an entrée to Saturday's dinner.

Daniel fried white bread in the goose fat, put rocket salad and the fine sliced liver on it, and topped with fried bacon. I'm a little skeptic to liver, but this was very tasty!

For dessert we had luxury chocolate pralines.

Day 296

Linus and his friend playing a game on the Playstation 2.



We had a couple of friends over for tacos, and as the kids are of almost the same age we thought it would be fun for them to play. We all had a nice night with lots of laughs, and of course yummy tacos!

Day 295

My favorite kitchen-aid; the sandwich-toaster. I really enjoy these sandwiches, and I ate them a lot when I lived alone. They are easy to make, and still it is warm food.

I use whole grain toast, some nice cheese, Felino salami and a little Brie. Not the most nutritious meal, I know, but comfort food. =)

Something not so comforting though was the sight when I got out to the kitchen to put the second sandwich on the toaster... Zoey the cat busy eating the cheese and salami! I had forgot my trick from the other day to put food under grate. I yelled a little at her, but realized rather quickly that she didn't care. She was busy swallowing the cheese, and then went into the bedroom, very happy with herself.

Day 294

Thank you so much for your kind words regarding yesterdays post!

The picture above shows the view Ebba and I had on our morning walk today; it was all gray and foggy. The day continued like this, with clouds so low you could almost touch them. It was still grey when I got home from work, but the afternoon walk was a little more bright.

Day 293

Daniel is traveling this week, and Ebba wonders where he has gone. We uses Skype at night to talk to eachother, and Ebba is very confused when she hears Daniel. This is so strange, and she twists her head to try and grasp why she can hear him but not see him.

Next picture is in honor of our friends dog, that sadly passed away today. We wish them all the strength in this tough time.

Day 292

My birthday gift from Daniel. I wished for this kind of candle holders and other cute things, but we had a hard time finding all the parts to make up this set. So that is why I didn't get it on my birthday. But now it is ready to spread some nice light over our living room counter.

Day 291

This is my evening meal, and three lunch-boxes for the coming week; pie. Daniel doesn't like pie, or at least not the crust, so that's why I get so many lunch-boxes. I put smoked ham, tasty cheese, Feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and a little spring onion into it, and it turned out delicious.

You may wonder why I put the bars on top of the pie? That is to be able to eat without having to worry about Zoey the cat eating the rest of my pie. She is hopeless on sneaking up on the kitchen counter and snack away on whatever is standing there. But today was only cat-food for the kitty!

Day 290

Another textured picture. I had to try some more today, so I brought the camera on our morning walk with Ebba to get some suitable pictures. The sheep are always photogenic and I like this one looking straight into the camera.

I have downloaded the texture from flickr, used overlay as blending mode and then adjusting the opacity. Really not complicated at all, but quite dramatic result. I'm off now hunting textures!

Day 289

I played around with textures for a while after reading about it at Pioneer woman's blog. Some of the pictures she shares are just amazing. This texture I found on Flickr after searching some. I like it in a way, and will definitely play around some more.

Daniel and Zelda watches TV in the sofa, a very relaxed Friday evening.

Day 288

Daniel started playing Mafia wars on Facebook a while ago, and also played my character to get a bigger Mafia. But the last weeks he has neglected my account and I felt the need to do something about it myself. So now I'm learning to play Mafia wars. It is pretty fun, and doesn't take too much time, but we'll see how long I will hang in there.

Day 287

We went out with some friends from work to have a beer and chat away. It was a fun night, and we also got together with a Portuguese guy that works for a month at Daniels department.

He really wanted to watch the Portuguese football game against Malta, and it showed at our local pub. Sweden also played tonight, against Albania, but Malta had to beat Portugal for Sweden to have a chance to play in the World Cup next year. And Malta just don't beat Portugal. Definitely not when Portugal plays at home.

This is us on the bus home when the game was over. We are not too sorry, as you can see. =)

Day 286

Happy Birthday to meeeeeee....... =) There has been a lot of birthdays recently, many friends are born in the fall it seems, and today is my day.

We worked as usual, and then went shopping for some yummy food. Dinner was made up of a small lobster soup with lobster on the side, scallops and a chanterelle toast. It was divine! I opted on a cake for dessert, but Daniel doesn't fancy pastries, so I got myself a singel cake. And a little light. The cake is definitely to small to hold all candles needed for displaying my age! :P

Day 285

It has suddenly got really cold here, around freezing. It is unusually cold for this time of year. It looks so nice with the trees still dressed in some green leafs and the sun shining, but once outside it definitely feels like winter is on its way.

Day 284

Linus mother asked us if we could take some pictures of the brothers. We gave it a try this afternoon, and got some cute photos for her. We also got this one when they were playing around between shots. It is out of focus and a little blurry, but I like it anyway.

Day 283

Today we went with Linus to "Busfabriken" ("Fun-factory"). It is a large place for kids, with lots and lots of climbing frames and other fun stuff. It is like a giant indoor playground. Linus really had a blast, and run around for hours. Here he and daddy is playing a game of fussball.

Later on we cooked a Thai dinner, Linus had some Saturday candies and we watched Sweden loose to Denmark in FIFA World cup qualification (soccer). All in all a pretty nice Saturday.

Day 282

We got home a little early from work today, Friday and all, and got to pick up Linus from kindergarten. Then the usual walk with Ebba. Linus brought his bike, but couldn't resist climbing the wall of rocks under the bridge. I think it turned out to be a pretty cool action picture.

Day 281

The picture for today doesn't really reflect the happenings of today either. But I thought it was kind of cute with Ebba almost curled into her bed (yes, the one we got for free with dog-food, a while ago =).

The other thing that happened tonight was parent-teacher meeting at Linus kindergarten. Daniel stayed home with Linus and I went to the meeting with Linus' mother. It is interesting to listen to what the children do, and any issues that has arisen, and also at the other parents' questions. Some people are definitely living in another reality compared to, oh well.. me at least... =) Anyway, it was interesting.

Day 280

This picture didn't turn out quite as I wanted it to. It was very windy and I thought it could be seen in the tilting grass, but no, not so much. Anyway, it shows the bright blue sky we've had today.

Daniel went to pick up Linus at daycare, while I took Ebba for a walk. While walking her alone we got some time to practice. Ebba is very well behaved, but that is because Daniel has done a lot of obedience training with her. They even attended some competitions long time ago.

Today we only try to maintain the "every-day-obedience". She is a strong dog with strong guarding behaviors, and it is essential that she listen to and obey Daniel and me. So I got a little bag of treats in my pockets and we practiced some commands; heal, sit, stay and come here. We both did good.

Day 279

Ebbas and my view this morning when we went outside. The sky was blue and the sun just about to rise, but cold! I'm not sure if it was still below freezing, but there were lots of hard rime on the grass. It disappeared as soon as the sun came up, but we have definitely left the warmer season.

Day 278

Another food-related picture; we've been to the grocery store today shopping for all the weeks dinners. We try to figure out beforehand what to eat during the week when we have Linus living here. It takes way too much time from every evening to figure it out one dinner at a time. And gets expensive. I really do feel grown-up!

So here is our fridge filled up with the weeks supplies. Oh well, and a little more; the half empty Campari bottle will probably not be included in any dinner. ;-)

Day 277

When my brother and his (now) wife visited us this spring, they brought us a couple of gifts, of which one was the luxury bread mixture; scones with chocolate bits in it. This morning it was finally time to eat it. We slept in rather late, but the bread was easy and quickly done as it didn't had to rise before baking. It turned out delicious with a little butter and brie cheese on it. Luxury brunch!

Day 276

Our neighbors Claes and Marie and their little son Emil visited us on Saturday night, to eat together. They had made Fatanyéros (grilled meat with mashed potato on a wooden plate) and we had to do something with all the mushrooms that Daniel has picked this fall, so our dish was chanterelle risotto. It was delicious, and very nice to have such a spontaneous dinner with which was already planned for dinner.

Claes borrowed our camera to try out the new lens, and took this charming photo of Daniel and I.... :p

Day 275

This is Zoey, the younger of our two cats. She likes to be on her own, and if the weather is nice, she will stay out for a couple of nights before returning home again. But with the colder weather and rain, she prefers to stay at home. She curls up in a bed or chair, and sulks until spring is here again.

Day 274

Tacos. This is one of my favorite food, but unfortunately Daniel consider it kids-food... Linus actually loves it, so normally I get it when we Linus is here, but tonight I managed to get it on my own. Daniel did a Thai seafood salad for him, and was very happy with it.