It's Tuesday

The kids have just gone to sleep and I was able to leave them sleeping in our little house while I walked over to the "big house" to get this blog written and sent tonight. I don't have computer connection, or very good cell phone connection when I'm in the little house so the little things become a chore!
We spent a some nice Sportlov days at Elisabet's family home in Värmland. Elisabet's father lives in an expansive home built in 1822, (the carving near the fireplace says so). There was plenty of room for all of us to spread out, kids and all. We were able to get out and make a little sport and we spent one day downhill skiing with the kids. The mountain had made snow since there was only but a crust on the ground. It was my first time downhill skiing in Sweden and luckily, we brought our ski equipment with us this summer so we didn't have to bum out that those things were in storage!
Liv developed another ear infection and needed to be doctored on Saturday. She had a perforated eardrum so was feeling uncomfortable and had spent most of the night previous tossing and turning. On Sunday, the kids went sledding outside the house. The weather was springlike.
Back to school for all of us this week. Mattias is in Stockholm for two nights and had meetings in Uppsala today. He'll come home late tomorrow afternoon.
More students have been added to my SFI class. There are now 9 different languages that we all speak with one unified language of Swedish that we are learning to speak. Our class is gelling and it is a nice day to spend away from home learning. The SFI courses have most recently gotten some bad press in Sweden. That was on the news last night and was a bit of a bummer for our teacher who is probably my age, and has been teaching Swedish as second language for over 20 years! Our class has mostly "love immigrants" we figured and the area of Sweden that we live in, the Kungsbacka kommune, has not taken many, if any refugees, but will step up to the plate and do so very soon. Some from Iraq will be arriving and the teachers are scrambling, wondering how they will do it as the classes are already so full. Job security for some I guess....
I took Liv to the doctor this afternoon and for a haircut today. The stylist man put so much "product" in her hair she was beginning to look like a junior miss pageant contestant. It was pretty crispy afterward and Liv and I had a good laugh! I realized that I know a lot of Swedish, but it takes what seems like forever to get a point across. Mattias had warned me that I needed to leave the doctor's office with a referral for ear specialist. Even though the doctor spoke English, I still walked away with not the right paperwork! I don't understand the systems here... then I wanted to book a haircut appt. for Hanna and tried to explain to the man that she finished dagis at 3:30 and we'd arrive shortly after. Finally got my point across there using sign language and some creative use of words... It is exhausting sometimes but a challenge to keep plugging away at Swedish! Now I know why my girls are so tired and crabby at the end of the day!!
Mattias received word that we may be able to take ownership of our house in 2-3 weeks time! That is great news for us, and for Mattias Dad whose homes we occupy, and means we can get in and get to work on our new place. After some discussion and looking at floorplans, it looks like we will try to do some renovation before moving in after all. We are trying to secure the time of a carpenter to help us with moving some doors, adding some doors and removing and moving some closets. With a little snowball effect, that will mean we can remove some paper and repaper the walls before we paint. I have been to the paint store looking for a similar color to my beloved Benjamin Moore Linen White. The paint salesman said that 70's colors are the trend here now, along with bold wallpaper--white is coming on the trend again! White is coming?! I would like similar schemes to my old home--linen white on main walls and color in bedrooms etc. Will continue my search. I do enjoy the trends and like to see new ideas for inspiration anyway.
I will try again to get pictures posted tonight. Some of the ski trip, sledding and some delicious new cheese that I bought last week.
More later,
Carrie
Looks like the pictures aren't posting for some reason. I'll try again with that another day.