Vårt eget liv.....



While the garden has been tranformed into a mudbath, we got busy getting settled as good as possible. We did not do any serious redecoration, painting or anything; we just moved in our stuff and began unpacking. There's boxes and stuff everywhere. Chaos has taken over what is going to be our home ..... one day.....
The first night in our house was, of course, a little on the odd side, strange noises and smells, which makes that you actually can't sleep at all. Except for Ron and the kids; they slept well. But hey, what did you expect.
The very first homemade meal made by ourselves was a big kettle of puzstasoup. And boy, did that taste good. Right between two spoons of soup Sven turned silent, after which, with a deep sigh, he kind of blew my mind with the words "Vårt eget liv" wich means:" a life of our own." Quite a deep thought for an elevenyear old I think. But that's exactly what it feels like right now.
Bit by bit, the pile of boxes is shrinking and we are getting a little more space to move around. Some things change place several times before they get their final destination and slowly but surely our house begins to look like a home.
Of course the kids have to go to school and on one of these schooldays Sven has a lesson called Hemkundskap, something like householdeducation. He is going to cook. He liked it the first time and we agreed that everytime he has this class, he cooks the same meal for the whole family in the weekend after. Luckily for him that was also his homework.  So on saterday he went shopping with me in Falun and bought all the ingredients to a pastameal. Back home he started...



Cooking in the new kitchen

 

The result of hard work and boy did that tast good 

Between working en sleeping we kept ourselves busy with unpacking and getting settled. The next weekend we thougth we might have an opportunity to meet the locals. There was a little festivity by the lake, Ljuskväll,(candle)Light Evening . The whole road up to the lake and beyond was lit by candles, there were candles floating on de lake on little rafts. There was hot coco and coffee and ... of course........ grilled sausage with bread. You can take a walk around the lake and after have a nice warming hot coco or coffee. And warming we needed, it was a bit on the chilly side.

 

Lots of beautifull little twinklers on the lake; the full moon, a chrystalclear night with more stars than we ever saw and everywhere candles.



Korv med bröd (in other words grilled sausage with bread)

We're starting to get a bit of a normal everyday life now. Sometimes we do realize that we have a little bit of luxury though. We haven't had a bathtub for 9 years, so you can imagine the joy when they may hop in. Especialy the girls are having a great time together.

 

 

 After a week of having to listen to agonising catmiaws, we decided it was time to let out fourlegged friends meet the outside world. As excited as they were, they took their time just to leave the doorstep, but once they did...... . I could only hope they would find their way back.

And they did........... after several hours. Kareltje, the red one, had the courtesy to bring back a giant mouse. A little thank you gift, I suppose.

They just can't wait

Finally!!

puzzle picture, find the cats

Eventually they ended up in the tree right in front of the door. The reason? Ed, the black one, was being chased by a big local grey striped cat!! And Karel... he joined just for the fun of it.

ore and more boxes getting unpacked  and more and more things find their way to where they're supposed to be. Like books on bookshelves, allthough sometimes books find their way to the children. Miraculously even Annalena seems to like one off our own old time favorites, Asterix. She hardly ever reads a book, but this she seems to like, and it's a great way of keeping up her Dutch skills. So, during weekends it is cosy on the couch......

And then, at the end of October, we suddenly have a second "teenager" in the house. Annalena celebrated her 10th birthday. It was her wish to have her birthday in our new home, so.... wish granted. Another one of her wishes was a chocolate/strawberry cake with whipped cream in her favorite colors, being green and blue, covered in multicolored sprinkles. And again..... wish granted. What more can a girl want........

 

 

If one wants to make his house feel like a home, one needs to go out and try to find homy things. One can find things like that very well at the local second hand store, or Loppis, as they call it over here. So yesterday Ron and I drew ourselves about 5 km from our house to Arkhyttan. We knew there was a loppis there, because we pass by there everyday when go to work. Time to take a look inside. Okay, it's not the cleanest place in the world, it's cold and a little bit of a chaos, but we sure found a lot usefull, practical, nice and even homy things, all at the same time. All in all it took two days to get what we liked and wanted. Our "loot"; 7 floormats (trasmattor), 2 cast iron skillers, an alarmclock, a copper walllamp, a large box of shoepolishgear, 2 breadforms, a pair of boots for Annalena, a ceramic honeypot, 2 wallcandleholders, a metal teapot, one of those things you put a tealight in to keep the teapot and contents warm, 2 small pots of skiwax, a pair of womans boots and 3 pairs of trousers for the Mss, curtains, and fabric to make curtains, garn, lots of decorating band and a strange candleholder with candle (plus a refill)... total "damage" around 1450sek (=162 euro's)!!! Woohoow!

 

Now who can tell how this is called????
candlesqueezerholderupperthingy??

All in all I think we had quite a bargain ......... Guess they were happy to see us as well. Just a case of supporting the local economy........ And we have more things to keep us going in case of a powerout.