May means......many things to do.....

May begins with Annalena being knighted. Over the past few weeks they have specal lectures at school on  knightly behaviour and how they can convey that to others. Since all in her class passed the tests given, they were going to be knighted by no other than King Arthur (he was English allright) himself. Lovely to see and well thought out it all was.

I dub thee to Knight of Stora Skedvi

Certificate, special bracelet and her knightshield

A couple of days earlier I talked with our old good neighbours Johan Berglund and his lovely Annica, because maybe Johan could deliver roadgravel for the parkingspace we needed to create down in our garden. He jumped in the phone and arranged a load for us, to be delivered probably on monday, but might also be friday...
It turned out to be friday, and turned out to be a bit of a problem to get it delivered to where it was supposed to be. Becuase they came with a truck with trailer. The trailer load was for us the truckload for someone else. There the truck with trailer could not go over our little dirtroad, we had to find another place to unload our gravel. After a period of thinking, the only solution Ron and the truckdriver could come up with was the busstop. It had enough room without it being a hinder for the few (like 4) busses that come during the day.  In the weekend that followed our neighbours came to the rescue once more and helped transporting the gravel load by load with their tractors.

All we have to do now is digging out the parking space, and fill it up with the gravel....... all 20 tonnes of it.

Ron has not been feeling too well lately and suspects an inflammation in his airways. Having delt with this before he didn't  want to go to the doctor, because he would only be pumped full with pills, something he absolutely despises. Since I am a Reiki master he asked me if I could treat him with that. Of course I was willing to help him. So every evening I treated him with a portion of energy, which was soon to be named a microwavesession by him. This led to some very strange conversations sometimes...... but all in all it did  work, together with his own body fighting he conquered his illness just in time for his job interview (more about that later)

My sister was going to move and had a few items we could have, so me and my parents went over there to take the stuff off her hands. We ended up with a bigger freezer, backpacks, snow shovels, grascutter and some other items. My parents amongst other things with two garden furniture sets. Since they still had an other one they got from us a couple of years ago, my mom thought it might be a good idea to return that one to us, now that we have a house of our own again. And so it happened that after twelve years, our first little garden set returned back to us

Somthing that came along with it was a big trampoline we may borrow from my parents. Since there were no grandchildren coming  to celebrate their holiday with them, they thought we might put it to better use then they themselves could......

the first ones on were........ the cats

Elsa had been asking to learn how to carve in wood. We promised her, just like the other two that she would get her knife when she turned seven. And it was almost that time, she just wanted to learn before she got her knife. So, after a lot of asking, daddy finally sat down with her and learned her how to do it safely, just a couple of days before her birthday.

She's using my old Mora scout, the one I got back in 1984.
We bought that one here, in Mora.

Still....... the box with bandages is at close range.........

Since the weather is good we spend a lot of our time outdoors. When I'm not working that is. Being outside in our own garden enjoying the wonders of nature al around us.
Also the first BBQ is a fact. Not that it was a big event, just a couple of sausages and a flintasteak with a nice bowl of salad. But boy... did that taste good...

Then slowly but surely the schoolyear goes towards its end. And that means schooltrip for sixgraders, meaning Sven in our family. And they had two! The first was to Stockholm on may 16th. And this mama was suddenly promoted from cleaning lady to pedagoge, together with two other mama's. Funny how it always turns out to be the mama's who follow along on these trips. Early in the morning we sat down in the bus and went of to the Big City. First stop was one hell of a big tower called the Kaknästornet. We were going to go all the way up to watch out over the whole city. Beautiful view and some crazy windowwashers hanging on ropes way up there.........and a little cafetaria with lots of mummsssss

Not Good, Not Good.........

Next stop was the Vasa Museum, not about the man Gustav Vasa, but about the ship the Vasa, wich sank on it's maiden trip, way before the Titanic did. Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding between busdriver and teacher we had only 45 minutes there and had to wait for a guide as well. So we didn't see much. But it was nice nonetheless.

a smaller replica of the original

Unfortunately after that the battery of my photocamera shut down permanently.
The last and most lovely part of the trip according to the kids was  Gröna Lund, a big amusement park with lots of rollercoasters and stuff. Since one of the kids did not follow along with this schooltrip there was freepass (free acces in all rides) to win for one of the mothers. And I was the lucky one. we also got food coupons and an entranceticket. Time to go and find the child within again...... not that that posed a big problem. On our way to the entrance, a poster caught my eye. It made me realize we were there a week early.........

Just one week later my favorite band ( and not to forget also a favorite of Sven) would play a gig here at the park. Now we had to settle for another swedish band called Ansiktet. More like a highschoolgirl favorite......
But let's not dwell on that, let's go in and have a party. And we did. Tag-along mama and good friend Linda had prepared me for what was going to come. And boy did we have fun!! We let go of our kids, they wanted to go by themselves. A little hard for me, since Sven had never been to such a park before, but hey, if you love 'em, you got to let 'em go. So I did.  And me.... well I tried just about everything i could, even the Eclipse, a brandnew high up in the sky carousel, which not only goes round but has seats that swing in all directions. The other moms did't wanna go, but I just had to. So after I found Sven again, I asked if he would mind going on a ride with his mom. He thought it was cool, and so we went up together. And it was wonderful, not scary, but wonderful. I could look out over the whole city in the sunset, wind going through my hair, having a laughing son by my side. How cool is that. I think it's quite cool, but it was also very cold, high up there at the end of the day.

After this highlight it was time to leave the park and head back for the bus and the way home. You might think the kids would be exhausted and would fall asleep soon. But not this happy bunch, they were alive and kicking, well most of them were.
At some point I actually was the only adult awake.........
With the return at the schoolground I took two more kids in my car and took them home upp till their front door. Sven and I got home at  about half 2, I'd say in the middle of the night..... soon to fall asleep after a very succesfull day.

picture from Högbo Bruk website

The week after they went on thier second trip, this time I could not go with them. They went to Högbo Bruk, to be a little like apes, swinging between trees. Only they had securitylines and stuff ( a very comforting thought I must say). Sven had, yet again, the time of his life.  They stayed over for the night, which was more a problem for us at home then it was for him. We are just not used to the fact that our son is not sleeping at home. The girls like to sleep over at friends, but somehow he never does that. So it's very strange to walk in to his room, late at night before I go to sleep and not finding hím there.......
Both Schooltrips were absolutely new things for Sven, and I told him that if there were things he didn't want to do, he should not do  them. No need to try to be the cool guy if you're not.
But this mama learnt very quickly that her little boy is not a little boy anymore, and sure as hell is not afraid of trying new things. Hmmm,...... wonder where he's got that from.....




Wednesday 22nd was a nervwrecking day, especially for Ron. He had applied for a jobb at the new IKEA in Borlänge along with 5100 other people. He was one of the 300 lucky ones to get invited for a jobb interview and that would take 3,5 hours.  He set off with a good vibe and when he got home, he still had a good vibe. Allthough it had been tough, beginning with a groupdiscusion, 2 personal interviews and to top it all of roleplay. But he thought this was the best jobinterview ever, especially since it all had to be done in Swedish. Now he had to wait, within 3 weeks he would get his answer. If he got an email, he did not get the job. If he got a letter in the mailbox, he would be welcomed in the IKEA family. They had to fill 183 in personell. With his 10 years of experience at IKEA in Holland, 2 very good references within that same company and his will to take on new challenges, we thouht his chances were quite good.
How big was the desception when a week and a day later he got a very unpersonal email, saying that he did not get a job.

He send back an email with the question why he didn't get the job. Just to find out what he could do to improve himself. The only answer he got was: "we just had to make a choice", or in other words, (and that is our own interpretation of this) "we don't want to tell you"  
One really starts to wonder what the hell one has to do to get a job. Ron has been trying to get a job since we moved here, just like me. And after so many job applications, always the same negative answer, IF you get an answer that is.

Back to square 1 and start all over again..........