i've had a head ache all day :( i hate head aches :( i'm a bit sceptical to pills in general (not just the anti head ache ones), it seems impossible that a small white thing can do anything at all to you. but my husband reminded me that it's even possible to kill yourself with pills, so they must be able to affect you somehow. so i tried. and it actually seems to help... i'm still sceptical, though. maybe it's only working because i for a moment believed that it might work. (...i wonder if people can kill themselves with pills just because they believe they can do it too... that could be a "fun" survey: one group is given killer pills, and a test group is given sugar pills, and then you compare how many in each group actually dies :)

driving home from work today was fun, in more than one way.
way 1: it was a very heavy rain, so the saab turbo had to pretend it was a boat
way 2: the right windscreen wiper stopped working (that happens now and then. my fault. i haven't screwed it on properly). as i was the (sick head aching almost dying) passenger on the right side i couldn't see anything except water (and the occasional hale). very exciting. especially on the parts with very much water on the road, when it felt like the car was floating
way 3: thunder and lightning
way 4: there was no electricity in långsele, which meant there was no way of getting into ica (the door was closed and it was all black inside. i hope there were no frightened little old ladies crying in the darknes). the door to konsum was slightly open, with customers waiting in the cafe area (where there are windows, so it wasn't completely black), and the staff walking around with torches. we decided that we could live without cheese for a day
way 5 (also see way 2): the right wiper started "working" now and then when it fel like it, and got caught in the left one, which broke (but not very seriously). so i had to get out in the rain and fix it.  ¶ 9:42 PM

  the rocking chair is here! it's great. it needs to be repainted, though... i'm thinking of pink... or green... or maybe something more boring, like pale grey... i'll wait until i've gotten to know it better, so i can choose a colour that matches his personality.

we went house-looking today, the husband and i. first we looked at this one, mainly because it's close to where we live. not our (i.e my) style at all, and not even a beautiful view. so we just drove by. then we went to see this one, mainly because it's close to work. it was also very close to a road... the galdor cat would probably be run over the first day, so we didn't even stop to have a closer look.

after that we went to this house. loved it loved it loved it! ...but it was enormous, and it looked like it needed a total make over... but it was really really beautiful, and it had it's own ruin! i'd LOVE to have my own ruin! i'd have a bathtub in it, and candles in the windows, and a white chair where i could read books. i'd even start drinking coffee, and have my own little coffee corner in there. another really good thing about this house was the sweet little flagpole, less than half the size of a normal one. i'd like to paint it pink (i'm having a pink period at the moment). i'm afraid tommy would never ever agree to buying it, though... he's much too sensible about those kinds of things. :(

with a broken heart we went to look at this one. the size was ok. the colour was cool. it didn't look like it needed much work done in order to look alive. but, it was so close to the road you'd almost be afraid to be run over when you opened the door.  ¶ 8:10 PM

  we've bought a rocking chair! it's enormous and white and we're going to get it tomorrow. ...i want it to be tomorrow noooooow!

it's market weekend in sollefteå, and i've also bought clogs that look like little guinea pigs. tommy bought a t-shirt and a gift for our new niece (she's being baptised soon).  ¶ 8:00 PM

  it's weekend again. the pink pyjamas is on, i have a cold coca cola in the fridge, and am on my way to the sofa :) i LOVE weekends!  ¶ 3:30 PM

  today i've been very grown up and productive: i had an extra long lunch break, so i went to the city to go to the bank and visit a hairdresser (i'm going to have my hair cut next week). on my way back to work the slide in the playground behind our office was finally empty (normally it's full of screaming children). it was ok, but it would have been better if i'd had more slippery trousers.  ¶ 8:02 PM

  i wonder if wetting the finger tips in order to be able to open stupid little plastic bags for the freezer is innate...  ¶ 10:19 PM

  finland won :)  ¶ 12:03 AM

  the plants have been watered and the floors have been vacuum cleaned. i've been a good girl today :)

(i also drowned a smurf... i just had to throw him into the water at the first bridge (i tried throwing stones and mud at first, but finally i had to throw him in). fortunately i managed to save him later, when the water had taken him closer to land. i guess he will appreciate the calm and quiet life in my pocket more after today's adventure)  ¶ 6:49 PM

  my day off is almost over. i still need a haircut, and i still have quite a few things to do. and the plants really need water... but it's been worth not doing anything productive all day :)

i've had my blue teddy bear pyjamas on all day and watched two girly films with coca cola, snacks and chocolate, a blanket and lots of pillows in the sofa (only one purring cat though, as the other one had been beaten and needed some time alone to lick his wounds). when the husband came home from work he brought strawberries, so i had a hot bath with red bubbles, coca cola, strawberries, chocolate and a good book (or maybe not extremely good... but the cover is wonderful, so i love it anyway). i need more days off!  ¶ 10:50 PM

  (just to remind me)
reasons to be happy:

* my husband who loves me
* the cool, sweet, fun cats
* my sweet chubby bathtub
* my new expensive pillow (unfortunately the cats love it too, so i don't get to use it as much as i'd like...)
* the view from all the windows in my home is fantastic
* hopefully summer will come soon
* the window in our bedroom doesn't close properly, which makes very nice sounds when it's windy (which is always)
* our neighbours are weird but nice, most of the time
* my job is not completely extremely boring all the time
* my colleagues are wonderful
* i have the day off today (i was planning to have my hair cut, go to the bank and do other things i never have the time to do otherwise. but i decided to sleep late, wear my blue teddy bear pyjamas, and just do lazy and relaxed things all day)
* i have an unopened bottle of coca cola in the fridge, and two new girly films to watch (the girliest film i could find when i was looking for one in our own collection was "lock stock and two smoking barrels"... so we had to go and shop after work yesterday)
* i don't get fat, so i can drink as much coca cola and eat as much chocolate and chips i like. sometimes it seems like almost all my female colleagues are on different kinds of horrible diets, and it's so nice being able to eat a pizza and look at their boring salads. (and anyway i think chubby old ladies are nicer than the skinny ones, so i will probably never have to learn what a calorie is :)
* my new slippers are so comfortable it's unbelievable
* i saw a bumble bee yesterday
* there are dandelions in sollefteå (not here in nyland yet)
* the sun is shining now and then
* i have bought new books with really nice covers

have to go and watch a soap on tv, the list might continue later  ¶ 12:15 PM

  i'm involved in a campaign at work. "involved" in this case means i had nothing to do with the campaign, i'm just supposed to answer questions about it. today between 10-11 am i was the only one in the entire country ready to answer questions about this campaign, as the people who did have anything to do with it didn't expect anyone to be interested (i guess they just felt like spending a couple of millions on something anyway:). as it turned out that there actually were a few people (admittedly not very many) who were a bit interested after all, they had to queue on the phone for 15 minutes to talk to me. imagine that! queuing to talk to phono-phobic me on the phone! i don't even answer the phone at home. they can be lucky i didn't just let it ring :) after about an hour of stressing on the phone someone realised this wasn't a very good way of handling it, so from 11 on i had between 1 and 7 colleagues helping me out. and we still had a queue.  ¶ 10:51 PM

  sunshine, snowstorm, rain, sunshine, rain, snowstorm, hail, sunshine, rain, sunshine, rain, hail, sunshine... i think our weather suffers from split personality disorder today  ¶ 5:33 PM

  yesterday our lawn turned green. today our neighbour got out the lawnmower.  ¶ 5:43 PM

  finally weekend! i thought i'd never survive this week  ¶ 6:17 PM

  on our way home from work today we saw two men who were hosing the railing of the second bridge. i thought that was cute: they wash the bridges in our little village :)  ¶ 7:25 PM

  today four years ago the husband and i got engaged, on a boat somewhere between cyprus and greece. we celebrated then by having a drink under a table-tennis table (to get away from the strong wind) and later by a nice dinner. (the photo was taken just before the dinner). today we're going to celebrate by dinner at the one and only restaurant in långsele, and afterwards a visit to the cinema.

  ¶ 3:28 PM

  spring signs:

*the ice finally left our lake. when we got up this morning the whole lake was still covered in it, and now there's (almost) nothing left. we went down to look at it disappearing, and there was a great sound coming from it. i gave the lake a helping hand (or rather two helping feet), and stamped and kicked as much as i could on what was left of the ice. a sad thing is i discovered my left red rubber boot is not waterproof... a fun thing: i was standing on an ice floe. another sad thing: the ice floe sank...
* as soon as the ice had left several swans arrived at our lake. we saw at least 7 of them
* the rose bush seems to be alive
* i think i can see the beginning of a rhubarb leaf coming up from it's flower pot
* our neighbour is happy again, and even talked to us. twice! i almost thought he would never ever talk to us again this time  ¶ 9:52 PM

  today the saab got to come home from the car doctor. it was really nice seeing him again. and my sunglasses, that have kept him company on the other side of the lake. the toyota really needs an operation too, but the shaggy car-fixing neighbour doesn't have time for a while. i hope some rest will be enough to cure him...

when teo and i were reading in the sun this afternoon a bumblebee fell from the sky into my lap. i hope he was ok... but i guess there must have been something wrong, for him to fall like that... maybe he just got dazzled by the light, and accidentaly bumped into the wall of our house.

new spring signs:
* green buds on some of the trees
* tivoli in town
* the ice turned black today, with white frosting on top
* new green grass has started to show up in sunny spots along the road
* i didn't wear a jacket to work today (very cold in the morning, perfect in the afternoon)  ¶ 10:13 PM

  all of a sudden it's summer! great! lots and lots of summer signs, all in one day:
* i had my first outdoor lunch at my favourite spot behind the big stone that a king named oscar wrote his name on over 100 years ago
* in the afternoon i went for a walk and bought ice cream with two colleagues, instead of going to the gym (health care)
* i put my miniskirt on after work
* tommy and i had hamburgers in the garden for dinner
* we took out the hammock
* i heard the "song" of the fun black and white birds for the first time
* the ice turned black (it's still there, though...)

have to go. i'm going to read in the sun for a while :)  ¶ 6:49 PM

  on our way home from work today i thought i saw a crack in the ice. it turned out to be an old snow mobile track, though. the ice is a very dark grey now, and it looks like a big blanket spread over the lake. i get the feeling i could jump on it, and it would be like a giant trampoline.  ¶ 9:41 PM

  we tried the ice today. it's still strong enought to walk on... i even threw stones at it, as hard as i could, and it didn't break.  ¶ 7:56 PM

  the last photos from venezuela are now finally uploaded to flickr...

yesterday we found out that galdor's girlfriend is probably a boy. we now call her/him "galdor's partner", to be on the safe side. apparently galdor's partner has had a bad beating, and is now at home taking care of the wounds.  ¶ 12:10 PM