The New Blog.

http://hillarymolin.wordpress.com

Uncertainty.

Well, since I haven't posted in awhile, I suppose it is obvious about the uncertainty of the future of this blog. :( There are just not enough hours in the day. At least not right now.

There are just so many options when it comes to blogging right now. Since I redid the layout of this blog, I never had a chance to finish and put back everything that belonged (all the links, etc..).. Then the decision on what to blog about.. Life in Sweden, life with a baby, life with a baby in Sweden.. Just a photo blog..? Too many options right now. And keeping up with everything can be very time consuming and stressful.

I really, really want to keep one going, I just don't know if I can right now.
I have thought about laying this one down and starting over. Also because I have completely run out of storage space for photos and videos. So I have considered starting again, with a different domain and seeing if that would be easier for me. Only use the collages, etc.. And just write about highlights in our lives.

I hate not having pictures of birthdays and things about Leia here and there. But I hate, yet once again, to change blogs.

So I am still thinking about it. :/
If I start a new blog, I'll start where I left off, and try to post birthday pictures and more pictures from our trip to the US, etc..


What we've been up to the last month:

Leia: Had her first school pictures, and they are gorgeous! Talking like crazy and she has now learned American sign language! (Just from her Baby Einstein DVDs.)

Fredrik: Still working 50% until December. Starting December he'll work 80% until the start of the new year. His company, Metria, is probably going to go private, rather than government run and operated. Meaning a lot of (good) changes within the company. His new regional office is going to be in Jämtland, which is far North of us. Which is just silly, but anywho..... :P

Hillary: Still studying. Almost fully completed her English class. Will be done with it in a couple of weeks. Teachers have quickly and easily found out that I have a degree in English Lit, and they think it is cool. They see me as a great asset to the class. I really like the people in my class and my teachers (2 of them). Getting all MVGs (highest grade) on my Swedish work. I have a huge test this week, but I don't think I am taking it now. National Test will last all of December. Working on my second Swedish novel for class, reading a Beck novel and I like it!


We've reconstructed an area in the backyard with pretty cement blocks for our compost area. We've painted the living room and bought some new furniture. All we need now are new couches.

That is all for now I think.
I'll give a head's up if I start something new. :)

Beautiful Leia.

After our return from Kentucky this summer, Leia decided to have a little posing session and I was able to take lots of pictures of our beautiful baby girl.





We had a nice day to Karlstad yesterday! We bought a few things, especially presents for Leia's birthday. The days are going by quickly and lots needs to be done! I have lots of baking to do and I'm still trying to catch up with my work.

Grattis, Pappa!

Leia can't say much, but she did say "happy" today. :)) The "birthday" didn't sound so good. :)) But I think Fredrik liked it anyways. :) He turned 31 today. :) I don't think he really minds being in the 30's. :) We had yummy food today, his favorites, and he received some nice presents. :) I hope he enjoyed his day!

Today I bought us a new TV stand that we needed.

Tomorrow, we are heading to Karlstad to look around, especially to the toy store and to IKEA. It's always fun to look around in IKEA (not sure Fredrik agrees, though). :))

But now Law & Order is over and it is bed time!

I am.. ugh.. not doing so well with my school work. Very difficult to keep up with it. :( I have 2 literature courses, which means lots of reading and lots and lots of writing. I'm not too behind with the English, but the Swedish I'm no where caught up with the work. I think it is also that I am sooooo tired of studying Swedish. I've studied so much repetitive stuff that I can't take it anymore. I have only taken 2 classes here in Åmål, and I've had 3 different Swedish teachers. Total, I've taken 4 Swedish classes and I've had 8 different teachers. :/ And each teacher teaches the same stuff. I don't know how many of the same papers that I've written over and over again. Especially moving from town to town. Luckily, that also enables me to reuse papers that I've already written.. :D

ha..

Now it is bed!

Better than we ever could have thought!

So we were able to do our painting today in the dining room! And it turned out so well. :) We are very pleased with how it looks. We did such a good job that we only had to put on one coat of paint. We anxious to now paint the living room, which will be the same color.

It seems like a completely different room, so much bigger and more depth. It will be a much warmer room. We LOVE the color!









Tomorrow we hope to make a trip to the summer house. It has been awhile since my parents have been there, and they love looking around there. :) And we are gonna fill the car up with firewood to bring back to the house. After that, we don't really have any set plans.

Sample.

So here is the color we chose for the rooms:







And my horrible attempt at trying to get an idea of what it will look like on the walls:







We're a little afraid it is too dark, but we really like it. :)

Mormor and Morfar should be over the Atlantic now. :) They have a very, very long flight ahead of them, with two layovers, their trip will come to about 24 hours.. :/ So hopefully they can nap in the car on the drive to our house.

*yawn* A bit tired. :P
Should probably get to bed!

Getting ready.

We're getting ready for lots of things.

Tomorrow I go early in the morning to the hospital in Säffle to give blood. Something that I encourage everyone to do, no matter where you live.
If you would like more information on donating blood in Sweden, HERE is a link to get you started.

And while I'm at it, I want to encourage everyone to become an organ donor.
The Swedish link is HERE.

I registered myself as an organ donor my 2nd day in Sweden. :P Fredrik refused to let me register him... *sigh* But as soon as we received Leia's social identity number, I registered her AND Fredrik. :P So.. go do it! :))
I am very proud to have all 3 of us registered.

Even though we dust and vacuum the dining room (where the fireplace is located) at least twice a day and each morning when we come into the room, there is a new layer everywhere.... The stuff just won't go away.. :(( So today we did lots more cleaning, like we have all weekend. Leia of course did her part, too. She loves to use the duster, so she gets that job.

We also need to find someone to make a... ehhh.. thing to go infront of the fireplace, on the floor.. :P So we made the shape of that on the floor, of how we hope to have it look, and then we will go talk to someone about it tomorrow.

Tomorrow a bit more cleaning up for Mormor and Morfar to arrive. Empty up their room some more, etc..

And tomorrow we are going to go try to pick out a color of paint for the living room and dining room. Going to be the same color for both rooms. Well, I think it should be the same color, Fredrik wants different colors. But I think it would look strange to have different colors, seeing how the rooms are connected with such a large doorframe and it seems more like one larger room than two separate rooms. But we will try to pick something out and get a sample of it, and then bring it home and try it on the wall before we actually make the purchase.

So we've been trying to clean up the room to make it ready for painting. I oiled the oak dining furniture today (took about an hour to do the long cabinet, dining table and 6 chairs). < sarcasm > Lots of fun! < /sarcasm > And I started putting around the blue tape for painting purposes. Leia loved helping with that today, too. :))

I haven't done much school work this weekend, and I am a bit behind again. But I don't care. :P It isn't worth getting stressed out with it when it is just silly high-school level classes. Especially when I am over-qualified to even teach the English class that I'm taking.

We're planning a trip to Nordens Ark soon after my parents arrive. We want to make sure we get a trip there before it gets too cold and we won't get to see any of the animals! :) We've been to the gates of the zoo, but we haven't been in. We go past it on our way to Smögen. But we decided that last summer Leia was a little too young to make the cost worth it. But the zoo is open every day of the year! How cool is that? So maybe we can make a couple of trips there while they are here.

We are planning a little "birthday party" for Leia the weekend before her birthday, on the 10th. We'll have Mormor and Morfar here, and hopefully Farmor and Farfar, and then we invited our neighbors and their grandchildren, if they happen to be here. Otherwise, it will just be all of us old folks and Leia. :)

Leia has her birthday day off from daycare, but that day is when the photographer will be there, so we'll end up there that day anyways. And I'm guessing on Wednesday will be the day they celebrate Leia's birthday. Since there are so few children there, they celebrate each birthday individually, unlike larger daycares that have one party a month for the children that have that month as a birthday. The parents are expected to bring a treat for the children. And then they sing "Happy Birthday" in Swedish, of course, and then they give the child a little gift. They decorate with balloons and all of that, so it is really nice!

Most parents take ice cream, it is cheapest and easiest, and possibly easiest for the daycare workers too. But I wanna do something different and give a little American influence, so I am making some American cupcakes. :) With very little frosting, so to not make the children hyperactive for the rest of the day. :D And I might take some homemade cookies, too.. for those children that of course won't like their first taste of American deliciousness. ;)

But now I should maybe try to read a little before bed. I need to read a novel in Swedish and write a paper about it. I am almost done with the novel.

More soon!

Kentucky.

Not long after our trip to Pennsylvania, we took a short trip to Kentucky to visit with friends and family. This trip was mainly for Fredrik, so he could see the area where my parents are from.





We were able to see some family members and we had a fantastic dinner with my parent's best friends.

The weather.. ugh.. was hot and humid and miserable! Horribly hot weather in the mountains, but Fredrik finally got to see the beautiful scenery. :)

Another beautiful day!

Cousins.

The last pictures that I put on we were on our way from Ohio to Pennsylvania. There Leia got to meet her aunt and cousins for the first time! Leia got to meet her Aunt Beverly, and her boyfriend Ryan, and her cousins, Heather, Kayla and Kyle.





We drove and met them in Hershey, PA, where they have the chocolate factory. So we took a tour of the place (even though all of us have been there dozens of times, Fredrik included). :)

Leia took up with her cousins SO well! Especially Kayla. :)

Leia won't remember the event, but her cousins will! And we have pictures to show her of course. She won't be able to meet with her cousins very much in her life, so this was an important event. :)