Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Nervous

So close now.
Packing - check
Snacks - check
Maps - check
Passports + visas - check

I saw the post about the celebrations this weekend still is struggling to go online so i will post a few pictures from it here too.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Something is up

I wrote a post yesterday and it still isn't posted.

Very weird

Vacation is quickly approaching. Packing will be started today and thorough cleaning tomorrow.

This is so exciting.
Although I am also super nervous.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Video of Sophia

Watch "Sophia playing soccer" on YouTube

Since I am using my phone I wasnt able to add the video to the post, but click on the link and enjoy the magic!

To Blog

I blog because I have a need to write.
I started 4 years ago when life was difficult and have continued because it is a nice way to keep friends and family updated and to fulfill my "need".

BUT the worst thing about blogging is that people read, get a feeling they are in touch and forget to write or comment.

So...

Write me or comment. I want updates too.

Piq-niq

We have started our Friday the best possible way, with soccer and lunch in the park.

I will upload a video later on, so keep an eye open.

WOW

Fabulous day.

Memo had his LAST class ever of his Masters - FINALLY! He did so well!

It is only one week left until we go to SA on vacation!



YAY

Soccer and books

Sophia and I had an amazing afternoon.

We played soccer in the park for almost an hour, and I have to say I am amazed by how good she was.
Kicking the ball, screaming in excitment, running and laughing.
What a feeling seeing her enjoying it that much!

Just before heading to the park the sweetest thing happened; Memo was watching sophia while I was doing the dishes downstairs.
As I finished I heard her having quite de discussion,  but I couldnt hear memo. So I decided to go upstairs to see what was going on.
And I found her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her sleeping father reading a Sesame Street book!

My heart melted.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Yesterday is gone

It went so fast.
I totally forgot to write in between cleaning up, cooking and playing with the little angel.

We had a pretty normal day, and normal days invovles a lot of singing. 
We have the Pippi and Emil song books, a song bag (a bag with small soft toys,  each to which there is a fitting swedish children's song), and the Skimrande Barnkammarboken - I also did the mistake of singing my way through the Bamse book we have one lazy day.

Any given time during the day she can come running with a book and start stomping her foot for me to start singing.  She has the biggest smile on her face so I don't have the heart to refuse. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Rain!

Oh sweet wonderful rain!

Not only do I no longer need to water the garden, but the temperature is now pleasant enough to sleep in a normal enough pijama and not sweat like a pig, need to go wet your head - even if you have a ventilator on.

Finally!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Dramatic

The weekend was fairly dramatic, which was due to stress, and chronic differences in our views of life - more specifically family.

So I will skip talking about Friday and Saturday - although mentioning sophia did great at Gymboree. 
On sunday we celebrated the swedish national day a bit late with having  gueats over and I made cake. Not to successful, but still ok.

Check out the video of Sophia talking in the previous post.

Sophia Talking VIDEO

or well... "talking".

Here is a video from last night, when she woke up in the middle of the night to talk.
It's a long dark video, so maybe look around at other things while listening. She's quite talkative.

For all those who knows Swedish, I do not know why I say I will turn on the light, when I am actually doing the opposite.

Friday, June 7, 2013

One last one...

I have a question, well maybe two.

Why are some people so darn stupid?

A rule; if someone tells you something - 1. QUESTION it! 2. Research/Ask around. 3. THINK 4. Tell them they were wrong - they most likely were.

Some situations do not call for nr. 2... Key is to Question people, especially around here, and to THINK. It seems like people have stopped thinking.

Secondly;

Why on earth can people not see their intellectual limitations and not butt into other peoples business? 

A rule; don't give advice on things you don't know anything about - oh you think you know something!? Well, you are wrong. Go to number one and read it ten times.


Yes, some people piss me off. As I have said in the past, I wish I knew how to make these posts, or at least some private. Because for me pressing Publish helps me get passed the stupidity of the world.

This calls for a repost of;


Easy Life

I have been making a list of food we like, might like and things to bake in a word document for Memo to print at the office, and also asked him to print a Meal Planning Calender I found so that we more efficiently can plan our meals and thus cut costs.

Anywho, I will try to make my life easy by just posting a few of those "funny" images, and thus go away from the computer for a bit.

Enjoy your Weekend!




I love that one! I will definetly start using it!





They are ALL so true!

Dots

It's Friday and Sophia is full of red dots. Hopefully the varicella vaccine worked and it is only mosquito bites.

Time will tell

No Update

There were no updates today because I have been very busy.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Moon Sand

I made moon sand the other day, you mix flour and baby oil -
- oil - until it you can mold it nicely but it still is grany and sandy.

So much fun, Memo loves playing with it. Sophia likes to play with it but also likes to eat it so needs to constantly be supervised.

Oh well, I guess it is not dangerous, but still.

Sandía Popsicle

Did I tell you I made watermelon Popsicles? ! Well I did, just put pices of watermelon in the mixer, carefully mixed, put it through - whatever it is called - to take away the seads, and in the freezer.
Sophia loves them
I love them
And memo loves them

The Real Story from Ankara, Turkey

Wait... what!?

 
If they didn't I would be very lost... (:

Sophia lives by this, and I am starting to think it is quite the philosophy

Who!?


You didn't know, well... now you do




Especially in our case (;


Without Google, and pretty good research skills I wouldn't know..


And so are you my dear friend, so are you!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Oatmeal cranberry-raisin low fat cookies

Amazingly good
Memo loved them, but more importantly I did!

Recipe

Preheat oven to 200c

3 dl oats
75 g melted butter

Mix

Mix these on the side:
1 1/5 dl raisins and cranberries
1 1/5 dl mascarbado (?) Sugar
5 tablespoons water

Mix and add
3 dl full wheat flour

Make balls, slightly press and put into oven for 10ish minutes.

Mums

My Saturday-Monday

As you might know mothers don't get to go on weekends,  but the clostest I get is on Monday mornings.
I allow Sophia to watch Alfons longer and I get to relax and stay in bed - until lunch time comes of course.

We had a great weekend,  went to a park, had good food and saw the grandparents.

It has been disgustingly HOT (not warm) since Friday with tempeeatures closing in on 40c in the shadow during the afternoon. Horrible,  we're all impatiently waiting for the rain to start.

We went to gym class on Friday,  but because of "the incident" (previously mentioned in a post) she was not too keen on dojng the exercises, on top of that she ia teething and the room is full of balls - she loves balls, it's crazy.

Oh well, I dont go there for the exercises but to see other babies her age.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

The true story of what is happening in Turkey

This was written by my friend who is living in Ankara, he managed to post in on FB and I have decided to post it here to spread the word. It is important that the world finds out what is happening from the Turkish people themselves.



It all started with a small peaceful protest in Istanbul about the demolition of Taksim Square's last green space. The city had been losing parks at a record rate under the AKP, starting with the famous de-treeing of Istiklal street itself, and people believed that this was enough. The police used such brutality that people decided to organise protests supporting those at the park in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Antalya to name a few places. These protests soon became anti-government and anti-police protests.
The centre of Ankara was a war zone yesterday. The police attempted to break up the protests with gas but as people acclimatized to the gas the protests got larger and larger. The crowds grew rapidly and the police began to get more violent in response. In Ankara protesters would run as close to the Kizilay Square (the centre of Ankara and the site of the Prime Ministry) get attacked by the police, and flee to the Tunali area to regroup.
People drove around the Kecioren district, where the Prime Minister lives, and honked their horns late into the night.
A huge group formed on Bestekar on the outskirts of the centre and began to march on the Square. They were brutally crushed by a combination of water cannon armed armoured trucks and gas launchers. The police, as can be seen in a series of videos, aimed directly at civilians injuring many of them severely.
Running skirmishes with armoured water cannon trucks spilled unto the bar street in Ankara and the police started to attack the bars directly with tear gas and water cannons. People attacked the trucks with bottles, agitating an already violent truck operator. We had to drag some people into the building as they were overcome by the fumes. A few street vendors tried to protect their vehicles from the rampaging water tanks and were injured.
The police, through loudhailers on their trucks, demanded that people stop filming and attempted to take out several people with cameras or phones. They destroyed the street near the embassy district; running over some poor kid who couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
That was the first day. I barely got home. We got sprayed on the way back. People hanging white towels from their balconies provided first aid and water. The protests were still going on when I went to sleep around 0500
Istanbul was worse. They trapped enormous crowds of people with tear gas and hosed them down, then flew helicopters over them firing down tear canisters. The police, according to some unconfirmed reports, began using real bullets instead of rubber bullets. The badly injured were in the hundreds and included a number of parliamentarians.
The media has been hobbled in Turkey as the government indirectly owns or controls much of it so none of these reports could be validated or invalidated . The use of gas, Agent Orange, water cannon, kettling (a police technique), and rubber bullets (you never forget how they sound) was confirmed.
These protests both cities lasted until early into the morning when many of the protesters, exhausted, retired to rest and regroup. The planned time for the protest the next day was 1600 yet crowds in both cities showed up early.
The police had withdrawn initially in Istanbul and the prime minister claimed he would let them march. Yet it was, as melodramatic as this sounds, a trap. Crowds assembled at the park and a larger group planned to march from Besiktas. The police swooped down on the crowd with more brutality then before, using rubber bullets and a derivative of the Vietnam era deforestation chemical Agent Orange. It is incredibly toxic and forbidden by the UN after the horrific effects it had on both the Vietnamese and Americans exposed to it.
The police cleared Besiktas in a hurry, heavily injuring hundreds of protesters. I have reliable eye witnesses in Istanbul that claim there are no civilians on the ground and only police right now.
Ankara protesters' plan was to meet up at 1600 and march upon the Prime Ministry. Police were even more brutal than the day before, setting up barricades and sallying forth yet thankfully, as far as I've experienced today, they've only used civilian tear gas instead of the militarised version.. Finding their way blocked protesters attempted to go to Kizilay instead with predictable results. The police, faced with at least 20,000 protesters called in the gendarme and built barricades around the Prime Ministry. People showed up in their cars, driving through the city and honking the entire way. I decided to take a look and had trouble getting back; lots of running, dodging and thanking the gods that I left my phone at home, allowing me to climb things without worrying too much and escape the psychotic police force.
Unsubstantiated reports state that the police in front of the Prime Ministry and in Besiktas have “gun free” orders; or have permission to shoot anyone who passes their barricades.
My street has been tear gassed at least 4 times directly and indirectly today. The internet has been on and off and slowed down immensely. Just enough to inconvenience anyone who wished to upload photos or write on their blogs. The official response of the sole internet provider in the country, TurkTelekom, when I called them today to inquire was that Facebook use has skyrocketed and as a result it might go down once and a while. And the government then took down the internet for real. I'm getting 3 or 4 kbs every hour for around a minute and for the other 59 minutes I have nothing.
As for the results; The interior ministry has promised an internal inquiry, but it is clear to anyone familiar with Turkish domestic policy that this is a smokescreen for the government to hide behind, they'll throw some low level commissioners to the wolves and pretend they acted without orders. This, along with the goldfish-like memory of the Turkish electorate, will probably end up making this an interesting footnote in Turkish history. I'm a pessimist. The Prime Minister has called out the protesters as a result of the damage done and the attacks on police officers; yet the initial attackers in many of the protests have been identified as governmental provocateurs. They have been seen systematically setting cars on fire far behind protest lines; plain clothes policemen that, as this is Turkey, are rather easy to spot. The administrative courts have struck down the project, but the Prime Minister has said it doesn't matter. This will set up an interesting case of government vs judiciary for later.
Over a thousand police officials have resigned as a result. The military has been handing out gas masks to civilians and there is a video of then getting into verbal arguments with the police. Although the gendarme look as if they are in with the government the majority of the military look as if they're going to sit this one out while quietly supporting the protests.
The chanting still hasn't died down yet a miasma of tear gas and smoke from the burning vehicles remains. I'm getting gassed at home as I write this for the 5th time. I'm happy I'm rather resilient when it comes to getting gassed yet at the same time I don't understand why I should have to be. I can hear the malevolent whine of water cannons charging up, the threatening thumps of tear gas canisters being launched, the deep roar of TOMA trucks, and the screaming and chanting of protesters being attacked. A crash every once and a while as the trucks hit something large. Things are not looking up.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Turkey

Oh how I love that country.
Feeling so strongly about it makes me very sad reading frienda posts about what is going on there.
I hope that the people win their battle, because in the end the popluation makes a country.

To the right, if you press the link called turkey you can go vack and read about the 6 months I lived in Ankara.

Bad Parent Moment

We all have bad parent moment. Some worse than others, the one we had today qualifies as worse.

Memo has an office/workout room. It is his, and we are not supposed to be in there - so of course we are.
We sit in there every afternoon waiting for him to pull up the drive way (the windows gives on that drive way).

The room is no baby proof, buy Sophia usually knows her limits - not at all; she goes through his drawers and spread bills and other important papers around the house.

Anywho, Memo walks in the door. Sophia gets excited and thus runs away from him (her logic) into his office and grabs his 1.3 kg weights he uses for running/working out. As I turn around I tell Memo, you shouldnt let her hold those, she can drop them and really get hurt. BAM
She drops it.
Cries.
Limbs around the house.
And at night her middle toe was all purple.
I feel horrible.
Poor baby.

We will see how she feels tomorrow and might go and do an x-ray if she is still in pain.
Maybe the toe is broken.

Well... now I hope baby proofing will be more of a priority here!