EFIT - August 1st, 2009

Saturday was an EFIT-day (Ett Foto I Timmen/A Photo Every Hour) and I participated as part of a challenge in my 101in1001-project. The idea of EFIT is to take a picture an hour as sort of a diary.

9.00/9am - A tiny cricket on our dining table

10.00/10am - Me knitting out in our garden

11.00/11am - The blue sky with an airplane cloud

12.00/noon - Watering plants in our garden

13.00/1pm - Fixing a mistake in my knitting

14.00/2pm - Ironing one of my favourite shirts (bought at Eddie Bauer in Chicago when I was there earlier this year)

15.06/3.06pm - A church in a small village in the south of Sweden that we passed while out driving

15.57/3.57pm - A black hollyhock at the friends' we visited for an afternoon "fika"

18.01/6.01pm - An amazing "äggakaga" (sort of a creamy and dense omelette with many eggs in it) - a specialty for southern Sweden. Boyfriend and I had dinner att Skivarps Gästis.

18.58/6.58pm - Up one of the trees in the garden outside Skivarps Gästis where we had dinner

20.00/8pm - Taking in laundry that's been hanging out to dry all day. Bed sets from IKEA.

20.58/8.58pm - I released Skorpan from his cone so he'd be able to wash himself and relax some. After five minutes of very intense licking, he settled down and fell asleep.

21.59/9.59pm - Watched TV. This is the end of a show about Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl's second attempt to cross the Atlantic on a boat made out of reed.

22.51/10.51pm - Time to go to bed. Bed sets from IKEA. The blue side is mine!

The most expensive cake I've ever bought

Just as last year, my boyfriend and I spent Sweden's National Day (June 6th) in Copenhagen, Denmark, with some of our friends. Last year there were five of us going. This year 11... Wonder how many we'll be next year.

We had a great day even though the weather was very unpredictable. We visited a market/fair/whatever focused on the home environment. There are many plants for sale and a ton of knickknacks for your home and yourself; homemade salt scrubs, jewelry, bags made out of willow, outdoor furniture, pottery, kitchenware, homemade kid's clothing, and so on.

My boyfriend and I made some very gender-bound purchases. He bought two Cuban cigars and four bottles of locally brewed Danish beer. I bought a jar of salt scrub with citrus scent, two packages of fun paper bake cups for muffins or cupcakes and 16 small tins for "mandelmusslor". And...

I saw these lovely pastries and cakes and decided to get one with pears, dark chocolate, ginger and lemon in it. It was beautifully wrapped in paper with a string around it. There were no price tags to be seen and I realized why, when the girl behind the counter asked for 65DKK = 100SEK = US$13... Had I known, I wouldn't have bought it.

Looks tasty, doesn't it?

I've had two thirds of the cake and it's good. But not that good.

Earthquake

I experienced an earthquake less than an hour ago.

Wicked.

We're "not supposed" to get earthquakes here in the south of Sweden and Denmark. At least not earthquakes that can be noticed... This was a strong one, they're saying 4.7-4.8 on the Richter scale. And from what I've read on the Internet and heard on the radio; it lasted for about ten seconds.

I was in the shower and felt movement at the same time as I heard a loud noise. I assumed it was a heavy vehicle of some sort, but thought it was strange as we don't have garbage pick-up until Friday...

I've felt my first eartquake.

A walk home from work

I took some pictures on a walk home from work two weeks ago and thought I'd share some of the things I saw...

Guess only one of the trees has realized it's fall...

More trees dressed for fall

"Feathers" by the stream

A nesting box and lumps on the tree

Chestnuts on the ground

Maple leaves!!!

Don't know what bush it is, but it sure looks lovely in fall

Getting to know me - 7

It's been ages since my last "Getting to know me"-post. I thought it was about time I'd get back to it.

The Random Integer Generator told me to answer question number 40 this week:

What was the most difficult paycheck you ever earned?

I don't think I've earned many paychecks that have been difficult as in having to perform something difficult. I think the ones I found difficult were the ones that were boring.

For six months in junior high I helped out in a print shop every other Tuesday after school to earn some money. I was going to England in the summer and the agreement was that I'd have to earn my own spending money before going. In the print shop I spent hours glueing covers on small notebooks. I'd take a note book from one pile and a cover from another. Fold the cover along two lines and then put glue on part of the cover. Place the cover in the right position on the note book and press firmly. Put in a pile with a heavy book on top. Repeat. :yawn:

One fall in junior high I "sålde jultidningar" for Christmas. I don't know if kids still do this in Sweden but when I was younger it was a way for kids and youth to earn some extra money around Christmas. Basically you knocked on your neighbours' door trying to sell them magazines, comics and books from a catalogue you showed them. They'd (hopefully) place an order with you and then you got the magazines, comics and books sent to you a couple of weeks before Christmas and you had to deliver the orders. Some parents would take the catalogue to their work place trying to get their colleagues to buy something. As a kid you'd earn accordingly to what you sold for. The more sells, the more you'd earn. The information folder you got sent to you before starting to sell was full of success stories from smiling boys and girls saying how much fun it was selling, how easy it was, how much money they had sold for and what they had gotten from their pay. But it wasn't fun. It wasn't easy. And I didn't earn much.

In high school and after, I spent many summers working mostly outdoors. I loved the job. Even though it forced me to get up every morning at 6am... I usually had fun with my colleagues. I also liked the amount of responsibility I was given. My bosses and the people who saw the result of my job, ususally didn't care about how I got things done as long as they were made before the end of the day. Some summers were more hard work than others. It depended on where in the city I worked, the people around me and definitely the weather. My first summer in the early '90s had a lot of rainy days. I worked a total of 35 days (7 weeks) that summer and I only had 5 days that were completely dry... On rainy days we had to be very imaginatory and sometimes come up with tasks to keep us busy for 8 hours. That was sometimes hard. Especially day after day... (On a whole I loved my summer job and kept returning to it. It was just difficult during rainy days and periods.)

After my university studies I got a "temporary job" that lasted for more than a year and a half. It wasn't the most ideal job for me. A lot of people in the company didn't understand my function and why I was there. Many of them thought the results of my work would affect the employees badly, so I constantly had to fight the negative image they had of me even before they'd met me. A lot of people also showed surprising stupidity when it came to understand the amount of time I needed to give them proper results. I was constantly chased. I didn't earn my pay checks with happiness during these months... (One of the happiest days in my life was going in to my then-boss to tell him I had gotten another job. A "proper one".)

What was the most difficult paycheck you ever earned? Let me know by leaving a comment or by making your own blog post about it. (If you do the latter, please tell me so I don't miss it!)

Crafty vacation

We spent yesterday out of the house. First we went to an animal park that focuses on animals that are a natural part of the Scandinavian wildlife. They have moose, deer, beaver, seals, bears, wolves, lynx/bobcats, owls and hawks, badgers, boars and foxes to name some of the animals. They also have a Swedish breed of sheep (Gutefår), a Swedish pig and some other farm animals.

Some of the animals had offspring born this spring or earlier this summer. Cuuute.

After the animal park, we went to a place called Skäralid which is famous for its geology. We took a two-hour-walk in the beech wood along the edges of the cliffs and then down by the water at the bottom. Beautiful. I love beech woods. The light is amazing through those crisply green leaves, and as nothing huge grows on the ground, one can easily move around in them.

~~~~~

So, if yesterday was all about being out of the house, today has been the opposite. I haven't stepped out the front door all day. And I've been dressed in my "sunkekläder" (loose and ill-fitted clothes I wear when I'm sweaty, relaxed and not showing myself to the rest of the world) all day. Sure, I've been outside but that's been in the garden and only to hang laundry or play with the cats.

Yes, I've done laundry today. Four loads. Good girl.

And I've been housewifey in the kitchen as well. Dressed in my Emmeline apron, I've made bread. Or rather buns. I used a recipy I just got in the latest issue of Allt om Mat (All about Food); Tomato and basil bread.

Not exactly the same size...

Close up of the loveliness...

I got 36 buns out of the dough. 20 of them are in the freezer for later enjoyment. I really like baking. And bread (or buns) do taste better when you've done the work yourself!

~~~~~

Before baking I made something related to yarn. I turned this:

into this:

Yes, that's my Laminaria. And yes, I was only 8 rows from binding off. And yes, I did love my Laminaria.

I ran out of yarn. And I didn't want a cropped version of Laminaria. I could've ripped back one repeat of the blossom chart and started the edging charts again, but that would've left me with a shawlette with very strange proportions with only two repeats of the blossom chart before the edging. And I would've been close on being short of yarn again... So, Laminaria hit the frog pond and I'll try the pattern out again with the ViKanGarn-yarn I bought a week and a half ago.

No regrets.

~~~~~

I've been thinking about making us a blanket for the couch. We have a big wooly blanket that is way too warm to use more than half of the year (even here in Sweden) and to be honest, I think it now consists more of cat hair than sheep wool... So, I thought I'd make us a cotton blanket big enough to be used when taking a nap on the couch. 'Cause that happens. Occassionally.

Earlier this week I bought seven fat quarters in a shop called Färg&Form. I fell in love with the colours and patterns (even the butterflies!). Aren't they beautiful?

Fabric collection is called Daydreams and is made by MODA

At home I realised that four of the fat quarters I already had at home would go great with the ones I bought. Agree?

Eleven fat quarters of fabric

These four fat quarters were a gift from iKate in a swap I participated in a couple of months ago. (Remember the Manos Silk Blend I use for Clapotis? Yes, that's the swap.) They are Joel Dewberry prints. And I love them. And they go so well with the fabrics I bought. The blue is exactly the same. And even though the green is more yellow, it works great with green of the MODA-fabrics.

Today I finished cutting the fat quarters into this:

Rectangels!

It took me a couple of days of cutting but now I have 300 pieces measureing 2½in by 5in. I love my rotary cutter! Cutting these pieces out using scissors would've been hell. I just wish I had a "quilter's ruler" (is that what they're called?) that had measurements in inches. I like using inches when I sew and cutting these rectangels would've been faster if I hadn't had to use my measuring tape to mark the fabric before cutting.

I hope to be able to start the sewing tomorrow. Stay tuned and I'll keep you updated on my progress.

~~~~~

Hope you have a crafty summer!!!

Swedish vacation

I got a couple of comments about my writing in my last post about my vacation, and thought I'd write some more about vacation rights in Sweden...

2 weeks of vacation for every worker in Sweden was part of the Swedish legislation all ready back in 1938. That's 70 years ago! The thought was that the workers would do a better job during the year if they had two weeks off every year to do something to re-energize.

In 1951 the two weeks turned into three. The three weeks turned into four in 1963. And ever since 1978 every employee in Sweden has had the right to have five working weeks (=25 days) off every year.

So, my right to get 5 weeks of vacation every year is part of the Swedish law. And it applies to everyone who has a fulltime job as an employee. If you own your own business, you have no legal right for vacation as you are your own employer. These five weeks are a minimum and many people have more vacation than that. If you're working for the municipality or the state you usually get a couple more days as you turn 40 and 50. I think a 50-year-old would have 31 or 32 days of vacation every year. I know of private companies that offer the employees a sixth or even seventh week of vacation if they agree to not get compensated for working more than 40 hours a week.

I'm making it simple here, but to get the 25 days, you have to work for a year. If you get employed in the fall , you naturally don't get 25 days off for vacation, but you get parts of it, proportunate to the amount of months you work. I think you need a contract that runs for longer than 3 months though to be eligable for vacation as in "taking days off".

In the "vacation law" it's also regulated so that every employee has the right to take four successive weeks off some time during the months of June, July and August. It is, however, the right of the employer to decide when those weeks will be. This is to keep the businesses running. I think most work places circulate "wishlists" that the employees have to fill out, marking the weeks they wish to go on vacation, so that the employers can work out the puzzle of having enough people left in work at every time, but also fulfilling the right everyone has to take time off during the summer. It used to be that big industries shut down during the month of July and had everyone on vacation at the same time. July is often referred to as "the industrial vacation" here in Sweden (Europe?).

By law, all employers also have to pay the employees something called "vacation pay" or "vacation salary". In the paycheck you get before you use vacation days or the one you get after you've used vacation days, you get an extra 12 or 13% salary for days you were off... Yes, we get paid more when we're on vacation compared to the days we're actually at work... I find this hilarious. Do other countries have this as well?

If we decide to not use all of our 25 days (or how many you get) we can save them for following years. So, if I decide to use three weeks one year, I can technically take seven weeks off the following year. Most companies have a restriction though as to how many days they will allow you to save. (I don't think this is regulated by law, but I don't know for sure.) In most companies they will let you have 40 days on your "vacation account" when you go from one year to the next. If you have more than 40, they will simply erase the extra days from your account and not compensate you in any way. I have colleagues that every year are forced to go on vacation during Christmas time so as not to lose those extra vacation days they have saved. But then again... If you've passed the age of 50, are employed by the municipality or state, and you have 40 days saved 'til next year, you will be able to take something like 70 days of vacation in the next year. That's 10 full working weeks; 2½ months. And to be realistic, how many of us would be able to do our annual job with 2½ months less in the office?

~~~~~

My summer vacation starts in about 4 hours!!!

For the next three weeks or so, I will probably not be posting as regularly as I usually do. Just giving you a heads up.

Bikini and Subtitles

I got myself a new bikini yesterday!!! It's number 5 if you go here and click your way through the gallery. I got hipsters for the bottom part. I can't really tell if that's what she's modelling...

I was in the store on Sunday and ended up buying a brown and pink push up bikini, but when I came home I realized it didn't fit me very well. I was hesitant in the store but figured I was just overly sensitive seeing myself in the mirrors like that. The girl who helped me out said she liked the fit on me and I was in ahurry as people was waiting for me and I... Well, I bought it. And decided after wearing it for two minutes at home while modelling it for boyfriend, that I was going to return it.

So, I went back yesterday. And not only did they accept to take the bikini back (I hadn't asked for the bottoms to be sealed as I should've had), one of the women helped me out finding a new bikini. I spent 50 minutes in the changing room with her running around the store like a squirrel finding me different shapes, sizes and colours. The first top she brought me was a balconette style, which I've never used before, and that was the shape for me! I tried the obligatory A75/A30 and B75/B30, before she gave me a C70/C28, to which I laughed. I tried it on and it fit me perfectly... I'm still stunned.

I tried a total of 10 tops and 4 bottoms before finally deciding to go for the third one I tried. I don't really know why I bothered trying on any more after that one. Not that the rest didn't fit me, they all sort of did, but this one was just comfortable at once. And I felt feminine in it.

When paying for it, I was surprised with a 25% discount as "a compensation for having walked out of there the day before with something I wasn't a 100% sure on". I liked that! And will most definitely return to get more help there. Will just make sure to ask the right woman!

(All these words to tell you I made a purchase I'm happy with!)

~~~~~

Saw "Sex and the City" yesterday. (For Kate, and anyone who's interested: A subtitled version. We don't dub movies or tv shows in Sweden. Unless they're for children. And some children's movies, like the big Disney productions, will sometimes be shown at the cinema in two versions; one original and one dubbed with Swedish voices.

I know some English-speakers find subtitles annoying and therefore only watch English movies and shows, but you really get used to it. When I was in Canada for a year it took me a long time to get my eyes to not look for subtitles, cause even though I'm quite fluent in English, my eyes are trained to read the Swedish words as I listen to the English talk. And as I read, I automatically translate into English and then hear the actual words being said. 'Cause I read faster than they speak.

One of the stranger experiences I've had with watching a subtitled movie was being in Canada watching a Danish Lars von Trier-movie subtitled in English. See, down here in the south of Sweden we get two Danish tv channels. My brain is quite used to hearing English while reading Danish. Watching that movie this was turned around. I was reading English and hearing Danish. It took me some time to get into the movie as I had language wrestling games going on in my head. (And yes, I understand written Danish very well and I get by with spoken Danish conversation if it's not too fast.)

Coming home from Canada, with my eyes and brain now trained not to read subtitles while watching tv, I thought that would be the way I watched tv for the rest of my life. That I would only hear the conversations. I think it took me a week and I was back into reading the subtitles. :shrug:)

Where was I? Sex and the City. I got what I expected. And a bit more. I like the characters. Mr Big makes my heart skip the occassional beat. It's sort of fun. And I cried some. But I don't get the fashion. And I'm sick and tired of women thinking that "will you marry me?" automatically means over-the-top princess wedding.

Came home and kissed the best manfriend I've ever had.