Happy birthday to me!

Today is my 38th birthday... OMG! Only two years until 40.... Well, since a few years back I have a goal for my 40th birthday, so it won't feel so terrifying, and that is to become the best-looking I've ever been in my life, prettier, nicer body and so on.... I had a serious setback last year when I lost all my hair, it's much easier to be pretty when you have hair... Trust me! But, it's no excuse to give up. I can't say that I have come any closer to my goal so far, but I still have two years left.... :)

My best friend Eleonor came over after work and had banoffee pie with us. It was delicious! I had two servings with extra bananas (since the kids suddenly don't like bananas) and one and a half hour later I'm still totally stuffed. So good!

So far, I have received 1/4 of an overlocker and a gift card for Panduro as presents, so I'm quite happy! I'll see one of my sisters and my mum on Friday, so I'll probably get something then from them.

xx/Johanna 

Caaaaake

So I've made the banoffie cake, pie... whatever... And I CAN'T WAIT until I get to EAT IT!!! It looks and smells de-licious! It was easy enough except for the waiting when boiling the can of condensed milk... Two and a half hours!!

Pictures coming tomorrow....

/Johanna *waiting*

Birthday cake

Tomorrow is my birthday and since I've already received my birthday present from Mr Red and the kids there's not much to look forward to, except a birthday cake!

Last year I wanted to order a banana and toffee cake from Coop Forum, but typically enough that didn't make it during the summer, so I had to settle for an ordinary cake with whiped cream and fruit. But this year I will not miss out on banana and toffee, so I will make a banoffie pie for the first time. I googled "cake banana toffee" (in Swedish) and found this recipe which seems good and easy enough. I'm boiling the can of condensed milk as I write. On this blog it said that the cake is even better the next day, so I will probably make it today and keep it in the fridge until tomorrow. Good plan, huh?!

xx/Johanna

Shopping with Little Red

Today I went to the shopping centre with Little Red, while Mr Red and Big Red were busy in the garage. She behaved really well and thought it was ok to go into many shops. We had lunch at the Swedish hamburger restaurant Max. Our main goals with our shopping trip was to get some new nail polish.
My nails look kinds of bad due to the alopecia, and I feel better about them when I wear nail polish, which was on rare occasions before.
Anyway, we found nail polish from l'Oreal at a good price, so I bought three of those (thumb, index and long finger in the photo). I let Little Red choose one for herself, pink of course (pinkie finger) and I chose a nice green one for Big Red (ring finger). Weirdly enough the five shades look good together, so I'll keep it like this for af few days.
I also found a new handbag, which I felt really good about. Good colour and size, and it has both af shoulder strap and handles. The price was reasonable, so I went ahead and bought it! 
All in all, a nice trip to the shopping centre.
xx/Johanna

My scalp is red

Yep, that's right, we had some seriously good weather going on today. It didn't look like it this morning - totally grey outside - but then the sky cleared up and the sun was out. it was actually WARM outside, not just in the sun, but the air was warm, hasn't happened all summer....

So we were out in the garden all day, the whole family. Mr Red sat in the shade as usual, the kids were playing in the inflatable pool and I was soaking up as much sun as I could, which now means that my scalp is red. (FYI, I have alopecia universalis, total loss of body hair, which means no hair on my head). I hope the skin won't peel, like it did after midsummer.... Just so annoying...

Well, otherwise it was a lovely day. I finished a book, my mum lent me some Nora Roberts novels this spring, but I haven't felt like reading them until now. They're really good and easy to read, easy on the brain.... But it's nice to be reading again, after not feeling like reading at all for a month or two. That's really one of my favourite things, lying out in the sun and reading.

Otherwise, I'm pretty tired, after being away and having visitors, even though we've had a really good time. I just get very tired from being around people all the time. I hope I can gather up some energy and get moving on my next sewing project. I haven't even used my new overlocker yet.... :(

Off to bed now.

xx/johanna

Visit from Arboga

Today my husband's brother and his family have been here visiting. The kids have been playing non-stop all afternoon with their cousins (a boy 5 years old and a girl 3 years old) and having fun.

The adults have been out on the terrass having colourful drinks (again! That's twice this week...) and chatting.

Since the weather wasn't all that good this morning, I decided against a barbacue tonight and thought we would have tacos for dinner, which turned out to be a very popular decision!

Now everyone is off to bed, me too!

Godd night/Johanna

Pretty Orust

Today the weather is beautiful (maybe the best day of the summer!). We went down to the ocean to try and fish crabs. We had nog luck in finding bait though, so we had to give up on that idea. So we just enjoyed the sun and the sea...

xx/Johanna

Vacation on Orust

Here we are on the island of Orust, spending time with my sister and her family. The kids are playing (and fighting) with each other and the grown-ups are having exotic, colourful drinks on the terrass. :)

Tonight we're barbecuing different kinds of fish, yum!

xx/Johanna

Organising

Instead of packing for our trip tomorrow, I have been doing something else... Isn't it always like that, when you HAVE to do something it's more fun or interesting to do something else, even if that normally is boring as hell?

So, I've been organising my closet and drawers! Clearing out clothes I haven't used for a (long) while.

I have a chest of drawers...

A closet...

And after going through both of them, I ended up with this, to put away for now...

Yes, that's a whole LARGE ikea-bag full of clothes I don't use much (at all)... But I'm not ready to toss them or give them away yet, so they have to live in the walk-in closet for a while.

Talking about the walk-in closet, that's where I have to continue, because it looks like this right now it can't qualify as a walk-in closet, because you can only set one foot in there...)...

Look at the bar, can you see that the left half is mine? Coat hangers cramped together.... 

And there's this closet to have a closer look at as well, even though I cleared out some things earlier this summer... (I share this one with Mr Red).

Well, better get packing...

xx/Johanna

Mr Red Playing with the kids

(No, our last name isn't Red, but I will call my husband Mr Red, and my kids Big Red and Little Red on this blog...)



A good week

This has been a good week, I ccan't really say why, but the feeling I have now, on Sunday, is a content feeling.
The kids have been quite calm, they had friends over on Thursday, which was enough for them, I guess.
I saw a friend I haven't seen for a while on Thursday, that also felt good.
My best friend and her boyfriend was over on Friday and we had a really good time.
The weather has been OK, even good some days and that's always a mood elevator for me.

All in all a good week.

Little Red playing in the yard in her PJs...

And tomorrow we're off to visit my sister and her family. It will be good for the kids to see their cousins and play together, since they're almost the same age (5, 4, 3 and 2,5 years old!). I also look forward to see my sister, as always. :)

Yesterday, I realized I haven't been shopping, either in town or at the shopping centre/mall, the whole week. That's something I generally like, but it's been really nice just being at home, reading, blogging, surviving without water... :) I think it has to do with the kids being in "vacation mode", it seems they have unwound a bit. The pace has been a bit slower - awesome!

But now I really want to get going on my next sewing project. I always have plans, but then I start doubting myself, if it's the right match between pattern, fabric and my body type. And then nothing happens, frustrating... But now I think I have a good plan after talking to me BF. I think I'll have to write about it on my sewing blog, and maybe it will be more real!

Well, I'm off for now.

xx/Johanna

Finally...

some nice weather! The whole family is out with the sun. The clouds are elsewhere and there's a light breeze... Perfect! And we're all allowed to eat candy, since it's Saturday! Yay!

The water's back!

YAY! The water's finally back. I never thought I'd be so grateful for being able to flush the toilet and wash my hands afterwards...

On another note, had my best friend and her boyfriend over for a barbacue tonight. It was so nice to see them, it's been a while. Got to talk to my BF about my sewing plans and with her help I've now decided on my next project.

Good night/Johanna

New blog

So I thought I'd create another blog - not sewing related - just to write and vent stuff, everyday stuff. I want my projetcs be me-blog to be mainly about sewing and such, so this will be a place where I right about whatever...

Well, let's see how it goes...

To start off, I can tell you that I'm super-annoyed with having no water in the house right now. There's a leak somewhere on the main pipe, so we've had practically no water since Wednesday and absolutely no water since Thursday afternoon.... Thank God, we have a tap in the yard with lake water, so we at least can flush the toilet.... :(

Well, that's it for now.

xx/Johanna