2008 Summary

Jan - Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong - visiting Marco then Chungies wedding.
Feb - JD moves to Stockholm, I get lovely watch for Valentines
Mar - Easter, a very cold beer festival. Celebrating my birthday at Barry's.
Apr - Celebrating my birthday at Grill. First rhubarb crop.
May - LM and Myson visiting, causing me to miss Eurovision final. We meet Augusten. Granny dies.
June - Parents visit. I got to Maui with Louise. EL, J, M, J visiting and we see Yazoo. Midsummer in Sweden, JD dresses the May Pole. I go to Rome and try out the gelato.
July- Went camping on Isle of White, shopping in Copenhagen, visiting EL and J in Borrby. Sunny days so went swimming in the middle of Stockholm, then to summer house. J's Hen Night.
Aug - J and K's wedding. Girls weekend, but without Jo as she got DVT.
Sep - Cray Fish parties. Relaxing week at Summer House, digging a stump up took 3 days.
Oct - Went to Oslo. Norwegian girls visiting. Saw the Hoosiers with Jo.
Nov - Saw the Feeling with Louise. Did not go to Sweden. Started crocheting. Made a chrismas tree.
Dec - Crocheted a lot of Christmas decorations. Went skiing. Packed up JD. Went to Belfast. Home at last, both of us.

Hoping for a just as memorable 2009, but maybe a little bit less travelling by air.

Thank you everyone who helped make this year another good one.

Happy new year!

Knight

The New Years Honours list is out and Terry Pratchett is now Sir Terry Pratchett. I always knew he was special.

Hamming it up

JD and I got a bit carried away yesterday. We discussed what to have for dinner and agreed lentil soup would be nice and I fancied making my own with ham. Unfortunately the butcher didnt have any ham to cook but Sainsburys had a giant boiling ham that we bought. So last night the ham was cooked for a couple of hours with an onion, celery and a carrot. We tried it when it was done and it is delishious.

In Sainsburys I also got lentils and split peas, as I couldnt decide what would be nicest. But in the end I decided split yellow peas were the way forward. So they soaked overnight and now I have them cooking in the ham stock on the stove. I have promised JD that I will make pankakes to go with the soup if there is any left on Thursday. As the pot is big I do suspect there will be plently left and that we will also have the freezer stocked with soup for 2009.

Smaller than the Christmas ham

Mindre an julskinkan
Originally uploaded by evafritz

Best Christmas present so far was an invite to see the very new baby Skoog. She is still smaller than the Christmas ham: ham=2990g and she=2870g. She is tiny but very cute.

And I can also report that with JD not around Klara likes me a lot! Ha! So just need to remember not to allow JD to come along next time so he cant contest my favourite position...

GOD JUL!!

Skiing

We loved it! Skiing was great fun, apart from stomping around in those horrid boots and the pain in the legs. But the cabin was great, weather lovely (including lots of new snow that fell over night making everything look pretty) and ski instructors v young but good. We are now able to get around on skiis without making complete prats of ourselves, which is nice. JD likes going straight down the hill, at speed. I like big S's making sure I break a lot all the time.

Spring

Mum pointed out that on 21st December is the winter solstice so from then on in we are moving towards spring. And the days will be longer and longer again. Its now 11.18 and its as dark outside as in April at 19.30. Dreadful.

We are packing up JD's stuff to prepare for his move home in a few days. Its a lot of stuff. And that is after he came home with most of his suits, gave his Wii to his brother and I moved most of my stuff home. And its not like the house has felt overly empty of stuff while he has been away, although I have enjoyed having the wardrobe to myself...

Tomorrow we are off skiing in Safsen, check out the webcam to see if you can spot us falling over in the snow.

No Snow

Its dark here. And no snow. I had forgotten how dark it get when its cloudy here. At midday it was as dark as at dusk. Scary. And since no snow to light up the place I am just feeling so tired.

Shopping helps. As does pick and mix. And checking out BBC iPlayer and the latest Strictly clips (ok, I have to admit, Rachel and Vincent are great).

But I am looking forward to end of week - I am only working 4 days and have already completed 2 but it feels like an eternity.

Office Christmas party

I read an article yesterday that said that more than 50% of young men and women need alchohol to get through their Office Christmas parties. I dont think that is a correct figure, I reccon it is a lot higher.

We had a great time at ours, mainly thanks to the very nice Chablis.

Woolies part 2

Whohoo! Extra open on a Sunday! Our shop is tiny so normally only open Mon-Sat so this was a special treat.

I bought another two cushions, some more Christmas and birthday presents, cards and stuff.

I am a little hungover after going out with some collegues for leaving dinner / drinks. I think I love red wine too much for my own good. It led me to having a Rustler today. Something that would be unthinkable in a normal state...

But I have made a couple of serviette rings, I am quite pleased with them.

I am, though, upset that boooooring Rachel is still in Strictly while lovely Austin has been kicked out. So unfair.

Woolies

Woolworths is going bust. Its one of my favourite stores in the UK, along with Wilkinsons and Boots.

They have a mega sale on at the moment and I went in to our local store (one reason to love Woolies - its everywhere!) and picked up some more Christmas present as well as two cushions and only due to my hands being too full did I not leave with more stuff. So I missed out on the sale house goods, childrens clothes, books, DVD and CDs, DIY stuff, car / bike accessories, sweets etc etc etc.

I wonder if they will be open tomorrow so I can go back and see what other bargains I can pick up...

Picture of knitting result

I am knitting a pair of slippers on the photo below. We then washed them at 60 degrees and shaped them when they came out. I knitted a pair of boats but ended up with very toasty slippers.

8 Challenge

Rules:

1. Publish the rules on your blog

2. Answer the six 8 items

3. Challenge others



8 Favourite Programs:

1. Scrubs


2. Bones


3. Strictly Come Dancing


4. Two Fat Ladies


5. QI


6. Never Mind the Buzzcocks


7. Have I got News for you


8. most BBC4 programs

8 Things I did Yesterday:

1. Read Midnight Sun (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html)


2. Admired how lovely the house is with the christmas lights / star / tree up


3. Had Heidi over for dinner - we made Lussebullar (Saffron buns)
   
4. Agreed to book the Jan hols (whohoo, Caribbean here we come!)


5. Received a Xmas present from Lisa Marie and Myson


6. Watched It Takes Two (love Claudia)


7. Ignore my pile of clothes to wash


8. Decided not to try on the dress for next weeks Xmas party as I think I wont fit into it and wanted to avoid the panic of not knowing what to wear

8 Things I Look Forward to:

1. JD moving home
2. Twilight the movie - I have a date to see it on 2nd Jan
3. Holiday in Jan
4. Xmas dinner with family at Basenberga and Gondolen
5. Dinner out with friends on Saturday night
6. Lie in on Saturday
7. Strictly on Sat night
8. Janssons frestelse

8 Favourite Restaurants:

1. Barry at the Tureen (Brighton)
2. Pintxtos People (Brighton)
3. Don Carlos (Brighton)
4. Moshi Moshi (Brighton)
5. Pelikan (Stockholm)
6. Gondolen (Stockholm)
7. Ida Davidsen (Copenhagen)
8. Marcus kitchen (especially if Kalle is assisting)
   

8 Items on my Wish list:
Dont want to be repetetive, here are 9 from the other week, although Jodie has been kicked out so only 8 remain.

EL - seeing as you should be done with that dull finance text by now how about completing a list eh?

Love December