Christmas celebration my way. A weekend off

Dear Johan took me to a short trip to the heart of our county Dalarna, that means Tällberg by the lake of Siljan. The surroundings around the lake are very beautiful, with mountains, forests, meadows and small villages with old houses.

Tällberg is very popular and have several high quality hotels. We stayed at Dalecarlia. Below is the morning view from our hotel window.

The hotel has lots of fireplaces around the lobby and restaurant. 

As indoor shoes I brought my Åsa Westlund, kurbits wooden heels. I have two from this collection called There goes the neighbourhood. I use them very sparely as the painting is fragile. There were gold streaks on them once as well but they are gone now.

This is the hotel. Looking up at the building surrounded by a winterlandscape it has a very "the Shining" feel over it. 

We spent the saturday walking around the village where a Christmas fair was going on. All the crafts and design stores were open.

The tradition is that if you decorate for midsummer, those decorations must sit the whole year until next summer. That's the reason why you can see a maypole dressed in brown leaves in the middle of the winter. The driveways are also decorated with honour birch arcs with dry leaves beside the ordinary outdoor christmas decorations. 

We bought a pair of mugs for ourselves. I picked the one with the horns to use at work. The potter had a fun combination of traditional, medeival and morbid style of the pottery. 

Kids playing with sleighs on a yard in front of a old house.

Another two maypoles left.

At one of the places they were selling Dalahorses and you could buy one and paint it yourself. And that is what we did. Johans is the one at the left, mine is the one at the right. They look both like traditional Nusnäs horses but with a personal twist. Every village has it's own kind of horse. These were once kids toys.

 On the way back to the hotel the christmastree at the square was dressed with football sized ornaments, they needed a lift for that work. You can see the contrasting maypole in the background with brown leaves. 
They was later going to have ring dance around the three, I know Swedes are strange people.

I bought a 3 yard of ribbon and a bottle of quack doctors remedy. Its anis and fennel couch drops that works fine for a sore throat.

We took a moment to watch the sunset over the mountains and the lake on the walk back.

 The afternoon was spent at the spa down the hill. It had a yacuzzi, outdoor pool with hot water, saunas and an indoor swimmingpool. We skipped any treatment and just relaxed, bathed. After some resting at our room we ate a fabulous three course dinner. I tried some new tastes, like saffron pannacotta with liqorice crisp.

 The icy road back home

 Usually I'm busy with birthday and christmas celebrations. But I think I needed this weekend. I had some tough moments at work and is generally stressed. I could have stayed at least another day just lazing around.
This is a post in Ms Misantropias Christmas challenge. Hop over to her and read her posts.

Back home I fixed Oskars christmas calendar. 24 packages (not all of them here) with assorted things inside.

Do you have those calendars in other countries? We have the annual tv-calendar, a childrens tv show, new one every year. 

Next weekend will be my 40's birhtday party another step from the yearly traditions, a little bigger party with guests the whole weekend. I'm so looking forward to it.

Oskars birthday

 I have been so busy lately. Lots of work and some preparations for all the december birthdays in our family and christmas. I realized the other day that I'm very late and that the stress is affecting me badly :p. My eldest had his 13th birthday the other week. As a present for him I renovated his bedroom. He started with it this summer but he needed help to finish it. Hadn't got the energy until now.
New curtains, plants and a lantern gave it a modern and cozy look. 

I followed his instructions almost exactly when I renovated the room. At first I was very sceptical but along the way I worked ,I saw it would be a nice room for a boy :). This is how he wanted it: One white wall, two green in a colour he had chosen and the print M90 from the Swedish army uniform on the fourth wall.

I bought the original fabric from garderoben.se and put it up on the wall, easier and cheaper than a wallpaper or paint. I sew a cusion as well and that was trickier, didn't like to sew with the fabric at all.

The bedside table is a fake military gear box and was found at a local store.

The package on the bed contains a camouflage net, an US airforce tshirt and a Swedish Army gasmask from the 50's. The gas mask is a joke from my side. He watched the episode of Dr Who, season 1 that is called "Are you my mommy" and freaked out :D (like I did).

I also bought a military map, framed it and put it up on the white wall. I will look for more maps like these because they are very decorative. This corner will have a cosy armchair in the future.

 Heres a view of the writing desk. It would be nicer with a heavy old desk but I havent got the money to fix that now. I used the fabric on the chair and on a pinboard as well. There is a little piece left for other projects. As you can see the skirting boards are missing, like any other project it's always something that's missing to make a renovating project completed.

The pictures below shows how it looked this summer when Oskar worked hard with painting the ceiling. Yeah, he wanted grey and white stripes! Here is he removing the plastic carpet and pulling out needles from the wooden floors. Moa is very supportive.

As you can see in the corner, the walls were very greasy and ugly. It's nothing more than fair that the eldest with the ugliest room will have it renovated first. 

The last christmas presents will be purchased this evening and wrapped. Tonight I will pickup my newly become teenager and a bunch of friends at a disco for a safe transport home. I guess there will be lots of late nights like this in the future.

Pyssel men ej av mig

Man kan ju faktiskt undra om det är någon som bryr sig och överhuvudtaget sitter vid datorn dessa underbara dagar. Nej, tänkte väl det. Inte jag heller (om man bortser från nu) jag är ute och jobbar i trädgården, jag håller på att anlägga en stor perennrabatt, lite sådär vräkig ska den va. Men idag tänkte jag visa pyssel som min sambo har gjort. Om ni tittar på bilden nedan så ser ni en vit träkloss med en stor spelkula på. Inget märkvärdig vid första anblicken kanske. Den står i Tulis rum och spelkulan är en "glasskulptur".

Well is it anybody who bothers to sit by the computor these lovely spring days? No I don't (except for now). I prefer being outside in the garden and work on a huge flowerbed. But I would like to show something my man have made. If you look at the picture below you see a white cube with a glass ball on top. Nothing peculiar by the first look maybe. It is in Tulis room with his glass ball like an sculpture.

Det är på natten det händer. Glaskulan glöder och ändrar färg om och om igen natten igenom, grönt, rött, gult, blått, rosa... osv. Ibland ställer Tuli en liten spelkula ovanpå eller sin glasuggla. Inuti kuben sitter ett kretskort och en rgb diod som ändrar färg. Det är den perfekta nattlampan för ett barn.

It is at night things happen. The glass ball is glowing and changing colours over and over again red, green, blue, pink etc. Sometimes Tuli puts a small ball on top or his glass owl. Inside the cube is a pcb with rgb diode that changes colour. It is the perfect night lamp for a child.

 Och även en lampa för exclusiva glasskulpturer eller en kristallskål eller , ja vad som helst som släpper igenom ljus. Johan har gjort ett par till våra glasskulpturer också, två likadana ägg. Vänta nu! Skulle det inte var det jag visar istället, påsk o allt....Ja sådär. Med en proffsfotograf (inte jag) en proffsig kamera så får ni den enda påskdekoration jag kan bjuda på denna påsk.

Or maybe a lamp for your exclusive glass sculpture or simply a crystal bowl or ....well anything that can let light shine thru. He have made a pair for our glass sculptures as well, two similar glass eggs. Wait shouldnt I show you those instead, Easter and all? Hang on a bit. With a proffessional photografer (not me) and a proffessional camera...This is the only easter decoration I can give you.

Påskkram på er! Happy Easter Hugs!

Remake and redo!

Åh vad jag älskar att springa på loppis och fynda skit som kan bli fint. Denna lampa kostade 30:- plus lite tyg, spets och färg. Den hamnade i Tulis rum så att han kan ha den som nattlampa (det sitter en svag LED i den så att den inte ska bli varm).

I just love to go to thrift stores buy cheap things and give them a makeover. This lamp just cost me 3€ some saved cotton and lace and a little paint. I put it in Tulis room to have it lit during the nights (I have a LED lamp in it so it won't get warm)

Så här såg den ut före, vanligt blå med en skärm som var så ful att den revs av innan jag hann fota eländet. Bordet som lampan står på är ett annat fynd som jag visar senare och bredvid så ligger en liten handborr till barnens verktygslåda. Klart kidsen ska ha egna säkra verktyg, så att de kan vara i min snickeboa och bygga lite.
 This is how it looked before, plain blue and it had a lampshade I ripped of before I took the picture. The table it stands on is another flea-find I will show you later. The hand drill is for the kids, I'm fixing some tools for them in my workshop.

Måste be lite om ursäkt för den fula bakgrunden, den tillhör en av de ofärdiga väggarna i mitt pysselrum. Den här skjortan har varit min favoritflanellskjorta som jag har nött på så mycket att krage och manchetter nästan tog slut. Inte hade jag hjärta att slänga den heller men när jag hittade den igen så kom idén att göra om den lite. Krage och manchetter klipptes bort och kanterna fick lite brun spets. Sen har jag rynkat ärm och halslinning och under bysten, den blev lite mer feminin nu. Jag är ingen rosa människa direkt men jag älskar färgerna i den här. Kul att kunna använda den igen.
 Sorry for the ugly backdrop it is one of the unfixed walls in my studio. This shirt has been a very loved one for me, I've used and used it til it did'nt have much fabric left on the collar. I'm not a very pink person but I love the colour of this one. I couldn't just throw it away so when I found it not long ago an idea grew in my mind that I could make something new of it. So I cut of the collar and the arms and hemmed with brown lace, then I gathered the neckline, arms and under the bust. Now it looks a bit more feminine and I'm lucky to be able to use again.

Ja ja ja! Det är alla hjärtans dag idag och inte ett ord om det än. Såå Min älskade köpte ett fång röda rosor och en gullig liten dinosaurie till mig och han fick en 91:an tidning av mig, stackarn. Men jag hoppas att han kan få skratta lite i allafall. Just nu så pysslar vi om oss själva med lite pyssel på varsitt håll. Jag ska pila ner i källaren och titta till mina kläder som jag har färgat och mannen är ute i garaget och håller på med nåt elektronikprojekt. Puss o kram !
Ok ok! It's Valentines day today and not a word about it yet....Well my beloved had bought a bouqet of red roses and a funny little dinosaur for me. I only gave him a comic magazine, poor thing, but I hope it will give him a good laugh. Right now we amusing ourselves with our projects. So I'm off to the cellar to check my dyed clothes I'm working with and he's in the garage working with some electronical stuff. Love to you!!

Grankavalkad med touch av panik

Fy farao vilken vecka jag hade före julafton. Massor att göra färdigt på jobbet före årslutet och hemma var det inte mycket bättre. Jag har varit uppe sent på kvällarna och haft julklappsinslagningsverkstad (långt ord det där) nere i källaren.

The week before christmas eve, was a hell of a week. It was so much to do at work, so many decisions and things to settle before the years ending. Not much better at home was it. I have stayed up late at night wrapping christmas presents.
Två dagar före julafton snurrade vi runt hela stan på jakt efter julgran. Vi hamnade till slut på plantagen där vi hittade en fin en. Det fick bli rosa, vitt och silver tema i år. Här står den riktigt bra i gamla hallen och barrar som bara den.
Two days before christmas eve we drived around the town to look for a christmas tree. We found a nice one at last. I dressed it up in white,silver and pink colours this year. It has a nice place in the old hallway. It already dropping its needles.

Eftersom plånboken var helt tom så kunde jag inte köpa några granar till barnen förrän lönen hade kommit. Optimistisk som jag var, inbillade jag mig att jag skulle få tag på plastgranar till dem i år. Dan före julafton tog vi och turnerade runt stan igen efter granar, den här gången i plast men det var stört omöjligt. Stackars barnen fick komma hem utan några granar att klä.

Men men.....Jag gav dem ett ganska konstigt förslag som de nappade på. För trots allt ville de pynta sina rum. Här ser ni resultatet. Så här blev "granen" i Tulis rum. Han har klätt den helt själv.

My wallet was really empty so I wasn't able to buy christmas trees for the childrens rooms until I received my salary. I was too optimistic, beleveing that I could find some plastic trees for them the day before christmas eve. Driving around another day around the town to hunt plastic trees. My poor children came home without any christmas trees to decorate for themselves. But but....I suggested them a strange alternative that they agreed to. In spite of all, they wanted to decorate their rooms. So this is the result. The tree below is Tulis, wich he decorated himself.

Jag och äldste pojken greppade ficklampor och pulsade ut i snön i mörkret. Jag tänkte att småbjörkar som är lätta att nappa kan vara bra ersättare till granar. Så här ser Lillpuffens träd ut. Hans storasyster fick klä det eftersom han redan sov för natten. Jag tror att det blev en glad överraskning när han vaknade på julaftons morgon.

Me and the eldest son took our lamplight and trudged through the snow in the dark to find some easily taken trees to decorate. Tiny birches could be a good enough substitute i thought. Lillpuffens tree looks like this. His sister dressed it for him as he already had fall asleep for the night. I think it was a pleasant surprise for him when he woke up on christmas eves morning.

Storpojken valde den minimalistiska trenden. Less is more. Inget klitter men diskokulor i. Desto mer färgad belysning. Förutom den rosa slingan i trädet har han röd slinga i taket, röd stjärna i fönstret och en blå lampa som lyser.

The eldest dressed his tree with the Less is more style. No glitter but a few disco balls. He use a lot more coloured lights instead. Pink lights in the tree, red lights in the roof, a red star in the window and a blue lamp on the shelf.

Trädet nedan ser ni väl att det tillhör en tjej. Det är storasysters träd.

I beleive that you see that this tree belongs to a girl? This is big sisters lovely tree.

Helvetesveckan slutade med julaftonsmorgons soluppgång. Det här blev den mest lyckade julaftonen på många år. Barnen öppnade sina paket tidigt på dagen före middagen och blev så glada över innehållet. Jag och Johan hade ett alldeles speciellt litet paket att öppna. Det innehöll våra förlovningsringar. Två släta i vitguld. Vi kunde sedan laga maten utan rastlösa barn och äta i lugn och ro utan frågor om paketöppning. Min äldste pojk sa sedan innan han somnade att det här var bästa julen på länge och jag kunde ju bara hålla med.

The hell of a week ended by the sunrise at Christmas eve and turned to the best christmas in years. The children got their presents early on the day, before dinner. And they were so pleased by their gifts. Me and Johan had a special little parcel to open. I contained our engagement rings. To plain in white gold. We could then cook the dinner without restless children and eat in peace without questions about when to open the christmaspresents. My eldest son said before hel fell asleep that night that this was the best christmas he got for years I could only agree.