10th Day in Sweden

Hej (Hello in Swedish, pronounced "Hey"),

I know I promised you to talk more about the house, I have not been able to take pictures because of the rain.  Hopefully, today I can get some pictures taken and post them with my next blog.

We spent Saturday going to Vaxjo to shop for bicycles and electronics.  We were actually quite successful.  We bought 2 bikes, a toaster, an iron, an IPOD docking station and a teapot!  On Sunday, it was back to IKEA to buy a dresser and slats for our bed.  We were quite fortunate to have use of a car for the weekend, which allowed us to go further than Almhult to do some shopping and to get items too big to walk home with.

I have been spending my time making nice dinners, which sometimes was hard in Houston because of it always being hot and not wanting to eat heavy meals.  I made a wonderful stew yesterday, something that we maybe had once while we lived in Houston.  It is amazing how fresh the food tastes here.  The vegetables did not get mushy and had so much flavor!

The other times during the week, I spent putting together the slats for our bed and our new dresser.  As many of you know, David works for IKEA, so it is convenient for us to buy IKEA furniture.  Luckily, I love to put together the furniture!  If IKEA would pay me to put together the furniture, I would take the job.  It gives you such a sense of accomplishment!  I don't know if is because you have to refer to the pictures and diagrams without any written directions or just because I just like to build things!

Here are a couple of pictures of what I built:

This is called "Sultan Lonevag" they are slats for the beds, we don't have box springs here. Actually this made our bed feel much better!

 

On Tuesday, I spent my time building a "Hemnes" dresser.

Here are some pictures:

This is Tess checking it out!



Finished Product!



 In my down time, I have been watching old American television shows with Swedish subtitles, so I can start to pick up what the words are.  I am much better reading languages than speaking!  My kids will attest to that!

Tiqui and Tess are settling in after their experiences.  They seemed to have developed more of a bond, yesterday morning, this is what I found:

Well, I guess that is all for today, I have to get to work so I can get the place cleaned up so I can take pictures to share with all of you!

Hope your day is filled with a lot of sunshine!

Hej Da (Goodbye in Swedish, pronounced "Hey Dough")

Our First Week in Älmhult

On Sunday, we finally got up around 8:00am, showered and had some breakfast.  We then went to the grocery store to try and get groceries to last for a couple of days.  It takes much longer to shop when you cannot read Swedish and you have to check labels due to food sensitivities.  We had to return the car and spent time trying to get somewhat settled.  We could not do too much since the professional cleaners were coming on Monday.

Monday morning David went off to work for his official first day and I stayed at home with the cleaners.  They worked from 10:45 – 2:00 and then called it a day, until tomorrow.  Not much was clean.  I spent the afternoon, cleaning the glass cabinets that were not cleaned when they supposedly cleaned the kitchen.  I then made David a very nice Italian dinner for our first dinner in our home and then we went for a nice walk.

On Tuesday, the Chimney Sweep came at 9:00am (yes, he looked just like the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins) and then the cleaners arrived again about 10:30 and again only worked until 2:00.  This time they told me they were done.  For professional cleaners, they are not very good.  I went into town to meet David for lunch.  I had to find my way myself and I did it, without too much trouble.  My biggest fear is getting lost in this small town.  I do not know why I am afraid, I am able to get around Chicago and Houston without getting lost, but for some reason I am afraid of getting lost while I am walking.  Strange I know.  Anyhow, we went to the Apotek (the drugstore), David has some horrible rash, we think is caused by mosquito bites, so we picked up some hydrocortisone to see if that will relieve it.  We then went to Jacob’s for a nice lunch, it was a beautiful day about 72 degrees and we were able to eat outside. 

In the evening, Hauke (the homeowner, who is back in town this week) lent us his car so we could go to the grocery store again and then to IKEA to get a new mattress (We thought perhaps David’s rash was being caused by bed bugs, but it appears that this is not the case).  I also washed all the bedding to make sure there was nothing in that causing the rash on David.

On Wednesday, finally there are no appointments!  I slept in and then had a very lazy morning watching movies on TV.  They were American movies with Swedish subtitles (I have to learn Swedish somehow).  The cats were also happy because they did not have to be segregated to one room, they napped as well.  Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and rearranging the cabinets in the kitchen.  No, the cleaners did not clean the cabinets as they were paid to do.  I again made a nice dinner for David and we spent the rest of the evening trying to clean things up and make things nice.

It is now Thursday and David’s rash is worse.  It is spreading all over his body and he surprised me this morning when he told me he was going to call the doctor.  He came home at lunch and I noticed that it was now on his neck.  Poor thing.  David went to the Doctor and found out that he is having some sort of allergic reaction to a bug bites.  I think it stems from the ant bites he received while we were in Houston and now his body is overreacting to any bug bite!

In my next post I will tell you more about the house.

See you soon!

Travel to Älmhult, Sweden

The morning of Friday, the 19^th of August was busy with getting all the last minute stuff together.  We were starting to get nervous and upset.  I was so emotional, that I could not get through a conversation without tearing up.  The airport car came for us at 1:00pm.  We had told the company to expect a lot of luggage and to make certain that it would fit.  They sent a Lincoln Town Car and the drive right away said, ”It won’t fit!”  He did not even want to try, I explained to him that we brought the luggage in a Ford Five Hundred and it was able to fit if he stood it up and not laid it down.  Luckily, Allison was coming to the airport to help us; she brought one large bag and the cats.  This limo driver was not too bright; he did not exude any confidence in where he was going or how to get there.   Anyhow, David and I sat in the backseat with a bag in the third seat as well. 

The check-in at the airport went rather smoothly, we only had to pay for two extra bags and no overweight charges.  Thank goodness, you would not believe how many times we had weighed the bags to make certain they were within the weight limit of 50 pounds.  We had to say good bye to Tiqui and Tess after they were scanned by TSA to make sure they were all clear.  They were a bit confused as to all that was happening.

We went to the President’s Club for a snack and to make our final phone calls to our family.  Thank goodness, I had David; there was no way that I could get a phone call made without crying.  We boarded the plane at about 4:25 for our 5:15 departure.  We had very nice seats together by the window.  Things were looking positive and we were happy with how smoothly the whole thing was coming together.  Well that was the end of happiness!  Suddenly it was 6:00 pm and we still had not taken off.  What was going on?  Well, there were storms somewhere in our flight plan and we were not allowed to take off.  About 3 hours after we were supposed to take off, they decided on a new route, but first we would have to go to remote parking and get refueled.  So exactly 4 hours after our scheduled departure we finally took off!  The rest of the flight was fairly uneventful, just dinner, movie and tried to sleep.

During this time, I was concerned about Tiqui and Tess.  They would have to be in the carrier for 4 additional hours and I am certain they did not understand what was going on.  I will write a Tiqui story later about her time in the cargo hold of the airplane.

We arrived about 4 hours later than we planned.  We got all of our bags and reclaimed Tiqui and Tess.  Tiqui seemed to be in a state of shock – she was very mellow and quiet, very unlike Tiqui.  We claimed our rental car; we were contemplating on our way to Copenhagen what we were going to do if they gave us a small car that would not accommodate our luggage.  They did not.  We were able to fit our luggage without any problems and started on our way to Älmhult.  We drove for a ways and then stopped to get an ice cream along with the kitty litter, litter box and food for the cats.  We wanted to be able to get them out of the kennel as soon as we got to the house.  The drive was quite nice from Copenhagen to Älmhult.  The scenery goes from farmland to forest.  It felt like we were in Wisconsin and then in Colorado or going from Eastern Colorado to the foothills of Denver.  We arrived in Älmhult about 4:00 in the afternoon.  Poor Tiqui and Tess ended up being in their carrier for 20 hours!  I am going to have a hard time getting them to go in it again.

Not long after our arrival, the owner of our rented house showed up, he had just flown in from China and Dubai.  He had been up for 40 hours.  So I guess there was no complaining by me about being up for the amount of time I was up.

David and I realized that IKEA is only open to 6:00pm and we needed to get bedding for our bed. So we went into town, bought bedding quickly, and bought some basic groceries, just to get by on Sunday morning. We then stopped at Elme for dinner. That burger and glass of wine tasted pretty good about then.

Our Time in Washington D.C.

When we arrived at Allison’s house, she had made a wonderful dinner of steak, potatoes and bacon-wrapped asparagus.   Allison also made some wonderful spice cupcakes to celebrate David’s birthday. Then we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I. Portia, Lily, Tess and Tiqui (the cats) were spending their time setting their boundaries.  Much to the dismay of Allison and me, Portia stayed in back room most of our visit.  She did not like having the other cats in the house, even though when we first got Portia for Allison, she lived with Tiqui and Tess.

 On Monday, we went to a matinee to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II.  I have not read any of the Harry Potter books, nor have I really seen any of the movies.  The movie was quite good, but as can be expected since I have not been a part of the whole series, I was kind of out of the loop.  After the movie we ended up going to TGIFriday’s for dinner, what an experience that was!  We waited quite a while for simple dinners, then three of us got out food and the fourth one did not get served for another 15 minutes and it was just a hamburger.  Needless to say, they did not get very good reviews on their survey.

On Tuesday, we went to CarMax to sell David’s car which took a bit of time, but all went well.  Then we were off to Chik-fil-A for lunch.  This is Allison’s favorite.  In the evening we have Mark, Meleah and the kids over for dinner.  A great time was had by all!

 

Wednesday, it was shopping in the morning, The Help in the afternoon and the Chart House for dinner.  The weather was absolutely beautiful!

Thursday, the air conditioning man came to Allison and Shane’s because they have had trouble with their air conditioning all summer.  Unfortunately, they ended up spending $3,000 on a new unit.  The old unit was installed illegally and to put off any trouble down the road, it was better to have a unit installed and working correctly then to have one not working at all.  We also spent the day repacking and getting our stuff together for our big trip tomorrow!  The cats by this time were basically getting along, except for Portia, who wanted nothing to do with the whole shebang.

Traveling to Washington D.C.

First stop – Sulphur, Louisiana, just outside of Lake Charles, Louisiana.  It appears that Lake Charles is one of the gambling areas of the south.  I believe that many people from Houston make the 3 hour drive east to partake in the chance to become a millionaire!  We did not have time to gamble.  We just picked up salads at Wendy’s on our way to the hotel because we were tired!  Had a nice time at the hotel, just chilling and watching the Walton’s on television.  I know, I don’t lead an exciting life, but we did not want to leave Tiqui and Tess in a strange place in their first night of not being at home.  Unfortunately, they had to share a medium-sized carrier and they were not happy about it. 

 

The next morning, we were off about 9:00 am on our way to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This was going to be our day with the most driving, needed to get an early start, as we were planning to make it to Tuscaloosa to meet my brother for dinner. On the way out of town we decided to find a Geocache or two. First stop, unsuccessful. Second stop, unsuccessful. Third stop, success and a flat tire!

Yes, we managed to hit a damaged curb as we were driving in the parking lot of the hotel where the Geocache was located. As we signed the log, the air was going out of the hole in the sidewall. What did I say yesterday about having to empty the trunk to fix a flat tire!No, I was not very gracious to my dear husband about the situation! I did apologize as he was taking the tire off. The cats, the trunk luggage and I sat in the Econolodge parking lot for about an hour and fifteen minutes while David went to buy a new tire. Did I mention that the heat index was about 100 degrees at 9:00 in the morning! The car returned with a brand new, $185 tire. We loaded the trunk back up and were on our way. Since we were running late we decided not to take time to stop for lunch, just picked up some chicken fingers along the way. About the time we stopped for gas and the chicken fingers, it decided to rain.



Fortunately, we made it to Tuscaloosa without any further problems or delays.  We met up with my brother for a nice dinner at a local hangout in Tuscaloosa.  Driving through Tuscaloosa to the restaurant my brother pointed out the areas that the tornado hit back in April.  Tornadoes are pretty amazing with the destruction they leave behind.  What is also amazing is how on one side of the street it looks like there was not a tornado and the other side is complete destruction.

Saturday – it must be on our way to Bristol, Virginia!

Our drive to Bristol was quite nice and uneventful.  Stopped at Subway, thought we would get a sandwich and eat at the next rest stop.  No such luck.  Yes, we did get the sandwich, but finding a rest stop that we could eat at was not possible.   We drove for about another hour before we found an almost abandoned mall and found a tree to eat under.  Not as romantic as I dreamed, but so far what I could expect driving through the south.  At the hotel, there were many antique cars; they must have been part of a run up to Bristol Raceway for something special.  Otherwise, nothing much exciting was happening in Bristol.

Sunday, the last day of driving – thank goodness!  We drove from Bristol to Alexandria Virginia.  What a beautiful part of the country.  The Shenandoah Mountains are absolutely gorgeous!  Hopefully, I can go back and visit and explore them sometime.  Today’s drive was basically uneventful, just a rain downpour about 4 miles from our daughter’s house.  When we arrived it was perfectly dry at their house.    Yes, I think we overwhelmed Allison and Shane when we arrived with the car looking the way it did.  They have a new house that they are trying to fit into – Allison has been on Shane to dispose of things he no longer uses so they can utilize the space in their house better.  You can read about Allison and Shane’s experiences here at her blog post: HomebyHanley.wordpress.com.  Anyhow, us showing up with all of these bags, boxes and cats kind of put a cramp in the house.

Moving Day

I am a bit delayed in writing, things started happening awfully fast!  The movers showed up on Monday August 8^th to start packing the house.  Before they came I had been working on putting similar items together so my stuff would end up somewhat organized when I go to unpack it in 3 – 5 years.  Well, so much for that thought – when I saw the remote to the stereo not in the box with the stereo, my dreams for organization melted.  The other thing that was so amazing was that they packed my house as if my furniture was getting put in a container and being sent overseas.  To the poor trees that were sacrificed for my furniture packing, I apologize.  They actually took apart much of my furniture and I have quite a bit of IKEA furniture and am not certain that I will ever be able to put it back together again.  No, I did not save all the assembly instructions, like my daughter does!  I am not sure what we will do when it comes to putting it together again.  However, my husband assures me that we can find the instructions online.

Anyhow, by Wednesday, August 10^th at 2:00pm my house was packed and loaded in a truck!

I was visiting a  neighbor when my husband called and told me it was time to come home because they were finished!  It was the start of the first of many hotel nights!  The only problem was and this happened when we were also moving to Houston – a real estate agent showed up at the door wanting to show the house!  First of all, the instructions with the Central Showing Office were that the house was not to be shown the week of August 8^th – 12^th due to us moving.  However, at 4:00 pm, a real estate agent with his client is at the door starting to come in to see the house!  It was a bit of a surprise since we had not been notified that this was going to happen.  The agent was not happy when my husband told them the house was not available for showing!  Many phone calls later, no one would admit where the mistake came from, but we were not assured that we could rest easy the rest of the night.  We had left the kitties in one bedroom of the house and we did not want them getting out and roaming the whole house since we had cleaned it.  Luckily, no one came that evening.  We had a nice time in the Candlewood Suites watching the Rockies play the Nationals!

The next morning we took the kitties to the Vet for their last visit so they would be able to get their international passport to enter Sweden.  The visit went well, however, we were told there was one more step – the papers had to be Fed Exed to the USDA in Austin for final certification!  So that meant one more stop before we could hit the road!

Next it was back to the house to load the car with all the luggage and items going to Washington D.C. and Sweden.  My husband was not certain that it all would fit, he threatened that I may have to leave items at the curb.  Bad news was that they forgot to pack the stuff below my bathroom sink!  Luckily, I had sorted it previously so it was in containers, but we were not expecting it to go to D.C. with us!  Good news, nothing was left at the curb but the car was loaded to the max – trunk, backseat and car top carrier.

 

I could not tell if we looked like the Griswold’s from the Vacation movies or the unfortunate homeless people that have to live in their cars.  Luckily, it is back to school season, so we just looked like parents taking our child to college!  As we were filling the trunk with the luggage, I asked my husband if he remembered to check the air in the spare – oops, he did not!  Fingers crossed that we don’t have to unpack the trunk because we have to change the tire.
We finally left Houston on Thursday, the 11^th at 2:00 pm!