About being priveleged

When it comes to hard physical labour, I'm not worth much these days.

There are lots of things, I can't do at the moment. Fortunately my mand stands by me and cheers me up - and also knows when to leave me to be cranky on my own.

With him I am in the best hands. He can vaccum and make pizza dough, now that I can't.



And he reminds me of all the other stuff I do.

He is wonderful, and I am mad about him. Yesterday, when I was at the hairdressers with Kristian, I heard Shania Twains "You're still the one" playing on the radio - and that song just sums up how I feel about him.

Way back when we started, there were enough people that didn't give us a chance - even some that wanted badly to see us fail. Some, that were nice enough to remind us, that the honeymoon would soon be over.

To those people I can only say: :-P
TOO BAD!

As Shania sings "...we're still going strong..."

Time and relativity...

You know what they say about time, don't you?

How it speeds madly, when you sit around the table with good friends and a meal. How it drags it feet when you wait in the dentists waiting room.

Or if you are waiting for something good to happen.

Now there is a little less than 3 weeks to the day when we get the keys for our new house. I have never imagined that 3 weeks could be SUCH a long time. And it is quite unfair.

I want my hoooooouse!! I want to go and look in the closets, peek under the carpets, putter about in the garden - and make it all mine. I want to start painting and moving things in there. And I would rather have it happen today than tomorrow (okay - maybe not today - but rather tomorrow than the day after that).

For such a long time I have worn my house-eyes. When I saw a house, I gave it the old up-and-down. Did it look good?

The house-eyes are now converted to interior-eyes. I can't see a magazine, a tv-show, or walk past a house with lit windows - I have to check the colors, the decorating, how it is furnished ... I get ideas and evaluate.
My sole issue of Isabellas is worn thin, and I study all magazines ardously - much more intensly than I ever have.

I dream.

And most of all I wait and long - intensely! - to meet my new house. My new neighbourhood. My new neighbours.

This new chapter in my life.

The recipe for a lovely sunday afternoon

1. Send your kids off to visit friends.
2. Wave a loving goodbye to you husband, who is leaving for his workout
3. Lower you bum carefully into the couch whilst arranging your blanket precariously over your legs
4. Turn on chapters 4, 5 and 6 of "Pride and Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and (sigh!) Colin Firth
5. Add the remains of last nights chokolate, and your perfect sunday afternoon is secured.

Sometimes you just gotta give yourself the pleasure of doing exactly what you feel like. I did yesterday.

I'd watched the first chapter of named series saturday while doing an enormous pile of ironing. The other two were my prize for overcoming this enormous pile, and yesterday I decided to grab the remaining 3.

I love that series. Kristian asked me yesterday how many times I've seen it, and I actually didn't know the answer. I'll never tire of the pace in that series (being low - few cuts - almost like theatre) and the beauty of the language spoken in it. I love the surpressed, underplayed emotions, and yes - I find Colin Firth an almost unbearably manly and desirable Mr. Darcy.

When I was almost finished with the last chapter, the Mr. Darcy of my life came home from the gym. Then my "break" was over - but I didn't mind at all :-)

Freedom stuck in my brain

I go around singing "FreeeeeeeeeDOM - FreeeeeeeDOM - FreeEEEeeeeDOM!" at the moment. X-tetten are in the middle of a really big project with JRs Big Band in Middelfart - and a handful of gents.



Our piece is Sacred Concert by Duke Ellington, and everyone that knows it, will recognice the fact that the word Freedom comes up a few times...

I try to learn by listening to the cd at home, so now Kristian is humming "Freedom is sweet - on the beat - Freedom is sweet to the reet complete..."

Here we have Michala - she's happy because she managed to find a Freedom-free song:



On break we have a good time. Maibrit and I have always had a thing for each other - I believe it's from when we did a duet on "Skibet skal sejle i nat" - a danish traditional love song. Now I have been banned from singing soprano, because we have Karina, who is a "real" soprano - I am a mere mezzo...



It's a break to be with the X-tetten gals. It widens my horizon and I can feel how balanced and mature I feel, when I leave from there. Maybe it's because I really re-live my teenage years in their company??

News from Andreas

Yesterday brought signs of life from Andreas!

I was tossing up a salad for dinner (Lasse was paying a visit), when Kristian called out for me to come - Andreas was on messenger.

So we had quite a chat via messenger - dinner just had to wait.

It sounds like they are fine - and darn, he is tan and blond by now :-)

It was so nice to hear from him...

Be my valentine...

...is how it says on tons of shiny cards dragged around today by primarily the american mailmen.

To me, Valentines Day was new, strange and very foreign, when I first learned about that custom as a very young woman in the US.

I'll probably never go whole hog - just like I won't cry my eyes out if my kids don't shower me with flowers, chocolates and socks/mugs/tshirts saying "The worlds greatest mom" on mothers day.

But it's always fine to be a little romantic - so I was, as I put together Brunos lunch last night, when he attended a meeting in the biking club.





Yes, cold cuts on pumpernickel can be romantic too.

Of course I kept my face straight this morning - and waited anxiously for him to write "WHAAAAAT" in an email. But not a sound.

So around 2 pm I write him to ask if he enjoyed his lunch, and he says "No, we had leftovers from that seminar yesterday - but I put it in the fridge, it's fine for tomorrow!"

DOH!

That'll teach me...

Spare part wanted

Lately my shoulder has been causing me problems.

Pain. Tingling fingers. That has been part of my everyday life.

Yesterday it kept me from participating in Winter Cup - annoying, since the weather was so fine. But I couldn't face clinging to the handlebars of my mtb for 1½ hour.

Thursday I'm having my shoulder x-rayed. They will check if there is arthritis or something like that in there. I don't believe they will find anything on the x-rays, but it's worth a try.

Last week I had 4 days of hotline work, and that was bad for me. My regular job is a lot more flexible, so it doen't strain my shoulder as much. Hotline, however, keeps me bound to the keyboard. My shoulder does not like that at all.

I wish I could just get a new shoulder like you get spare parts to your car - but it's unfortunately not as easy as that...

Andreas on his way

So yesterday we said bye-bye to Andreas.

The last couple of days have been busy for him. He's had plenty of things to settle, shots at the doctor and a room to pack into boxes.



These boxes contain most of Andreas' belongings...

There was a backpack to pack, too. Kristina and Andreas travel with the backpacks that Bruno and I got, when we went on our backpack trip to Greece in 2005. One of our packs went with Christina to China, so they do get around more than their owners :-)Bruno helped him adjust the straps to a perfect fit.



My mother came down thursday. We had a going away dinner for Andreas, the menu of course being Flæskesteg (danish traditional roast pork) with gravy and boiled potatoes and red cabbage. Michael, a friend from childhood, came by to say goodbye - the rest of his friends he spent time with earlier this week. And then suddenly it was friday - the last day he would spend home in 4½ month. Time ticked away to hours and minutes, and at once he was saying goodbye to his room and walking down the stairs for the very last time... backing out of the driveway he waved goodbye to the house - that he will not be seeing again.

At the train station we waved goodbye along with Kristinas father, little brother and mother who were also there to bid the kids fare well.

The train was packed - a good thing it was, that they had reserved seats. They spent the night at Kristinas family's near the airport, and I got the final call from Andreas when they were waiting at the gate. Now they are on the plane to Atlanta, Georgia, and from there they will fly to San Jose.

The first week they will spend at a place called "Mikes Lodge" - in the jungle. So we won't hear signs of life until next saturday, when they arrive at Coco.

And my kid wont be home before june 15.

It's very strange that he wont be here with his bright smile, loud outbursts, his messes and his warm presence. He's been a fixed part of my life for nearly 21 years and I will miss him much.

But I hope he has a fantastic and adventurous trip, and a lovely memorable time with his sweet girlfriend.