HOT HOT H.E.A.T

With only 45 minutes left of 2012 I take the opportunity to wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013! I hope you all will have a great evening together with family and friends and that all your wishes for 2013 will come true!

Yesterday on Christmas Day we celebrated our third Christmas together with our children and grandchildren in Gävle. For once all of them were gathered, except Linnea who is in Mexico, which is very rare. We also, at the same time, celebrated coming birthdays. We started driving from Väsby at 10AM and the weather was horrible. Snowing, very windy and at some point, I think Uppsala, even cold rain. Everything went smothly until a couple of miles outside Uppsala when suddenly we caught a queue - yes on the motorway where the speed limit is 120km/h. We drove in 70km/h in one line because it wasn't ploughed and the snow came down hard. So it took us 2 hours to get there which normally takes 1h20min :-) But we were very happy to get there at all. There were a lot of accidents. When we arrived the lunch was ready and Staffan had made a wonderful Chili con carne with sallat. And after that we just sat down talking, playing cards and just enjoyed ourselves. Lena stopped working at...

I wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you will have a day filled with love and joy (and of course many Christmas gifts). I send my thoughts and love to my family and friends who I can't spend Christmas with physically. I will be with you in mind and spirit. Today we will have all the boys over for celebration which is so nice. We will eat good food, watch Kalle Anka and of course give gifts. Tomorrow we're going to Gävle to celebrate with the older children and all the grand children except for Linnea who is working in Mexico. To Linnea I wish a very Merry Christmas and hopefully we will spend it together next year :-) Take care, enjoy and feel the miracle of Christmas.

THE COOK BOOK OF THE YEAR! This week was my last at work for a couple of weeks. I have, as I mentioned before, not being very well and I can't say I'm much better but I am up and I have been working this week.  Lots to do the last days of the year :-) I did miss the yearly Christmas party which consist of us all going away cooking our 3-course dinner and then voting on the best dish. We had that yesterday. I worked all day and then we had a gathering with champagne (not for me though since I drove home) and snacks. We also each year have a lottery on things I get as a bonus when I buy our office materials. So this year we had 14 different things from a digital camera to bags, different games, lamps and more. I won two prices - two weekendbags and a "örtvagga" a wooden thing where you shop your herbs. All of us who made the recipes, my wonderful co-workers Furthermore I won this year's cooking competition - for the 3 time in a row :-) I'm so happy ...

Yes, H.E.A.T is to headline two shows in Spain. One in Madrid and the other in Barcelona! That is after they've toured United Kingdom. I don't know if I'm able to go to Barcelona to see them but it would be so nice :-) I'll have to work on that. More that has happened since I last wrote - last weekend Hasse and I spent on our favorite hotel. Saturday evening we ate julbord (Christmas table) which is like a smorgasbord but more into Christmas dishes. Wonderful and so good. It's just a pity I can't do it justice because I can't eat that much. We did have a wonderful time, as always, and we relaxed and had a good time. Although very much winter here in Stockholm there were quite a lot of boat traffic on the sea. Many go on julbord-cruises which is nice. On Sunday we went home again but I went back to town after changing clothes to go on a Christmas concert with Peter and Matilda (who performed at our jubilee in August), The concert was enormously good...

We have the last days had so cold weather, freezing, -17 down to -20C but last night snow struck! This morning I went, as usual, with my little blue car to work. It was a lot of snow but here in Väsby they have ploughed so it was OK. They had warned all day yesterday of the big blizzard that was coming and they had issued a Class 2 warning which is high since we only have a scale of 1-3. Our carport, notice the street outside, nothing ploughed Anyway I came safely to work and it was a bit more snow than at home but still managable. But then just an hour later it started! And how it started - in one hour I could hardly see my car. The plough did their job at 7.30AM but at 8.30 you couldn't see they had been there. Snow up the window Chaos is the word to describe Stockholm today. No planes could land or take-off so Arlanda is practically closed. SJ (the railway) tell people not to go by train. The subway is working but with very big delays. Buses in Stockholm stand still....

Today is 1st Advent and though my back is still hurting I could get through our traditional celebrations. That is we invite the H.E.A.T family including the guys, girlfriends, parents, siblings and other friends ;-) This year they could actually be here almost all of them. Last year, if you remember, they were recording their record and couldn't attend. Some of the guys from H.E.AT with girlfriends Then only one and his family that couldn't come today was Erik G and his family but that is because he turns 25 tomorrow and they were having a family celebration for him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY in advance Erik Me, Hasse, Dave, Annie, Bernt and Brita  The first guests arrived at 1PM and the last ones left at 4.15PM but it was never crowded because people came and left at different times. At one time all 30 were in place and it was crowded but oh so nice. Lot of chatting, drinking glögg which were everything from 0% alcohol til much more..... Also I had coffee, "snittar...

It has really been a long time since I wrote last but you know these weeks before the Christmas holidays is just crazy! There are so much to do and it seems never to be enough time. I am and have been preparing for Advent and Christmas celebrations. First with the Rheumatic association and then on Sunday Advent celebration. As you know I have had inflammations in my pelvis and have eaten medicine for that. At one point I also walked with crutches. The last weeks I have been very good and without pain so I stopped taking the medicine and on Tuesday I also returned the crutches. What happens? Of course I get severe pain again :-( Yesterday I was on my feet for 7 hours when we prepared and had the Christmas celebration at the Rheumatic association. That was not good for me! I wasn't able to sleep last night because I couldn't find a position where it didn't hurt. I have now started to take the medicin again and after I told it on Facebook two friends offered crutches...

Yesterday was truly a magic day. I woke up with the worst migraine :-( and thought Oh no, not today. So I went down and tried to drink a cup of tea and eat something. Then I had to take medicine for the migraine and then straight to bed. I woke up 3 hours later and the migraine was beginning to get better. I took it slow and easy and finally about 2PM I felt OK so I went on to shower, put on make-up and made my hair and then I was off.   My sister and Lena's man Mange at the restaurant  I did started pretty early because it was Friday and the traffic is usually crazy on Friday afternoons. It took me 1 hour 15 minutes to go there (if I go when it's not peak hour it usually takes 40 minutes) so pretty good anyway. Me and Lena at the restaurant, some of the youngsters in the background (they had their own table) I had to leave tickets in the entrance - tickets that friends were to get. I have sold one and a friend of mine had sold one because of illness. I was to meet...

Over 20 000 has read what I write. It's fantastic! I'm very happy about it and I will try to write more.  I really admire my sister and nieces in USA that writes every day this month. It's the month, where you are supposed to write something every day, called National Blog Posting Month. I love reading their thoughts, little anecdotes and follow their lives. It's hard when you are so far away but internet is a blessing in that respect. Not much more to say. I have been working Monday until today like almost every week and now I'm off until Monday.  Today was Emil's namesday and we celebrated him during coffee this afternoon. Just a little cake, nothing much. Emil when he and Hasse went for a walk in the sunshine (but cold) On Friday I'm going to H.E.A.T's first own show where they headline and have supporting bands. They had a great weekend in Gothenburg last weekend and this Friday it's Stockholm. They go to Kalmar very early the next m...

I just came home from a conference with my local Rheumatic society. We stayed at a hotel in Nynäshamn, Nynäsgården, which was awful.  You can't see it properly but this was really nasty. Broken and not clean  Mold in the shower  Very old TV and you couldn't see much on it so I'm lucky I had my Ipad with me.  Break in attempt on the door The conference was great and we came to great deciscions but the hotel wasn't. I had been there before so I knew what I was in for but the others didn't. I tried the first room - the bed hard like a brick. I went to the reception and got 3 more keys to 3 different rooms. 2 of them with the same brick matrass the third was OK. The receptionist said she didn't know what rooms had newer beds (which is strange) but admitted that the other beds were from the 80's! I mean over 30 years old beds in a hotel. Imagine the rest.... To top it all I had mold in the bathroom which smelled awful. Lucky I wasn't there t...

No more snow :-) and of course as soon as we switched to winter tires the snow and ice was gone and now we have around + 6-7 C. It's very dark though. When I go to work in the morning at 5.45 AM it's completely dark and the sun doesn't rise until around 7.15AM and down at around 4PM and it's grey. The positive is that we now can light candles inside, snuggle up in the sofa watching TV without feeling guilty that you're not outside :-) Last Saturday we have good friends over for dinner which was very nice. I had made Creme Ninon for starter which is a green pea soup with champagne. Main course was my salmon gratin with a delicious white wine sauce and for dessert a chocolate fudge pie with rasberries and icecream. We served a White Zinfandel, Beringer to drink and that wine is so good. The soup was so good it was over before I had a chance to take a photo ;-) Main dish looks a bit pale but was truly delicious Dessert was yummie! Then on Tuesday I...