I love my pyjamas. I would spend all day in them if I could. Not because I can't be bothered to get dressed (although that does come into it occasionally), but because there's just nothing more comfortable for pottering round the house in.
Unfortunately, despite not being officially employed, I do still have to leave the house in a morning and be seen by other people, and I haven't yet reached the level where I can go out in my baggy grey jogging bottoms and not care what other people may think. I confess I have been known to do the school run in them when there hasn't been time to get dressed, but on those occasions I've stayed firmly inside the car so no-one would know anyway. Typically it was one of these mornings when the police were stopping everyone to breathalyse them, and even though I didn't have to get out and don't think the policelady noticed or particularly cared what I was wearing, I still felt slightly embarrassed.
So although I do put 'proper' clothes on in a morning - well, jeans and a jumper anyway - the first thing I do once the kids have gone to bed is get into my slobby clothes. And when Mr.B is away, I tend to do it as soon as I know we don't need to leave the house again that day. One of the advantages of living in a new town/country is that you don't know anyone so there's no chance of unexpected visitors to necessitate a swift wardrobe change. Or so I assumed - I've been caught out once since we got here, and was mortified one evening when there was a knock at the dor and I answered it in my comfy but terribly unattractive clothes to find the beautifully dressed, immaculately groomed French lady from upstairs who wanted to borrow a chair for a dinner party. Bless her, she didn't even flinch at the sight of me, but I was truly mortified.
My mother would have berated me seven ways from Sunday if she knew what I wore at home - she was very old-fashioned in her views about certain things, and always told me that I should make an effort to look nice for my husband. And she practiced what she preached, inevitably looking well turned out no matter what else was going on. Happily Mr.B doesn't seem to mind too much (and I do make a bit of an effort every now and then) although he does know exactly what my mother would have said and has a little dig once in a while.
At which point I bring out my high heels. Not to wear, to hit him with.
Friday, 22 January 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Semla cakes
This blog is not going to be all about Sweden, I promise (I have one of those already). I had a few thoughts for posts on here earlier today, but they were all wiped out of my mind when I was reminded by something else I was reading about Semla cakes, and the shocking fact that I haven't had one yet this year.
They are cardamom-spiced buns, with the top cut off so you can put an almond paste mixture inside and fill them with whipped cream.
Traditionally they were only eaten on Shrove Tuesday, but nowadays are available from the New Year through till Easter. We had some on our recce visit last February and they were lovely. Not that they had anything to do with our decision to move over of course - you can't believe that we would be so fickle as to be tempted over by the lure of delicious baked goodies, surely?
But I know where I'll be going this weekend...
(Image from here)
They are cardamom-spiced buns, with the top cut off so you can put an almond paste mixture inside and fill them with whipped cream.
Traditionally they were only eaten on Shrove Tuesday, but nowadays are available from the New Year through till Easter. We had some on our recce visit last February and they were lovely. Not that they had anything to do with our decision to move over of course - you can't believe that we would be so fickle as to be tempted over by the lure of delicious baked goodies, surely?
But I know where I'll be going this weekend...
(Image from here)
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Jag måste tala mer Svenska...
...I must speak more Swedish
I am such a coward.
Since we came to Sweden, I've been having language lessons - 20 hours so far - which have been enough that I can understand bits and pieces when I'm spoken to, and also get the gist of the letters that come home from school sometimes; but when it comes to actually speaking to someone, I go to pieces and cannot remember enough to even string a simple sentence together.
This morning was a prime example. I went across the road to post a letter, and all I had to say was Kan jag skicka detta till England? I was determined to do it, but when the moment arrived, I just kind of waved the letter and muttered something in English. Pathetic really, as I know my pronunciation isn't all that bad, and whilst I can't speak with a proper Swedish accent at the moment, at least I don't speak Swedish with an English accent (so my teacher says, and she seems to think it is a good thing).
It's mostly down to a lack of confidence, aided and abetted by the fact that most people here do understand English which provides an unfortunately convenient get-out clause. It would be all too easy to give up trying altogether, but I'm uncomfortable with making people use my language instead of their own all the time.
Conversation class starts next month, so perhaps that will give me the confidence in my own ability to speak when I'm out and about. I'm sort of dreading it, but hopefully the other company WAGs will be no better than me so I won't feel like a complete failure!
In the meantime, there's always the lady at the coffee shop up the road who is more than happy for me to practise on her, and of course the lovely cakes she sells are merely my reward for trying. Honest.
I am such a coward.
Since we came to Sweden, I've been having language lessons - 20 hours so far - which have been enough that I can understand bits and pieces when I'm spoken to, and also get the gist of the letters that come home from school sometimes; but when it comes to actually speaking to someone, I go to pieces and cannot remember enough to even string a simple sentence together.
This morning was a prime example. I went across the road to post a letter, and all I had to say was Kan jag skicka detta till England? I was determined to do it, but when the moment arrived, I just kind of waved the letter and muttered something in English. Pathetic really, as I know my pronunciation isn't all that bad, and whilst I can't speak with a proper Swedish accent at the moment, at least I don't speak Swedish with an English accent (so my teacher says, and she seems to think it is a good thing).
It's mostly down to a lack of confidence, aided and abetted by the fact that most people here do understand English which provides an unfortunately convenient get-out clause. It would be all too easy to give up trying altogether, but I'm uncomfortable with making people use my language instead of their own all the time.
Conversation class starts next month, so perhaps that will give me the confidence in my own ability to speak when I'm out and about. I'm sort of dreading it, but hopefully the other company WAGs will be no better than me so I won't feel like a complete failure!
In the meantime, there's always the lady at the coffee shop up the road who is more than happy for me to practise on her, and of course the lovely cakes she sells are merely my reward for trying. Honest.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
In a rush
This afternoon, Mr.B flew off somewhere decidedly unglamorous for a business trip, and I fully intend to make the most of the few days he's away.* After our recent visit back to the UK I came home with a fistful of new PS2 games, none of which I've had the chance to try out yet. Judging by my previous form, it's entirely likely that by the time I look at the clock again it will already be tomorrow, and as it would be a shame to fall over on day 2 of this #oneday lark I thought I'd write something (even if I still haven't decided to officially join in).
Sorry, I would write more, but those games are singing to me from the corner...
(* - Not that I was looking forward to him going or anything, but it is nice to have the opportunity to be in control of the tv once in a while)
Sorry, I would write more, but those games are singing to me from the corner...
(* - Not that I was looking forward to him going or anything, but it is nice to have the opportunity to be in control of the tv once in a while)
Monday, 18 January 2010
Why I'd love to do #oneaday, but....
For a proper explanation of #oneaday click here.
I was intrigued by the concept of #oneaday when I first saw it appear in my twitter stream at the beginning of the year, and have been reading some of the participating blogs with interest ever since.
There have been a few times that I've considered joining in as I'm really good at starting blogs, but not so good at keeping them updated, and thought that perhaps this would be a motivator for me to get going and be a little more consistent.
And really, how hard can it be to write a quick blog post every day? (Actually, a lot more difficult than you might think.)
My hesitation to join the collective stems from a couple of things. Firstly, self-discipline has never been my strong point (as is evidenced by the fact that I'm writing this when I should be doing my Swedish homework that is due in... tomorrow morning and isn't started yet); and secondly, my worry that an inability to be able to think of anything to write about will merely hammer home to me just how dull my life is at the moment.
Not to mention the fact that some of the stuff I've been reading is really good, and I fear everything I manage to cobble together will look third-rate in comparison.
However, despite all that, I'm going to see if I can post something on here for the next few days, and we'll see how it goes. With a bit of luck it will eventually kickstart my other writing as well which has been sorely neglected for quite some time.
We'll see.
I was intrigued by the concept of #oneaday when I first saw it appear in my twitter stream at the beginning of the year, and have been reading some of the participating blogs with interest ever since.
There have been a few times that I've considered joining in as I'm really good at starting blogs, but not so good at keeping them updated, and thought that perhaps this would be a motivator for me to get going and be a little more consistent.
And really, how hard can it be to write a quick blog post every day? (Actually, a lot more difficult than you might think.)
My hesitation to join the collective stems from a couple of things. Firstly, self-discipline has never been my strong point (as is evidenced by the fact that I'm writing this when I should be doing my Swedish homework that is due in... tomorrow morning and isn't started yet); and secondly, my worry that an inability to be able to think of anything to write about will merely hammer home to me just how dull my life is at the moment.
Not to mention the fact that some of the stuff I've been reading is really good, and I fear everything I manage to cobble together will look third-rate in comparison.
However, despite all that, I'm going to see if I can post something on here for the next few days, and we'll see how it goes. With a bit of luck it will eventually kickstart my other writing as well which has been sorely neglected for quite some time.
We'll see.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Freecycle
With the move coming up, we've obviously been having a clearout. For the inexpensive stuff we were getting rid of, ebay didn't seem worth the hassle, so last week we decided to freecycle several things. It was the first time we'd ever used it, and was definitely not what I expected. The post went up at 5pm, and by 5 minutes past I'd already had 2 emails. They were quickly followed by many more and I was quite overwhelmed by the response to a load of stuff that to be honest I hadn't really expected anyone at all to be interested in.
Everyone turned up when they said they would to collect the things, and everything was gone by the following evening. Result!
Against D's better judgement, I ended up sending a request on Friday to someone who was getting rid of some Disney princess jigsaws (F is currently jigsaw mad). I was just about to post a moan about not having had any response to my email when I remembered to check my spam folder and there it was! Fortunately it was only sent last night so I haven't delayed by long. So hopefully this evening I will be taking possession of some Snow White and Ariel jigsaws which will make some little girls very happy.
And I will be freecycling some more stuff over the next few weeks as it's a lot easier than taking it to the tip, and by the looks of things, people will go for just about anything!
Everyone turned up when they said they would to collect the things, and everything was gone by the following evening. Result!
Against D's better judgement, I ended up sending a request on Friday to someone who was getting rid of some Disney princess jigsaws (F is currently jigsaw mad). I was just about to post a moan about not having had any response to my email when I remembered to check my spam folder and there it was! Fortunately it was only sent last night so I haven't delayed by long. So hopefully this evening I will be taking possession of some Snow White and Ariel jigsaws which will make some little girls very happy.
And I will be freecycling some more stuff over the next few weeks as it's a lot easier than taking it to the tip, and by the looks of things, people will go for just about anything!
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Chocolate crunch cake
Just made this and it is lovely. Very bad for you, but lovely nonetheless.
6oz chocolate (I use plain, but whatever takes your fancy)
4oz butter
1 tin condensed milk
10 oz rich tea biscuits
Raisins and cherries (you could also use chopped nuts or other dried fruit)
Melt the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a large pan. Crush the biscuits and mix together. Add whatever else you want to put in there, then turn out into a foil lined tin and put in the fridge. Chill for around 3 hours, cut into squares and enjoy.
6oz chocolate (I use plain, but whatever takes your fancy)
4oz butter
1 tin condensed milk
10 oz rich tea biscuits
Raisins and cherries (you could also use chopped nuts or other dried fruit)
Melt the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a large pan. Crush the biscuits and mix together. Add whatever else you want to put in there, then turn out into a foil lined tin and put in the fridge. Chill for around 3 hours, cut into squares and enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
