KSena's Journal

Yes, indeed.

I've now posted about our great vacation and all that... And now we'll go to the horrible things that have, pretty much, happened at the same time. To my mother.

It started the day I drove snowstormskies to the airport, I think. Or the day before that. Mom called and told me she'd taken a fall on the cobblestones in the city where she usually goes to shop. She'd had her dancing shoes on, with a little heel. The heel had gotten stuck, and she'd fallen over. Hit her elbow, her chin and her knee. She thought she'd just twisted her elbow or stunned it, and figured it would pass by itself. Even went to visit my brother that day. He said her knee and her elbow had been really swollen, and he'd told her she was nuts not going to the ER. But hey, she was in a good mood and not in much pain.

However, that night her elbow had gotten worse, so she'd gotten her gentleman caller to drive her to the ER. And... she'd broken her elbow. Badly. They did x-rays and after seeing the doctor there, they told her they couldn't help her there since the elbow was just such a broken mess it needed to be replaced. And that specialist was in Gothenburg, two hours from there and he'd call as soon as he had the possibility to do the surgery. Most likely Friday.

The Friday we were going to Astrid Lindgren's world, mind...

Both me and my brother sighed, but were prepared to cancel our trip so my brother could drive her to the hospital, which he has done to everything nearly so far. She, however told us in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that we should go, have fun with our kids and as soon as she'd wake up she'd call us so we'd know she was fine.

Me and my brother was a bit nervous about it, but OK. Our kids were all excited about going so off we went (and had a great time, as you've seen). On Friday mom called and even though she was groggy from the medications and all that, we could hear that she was doing fine. The surgery to replace the crushed parts of her elbow had been a success! No complications, she'd done great before, during and after the surgery. SUCH A RELIEF!!!

Considering our dad died when doing a replacement surgery in his hip, our mom hurting herself and ending up doing surgery DOES make me and my brother somewhat nervous. BUT THINGS HAD GONE FINE! She just had to stay at the hospital for a couple of days for observation and to start learning how to train her elbow to make sure it didn't lose muscle and all that...

So that went well!

And, yesterday, she was allowed to come home. So, my brother and his kids picked her up all hugs and all that. And went home to my moms house, so they could spend time with her in the evening and make sure she was settled after being away from home for... four-five days.

They walked in the door and first thing she saw her cat Ozzy, her HUGE Maine Coon cat, unmoving on the carpet where he usually sleeps. Now he barely moved... nor breathed. Cue panic.

To mom her cats are her sweethearts. They're her babies. And she loves them SO MUCH. Nearly as much as she loves me and my brother and her grandkids, I'd say.

My brother just helped mom get the cat in his carrier, then he took her and his kids and the cat to the animal hospital, which is quite the drive away, but he just did it. He, as I, know how much those cats mean to my mother.

When they got there Ozzy was so weak, they didn't dare to put him through x-ray, he was placed in intensive care with extra oxygen to help him breath. Mom was a mess, totally heartbroken.

They stayed there all evening. There were a few exams of Ozzy, although they didn't dare to disturb him to much. Apparently his intestines were clogged up for some reason. And they suspected he'd eaten something that wasn't good for him. Telling mom and brother there were nothing they could right now, Ozzy would be under constant watch in intensive care and they'd call them as soon as they knew anything or there were any changes.

So they left. And shortly after they came home to moms, deciding my brother and both his kids spending the night at moms... (Brothers kids didn't want to leave their grandma alone... gawd, I love those kids!) Anyway, shortly after they came home around 11pm late late at night, the animal hospital called. And Ozzy had died when they'd tried to take a sample of his blood to find out what was wrong with him.

Beautiful, majestic black gentle giant Ozzy had died right then and there.

*sob*

Mom is ABSOLUTELY heartbroken. That huge cat was her baby boy. He and his best mate Eddie, a small lean farmcat. Eddie and the other two cats she has, Måns and Svea, are all alive and well. But yeah. Mom is so upset, heartbroken and sad over losing Ozzy, I just can't even.

They buried Ozzy in her yard today. Next to the two cats I grew up with 20 years ago, Pyret and Ida, and her other Maine Coon, Sigge, that also died after being attacked by a wild animal. My brothers kids and mom had picked flowers, and my brother dug the grave.

If you have any good thoughts to send to my mom, please do. We're all heartbroken over losing Ozzy. He was a HUGE gentle giant and a true personality. He'll be greatly missed.

RIP Ozzy.

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

12: what's your favorite planet?

I can't say I really have a favorite one, so I guess... Earth? Reading up on space and such things have never really been my thing. Nor hugely interesting to me.

13: what's something that made you smile today?

My daughter. :-) She'll have a sleepover at daycare with all her friends tonight and she even woke up excited. Anytime she is excited and happy about something, it makes me smile to. Perks off parenthood? ;-)

I have to say as well that even though it's somewhat chaotic at work, both among the students AND staff right now, it always amaze me and makes me happy the dedication the teachers and staff show not just for this school, but for the community it is in. Which is needed because it is a very socially troubled area. We have gang-members as young as 12-13 at this school.

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

It would be split in two! X-D My best friend is a costuming nerd. She loves historic clothes and clothes from movies, musicals and such. And she is really really good at sewing clothes to! So her half would be filled with such things and her computer. My half would probably be computer, comics and books. :-) And in the middle we would have a HUGE TV and entertainment center, so we could watch movies and such. :-D

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

I googled "weird space fact" to see what that would give me. And it got me lists! That listed weird space facts. :-D Perfect!

One fact I saw on these lists was this: "We know more about space than we do about the deep in our oceans." Really? One has to wonder then what lurks in the deep then... ;-)

16: what's your favorite pasta dish?

Hard to say. I really do love pasta. Especially spaghetti! When I was pregnant I had the weirdest craving for spaghetti. I could not get enough of it. So what I did was, I made this kebab-sauce that I had found a recipe for years ago. It's really yummy and perfect on salads and such. Anyway, I made a batch of that sauce to keep in the fridge so I wouldn't run out. And then I poured some of that over my spaghettis and also added some mild chili-sauce. And ate. And ate and ate. I could eat a plate of this several times a day!

I don't have a craving fot this anymore, but I do still enjoy it sometimes. Maybe with some meatballs or sausages/hotdogs...

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

Purple. Purple, purple, purple... I have ordered the colour now, so it should arrive any day. But I've wanted to do this for YEARS! I also love colouring my hair a fiery red. :-) But for now, PURPLE!

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

Not so much friends as I guess the question means, but this story has gone down in history in my family, which includes my best friend. :-)

I was 18-19 years old or something like that. And I was at another friends house having a pre-party. AKA we were sitting around drinking alcohol to get drunk before we were to take the bus and go to a club dancing. Now usually I stuck to one kind of alcohol at a time, but since we were both short of cash, we'd begged our parents for alcohol and pretty much taken what we could. So there was cider, wine, beer, snaps, hard liquor that we mixed with sodas... You name it. And also rosé wine. This will be important.

So we were having a good laugh and drinking and all that. I don't know why, but I drank a lot that night. And ended up extremely drunk. Anyhow, we'd dressed up nicely. Me in my pinstriped suit and my big overcoat (it was winter), and then we went to the bus. Now, it takes about 30 mins by buss to get to the neighboring city where the club was. And as soon as the bus started driving, I started to feel sick. And it just got worse. So after 15 mins I threw up. All over myself. Remember that rosé wine? I'd apparently liked it, because what came out was pink.

I was really gone by then, but from what I remember I was just afraid my dad would be pissed at me. My friend took good care of me, she wasn't quite as drunk, and once the bus stopped she helped me off and took me to a bench. Then she went to a phone-booth and called my parents. (This was before mobile-phones, people.)

My parents? They found this HILARIOUS!!!! And just to fuck with me, my dad was the one picking me up. He was laughing during the whole drive. And once we'd dropped my friend off we went home to hours. I was told to turn off the light outside the garage. I couldn't find the button. I thought there was three of them, when in reality it was just one. That was how drunk I was.

I swear my dad was giggling at that point. It was in January I think, so very cold. Still they helped strip OUTSIDE THE DOOR! On the front porch! Good thing we lived in the middle of nowhere... And that suit and the overcoat? Couldn't wash them normally, drycleaners only. Fun. :-P

My room was on the second floor, so my HIGHLY amused parents had to help me up the stairs. Dad pushed my ass and mom held my hands. Then they took a seat on a chair each in my room and watched me get ready for bed, having a giggle while doing so. Then they patted me, told me I'd feel like shit in the morning and left me to sleep.

Gladly I'd never really had much of a hangover, so I didn't feel like total shit in the morning after, BUT!!! My mother has NEVER let me forget this! Neither has my best friend! Every time they see a bottle of rosé wine they ask me if I want some. I have only had a glas ONCE since. And that, I think, was last year. This story has been a running joke on me for years. :-) How I was so drunk I saw everything times three. And how my parents teased me MERCILESSLY about it.

And you know what? I'm totally cool with it. :-D I can laugh at it myself. Oh, and I've never been as drunk since. I've learned how much I can take and when it's time to stop after that. And being old, I don't go out drinking as much anymore either. :-)

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

Well... Duh! *points to LJ* This is basically the only journal I keep. I used to keep a handwritten one to, and I pretty much wrote the same in that one. Daily things that I experienced and wanted to get down in writing. Just like here. I've not written in it in years though.

( All the questions! )

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.

Note: This post was written a few weeks ago, but I didn't get the photos uploaded until now...

And then there was the visit from New York. I still have a hard time believing they’ve really been here! o.O

I was a bit panicked before they came here, since I was supposed to work both days they were here, Friday and Saturday. Friday was no problem to take off, but the three hours for Saturday was a bit worse. Eventually we found someone that could help out, thank gawd… So I was off and available for both days! WOHOO!!

And I was SO NERVOUS! I mean, I’ve known ruchirahni almost since I started to use my LJ, and man… that is a LONG TIME AGO! I didn’t remember how we’d meet, but Ruchi did, so she told me. :-) Apparently she’d ended up in an idiotic drama in a Xena community and I’d stood up for her and also gone to her LJ to say hi. Eventually we ended up friending each other and that’s how the story goes. I don’t remember this, but I’ll take her word for it. ;-)

Anyway, ruchirahni is a vegetarian, so the Friday she and her best friend was to arrive, me and Alexandra started with a slow morning and then we went grocery shopping for vegetarian food. Once that was done, we went to the train station to pick them up.

See, they’d explored Sweden quite a bit before arriving to me. They’d been in Stockholm, the island Utö, Gothenburg and then me. For a history geek Stockholm is perfect. There are SO MANY museums there! You can learn quite a bit of swedish history in Stockholm alone.

Then they’d been to Utö which is a gorgeous island in Stockholms archipelago. And then they’d been to Gothenburg, which is the neighbouring city to Borås. So it was a short trip to Borås. And me. :-D

I was so nervous while we shopped me and Alexandra I had a belly ache. X-D Stupid, really. Like ruchirahni says, we’ve known each other so crazy long we shouldn’t be nervous about meeting!

Alexandra thought it was fun to be at the train station and just wanted to go on the trains! Eventually they showed up though, and I gave ruchirahni a great big hug. And it felt JUST RIGHT! Nerves just flew off of me.

And Alexandra started whining right away. Great… Figuring she was hungry we went home to my apartment first, where I cooked Alexandra food (definitely hungry at that point…) and ruchirahni could explore my little home and I could get the groceries away. And we talked. Talked and talked and talked. Sara, ruchirahni’s friend was very nice and waxed poetically about the swedish coffee!

We had a lovely time watching Disney Junior with Alexandra and making sure she got some food in her (and feeding Sara a swedish meatball).

Done with Disney and food, we went to the hotel where ruchirahni and Sara were staying, and Alexandra fell asleep and took a nap. GOOD!

Then we figured we could go downtown for a FIKA! Which we did, even going to mine and Alexandra’s favorite fika-place. You think Alexandra behaved? Alas no. She was IN A CRANKY MOOD! And was going to make sure everyone knew about it.

( Cranky Alexandra is cranky... )

I’d thought we’d go exploring the Textile Museum after our fika, but Alexandra was having none of it. At that point, peting73 was off from work and halfway home, so we went to pick him up and dumped Alexandra on him. (Sorry dear!)

Finally we could go to the Textile Museum, which was great! Even if we could only stay for a short time, since they were closing and all that, we still made the most of it. They have old clothes in a part of the museum that you can try on, which had ruchirahni and Sara go a bit nuts! Pulling me into the crazy we had a bit of a dress up session. *lol* Was a lot of fun! The exhibit they had going of a famous swedish designer was nice to, so I’d call that a successful visit.

( Being silly in the Textile Museum! )

I think it was on the way back to the car that we checked out the University Library which is right next to the museum. ruchirahni loved it and wondered loudly why they didn’t have libraries this nice at the universities in New York? Uhu… I wouldn’t know. X-D I thought New York University was a good one? *lol* And hey, you got New York City Library which is out of this world if I’ve done my research right. ;-)

( Interior of the University Library in town )

Then we went home to my home again for dinner, which peting73 had cooked and it was DELICIOUS! Such a nice vegetarian stew! Alexandra was cranky again though (sigh) so she got the leftover meatballs from lunch.

The rest of the afternoon evening was spent talking. Talking, talking, talking. Both me and peting73 are some serious history nerds, movie nerds and book nerds, so the swedish part of those subjects were definitely covered. (I’m still amazed how little you learn in the US about WWI and WWII…) Alexandra eventually went to bed, and we made MUDCAKE! And had an evening FIKA! (You can never have too much fika…)

( New Yorkers in my couch! )

At one point during our discussions we discovered it was 1am in the morning! O.o OOPS! So I drove ruchirahni and Sara to the hotel making a plan for the morning.

And that concludes day 1!

Next morning we took a slow morning for Alexandra’s sake, but we still managed to head out at around 10am. First stop was the big city library where I used to work. Again, ruchirahni waxed poetically about how nice it was. *lol* I loved seeing her walking around in the library among all the books. If ever there was a book nerd, it’s her. For serious. *grin*

Alexandra loves the library, so she was (for once!) in a good mood in the kid section checking out all the picture books. We found the book I bought for my brothers kids, the POP BOOK! X-D So I had a little story time there for Sara and ruchirahni. It’s a kid book and kids LOVE to talk about pop! X-D

( Exploring the city library and being booknerds of all sizes! )

After that visit we got in our little car and drove to my brothers. Which takes 1½ hours. And it’s a bit cramped in the car… But we made do, and we had some lovely discussions in the car to which made the car-ride feel shorter.

Once at my brothers, we found that he was enjoying the sun on the backside of his house, listening to music after he’d baked a cake. A MUDCAKE OF COURSE! This seems to be a running theme during their visit… I have to send them the recipe… *lol*

And as soon as ruchirahni and Sarah saw the cows grazing on the fields around my brother’s house, they got all excited and got in the field (past the barbed wire) to say hi to the cows. My brother, who works on a farm on a daily basis was a bit flabbergasted at this, but went with it. So we showed them a good way to get to the cows and my brother started talking swedish farming with ruchirahni and Sara since ruchirahni is a vegetarian, so she was really interested. Swedish farmers have a TON of rules they have to follow, more so than many other countries apparently, which she found very interesting. :-)

Also, my brother had been an idiot and ruchirahni went into Doc-mood and checked his eye since it was hurting him and got quite red and irritated. If you are doing any welding, people. Use protection. And don’t do like my brother who just closed his eyes. IDIOT!

After we’d eaten mudcake and said hi to cows and tried to get Alexandra to eat anything (impossible since she was still grumpy), we left my brothers and went to moms instead. My brother came with in his big huge car, a Ford Galaxy from the 1960’s, which ruchirahni and Sara rode in with him. On the way to mom’s we saw some elks/moose which got the New Yorkers all excited.

( New Yorkers on the swedish countryside! )

At mom’s, Alexandra perked up a bit. She’d had a nap in the car, and hey… Grandma is always popular. :-)

More vegetarian food at mom’s, she’d made a full on dinner with some vegetarian beefs she’d found. ‘It looked interesting, I had to try!’ was mom’s reasoning behind picking that. They were made out of quorn and DAMN they were tasty! Even Alexandra ate quite a bit! So we were all stuffed after that dinner!

After that we walked around and explored my mom’s yard and grounds. The garage which still looks like when my dad lived. The playhouse dad built for use when where kids from scratch. The view. The woods where we used to play. Our neighbours, closest one where the daughter in the house was the one who started off my bullying. Basically I told and showed all the things that had meant something to me when I grew up. Mom walked around with us as well, and even though she’s not that good in english (she understands it well, but can’t speak it), she managed to throw in a small comment here and there anyway.

Since it started to rain when we’d walked around for a bit, we went inside again looking at all of mom’s pretty things (she likes to collect pretty things and decorate her home). Checking out where my room used to be and all that stuff while mom prepared a…. FIKA! :-D We also took the chance to say hello to all of mom’s four cats, including HUGE Ozzy that ruchirahni fell in love with, I think… He’s a Maine Coon… and a BIG one! Currently weighing around 11-12 kilos, and he’s not fully grown yet… Insane!

Then we had FIKA downstairs. And talked. And talked and talked and talked. :-D Both mom and I agreed and told ruchirahni she would be a WONDERFUL doctor one day, since she got her heart right where it should be. Mom should know. She’s 62 and has worked as an assistant nurse ever since she started working.

Alexandra just played with mine and brothers old toys while we were talking that mom has pulled down from the attic. We didn’t even notice how the time flew until it was 9pm or so in the evening, and we had a 2 hour drive to get back to Borås.

( At my mothers to see where I grew up! And to be spoiled... )

While driving we continued talking and talking and talking… So the ride back to Borås didn’t feel that long as it usually does. We also made a plan for the next day so I could drive them to the airport. I insisted. It’s only a 30-40 min drive, so why shouldn’t I? And their flight didn’t leave until midday, so it was no problem really.

Dropping ruchirahni and Sarah off at their hotel we then drove home and once we’d gotten Alexandra to sleep in her bed instead of the car, we both collapsed in our bed.

Next morning was good and nice (with a kiddo not to cranky, wohoo!). Once I was ready I went to pick up ruchirahni and Sarah so we’d be at the airport at a good time before their plane left. Once at the airport we had a FIKA, of course. ;-) And talked some more. During the whole weekend I felt quite comfortable talking to ruchirahni friend Sarah, since I’ve learned so much about her from ruchirahni’s entries. And apparently ruchirahni had talked to Sarah a lot about me to, so it went both ways. (It appeared as if it was only good things to! I hope at least…)

As it got closer to them leaving, we hugged a lot. Both me and ruchirahni assured each other that we were very happy about finally getting to meet. And that YES! Apparently I was just what ruchirahni had expected. And ruchirahni? Well… She was just what I had expected. Just a 1000 times more so! :-) Such an awesome woman. Whoever ends up with her as a psychiatric doctor is going to be really fucking lucky! :-D

Once I’d dropped them off, I felt empty and sad. Already missing them. We talked and laughed so much my jaw was a bit sore. :-)

Such amazing women. Just… amazing. It still blows my mind that she’s been here. It really does. All the way from Brooklyn, New York City, USA to little Borås, Sweden. Amazing.

So happy to be able to call you a dear friend, ruchirahni.

This entry is crossposted between LJ and DW. Comment where you are comfortable.