KSena's Journal

If you remember I didn't do that good before Midsummer. And in the end, that might have been a blessing in disguise. Which sounds weird as fuck, but hear me out here.

I was still down and a bit out of it during packing in the morning, to the point I almost pissed Peting off, because he figured I could try to see something good with the trip. And I did!! I did! Meeting my huge insane extended family is GOLD! It was what kept me going, to meet them all at my aunts as she holds her annual Midsummer party the day before Midsummer Eve.

So, once we packed (which actually went surprisingly well... very surprising!), we were on our way to meet up with my aunt and her family. One of my cousins are still globetrotting, which she's done for years, but her two siblings would be there. Those three cousins are the closest to me of all my relatives. We grew up as siblings almost, since our mothers are so close.

We hung out with my aunts husband (totally awesome!) and one of my cousins until my aunt got off work. Then we just hung out, talked and helped her. Alexandra charmed everyone that saw her, as par usual, even if she was very shy at first. Also normal. Peting left early, since he had an 8 hour drive to do from my aunts to his friend further north in the country.

Which is part of what stressed me out and left me feel totally out if it. Because now we're basically dumped at my aunts. I didn't know when my mom was going to show, and I knew she just wanted us to drive her to the next party with her gentleman caller and then we'd be abandoned at her home for Midsummer Eve. Just me and Alexandra. By ourselves. During a holiday usually celebrated with family. (Unless you are a teen or of drinking age, then you just get drunk.)

Either way, it felt really depressing and stressful. My aunt hugged me lots and kept saying her sister was insane that she didn't want to hang out with me and Alexandra on Midsummer Eve when we so rarely get to go to visit her.

A bit past 8pm Alexandra was starting to whine that she was tired and wanted to leave and go to bed. She was being very good and had stayed up more than an hour past her normal bedtime, so totally understandable. I had a ton of packing, so I asked my aunt, cousin and some more relatives to help me carry my stuff to mom's car, since she'd arrived an hour or so earlier.

And then it started. How I was supposed to drive her and her gentleman caller here and there BEFORE I could go home to moms and put me and Alexandra to bed and the things there was in the fridge for us to eat, classical Midsummer food, and this and that and I just...

I lost it a bit. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I did. So mom and aunt and one of my second cousins (that I adore) saw and heard.

Everyone hugged me and helped me and all was good. I drove off, just me and Alexandra. She was sooo tired, but was doing good and even though I said she could sleep in the car, she didn't. The phone went off twice during the drive, but I couldn't answer and drive at the same time during the evening, so I figured I'd see who it was once Alexandra was in bed.

She did great, went to bed at mom's feel asleep and all, after almost an hour (!), but that was expected when not being in her own bed.

Checking my phone while unpacking the car (headphones is the shit), it was mom that had called and texted me. She was upset I was upset and all... and when I called her she said she'd cancelled her plans with her gentleman caller so she could be with me and Alexandra.

I felt bad about that, guilty that she cancelled her plans. I had her car, but some relatives drove her home. We hugged and talked and it was all good.

We ended up having a GREAT Midsummer Eve! Probably the best one I've had in a couple of years. Ever since Peting started to go visiting his friend by himself, I'd say. I kept feeling guilty about ruining mom's plans, but it faded eventually.

My aunt and her husband came over to, and we had SUCH a good time! We really really did! Mom told me she had such a great time to, and I believe her! I could tell she wasn't just saying that.

We ended up staying with mom for a whole week! :-D Midsummer Eve and Midsummer Day just me and Alexandra. Peting joined us late late Midsummer Day. The day after that my brother dropped off his kids, and they stayed there as well for the rest of the week. FULL HOUSE! *LOL* It was great. :-D It really was. Alexandra had a blast the whole time. There was much giggling to be heard every night when them three kids was going to sleep. *LOL*

And I managed to relax to! Me, who am always stressing over one thing or another managed to STOP doing that and just... relax and hanging out with the kids. It was GREAT!

We took it easy at mom's, went to the public pool, cooked and baked together... It was WONDERFUL! I could see mom had a blast to being surrounded by all three of her grandkids at the same time, which is pretty rare.

So that whole trip ended up amazing, even if it had a very rocky start. :-)

On Sunday snowstormskies is coming here for her, by this point, annual visit! I think it's the fourth time she visits, unless I've lost count. *lol* We don't have any huge plans. Just to hang out, visit mom and go to Karlsborg's fortress. Going to be nice, I think! :-D

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

Friday... Oh my gawd, where to even begin?

Well, to be honest i started Thursday already. Doing a few hours in the public library closest the school I find out that the day after, Friday, me and two other school librarians are to meet up and discuss the reading program for the summer holidays so all will be planned and done.

Crap. I'd already made plans with two teachers to have one class come borrow books and to visit another class. And it was my turn to bring in the Friday FIKA muffins...

Stressing already on Thursday I make sure I have the car the next day.

Friday morning I wake up stressed out. Get Alexandra to daycare without any issues, since she is in a moderately good mood these days (she got new pink wellington boots). Hurry back home and pack up the car. Hurry to work, get the FIKA muffins set up, so anyone can grab one whenever they decide to FIKA. Hurry around the school and find both teachers to reschedule. Class borrowing books coming to the library right away first thing when their class started. And then get to the public library for the meeting. I was only 20mins late. I still can't believe I managed that. And to make it worse one of those school-librarians are a whiny bitch, to be quite honest. The smallest thing is a huge struggle for her and she will let you know. Loudly. And then laugh about it. And then whine again. I just can't with that woman. Unfortunately she's the librarian of the school library closest to mine, so... I have to work with her on occasion. Pisses me off, to be honest.

And to think the rest of the day was calm? *LOL* No. I was still stressed the hell out with that start to my day.

So I was supposed to go to the rescheduled class, and when I get there I find out I can't talk to the class right then because they have to discuss these tests that all schools in Sweden do, so no librarian is welcome right then. And I had to reschedule when my schedule for next week already is so insane I just can't with it.

If someone tells me working as a librarian is calm and relaxing I'm going to punch them in the face.

Gladly today has been relaxing and calm. Alexandra wanted to visit her grandmother, MIL. So we did that and I love my MIL. I really do. We talked for nearly three hours straight, if not more. (Yes, I did complain a bit about Peting, her son. And she agreed with me. *LOL* Felt good.)

I'm caught up with F-list now, but not with my inbox. Holy hell, people! o.O I might have to cut a bit in my f-list if this continues, because I won't be able to keep up. I'll give it a few days, but yeah... we'll see. :-) If any of you need to do that as well, feel free to. I don't mind at all. :-)

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

So... Last stop on my busy summer story... If that is even a word.

And before this event, I had started work. And dude. STRESSFUL!!! I'll get to that shortly, but important to know is that I was stressed out as hell. Don't think I've ever been this stressed out.

Anyway, so with that in mind... of course the giftcard I'd ordered from IKEA (which the brides wanted), was late. Very stressful. And I just about managed to get time off to go to the wedding. More stressful.

In other words, it didn't look like I'd end up enjoying my trip. Luckily, that was wrong. I had a LOVELY time!

The two brides are my long time friends silvestris and chigrima. None of them very active on LJ anymore, but it's their fault I have one! It all started here and on silvestris's website! She's an amazing artist, and that's why they hung out online talking. :-)

And, not to forget, chigrima and I wrote our masters thesis together.

I swear, I would never have managed to get a masters degree if it wasn't for her. And I told her as much in the speech I held. chigrima is the most academic person I know. For serious. (Her brother and sister agreed with me on that, as it turned out, since they pointed it out in their speeches to! X-D)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. :-)

My wonderful wonderful best friend spicehobbit was also invited. And since she lives quite close by, we borrowed mom's BIG car (a Volvo V70, they're huge) and took the ferry over to the island Gotland where silvestris and chigrima lives. Unfortunately that meant we had to leave Borås at 5am in the morning, so I got up at 4am... Less fun, but we managed.

There's one bigger city on Gotland only, Visby. Where the big Medieval Week is heald in beginning of August every year. Me and spicehobbit has spent so much time there, so as soon as we got of the ferry and I saw the great stone wall of Visby, I squeed and all the stress just flowed off of me.

As soon as we found our hotel, which was really close to where we got off the ferry, me and spicehobbit wanted to explore Visby and remember all the good times we've had. Poor peting73 didn't have much choice but to come with. Alexandra was going in her pram, and was quite content with watching all the strange things going on around her. She was mostly pleased with the sheep shaped jersey barriers. Gotland is famous for all their sheep, so I would guess that's why they’re sheep shaped. *grin*

So Friday was spent shopping and exploring Visby and having a really good time. Alexandra was quite well behaved, even when at the restaurant we found to have dinner at. Not the best one, but hey... they had meatballs and so the kid was happy. *lol*

Next day when we'd woken up in our rooms after sleeping for 10 hours (!). Our room was HUGE by the way! One bedroom, one kitchen/seating room with a kitchenette and one small bedroom for Alexandra... So perfect for us! Such a great hotel! Almedalen Hotel, if you're interested. ;-)

So next day, Saturday... and the day for the wedding... we first made our way to the church ruin where they were getting married to see how long it would take for us to walk there. And to find the way. Then we explored some more. Gotland might be a flat island, but Visby REALLY is not. *lol* So many steep streets and narrow alleys with medieval cobblestones... You need good shoes in that city!

We found a nicer restaurant and Alexandra promptly started "flirting" with one of the waiters, who totally played back with her! Was hilarious! And so cute! He was a great guy, and got a good tip! Food was GREAT to!

Alexandra also found a softie sheep and promptly wanted it, so a sheep she got. *grins*

Then we went back to the hotel and got all snazzy looking and stuff. :-) peting73 went the whole nine yards and even styled his beard and mustache. SO HANDSOME!!!! Me and spicehobbit had bought our dresses from Modcloth, and they looked quite nice, if I do say so myself. :-)

Then we made our way to the church ruin again where friends and family of the brides had gathered.

We got let in, and got a little wedding program from the brother of one of the brides, one each, and then we found a seat in the church. About in the middle or so, so we could still see quite well. I lifted Alexandra up so she could stand on the bench to see better.

And when the brides walked down the isles, Alexandra got all excited. “Princess, mommy! Princesses!” X-D Yeah, so… They are now and forever Alexandra’s princesses. *lol*

The wedding ceremony was great! Short and beautiful. The brides had written their own wedding vows and walked out to my all time favorite song: Bette Midler’s The Rose. There was a lot of happy tears among the guests, let me tell you!

After the wedding we got invited to a walk through beautiful Visby and listen to the long and colourful history of the city. Well, parts of said history anyway. Until we ended up at Fenomenalen, a science center for kids of all ages. Very old. Or very young. ;-)

Before we got seated, the families had arranged for a little competition among all the stuff in the science center, before we got a chance for food. *lol* Was a lot of fun! Kids and adults working together!

The dinner and everything was served on the second floor of the science center, which was…. somewhat crowded to put it mildly. Which made sure it ended up very VERY hot up there! Us and another family with slightly older kids (like my brothers, I’d say) ended up closest to the stairs down to the toys. Apparently we were all LARPers, and all though that family was friendly and all, I just got the… to-much-feeling from the mother. She was so chipper, giggly and overly supportive of her daughters, I had to take a step back and wonder what she was on…

Apart from that, we sure had a great time! Alexandra kept it up until 9pm, which was very impressive! She’s just 3 years old, and the trip and the wedding was a huge adventure for her. She was doing great!

When the brides left it was only 11pm, so me and spicehobbit decided to go for a drink. astroflammante, skarvsladden (and husband) and tekiila who were there for the wedding to, decided to join in. So we went to a really nice little pub and nightclub in Visby, The Munkcellar. We had a GREAT time talking about chigrima and discussing the wedding. And, of course, the good old days at the Student Union pub where I meet these awesome ladies.

After that me and spicehobbit our back to the hotel and our rooms. Collapsed and slept so DEEPLY! And, at least me, very very happy for the beautiful brides. :-)

Sunday we had more of the great breakfast, after Alexandra woke up. She slept until about 9am, which was GREAT! Then breakfast and… you guessed it… more shopping and exploration of Visby. *lol*

Most of the shopping we did was at Kränku. A tea/coffee/and random stuff associated with the same -store. *lol* Family owned! They mix their own flavours of tea there, which is AWESOME! SO MUCH YUMMY STUFF!

We bought peting73 some kick ass whiskey coffee! (So expensive!) And a gift for MIL since she’s taken care of our cats while we’ve been gone. A nice metal box to keep coffee in. And Kränku’s special roasted coffee. :-D

Once it was time, we gathered us all in the car (with all the packing!). Drove spicehobbit to one ferry terminal, since she took the ferry towards Stockholm to meet up her parents there. We? We took the ferry back to Oskarshamn and then drove for four hours back here to Borås. We arrived somewhere between 11pm and midnight. Alexandra slept the whole way. Was perfect.

The whole trip went so much better than I thought. And I had SUCH a great time!

And, of course, I am RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY for silvestris and chigrima!!!!

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