KSena's Journal

Let's continue with where I left off. With my birthday. Or should I say... the day before my birthday.

Since earlier me, my MIL, my mom and my brother planned a HUGE clean-out off our storage. (All swedish apartments come with at least one storage in the basement.) We decided to clean out both the small one and the bigger one.

None of these storages have been cleaned out since Mr P took over this apartment from his mom. So you can imagine how full they were. The big one, that is like a room, a moderately small room. You couldn't walk into said storage, it was so packed full of stuff.

Now Mr P he is one of those people that say things like: "Let's take care of that later." "Let's put it in the storage for now, and deal with it later." Thing is... that 'later' never happens. Instead our storage just got fuller and fuller and messier and messier. And I couldn't stand it, so I arranged this huge clean-out.

That I wanted my brother there is that he has a calming effect on Mr P. Mr P has a very short temper when it comes to things like this. Not violent, but he gets very angry, annoyed, irritated and such... Usually over dumb things, or small things.

Gladly it went really fast! Mr P and my lovely brother took care of the bigger storage, and they were fast as fuck! We'd rented a small truck, so they drove that back and forth to the waste disposal site and the charity. Me and my best friend Ylletyg took care of the smaller storage, trying to be just as fast. We also bought two storage shelves that we put in the bigger storage so we could get some order to the stuff we decided to keep. Which was not much.

Meanwhile my mom and my MIL took care of Alexandra, amusing her. And made sure there was food, FIKA and coffee plus tea for us that worked. :-)

Once we were done, our storages were probably the most ordered storages in the house. :-D SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS!!!

Day after that, it was my 41st birthday. We took it very easy. Just took the last stuff to charity. Went out to eat lunch at our favorite FIKA-place. Was REALLY nice! And then we visited my MIL, she's awesome so that was also really nice!

Then we went home and just took it really easy. :-) Perfect birthday!

After that, I got REALLY inspired by our success. So I did a huge clean-out of our walk in closet as well. It's not a big walk in closet, actually quite small. Just big enough for mine and Mr P's clothes. And towels, sheets and such. Sounds big? Trust me, it's not. With all the things in there on shelves and stuff, you can only be one person in there at a time.

Add to that all the stuff that Mr P figured we could "take care of later". Yeah, there were so much stuff like that in there to, you couldn't see the floor. I rest my case. :-/ But I managed to clean that place out to! ALONE!!! AND got Mr P to clean out all his old disgusting T-shirts as well! AWESOME!!! So that place is in order to!

Day after that, I cleaned out a small closet as well. It was supposed to be a closet for coats, jackets and such. But… There were SO MUCH STUFF shoved in there that had been in there since Mr P moved in after his mother. :-/ Now we can actually use it for what it’s meant to. For coats and such. Which means…. I could organize our hatrack where you put hats, coats and such when you walk in the hallway.

Fuck yeah! Inspired much? You bet!

So today, I’ve organized and cleaned out some more! Me and Mr P has a shared desk in the living room with our two computers. It’s our nerdcorner. (See below at my current location…) There’s quite a few desk drawers in it, and they were full of just… stuff. So today I cleaned out and organized those to. :-)

Of course, we’ve done other things as well.

In between the cleanin out and organizing, we’ve been on a mini-vacation trip to Kolmården for two days. :-) It was Alexandra's wish to go there, since they have a small amusement park in the middle totally based around the swedish comic and cartoon character Bamse. Alexandra loves Bamse, she has a subscription on the comic, so it does end up in the mail now and then. And she has ALL the cartoons as well. :-) It’s a very very swedish comic, and has been around for so so many years. So I think the part of the park with Bamse was her favorite. My favorite was to see the birds of prey show they had and also the dolphin show they had. I’ve been there a few times as a kid, but it was sooooo different now. :-)

Anyhow, we had a GREAT time while there, even though our feet and legs were very tired. (I tracked how many steps we walked with the pedometer in my phone, and in two days we took about 23000 steps or more… o.O)

It did rain A LOT for some of the first day, but it wasn’t cold so with umbrellas, we had a good time still.

Rain is desperately needed all over Sweden. And well, all over Scandinavia, to be honest. We have a terrible drought right now. There’s wild forest fires in so many places here, it’s crazy. Not close to us, gladly. Mostly in the north of Sweden, past the polar circle (!). Not joking. There’s huge big forests there, and since they are so dry, well…

The king of Sweden, His Royal Highness Carl XVI Gustav was there encouraging the fireworkers the other day. They seem to have most of the fires mostly under control now, but yeah… It’s been somewhat insane.

Anyhow, between all this and a trip to Gothenburg and Universeum (which really is not built for people with a fear of heights… Poor Mr P…), I’ve kept busy. In a good way.

Mr P told me sternly that you’re supposed to relax as well during your vacation, meaning I’m too focused on organizing and cleaning out things. Well, I’m relaxing as well. Promise. :-) I did today, when Mr P took Alexandra with him to the zoo, so I had the whole place for myself for a couple of hours. Bliss!

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

This is just going to be a quick little note. :-)

I've just got caugth up on all my f-lists, but am a bit behind on Twitter and Instagram. So, yeah... Getting there with social media.

Family is doing pretty good.

Well, Peting has been feverish and have had a HORRID cough lately, but he is SLOWLY healing. He got NO patience though.

Alexandra had a fever for a little while to, but it passed quickly. I think she had the germs Peting is struggling with now.

I'm stressed as per normal, but I feel like I have things moderately in control at work now. At home though... Well, since Peting been sick, he doesn't want to do ANYTHING! And when we usually split things, and now we haven't... Well, that means I've had to do the majority of the household work as well. So yeah, not happy. I don't get it how my brother does it that is a single dad with two kids. o.O

Anyhow, we'll see if I can keep it up with LJ/DW this time. I do feel so much better when I write here. It's strange, isn't it, how just getting your life down in words makes things better?

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

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.