KSena's Journal

I've had SUCH a great weekend! Mom has stayed here all weekend, and it's been great!

I love my mother dearly, and as an adult our relationship has just grown. It was... strained during my teens, but you point to anyone that didn't have a strained relationship with their parents during their teens. :-)

ANYHOW! That was random. But this weekend was just great!

We'd planned it for a while, since she's working as a assistant nurse she has very random working hours. But this weekend our schedules worked out!

So she came Friday afternoon/evening. And we just hung out and had a nice evening.

The reason that she came over Friday evening already is because Saturday morning, Alexandra has her riding lesson, and mom wanted to come and see how Alexandra was doing in person.

It's been snowing quite a bit lately, and it's been cold, so we all dressed warmly before going. We went, and we had a nice little time. Alexandra did great!

They did these Cavaletti-exercises, and I had no idea what that was so I had to look it up online before the lesson. HERE'S a little vid, so you can see what it is. They both did short pace and trotting over them poles.

Alexandra has a really good balance, ever since she started this, and both me and mom talked about that. Mom is working with a couple of horse loving riding people, and they've seen the clips I put on Instagram, and they've all commented on how comfortable and balanced Alexandra look in the saddle. I think that's awesome. :-D

I admit. I'm a proud momma. ;-)

After that we came home, got some hot dogs and stuff, that we had for lunch, and then we just lazed around at home warming up, because you get cold to the bones when you stand on the sidelines during the riding lessons during the winter... :-P

Me and mom got the challenge to cook dinner during Saturday. Usually Peting is doing the cooking. He is REALLY good at it, but he figured since my mom was there it was just fair that we were cooking for him for once. *lol*

So we did, and had a lot of fun while doing it. And it turned out delicious to! YAY! We still got it!

After that, me and Peting fixed ourself up and went to the movies, while mom was a babysitter! She's wanted to do that for quite a while, but since there's a bit of a drive in between us, it hasn't been very practical. Alexandra was all for it though. Gave us a hug and told us to go already so she could hang out with grandma alone. *LOL* Cocky kid. X-D

Me and Peting went and watched Star Wars Last Jedi. Yeah, it was luckily enough still running here. AND we found some gift cards, which made sure we hardly paid anything either! Win-win!

I LOVE watching Star Wars videos with Peting since he is SUCH a huge Star Wars fan boy and nerd. When he was really young during the original three movies, he read EVERYTHING he could get his hands on. The books, magazines... the works. So he knows his Star Wars. :-) Which makes it interesting to talk about the movies with him, even if I don't know that much myself.

I liked the movie well enough. They do tie up the ends pretty well. There's not much that bothered me, just little things here and there.

Interestingly, what with not being a huge fan, I did get more effected than I thought when Lea Organa aka Carrie Fisher showed up on the screen. Damn. What a loss. She'll be missed for many many years, I fear.

(One of the things that bothered me the most involved Lea Organa, in fact...)

Anyhow, it was nice being able to go to the movies just me and Peting.

Coming back we then just hung out with mom. Me and mom ended up on the couch in a tickle-fight while watching true crime documentaries....

Yeah, she's almost 65 and I'm 40. You're never to old for tickle-fights. Just saying. ;-)

Then bed, and today we took it easy during the morning. Me and mom decided to take care of my flowers. She's really good with flowers and green growing things, so it's always nice to get a hand with that.

And after that and some coffee, she left and went to her gentleman caller. She spent the rest of the day with him, and tonight she'll be working.

She only has 5 more weeks to work, and then she's retiring. :-D She SOOO deserves it! In April she turns 65 years old, so she's getting older as it were.

Mom did surprise me this weekend, actually. She does regularly, what with being as wonderfully insane as she is. :-) But she is actually planning to sell her house. Well, not NOW, but in a couple of years or more. As she is saying, she's not getting younger. And the house she does live in does require a lot of upkeep and work. Old fashioned swedish house, red with the white corners. So yeah.

I thought I'd feel more upset about mom selling that house. I mean, we've grown up there me and my brother. My father renovated the house himself, close to everything (apart from electricity and plumbing). And he got it gifted from my paternal grandparents. But still, I mean... I doubt my brother would want that house, he has his own. And I REALLY don't want to move back there. So yeah, I think she's doing the right thing. I'll probably feel weird WHEN she moves, but I still think it's the right way for her.

Right so, this was a random update. It's been good spending so much time with my mom though. I love her SO MUCH, she's the best and means the world to me. :-)

Tomorrow, back to work again!

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

♥ Day 1 ♥ Day 2 ♥ Day 3 ♥

Day 1

In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year?

I've never participated before, but I've seen it around here and there. I never know what fandom to focus on though, since I've been in so many. But this year I decided to hell with it and to join in! :-D I'll just focus on whatever fandom I feel the most inspired for that particular post. :-)

What I hope it'll accomplish for me this year is to make sure I got used to post regularly in my journal again. After all these years, this has become a home of mine. I just don't always post. :-P I hope others will find it interesting to. Hopefully. I don't think my posts will be very long though. :-)

Day 2

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.

First time I got into fandom? Oh gawd.... Well, me and my best friend Yllytyg did fandomstuff without knowing it was that we were doing during the 1990's when we were watching Robin of Sherwood on TV and bonded over it. But we didn't have internet then, nor computers. And no connections to get a hold of any fanzines of any sort either.

The fandom I properly discovered online and that there were things called fanart and fanfic that was Xena the WarriorPrincess. I got a computer and everything then. So yeah, then I started to be active in a fandom.

My favorite fandom-memory must be the one and only convention I went to. A Xena convention at a hotel really close to Heathrow Airport in London. I got to meet some of the actors (not Lucy Lawless nor Renee O'Connor, but quite a few of my favorite villians...). But the best part about that con was that a lot of people from the board/forum I frequented daily back then had decided to meet up there. And we were from ALL OVER THE WORLD! So that was AMAZING and one of my favorite fandom memories. :-)

Day 3

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create.

Knowing quite a few writers, I'm bound to hurt someones feelings. So I apologize beforehand if I didn't rec a work you think I should have.

Going through my bookmarks and cleaning them up, I was so happy to find this Robin of Sherwood fic. It remains an amazing story no matter how you look at it.

Another substitute for screaming - Robin of Loxley/Will Scarlet. Dealing with loss the outlaw way... It's.. somewhat dark with mayor character death and stuff, but yeah. Amazing. Just as old as the TV-show I'd guess, and still holds up well to this day.

Age of Unreason - You want something epic? I give you this. The world the writer builds in this is just... I have no words. It's dark. Extremly dark. And, of course, it's Spike who gets the bad end of the stick here. The pairings from the Buffy-verse are all over the place. I think she manages to get nearly all, fanon and canon and everything in between. But what sticks with me is the world she builds in this. It's a very long fic, but if you have time and the stomach (see: extremly dark), it's so worht it! Also, you need to friend glassdarklyuk to be able to read it.

Transition - I actually helped the writer with this. Not beta, I suck at grammar. But to iron out the story. And what a story it is... It centers around Georg, this story. Yeah, it's Tokio Hotel, so RP-slash and all. Anyway, this is again an extremly dark story, so beware of that. Transgender issues, dangers when it comes to gay clubs, rape drugs... There's just so much going on here. And the story is just out of this world. Do read it if you can stomach it!

Sugar I'm going down - A fic actually written for me. I know. I've had a few fics written for me in the Tokio Hotel fandom, and it is just as amazing every time! This is, again, very dark and deals with mental issues so beautiful. This whole fic is just... I have no words. None. Just read it. During all my active fandom-years, this is one of my absolut favorite fics, no joke.

When you're talking Tokio Hotel fanfic, there's a few writers that I just have to mention.

Snowstormskies - Who ended up a very dear friend of mine, and who writes emotion like I don't even know what. She really gets into the head off her characters.

Raiju What patience earns, King of Kings... Do I even have to say more? I've still to finish off King of Kings, because I just can't even... o.O

Steinsgrrl - What to say off her? She ran the fiction archive for quite a long time. She's been around in the fandom for very long to and is an all around amazing person and writer.

and last but not least

Zarlina - who is probably one of the most productive writers I know! And she's GOOD to!

And if I've forgotten any writers that I know, PLEASE forgive me!!!

Right on, I have a hole in a tooth that hurts like a motherfucker, so tomorrow morning there will be a visit to the dentist. Feel sorry for me? More fandom stuff tomorrow!

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

Let's continue from where we left off, shall we?

After I'd dropped snowstormskies off at the airport, I went straight home. We had dinner, and... we packed.

Because the day after that, we went on a little trip with my brother. To Astrid Lindgrens World. It's a park built around the worlds and characters from the books written by Astrid Lindgren.

We were going together with my brother and his two kids, which had Alexandra totally excited! We'd rented a cabin and my brother brought his caravan. :-D We didn't get access to our spots in the camping ground until after we'd been at the park, but it didn't matter. It was the park we were aiming for, after all. :-D

First day we walked around the most. We aimed to see a few shows/plays they have around the park. It's split up in various areas, each for a book and their characters.

That first day we saw most of the park and the various themed areas. And of course caught a few shows as well.

Thing is, each area has seatings around the main building of the area. And there's shows and an actor playing the character is there during certain times. So we caught a couple of those shows/plays. About 20 mins long each.

We caught Brothers Lionheart, Pippi Longstocking and Karlsson-on-the-roof that first day. It was lovely! The actors were great, and clearly cared about their characters! Even the kid-actors!

But the best part about this park is, I have to say, how damn well made the place is! There was no plastic, no cheating, nothing like that. The whole place is built with pure craftsmanship, and a skilled one at that! If it was a wooden house, it WAS a wooden house built from the ground up, even the miniature once! A stone wall, WAS a damn stone wall even if it might not be a big one, but it was built as if it could have been! There was no cheating going on.

Even in the restaurants and FIKA places, you had real plates, real glasses, real mugs. No paper or plastic. The food, sweets and FIKA-snacks? All produced, baked etc locally. Everything tasted damn homemade, and was DELICIOUS!!!

Price? Not to bad. The entrance fee was the highest, but once you were in there everything but food and souvenirs was for free. And not even the souvenirs were hugely expensive! But those for later. :-)

Anyway, we enjoyed ourselfs. The kids ran around and played and explored everywhere. At Ronia the Robbers area, Matt's Fort, Alexandra fell and scratched the palm of her hand and was very upset. It was just a small scratch, but she did walk around begging for bandaids all day. She get it, and then after a while she pulled it off and wanted a new one... Thank heavens the staff at Astrid Lindgren's World was both kind and patient! :-D

Less than an hour before the park closed, we left and went to get my brothers caravan set up and get to our cabin. Which we did. And the cabin was GREAT! Very beautiful and comfy. And my brother could set his cabel up, so he got electricty in his caravan. :-D All good! And he also invited us over for a mini-barbecue, since he had his mini-grill with him. So we had hotdogs as a late dinner before we all collapsed in our respective beds. :-)

Photos from Day One at Astrid Lindgren's World (multiple on each!): One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six

The next day it was RAINING!!! Pouring down when we all woke up. But at the point where we'd emptied our cabin and all kids had eaten, been to the bathroom and you know... all that. It had stopped raining, but the sky was still grey, so we made sure to have the proper equipment with umbrellas for us adults and for the big kids, and Alexandra had rubberboots and half her rainsuit, just the rainpants since she wanted her normal jacket and an umbrella like everyone else. Deal!

Said and done and we went to the park with the goal to see as many shows/plays as we could possibly figure out! The park had an app and, of course, a brochure where all the shows during the day is listed.

We aimed for Matt's Fort, area with Ronia the Robbers Daughter, and to let the kids have fun on the way. But, on the way we stumbled upon Madicken's area as well! So we stopped to check their show before we moved on... And suddenly someone started talking and singing close to us again when we continued! We'd stumbled upon Rasmus and the Tramp as well! *LOL* Amazing! So we watched them as well. :-D

Then, finally, we arrived at Matt's Fort to watch Ronia, her robber father and all his robbers! IT WAS SO GOOD! For those not knowing, Ronia the Robbers daughter is my favorite book! I ADORE IT!!! So to see it on a tiny stage, part of the story, that was AMAZING! So good! Also, they sang the songs from the movie, which I loved, and it was just all around great! The kids loved it to, since the robbers sang good and were some funny characters to. :-D ALL GOOD!

After that we focused on the kids favorites... First off Emil of Lönneberga! So we continued on to that area to watch a show play there. It was great! So funny! And the songs written for that story and movie are so so so good! Probably some of the best written for Astrid Lindgren's stories, to be honest. So that was great! And the kids loved it!

We'd forgotten to eat, so we took a break for food, then we went to watch Pippi Longstocking again, because she's Alexandra's favorite and she's the youngest. ;-) The other two kids loves her to, so that was an easy decision! So went there, the kids played around with a ton of other kids in Pippi's house and then we watched Pippi. Just as good and funny as the day before. Best part was to see how Alexandra got all into it as we watched Pippi. *grin*

Then we had some FIKA, because dads need coffee... *lol* Then we went back to Emil of Lönneberga and watched another play there... Again, very funny and the songs are WONDERFUL!!! Emil is not my favorite of Astrid Lindgren's character, but the songs are some of my favorites. :-D

And then... it was time to leave. In between the shows, the kids walked around and explored. Checked out things. Tried things. And we bought homemade candy. And they just enjoyed being together as cousins. My brotehrs kids, Tilda and Theo are 10 and 8 years old. And Alexandra is just 5 years old. But Tilda and Theo are WONDERFUL with Alexandra, really loves her! Makes sure she's OK, they don't run away from her, they help her climb around in all the fun houses, explore things, explain things to her... It's just... They are just SO GOOD with her! I LOVE seeing it!

Anyway, we finished our day with Alexandra getting a toy there. Since she's learned to use the toilette properly instead of the potty. *lol* Positive reinforsment. ;-) And I figured she'd pick a Pippi doll or an Emil doll, since those are her favorites. But no. OF COURSE she picked a softie toy... a softie horse. Pippi's horse. *SIGH!* We have so many softie-horses at this point... Not surprised though.

And then we packed up, and started our journey home. After about an hour we split up, my brotehr and his kids going one way and we the other for another hour and a half. Then we were home, and all of us collapsed in the bed after getting our bags up to the apartment.

It was a great, great, great trip though! I had SUCH a good time! And us adults decided that we have to do something together next year to, because we all had such a great time. :-D

Photos from Day Two at Astrid Lindgren's World (multiple on nearly each!): One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven

And that concludes my vacation adventures! We were supposed to go to the coast to, but the weather there was supposed to suck during the time we were there. And who wants to be at the coast and not be able to swim, eh? So no. We'll do that at another time.

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