Wooden boats are nice but take a lot of time...
Our boat has (hopefully) survived the winter and will be put in the water next monday. We hope that the engine will work enough to get us from the hoist to the dock... But my father will help Johan during this week so I am optimistic.
Unfortunately my mother in law could not help babysit during that time, so I will have to cut short a meeting to pick up Anders at day care. Well at least a colleague of mine is attending as well so that was ok.
I´m not quite as tired today, we will ve together the whole family during the weekend and only a few weeks are left until the summer vacation...
Looking good.

Current Mood: optimistic

A lot of things have happened since last entry.
Not least that Celemon and Greylion are married :-) and the cooking went well. It was a really nice wedding.
I really hate that Johan still has to work in Stockholm, well so does he. I am just so tired all the time.
Anyway, today we had a day on the lake with my job, which was fine. And not least I had managed to find a babysitter for Anders so I could go, as we came back at 8 in the evening. This went well, so finally we have someone to call who lives closer than Stockholm.

Current Mood: tired

Anders has finally fallen asleep and I am trying to scrape up some energy to do something. Sometimes it is harder than usual to be alone here when Johan works in Stockholm. I had a bad evening yesterday, and not much better tonight. I miss my friends from Uppsala, I miss the dance group, I miss knowing where to find the things I want like MARINA´s artichoke cream with garlic...

Well, on the bright side, the people at work are nice, I have just started a dance group in Juneborg (although very much in the start-up phase) and I have made a reservation for a dance workshop with Veronique Daniels in November. That thought brought a smile :-)

I am very bad at calling people. Bad me. I need to do that. And sometime this spring I must manage to visit Uppsala and the dance group when Celemon is at home. Before the wedding I hope :-)

We have a lot of meetings with different interest-groups at work this spring. (That is groups interested in the EU water framework directive, like fishermen, local authorities, farmers...). Someday in the next few years maybe I can say what I work with and not get Huh? as an answer. I can always hope.

I think that a good book and some hot chocolate is about what I can manage tonight. And hopefully some sleep.

Ok, now its time to tell a lot of people what we have been doing. It would be great if we really knew...
Well, it is a work in progress, and the biggest challenge will be to get people to understand that the results we have are open for revision.

Johans work is still in Stockholm. One day they asked how soon he could start, and the next day they called and said that the job had gone to someone already working nights at that place. So, we are lucky that he has a good boss in Stockholm as they had already stared looking for a replacement.

Tomorrow I will have dance-class! That will be good.

So, back to normal again, or something like it. We have been away from home for two weeks, so it is a bit strange, and still a lot to unpack.
The weekend before Christmas I and Anders went to my parents, then we continued to Johan´s sister Eva with family for 2 days. That is always nice. They are good to talk to -and- they have a great jacuzzi in the basement :-) Johan finished his working week on the morning of the 24th, so he joined us there.
On Christmas day we went to Johan´s father for lunch and presents for Anders. He complains a bit that we live so far away now, but on the other hand, the times he came to visit when we lived in Uppsala are easily counted.
After that we went to my parents again for the rest of the hollidays. Looking forward to some quiet farm work and new years eve with Pär and Karin with family while my parents visited my mother´s parents. Then Anders should stay while I went to coronation (SCA) in Västerås. However, very few things went as planned...

To begin, Karin and Ylva caught a cold, so we were waiting to see if they recovered in time for new year, but then my father got sick the day before they were supposed to go to my grandparents, so they decided not to go. Which turned out to be a wise move, as every one of us got the stomach flu one after the other. Johan recovered in time to go to work on the 3d, and I was the last one to go down on the 4th.

Well, we did get some things done between sickbeds, and we did have time to talk and plan some work for the summer, like mending a few roofs and such.

I do hope I will be able to schedule another event soon!

After geting back home yesterday evening. I and Anders have unpacked as much as possible. Day care was closed today as all personell were having a planning day. Anders started swimming school (more like splash and play, learn to blow bubbles, get your head under water and so on) so it was quite nice to have the day off to give him time to prepare. He was a bit nervous about it until I explained that the other kids did not know how to swim either ;.) after that he was happy again, and once we were there it was fine.
We have also prepared a cake for Johan as it is his birthday tomorrow, and he will be back from his week at work in Stockholm. He has been offered full time work in Jönköping and at the moment the bosses in Stockholm and Jönköping are talking to each other, so we will see what happens.

I will try to schedule a few trips to Stockholm and Uppsala during the spring, and finally I have started more serious planning of a dance group here. It seems there is a possible site available and some interest, so as soon as we know Johans schedule I am set to go. Yes!

For some reason I never seem to sleep enough. I guess that once Anders has gone to sleep the peace and quiet is so nice that I tend to do a lot of things. Definitely not just picking up things, not even primarily, no: sitting down with a cup of tea and a book, websurfing, watching tv... and well, paying bills and other such necessities. It really is not good in the long run, but I hope that with Johan at home it will be a bit easier. Well, it will be easier to go to bed although the sleeping part may still be a bit lacking :-)

Todays epistle got rather long, but I hope that I will write more frequently in the future.

Happy new year to everybody I know. Take care!

A lot of things have happened since I wrote last time. Or, rather, one big thing happened (a new -permanent- job) and this involved moving 400 km, getting a new day care place for Anders, figuring out a way for Johan to work in Stockholm and still spend as much time as possible with us and not least, moving all our stuff to Jönköping.

The job is shaping up, although I am confused about some things, my colleagues are also confused about exactly how the EU water framework directive is supposed to be implemented, so I am not too worried.

Today I had to pick up Anders at day care after lunch as they called me to say that he was ill. Probably a cold with a fever so we will be at home for a few days. Tomorrow evening Johan comes home, so he will take over while I go to Karlstad for a work meeting.

We still have lots of things to unpack, so I will probably not write very often, but I will try :-)

On the SCA scene, we have managed to go to a couple of Juneborg meetings and I will be in charge of the dancing at the "civil war" and then we will see. I try to sort through my dance music and notes and if I don´t get a dance group started at once, I will at least try to do some reconstructions for myself.

Tired but content,
Karna /Irene

I have recovered from the flu (spelling?) and am back at work. Or rather trying to plan teaching that I don´t really know what it´s going to be about or when... All the people who might know have gone to the garden exhibition. I guess life is supposed to be interesting.

I have just finished correcting the exams from one course and now I am supposed to invent an exam question for one of my courses that takes into account the special facts of distance studies and preferably at a high level in Blooms´ taxonomy.
I guess that when I actually sit down to do it it won´t be that hard, it´s just one of those things I haven´t got around to doing yet.

I found this test at celemon´s page, and guess what? I am a litterature nerd too :-)

I am not surprised. One of the questions asked was how many books have you read in our life, with the highest numer as 60+. I have read more than 60 books per year since I was 10. I admit that some years when I have been very busy (or broke) most are rereads.

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Musician
Drama Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Social Nerd
Anime Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

Current Mood: tired

What should I do with my students!? I think all of them have been bitten by the silence bug!
Ok, they do answer direct questions, but a discussion is very difficult to get going.
Well, this course too will pass, and hopefully will the students...

Today I was at the unemployment agency in the morning. They have closed down the office in Gottsunda which means that I have to get another contact person and go through a lot of the background data again. Sigh!
Well, he didn´t seem too bad, although he didn´t know what a limnologist is exactly he asked intelligent questions about my plans.

Anders has started his second round of colds in four weeks. I just hope that I and Johan manage to avoid it.
I also got some sad news the other day. Fia, (my horse) died, probably of old age tuesday morning (age 29). The sadest part is that since it hapened fairly quickly and my parents live 200 kilometers away I couldn´t be there.
I was prepared, 29 years is a respectable age for a welsh pony, but it is strange to imagine the farm without her.

Still, I seem to have started to come out of a down period, the days are a bit lighter, it is easier to get up in the morning, and tonight we will dance.

Current Mood: contemplative

I´m sitting at my desk at work, it´s snowing outside and I just can not get going.
Fortunately we had a meeting in the work group dealing with students working in groups :-) and that was good. I think some of the energy returned there. Otherwise I would have continued to stare blankly at the screen. I know that there are lots of things I could do, but I don´t remember what it is, or where I should start.
At home I just want to sit in the couch with a book. I don´t want to go out, I don´t want to do anything else and I don´t want to get annoyed at my family for wanting me to talk to them.

Ok, I want some energy delivered tomorrow, don´t forget!

Actually I feel better just writing about it so I´ll try it again soon, now it´s time to go home :-)

Current Mood: blah

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess Hynydd the Undefeated of Lower Bumhampton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Interesting. Well, creating an aristocratic title is a good way as any to start a career of live-journal writing.
As concerns undefeated, I may bend under the winds of misfortune but I have not cracked...

I am a mom (3 year old boy) with a husband working nights, struggling to find university teaching jobbs and helping my parents run the farm as often as I can. This will probably mean that I will write less often than I would wish.

Tonight I am trying out my new computer, a macbook, as my 6 years old powerbook burned its mothercard yesterday. Panic! I have all my teaching administration and correspondance on the machine, and although I backed up last week, I had written quite a lot over the weekend.
Fortunately the hard-drive could be transfered to a cabinet so I can use it as external drive and easily transfer everything to the new machine.
Tomorrow I have a seminar where my students are supposed to discuss freshwater resources and problems around the world. I hope they have read the book this time...
To bed!

Current Mood: tired