Thanksgiving 2011

Chris and I are taking Thanksgiving on alone this year.  But I'm not so sure he knows that.  WHy you ask?  It's because of the 14 pound turkey he has brining in a bucket.  I'm not sure what in the world we are going to do with all the leftovers ...we can freeze some, eat some, and hopefully he share some with his co-workers on Saturday.

I must say that Chris does know how to cook a turkey.  Last year he was in charge of the 22 pound turkey and it turned out perfect...tasty....juicy

We have a full meal planned and are both looking forward to being in the kitchen together dicing, slicing, and basting.   So we will spend hours cooking but will only spend a fraction of that time actually eating....well on second thought...Chris will nibble all day  :) 

I hope everyone has an equally pleasant day planned....and we miss y'all!

A crazy Saturday in November

So the last full day that Cindy is here...She is returning to Florida on Sunday...

We started our day with a lovely breakfast an settled in to watch the South Carolina/Florida game.  (games start at 10:00 am here in Colorado).

I fell asleep during the 3rd quarter and when i woke up...I smelled something and looked out the front windows and saw a little wisp of smoke.  So i walked outside to check it out and see what was going on....When i got outside there were several other people, so i asked...and one person said I think its your place that is on fire.  I walked on around and looked up at our balcony/patio and sure enough...it was on fire.

I ran back inside screaming to Cindy..."It's us...we're on fire....we're on fire".  Cindy asked for a hose, but we don't have one or a place to hook it up.

So i grab the home phone and Bailey and head out of the house.
Cindy grabs......an armful of clothes...which she dropped on the floor in the living room and ran out of the house.

It's weird what you grab...neither of us took our purses, car keys, nothing....

I called 911 (i also think someone else had also called), then called Chris and told him the house was on fire and he needed to come home.  I don't think he really believed me at first - or couldn't register it - but he made it home in record time.

The fire department came (4 trucks) and got the fire put out.  It seems that the plastic rubbermaid storage shed on the patio caught on fire.  The fire investigator said he could not determine a cause of the fire.  It was a very scary afternoon!

Here are a couple of pictures.

The pictures are sideways...sorry...couldn't get them turned.

So Chris, Cindy, and I have been processing this awful experience.  It's amazing...things could have been so much worse...we were very lucky.

Oh, and we've told our landlord and have called our insurance....

Wow...it's like 8 hours later and we're still talking....so talk with everyone later!

Cindy's Visit

So my friend Cindy came to town to be here for when I had a surgical procedure....She and Chris took great care of me and I was so glad to have them both!!!

So...the procedure turned out just fine....appears I asked my doctor to give me a boob job while i was out....then after the procedure it seems that i was very comical and funny....the doc was telling me about what not to do...running was one of the things not to do and I replied to the doc..."there's no way in hell i'm going to be running a race.....EVER!"

So by Friday, I was feeling a bit better - still sore and uncomfortable - but Cindy and I drove around downtown, stalked the Volvo dealership, and went to Lookout Mountain.  Had a lovely day.  The best part of the day was the 2nd time we were stalking the dealership, we got out to look at a car simliar to mine so Cindy could see what it looked like.  As luck had it, Bob, (my salesman) saw me and said he thought my car came in that morning.  We took a short walk to a garage and Voila!  there it was.... "the car".  We were able to drive it off right then and there....drove directly to Chris' work and left it with him...

So great to have a new car....love it....love it....love it....

Will take a while to figure out all the things it can do...like know how to use the navigation.

Anywho...Cindy and I have thoroughly enjoyed our visit and the fun of having a new car

snow day and car update

So the snow today ended up being regular ol' snow.  It's still very pretty and i could spend the day just watching the snow fall....but alas...i had to go to work.

Update on the car - it has been unloaded and appears to have already cleared customs!!!  From here on out, I won't have a way to track its progress to Denver.  But i will receive the Customs clearance forms in the mail....and supposedly, when this document arrives, its only a day to two before the dealer calls me to come pick up the car!!!!!

Snow day part deux

SO here it is about 1 week after the  1st real snowfall of the season...and now we have a blizzard warning with high winds (for colorado) for us Floridians...its just a nice breeze.....

it has now started to snow...suppose to continue till Wednesday afternoon with up to 8 inches accumlation.  We'll probably only get about 5-6 inches.

Someone at work today stated that it normally snows on Wednesdays and Thursdays...I'll have to keep track of the snow falls to see how true this is.

here's the current weather map

Doesn't look as bad as what the Meteorologists are saying....

I'll post pictures in the morning...

Location of "The Car" Update

So it's been a little more than a month since "The Car" was turned in at the Volvo factory in Gotenburg.
It left sweden on October 8th....went to Germany, switched boats and proceeded to cross the Atlantic.

Here is a picture of the boat the car is on as it passed through the Panama Canal...

It's due to dock in California on Nov 1st!

I think the earliest we could pick it up from the dealer may be the 11th.....



Final Blog of the trip

Today is still overcast and raining....but we have had a perfect culinary ending to our trip!!!

Yes ---that means food we liked!   No kidding!

The buffet at the ol' Best Western had scrambled eggs, bacon, and normal white bread!!!!  It was the feast of all feasts!!!!!!!

Last night in Sweden

So after months of anticipation...the trip has come to its end.

We got up this morning and drove away from our new country manor home and went south toward Goteborg. 
The country is sad to see these 2 sisters leaving its shores as is cried the entire way to Goteborg. 

We have gotten the car turned back in to Volvo and they will be shipping it over in about a week and we should be able to pick it up from the Denver Volvo dealer  around Thanksgiving (although some say it will show up earlier than the date Volvo gives you)

They are also replacing the tire that we got a flat in  - which is great...would hate to have to have a 'plugged' tire from the get go.  I have all the paperwork and even got to keep one of the keys....

So Volvo brought us to our hotel...which is on the waterfront.  Odd sort of place really....the hotel starts on the 4th floor.  We would have had a hard time finding it as the hotel sign was super small - and we weren't expecting it to be on the 4th floor!!

Any way, our room is on the 6th floor - corner - 2 walls of windows, which overlook the harbour.  Not a bad set up for a Best Western.

So we got out and about once we checked in and figured out that the hotel we were in the 1st night in sweden is really just at the other end of the street!  We did some window shopping and looking around.  Grabbed a pizza for dinner and then hit the Casino!!  Woo Hoo!!!!!

Actually it wasn't that exciting....they had those slot machines where you don't know what in the hell you are doing....3 fish, 2 mermaids, 2 triangles...who knows what or if you win.

I did play computer roulette...Shannon thought my method was really bad....i would bet on "black", then on "red", then back to "black" again.  it seemed to work for a while, but then it stopped.  

Shannon however, played the grownup person Roulette and won a bit of money....but we let it all ride and left with just a few kroner in our pocket. 

Granted we started with like $67.00....so we didn't lose a ton of money.

We are now relaxing in our room watching a movie....

We have had a wonderful time (except the whole hospital incident) but we are both ready to get home and see our hubbies....

Hope you enjoyed following our travels!!!

Monday's update

So here we sit, our second to last day in Sweden.  We have had to curtail our adventures because of me and I must say Shannon has been a great sport about it. 

So today we had a couple of places we wanted to visit....
One was a church in Linkoping and a past royal residence....We were able to see the church...it was amazing.  It is astounding how precise the builders were back in the 1200's, 1300s etc.  This church was massive. The pictures we took from inside didn't turn out as the lighting was too dim.

This is the royal residence, but it was closed until noon, so we decided to hit it later in the day.  We never made it back to see the inside, because slush head here, had a headache and needed a nappy.

We then headed toward Vastena.  There is also a castle there and a wonderful old abbey - St. Brigette is in this abbey.

As our luck held...the castle was closed - so we did what every brash american does....tried every door until one opened...and we were in like flynn!   Well...we were indeed inside....but it was just a stairwell that led us to nowhere...so much for trying to beat the system!    So we went across the street to a cafe and had a bite to eat.

This place had a nifty moat...there were boats anchored along the outer wall of the moat.  and the moat actually opened up onto a lake.

some photos of the inner courtyard of the castle.


Here is a picture of the insides of the abbey...the interior was much more delicate and feminine compared to the 1st church we viewed today...



So we stopped at Mc Donald's for lunch....Shan took this picture as the interior of the McD's are much sleeker that in the states...you also have 'recycle' your lunch items....you have to pour the drink in this one slot, put the cup in another slot, be sure to take the straw out of the cup and put it with the food wrappers and then you have to throw your tray in yet another slot.

I should add, that yesterday we did eat a "Max's" which appears to be a McDonald like Swedish hamburger chain.





We also came across this little place...it was the home of a doctor,  This doctor 'discovered' a water well and sent the water off for evaluation in Stockholm...they declared that this was the best water EVER and the good doctor then created a 'spa' where all could come partake of this outstanding water.  This was his home and it overlooks one of the big lakes...very serene and beautiful

So after this, missy needed an nap so off we went back to our own lovely country manner home. 

After a refreshing nap...shan and I planned to hit up IKEA for swedish meatballs...we were setting Olga straight on where we wanted to go, when we see TEXAS ROAD HOUSE...so of course we changed our direction and headed straight to the red meat capital of the world.  We both ordered filet and a baked potate...it was really good!.

We also got to use the Active Bending lights on the Volvo driving home on the dark roads...must say...they are cool!

Chris also wanted some interior shots of the car so here they are!!

Here we are in Linkoping

Hello everyone.

This will probably be a long post, since Slush Head Missy didn't understand the password to the wireless internet last night and thus we were unable to log on.

So we left left Stockholm and began our drive to Linkoping.  It only took about 2.5 hours and it was pleasant.  Olga cooperated with us just fine....Must have been that "talking to" we gave her!  :)

We set Olga to take us by the Palace where the Swedish royal family live....here is the best pic we got while driving....sorry about th car in the foreground - but it is a VOLVO! 

I also managed to get a picture of this door....(we drove down a small road to try to find the Chinese pavillion)...It was pure luck to get this pic - as i basically had the camera stuck out of the window and kept hitting the 'take picture button' , but i think its a pretty good one!

We had a moment that we thought Olga had led us astray....but she actually led us to a ferry crossing!!  I was giggling like the little kid i am....i was tickled about going on a ferry ride....maybe it was just my new brain injury...but it was fun!

We stopped at this place, which we decided we could live there   - they had beautiful gardens - you should have seen the Zucchini they were growing!

We arrived at our Bed and Breakfast ---Idingstad Sateri --it is located out in th country side about 20 minutes from town.  Here are a few pictures of the place...Shannon and I both have decided we could certainly live like this!!

THis is the view from our room.

We were the only guests in the main house, but a group of businessmen from several different countries were in one of the out buildings and were having a dinner in the main house.  They were trade agents for different countries - egypt, england, scotland, america..the Egyptian was a cut up and very nice - 3 of his sisters live in the states. 

We also lucked out tht they were having this dinner, as our hosts, allowed us to share their dinner (we didn't sit with the group, we had our own lovely table to ourselves) but it was the best meal we've eaten since we've been here...roasted chicken, potatoes au gratin, salad...very yummy!

"the day after"

Ok...good morning...it's Sunday and we are heading for Linkoping. But let me get everyone caught up from friday.

Friday morning started with us determined to use the public transportation system....we headed out with our maps searching for the train station which turned out to be easy....until we actually boarded and had to figure out where to get off the train...

Well....after several trips and changing trains we made it to downtown stockholm....but I had to take a picture of this sign from the subway...

I must say, Stockholm is absoutely beautiful! Here are a couple of pictures from around the city...

It wasn't long after this when the excitement began....more like fear!! When missy fainted...the people standing around were so helpful and kind.  We made it to the hospital via ambulance....although she didn't get to hear the funny eruopean siren.. The staff was great....then missy insulted the doctor!! hahahaha Yes...the very surgeon that was going to stitch her up!!

She got to stay overnight in the hospital...I was not allowed to stay with her but fortunately the hospital was only a block away from the hotel.  Her room was very sparce...no TV and all the magazines were in swedish..go figure!!

The funny part...the only thing on the wall was a clock that sounded like something from Edgar Allen Poe....wasn't there a poem about a clock in the wall???  I was in a nice soft hotel room with a TV!!

Ok....here's the best part...wait for it....wait for it...we spent the entire day saturday in the hotel room watching the 2 english channels on the TV!! Missy still had "jello" head so we just took it easy....got to see some of the marathon passing thru town and ate pizza.

This morning "jello" head is more like "pudding" today...getting better..  We are heading out and will update everyone later....

Shannon

update

We were able to sightsee in Stockholm for a big part of Friday.  But the I passed out/fainted, fell down, hit
my head and ended up in the local ER - received pretty blue stitches - had a good natured surgeon.
Had to stay in the hospital overnight...ate meatballs for dinner ( a few not many as i didn't feel so hot)
Had a CT Scan this morning and everything is fine with it...no hemmoraging, no skull fractures, and best of all no brain tumors!

Was released around noon today from the hospital into the very capable hands of my sister Shannon.  We have just been in the room since then.  Doc said to take it easy for a few days and to not consider flying for at least a couple....everyone has their own opinion as to when i should or shouldn't fly...but am going to stick with taking it easy for right now.  I am still a bit slushy/groggy in my head and have a headache now, so i'm going back to bed to doze

Here is picture of my hospital room.  I also made Shannon take a picture of my laceration, but she doesn't think i need to post that here.

The drive up to Stockholm

If you remember, shan and i were on a mission yesteray morning to find a McD's for breakfast.  Well we didn't find a McDs, but did find a Burger King.   We both had burgers and fries....it was very good!  We think they fry things in old fashion lard or something because its always really tasty.....if the cod had been fried in whatever it is they fry stuff in, we probably would have liked it!

After our meal, we asked Olga to take us to Stockholm and off we went.  It is so pretty and scenic here - postcard pictures everywhere!  It only took us about 4.5 hours to drive from Kalmar to Stockholm.

As we entered Stockholm Olga decided to become a royal b**ch, she had us driving around for over an hour - - right smack in downtown stockholm at rush hour traffic....Missy didn't handle this too well.  I became soo frustrated with Olga that I had to give her a piece or two of my mind...she keep telling us to turn right, then as soon as we did, she would tell us to make a U turn, so we could have been driving a minature daytona 500 going around in circles!!!  We finally stopped where she told us to stop and the hotel was nowhere in sight. 

By this time mother nature was calling and we HAD to find a toilet (the don't know what we are talking about if we ask for a restroom).  During this break, i braved using my cell phone to locate the hotel and find out where we were in location.  Turns out we were just around the corner. We went ahead and checked in and got directions to the parking garage.

Shannon broke several driving laws ---cutting across traffic and making a U turn on a red light...but we got to the parking garage and got the car settled.  We don't plan on driving again until we leave on Sunday.

We are in a small apartment - has a kitchen, so Shan and I hit up the grocery that is 500 meters away.  This had to be the most interesting grocery we've ever been in.   The store starts on the 3rd floor and goes up to the 4th floor. 

As with any grocery we grabbed a buggy as soon as we entered at the street.  Then proceded to take the moving walkway up, then up again, the up again, then up again.  It appears that you should get your buggy when you get to the top.  Shannon (who was pushing the buggy) kept getting a lot of odd looks.   We did some shopping, got breakfast items (to be on the safe side) and stuff for lunch on the go and dinner.    We got sandwich meat and it appears if you say i want 1 pound of whatever, you get way more than 1 pound...shan thinks they gave us 1 kilogram which in her mathematical/pharmacy mind is 2.5 pounds....so we have plently of lunch meat for the next few days!

We have our game plan set for today and are in process of getting ready to hit Stockholm and see what it has in store for us today.....more to come later!!!!

Please post comments!!!

Shan and I are enjoying reading your comments, but we would love to hear from more of you!!!



You can send your comment as Annomyous, or yor AOL screen name, or your Gmail screen name etc.

Give it a try!!!

now in stockholm!

Yesterday's blog entry was just a brief tale into our time on Oland Island, so here is some additional info....i'm sure everyone is waiting with baited breath to find out more about our trip.

Here is a picture of the bed and breakfast we stayed in -Bo Pensionat

our room was on the top floor and we had the balcony.  The bathroom was a true swedish/european bathroom - which is the shower is not separated from the sink/toilet area and everything can (and did) get wet.  Shannon was not much of a fan of this set up.  

This place also appears to have a lot of garden events...the 'garden' was large and lovely with many tables and chairs set up around the property.  They also had an apple tree and yes, it did have fruit on it.

We also completed the 1st fill up...took a couple of gas stations to get one that had an actual person at it.  Why did we need a gas station with a real live person?  It seems that we American's aren't up with the times.  All the european credit cards have a 'chip' in them and use a 4 digit PIN number.  Our cards don't have a PIN so you have to have a real person to check you out so that you can pay for your gas.  It was a bit comical.  The young man told us to
1. press the yellow button first
2. press the green button second
3. fill up the car

well...we pressed the yellow button first and the green button second, but couldn't ' fill it up'...the pump started making this beep...beep...beep sound.  So we cancelled that transaction and started over.  We did this about 4 times and then the young man appeared at our side, shaking his head and saying ---press the yellow button first, then the green button (while he was doing it).  Thank the good lord above, it didn't work for him either!  Whew...we weren't 'those dumb americans'.  He had to go back inside and press a button there or something and then it worked.

Wanna guess how much it cost to 'fill 'er up'???

so take a moment and try to figure it out in US dollars....

so it was actually about $125.00 US dollars to fill up the gas tank....which comes out to $8.71 a gallon.

Glad we don't have those prices in the states!!!!  Shan says be happy with the $3 to $4 a gallon we pay.

Shannon is sure one strong lady!
This is just outside Kalmar Castle.

This was our lunch yesterday ---Subway rocks!!!!

We also learned that Oland Island used to have over 3000 windmills...they were used for the usual purposes - grinding grains.  Currently there are only 300 windmills left.  They dot the landscape all over the island.  Some are basic others are a little fancier - with stucco bases or barns attached to them. 

Here is a map southern sweden and it also shows wher Oland Island is located.  We were where the red dot is.

So that is more about our day yesterday. 

We'll post some info about our drive from Kalmar to Stockholm later...

Culinary disaster day

Hello everyone....today i will start at the end...we had dinner at our B&B. 
The menu consister of deer, lamb, or cod fish....Shannon talked me in to getting the fish, as she was getting it (and other than lamb or deer, that was our only choice)  so we order the cod.  Our plates came out and they were beautiful.....poached (?) fish, with a white wine sauce with cavier on top, some mushrooms, some sort of grilled greenish looking vegi, and potatoes.  It was AWFUL....i ate the potatoes - shan ate the mushrooms.  We both attemted to make it look like we ate some of the other stuff, but don't think we were very successful.

We had a discussion about going out for a 2nd dinner, so we grabbed our coats  and off we went to Bourgham - the largest city (village) on Oland Island.  So an hour later we find Bourgham, i sure bet it is pretty during the day, and we find that everything in Bourgham closes up around 7:00 pm.   So we hit the only gas station that is open and buy some ice cream - p.s.  it was yummy!


so now back to our day overall.  We drove into Kalmar to visit Kalmar Castle.  The original structure was built int he 1100.s and added onto over the years....It was in a breathtaking location with gorgous gardens around it. 
We learned that the outside walls still have cannon balls imbedded in them.  we saw them and it was really cool!



We had a guided tour and also walked around by ourselves.  As we were leaving, we meet Karen.  A very nice lady from Wisconsin.  She was in town with her husband, who was here for work.  She had the day to herself so we joined forces and walked around the town.  Stopped in several shops, had lunch at Subway, and Shannon also bought some fruit from a vendor in one of the town's squares.  It was a lovely way to spend the day.

Shannon and I also went in search a site from the Iron Age.  This site has been 'restored' to resemble what it may have looked like around 700 AD....here are a few pictures

We also just drove around the southern part of Oland Island....it is either farmland (potatoes) or dairy farms. 

We did stumble upon a fishing harbor where there were very tiny 1 room houses (looked more like backyard storage sheds) where the fishermen live.  There were also a ton of white Swans hanging out in the water.  This is where were able to stick a finger into the Baltic sea.  It was hard to get to the sea, as farmland stretched to the coast.  Here are a few pictures.

We thought this was a funny sign...and yes you could have literally driven right into the Baltic Sea!!!

Chris wanted some more pictures of the car...so here you go honey!

The Car will be taking us up the coast to Stockholm tomorrow....we have already decided to set "Olga" The GPS to find the closest McD's so that we can have a fulfilling breakfast.

More to come tomorrow!