When I decided to make my own I felt like it would be appropriate to make a traditional british stone cottage - it is my first Christmas living here after all! So I googled stone cottage and found this picture:
Monday 17 December 2012
Finally finished :)
Today I got around to finishing our gingerbread house :) Took me about a week all in all, but I enjoyed it. It is certainly not the best looking gingerbread house I ever built but it's thefirst one I made from scratch! I'm proud of that slightly crooked, soft walled but immensely sweet little cottage.
When I decided to make my own I felt like it would be appropriate to make a traditional british stone cottage - it is my first Christmas living here after all! So I googled stone cottage and found this picture:
When I decided to make my own I felt like it would be appropriate to make a traditional british stone cottage - it is my first Christmas living here after all! So I googled stone cottage and found this picture:
Thursday 13 December 2012
Lucia
On the 13th of December every year we celebrate Lucia in Sweden (and all of the Scandinavian countries plus Sicily where she was born). We do this to commemorate Saint Lucia, one of the few saints to stick around and be well known even though we are Lutheran Christians.
The name Lucia comes from the Latin word Lux meaning 'light'. She was born on Sicily around A.D. 283. As a child or a young woman she prayed alongside her mother to the Saint Agatha to cure her mother's dysentery. In a dream the Saint came to her and told her she would herself become a Saint one day.
The name Lucia comes from the Latin word Lux meaning 'light'. She was born on Sicily around A.D. 283. As a child or a young woman she prayed alongside her mother to the Saint Agatha to cure her mother's dysentery. In a dream the Saint came to her and told her she would herself become a Saint one day.
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree!
I told him I will love him forever for that tree and if he ever stops loving me I'm going to ignore that and keep taking care of him until he gets Stockholm syndrome and starts loving me again. Of course he still has his freedom to leave - but only in theory ;)
Also, I made some Christmas fudge yesterday (I called it toffie, but Rob took one look at it and went "That's fudge"). I made 2/3 of the batter "normal" chocolate fudge and the last third I decided to try and make with Christmas spices. So I added a pinch of ground cloves, ground cinnamon and ground cardamom. I though it turned out great, but Rob thought it was a bit too rich for him. He loved the regular chocolate fudge though, so i sent the bag with him to work. Hope his collegues will enjoy it as well! I'm writing down the recipe for the fudge below ^^
Also, I made some Christmas fudge yesterday (I called it toffie, but Rob took one look at it and went "That's fudge"). I made 2/3 of the batter "normal" chocolate fudge and the last third I decided to try and make with Christmas spices. So I added a pinch of ground cloves, ground cinnamon and ground cardamom. I though it turned out great, but Rob thought it was a bit too rich for him. He loved the regular chocolate fudge though, so i sent the bag with him to work. Hope his collegues will enjoy it as well! I'm writing down the recipe for the fudge below ^^
Monday 10 December 2012
All 10 fingers intact
These last couple of days I have gone without my bandage as it was strangling the blood circulation in my hand and making the area around the cut go numb. I kept the surgical tape on though as, when I looked at the cut, it looked like it wasn't healing properly. I thought it was coming apart again. Paranoia is one of my more endearing traits (that's what I keep telling myself), so yesterday before we went to the hospital again for a follow up there was a little part of me asking "What if it doesn't heal and they have to amputate my finger?". I realise that is completely ridiculous... But never the less it's the way my brain works. I compulsively think about the very worst scenario, even if it's one in a billion.
As you may have figured out though it was fine. I sat down with a nurse for about 2 mins and she had a look at it, made sure I still have full range of motion in my hand and gave me some advice. She said I should be fine to have my hand in water for short periods of time (no more bag on my had when I shower! WOHO!!) but it might go "gooey" if I keep it in there for too long. So washing up with gloves on for a couple of weeks. It'll probably take a good 2 weeks for the wound to close completely and then a few months for the scar to fade. So now I just have to work on my bar fight story to go along with it and things will be fine :D
I just got my National Insurance Number in the post as well! So now I am fully prepared to get a job. Aaaany day now...
Today I'm making toffie to send with Rob to work (and possibly save a few pieces for myself ;) ) and some time this week I am making my gingerbread dough. Maybe today, maybe later. I haven't decided. We seriously need some sort of Christmasy decorations though, so will try and get a gingerbread house up.
Anyway, I'm off down town in a few minutes.
Huggles <3
Saga xx
As you may have figured out though it was fine. I sat down with a nurse for about 2 mins and she had a look at it, made sure I still have full range of motion in my hand and gave me some advice. She said I should be fine to have my hand in water for short periods of time (no more bag on my had when I shower! WOHO!!) but it might go "gooey" if I keep it in there for too long. So washing up with gloves on for a couple of weeks. It'll probably take a good 2 weeks for the wound to close completely and then a few months for the scar to fade. So now I just have to work on my bar fight story to go along with it and things will be fine :D
I just got my National Insurance Number in the post as well! So now I am fully prepared to get a job. Aaaany day now...
Today I'm making toffie to send with Rob to work (and possibly save a few pieces for myself ;) ) and some time this week I am making my gingerbread dough. Maybe today, maybe later. I haven't decided. We seriously need some sort of Christmasy decorations though, so will try and get a gingerbread house up.
Anyway, I'm off down town in a few minutes.
Huggles <3
Saga xx
Friday 7 December 2012
Itching = healing
I know that if a wound is itching it means it's healing, but does the hand need to heal so damn well during the days? It's driving me insane! I think the bandage might be causing some of the problems as well. Yesterday I had to take it of for a while to get proper circulation back in my hand. I think I put it on a bit tight... Just around the cut my hand started going numb or "falling asleep" and it was the weirdest feeling. Took a picture of it before I redressed it on Wednesday. It looks like it's healing quite nicely, there's not been a lot of bleeding. None at all to be honest. It's a tricky area with a lot of movement, so when I have the bandage on it goes up a bit on two fingers to stabilize my hand so I can't make a fist. Just to make sure it doesn't come apart again. The cut is completely straight though, so it should heal well. I look like I've been in a bar fight :D
I don't know if I'll be going back there on Sunday to have the tape removed and have it looked at or if I could just do that at home? We'll have to see. I had a letter from the NHS yesterday about tests I should go in for (just routine tests, I'm not actually ill :) ). Every time I walk out of the surgery without having to pay anything I feel like a thief though! Healthcare in Sweden is not entirelly free and you always pay a small amount to see a doctor (normally about £15-30) unless it's an emergency. We also pay for medicines up to £100 per year and after that it's subsidised. So not paying anything when I leave the surgery feels strange. I feel very guilty. Combine that with the fact that I've probably been to the surgery here more times in three months I've lived here, than I have in the past 3 years in Karlstad, and you get me, very reluctant to go back there again and mooch of the government's money.
Anyway... Time to get me some breakfast!
Adios :3
Saga xx
I don't know if I'll be going back there on Sunday to have the tape removed and have it looked at or if I could just do that at home? We'll have to see. I had a letter from the NHS yesterday about tests I should go in for (just routine tests, I'm not actually ill :) ). Every time I walk out of the surgery without having to pay anything I feel like a thief though! Healthcare in Sweden is not entirelly free and you always pay a small amount to see a doctor (normally about £15-30) unless it's an emergency. We also pay for medicines up to £100 per year and after that it's subsidised. So not paying anything when I leave the surgery feels strange. I feel very guilty. Combine that with the fact that I've probably been to the surgery here more times in three months I've lived here, than I have in the past 3 years in Karlstad, and you get me, very reluctant to go back there again and mooch of the government's money.
Anyway... Time to get me some breakfast!
Adios :3
Saga xx
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Week 1 finished
So today marks the first week of my experiment! Now I feel a little bit more confident to talk about it. For the last seven days I have been eating a low carb diet. Most of you are probably familiar with the name Atkins. It's not Atkins though, but it's the same idea. This is called LCHF - Low carbs High Fat. Basically it means that I do not eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other things that have a lot of carbohydrates. This first week I lost almost 3kgs (just over 6lbs).
I got a book from my father for my birthday which I have been reading. It's called 'The food rEvolution' (Matrevolutionen) by Doctor Eenfeldt, I don't know if it's been translated to English though. In it he explains how carbs work in the body and what we have been eating during the course of evolution.
What happens is (simplified, as I'm not a doctor :P), when you eat carbs they are broken down into sugar by your body: i.e. dextrose, fructose, lactose and so on. When this sugar is absorbed by the body it leaks into the blood stream giving us a rise in bloodsugar. To cope with this increase in bloodsugar the body then produces insulin. Insulin helps lower the bloodsugar again. But. Insulin also regulates the body's fat cells, telling them to grow. It is well known that sugar makes you fat and that is how. What people do not realise is that all carbs are basically a form of sugar. That's why we tend to think that potatoes and bread and food like that is healthy. I admit I didn't realise this before. We have always been taught that fat is what makes you fat and is unhealthy for us.
If we look at what humans have been eating for the first thousands of years of our evolution it doesn't make sense that (natural, animalistic) fat would be dangerous for us. Our ancestors were hunter/gatherers, so their staple diet would have consisted largely of meat and fat. Of course there were veggies, berries and fruit as well - but only in season. Meat and fat can be stored pretty well for long periods of time (through curing, drying a.s.o.) and would be available pretty much all year round. The real increase in our carb intake did not occur until after agriculture started spreading and after the industrial revolution which made sugar cheap and widely available. In the short time since that shift in diet our bodies have not evolved to properly handle the sheer amount of sugar we eat.
In the 80's governments took bad advice from scientists. People were gaining more and more weight and something needed doing to try and dodge an epidemic. Many scientists were certain that fatty food was to blame. They did not however have conclusive proof for this. They did not need it though. Politicians hooked on to the theory and an almost world wide campaign of fear of fat was launched. From the mid80's the weight epidemic got out of hand.
Anyway, I'm rambling!! xD This is just my first week and I can't say anything conclusively yet. But I know that I have lost weight this week by cutting out potatoes and stuff like that, having a bit extra meat, eggs and cooking with double cream (48%). I don't feel stuffed after a meal but I still stay full for longer periods of time. A breakfast of scrambled eggs, a few strips of bacon and some cheese can keep me going till dinner.
I'm definitelly keeping this up :)
Huggles!
Saga xx
I got a book from my father for my birthday which I have been reading. It's called 'The food rEvolution' (Matrevolutionen) by Doctor Eenfeldt, I don't know if it's been translated to English though. In it he explains how carbs work in the body and what we have been eating during the course of evolution.
What happens is (simplified, as I'm not a doctor :P), when you eat carbs they are broken down into sugar by your body: i.e. dextrose, fructose, lactose and so on. When this sugar is absorbed by the body it leaks into the blood stream giving us a rise in bloodsugar. To cope with this increase in bloodsugar the body then produces insulin. Insulin helps lower the bloodsugar again. But. Insulin also regulates the body's fat cells, telling them to grow. It is well known that sugar makes you fat and that is how. What people do not realise is that all carbs are basically a form of sugar. That's why we tend to think that potatoes and bread and food like that is healthy. I admit I didn't realise this before. We have always been taught that fat is what makes you fat and is unhealthy for us.
If we look at what humans have been eating for the first thousands of years of our evolution it doesn't make sense that (natural, animalistic) fat would be dangerous for us. Our ancestors were hunter/gatherers, so their staple diet would have consisted largely of meat and fat. Of course there were veggies, berries and fruit as well - but only in season. Meat and fat can be stored pretty well for long periods of time (through curing, drying a.s.o.) and would be available pretty much all year round. The real increase in our carb intake did not occur until after agriculture started spreading and after the industrial revolution which made sugar cheap and widely available. In the short time since that shift in diet our bodies have not evolved to properly handle the sheer amount of sugar we eat.
In the 80's governments took bad advice from scientists. People were gaining more and more weight and something needed doing to try and dodge an epidemic. Many scientists were certain that fatty food was to blame. They did not however have conclusive proof for this. They did not need it though. Politicians hooked on to the theory and an almost world wide campaign of fear of fat was launched. From the mid80's the weight epidemic got out of hand.
Anyway, I'm rambling!! xD This is just my first week and I can't say anything conclusively yet. But I know that I have lost weight this week by cutting out potatoes and stuff like that, having a bit extra meat, eggs and cooking with double cream (48%). I don't feel stuffed after a meal but I still stay full for longer periods of time. A breakfast of scrambled eggs, a few strips of bacon and some cheese can keep me going till dinner.
I'm definitelly keeping this up :)
Huggles!
Saga xx
Sunday 2 December 2012
Careful what you wish for!
Earlier while I wrote my first post I was wishing this day wouldn't just be the same as all the others. Usually I get up every morning and have dishes to do, cleaning up and laundry. Since Rob goes to work and provides for us at the time being it's not more than fair. It's frustrating work though, doing all of these chores over and over again. So this morning I was wishing for some change.
Well, be careful what you wish for... As I was doing the dishes one of our old glasses cracked and cut my hand :/ So I'm fresh back form the A&E (accidents and emergencies). It was only just a small cut, about 1-2 cm long and not too deep, butRob wanted me to have it looked at in case it needed sewing. That just scared the hell out of me though. I wasn't too keen on having to face my phobia for needles twice in the same week. When we got to the A&E I got to see a really nice nurse who had a look at the cut, cleaned it and she said it was just about small enough and in the right place for her not to have to sew, since that's what I wanted. She could see how pale I got just talking about it... :P Instead she taped me up and put on plenty of padding and a bandage. I'm coming back in there on Wednesday to have it changed and I should be out of bandage in about seven days. Till then - no getting the hand wet, so no dishes for me this week... I feel guilty for Rob having to do it, but I will do whatever I can around the house to make up for it.
Well, be careful what you wish for... As I was doing the dishes one of our old glasses cracked and cut my hand :/ So I'm fresh back form the A&E (accidents and emergencies). It was only just a small cut, about 1-2 cm long and not too deep, butRob wanted me to have it looked at in case it needed sewing. That just scared the hell out of me though. I wasn't too keen on having to face my phobia for needles twice in the same week. When we got to the A&E I got to see a really nice nurse who had a look at the cut, cleaned it and she said it was just about small enough and in the right place for her not to have to sew, since that's what I wanted. She could see how pale I got just talking about it... :P Instead she taped me up and put on plenty of padding and a bandage. I'm coming back in there on Wednesday to have it changed and I should be out of bandage in about seven days. Till then - no getting the hand wet, so no dishes for me this week... I feel guilty for Rob having to do it, but I will do whatever I can around the house to make up for it.
Two things are sure:
I'll be more careful what I wish for in the future and there will be no gingerbreads made this week...
Huggles
Saga xx
First advent
Christmas is coming. I'm almost done with my Christmas gifts, only a few left to get. Dad is always the hardest to find something for... And he's also always the one who doesn't aanswer when you ask if there's anything he wishes for. I'll just have to come up with something.
You couldn't tell Christmas is coming though. Except for the Christmas lights in town it's nothing like home. We are a long way from snow, we might possibly not have any at all. To my big surprise I actually miss the snow. We don't have any decorations either, so I don't feel the Christmas spirit at all :/ It's making me a bit sad as I love Christmas! It's one of the best holidays of the year, but I have a feeling it won't really be Christmas for me until we are in Sweden. I'm making a gingerbread cookie dough today though, so I/we can make gingerbread cookies tomorrow night, and a gingerbread house. I hope that will help me feel a bit better.
I'm just stuck in a routine I guess. When I get a job it will get better. I won't be stuck in this flat alone and I might get to know some people. Having my friends so far away is quite difficult and it's starting to take its toll on me.
Hope it'll get better soon :/
Huggles
Saga xx
You couldn't tell Christmas is coming though. Except for the Christmas lights in town it's nothing like home. We are a long way from snow, we might possibly not have any at all. To my big surprise I actually miss the snow. We don't have any decorations either, so I don't feel the Christmas spirit at all :/ It's making me a bit sad as I love Christmas! It's one of the best holidays of the year, but I have a feeling it won't really be Christmas for me until we are in Sweden. I'm making a gingerbread cookie dough today though, so I/we can make gingerbread cookies tomorrow night, and a gingerbread house. I hope that will help me feel a bit better.
I'm just stuck in a routine I guess. When I get a job it will get better. I won't be stuck in this flat alone and I might get to know some people. Having my friends so far away is quite difficult and it's starting to take its toll on me.
Hope it'll get better soon :/
Huggles
Saga xx
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