Winter

Winter is here. Tonight the temperature came down to -20 degrees Celsius. Not as cold as in the north of Sweden (close to -42) or other parts of Europe, but still cold.

This time of the year

Now it's time for "semlor" again (that is, the Swedish Lenten buns). Yesterday I made a batch of 14 and the idea is to eat one every Tuesday for the coming weeks until Feb 21st, which is the official "semmel-day" this year. But 14 are more than enough so there will be a couple of buns in between as well (and maybe even a second batch later on)...

The Lenten buns are made out of a sweet bun with almond filling and whipped cream under the lid and, of course, powder sugar topping it off.

Time passes by

I haven't been posting anything here in ages, and the green grass in the previous post is now covered in white snow (finally, after a very mild winter so far). Inga went sledging for the second time in her life today and she really enjoys it. Right outside our house we have a small hill, just the right size for her.

Since my last post we have been doing a few things around the house and I'll try to post some info about that soon. We have also been visiting our families in other parts of Sweden, celebrated Christmas and New Years completely differently from what was planned and so on. I am also only five weeks from due date, which is one of the reasons I haven't had the energy to update this blog in the past months... Least, but not last, we have had lots to think about lately. I'll get back to that later, but right now I can reveal that it has to do with work and location.

Stay tuned and don't give up on me just yet!

Green grass

So here it is, our "new" lawn. Not yet perfect, but compared to earlier this summer, the difference is huge.

The doorstep

This is it. After four days of work, we now have a really nice entrance to our house. Inga can walk right out without climbing and I'm not afraid to trip and fall any more. It's comfy to sit on and great to walk on barefoot. It just couldn't be better.

Our new living room

Right before we went to Poland, Matts finished off the work in the living room (apart from the skirting) and we were able to furnish it again. Inspired by some interior design TV-shows, we turned the couch 90 degrees and got a much cozier room that we enjoy a lot. (Before it looked like this.) Last week we were able to buy an arm chair as well so now we can use the room with guests as well.

The corner, where the old wallpaper was ripped, now look great and I have to say that I really like this old-fashioned striped wallpaper that goes perfectly to our furniture.

Work in progress

The past days we have been quite busy here. Finally, our new pillarbox is in place in front our our house. And I got down to do some work on the front lawn. So far the result is somewhat greener grass (compared to this), but if everything goes as planned, the grass seed I spread out will make the lawn a proper one before the end of this summer. At the moment Matts is working hard on our new doorstep - and it will be awesome. Even our neighbors have given Matts compliments daily these past few days...

Workman's beard

After being locked in in our living room for more than a week, Matts came out, looking like this... Pictures of our new, fabulous looking living room will come later on.

Birchermüsli

On Sundays in Switzerland, I sometimes went by Frei's in Brugg to buy home some bread rolls and their delicious Birchermüsli after going to church. Before we went to Poland, about two weeks ago, and the fridge was quite empty I finally made my first batch ever of Birchermüsli and it was delicious! I used this recipe as a template (but with fewer apples) and then added a nectarine, bananas, raspberries and some whipped cream to it as well.

The last piece of wallpaper

Finally, after nine days of hard work, Matts came to the last piece of wallpaper. After some additional painting, our living room is finally done - apart from the skirting that we haven't decided on quite yet. Tomorrow we'll clean our whole house from dust and bits of this and that that have spread all over the place and then it's time to re-furniture the living room. I sure look forward to it!