We have all been trimmed!

The weather was simply beautiful over the weekend. All in all it was a grand weekend.. YaY! for summer! Can't it be summer all year round?

Friday started off with picking up our new sleeping bags.. see the size difference.. and not to mention the weight difference is decent.. so now we can take an extra kg of goodies! haha Actually the weight that we saved on the sleeping bags will now go to the new keen sandals that we got on Saturday.. I finally just gave in and said ok to getting a pair.. I stood my ground for so freaken long.. but Emma sure knows how to wear ya down!

Friday night we went and saw Transformers.. it wasn't as good as the first, but hey its transformers.. and transformers rock! Autobots! Transform & roll out! Next movie.. Harry Potter, but not until we come back all dirty and sore from the hike lol

Saturday started off with trying this really yummy bread from the bakery, it was the best bread that I have ever had from them.. tasty as.. and who doesn't love a good bread? Then after breaky we toddled off to the land of trimmings and got our hair cut & nearly my eye! Which was pretty funny to say the least. Short hair is a must for summer and hiking I believe! lol I keep forgetting that I have cut all my hair off and I go to adjust my hair tie all the freaken time lol & then I get the massive looking morning hair.. rock on!

After that we headed off to Kristianstad for a spot of shopping, got keens, tees, knick knacks, birthday pressies & strawberries before heading home and just chilling the freak out until Sunday rolled around and we headed off early to go and spray the tent, but once we arrived at the parentals we realised we had forgotten the spray.. yup we are THAT clever! So we had breaky before heading off to do shopping, first stopping by one of the J's so Emma could have a gasbag session.. that girl can seriously gasbag!

Shopping done, home and then relax a bit until we have to go back around to the parentals to let the dog out.. once we arrived we parked up in the outside part and I dozed, inbetween Cato slobbering on me! & while Emma played on the laptop.. we really need a laptop! MacBook Pro please!

Once home again we got stuck into Muesli bar making.. which reminds me I have to go and cut them up.. Mmm yummy for my tummy!

That pretty much sums up my weekend.. movies, cuts, foodage, shopping & sleeping.. everything we all need to do to stay sane.. but am I really sane? 1 week to go! eeeeeeeeeeek

Mmmm that time of day!

Fika! Will you join me? lol
I must say it just isn't the same to do it alone.. but it still tasted goooood!
It is actually more my dinner.. coz Emma is working late and I'm too lazy to cook myself something.

Today has been a long, warm, slow day which started off with me putting my shirt on inside out as well as back to front.. yes I really am that talented! On Saturday I had put my thermal top on back to front.. it was a good hour before I realised.. so I wonder.. when will the next clothing mishap be? Friday perhaps?

Nemo is all nicely trimmed & bathed, which means that tonight before beddies he gets to have a nice fresh dose of frontline.. to fend off them nasty ticks.. which we are still getting off of him.. up to over 40 now! yikes! On Sunday I had a bit of a yikes moment where I was having a cuddle on the couch with Nems and then I felt a tickle on my hand.. you can guess what it was right? A TICK! It is at those moments where my girlish nature really comes out and Emma had to come to my rescue and get it off.. and it was one of the biting ones too.. it put a quick end to the cuddle with Nems I can say that much! I don't want to be bit by one of those.. however I do wonder what it feels like.

Emma also has a bit of a yikes moment.. a different kind of yikes tho.. a very very funny yikes! Nemo pissed on her foot and jandal! muahahahaha

He really is a delightful doggy!

BK wants.. BK gets!

What the Bunnie Killer wants the Bunnie Killer gets..

*wonders if she looks like a bunnie with all this squeezing going on!*

One cute snoring Nemo!

Currently Nemo is laying to the side of me snoring his little head off.. which you can't hear in the pic.. but you can see he is ever so cute! He has a had a long few days of walking and ticks.. yesterday we did manage to pull off over 20 ticks!! Not fun at all...

So no! I can't stop praising it!

Like true midsummer style in Sweden.. it rained. But that is ok coz it was expected. The day started off like any other and then off we toddled to enjoy a small midsummer feast at the parentals.. who doesn't love potatoes and strawberries.. not on that same plate tho! We got all filled up and then headed off on our first little overnight hiking adventure.Em & Nems at the start in all the gears. LIke all good things it begins with a dirt road! but it wasn't long before we hit bush and ummm sludge! Will the excitement last?

All we had to do to not get lost was follow the orange paint.. that as it turned out was harder than it sounded and at one point we had to back track a little coz we missed the turn.. luckily it wasn't that much of a back track. The other option for me was to just follow Emma...
We then stumbled upon a horse.. who was mighty curious!
Then some sheep..
Ahh nature.. how can you not just love it?
& then an albino slug came out to say hello..

..it was a first for me.. is this a first for you?

After a good adventure through wetness, sludge, hill & spills.. yes I took a little bit of a tumble.. right before a yucky steep hill actually.. I guess the thought of it made my legs stop working! lol actually my stick(which Emma wouldn't stop praising how much of a great idea it was to buy them as they came in VERY handy and stopped both of us from falling flat on our faces and helped us up the steep unlevel hills.. and steadied us for balancing act going down the hills.. I too must admit they were a GREAT idea!) umm so where was I? oh yes my stick decided it didn't like the area it was resting in and somehow manage to pop up and down I went.. luckily I am a world class faller who has been doing it well for many years that nothing bad actually happened and I came out as good as I went in.. too bad it wasn't filmed! & sorry no pics of me down on the ground either! Not long after the tumble it was time to set up camp for the evening as we were a little buggered.. I had forgotten the couscous so dinner would have just consisted of just soup, but we weren't really all that hungry after the big lunch so we had some hardbreads & chocolate.. dinner of champions! hahaha I didn't get a pic of camp but Emma did and you can have a gander over on her twitter.. 'Tent time!'

Once settled in for the evening I had a killer pillow try to take my eye out!
But it was alllllllllllllllllllllright! I survived! Now time for snoozing.

The night was long.. a little cold and really freaken rainy.. at 1am it started to really hammer down and it really didn't let up.. Nemo was a little bastard all damn night and just wanted to be close to Emma.. alllll the way over the other side of the tent lol Emma didn't want to be near Nemo so he got shitty at me for not letting him over.. he will be over on her side on the long hike.. coz I refuse to deal with him waking me up all night being a turd!

Oh yes and while we are on the topic of Nemo being a turd, at one point during the hike we came across the sludgey area beside a small stream like area and we had the pleasure of trying to figure out how to cross it without getting too icky.. Nemo fluffed about so much that he nearly caused Emma to fall in.. I must say she did really freaken well to manage to stay up right.. I thought she was a goner for sure.. and while that happened I managed to get my foot sucked into the sludge.. up to my ankle.. which was a feat in itself to remove without the other foot getting sucked in a shitload too! It was mighty funny actually.. one of those good hiking moments!

Nemo is actually such a turd to take along that we have decided that he wont be taking his bag, as it is more hassle than what is it worth and he is just all go go go with it on or off.. and after the big hike.. any future hikes will be done without him.. poor Nemo?.. nope.. that will teach him! Prolly not actually.. coz he is just a turd!

Anyways 6am came about and we decided to get up and start the day.. first up was getting everything out of the tent and into the huts that were supplied.. why didn't you sleep in the huts? I hear you wondering.. well that is because we thought it wasn't going to rain anymore.. as it was not forecast to rain in the night and best to get the practice in with the tentage right...wrong! but anyways we start packing everything up and take it all into the huts and choose to leave the tent just up alone to air out a little and hopefully try off.. coz I was thinking.. it couldn't get more wet right?.. wrong again! It decided to bucket on down again! typical! & wow a tent weighs so much more when it is wet!

Here we have Nemo standing guard of all our gear..

..good to see he is useful for something!!

Boil water boil! I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed my coffee!
The breakfast of hikers. Oats & premix cappucino... before it is cooked that is. I can't say that I would enjoy oats uncooked.. can you? Oh and no we don't eat iPhones, matches and tape for breakfast.. just incase it confused you..
Off we go again after getting everything all packed up.. wilderness here we come!! As you can see from the look on my face.. I'm really looking forward to it! lol
After a short stint we came across the lake.. which is where we were actually planning on pulling up for the night.. but decided when we came across the huts that we would just camp there.. Nemo wanted to jump in the lake.. I just wanted to stand there looking like an old lady..

Emma and Nems striking a pose.. there's nothing to it.. Vogue!
Just another pic of me pulling just another adorable face...
Nemo tried his hand at being a MooMoo...
& then we came across some real MooMoo's!
Here we go again with the adorable faces.. Emma has this uncanny knack for taking pics of me being ever so umm.. adorable! hahaha Maybe I was saying cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese?
It was one steamy looking morning.. rather beautiful.. I guess that is one great thing about the rain.. as the sun starts to dry things you get this wonderful steam coming off everything.. made for a lovely walk that is for sure..
After many many MANY hours of walking, I finally get to have a little rest.. which we rest we pick off about a dozen ticks from little Nems.. not cool!
I even found a hitchhiker on my pants.. but sorry mr sluggy.. ho hitchhikers allowed.. he was removed and escorted away! I wonder how long he had actually been there?
After some more walking we came across some more MooMoo's..

..there were loads of MooMoo's.

The MooMoo's were mighty interested in Nems.. I guess he is a little funny looking!
Once again Emma pulled through with taking an awesome pic of yours truly.. but its a very swedish background *nods* It was the choice between this pic or another one where I am doing yet another cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese face..

..what can I say I like cheese!

We made it home.. with no missing bits and no major injuries.. my heels were a little raw from blisters, but nothing too serious and Emma's hips a little raw from the multiple belts rubbing away at her.. but all in all we made it home goodly.. just a little moody and tender all over.. nothing that a shower didn't help fix.. and boy was it a nice shower.. and now all I can think about is how much I am going to enjoy that first shower after not having one for like 10 days.. stinky I shall be! hahah

"So no! I cannot stop praising it!"

Emma Bo Bemma on the topic of walking sticks after it saved her life for the 100th time.

Today.. I made a friend!

Today I was out walking and I came across this little dude churp churp churping away.. so I did what anyone would do.. I tried to take a photo lol
When I first approached the little dude, he was very noisy but soon hushed up and was very interested in what I was.. then when I tried to take pics, the little dude was having none of that so flew at me.. which as you could imagine made me stop trying to take pics.. then he did a runner.. nothing cuter than seeing a little birdy running along the footpath. I caught up.. in a matter of like 3 steps maybe 4 and so the little dude thought it was time for a little rest on my boot but of course as I was about to take a pic of that.. he got all camera shy and hopped off.. he tried to fly away but just could get anywhere which made me brain tick a little and I thought hmm and put my hand down.. low and behold the little dude just hopped right on.. sadly it was the hand that I use to function the camera so I got no pics of me holding my new little friend. After sitting in my hand a little, he grew tired.. maybe my hands stunk? who knows.. but he tried to fly away but just went in a few little circles before deciding that the best place for him was on my arm! It is a little bit ace.. so there I am with a little birdy on my arm, wondering what the freak I should do so I start walking over to the bushy area and just as I am about to reach a tree the little dude takes flight and it was glorious! I felt like a proud mumma birdy! lol Off he flew like it was totally natural for him.. oh wait it is!

Camera fun with Nems!

Camera work courtesy of Emma Bo Bemma!

I know how to feel old!

Once again Friday has rolled around and I am left wondering what exactly did I do with my week.. I do know that Nems and I hung out a fair bit but that is something that I know without even thinking as it is the norm. He is way sick of me and misses Emma to bits! He has had a fair few yucky little blood sucking ticks this week.. Emma even found one crawling on her last night.. eww! Luckily it had not yet sunk its grubby little head into her soft Scandinavian skin! I know afterwards I felt like I had a million of the little things crawling all over me.. but alas I didn't.

Last night we purchased baked potatoes for dindins and I was saddened to discover that once again they had removed nearly ALL of the potato.. now I understand you need to remove some of the potato to fit in the filling.. but I had like the smallest amount left in it and I buy a baked potato partly to actually have.. you know.. potato! No baked spud will ever actually compare to the magic of the baked spud at the EkkA way back in 1999.. wow now that makes me feel old!

Miserable bloody weather today.. and forecast is bad for all weekend.. just as well that we are having a homebod weekend.. I get to relax and be o so bored while Emma gets to work and be o so stressed. I have Carnivàle to watch so maybe I will get thru both seasons this weekend.. we shall see. I was meant to watch it years ago but just never got around to it.. so no better time like a rainy boring weekend to fill it with recommended tele and hopefully popcorn! Mmmm popcorn!

The first of the random pics!

Totally doing my head in!

We have a new neighbour.. to add to the list of complete morons who do not know how to clean up after themselves or do washing properly. How is it that adults don't know how to do a load of washing and then clean up after themselves? Today I went to do washing to discover that the laundry room was a complete mess.. shit all over the place, a wet soggy & stinky blanket in one washer, left over washing powder the size of your fist, or well a very large mans fist.. in each of the washers.. you wouldn't need to use that much in 1 weeks worth of washing doing 3 loads a day let alone in just one wash! Lint in the dryer that they didn't bother to remove & to top it off a broken washer with no note left on it so that other people don't use it. I wanted to use that washer instead of the one with the wet stinky blanket left in it, which is how I discovered it was broken, put all my stuff in and started it up to hear the clanking of something behind the tank.. not good.. so I took my stuff out and then put it on rinse so that it would rinse thru the washing powder and shut it down to drain the soapy water and placed a note on it.. coz I am at least a little bit considerate even if everyone else around me isnt. Argh! I just want to move out of this place of morons! If only it was that easy.

However on some much better news.. I gots a new camera!! Canon IXUS 100 IS It is a spunky little camera that works pretty well... not that I have taken many shots with it yet but it is going to be great for the hike and it is the perfect pocket size! Now I will never have an excuse not to have a camera with me.. or well at the moment I do coz I don't have a case for it and I don't wanna wreck it lol but that will come soon enough. Good times! Good photos! Will you be spoilt with daily pics of random things around me? Quite possibly! haha

Yesterday Hanna came around and dropped off the camera, among many other things that we ordered from America.. and also among those things was a nice bag of bagels! YUMMO! Talk about spoilt! Hanna needs to come home more often me thinks.. if only to bring me bagels! and good fun conversation.. even tho she sounds american........ lol It was a good evening, but a late one and now today Emma has to do many hours of over time, prolly tomorrow too but Thursday is another Hanna day "Stop!HannaTime!" & that will be the last we see of her until.. who knows.. not I! HannaTime is too short and too far apart that is for sure.

So the new iPhone was announced.. do I want it? I think I might! Will I get it? I think I wont! Coz I need to get real.. I don't neeeeeeeeeed it.

O my.. how the time flies!

Monday again? What happened to the previous week? It seems time moves but I do not.. I appear to be at a stand still! My mind is at a stand still to come up with what I have done for the past week.. shocking aint it? but hey it happens..

It was the national day on Saturday so in turn nothing was open.. by nothing I mean hardly anything and it was a little confusing.. coz we are in one part of town and it was all open and acting normal and then as we get a little closer to town there is nothing open.. and no strawberries! & we had a big plan to get some strawberries from town! Typical! It was so unexciting that we came home and had a nanna nap.. aww bless. We did get some strawberries later once we headed towards the supermarket again.. yummo.. I do enjoy a good face stuffage of fresh strawberries & cream.. don't you?

Yesterday Emma asked me to make her a cappuccino.. which didn't make me overly happy.. I asked her if she was actually serious about it and she assured me she was.. so I did as I was asked and made her a cappuccino..
Now when you have a machine like this (click me) and someone asks you for a cappuccino you don't expect that they mean this (click me)
Funny! I normally wouldn't mind making a cappuccino but I was tired and a little on the moody side and really didn't fancy the hassle of having to clean the machine after.. but Emma asked for a cappuccino so Emma received a cappuccino.. and also the instant cappuccino drink too for good measure.. which turned out to not be as nice as the other one we tried.
We are trying them out to take them with us on the hiking trip.. handy I say.. handy!

Only 4 weeks to go before we head off on that little adventure. It will be painful.. it will fun.. it will be beautiful and it will be stinky.. or well we will be stinky! hahaha

It sure is a long one!

A new month has begun.. 6 months in and only 6 months to go.. but let me wrap my last few days.. a fun filled few days at that.

The week started with Emma and I helping a couple of friends move.. but it felt more like we were standing around scratching heads more than moving. We did that Tuesday & Wednesday, on Wednesday we took around a Lemon Cake to enjoy after a hard few hours of... head scratching! It was fab.. of course it was coz I made it.. didn't look as it usually does but it tasted wonderful.. as it usually does! Emma was made happy and that is what matters.

Thursday we made some really De-Lish Dooley's Chocolates.. however I don't have a single photo of the finished product.. clever I know.. so you will just have to drool over a pic from the previous time we made them. (Christmas Goodies!) However this time we pushed the 'nipples' in and then after it was all set we put some white choclates in the 'ponds'. Tasty Tasty!

Friday night we called in to see how the moving in was going and Emma stayed to help put things away while Nemo and I took off for a walk.. where we saw a couple of interesting things..
First being.. a drug deal going down.. seriously if you are gonna do it.. don't make it SO obvious! & screaching off in the car only draws attention to you!
Second being.. a policeman on a motorbike nearly running down 2 little girls and their dad coz he was driving like a moron on a narrow windy footpath.. it really makes you wonder huh?

Saturday we were up early, took Nemo for a nice long walk coz we were going to be away from him all day and then we headed off to Malmö.. it was meant to be a great day filled with sunshine and happiness! Not long into the train journey doom struck! we were told we were going to have to take a detour coz of a freight train mishap.. which is fair enough at least we would still be on the train and moving towards where we needed to go. THEN the next annoucement came and said that there would be about an hour delay and that we were to get off the train and wait for the ordered but not confirmed buses. I'm a little wtf now. THEN the next annoucement is that everyone is to get off and still wait for the unconfirmed buses but there would be at least a couple of hours delay.. seriously get your shit together! Is it really that hard to confirm a bus? So we get off the train and head to the bus area where they have no buses.. no customer service.. no nothing.. with lots of mindless dawdling and me getting shittier and shittier by the minute we then see the train people head off in ordered taxi's while we are still busless.. WTF? Does that make me any happier.. no-sir-e-bob! The weather is a little gloomy and cold.. which totally fits my mood and then as we are sitting there just waiting for something to happen.. we see a train go in the direction that we want to go in! oh come on! So we head back to the train station and find that they are saying nothing about delays on upcoming trains so we decide to wait for the next train to Malmö and just as we reach the platform.. we look over and what do you think we saw? The freaken bus we had been waiting for! Knowing we wouldn't make it back over there before it left we just stayed put and waited to take our chances with the train.. it came and it was packed as! but there was a mega cute baby on there so it made the trip a little more enjoyable. We arrive in Malmö a little over an hour after we should have arrived. Thank you shitty public service people for yet another free card.. I travelled on a free card to get one in return.. when was the last time I actually had to pay for public transport? Emma pays for it every month to go to and from work and I see to travel free on all the free cards that she gets from the trains being late.. doesn't that tell you everything? lol

Now I'm moody and really just want to go home but I try to snap out of it and make the most of my Malmö day.. first stop is the new shopping centre that is meant to be huge and awesome.. its not so huge and awesome.. then we wander around, buying the odd thing here and there.. nothing really to write home about and time flies on by and its time to head to the newly opened Friday's for lunch.. I have been looking forward to this for a while. We go in, we get seated, we get told who our server will be and we sit back and wait.. then some very quietly spoken boy comes and becomes our server.. he was not the one we were told.. but he spoke to us in english.. I guess assuming that both Emma and I were english.. who knows but he was nice, quietly spoken and seemed to have a few issues with his little handheld ordertaker. Drinks come.. yum! Burgers come.. yum! Emma enjoys another drink.. I help her.. yum! The cheque comes.. yuck! and all this happens with multiple servers giving us a combination of english and swedish and not a single server was the one we were told we were getting.. weird service all around. Not a place we will go often as I don't think Friday's is meant to be expensive and paying $100 for 2 burgers & 3 fancy girly, can't taste any booze drinks is a little on the splurgy side.. so only when we really need that Friday's fix! Maybe pop in for a mudslide here and there aye Emma?

After the feast we looked around some more before heading home.. it was hard to keep my eyes open on the train but it was hard to sleep a little with the person sitting across from listening to really crappy music really freaken loud.. in his earphones! I could hear it clear as freaken day!

Oh and by this stage the weather is beautiful! Sunshine and a little happiness! Finally we arrive home, Nemo is so happy to see us and then we head off to take him out and then its time to pack the gear up to head off to the parentals to spend the night in the tent.. our first ever sleep over in the tent.. and we do it with the comfort of having a loo near by! haha It wasn't too bad, Nemo was a good boy and didn't bark at all.. I fought with my sleeping bag all night.. I don't like being restricted so I either better get used to it or pray that its warm enough to sleep with it open like a normal blankey! I am sure I will work something out.. prolly when we are hiking I will be too fucked to care one way or another..

Sunday morning up nice and early.. cooked breaky on the camping stove, made a nice cuppa tea.. it was actually pretty fun and its made me really look forward to being in the great outdoors.. however I am still worried about the pooping in the bushes! but we have a little spade! hahaha

Sunday was the dad's birthday/mother's day foodage where we got to enjoy the De-Lish Dooley's Chocolates.. along with Sandwich Cake and Tiramisu. I also enjoyed a sleep on the couch inbetween.. with all the sunshine it was just too much for little ole Jo.. or maybe it was the beer? We get home bellies full and totally tired, veg out on the couch for a bit before heading to beddies.. ahh yet another weekend and now.... month complete!

To celebrate the start of a new month, I received my passport! YaY! except they enlarged my photo so my head looks even more giant! I have a big head to start with but my passport photo makes it look even bigger.. how nice! and really don't get me started on why you needed to send them 2 passport photos when they do a digital print into the passport.. I always thought it was one copy for the records and one for the passport.. now they need 2 for the records? Is that what the high cost is for.. storage for all the extra photos? haha but at least its here and I don't have to think about it for another 5 years.. or maybe longer if I just get Swedish passports after getting Swedish citizenship.. it would be the cheaper option that is for sure! $85 compared to the hefty $185 for the NZ passport + postage back. I'm still in shock that it costs that much for a passport that only lasts 5 years.. but you still get the full fourty-eight pages!

No feather friends have attacked me lately!