Worst Weekend Ever

I always look forward to every other weekend mainly for the fact that myself and Marie are fortunate enough to get it kids free, well when i say kids free i actually only mean the twins, since they go away to their dads every other weekend which only leaves us with our oldest daughter but she is 14 so we very rarely see her since she is the typical teenager who sits around in  her bedroom all day and only comes down for something to drink or to ask if she can get something to eat.

So every other weekend we always make big plans of how we are going to spend our time, this weekend we decided that we would have a nice dinner, Marie would bake something and then we would spend the night watching movies and just having a nice relaxing night together on the couch, however it didn't quite go to plan.

The day started off great, we sat around enjoying ourselves and just generally relaxing, but after dinner i became increasingly tired and i don't mean just tired but i was nearly at the point of falling asleep, what surprised me more was the fact that it was only 8pm, and by the time 10pm came around i was done and made the suggestion that we just have a early night instead, i was making jokes through the whole night that this was all Marie's fault that she had created a old man, since before i moved to Sweden i used to be able to stay up all night doing whatever and never got tired, but i found myself on Saturday unable to do anything except think of how great it was going to be to head to bed. So we did, 10pm on a Saturday night without any children except our teenage daughter and nothing to get up for the next day.

However apparently the reason i was so tired was not down to being a old man after all, as at about 5pm on Sunday morning i woke with massive stomach pains and felt generally sick, sore throat headache you name it i had it. So what was meant to be a stay in bed until i can be bothered to get up day turned into a day where i was up at 5am on a Sunday morning rushing back and forth to the bathroom, i can tell you now that is not how you want to spend your Sunday morning EVER! So after about 2 hours of feeling really bad (You know what men are like when they get ill, it's not just ill it's really really ill) Marie finally handed me a few tablets to stop my stomach pains and get rid of all the other symptoms (Sometimes being engaged to a nurse really has it's benefits).

But it didn't stop their, well it did for me but then Marie started to feel really bad as well and ended up at around 7pm last night coughing and everything else that goes along with the cold, so looks like our nice relaxing weekend turned into a weekend from hell, all these wonderful plans just went down the drain.

I hope everyone else had a better weekend than we did that's for sure.

But until next time... i shall bid you all farewell...

The Day Just Keeps Getting Better.... NOT

Well today didn't start at all as planned, the whole plan for today was get a hair cut and then meet up with my job coach since we haven't had any contact for two weeks, but unfortunately i received a text this morning from her saying that she was unwell and would not be able to come. Great, not exactly what i need is a Job Coach that i only get for 3 months getting unwell but not much we can do about it, got to admit i have been feeling a bit under the weather myself the last few days with a blocked nose and a horrible throat.

So that kind of put that plan in the trash, i still however headed into town to get my haircut with my lovely blonde bimbo hairdresser, she's really nice but she remembers NOTHING i am actually pretty surprised she manages to remember her own name and where she works, since every time i go in to get my haircut she asks me the exact same questions over and over again, every time i have been in their same thing always, how's Marie?, where does she work? i think i have told her a grand total of about 10 times now where Marie works and what she does but she still forgets lol, she's alright though i guess.

After that the plan was to go into a local video game store and speak to the gentleman that runs it and see if there was any chance of a Praktikplats there seeing as i'm a big gaming nerd it could possibly be a pretty decent place to work, but he was not there today and i was greeted with some young lad, who works there, so i guess i shall need to try and go in again next week and hopefully he is around, if not i'll just phone him and talk to him that way, but we shall see.

After then sitting for about a hour at the train station reading my Game Of Thrones book i then got the pleasure to sit on a train with a mother and her four children, it would have probably been ok if she actually paid any attention to what the hell her children were doing, but instead decided it was more productive to sit on her ass and play with her mobile phone, while her 4 children jumped around the chairs playing with buttons and screaming at the top of their lungs. I seriously wanted to slap the mother around the head and tell her to sort her kids out, but of course i didn't. Wasn't my place but i wanted to so badly.

But i think the rest of the day will be a day of chilling out, my poor fiancée is home today since it's her day off and was meant to get at least 5 hours of just being able to relax in the house on her own without anyone being about, something she never gets to do normally, since i am normally always home. But seeing as my Job Coach cancelled our appointment i'm back home to ruin it for her lol.

But i think that's me done for the week, sorry for not posting anything yesterday but with having this cold my brain is completely fried and i honestly couldn't think of anything to write about, but i'll try and make sure i have a new post everyday next week.

But until next time... i shall bid you all farewell...

Happy Birthday Babe.

Today is a very special day for our family, today is the day that my lovely fiancée Marie turns a whopping 34 years old (Oh yea we're still young pups over here) I thought of a million things to do for her for today but i couldn't come up with anything because well when it comes to Birthdays i am not the best, i'm the type of person that likes to forget his own and not care about it and so is Marie, but i refuse to let her.

*Spoiler Alert: Post Contains Alot Of Love And May Make You Want To Be Sick*

So this post today is just for her and the reason why i love her so much.

My Hunny & My Puppy.

For anyone who doesn't know the story of how myself and Marie met let me tell you, it was just over 5 years ago and both of us were playing a online role-playing game called "World Of Warcraft (WoW)" i know we are both sad finding love over the internet and even worse finding love in a computer game but that is how it happened, we were both leveling our characters in a place called Burning Steepes within WoW and i was stealing her mobs, so of course the only thing she could do was hurl abuse at me in the online chat. From then on we ended up joining the same guild (A guild is a group of people that play together under the same name) and eventually after a few months we got talking which eventually talking and spending so much time online together turned into feelings for each other.

From the minute i met you in the game i knew you were the only one i wanted to spend the rest of my life with, your ability to make me laugh and smile when things are going rough still amazes me to this day, and although we have our problems like every couple i know that it doesn't matter because in the end we will make up and once more be madly in love.
What amazes me even more about you is how much you give to everyone around you, not even wanting anything in return, your generosity and love for everything and everyone around you is the reason i love you the most and waking up to the sight of you everyday is like dying and going to heaven because without you my life would be dull, boring and not worth living.

So although it might be lame to have found love inside a game, i am so glad that we did play that game and that we met each other, you are the love of my life, my soul mate and the reason for everything good in my life, i will love you to the end of time and beyond and know that nothing in this world can ever replace my love for you, my only regret in my life is not meeting you alot sooner than i did.

I would like to finish off this post by saying I LOVE YOU! you are my past, present and future and i am so glad to call you my fiancée and cannot wait until the day i am able to call you my wife.

Rejection.

As the image above states, rejection is something that starts from a very early age and you should get used to it but it is something i have never been able to handle all to well. Sure you tried but who in their right mind likes to be rejected.

I for one personally hate being rejected, i had been given a task from my Job Coach that i have been seeing over the last few weeks to give companies a call and see if it would be possible to get what we call in Sweden a Praktikplats basically translated it means a Practice Place. So what happens is you find a company willing to give you a praktikplats and then you go and work there for around 3 months, you don't get paid from the company but the government themselves give you a small pay, it isn't much something like 50kr per week or something there abouts but you get experience which is what most companies look for when you are looking for work.

Well today i decided to sit down, phone in hand and start making some phone calls, i had written up a list of about 7 different companies that seemed to interest me in terms of what they did and what i'm interested in (all of them pretty much computer related since i'm a computer geek) but let's just say it did not go well at all, keep in mind that i am still learning Swedish and although people say my Swedish is great i still feel very self-conscious when speaking to people, but i put that aside and gave it my all.

7 different companies, 7 different no's, i have to admit that most of them were really nice about it and explained to me why they couldn't take on a praktikplats, but it still didn't make the rejection any better. Even having it in the back of my mind that it would happen didn't make it better, the reason i had it in the back of my mind was because my Job Coach had said to me to try but expect alot of them to just say no without even considering it because that's just how it is but it made me feel utterly crap.

But i tried i guess and that is all i can do, at least when i go to my meeting with my Job Coach on Friday i can say yes i did it, and i tried my hardest and see if there is anything she is able to do since she said last time we met that she would also try and get me a Praktikplats and with her being a job coach that it might be a lot easier for her to get me one than me phoning up random companies, but i wanted to try and although i didn't succeed and feel really bad right now, i'm still pretty proud of myself for doing it. Phoning and talking to people about things like this has never been my strong suit, not even in English so to go out and do it in Swedish is just even better.

I didn't succeed but i haven't given up either, i am sure that something will come up i just need to keep fighting.

But until next time... I shall bid you all farewell... 

Children's Friends.

About a month ago my fiancée made a blog post about our son Maximus's friends at first i thought nothing of it because well sometimes children go through phases where the adopt a attitude problem, and Max? well unlike most he normally has the biggest attitude.
He ain't a bad kid he is just very easily influenced by people, unfortunately the influence doesn't extend to his parents, i guess it's because we try and teach them good things, like being respectful and things like that.

But on Friday i finally found out that what she wrote couldn't have been more accurate.

So the story begins on Friday when i took the boys up to school, on the way up Max was his normal self, pretending to be on a motorcycle with his brother and generally chatting away and just being a normal kid, laughing and talking about the stars and moons with his brother Alexander, and telling me what they were going to do today, everything was nice and then.....

We entered the school and who was there? well remember my guest blog post about the mother who had no control over her child and was basically more of a friend to him rather than a parent? well he was there and apparently Maximus and him have become good friends. It all became apparent that he was part of the cause to why Maximus thinks he can get away with talking to everyone like dirt and generally acting like a little brat.

After getting there jacket and shoes off we went into the after-school program class where they start in the morning and Max took off into the other room where this little boy who i shall not name was sitting playing, now normally they come up give me a hug and cuddle (Yes they started doing that again, apparently it is now cool to do so again) but this time Alexander was only one that came up to do so. 

Alex then proceeded to shout to Max and ask him "Are you not going to come and say goodbye to Ben" to which the reply was a very harsh scream of "Noooooo, i don't want to!!!!". In all honesty i am not that bothered if he doesn't want to come and say goodbye but what really made me want to go through and slap him off the back of the head was the attitude that came with it, safe to say i didn't.

But i just couldn't believe that in the space of not even 5 minutes that he managed to go from being this semi-sweet little boy walking up to daycare on his pretend motorbike talking and laughing with his brother to this little boy with a attitude problem.

So what are we to do? we can't tell Max that he can't play with "x, x & x" because of course if we did he would no doubt go to school and when the little boy or boys asked him to play he would turn around and say "No, my mum & Ben said i'm not allowed to play with you" which of course will just generate more problems, such as parents coming up and asking us why we don't want our child playing with theirs etc but at the same time i don't want him to have this attitude problem either that he seems to be adopting lately.

I'm pretty much lost as to what we can do to stop him from playing with them, since it's more than obvious this is where his problems are coming from, obviously seeing these children talk to people like dirt etc puts a thing in his mind where he thinks it's ok. Of course we are telling him off and putting him to his room in severe cases but i would rather that he not play with them at all. 

So what are you thoughts? or idea's for that matter? I would be really interested to see if any of you guys have experienced it and how you handled it.

Haircuts - Should Children Decide..

There is very few things that myself and my fiancée Marie disagree upon when it comes to raising the children, sure there is a few things here and there but most of the time (I'd say probably about 99% of the time) we both agree or i am able to put my point across in such a way that she actually see's the logic in why i am saying or doing something towards the children.

Most people would probably say i'm a pretty strict parent, although i would disagree with them on that i just feel that being parent is exactly that parenting and i refuse to let me kids do and decide stuff that they shouldn't be deciding upon, but yesterday myself and Marie had a conversation about haircuts and i wanted to get everyone else's opinion on it, it's not so i can get one up on Marie because normally when it comes to this subject i win anyways, but i wanted to see what everyone else thought.

So the kids hair is getting to that stage that it badly needs a good cutting (saying that they are not the only one, but i have my appointment booked for next Friday so yeehaa!), but every time this event comes around we always end up in the same discussion, the discussion normally begins because Maximus one of our twin boys is determined that he wants a Mohawk, to me a 6 year old with a Mohawk is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard or seen in my entire life (Yes! i actually googled Children + Mohawk in google images and had a look at them).


Personally i feel that children at least at the age of 6 shouldn't really have a say in what sort of haircut they get, i mean if you let children decide important things like this they will come up with most stupid and ridiculous things possible, and to me a Mohawk is exactly that. But as i said every time it's time to get their haircut he goes on about it and each time i tell Marie that i refuse to let him get one, but do you think i'm right?
Sure it's not like it's going to kill him or anything like that, it's not exactly a bad thing i just personally think it looks stupid on children and who is the one that going to have to get him up every morning and put hair products in his hair to make it stand up like a real Mohawk should? me!

For people who don't know me i am NOT a morning person, it is the worse time of day to speak to me, see me or just generally know me. So having to spend "x" amount of time messing around with hair products to get his hair to stand up and look stupid just doesn't really appeal to me.

But what are your thoughts and opinions on this? should i let my son who has been going on about a Mohawk for about 2 years (Yes he started going on about it when he was 4 years old, and don't ask me where in gods name he came up with it) now get one? or should i stick to my guns and make him get a "normal" haircut? I would be really interested to see what everyone's opinion was.

But until next time... i shall bid you all farewell..

Children's Nightmares.

Last night turned into quite the adventure it seems for Marie, it would have turned into one for me too but i think i was just to tired to wake up for anything, although i really have no idea but it just seems as Marie said to me last night that when it comes to this time of the month you feel more and more tired, it must be have something to do with the weather changing and the fact it gets alot darker alot quicker this time of year. Literally by the time 6pm comes around over here the stars are already coming out.

But last night we were both woken up by the sound of Alexander standing in our door saying "Mamma" over and over again, i have no idea why he doesn't just come up and poke us to wake up and instead insists on standing in our door way repeating himself for however long he stands there before we finally awake. Eventually however we did wake up to find out that our little boy had a nightmare, so Marie told him to go back to bed and try and go back to sleep and that everything was ok it was just a bad dream and it would be alright, so off he went back to bed.

I have no idea how long past but then i was woken up by him doing the exact same thing and found out he had another, i tried then to tell him to head back to bed and put his bedroom lights on and try and go back to sleep again so off he went, but apparently it didn't end there, i have no idea how long it lasted but Marie informed me this morning that she had been up at least 4 more times with him during the night with the same thing, taking him back to bed and trying to soothe him to get him to fall back asleep.

But it then occurred to me that i hate nightmares, especially when children have them because it leaves you feeling so helpless, i mean what can you literally do? you can't take the dreams away, all you are able to do is tell them that they are just bad dreams and that everything will be ok and try and comfort them the best you can and that is it.
It just reminds me so much of when i was a kid, some nights my mum & dad would be in my bedroom around 20 times trying to get me back to sleep after having nightmares and i now understand how frustrating and worthless it leaves you feeling when all you want is your child to have a good nights sleep but they are constantly disturbed by bad images going through their little heads.

I have no idea what he was dreaming about as i never asked, i really should as i think it would be interesting to find out what he considered to be a bad dream, but it must have been something really bad as i have never seen or heard him get up that many times during the night because of it, i guess it is something i should ask him when he comes home from school today.

But what about you? how do you deal with your children when they have nightmares, perhaps you are able to give me a few pointers in the way of helping your children during what is really a awful time for them. I will however say i'm one of these parents that are Anti children in bed so any advice of letting them sleep in your bed is out of the window, but anything else i would be really interested in.

But until next time.. I shall bid you all farewell....

Halloween Advice

A couple of days ago the boys came home from school with their very first Halloween Party invitation, for people who don't know Halloween is not something that is a big deal over here in Sweden, and personally i don't think it's such a big thing in the UK where i come from. Sure we get the odd kid or two coming around shouting "Trick Or Treat" but that is about as far as it goes.

I know that in places like the US, Halloween is a gigantic holiday and they take it to the fullest, but again not here, so when the boys came home with this invitation myself and Marie were kind of baffled. 

Of course the first question that left Marie's mouth was "Errm what should we dress them up as?". But if i'm totally honest i have no idea because it's not something i have ever been into, i did go to the odd school Halloween party when i was a kid growing up but i never ever dressed up because i just found it silly, so i used to put my own cloths on and when asked "What are you meant to be?" my simple reply was "A homicidal maniac, since they all dress like normal people" If you didn't already gather i got this from i believe the original Adams Family movie.

So i am appealing to all my reader's out their. What should we dress our twin boys up as? I'm hoping that you all have some idea's because as i said above i really have no idea about this type of thing, so any help would really be appreciated.
Keep in mind that they are both only 6 years old, so nothing to extravagant.

But until next time, i shall bid you all farewell... 

Brings Back Memories..

Growing up as a child we used to go up to my dads parents, my grandparents obviously every couple of weeks to visit them on a Sunday, it was always something that i looked really forward to, but why you might be wondering it was because of my Gran's homemade soup.

I still remember to this day sitting in my grandparents livingroom while my gran would be in the kitchen singing her heart out, for people who obviously don't know my gran, she has an amazing voice and was actually a member of a group of ladies who used to go around and sing for people and boy was she one talented women, she never sung anything that me personally would love to listen to, but all the same you know when someone has talent. I believe this is probably where my dad gets his talent from, my dad is also a musician, who plays in a few bands back in Scotland (He is also one of these very annoying type of person who can pick up any instrument and within 5 minutes he is able to play it perfectly).

But back to to the story, so as we all sat in the livingroom with my Grandad talking about what we had been up to and such likes, my gran would be in the kitchen cooking up her homemade soup and singing away for us all to hear, and just thinking back it was such a wonderful time, and the smell you know when your sitting in another room when someone is cooking and the smell of what they are cooking just comes floating through the house and your mouth starts to water, well that is exactly what used to happen. Eventually after a few years my gran past on the recipe to my mum who then began to make it and all i can say is "WOW" there is just nothing better in this world than a nice plate of homemade soup, with potato's and chunky vegetables to warm the belly on a cold day. So i have been saying to Marie for ages now that she should get in contact with my mum and get the recipe from her so that she could make it for us, and eventually after months of nagging she has got in contact and got the recipe.

Mmm so tasty.

So on Sunday, Marie got all the ingredients and made us some of my gran's homemade soup and all i can say is damn she done just as good a job as both my Gran and my Mum done, you know when you have a dish that you haven't had in very long time, and the minute you place the spoon or fork into your mouth and take that first bite and so many good memories just come flooding back to you, that is exactly what happened.

I wish you could add smell to a blog post.

I would just like to say a few thank you's, firstly to Marie my absolutely amazing fiancée for making it for me again, and bringing back all these lovely memories to me again, also i'd like to say thanks to my mum for passing on the recipe so that i was able to experience it again, and a special thanks to my Gran Moffat for making it in the first place.

I would love to hear any stories like this, is there anything that you ate as a child that you have recently made and had the same experience of all the memories coming back? Would really love to hear them, so feel free to drop me a comment below with your own personal stories.

But for now i think i shall bid you all farewell, until next..

Not So Relaxing Saturday.

The weekend finally arrived and seeing as we were kids free (the twins went away to their dads for the weekend) and with Marie writing on her Twitter & Facebook how much of a relaxing weekend we were about to have, i thought excellent however it turned into quite something different.

I woke up on Saturday and really felt bad, i have no idea why but for some reason from the second i woke up i felt dizzy and light headed, but like the trooper i am i just got on with it. Of course seeing as i am a man i had to complain about everything and say how awful i felt, i felt it was my prerogative as a man to do so.

So the kids left at around 9am and i sat around, messing around on the computer, updating my Facebook and Twitter every so often and just checking out new blog posts from some of the blogs that i enjoy to follow, while reading some new blogs that i had been put in touch with by joining a new Triberr tribe. But after a couple hours of doing this Marie turned around and said "I think i am going to go out and try and fix up the front of the house and maybe the backgarden while im at it".
Of course when these words come, you just know that even though she is not asking for any help that it is your obligation as the man of the house to go outside and participate.

But for anyone who knows me, i absolutely detest gardening, if we didn't have children i would be more than happy to live in a small apartment, or continue to live in the house but make sure that the whole garden was slabbed so that i didn't have to go out and deal with anything out there, but we do have children and with that comes the responsibility to have a nice garden for them to play in. We had been pretty lazy this year with the garden letting it basically overgrow into a forest of plants, weeds and grass. Infact it still looks like a complete jungle outside in the back garden because we have not yet had the weather to be able to cut the grass.

So on went the shoes, jacket, hat & gloves and out i went to help (Keep in mind i still felt like i was ready to pass out at any second) and got a hold of our landlords petrol hedge cutter. Seriously even when your feeling ill what man doesn't enjoy playing with big power tools or in this case garden tools, it's just so much fun. So we managed to get the full hedge cut down to nothing (We have been asking the landlord to remove it and put a fence up in the front instead, and he keeps saying that he is going to do it but that's been nearly a year so i'm not holding out much hope for it). On top of that i then tackled the back garden with it, chopping down everything i could see, so at least it looks semi respectable, now all that is left is the grass to be cut which i'm still waiting on the weather for. Just hoping we can get it before the first lot of snow lands, since last year i didn't and when the snow finally melted in i think it was April the grass was so hard to cut, think it took nearly 3 passes with the lawnmower before it was cut to a good height.

But a mental note to any man out there, when your girlfriend, fiancée or wife says that you are going to have a nice relaxing weekend, it's a LIE! they are going to make you work until you want to die, even if you feel like you are already going to die. I'm feeling alot better now, but i think i need to make myself an appointment with my doctor and have myself checked out, since these dizzy spells have been happening now for about 3 months, granted it's not a everyday thing they come and go, but the fact they are still coming is now worrying me, so i shall go and get myself checked out in the next upcoming weeks i think and see what i need to do.
I honestly believe that it is possibly weight related and the fact that i am not that active as a person, but it's best to have yourself checked out i guess.

But until next time i shall say farewell, and hope you all have a great day..

Winter Is Coming...

There is nothing worse in this world than waking up in the morning only to look outside your bedroom window and see that it is still pitch black outside, not only that the there is still a moon and stars up in the sky. It kind of gives you the thought that i hear from my children alot when i ask them to do something "I don't want to" and this morning that was the exact thought that ran through my head.

Not that i didn't want to go and meet my job coach today, but it was more the thought of i don't want to do anything, it's pitch black outside and by all accounts looks like its in the minus degree's and all i really wanted to do was head back to that lovely place called bed.

Not only was it pitch black and cold beyond belief, but it seems that since making my post "Talking Christmas Already??" yesterday that the Swedish weather decided to inform me that not only is Christmas is coming but so is Winter, as upon looking onto my badly needing cut grass i seen the first signs of it, Frost.

Winter is something that i for one am certainly not looking forward to, i don't know about anyone else but i loathe it with a passion, it's always cold, you come into your house take off your shoes and when you walk near that area you are left with absolute soaking feet, don't get me wrong it can be fun as well but for me i just can't seem to get past the fact of how cold i am and why i would much rather be indoors.

Kaiser on the other hand absolutely loves the winter, i think out of every season that we get winter is the one time of the year he is himself, i mean what Siberian Husky wouldn't be happy with bucket loads of snow to jump around and bury himself under? 

As for the kids? They actually seem to enjoy it as well, seeing as we have a Siberian Husky, myself and Marie normally like to take the opportunity to train our Siberian Husky even more by getting him to pull the kids around in their sled's, Not only does Kaiser have a blast but what kid wouldn't enjoy being pulled along at a rapid speed by their household pet? Don't get me wrong sledding down a hill is fun, but being pulled by a pure bread Siberian Husky just adds to the fun even more.

So i guess, it is soon time to bring out my old winter boots and get my hat & gloves ready to go, as it seems our autumn is coming to a end very quickly and winter is fast approaching.

But i think that is me done for the week on the blogging front, i've had some great times this week with my Guest Blog Post and alot of other things, but until next week i wish you all a great weekend, hopefully it as cold as it is here where you are, so that i am not left on my own freezing parts of the body i do not wish to name.

Talking Christmas Already??

While most of my online blogging friends are talking about Halloween and how much fun they are going to have or are having preparing for it, i get to find myself talking about the one holiday in the year i dread the most Christmas.

Ho Ho Ho?

It's not that i don't like Christmas, because there is no greater time of the year to spend time with your family and just be happy and enjoy each other company, but i find myself in a world of stress. For most people that read my blog they all know that i am unemployed still, and when you are living on one salary barely making it through month to month on what you get, it can become rather stressful.

So to begin talking about Christmas when we are only in October is like "Oh hell no!". 

I am pretty much used to it with my mum, she is always the person that's on the ball, ready to rock and roll for this time that we have coming up in 10 weeks time. She is the type of women that starts really early on it, mainly because well she has to, since myself and my family live in Sweden getting our parcels to us require alot of pre-planning and execution. Safe to say with my mum & dad's skills and the fact my dad works for a transport company they have yet to let us down.

But when Marie starts talking about it? I just go in a mind spin and everything begins to get foggy in my head, questions such as "What should we get the twins for their Christmas?" turns into a "Errrmm, i don't really know, whatever you find" Because in October my mind is just not ready and willing to start thinking about it. When i used to live in the UK i was the guy that went out on the 24th of December and bought all the Christmas presents then. Unless i knew there was something someone wanted way before hand and then i would order online, but for the most part im a 24th of December type of guy!

The twins and Mikaela has yet to give us their lists, and i cannot wait to see them this year. We normally send them all off up to Mikaela's room so that they can sit on her notebook and surf in the internet stores looking for all sorts of magical gifts that Santa Claus can bring them, and some of the things just makes me break down and laugh so hard! I would give some suggestions but i think i will wait until they have made their lists this year and make a new post about it then, so everyone else can have a good old chuckle.

But what about everyone else? is everyone still thinking about the current holiday coming up (Halloween) or is everyone else beginning to prepare themselves for the festive season? Would be really interested to hear what it is like over in America, since i know things like Halloween & Christmas are gigantic affairs, actually probably bigger than any other country i know.

So feel free to drop me a comment below, and tell me if your already planning or have already planned for this upcoming celebration! and give me some sympathy if you haven't because talking about Christmas is October is enough to drive anyone insane.

But until next time i shall bid you all farewell.

Fighting About Lego!

One of my online blogging friends called John from Daddy's In Charge is a huge fan of LEGO, infact if you head over to his blog that i have linked here you can see some absolutely amazing videos starring himself, his children and even CHUCK NORRIS! I mean seriously who doesn't enjoy a great video that stars Chuck Norris! So thanks John for putting idea's in our heads, because now we have given the children even more to fight about!

But upon seeing these videos my fiancée Marie, had said to me that she thought it was time that our children started playing with LEGO too, i mean they are 6 after all so it's not like we are in to much danger of them trying to eat and swallow the small pieces, so we had a little look upstairs in the big closet since Marie was quite sure that there was a small box of Lego still up there from when our daughter Mikaela was a child.

The box that will cause us pain.

Sure enough upon opening the door there it was standing in all it's glory, i personally think Lego is amazing, i mean what better way to encourage your children to use there imagination than by building stuff?
The twins got so excited, since they had seen this box of LEGO previously but up until now had not been allowed to play with it, yes i am one of these parents that always think the worst, for example my child will put a piece in his mouth and try and swallow it and choke to death.

But along with having all sorts of fun with their new toy, we have encountered a new problem "FIGHTING", sure our children are like every others in the world, they fight over stuff all the time but never to this extent, since bringing it out of the closet and allowing them to play with it all we constantly hear from the upstairs playroom is "Alex, that was my bit!!!" and "Max why did you take all the blue pieces!" of course this now leads to them coming down stairs and tattling on each other, which is now getting a bit tiring.

So once again thanks John for giving us what could have possibly been a great idea, but has instead turned into a nightmare. We are not going to take them away, and we are trying to tell them when they come down to tattle on each other that they shouldn't do that and that they should learn to share the LEGO out equally and not be greedy, but sometimes children don't understand this concept i guess and just want it all from themselves.

Hopefully this will settle down, or i could see us going to the store and buying alot of LEGO for both children for their Christmas and putting them in 2 separate boxes and keeping them split apart so nothing like this can occur, but what is the fun in that? none in my opinion, so i guess they just better learn to share and play nice :)

But until next i shall bid you all farewell, i hope you are all having a great day....

My First Ever Guest Post!

So today i shall be moving home for a very special occasion, as i head on over to Dropped Stitches to do my very first ever Guest Blog Post, called "Parent Or Friend" where i will be talking about how being a friend to your child could cause you more problems than you would like. Be sure to head on over and check it out and don't forget to leave me a comment, i always enjoy getting feedback from people.

You can view my Guest Post Here

I would once again like to take this small time to thank Erin Wallace from Dropped Stitches for giving me this great opportunity not only with the guest post but for being part of her awsome tribe on Triberr. Also while you are stopping by don't forget to stop by her facebook page which can be found >>HERE<<  and follow her on Twitter @erinwallace, she is truly a great person and i think you will enjoy her blog and other pages tremendously.

Kaiser Pups Spa Day.

Lets face it people we all enjoy being pampered and having a nice relaxing day being treated like a absolute kind/queen, and let me tell you my little Siberian Husky is of no exception to this.

There is nothing he enjoys more than laying down and being brushed and having his nails clipped, i have no idea why he enjoys it so much since all my other dogs that i have owned/grown up with over the years have not enjoyed it one bit. Kaiser even loves having a shower, at first he detested it and i mean loathed it. So much so that if you even went in the direction of the bathroom over the weekend holding the jug that we put his shampoo mixture in he would run a mile.

Not so much anymore though, normally if i am in the house on my own i don't bother locking or even closing the door when i go to the toilet (I know, it's disgusting, but it's not like anyone can see me) and normally he will even come in and lie on the mat in front of the toilet and just enjoy spending some quality bathroom time with his daddy.

So the other day Marie decided that since Kasier is getting to that stage again, we're hitting winter so he is regaining his undercoat and of course when this happens the inevitable happens as well, he begins to loose alot of hair, so seeing as this was happening Marie decided that she would treat Kaiser to a little bit of pampering and let's just say he went from his normal off the wall type behaviour to being this chilled out relaxed, hey what's happening dog.

Nothing like getting your belly brushed up nicely.

Your getting very sleepy.

As i don't normally get to get any good pictures of him, as normally when i bring out the camera he goes from striking a really awsome pose to running around with the attitude of "haha, you are not taking pictures of me!" i decided that i would take this great opportunity to get some snap shots of him, safe to say he wasn't all that bothered about it since he was to busy just relaxing.

What's Up? Just lying here chilling y'all!

That's right, just how i like it nice and smooth.

But anyway, i just thought i would share Kaisers little spa day, i didn't bother taking any pictures of him getting his toe nails cut because i didn't really see the point, but thought you might all enjoy a few snap shots of my little puppy enjoying his brush.

But until next time, i shall bid you all farewell.

The Things Kids Say - Magical Gloves

It really amazes me at times the things my children say, i'm aware that alot of children have a very vivid imagination but sometimes the things Alex & Max come out with just make me buckle with laughter.

The story began a couple of days ago on the way back from school, unfortunately i was not actually present at the time but when Marie told me the story i could not do anything but laugh, on the way back from the school they had been discussing their new gloves that we had bought for them, since here in Sweden we are getting extremely cold weather, i'm talking something like 10oC (50oF) and actually this morning it was even lower 6oC (42.8oF) with the addition of rain.

Alex & Max's Magical Gloves, or so they think.

Maximus was walking down the big flight of stairs known as My Nemesis while holding on to the railing which was wet due to it being raining pretty much all day, so as he was doing this Alexander turned around and asked:

Alexander: "Are your gloves getting wet?"

Maximus: "No, they are magical, they don't get wet"

A few more minutes past, Alexander was obviously contemplating his next question and finally came out with:

Alexander: "If i stepped on your hand would you feel it?"

Maximus: "No, i told you already they are magical gloves!"

Thank god that they didn't try and test this theory out, and i really have no idea where they got the whole idea that their pair of gloves had magical properties but at the same time, i just can't understand what made Alexander come out with a question like that. I mean seriously he could have asked a million and one different questions related to the gloves and what they could do but he asks if he stepped on his brothers hand if he would feel it.

I'm beginning to get very worried about the path my child is on, if the first question that springs to mind is about violence towards his brother. But at the same i am just amazed at how my children think and the things they come out with.

So my question to my readers is, what is the best line that your child/children have ever come out with? I would be really interested to read some other stories about the things their children come out with.

But until next time, i shall bid you all a farewell, i won't be doing any posts over the weekend so i hope everyone has a great weekend and i shall resume my blogging on Monday! until then take care.

Searching For Work = Frustrating.

There is few things in this world that really irritates me, ok i'm lying there is quite a few things that annoy the hell out of me, but the main one currently is looking for jobs. You would think that this is a pretty straight forward and easy task. You know go on to "X" website do a search for the area that you are interested in working in and then find a job that you can possibly apply to, but here is where it gets both interesting and frustrating at the same time.

In this current economic state jobs are very hard to come by if we are all very honest, i think currently in the country of Sweden for every one job there is possibly about 10,000 applicants for that one job, these numbers are not factual but i know that Sweden has a very high unemployment rate currently so it could very well be possible but that is not what making looking for employment difficult, the fact is that when browsing the normal sites and looking at each job that catches my eye i see the same stupid requirements over and over again.

Requirements:

• Driver's Licence (Unfortunately this is something i do not have currently).
• Experience and or Education.

Now the education i can understand at least for some positions but not for all, i mean surly the opportunity to be able to train someone to the company's liking is far more appealing than someone who has done the job before or has education in it, i know quite a few people who have degree's etc in certain fields that i am pretty sure wouldn't do the job any better than someone trained on the job.

As for the experience this just irritates me when i read this why? because of the simple fact how on earth are you actually meant to get any experience in that job or field if no company is willing to hire you without it, i mean you can't just automatically come up with experience and surly like i said before a company would benefit more being able to train someone themselves and show them how they would like the job done over someone who has done that type of job before and wants to do it his/her way. Maybe i am being naive about this whole concept but it still doesn't take away at least from me the fact that it is impossible to get said experience without being given a good solid chance.

Now onto the stupid thing known as a drivers licence we have a saying back in UK which is "A Catch 22 Situation" this is exactly how this whole concept of requiring a drivers licence comes across to me, if you haven't looked at the most recent costs involved in obtaining a drivers licence then i'm pretty sure you would be absolutely shocked i know i was. So obviously for someone unemployed not even saving all there benefits (something i do not get here in Sweden, because i A) have never worked over here and B) ain't a Swedish citizen) would you be able to afford it, not at least with one years worth of benefits.
So we are stuck in this catch 22 situation, to get a job you need to get a drivers licence, but to get a drivers licence you need to get a job. How is this even remotely possible?

I was looking through the job adds today and out of about 10 jobs that i could have seen myself doing i could apply for a grand total of ONE! that's right the other 9 jobs required a drivers licence so i expanded my search to other area's of the country that is still within distance by train / bus and i found plenty more but once more they all required either a drivers licence or experience / education in that subject.
So right now i am in a bit of a bad mood, i see the opportunity for work out there but it is not obtainable by me because of the above, so what am i meant to do? i mean really i can't just magically get experience and education and i can't afford to get myself a drivers licence certainly not on one wage coming into the house.

I hear alot of people thinking, well why doesn't he just go back to school and get the qualifications he wants for the job he's wanting, and yes that would be a great idea if you didn't have to pay for it, which would require me to take out student loans etc, and this is just something i am not willing to do mainly for the fact i have come over to this country debt free and i really don't want to get myself into debt. Some people might disagree with this, and some might find me being stupid by not going down this route, but my family requires money, hard earned cash not cash that i am going to have to spend the next 10 years of my life trying to pay back if i even get a job at the end of it.

How i currently feel right now.

So as you can see i am pretty much stuck in this catch 22 situation and have no idea how to get out of it, but i guess something will come along eventually and then with my first wage i will be able to sort out the drivers licence part at least.

But until next time, i shall bid you all a good day!

So Proud Of My Daughter.

I have to be one the proudest parents in the world right now, i was sitting down the other day just chilling in front of the computer like i normally do, you know checking Facebook/Twitter etc when my daughter came down the stairs from her bedroom to inform myself and Marie that she had passed her Spanish test that she had the other week.

Personally when it came to myself and other languages i have always struggled with them, although saying that i took French when i was in High School and no matter how much i hated the subject and no matter how much i tried to fail it i always managed to remarkably well at it and pass nearly every test.

But not only did my daughter pass her Spanish test, she went one better and completely rocked it getting the highest grade you possible can currently a "A". I mean i cannot be more proud right now of her, she is always acting the dumb blonde and then she comes home with a mark like that, it just goes to show you she is far from the word dumb.

As a added incentive  for her to do well, and to get her to study we had came to the agreement that if she passed any test with the highest mark you can get the "A" that we would give her 400 Swedish kroner which works out to be about £40/$58, so it looks like we had to pay up. However she decided that instead of getting the money to spend it however she wanted to, she opted to get a pair of new shoes.
I of course cringed at the thought of more shoes in my house, honestly at the rate my girl is going she will soon be able to open up her own shoe shop with t he amount she has, it's ridiculous.

So you can say that right about now although hating the fact she has bought another pair of shoes i am still one very proud little daddy for her doing so awsome on her test!

Until next time though, i shall bid you all farewell...

Football (Soccer) Season Over

So the football (Soccer) season has finally come to a end, unfortunately for Alexander he has missed the last month of it due to his broken foot, and with him still not being able to walk right (he is currently walking like he has pooped his pants) which is kind of sad, but there is nothing you can do about it. I am sure he will be ready and eager to go when the season starts back up again next year.

I was actually kind of surprised that they have ended the season so quickly, since although we have been having alot of rainy and windy days recently we have yet to see any signs of snow, so it is not like they would be unable to play the sport. But on the other hand from what i have heard through the chatter of the local football (Soccer) mums, the little boys don't actually have a real coach. This came as no surprise to me as it seems they have a new one each week, if it isn't the real coach of the football team then it's some teenage boys that play on the team.

I have got to admit though i have really enjoyed watching them train and play at their first game that you can read about >>Here<<, i have always been the type of person that believes that all children should do some sort of athletic sport. So when the boys had the chance to take up football (Soccer) of course we jumped at the chance and they have really seemed to get into it.

Although saying that i would really like to get them into a martial art when they come to that age, i started doing a martial art called Taekwon-Do when i was around 10 years old and loved every minute of it, it not only kept me fit and healthy it also taught me about respect and control, unfortunately with moving over to Sweden i have been unable to keep at it, which is really disappointing since they don't have the same federation over here. I was considering maybe starting my own and contacted my old instructor about it but after looking into costs etc, right now it is just something that is not going to happen (perhaps a future endeavour).

But as i was saying the season is now over and the children loved it, i am perhaps thinking of maybe speaking to the head coach up there when the season is about to start and maybe seeing if i am able to help out with the training in anyway, i think it would possibly be a great way to network and get to know people, rather than standing quiet on the sidelines just watching them.

The boys and their football (soccer) team.

But until next time i shall bid you all farewell....

Why Does Ben Have Dirt On His Face.

So the other week i was taking a nice relaxing nap on the couch, well i should say i was trying to take a nice relaxing nap. For people who haven't read about Me & My Family i live in what can only be described as a ZOO. We currently have 3 children, 2 cats and a Siberian Husky, i'm pretty sure if we get any more pets or children i could probably open up for admissions to my house to view the creatures that live inside.

But back to the story at hand, so as i was trying to take a relaxing little nap on the couch, i hear the faint words being asked by Alexander to Marie, "Why does Ben have dirt on his face?" i was rather confused by this question since i hadn't been out the house since the early hours of the morning to take the kids to school and i was pretty damn certain that i hadn't rolled around in the mud on the way there or the way back.
Then Marie came back with the answer to my curiosity "That isn't dirt, he just hasn't shaved in a few days, when you grow up you will have get that too".

I am pretty sure that i have never heard nor seen anyone more disgusted when he replied "No, i don't want that, it looks dirty!" I couldn't help but have a little chuckle to myself inside. The poor boy honestly thought that my lazy ass had dirt all over my face, what i still can't understand is why is this the first time he has mentioned it. I mean i am not the most clean shaven person on a regular basis, i have no idea why i don't because for my Christmas Marie had bought me a electric shaver so that i could do it in the morning and it would only take me a few minutes, but i guess that is where the laziness comes into play.

It's not that i don't want to be clean shaven, because deep down i really do. It's just when i get around to do it, it is more like a chore than anything else. I should however just shave my scruffy self and then keep on top of it with the electric shaver but i guess the thought is much more appealing than the action.
Of course when i get myself a job i will be clean shaven everyday, that's a given but right now it is only my family that see me this way and occasionally friends on Skype so i don't really bother.

Although after hearing his comment, maybe it is time to turn over a new leaf and start shaving on a regular basis so that my child doesn't think that i am walking around with dirt on my face.

But until next time i bid you all farewell...