Midsommar

Well as most people were aware yesterday was Midsommar here in Nordic land, and for once since i moved over to Sweden we were actually twins free. Normally it ends up with it being our weekend every year but this year was different so the boys got picked up by their dad at around 12:00 yesterday.
But before they left to go and spend the holiday with their dad we all sat down outside and had some amazing cake that Marie had baked that morning.

Sorry about the quality, don't know what she did when taking the picture.

I have to admit, i'm not normally one for eating cake. I don't know why and i'm aware that is indeed very strange for someone not to like cake all that much but hey that's just how i am, but saying that i really enjoyed this cake and there is nothing better than eating some Swedish Strawberries in the summer!

But shortly after eating the awesome cake the boys set off and we got to sit back and spend the whole day relaxing with some nice cold beer.

Nothing beats some Mariestad Export!

It was so nice to just sit back and relax for a change, without having to take the kids up to the little festival type thing they have up the road, not that it bothers me going up since it's the Swedish Tradition and well the kids should experience it but i just find it a tad boring and watching grown adults dancing around a big pole singing what can only be described as silly songs is more disturbing than entertaining.

But not only did i end up with nice cold beers but for the first time this year we fired up the BBQ and all i can say is OMG i have missed firing up the grill and cooking some tasty meat!

Just look at that tasty meat cooking away, i'm aware our grill looks a bit rusty underneath but that's what happens when your a idiot like i am and leave it standing out over the winter :( Still lucky for us that was the only part that got rusted and after a bit of elbow grease from Marie the rest of it came up nice and shiny.

  

And well this was what i ended up with for my Midsommar meal, and what can i say about it..... The meat just melted in your mouth and the potatoes that Marie made were orgasmic in your mouth, i swear i have never tasted potatoes that were so good!

To end our Midsommar day we sat around in the livingroom with our daughter Mikaela and watching a few good movies, Mikaela didn't like nearly any of them but i did so that's all that matters eh ;) You know what teenagers are like and they're taste in music/movies etc.

But i hope everyone else enjoyed their day as much as i did yesterday and as for today, well i still have a few beers left so i think they will be drunk later on and the rest of the day will be spent relaxing!

Great Day Ahead!

Well i know i promised more blog posts through the week and i have let you guys down with that, but all i can say is sorry, but i thought i would try and make the effort today and put one out!

So what has been happening? Well pretty much the same thing really been going to work all week and getting stuck in, my fiancée Marie spoke to my boss the other day and decided she would probe him a little and see if she could get any information out of him about how i was doing or at least how he thought i was doing, since he is not one for just throwing out compliments when someone is doing a good job and from what he has said it seems he likes me and thinks that i'm doing a awesome job which is very nice to hear i think you could agree. Especially since as i said he hasn't said anything to me, but my train of thought on that is that if he doesn't say anything it means i'm doing good and i should only worry if he starts complaining about things.

Yesterday however was an absolutely amazing day, infact probably the best day i had in a long time. Firstly i got invited out by all my work mates for lunch which was awesome, we had some nice chicken and fresh potatoes in a pepper sauce which was absolutely fantastic followed up by a really sweet desert which i have no idea what it was called, but it tasted good so i guess that is all that matters, and it was just nice to go out with people who ain't Marie and the kids if you know what i mean, not that i don't like going out with Marie and the kids but sometimes, just sometimes you need to get away from your family and spend time talking to other adults that doesn't include conversations like what are we going to have for dinner and other family related events.

I then followed up that amazing dinner by going to get my haircut, but that was not before i nearly ran down Marie in the basement at work lol, yea i was kind of behind on some stuff because we have this new guy in for the summer and well he messed crap up and put us way behind on collecting the trash & dirty washing so i was still zooming around the basement collecting and emptying trash and taking the big trailers back to where they should sit, so as i was flying down one of the corridors Marie decided to open the door to the changing room she was in, i didn't hit her or the door but if she had taken a few more steps out she would have been road kill. NOTE TO NURSES: Open door slowly when you know there is trucks driving around the basement haha.

And then to end the day! Well i came home and decided it would be a cool idea to go outside in the back garden and play a bit of football (Soccer to my American Readers) with the kiddies, it wasn't planned but they were all out the back playing so i thought i would join in.. 

I can only say one thing... Even though i'm working i'm soooo out of shape lol. After about 15 minutes of running around the garden with the kids i felt like i was going to pass out lol! I had to get Maximus who was on my team to go out and play so that i could just stand and be the goalkeeper. But the kids seemed to enjoy the fact i was out with them playing, something i really should be doing alot more often.

And today.. Well that will be a new post for tomorrow but it's Midsummer over here in Nordic land, so i have the day off and the weather is amazing outside so we shall see, so until tomorrow! Have a fantastic day!

I Felt So Guilty!

I expected yesterday to be a good day, it was Friday after all and that means END OF THE WEEK! and to top it off Sweden was going to play against England in the football, so when i got up yesterday i was like YES what a awsome day ahead of me! Work and then home to cut the grass followed up by a night of quality football, well my day didn't quite go as i planned and my morning at work turned into a disaster.

You might all be thinking what the hell happened that made you think it was a disaster and made your day so bad?

Well i was on trash duty, hell i'm always on trash duty but since i got my new shoes on Monday there i was now allowed to collect the trash that i would be disposing off in the small work trucks we have, they're little 3 wheel things that don't go very fast but are really fun to whirl around the basement of the hospital in, or hell at least i think it is!

Well i had collected the first set of trash bins and attached them to the back of the truck and had went away down and emptied them in the big machine that we use and on the way back to put the empty containers back in their places i turned the corner to find my boss with a bunch of trailers that we use to transport clean and dirty laundry in.

So being smart i decided to stop the truck and said to him "It's cool, i'll wait. Carry on" to which he replied with "Kör bara" (Translated to "Just drive") now if you can picture a semi narrow hallway and on the left hand side you have the elevator that takes you up to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd ward and then just a few inches up the wall you have one of those big fire extinguisher hoses that sit on the wall.

Well the one that sits on the wall is encased in some sort of mounted unit that has doors on it, basically so it doesn't look messy i guess but oh well, i did i was instructed by my boss and put my foot on the accelerator and began to drive forward, keep in mind that i had 2 big massive trash containers on the back one of them being a gigantic metal one and the other a fairly decent sized plastic one.

But as i put my foot down on the accelerator and began to move forward i heard the dreaded sound "CRASH" and i knew exactly what had happened.. my heart sunk.

As i looked around all i could see was this big metal cupboard that houses the hose half of the wall and the pipe that sends the water to the hose half way out and twisted to hell.

You could imagine the first thing that came out my mouth was "F**K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  i think i screamed this word about 100 times, before finally i snapped out of it with my boss saying "Ben, it's fine mate. Don't worry about it! It happens to everyone"

I think i spent the whole morning and pretty much full afternoon feeling guilty as hell, since the day before my boss has said to me "Your doing a awesome job driving those trucks, you have really got the hang of it." and now here i was smashing a big trailer into our fire extinguisher and about ripping it off the wall.

Safe to say by the 2nd Coffee Break we have at 14:30 we were all sitting outside and having a good laugh and they were all exchanging their crash stores, but i just felt so guilty all day i mean i felt like i had let my boss and team down. I knew it was the wrong move to attempt to drive the truck past, but at the same time my boss had told me to drive, so what was i supposed to do. Safe to say this was my first and i hope last crash i ever make but i have learned to take it a bit easy.

But now i have got a new nickname at work "Kör Bara" (Just Drive) and i'm pretty sure it's something that i will never get to forget.

But i think that is all for today, i am going to try and make an attempt tomorrow to sit down and write up a few posts so that i can just release them as the days go on :)

So until next time i hope your Friday was alot better than mines was, and remember when your boss tells you "Just Drive!" don't listen to him haha.

Not So Bad Today!

I think yesterday had to be the worst day for me ever, it could have had something to do with the fact that in total i think i had gotten about 2 hours worth of sleep before the alarm bells on my phone began to chime and it was time to head out for work.

So on top of having raging toothache from the night before i had to then do a 9 hour shift as well, let me just say it was not fun. I don't think there was ever a time since i started 2 weeks ago that i just wanted to stay home, curl up in a ball and just die.

So last night before bed i decided to do the smart thing, take some tablets so that i wouldn't have to be faced with getting up at stupid o'clock in the morning to fight the most horrid pain known to man and it seemed to have worked, i still felt tired this morning for whatever reason but not half as bad as i did yesterday that is for sure!

But today turned into a great day, i spent pretty much the whole morning burning around the basement on the truck with stuff attached the back like dirty laundry and trash which was really a bucket load of fun, i have managed to get myself up to having 3 trailers behind the truck which is the most we are allowed to take so that i'm impressed about although i have to nearly slow down to a stop just to get around the corner without taking the corner with me but oh well i'm sure things will come it is after all only my first day doing it.
The rest of the day has been pretty much spent running around the hospital and moving stuff around which is always fun, makes me actually get a workout and i think in this whole process that i'm actually beginning to loose some weight again which can't be a bad thing i have to say.

But now i'm back home and starving, not to mention my feet are smelling like hazardous materials so i think i better head off and grab a shower and get some food into me before i pass out!

So until next time, which will probably be the weekend since i'm always to knackered to come home and sit down and write anything, Hope you have had a great day!

It's The Weekend!!!

Well finally the weekend is here and all i can say is "OUCH" my full body is in full shut down mode, i thought last weekend was bad after my first week working but this week has been 10x worse. The work has been really fun and i'm still loving every second of it but my body is in so much pain that i'm unsure if it can withstand anymore. When i tried getting out of bed this morning i'm pretty sure i felt like i was ready to collapse again, the pain that went through my legs was unbelievable.

I know it's because i have spent the last 6 years sitting around the couch watching TV and playing games and my muscles ain't used to this type of hard labour but OMG does it hurt!

Got to say though the week went flying by, probably helped by the fact i only actually worked 4 days this week due to the Swedish National Day, but the work was actually really fun too, i got to try out someone else's job that works there since he was on holiday for a week which involved transporting patients to different parts of the hospital and i got to say it's something i would probably like to do on a full time basis, some of the people you meet are amazing! They really brighten up your day, and you get to have really weird but interesting conversations with them.

But the normal guy is back next week, so i'm guessing i'll be going back to my doing everything i can find roll, which is fun since it's still never the same thing everyday and even though i'm all for consistency and i love to have certain things to do at certain times, the fact i know i'm coming in to god knows what really makes it exciting to go to work, yea i know i'm weird i'm probably one of a handful of people that actually enjoys heading into work :P Funny thing is i never used to be like that, the thought of getting up and going to work was really depressing and you know the thing like when your off work you wished you were working but when you are working you wished you didn't have a job, well so far i haven't had that thought.

I think it had to do alot with the people that i work with as well, because they have really accepted me into the group, and we are able to have a really good laugh while getting the job done at the same time, which i think is really important. Alot of the times in my previous job it would be all work and no play and we all know that makes for a very dull time.

But it's the weekend and i was planning on cutting the grass today (trying to keep the grass cut on a regular basis this year) but the lovely Swedish weather has decided to go away and leave us with a massive amount of rain, so i'm guessing that idea is going on the "oh well list" So today i think i will just chill out since we are totally kids free, maybe take a bath, play some computer games and then chill out with Marie :)

So until next time... have a great weekend!

Day Off!

Well just like the title states above, today i have a day off work since today is the Swedish National Day. Up until now i pretty much didn't even know it existed i'm pretty sure that my fiancée Marie has probably told me about it every year but seeing as i was always off work it was not something that i really paid much attention to.

But now that i'm working YEEEHAAAA for Swedish National Day.

So instead of having to get up at 5am this morning and getting ready for work, i got to wake up when i wanted to and now get to spend the day with the family, well minus our oldest daughter Mikaela, who will be spending the day in town since she has some majorettes thing to do today, but she will be home later on this afternoon.

I have to say i think today will  be a nice day, for some reason yesterday i was in a huge amount of pain in both my hands and legs and for some reason no matter what i tried (even had like 6 cups of black coffee) i could not wake up at all, so yesterday i pretty much spent the whole day walking around the hospital yawning my head off every 30 seconds lol.

I have no idea what we shall do today, probably just sit around and try and take it easy since our lovely Swedish sun has decided to abandon us these last few days and give us nothing but rain, damn you sun!! but even though we probably won't get up to all that much it's nice to have a free day off work, i know your probably thinking "Dude, you have had like 7 years off work" and your right, i would probably rather be working but my body is enjoying the fact it won't have to carry anything or pull anything around today hehe.

But i think i'll go and start my nice relaxing day so until next time! If your Swedish have a awsome National Day! and if your not... well ..... HAHA enjoy your day working! :)

First Week On The Job!

Well as most of you know already, on Monday there i started my 3 month "praktikplats" at the local hospital in Lidköping as a Janitor/Caretaker type person, and i have to say although it was something that was not exactly my ideal job i absolutely love it.

I don't know if it's because i have been unemployed for so long (close to 7 years) but either way just the though of going up in the morning and getting ready and heading off to work just makes me get all happy, i'm unsure if Marie is enjoying me going to work since all she wants to do is sit and not speak and relax before work where i'm like all hyped up and ready to get cracking but either way it's brilliant.

So i basically thought i would let you all know how it's been going, Monday was fairly easy day being that it was my first day and all i really did was follow people around and get shown the ropes as to the different jobs that the guys down in the basement do but as the week progressed i got to do alot more interesting stuff and start doing things on my own which was pretty awsome.

The people that i am working with are just awsome, not all of them i must say there is one or two guys that i have followed around who i have to say make the day drag on more than anything but the rest of them are just awsome, when i'm with them the day honestly just goes so fast that it feels like i have walked into the place and then walked straight back out of it, and hell who doesn't want a day like that eh?

Not to mention on top of doing all different types of jobs that i would normally have probably thought would be boring which have turned out to be pretty fun, i'm surrounded by Swedish people who THANK THE HIGH HEAVENS! speak absolutely NO ENGLISH! or if they can, they never speak a word of it, this i am the most thankful for i think. Having to be forced to speak the Swedish language and knowing that the only reply i will ever get is in Swedish is just amazing and makes going out to work even better, even if i don't understand some of the things they come out with i can normally pick up enough of what they have said to be able to translate the words i don't understand on my own, so on top of going out and learning a new job and different aspects of what they do, i'm also increasing my vocabulary in the Swedish language and finding myself getting alot more confident in my own.

But the week has not gone by without a few bumps and scrapes i have to say, in only one week working their i have managed to completely bruise my whole right arm which right now is hurting like hell and a few cuts here and there but hey it's the life of a hard working person i guess.

I'm just hoping that next week will be just as fun, i'm guessing next week i'm going to have to start taking my own initiative but we shall see, either way it's an amazing feeling to get up in the morning and to know that today i won't be sitting on my ass at home playing computer games and watching TV and that instead of that i will be going out of the door and heading to work for a full days graft.

Nothing beats it i must say!

But i think that is all for today, even though i'm off today and i was planning on just sitting around and playing games i have noticed that the grass is looking a wee bit long again, so i'm going to have a nice cup of tea, perhaps some breakfast and then head outside to get the grass cut :)

So hope everyone else had a awsome week and that you have an amazing weekend! I know i have and will!

So until next time....