Sweden is adding a gender neutral word to the dictionary. It's "hen" which means he or she, and could be used for either. So instead of saying "he likes it", you would basically be saying "it likes it", or "it gave birth" or whatever. Perfect for describing transgender people, or someone like Pat from Saturday Night Live but I predict not otherwise to be used often in day to day speech. Read more here. It appears to be moving Sweden in a more gender neutral direction. Do you agree? It is an interesting concept but I predict difficult to implement.
I've written about wanting to re-do our "master bath" (ha, ha) before. See the post here and here for my original dream bath. I liked the original vanity, concrete look and rustic mirrors --
Well we've come a way since then and I'm embarrassed to say that it doesn't look much like I anticipated! First of all, there's the issue of storage. I picked out a cute little vanity but when it came right down to it we really needed those drawers. So, so much for a marble top, the extra cost for a larger piece means that for now we have to make do with an enamel topped vanity. The concrete probably ain't happening either but here's how: concrete - if you are so inclined.
Next we hit an impasse with the mirror and the lights. I had thought to use a more creative approach but once again practicality intervened and we went with a more common but brighter option for lighting the little space. Also, the old mirror had to go. So now what we have is the Ellenbee Vanity with the Portfolio Vanity Bar, a basic solution. I really need to add a speck of something special to what is now a Lowe's basic bath and I just found something cool that think just might solve my problem! Voila! Vinyl tile.
Can you believe it? This cool looking tile at www.ruugs.se might just be the ticket to jazzing up the space. It's too expensive to tile ($1,000 estimate for a little, bitty room!) but I think this vinyl floor at 249 krones per 300 cm (about 9.8 feet) could be about right, I'm estimating about 747 Swedish krones for the floor which is a tidy little sum of $89. Cool huh? But now what about that shipping? ;-)
At any rate, here's a new inspiration shot for this idea via "Inredningsvis.se", a lovely site full of good ideas. It is translated into English too. Now our bathroom will never look this good but these floors are worth a try. I'll let you know what I find out.
... has just ended (5/19 - 5/22/2015) but there was a general consensus, if not among the designers at least the attendees on what to wear next winter in Sweden. Elle provides a brief synopsis here: http://www.elle.com/fashion/g7934/secrets-of-swedish-style/
The 7 secrets involve khaki jackets, cream, leather pants (!) and minimalism. Not a big secret if you ask me! Most of all I'm liking the lug soled boots - perfect for cobblestone alleyways.
The reigning hero, Måns Zelmerlöv, came back to Sweden after a victorious night at the Eurovision contest on Saturday!!
Malmö waits for Måns Zelmerlöv
My cousin (with thousands more) waited and took this shot on Stortorget in Malmö, Sweden. I've been a fan since the get-go, see my post here where I rated the Swedish contestants and chose him as my #1. So exciting for Sweden, they've really got this Eurovision thing nailed! Sweden has won 5 times - 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012 and this year 2015! facts here
Check out this live video from him winning the 60th annual Eurovision contest. It starts with a recap of his winning on Saturday in Austria and then shows the Lundapåg (Lund boy) coming home to celebrate! Plus a nice choral verson of "Hero" http://www.svtplay.se/video/2960966/hyllning-till-mans
The show is in Swedish but I think the crowd and screaming girls translates pretty easily. (One of the questions is how he doesn't seem to sweat. Ha, ha) The man is a hero for life in Sweden now. This is something I've written about before, it's taken pretty seriously as you can see from the crowds. Heja Sweden! :-) And one more time, here's a link to the song, "Heroes":
Happy Memorial Day weekend kick-off everyone! An extra day off here in the States, and we sure can use it. I hope that you have a wonderful Friday. I'm all set to watch the Eurovision Semi Finals from 3 - 5:00 (Eastern Standard time) today on SVT,play. Handsome hubby linked up the laptop and I think all I have to do is hit play (hope so). ;-) Here's the line up for the second semifinal:
All the countries are clickable in the list above so you can hear the songs. And here's the link: Semi #2. Heja Sverige och Måns (the Swedish singer of Heroes, our Eurovision song).
Speaking of Sweden, love those Minnesotan descendants who made sure to keep the ö in the o! Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/us/lindstrom-minnesota-umlaut-scandinavian-roots-governor-dayton.html?smid=fb-share In Lindstöm they know that the ö makes a diff, but some people don't know that ä, å, and ö are actually letters with their own sounds and not just put there to look fancy and "Swedishy" like Häagen-Dazs®. Actually I have no idea how that would sound but it does taste good. Have a great däåög! :-)
man candy - aka Måns Zelmerlöv (See all the umlauts folks?)
Hej! Looking over my "intro" I realized that I had promised you crafts of the Scandinavian persuasion. Well, being stuck in a 9 - 5 has severely limited by time to craft but it needn't be that way for you! I hope that you are so inspired by "Hildas Hem" latest post that you rush out and visit a flea market to get the things that you need for this nifty lamp. We're looking for some little white lights for our outdoor space. Maybe I'll even try doing something like this cool hanging lamp too, using the bulbs in bottles and my kitchen tools that I also hardly get around to using now as well. (Let's just say we had hot dogs for dinner.) Here's the make your own lamp link and for those of you who have tons of time, a hot dog recipe that I hope tastes like Sweden!
Shaggy is in, and I like it. Do you? http://www.brit.co/shag-haircuts/. Hard to find a good haircut sometimes for these super straight Swedish locks. Every miss by the stylist is totally noticeable. I remember having a bob cut back in the day at one of those cheapo hair salons and she left a big hunk hanging by my ear. I had to take out my nail scissors and finish the job myself when I got home! I also remember cutting my hair on a whim in Stockholm right before meeting an old friend for drinks (Lena, minns du?) That seems rather foolish but at the time I figured who better would know how to cut Swedish hair than a Swede, and it did come out pretty nice.
Here's my friend who I hope to see again this summer, skål!
Hi friends, remember I told you I wanted to go to a Steampunk festival? See here. Well we went to Waltham with the girlie and all dressed up and sweaty hot we wandered around looking for something to do. Turns out that Steampunkers (in my humble opinion) seem to prefer the planning, preparation and dressing for the event to the actual physical doing of something once they are there. The festival did not disappoint with the range of costumes and theatrical eye candy but was a little bit of a let-down overall. Nothing some ice creams and a big pint of beer afterward couldn't fix. ;) I got quite a kick of seeing the crowd at the local Mexican watering hole dressed up like they were going to swash-buckle their way through a plate of nachos or drop out of a dirigible into a vat of tequila. I mean who knows their alter egos might do? Personally Baroness Ingrid von Ramsbottom aka the Swedish siren was ready to get back into the 2015's and out of her corset pretty darn quick. Still it was a fun outing.
Hi everyone, are you looking forward to barbecue season? I am but there's one thing missing -- korv. Swedish hot dogs with mustard are the best. I wish I could grill one up right now. Eaten with mashed potatoes or a roll they hit the spot and are always a clear fav with the kiddos.
There's lots of different recipes on line but here's one that looks approximately like Scans. Of course making your own kind of takes away from the appeal of the fast n' easy meal, but if you are really missing the taste, it might be a good one to try - let me know how it comes out!
Grind all the meat together twice, then mix in with the other ingredients. Pack in casing and simmer about 1/2 hour. Prick sausage before boiling to eliminate air bubbles. If you want to freeze the sausage, do not boil, but freeze after stuffing and then, when ready to use, put in cold water and let them simmer. Remove sausage from the water and fry.
A magazine devoted to lagom! How cool is that? Love it.
Now here's a post from Slate that I think you'll like about the flip side of "lagom" - which means just right. It's like anything your idea of what's just right, might not be mine so judgement is involved in this terminology. I cherry pick the fun side of lagom to keep me on track but there is this...
Lagom can often feel like a national hindrance, and some of Sweden’s critics argue that it has increased people’s dependence on social welfare, stifles ambition, and is overly nonconfrontational—perhaps explaining why Sweden has stayed neutral in many world conflicts when other nations might have expected them to act.
Maybe. But for a true demonstration of the power of lagom, it sometimes helps to observe a bunch of Swedes—when they are outside of Sweden.
That’s because when Swedes cross international borders, they often seem hell bent on leaving lagom far behind. And this may be especially true of Swedish teenagers and young adults, whose natural narcissism and hormones can run afoul of lagom at home.
My husband and I recently took a weekend Baltic cruise—the easiest way to escape Sweden for a couple of days in Riga, Tallinn, Saint Petersburg, or elsewhere—hoping for a couple relaxing days. But instead we found ourselves in a taut booze cruise of sorts for young Swedes. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of girls in their early 20s sat in the pre-boarding waiting area, looking like nervous mannequins, with their piercing blue eyes and expectant, clipped laughter.
Behind them milled roughly the same number of boys, some holding open cans of half drunk Carlsberg beer, some with sleeked-back gelled dark hair, some with spiky short blond hair. They scanned the room, stealing glances, tagging, and marking, before boarding.
It all lent a certain air of tension to the noisy hall. The lagom that I had embraced since moving to Sweden seemed fragile, like it was about to break into a thousand pieces under the weight of all those hormones. And sure enough, once we set sail, the ship transformed into something more like a college fraternity party—constant noise through the night, a naked man walking through the breakfast buffet the next morning—than any typical Swedish gathering.
It stayed like that for the whole weekend. Floating on international waters, away from home and the unspoken rules that govern Swedish society, the passengers gladly threw lagom overboard.
But they knew, as I did, that it would have to be fished back up before we docked in Stockholm.
Ha, tricked you! You thought it was a frittata didn't you? No such luck, this fritillaria meleagris is a beautiful checkered flower that you could find for example, here, at the oldest botanical garden in Sweden. You know about Linne right? See here, for information about this famous Swedish botanist: in English: http://www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/index-en.html
In brief, he's the one that classified the flowers in the 1700's and made quite a name for himself. He even made a name for others - "Linnea" now being a popular Swedish name for girls! At any rate, he was quite the renaissance man, and made his way to Skåne for which we have this to thank for our unique midsummer pole in Skanör. more here http://livinglavidalagom.blogspot.com/2013/06/happy-midsummer.html
Leaving you with one more picture of this special midsummer event
and a suggestion from a dear friend that Uppsala is a beautiful place to visit.
Check out http://www.destinationuppsala.se/sv/ and let me know if you go!
I love window boxes and this is probably the best one I've ever done. The trick is to stuff it full, just like a handbag I guess. ;) Hej så länge, have a great day!
Första Maj Välkommen! Welcome May 1st! I will put on my cd and listen to this song later in honor of my stepdad and his choir in Malmö who do a fantastic job singing it every year (song:"Sköna maj"). Hope he made it to Pildam parken this year again to welcome the spring.
Why the fire you might ask? It's a Swedish tradition to have a big bonfire the night before, called "Valborgsmässoafton" and sing. And drink. Natch.
So this blog could go in lots of directions - missing family, Swedish history, politics - but today I'm going personal. The first of May is the worker's holiday in Sweden, a time for solidarity and peaceful demonstrations. See here for live pics from Göteborg. So today I'm taking time off for my own personal protest, giving myself a time to reflect and walk for my rights! I am a lowly teacher's assistant (or ESP) this year and our labor doesn't do us a lot of favors but I am still glad that we have a labor movement and people fighting for our rights and those of the kids. Mass Teachers mission
"We are privileged to have these amazing kids before us. We owe it to them to teach them, not just constantly test them."
- Amie Dossantos, kindergarten teacher in Randolph
Teaching is hard but I love it. I love the kids, and the way they try every day. Many teachers try too and get burnt in the process. Why can't we help each other more? The children are tired, the teachers are burnt out. Right now we're fighting testing. Testing progress is fine, don't get me wrong, but when teaching for the tests, or losing recess or creative lessons we need to rethink. Congress is talking about revising "No child left behind" so it's time to make our voices heard. Check out this well written article: our-children-are-being-tampered-with-a-teacher-speaks-out-on-emotional-effects-of-high-stakes-testing/
We don't celebrate May 1st in Massachusetts. but I do! I'm standing up for my rights to be a well paid, well respected, and well rested part of the education community. And I'm using my God-given labor paid sick day to do so! You may think I'm a jerk to take a sick day but I am exhausted, and I feel like these little learners look to us to be in our best possible shape to teach them and guide them. If I'm a wreck I can't work. Try being a teacher's assistant (or Special Ed Education Support Professional like me) making hardly any money and trying everyday to do her best. Then I think you'd truly understand that fighting for our rights equals the best education for your children. And please reach out to your Congress if you want to get the revised NCLB (no child left behind) right: http://educationvotes.nea.org/eseapetition/ or call your senator. 1-866-331-7233 Thanks!
Cyprus
Switzerland
