This is Going to be a Big Year

2014. We have nearly made it through January and it is time to plan the next 11 months. Lots of things to celebrate this year, or, not to. January did not end very well though, our washing machine broke Saturday before we had done our laundry. It is only 8 months old and still under warranty but so annoying.

Some of the biggies this year:

• I am turning 40 this year. Yikes. I still feel like mid 30. Not that I have a mid life crisis (yet) but I just don't fancy leaving the 30's behind.
• Met hubby 10 years ago! WOW
• Little Olivia is of course turning 1. We have so much fun with her!!
• In July 1994 I hopped on a bus in Stockholm and...yep, 20 years ago since I moved to Germany. 

You know, upbringing in Sweden is so much different than Germany. When kids graduate from high school here - or school in general (there are several schools heree, once you are 11, it is decided for you which direction you are heading; Hauptschule, Realschule and Gymnasium. Pretty tough, only if you go to the Gymnasium you're allowed to go to college later on), they normally have a plan; college, apprenticeship.."social year (many young girls decide to work for free for a year, with elderly people, kids etc.)..I don´t know anyone who really had a plan when I finished school. Most people went abroad, as au-pairs, did language courses etc. I went on holiday to Ireland for 3 weeks with some friends from Germany. Looking back, I think it is a little weird there were no pressure from home to make a decision. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, that summer I started to work as an au-pair for a family outside Cologne. It didn´t work out but I stayed in Cologne, went to college and here I am. 20 years later. I had so many plans to conquer the world but I didn´t get any further:)

The only plan we have made so far is to go to Sweden for Easter. That is yet to be booked though. I`d like US to be a plan, a holiday around September would suit us well but I need to coordinate nursery etc for both girls first.

New Car

Finally. We have only had one car since we moved back. What a pain. But today it finally arrived. In Germany cars are built to order, depending on the car - if you want a brand new car it´ll take around 3-4 months for you to get it. Patience, patience...

Years ago I promised never to get mummy car...sliding doors, yikes..and here it is.

Seat Alahambra (or something similar). Yaay. So happy we both have cars instead of having to drive each other to work.
I can definitely see us doing some road trips in the future in this one!

Rondorf

So where do we live?  Rondorf is a smallish village/suburb outside Cologne. See, in Sweden it is big enough to be called a small town. Here, it feels more like a village, though officially it is still part of Cologne. If you look on Wiki, you can see that approx. 10 000 people live here.

In true German style, we have 5 bakeries. There are also two chemists, three supermarkets, a couple of hair dressers, a tiny post office located inside a news agent´s and a couple of flower shops. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to IKEA and 15 to drive to Cologne. Not bad for such a small place, huh?

Typically, in a true German village, shops close for lunch. This means, between 12-3 chemists, news agents and other smaller shops are close. Doh! BUT as of 2014 one chemist has decided to stay open all day, trust me, this is news! I wonder how long it will take for the other one to stay open all day, too.

Mainstreet;

Välling

Är det bara barn födda i Sverige som tycker om välling? Ingen av tjejerna tycker om det så nu har jag ett stort överskott i skafferiet.Med Emily var jag tvungen att blanda ut med mjölk så vi slutade till slut.

Gott nytt år...

Lite sent, kanske.

Ja, hörr ni, inte mycket till vinter här. Hela julen var varm, och vi har fortfarande runt 10-12 grader. Klagar inte, men en vecka med lite kallare temperaturer vore ok. Hade toppenväder igår, verkligen ett undantag för annars är det mest grått ute. Tog en promenand i skogen så Emily blev av med lite spring i  benen. Funkade perfekt när det var läggdags senare.

Utsikt genom köksfönstret.

• Köpte ju en TV till mig själv i julklapp. Nu för tiden kostar de ju ingenting. Annat var det när jag 2006-2007 köpte vår första platt-tv, en Pioneer. Oj vilken investering det var. Helt otroligt vad priserna har fallit. Nu har jag blivit en riktig sängis på kvällen. Borstar tänderna runt 8-tiden och lägger mig sen på eller i sängen. Kan ju inte direkt säga att jag ser på TV, nej. det är Apple-TV som gäller, antingen att streama från ipaden eller så hyr vi film eller köper serier. Det är nu vår andra äppel-tv i huset.  

• De senaste två veckorna har jag konstaterat att barnen fick för många julklappar. De flesta ligger i något hörn, oanvända. Nästa år blir det en drasisk reducering kan jag säga. För den som behöver 4 dagar att öppna alla klappar och inte ens orkar öppna alla, behöver nog inte så många. Och vi missade ju helt vad hon helst ville ha. En liten bil. Ni skulle ha sett tårarna när hon försökte kliva i Barbies lilla rosa Porsche. Oj, tårarna ville aldrig sluta strömma ner för kinderna. 

• Jag har gått med i SWEA Köln/Bonn. Jag kan inte bara INTE organisera mig. Måste vara får lite utlopp för den där energin. 

• Igårt körde vi igång med knattegruppen igen. Så kul att komma igång igen.