Happy birthday...

to me! Yep, I'm turning 34 today - and I've got the powertools to prove it! Big S and little H came singing the birthday song to me, H had made me a plastic canvas bookmark with thread and needle and all, and there was this big square box, quite heavy too. I open it up, and what did I find? A Bosch cordless screw driver! It's so small and cute, now I too can screw together stuff in a jiffy :)

My parents are coming this afternoon to celebrate, and little H is all over the place with excitement - we're turning on the disco lights this evening!

I've got a ton of birthday cards this year; mainly because I've joined a birthday card and floss exchange over at Brooke's Books Interactive (yahoo group) - and the cards have been coming all month long. A month long celebration, who can resist? Here's a pic of the cards I have gotten, with the floss next to "mount cards".

Thank you SO MUCH all of you - there are some truly crafty people out there, some of the cards are handmade... It's my living room table, in case you were wondering - and yes, we have put up our easter decorations.

Other news: Our house is now up for sale, even though we're not buying any of the houses we went to see. We're thinking of building a new one instead - less hassle, great fun and perfectly customized for US. If so, we will be building in big S' home town so little H can have the family near by. Exciting times, folks!
I'm now on the next course, which is "Human learning and development in a changeable society" - in plain speak, we learn how to teach people about stuff (ie. their illness) and how to customize our information to the individual. It's all about the individuality of people, all the time, folks! Remember: You are unique in your own setting, with your own values and your own set of hopes, dreams, abilities and shortcomings. I'm supposed to understand all of them. ;)

WIL-week

Time flies! I guess the school-thing is taking a lot more pondering than I thought - my head is sore...

This week I'll be on WIL - "work-integrated learning" on a local health care center. Well, it's not that local, I have to drive half an hour north of here to get there, but compared to most of my student colleagues I've got a really close one. Some of them have to travel for over an hour to get to their WIL... I'll be studying how the nurses (and other medical staff) greet the patients, what kind of language they use, how they explain things, what they do and how and so on - basic communication. It will be interesting to see the hcc from the other point of view, usually I go there because H is sick or something...
I've even got a badge with my name on it! :D It says "student nurse from x school" and is to be worn at all times so people know who I am and why. *Gee, I didn't know that was why medical staff always wear name badges...* o_O

I've actually got a bit of stitching done - I started the 12 houses sampler from The Drawn Thread when we were in Dalarna, but put it away when I 'suddenly' discovered that I had signed for two exchanges that needed prioritizing ;) Now when I've finished those two, I've started my sampler again. It's working up quite fast, although there are some speciality stitches - it's a lot easier when you can say "today I finished two houses and a tree".

Picture time!
Yup, this is the 12 days sampler - I've actually finished three trees, one house and two rooftops since this pic was taken :)







And then the initial scissor fob exchange over EMS - I got Jeanie from Singapore, so this little one had to go halfway across the globe to find her home! H helped me choose the blue beads on the edge ;)

I've got another exchange item to post as well, but I'll wait until I've heard from Lynne in Scotland that it's arrived. Don't want to spoil the surprise!

My baby...

is no longer a baby... We went to IKEA on saturday and bought her a "real" desk chair to sit in by her desk. So now she is no longer my little baby on a baby chair, she's on a proper desk chair with wheels and all! I just have to put up a pic of her here, with her legs crossed <3


I've been very busy these last weeks, preparing for school of course includes making myself a new school tote/bag/purse to carry my essentials in. I still haven't decided wether I'll be needing to take the laptop with me to school, so I made a tote/bag that is big enough to fit the laptop as well if necessary. Not the best pics - I didn't give myself the time to crop and such, so they're straight off the camera.

Empty of course it looks like a pile of fabric... It's not easy to see, but I actually managed to make a hidden zipper pocket at the front, just where the two fabrics meet. Very proud of that one, it took a LOT of pondering to get it right. It didn't turn out as I planned, but it is hidden and can take lots of stuff without anyone noticing.

With all my props in it! :) The bottle with LOKA on top is an empty water bottle if anyone is wondering - gotta have water close by! There's still plenty of room, so I can easily fit two or three text books in it as well in case I decide NOT to take the laptop + the fabric is really sturdy (IKEA ...) so it can easily carry all that weight. (Of course I had to buy more of the same fabric saturday, same weight, different print. ;) )


I also made myself a pencil case to keep all my pens in one place - yep, I'm a pen collector... I can't go past the pen shelves in the book store without buying at least one! So, I have LOTS of nice pens in my hidden stash...

I've been stitching for an exchange over at EMS as well, but of course I won't show my finished product until I've heard from the other side of the globe that it has actually arrived there. :)

Today I plan on taking it easy, it's first day at daycare for Hannah today, so I'm all alone with time only for myself (and blogging, of course). It's good to get a week "alone" before school starts, to get myself organized and prepared as far as I can. On Thursday I'll be going to campus to get entrance cards and library cards and a little information; it'll be a full day at campus for the first time!

Have a great day!

Biscornu exchange

So I mailed my biscornu for the EMS exchange yesterday - I forgot my camera, so I took pics of it with my mobile phone. Needless to say, the quality was less than excellent... I can't show the pics here yet anyway, as I don't know if my exchange partner has received it yet! I don't want to spoil the surprise... ;)

I've got a small project for myself too - I'm moving all the new freebies from the laptop to the stationary computer. And I can't seem to find the USB cable, so I use my USB memory stick as temporary storage - it'll probably take a little while to move everything, and then I have to sort the freebies into the correct folders as well... Why oh why do I do these things to myself! I really need to get an external hard drive to keep all my stitchy files in! :)

I've started my second L&L angel as well - nothing to show yet, but I will post pics as soon as it looks like something!