It´s a dog´s life

Postat den 8 februari, 2015 av tinajo

It´s been snowing and snowing and snowing some more – I actually feel a bit surprised by the amounts. I do have a very happy, four-legged member of the family thanks to it all – despite the fact that she hardly gets her head above the snow masses in our garden.

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 Wohoo – here I come..!

So this has truly been a real winter so far even for us in the south of Sweden – and I have to say that it´s much easier to get the rascals out to play when it looks like this instead of muddy backyards.

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We´re waiting to add another member to our family; a Flatcoated retriever pup. At least 75% of the family are beyond theirselves with happiness, 25% (aka hubby) sighs deeply and mutters that we´ll live in a zoo.

Heh.

She´ll arrive this summer sometime and hence isn´t even born yet – so I hope the litter will have at least one female puppy or the rascals will get very disappointed. Fingers crossed and all that. I look forward to it, our dog before Elsa was a Flatcoated retriever and she was just the most loving soul and very fun to work with.

I suspect Elsa will pout for a year or so, we´ll see. She´ll still be the only dog allowed in my bed and that may make up for some of it. Maybe.

About two weeks now until my sons chemotherapy and I´m getting nervous, however I´ve met two wonderful mothers on Facebook that have been through all of this with their kids who had the same tumor. They are great to talk with and helps me stay as positive as possible – their kids are doing fine now after treatment. Social media can truly be a bliss, no matter what people say sometimes.

So you know; when I sit in my kitchen and look out during the days, it´s mostly good thoughts which I am thankful for.

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And the light is coming back as well, which makes everything even better. It was such a lovely glow in our livingroom the other day that I asked to get my photo taken;

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It should be forbidden to ever take a photo without natural light, that´s all I´m saying..!

Take care sweeties!

Publicerat i dog, me, winter | 17 kommentarer

Birthday, bread and winter..!

Postat den 21 januari, 2015 av tinajo

So much is happening and the days are running by like crazy! My youngest, sweet rascal had his last radiation session a week ago which felt great – one step closer to health. He also celebrated his 10th birthday January 16th – a big day! As you can see, he was happy as can be with his gifts and he also had a birthday party the day after with his closest friends.

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He didn´t lose all of his hair due to radiation but it´s very thin – and it will fall off when the treatment continues. Doesn´t bother us at all, it will grow back and frankly we´re all just happy that he´s been in school every day lately. His friends and teachers are important to him.

I seriously don´t understand where he gets his energy from, but he pulls through somehow. A true fighter and I love him endlessly.

Besides that, we´ve got winter. Lots of snow falling which makes the world look clean and pretty in every way. I love looking out into the white:

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During winter, I enjoy cooking and baking a bit extra compared to when it´s summer, it feels cozy and warm and makes our home smell lovely and welcoming.

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Freshly baked bread with a ton of slowly melting butter on is nothing but divine, I always eat too much of it. It´s a good thing I take my walks with Elsa or my behind would be twice as wide..! Not kidding.

I hope everything is well with you sweeties, I appreciate your support so much during this time!

Publicerat i baking and desserts, birthday, food and drink, rascals, winter | 38 kommentarer

Planning ahead

Postat den 10 januari, 2015 av tinajo

It´s hard to believe, but soon it´s time to start planting seeds for the summer. I´ll be totally honest; this is something I get excited about every year because it makes it easier to get through winter (which is not my favourite season). When I hold little bags of seeds in my hands, it feels like spring will be here before I know it.

Which it will – always takes me by surprise.

Mostly it´s veggies I´ll sow myself – I have a couple of pretty looking flower seeds but I usually buy flowers at the plant shop when it´s time. I´m not that good in planning how my garden should look and that makes it easier to vision for me.

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My rascals look forward to the harvest already – funny enough I have two boys who loves veggies (I was not like that as a kid, let me be clear) and they appreciate being able to pick cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes and so on directly from the garden.

However, today it looks like this outside so I guess it will be a while:

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Both my sons have been out playing in the snow and came home with rosy cheeks and clear eyes – lovely. Good moments.

I on the other hand, am quite happy staying inside baking bread and enjoying the first tulips of the year:

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One of my favourite flowers – so very crisp and beautiful.

I hope everything is well with you – take care!

Publicerat i flowers, garden, winter | 18 kommentarer

Starting 2015 in the lazy way

Postat den 3 januari, 2015 av tinajo

It is so very, very lovely to have all of the family home at the same time. We don´t do much besides eating, playing, watching some TV, petting the equally lazy animals of the house… Well, that´s almost about it.

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My youngest son have only 7 more radiation sessions to do until he´ll get a well deserved rest for 6 weeks before the rest of the treatment continues. I´m amazed time has passed so quickly; I can remember how long it seemed when he started the radiation and we knew that 30 sessions had to be done. It´s moving forward for sure and he is doing better and better over all, regaining his strength and even playing soccer and such outside.

He blows me away, such a fighter.

We´ve not just been lazy though – we´ve transformed the rascals TV- and play room to something even better than before, with new wallpaper, some new furniture and such. I love the result and so do they (which was the important thing)!

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The snow we had is now just a memory; it melted away slowly but steady. Today it actually feels like spring outside, it´s quite warm and sunny. It makes me think ahead, to when I can start plant seeds for my garden. Can´t wait, will be fun and the rascals love to eat whatever I harvest.

But for now, I just plan to be a bit lazy. Good enough, good enough.

 

Publicerat i cat, renovation | 14 kommentarer

No Words

Postat den 29 december, 2014 av tinajo

is

~Wishing you a lovely 2015 in advance~

Publicerat i No words, winter | 13 kommentarer

Glorious winter day!

Postat den 27 december, 2014 av tinajo

This has been an absolutely glorious winter day, so appreciated by the whole family! Clear blue sky, cold and fresh air and even a bright sun to top it off with.

Couldn´t be better.

The rascals have been outside for hours playing with friends – naturally including a good, old fashioned snowball fight. As the mother Hen I am I was slightly worried that my youngest would lose his balance since it´s still a bit affected by the surgery, but sometimes one just has to hope for the best. A boy needs to feel free, no matter everything else. Everything went well luckily.

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Christmas was lovely and relaxed with our relatives here – no hysteria at all. I hope you had a peaceful Christmas yourselves – just a couple of days until the new year now..! Our 2014 may have ended in the toughest way possible, but I have faith that 2015 will be better – even though it will be tough as well.

Take care sweeties!

Publicerat i winter | 10 kommentarer

Merry Christmas!

Postat den 21 december, 2014 av tinajo

I just wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas – only a couple of days left now, especially for us Swedes since we celebrate December 24th.

We´re expecting my husbands brother, his fiancée and their kids here for Christmas, it will be really nice to see them again as they live in the north of Sweden and we don´t get the chance to just visit them over the day like we wish we could. It will be a relaxed celebration with the kids in focus, like it should be.

My youngest rascal has now done more than half of his radiation sessions and all is going well. He had some trouble for the first two weeks with throwing up, but now he feels great and have regained much of his energy. He´s also lost almost all of his hair, but that doesn´t seem to bother him. He knows it will grow out eventually and hubby shaved his off to share the experience with him. They both look very handsome I might add..!

Actually, right now life is pretty darn fine all things considered.

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The doctor has told us that the prognosis is good and that we should remember that – and most of the time we do, even though the sentence ”… but there are no guarantees” stings. It´s a very hard thing not being guaranteed in matters like this, because that is what you want – someone to promise you that all will be fine in the end.

On the other hand; life has no guarantees whatsoever. I of all people know this as I´ve had my own battles with illnesses – I just wish the rules were different when kids are involved. We have lots of hope though, there´s an abundance of life in that boy.

 So take care during the holidays and remember these wise words by Albert Einstein:

There are only two ways to live your life.

One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Publicerat i rascals, winter | 19 kommentarer

… and the days are passing by

Postat den 29 november, 2014 av tinajo

The amazing thing is that even though my youngest rascal goes through so many tough and hard things at the moment, we still have lots of fun every day.

Mainly this is thanks to him. He laughs and he smiles, like always.

It´s not possible not to laugh when he does, he´s always had the most contagious laughter.

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So the days are passing by quite quickly. We are in school as much as he wants to, his friends comes by and we enjoy hugging and talking every day. All is – for now – well.

He started his radiation and have so far done two sessions; it will be a total of 30 and after that it´s chemotherapy. I try to focus on the positive; the tumour was removed completely, it didn´t spread to any other parts of his body, we live in a city with a great hospital and skilled doctors. In terms of cancer, that is the best news – but there´s no guarantees.

It goes without saying that I´m scared – more scared than I´ve ever been.

However; he is here, he is happy, we have not lost him – and so the life has to go on like it always has. It makes us all feel better and our aim is for him to come out of this with experiences he shouldn´t have, but still alive.

So I sit here in our sofa with my lazy cat, listening to my little rascal and his friends on the upper floor – and it feels like it should. Like everyday life and days passing by.

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And for that I´m grateful.

Publicerat i cat, home, rascals | 17 kommentarer

… when life turns upside down in the worst of ways

Postat den 19 november, 2014 av tinajo

Almost 4 weeks ago, our lives turned upside down in the worst of ways. Our youngest rascal who had complained about a slight headache now and then and otherwise seemed as healthy as he could possible be, showed to have a brain tumour.

I will never be able to explain the fright and horror his dad and I felt when the doctor told us – mixed with total confusement. He was so happy and healthy beside the now and then headache, he practiced his sports just as always, he was doing great in school, had energy.

How on earth could he have a brain tumour?

From that point everything has happened so very fast and intense. We learned this a Thursday and the day after he had an eight hour operation that luckily was very succesful – all of the tumour is gone. We had one of Swedens best neuro surgeons working on him which we will be forever grateful for. I could marry that man.

But still there´s a long way to go. As a friend of mine said; cancer is not a sprint, it´s a marathon. My sweet rascal will now begin radiation and then chemotherapy to follow. It will be hard on him, it will be painful to us parents and his brother who adores and loves him.

Still, it has to be done so we have a chance to keep him here with us.

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(Sweet Elsa was so happy to have him home after two weeks at hospital)

I wish this never happened to children. There´s nothing fair in an innocent, kind child to get an illness like this, it just should never happen. But you know; we laugh every day in this home of ours, every day we´re grateful to have eachother. I cry too, but mostly I´m happy because he is here and he´s his usual happy himself amazingly enough.

And we´ll do anything we can to help him through it all, we´ll carry him the whole way.

So please keep my rascal in your thoughts, we need it. Take care.

Little by Little
Publicerat i dog, rascals, sadness | 52 kommentarer