"There's no place like home"

Today me and the zoo moved back home. It was quite nice. But there is
a bit of work to do because the painter was here. So now it is time to
clean and put furniture back and organize stuff. Anyone want to trade?
Anyone? No takers?

Little chicken :)

Susanne was over visiting today and she met my little chicken :). Well
he's a finch but I just call him my little chicken :). He had a nice
nap in her hands and seemed to like her a lot. I got a cute picture of
just his head poking out :).

Last call!

For shots anyway :). I took the last of my blood thinning shots today
and it was wonderful (not the actual shot of course, just the feeling
of it being the last one). Ten in all and I gave myself nine of them.
One I made the nurse at the hospital do. I never ever thought I would
be able to stab myself with a needle but after a scary speech about
blood clots and possible death I found that I could do it after all!

New job, new savings

Well in the fall I will finally be working 100%. I am so looking
forward to it. I will be both at the high school where I have been
teaching and in two different counties as a native language teacher.
So with my new pay check comes new responsibilities. This summer I am
determined to get my economy in good order and set it up so that I can
pay off my loans faster, build up a savings account, save for a road
trip back home next summer (fly to US and then road trip, not road
trip all the way to US), decorate my apartment, and save up for new
clothes.
Wish me luck!!!

So cute!

I just had to include this one too. Jens and I found it on the side of
the road in Hjärup. It's a clip for plastic bags and so on. They are
quite common here so that wasn't anything special, but this one was so
small and cute! I wonder where I can buy them...

Soon no more ugly clothes!!!

I was out for a bit of shopping today with Erika and I couldn't help
but see my favorite pet peeve in a new light.
First I can explain the pet peeve. Ever since I moved to Sweden I have
absolutely hated buying clothes. Clothes for people my size are not
pretty. For some reason the people who design clothes for fat people
here are convinced that we want to cover ourselves in sparkly sequins
and horrific patterns. That's it guys, draw as much attention as
possible to the fat freaks. Why is this? Most of us chunky butts just
want clothes that look like regular clothes. A pair of jeans that is
just a pair of jeans. No sequins or obnoxious embroidery. Just plain
old fashioned jeans with an extra bit of wiggle room please. And we
are not all 80 years old!!! Older people might appreciate some if
these clothes (but I doubt it) however, I am 29, not 79. I don't need
to look like I am wearing a shower curtain or attending a funeral in
the 80's!
But today in a store, while looking at this year's summer offerings, I
realized that because of my operation I will soon be able to shop in
the regular people section. Where the regular, pretty clothes are. Now
that the operation is done, weight loss on a large scale is
inevitable. I could not resist doing a (slighty limited cause of the
operation of course) happy dance there in the store :). Then I started
looking at all the clothes I might be able to have one day! It was so
much fun ;).

Who's a big boy?

Or girl :). Not sure yet. Anyway, my little pippi is standing up all
by himself! And he is even hopping around and trying to flap his
wings just a little. And he grabs onto my fingers and hand and tries
to perch. I am so happy that he has made it this far!!! And he doesn't
stay in his little dish anymore either. You can see in the second
picture that he escaped the dish and was trying to explore. Of course
he couldn't get very far because he is in a box, but it is the effort
that counts! And he is really starting to look like a little birdie.
So different from when he was born a tiny pink blob :).

Just chillin' homies

Sekhmet has found her favorite spot at Jens' house now. Every time I open the fridge she is right there jumping in and laying down! Oh so very cute :)

I guess it is a bit warm outside, but then again she has always been a bit of a weird kitty...

WTF!?!

Was the first thought I had until I read the sign. At first I thought
I was going crazy, guns for sale in a regular Swedish store?!? Then it
turns out they were air guns. BB guns. You know, the kind we give to
kids at home when they turn 10 or so. The moment of nostalgia for the
gun cabinet at Wal-mart passed in a fit of laughter and enjoyment of
cultural differences :)

Midsummer

For Midsummer I got to be with Jens and Ebba and all of the animals
these families possess. It has been fun so far even though I can't
have strawberries and grill yummy Midsummer food this year :(. Next
year I can though :).

Not tacky at all...

Erika and I were at the critter store and we saw this wonderful piece
of, ahem, art, in one of the fish tanks. Yep those are bubbles coming
out of the buttcrack there. Yesiree Bob. Tasteful in a way I thought
could only be found in Oklahoma.

Soilent Green!!

Well more like spring grass green. I have green walls :). In the
living room. And purple walls in the hall way :). Many many many
Swedes have said "But it will be so dark!". No not really. I will have
color for most of the winter which here means dark and grey. And all
of my furniture is white. White tv cabinet, white tables, white
shelves, and the sofas will be white too. And things on the walls will
be white. I mean hello! So instead of having white walls and a darker
colored sofa and curtains, I am doing the opposite. And mark my words
babycakes. It is going to be awesome!!!

It's just me now...

Well there is only one baby bird left :(. After looking on the
internet I think they caught some bug and the smallest two couldn't
fight it :(. The oldest one seems ok so far. He just keeps peeping
away and growing. It was really sad for me that the other two died,
especially the tiny one, but it is supposed to be really hard to keep
baby finches alive so I should have been more prepared for it perhaps :(

Not comforting...

On the way out of the hospital I saw this sign by the elevator. For
you English talkin' folks it basicay says "If you want to go up push
the up arrow and if you want to go down push the down arrow".
I am really hoping that sign is for all the slow patients and not for
the doctors that were just poking around in my entrails.

Operation Melinda's Operation Complete :)

Well I finally did it. I got my gastric bypass surgery on Monday June
21. Here is a nice picture of right before I got admitted for the
surgery and everything. I liked the hospital gowns better than the
ones in the US. These opened in front and had buttons. Way less
embarassing than the ass showing gowns preferred by US hospitals.
So far I feel pretty good. I am pretty sore but that is getting better
and better. For the surgery they blow you up with gas so they have
room to maneuver and so on. It takes awhile for that gas to go away.
Let's just say Melinda has been farting and burping like a sailor.
But so far I haven't had a problem following the food schedule. It's
hard just now cause I am tired from the operation, but the actual food
part is ok. I just keel thinking: icky yoghurt now, scrambled eggs and
mashed potatos in two weeks!!! That is when I graduate from liquid
food to pureed food. Am already looking forward to it :). Well that is
all for now. Like I said, am sleepy :(. Oh! Starting weight 130. Can
be good to have somewhere "official" no? ;)

Bye for now!

This morning I had to say bye bye to my little baby birdies and my
kitties :(. But I will see them again tomorrow! Erika is taking care
of my birdies and Jens has my kitties. I miss them already :(

Third time's a charm?

Well here I am having a shot for the third time before an operation.
The other two times it didn't happen. Once was my fault. Once was
their fault. So the score was 1-1. The third time was apparently the
charm because I am getting ready to go! Soon I hope cause the waiting
part sucks :(

Almost time!!!

Well I made it. And it looks like they are actually going to do it
this time :). Am so freaking nervous!!! And they put a needle in my
hand :(. I know, I know it will be more than that later. But it still
hurt!!! So in maybe an hour or so they will take me in to be operated
on. Eeeek!!!

My favorite little one }():>

I know I shouldn't have a favorite but I can't help it! He (or she)
is the smallest so I feel bad for him when the other birdies try to
push him out of the way and sometimes they peck at him. He had some
blood on his ear a couple days ago but I'm not sure if he got pecked
or if he scratched himself :(. We see if they get nicer soon. They
have nice soft feathers now!

Taking it easy >^•.•^<

Bastet is living it up in Jens' luxurious apartment. We are all
staying for a few days cause of operation and wall papering of my
apartment. So Bastet went right to the sofa for a nap :).

Guard kitty!

This morning when I was feeding the babies, Siri tried to get on the
bed to see them. Bastet, who doesn't seem interested in having babies
as snack at all, hissed at Siri every time she got close to the
babies! It was so cool! So at least babies are safe with Bastet :)

More birdie pictures!

Here are the babies in a different container. I thought that I should
have food and water available just in case but the internet said they
wouldn't be weaning until they are 30 days old. So we have a little
while! I think they must be a bit more than two weeks old.

Catzilla!!!

It must feel that way to these little ones. Bastet was curious about
them so she was allowed to look. I think she was mostly pissed because
the peeping ruined her 18 hour long nap time :). She wasn't at all
interested in having a baby birdie snack.

Leaning Tower of Baby Birdies

One of the babies thought a good sleeping place would be right on top
of the other babies :). If they were grown ups this would be a
compromising position, but since they are babies it's just plain cute!

Hand feeding

My little ones are still doing good as far as I can tell. Here you see
that even in just a couple days they have really grown! Mostly in
that their feathers are really coming in now. They are all not the
same age so the youngest one is still a bit bald :). But the other two
keep him warm! And I have them in my hand now when I feed them. And
they always fall right back asleep. So cute!!!

Still alive!

So it was our second four am feeding and I can tell you that the
babies are doing great :). Man they can make noise! In a good way.
And they latch on to the toothpick like you wouldn't believe. So I am
getting more and more confident that they will make it. So please
continue to wish us luck!!!

4 am and all is well!

Well I have been hand feeding them three times now and every time it
goes well. As of now all babies are present and breathing :). Maybe
tomorrow I can try to see if the parents want to be parents again. But
they are healthy babies according to internet. They beg for food and
wiggle and move around. And they attack the toothpick with the food on
it! They clamp on with thier little beaks and it's so cute :) :) :).
I do wish they could be with their parents but it is good I was
prepared this time with my box!!!

Baby birdie saving box to the rescue!

That's right. I am a bad birdie mom. I decided to do something and it
was the wrong decision. The parents didn't go to the nest for hours
after the move so I had to take the babies out. The parents looked
like they were going to sleep and not in the nest. So now the babies
are in the box I made. I really hope they make it. As far as I can
tell they are all a week old or more so they should make it. According
to the many many articles I found on the Internet the first days are
the mist important and after that it gets easier and they have more
chance of surviving. And feeding them went well. The poor things were
hungry :(. Bad birdie mommy :(.

New birdie cage

Well I decided to risk moving the birds. I thought if I moved them
before the baby birds left the nest it would be ok. The birds seemed
to love the new cage. It is a lot bigger than the old one. And so mich
easier to clean!!! I wanted them to be in the bigger one for when the
babies did leave the nest. Then there would be room for everyone! But
they were so happy with being able to fly that they didn't remember to
sit on the babies :(. I had to take them out to feed them myself and
keep them warm.

Medieval Town

On the way back from the critter store we stopped at Hjärup to get
some dinner but the restaurant was closed :(.

Trip to the critter store!

Well I had to pick up supplies for moving my birdies into a bigger
cage and I always have to stop and say hello to all the birdies :).
This one was very curious and made his way over to the bars to give us
"The Eye".

Then vs. Now

As you all may have noticed, for the past few weeks I have been quite
nostalgic, posting many pictures of my old favorite cartoons and toys
etc. In my search for some of these images I noticed something odd.
There were sometimes new images for the same character!
And then I got pissy because if you notice the original ones from the
80's, in this case Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake, they are a
bit pudgy and fluffy (in other words normal), not skinny and glossy
like the new ones (future movie slash porn stars). Guess you have to
keep up with times but I think it's sad cause some girls might benefit
from seeing a character that is real looking instead of one that is so
fake looking, and for some an unacheiveable goal, body image wise.

Queen Sekhmet dethroned!

Siri stole Sekhmet's favorite sleeping place! And she doesn't look
one bit sorry either :).

Two more favorite childhood cartoons

Who else used to quote the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all the time?
And who can still remember the tune and even some of the words to the
Inspector Gadget intro? I know I am not alone on this one!

The wedding cone

In further celebration of the crown princess getting married, GB Glass
has made a special wedding ice cream cone. It tasted kind of bland and
a bit blah. So it was quite suitable for the impression I get of her
fiancé.

So many cigarettes!

At a small store by the Triangle in Malmö there were all kinds of
cigarettes. It was a bit shocking. Not sure if you can tell from the
picture but the whole wall was cigarettes and the boxes with the
yellow signs were also all cigarettes. Damn!

Time for design!

It's been awhile since my last design post so here we go with another
one :). This is a great chair that maybe maybe maybe one day I might
have space and money enough to include in my collection. It comes in
white as well but I took the black so it is easier to see the
intricate design of the chair.
The chair is called the Prince Chair. It was designed by Louise
Campbell for a competition to create a chair for the current prince of
Denmark. It really is a wonderful piece of design furniture! I wonder
if the Prince liked it?

More random childhood toys

I remembered two more toys that I just loved when I was a kid. The
first was the Glow Worms. It was a worm, but cute, with a face that
lit up if you squeezed it. It was actually quite an inventive way to
have a night light that worked on demand.
The other toy was the Pound Puppies. That has to be the most clever
marketing ploy ever! I always wanted to get Pound Puppies cause I
knew the pound was a bad place for puppies to be. They were puppies no
one wanted and they sometimes killed them! So I always wanted Pound
Puppies. I don't remember how many I ended up with, but I know it was
a few!!!

Favorite shows from the 60's

Since I am still feeling nostalgic, here are my three favorites shows
from the 60's: I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligan's Island, Bewitched.
Now you may be wondering why I have favorite shows from before I was
born. It was because we had a channel called Nikolodeon (not sure
about the spelling...) and they showed many old tv shows. My brother
and I always watched Gilligan's Islsnd before leaving for school. We
just knew we had enough time from the end of the show to make it to
the bus :).

Lunch with the teachers

After some cake and handing out grades to all the students today, we
teachers had a fun lunch and took it a bit easy before buckling down
to a bunch of paper work next week :(. But it was a nice day and even
after yesterday, and what was surely a night of partying, the
graduating students were actually still standing and mostly awake :)
I chose this picture because yellow and blue flowers are used a lot
during graduation.

Graduation dinner

After a fun afternoon of go carting we came back to school to have a
wonderful dinner, see a power point presentation with pictures of the
students, hear some speeches and basically have a nice time. When it
came time for them to go out and meet their family and friends it was
a bit difficult not to cry. Just a little. Well it was my first
avslutning! I'm entitled dammit :).