Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Or tea? It is Sunday morning in Sweden when I write this. So far it’s been a very good week indeed. I worked Monday as usual, or not exactly as usual, we had an educational day with our team. My kids have a fall break this week, and I had asked for time off Tuesday-Friday to spend time with them (particularly my youngest.) The work situation at my school is often chaotic and I didn’t find out until Monday that I actually got my request approved. It’s been wonderful!
My daughter had a couple playdates during the week, we’ve been taking walks, we even went shopping for new clothes one day (that doesn’t happen very often,) we’ve been baking, we had time to have long conversations about everything one can imagine, we’ve played with LEGO, and we read many books (sitting side by side in our couch, just hanging out.) I’ve read over 1600 pages for fun, not school, or work related this week! The week have served as a reset button, sort of.
That said, I did get up several hours before my daughter every day and worked really hard towards my degree, which also got me ahead of my schedule, a very nice feeling indeed. I believe the whole family is ready to take on these last, dark weeks before Christmas.
On top of it all a former student’s parents sent me this beautiful bouquet and touching card. Making the week even sweeter. It made me very emotional.
We received two deliveries from the crowdfarming projects we support, one box of mango, and one box of pomegranates. We still have some left, and they are absolutely delicious. It feels luxurious to be able to indulge in all that goodness. I am so grateful. We are expecting another delivery by the end of the month, 11kg/24lbs of organic oranges! Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share. How is your week?
Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! This week I’m inviting you for a hot beverage at my garden plot. There’s coffee, tea, and blueberry soup on the menu. I love having some warm blueberry soup during the colder months. It is very tasty, filling, nutritious (vitamin C, vitamin E, and a ton of antioxidants,) and gives you a lot of energy.
I had made plans to visit my garden on Sunday, and do chores at home on Saturday. ..but after finishing the chores mid-day Saturday there was no reason not to enjoy the gorgeous fall day outside.
I feel a little stronger than last week, and definitely a lot stronger than the week before (I had a nasty cold/flu three weeks ago.) I rode my bike to work one day this week (Thursday,) and yesterday I rode up to my garden. It’s 4 flat km/2,5miles to work, and 6,5 km/4 miles straight up a steep hill to my garden. I will admit that it was a little more challenging than usual, but totally doable. I’ve listened to my body, and I haven’t over done it. I love riding my mountainbike, especially through the forest. It makes me feel alive, the next best thing after riding a horse.
Yesterday it was the first time in three weeks that I visited my garden (due to being sick,) and almost all the leaves on the trees and bushes had fallen. All of a sudden I had a view of the little lake below the garden. The place looked totally different. I sat down for a while listening to the wind, and the birds. It was a glorious afternoon.
Some of you may remember that I did an experiment and planted some fall crops the last week of august? I harvested the last carrots yesterday, it was about 2.2lb/1kg. Next year I will start my fall garden a little earlier, and at a better place, this was not a prime location, just a left-over spot under some berry bushes. The carrots are delicious though! My plan is to eventually have garden beds covering most of the grass on my plot, only having small paths in between garden beds. It’s a work in progress, and I’ll do a little bit at the time. The potential makes me very excited.
I do have some other big news this week. Two years ago when my children and I moved into the apartment where we live now I was super thrilled that it was close to their schools, and for me that was the most important thing, making it easy for them. However, since we moved here there’s constantly been building projects all around us. It’s starting to feel a little crowded in more than one way. This year they’ve built two HUGE apartment complex right next to us. The other thing is that I’ve been dividing the living room to make a small bedroom for me in one of the corners, giving my children the two actual bedrooms in the apartment. It’s been OK, we’ve all loved the apartment in many ways, but when my children told me that they would appreciate a more quiet place outside of town I started to look for one immediately. ..and we will move into our new place March 1st. It’s only a short distance outside of our little town, and there’s a bus stop outside the house. It’s in a very beautiful area, and the apartment has one more room (yaay). It’s a small, brand new apartment complex, (in the US it would have been advertised as a townhouse.) I will keep my garden plot, and the kids will stay at their old schools (it’s only 15-30 minutes on the bus, depending on what bus they take.)
I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, wether we should stay where we are, after all my son turns 18 next time and wont be living at home forever, but it all landed in this decision. It’s important for everyones peace of mind to feel comfortable at home (and I don’t want my son to feel that he has to move out before he is ready. You become of legal age at 18 in Sweden, and it has been a norm to move to your own place then for many years, however with everything going on in the world that has become too expensive for many young adults.)
We are a family that appreciate being surrounded by beautiful nature, living a quiet life (but still close to everything we need.) We are all excited about the move. It’s an area I like a lot, and I’d like to try living there to see how it is, and perhaps purchase some land nearby later on.
How is your week? Are you into any Halloween celebrations? We are going to decorate a pumpkin today, and make some Halloween cupcakes. Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share.
Welcome to the Weekend coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee? Or tea? This week I’ll happily invite you to sit at my balcony and enjoy a cup together. Thank you everyone for the uplifting comments when I was feeling under the weather for a couple of weeks. I feel so much better now. How are you?
I’ve been taking things a little easier than usual, not back to full capacity yet, but I’ve been able to enjoy some lovely nature walks every day after work. Nature is still sparkling with golden yellow tones everywhere.
Since we are sitting at the balcony with warm beverages in our hands, it’s slightly chilly outside, I would point out to my little balcony garden. Don’t you think its grown a little since last week? It’s the celery that impresses me the most, it still keeps coming back. I eat all the celery there is thinking that this is the last fresh celery for the season…and it keeps coming back! I’m most grateful. I really like having celery in my salads.
I eat at least one big salad a day, usually with lots of avocado, celery, spinach, perhaps some feta cheese or cottage cheese (sometimes both,) and some type of beans for protein. I’m going to have some more coffee. Do you need a refill?
What are you up to this weekend? I’ve been writing on a school report, cleaned the house a little extra (I’ll tell you the reason next week,) and organised my family’s closets. I use an app where I sell all the things and clothes we don’t use. I try to go through our things on a regular basis so that we only have what we actually use, that way it doesn’t get cluttered, and someone else can put the things we don’t use on a regular basis to use. The app let you order a special bag where you pack all your things. When you done packing you choose a date for pickup, they come and get the bag, they advertise your stuff, sell it (they take a percentage, how much is depending on the value of the item,) after selling an item you can choose to get the money deposited to your bank account, or get credits in the app (where you can purchase other peoples unused clothes and items.) The app is an effort towards a circular economy.
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE)is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims to tackle global challenges as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution by emphasising the design-based implementation of the three base principles of the model. The three principles required for the transformation to a circular economy are: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials, and the regeneration of nature. CE is defined in contradistinction to the traditional linear economy. The idea and concepts of circular economy (CE) have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years. CE has been gaining popularity since it helps to minimize emissions and consumption of raw materials, open up new market prospects and principally, increase the sustainability of consumption and improve resource efficiency.
I’ve used the sellpy app for a long time now, and I am very happy with how it works. My daughter (10 years old) also uses the app (with my help) to renew her closet with seasonal items. Among other things she purchased a winter jacket that would have cost her mama $200 in the store for $20 worth of credits in the app. (She got the credits from selling unused toys and clothes that no longer fits her.) I am a big believer in the concept of circular economy as one step towards a sustainable lifestyle.
GreenDreams 