It’s Karin’s birthday today. She’s turned 27. Isn’t that crazy? We spent yesterday celebrating her, and driving around southern Skåne. Anders and I picked her up with Martin and Theo at Malmö C at 11 pm and then we drove out to Kivik and had lunch at Bhures Fisk, which is a well-known seafood restaurant. It was sunny and quite warm but by the coast there was a rather chilly breeze blowing, and I actually wrapped myself up in a blanket as our table was outside and since we weren’t in the sun, I actually got cold. Karin didn’t want to open her presents in public so we had to wait a bit. Everyone was very happy with their food, and the kids got champagne and espresso martinis. After lunch we headed over to Kivik’s Musteri (where they make all kinds of drinks from apples and pears, including cider, lemonade, fruit drinks, sodas, and hard cider) and shopped in their store. Äppelmust here in Sweden is what we Americans call apple cider. It’s non-alcoholic. CIDER here and in the rest of the world is alcoholic…hard cider in the USA. Confusing.
Then we walked back into their play area for kids and sat at a picnic table while Karin opened her presents. She was very happy with them, so I was pleased. A wakeup light clock, a new clothes steamer, and a giant bucket full of her favorite candy strawberry balls.
Then we continued south down the coast and stopped at Solglimt, a bar/restaurant in Löderup Strandbad, where Karin knows the daughter of one of the families that runs the place. We had some nibbles and drinks (I had a huge glass of ice water), while listening to Italian pop music. The kids had Italian beers. I got chilled sitting in the shade so we moved to a table in the sun, which was, of course, too hot. Haha! We never made it to the beach itself, because by then it was starting to get late, nearly 4 pm. So we continued on to Kåseberga. Martin, Theo, and I had ice cream while Anders and Karin were parking the car, then I sat in the shade and read my book (which I was very happy I had remembered to bring) while they all hiked up the cliff to Ales Stenar. We’ve been there several times before but Theo had never been.
We headed back to Malmö after a stop at the Tesla supercharger in Ystad, and got there at 7:30 pm, whereupon we headed to the Vietnamese restaurant the kids had scouted out on the drive. More good food, and we left Karin on the way to the train station where she was heading to the airport to meet Essie (coming in from a weeklong vacation with her best friend in Greece), and dropped the boys off at home. A very good day, and a lovely way to spend time: with my husband, both kids, and Theo!
Nice to end the day that way when I had started it super aggravated. I had been trying to order flowers for my mom’s birthday and my card was declined for some reason, and then I didn’t have time to get back to it before we had to leave. By the time we got to Malmö, I had received an SMS from my bank saying that my card was cancelled and a new one would be sent in the mail within 5 days. AARGH!!! Can’t pay for anything, and realized by US card had also expired…my sister had mailed it, but it didn’t arrive until today. And my only other card requested a PIN which I didn’t know. So couldn’t pay for anything all day, though it didn’t matter since Anders could. Martin paid for the ice cream, and we realized that I COULD Swish (transfer app) if needed, so now I just have to wait for the stupid physical card to get here because I have so many things set up to autopay from it.
I just tried ordering flowers again and got nowhere. Can’t use the Klarna card because it requires a US address (which is weird for a Swedish card) or my US card because it requires at least 2 letters in the first and last name fields and my name on the card is “E Slaughter-EK”… what the actual fuck. I give up. I’ve asked my sister to help me out by ordering the damn flowers, and I can then transfer money to her account, which doesn’t require my using any stupid card.
Ant attack! We almost always have ants in the house in the summer…they come in through the front of the house somewhere. Anders put ant killer powder down around the front and side of the house, so I have only seen a few since then, but today, while I was sitting on the couch checking emails, after work, I suddently realized the floor and carpet by the couch was crawling with ants. AAAUGH!!! They were everywhere, and in the dining room too. So I got out the vacuum and sucked them all up. GEEZ LOUISE. I’ve asked Anders to powder the rest of the perimeter of the house tonight. I don’t know where they are getting in. And it’s boiling hot here again, so we have to have windows open. Double ARGH.
Back to work and it was a busy day. My manager Anette is back for a week, and one of the illustrators, but my team is down to 3, and Louise leaves tomorrow after lunch.
I hope things actually slow down for real, hahahahaha.
Anyway, off to water the pots and veggies.
Mood: a little see a little so
Music: JOSEPH—Fireworks