Apartment Therapy

This is how an Applicance Plug should look like.... and would I love to meet this woman, and no I am not a New Yorker but I still love this blog.

On the Tools Side

Reverse-Dictionary is a helpful tool for us with a non-english mother tongue, just type in the meaning of the word (the concept) you are looking for and hit the button... there... a lot of suggestions given... here is the list for the concept "another native tongue", and the first word is mother tongue!!! Exellent for cross-word solvers too!

Right now I'm looking for things that helps you to pack in a organized and tidy way... this video does help... but I need to practise more!! It looks so simple...

I often come across latin words and abbreviations when I read, this list is a real help then...

If you need to receive e-mail but don't want to give out your ordinary e-mail address, this is the place: @dodgeit.com, more info you'll find here. Apparently you use RSS-syndication to check your mail... Clever.

Release #9 and #10

#9 'Tre Skilling Banco' by Jan Mårtensson.

#10 'Gömstället' (The Hiding Place) by Corrie Ten Boom

Man, I still have 40 books to release this year.... I do need to speed up releasing a bit.

The Joyce Meyer Quote

If you've ever listened to one of Joyce Meyer's tapes, this is something she frequently repeats:

"I'm not where I want to be, but thank God, I'm not where I used to be!"

Meyer teaches a lot about the mind and how negative words and thoughts (for instance to murmour, grumble and complain) pulls you down. It is quite logical really: If I repeat for my self daily 'I can't do this', 'I'm so fat' or 'No one likes me', of course that will get stuck in your head and stop you from growing and become the person you'd like to be. BUT if you speak out and think positive things, such as the quote above, you will be open to change in your life. Affirmations is the word, isn't it?

On the Fun Side

Ever had problems with missing objects?? Professor Solomon gives you expert advice with his 12 principles to find lost objects. Hilarious and (!) helpful!! Note to self: Never forget principle 3 when you are looking for something. The three C:s are very important!!!

Ready to learn more about amazing Gizmos??? Play the Gizmo game!!

If you have checked out my del.icio.us links recently, you know I've collected stuff about creativity, here is one beautiful article about Childrens Creativity and Imagination!!!! They are clever those kiddos...

Talking about photos, would you like to live in any of these places?? Really boosts the imagination!!

Colour mode test

I just took Tickle's True Colour Test:

Blue

You're blue - the most soothing shade of the spectrum. The color of a clear summer sky or a deep, reflective ocean, blue has traditionally symbolized trust, solitude, and loyalty. Most likely a thoughtful person who values spending some time on your own, you'd rather connect deeply with a few people than have a bunch of slight acquaintances. Luckily, making close friends isn't that hard, since people are naturally attracted to you - they're soothed by your calming presence. Cool and collected, you rarely overreact. Instead, you think things through before coming to a decision. That level-headed, thoughtful approach to life is patently blue - and patently you!

Well... some parts of it seems like me but... I am not so good at thinking things through... but I am working on it... thoughtful... well..

Right now I am feeling a little bit down...

Why, well if you have read my previous football/soccer posts you might know.... Sweden lost in a penalty shoot-out and Holland (Netherlands) has qualifyed for semi-finals. Congratulations Holland!! More here.
You still did a very good job all you guys on our Swedish Team!!!!

Friday's activities

I am trying to boost my creativity right now and one of the ways I'm doing it is by blank index cards I carry with me all the time. This idea I got from "Idea Recording". This one is the diary from last night - Midsummers Eve - at work. As you see it was almost all about food... 'Matjes-sill' as you see in the left upper corner is a kind of herring.
Not everybody likes it, I think it is nice though. Since the people living where I work we didn't have any dance around the pole....
I have edited it a little in Photoshop Elements and the background is the two sheets of napkins we used. IKEA-style. Klick on the photo if you want to see a larger image.  

just as I am

People, books and the glory of Christ has posted a short sentence I love so I just quote it:

"God loves you just as you are. And He loves you too much to leave you that way."- anon

Isn't that some lovely truth!!!

Metafilter blogs about the child poet Mattie Stephanek who passed away in muscular dystrophy on the morning of June 22, 2004. Oprah has published some of his poems on her website, I'd like to share one of them here:

Thank You, God,
Not just for life,
But for our journey through life.
Life is a miracle,
And a journey through life
Is so full of so many more miracles
If we travel with our Heartsongs.
Thank You, God,
For blessing me with the
Gift of Heartsongs,
So that I can enjoy my miracles.

April 1998
© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek

Here you can find more about what Mattie means with a Heartsong.

Six Things that Inspire You

Anita Sharpe at Worthwhile has listed six things that inspires her as a response to HOW's article interview with Kevin Carroll, creativity 'nurturer' at Nike where he was asked to list his six inspirational things.
I agree with Sharpe - it is a fun exercise....

red autumn leaves, oriental/medieval-like kind of music, teachings of Joyce Meyer, the Holy Spirit, bold 50's, 60's and 70's fabric prints, friends that dares to step out and do unexpected things...

There!
Interesting.... when I look at this little list I see a red thread - boldness!! So I've learned something about myself, or rather, what I am on my way into personally does show it self in what I enjoy and become inspired of right now.

Yesssssss....

In the very last minutes of the match as Jonson did the 2-2 goal!!! Sweden and Denmark is both qualified from group C. It was a 'nailbiting' game, though I didn't think the Swedish guys did their best... I did have to stay at work to watch the end of the game... no way I was going in the middle of it...
If any Italian is reading this, you guys did a good job, I'm sorry you didn't qualify BUT I am sure very HAPPY Sweden did!!!
Read more here.

What poetry form am I?

I'm terza rima, and I talk and smile. Where others lock their rhymes and thoughts away I let mine out, and chatter all the while. I'm rarely on my own - a wasted day Is any day that's spent without a friend, With nothing much to do or hear or say. I like to be with people, and depend On company for being entertained; Which seems a good solution, in the end. What Poetry Form Are You?

Blogging experiences

Chris writes in his blog: People, books and the glory of Christ about his now 6 month old blogging experience. He writes from a Christian point-of-view, I find it very interesting. Among other things Chris discusses:

'It's easy to develop an 'alter ego' on the web. This is your on-line persona and may involve things you would never do in person. This is a dangerous split. Jesus warns us to be one, honest person always.'

Although I try to stay true to my off-line personality I do find this very easy to do. It helps if you know some of your readers IRL, THEY know if you're not true to your self!!

'There are a lot of people out there who have been deeply hurt by religion and people acting in the name of Christ. Be careful when you speak. You do not know what someone else may have experienced.'

I couln't say it better, only add: God has created us in His image, He shows us respect (!Yes, He does! For example, He doesn't force Himself upon us - He has given us a free choice - He respects it what ever we choose.). If God shows us respect and we are created in His image... well, that implies that we have to show our fellow humans respect, never force our faith on any one but simply and mildly point to Jesus...

New blog template design!

My blogroll and other sidebar additions became too long and unmanageable.... I had to change the blog design to a 3-column one. The design is an adaptation of this one at BlogSkins.
I find this layout more viewable but I am not completely happy with it... Still, it will do until I've learned more about CCS, I have spent enough hours for now.

TrackBack is now available for Bloggers..

Yesss! I've been waiting for this, thank you HaloScan!!!

More DIY ...

I found a fun addition to those "Old Housewife's Tricks" I wrote about the other day. This time it is Grandma's Secrets. Here you find such useful things as:

Dripless Candles;
Place candles in the freezer for 24 hours before using; they will burn longer and drip less.

and

Getting Children to Eat Veggies:
When cooking vegetables, add a few drops of food coloring to the water to create
blue peas, purple carrots, red potatoes. (Anybody tried??)

It is so amazing this DIY-creativity of women!!
I am still looking for your favourites, it would be so fun to come up with our own compilation... What should it be called? BlogHouseTricks? Nah.. help me..

The random fifteen

Keri has put up her random, first fifteen songs from her mp3-player and since she dared (so did the Sellotape files). Here are mine:

1. Örjanslåten - Black Ingvars
2. Shackles (Praise You) - Mary Mary
3. Gloria - Van Morrison
4. Apans Sång - Black Ingvars
5. Georgia On My Mind - Van Morrison
6. You Are My Hero - India Arie
7. Little Things No Beeps - India Arie
8. Awsome God - Eden's Bridge
9. Caislean Oir - Clannad
10.Search My Heart - Shane and Caleb
11.Spikarnas Lovsång - Vilket Liv
12.Table For Two - Caedmon's Call
13.Masterpiece Conspiracy - P.O.D
14.I ditt ansiktes ljus - Göteborg Vineyard Worship
14.Upphöjd vare du Gud - Bengt Johansson

Well it could be worse, Black Ingvars (link to another of their CDs) is a group that has turned famous Swedish songs into 'metal' - these ones are children's songs. The other Swedish songs are Worship Music and the rest I think speaks for them selves. There could have been some of the more lousy songs from the Eurovision Song Contest 2004... Phew... (I did like the winner though)

Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction

Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction I just thought this was kind of funny... it sort of sums it all up...

DIY - those home made tips and tricks - don't you just love 'em?

I have a soft spot for 'Old House Wife Tricks' or what ever you call them... things such as how to remove odour from clothes or the best way to get rid of an upcoming cold or other health issues. Ok, this one was maybe not home made but still it is the DIY approach. Here is another article about these cures, don't forget to check out the Over The Counter Chicken Soup at the end of the article.
Here is some Wacky Uses of a famous soft beverage.

What are your favourite home made tips and tricks? Areas I'm interested in are health, house keeping, cooking, gardening and beauty... Please help me to gather an interesting compilation here. Links are appreciated too.

My favourite? Well, one of them is Garlic, since we started having a home made, fresh garlic salad sauce at work very regularly I have had less colds and not very strong ones.

Yessss! Outstanding beginning for Sweden in Euro2004 (IMHO)!!!!

Sweden scores 5-0 against Bulgaria:

Sweden go top of Group C after providing a master-class in finishing against a Bulgaria side unlucky to be behind at half-time. Even after Ljungberg opened the scoring, Bulgaria were a constant menace to Sweden. The turning-point came in a two-minute spell just before the hour mark. First Martin Petrov grazed the post with a shot, then Larsson scored two great goals in one minute, the first a diving header from the penalty spot. Ibrahimovic scored a penalty and Allbäck a late drive to further flatter Sweden and improve on the scoreline from Sweden’s 4-0 win over Bulgaria at the 1994 World Cup.From the Euro2004 matchboard.

Such a joy!!

Read more here...

This guy actually wants to be SPAMMED!!!

Prattboy here wants to find out how fast his Gmail can get spammed. He asks us all to help to spread his address to potential spammers. It will be interesting to see how fast 1 Gig will be filled with spam...

Gmails privacy policies is questioned at "Gmail is too creepy". Here is only one of several examples:

Google's relationships with government officials in all of the dozens of countries where they operate are a mystery, because Google never makes any statements about this. But here's a clue: Google uses the term "governmental request" three times on their terms-of-use page for Gmail and once on their privacy page. Google's language means that all Gmail account holders have consented to allow Google to show any and all email in their Gmail accounts to any official from any government whatsoever, even when the request is informal or extralegal, at Google's sole discretion. Why should we send email to Gmail accounts under such draconian conditions?

No Gmail for me....

I just had to share some more Swedish summer with you.
Click on image to enlarge.
PS-brushes - by Lucie 

I just had to share this - Swedish early summer - I just love the colours. 

Anagrammatic nonsense...

I had to try this... this site generates anagrams for any words. Here is the anagrams for "CoffeeSilverstone". Me, egocentric... what :-o Oh no! (BTW... be warned, may contain offensive words... BTW2 I'm sorry this post is kinda hard to read BUT if you find this to long just skip the long list and jump down to the end of this post... I'm curious to hear what you say about my comments/questions there....):

* Offensive selector. * Offensive or select. * Is effervescent loo. * To servile offences. * Evilest or offences. * Of feverless notice. * Five fool erectness.
* Seven fiercest fool. * Effective or lesson. * Feverless, nice foot. * Evens, fiercest fool. * Ole! offences strive. * Reviles to offences. * So effervescent oil.
* Of evil, of erectness. * Of vile, of erectness. * Of vice or fleetness. * So effective loners. * Off selective snore. * I effervescent loos. * Offensive electors. * Of selections fever.
* Evil offences store. * Vile offences store. * Coolest, fine fevers. * Soft felon receives. * Festive, fool screen. * Of cleverest, fine, so. * Effective loser son. * Feverless if to once. * Even, fiercest fools. * Of recessive on felt. * Of recessive on left. * Of eventless if core. * Of love if erectness.
* Off or select envies. * Envies off selector. * Of cleverest if nose. * Of secretive felons. * Effective or on less.
I effervescent solo. * Of self-service note. * Of selective serf on. * Off violence resets. * Score festive felon. * Fever felonies cost. * Off evil secretes on. * Of steel if conserve. * Of steel if converse.
* SOS! effective loner. * Of feverless, nice, to. * Evil one off secrets. * Offences or evil set. * Offences or vile set. * Televisor's offence. * Off cleverest noise. * Soft violence frees. [???] * Cover off eliteness. * Effective loser 'n' so. * Of selection fevers.
* Scoff terse Evil one. * Softer evil on feces. * It resolve offences. * Lose strive offence. * Fool vet fierceness. * No! of selective serf. * One effortless vice. * Of envies reflect so. *
Severe fools infect. * Severe fool infects. * I've effortless once. * Of cleverest if ones. * Felon's festive core. * Scoff to serene evil. * Of clever finesse to. * Finesse clever foot.
* Roof vice fleetness. * Voice for fleetness. * Festive felons core. * Coolest fever fines. * Of novel if secretes. * Evil, sorest offence. * Vile, sorest offence. * On softer, vile feces.
* I've effectless or on. * Voiceless, free font. * Evil secretes off no. * Fence so softer evil. * Of softer, evil scene. * Of softer, vile scene. * Sore vilest offence. * Effective nor loses. * Fever on if so select. * Of fever to licenses. * Five toneless force. * Evil one scoffs tree. *
To vile, serene scoff. * Offset evil necrose. * Effortless eve icon. * Effective lens or so. * Offensive corselet. * Festive felon cores. * Festive feel croons. * Festive feels croon. * Of evilest, enforces. * Of clever, tense if so. * Of selective or fens. * Cleverness if to foe.
* No! of recessive felt. * No! of recessive left. * Of recessive, of lent. * Of self receives not. * Of selection's fever. * Of self-service tone. * Of envies for select. * Off vile no secretes. * Of live, of erectness. * So softer, vile fence. * Of felon's secretive. * Of selector if evens. * Scoff reset Evil one. * Scoff steer Evil one. * Necrose vile offset.
* Love tires offences. * Love offences tries. * Ole! offence strives. * Effective no or less. * Of nicest fever lose. * Fool entices fevers. * To vein effloresces. * Eventless or off ice. * Voter lies offences. *
In vote effloresces. * I've effectless or no. * Offences revise lot. * 'e's violence efforts. * Off or electiveness. * Enter off voiceless. * Of fervent ices lose. * Of feverless ice, not. * Of steel icon fevers.
* Evil one trees scoff. * So, 'e's off-centre evil. * Live offences store. * Vessel off erection. * Strive sole offence. * Vote enforces flies. * Felon's fierce votes. * Off election serves. * Of cleverness, of tie. *
Voiceless, front fee. * Soft felons receive. * Of fine, steel covers. * Of fever in so select. * Enclose softer five. * Of seven if selector. * Elite oven scoffers. * Eventless or office. * To nerveless office. * Of evil set enforces. * Of vile set enforces.
* Toes viler offences. * Serve off selection. * Of select if on serve. * Off recessive on let. * Offensive electros. * Not self-service foe. * Vilest foe enforces. * Senior effects love. * Senior loves effect. *
Necrotise off elves. * Lies overt offences. * So so clever fifteen. * Selective fens roof. * Effortless vice eon. * Softer novice feels. * Ole! offensive crest. * Let's! offensive core. * Floor festive scene.
* Confer festive lose. * Of fleece-vine sorts. * Fiercest sloven foe. * 'e's vile, off-centre, so. * Of evil force tenses. * Of vile force tenses. * Of evil, tense forces. * Of vile, tense forces.
* Of televisor's fence. * Offences site lover. * Offences ties lover. * Of severest, fine col. * Of clever if to sense. * In tool effervesces. * Festive for enclose. * Fever lose infect so. * Fever if soon select. * Fever foot licenses. * Of nice fevers stole. * and many many more...

I must say, many a dark,evil anagram there...I almost get kind'a scared.... :-S So tell me... what is really a fleece-vine or a oven scoffer?
Does really Soft violence set someone free?

SOS! effective loner. Well, this doesn't apply to me... well a loner today, yes... effective, NO! I've been sitting in front of this addictive screen the whole day... doing absolutely nothing... ok, well I've started to organize my Photoshop Brushes, I've realized that most of them are link-ware, so I need to find the links easy in order to use them here...

Offensive or selective. Which one would you prefer to be?? Offensive? Rather not. Selective? Well, as long as it doesn't mean picky...

Vote enforces flies. Wow... must be some kind of vote, made by cows maybe? Had it been mosquitos, well it sure wouldn't been a Northern Scandinavian voting, many summers up there are absolutely infested with these horrible, awful "mygg".

How do you Necrotise off elves?

Well I could go on and on but this post is already too long. Now I have pondered around some of my favourites? Which ones sets off Your imagination??
So long from this Nonsense Chatter....

(Generated by a cut-down version of the Anagram Genius software. Download from http://www.anagramgenius.com/)

Ink

- the one-word for today, my contributions:

1. a personal message written in ink is thousand times more valuable than a typed message.... if the sender has taken pains to write nicely, decorate and being caring and personal, well it couldn't be better... I need to practise this....

2. ink can also be very revealing... inkstains on your fingers or your face... your'e writing a lot and thinking a lot. Inkstains, you can see a lot in them, these what are they called, blots....

Scribbled by others:
[Carmen L. Gravenson]
fills the pen which fills your paper with words that are full of emotion. emotion which is full of heart and opinion, both which are full of thoughts. all this started with ink.
[Rites of Spring]
Ink well, ink often. The pen with which I type is always full, even if the mind that feeds it is not. I wish I had something worth writing, worth reading this day, but alas, all I have is what you see before you, mindless, empty thoughts with little force or vigor.
[krissy]
sometimes the words just flow out of our mouths onto paper and how do we function, how do we breathe without them. sylabols, meaning, tongue. it's a function, a dance on stage and no one can do anything but watch. an ink, a flow. it's a river into the minds of millions and we can't do a damn thing. sometimes, only sometimes we understand. and it makes every single difference.
[clark]
i wonder how i'd score now if i were to take that ink blot test thingy. probably it will show my brain to be a jumble of incoherent trivial bits, jostling for space in the upper part of my conscious mind. multitasking isn't all it's cracked up to be.
[Melinda]
Dried on the page, only to be crossed and rewritten. Bold and unyielding, it makes us choose more precisely, more carefully what we want to tell the world
[sometimesboy]
the clinical term is "anxiety"...it's what my grandmother used to call "nerves"...it's what my grandfather used to take his nerve pills to for...i'm trying to learn to live without the nerve pills....with no more anxiety inked on my face...

What are your associations with ink? Feel free to add your thoughts...

New features at Blogger

and here....  I now trying out the new mail-to blogger feature at blogger.

I have also moved my blogroll to Blogrolling and added a Chatterbox tagboard to my sidebar. It will be really fun to try these features out..... What do you think of these changes??

Now I have been sitting here too long... I need some air and some sun.... se ya...

Update bookreading (cont..)

This list is not chronological and I am aware of me neglecting writing something about some of these books at BookCrossing... It will happen... soon I hope... Will continue to list read books soon...


# 23 "These High, Green Hills (The Mitford Years)" by Jan Karon

# 22 "Pias första långritt" by Eva Berggren

# 21 "More Sctuff - Mutts III" by McDonnell

# 20 "Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind: A Novel" by Ann B. Ross

#19 "Dragonsong" by Anne McCaffrey

#18 "Dragondrums" by Anne McCaffrey

# 17 "Dragonsinger" by Anne McCaffrey

# 16 "A Virtous Woman" by Kaye Gibbons

# 15 "A New Song" by Jan Karon

#14 "A Light in the Window" by Jan Karon

#13 "Christina, the Girl King, Sweden, 1638 (Royal Diaries)" by Carolyn Meyer

An update on the 100-books-read-this-year-BookCrossing-resolution...

In march I had read the following books, I have read so many more since then, not having the time to write about them, I will therefore list and number as many as I can remember, linking to BookCrossing whenever it is possible and comment something about the rest. Just to get myself back on the track:

# 12 "Hjärta i fara" (Dear Maggie)by Brenda Novak more...

A Harlequin-style *blush* mystery I got from a friend to release, had to read it first though ;-) Straightforward, easy read and quite charming... Internet plays a main role in the book.

# 11 "En god människa" (How to be Good)by Nick Hornby more...

As usual I enjoy Hornby's books...

# 10 "Mord är lätt" (Murder is Easy)by Agatha Christie more...

A classic Christie - no further comments

# 9 "Ett mord annonseras" (A Murder is Announced)by Agatha Christie more...

Ditto.

# 8 "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown more...

# 7 "The Dice Man" by Luke Rhineheart more...

# 6 "Uncatalogued: A Booklover's Mystery" by Julie Kaewert more...

# 5 "Bo med färger - din egen färgguide" by Bjorn Reinhardtsen/ Agnes Skarholt

A book that teaches you how to mix and match colours in your home, I learned quite a lot about the Colour-circle etc..

Wild Release #8

I forgot, I did release this one a while ago... and had forgotten to even register it at BookCrossing. Oh well, it is now taken care of.... Den vita massajen by Corinne Hofman This is the only reference to it I find at Amazon, in spanish and out of stock... The White Masai (Lketinga) is a possible english title...

Wild Release #7

I have forgotten this... I released this book on May 20th on the train between Gothenburgh and Jönköping. BookCrossing Vägen till Jerusalem by Jan Guillou (in Swedish, sorry)

This book is called The Road to Jerusalem and is the first in Guillou's Crusader's Trilogy, one of my favourite series. A definite 'must read'!!

Cleaning up....

my blog a little, removed a couple of too old links, straightened out the archives-links and the Scotland travelguide. Still there is a lot of things I want to do... but they'll have to wait...
Things as:
make a proper blog-roll out of the blog's links
write a more wittier and interesting introduction
introduce some kind of weekly/monthly polls
and much more....

Exchanged Furl for del.icio.us

I have recently started to use del.icio.us and do like their services more than Furl's. It is simpler to post and simpler to retrieve....

This is a test... I just got myself the software Hello in order to be able to post pictures to my blog.... I think this daffodil was portrayed around early May..... 

Memespread Project Success!

It seems like the Memespread Project succeded after all... Here is the blog post at arbesman.net

Fun things!!!

I found this link at Min flygplansstora va?. Jes6ica finds loads of similar stuff, so thats one of the places I go when I need a laugh...
Badgerphone

Wish Jar Journal

I just found this little gem of blog: Keri Smith's Wish Jar Journal. Keri Smith also have a web page. She "is an award winning illustrator and author who has dedicated her work to courage building, creative living, and the promotion of "PLAY". She offers encouragment and motivation to people, (especially young women), to live up to their greatest potential." more...

Here is an example of her writings: Your life IS your art, I just love her attitude towards life.... this article is part of her Wish Jar Tales.

Keri's illustrations is also very fun and she makes comic strips crammed with inspirations for a fun life.... here is an example of this: 10 (small) ways to Shake things up. Her website and blog sure makes you happy!!!