Norway in my heart!

Very sad to hear about the horrible terror happening in Norway today. As I'm writing this the death toll is 17 but expected to grow even larger.

But I know my Scandinavian brothers and sisters will rise and stand strong, build up their capital and together give love and support to the victims and their families.

What sadden me even more is the media and Internet frantic over here. The minute after the news broke, Internet was flooded with hatred and calls for everything from invading Iran to kill every single Muslim.

Not until now, about 8pm MT has the news outlets given out the information that the man suspected to be responsible for the horror and death in Norway actually is Norwegian and not a Muslim but actually a bragging right wing Christian. (Not that I believe he's a Christian more than to the title than I think so called Muslim terrorist actually are Muslim).

So I want to ask you reader, especially if you are an American to
please, help spread the TRUTH in all the Muslim hating rhetoric going on right now on the Internet and in the media. The people responsible for the horrible attacks in Norway were NOT Muslims, they were home grown Norwegian terrorists with a right wing affiliation. Don't help the Muslim hatred and fear spread. Learn the facts and speak up!!!


The man responsible for shooting a bunch of kids at a summer camp, and also setting off the bomb in central Oslo is named Anders Behring Breivik.
His facebook page says he's a conservative Christian He has written postings critical of Muslims and has had connections to right-wing, anti-immigrant groups in Norway.

Now I could turn around and do the same exact thing the Muslim hating fear mongering people on line and in the media have done. But that would not be right to do, because there's no way you can say all right wing Christians are the same, is there?

A hateful, gun loving, conservative Christian? Imagine that?! Either Fox News will be offering him a job, or the Republicans will try to recruit him to run for Congress. He'd sure get a lot of votes in certain districts.

See, doing that would just be mean, hateful and wrong.

Norway, stay strong, we love you!

Happy Birthday Erik!

Erik's first meaningful sound or word was to put his hands up as horns on his head while moaning uuuhhhh... his way of saying deer. His first real word before even saying mamma or pappa, was shuushh... meaning fish.

Today, on his 10th birthday pappa bought him his first shotgun...
Erik had tears in his eyes and not even the sun could compete with the gleam on his face, the shine in his eyes and the brightness in his smile.

I just waived them off, my two men, with shotgun and muzzleloader, earplugs and shades, water and targets for a couple of hours at the shooting range.
I wanted to go with them but I have to see the dentist one last time before we leave for Sweden and go and pick up the kids school records.

Later we're going to eat Chinese buffet on Erik's request. And for tonight we're having a big ice cream fika!

16 days left...

Why it's better to take care of bureaucracy in the summer

Today was the day I had planned to get the kids school records to bring with me to their new school. Not that I think it matters if they have their grades with them, in Sweden you don't get any grades until you enter junior high. But still, I want them to have some proof that they've been going to school over here and are eligible to start 4th and 2nd grade.

But the person I talked to could not help me, so I have to come back some other time and talk to an other, hopefully more helpful person.

I've checked in with the "Försäkringskassan", to make sure I have everything I need to get me and the kids registered when I get there.

Försäkringskassan is like the Social Security office, a government agency that makes sure all checks go out when you're sick (80% of your pay), the child allowance (all parents with children get an allowance from the government each month, about $180.00/ child), and the compensation when you stay home with a sick child (97% of your pay I think it is).

I know, Swedes pay about the highest taxes in the world, but they do get a lot for their money!!!

I also learned today that for our family to get a permanent resident status (actually it just applies to Dale and Alyssa since the rest of us are Swedish citizens), we just need their birth certificates and Dale's and my marriage licence. That's it! Wow, that sounds simple enough!

Since it's still summer when I get there I'll take advantage of the summer tempered Swedes and do all bureaucratic stuff right away. The reason? well, my theory is that I think there's two different kind of Swedish people, the summer Swede and the winter Swede.

The summer Swede is nice, bubbly, sweet, helpful and outgoing. Come back a couple of months later and meet the same person in her winter mood and it's a total different person. Grumpy, short tempered, and not willing to speak more than a few words per minute.

The reason, I think, is the sun.

When there's an abundance of sun in the summer then the Swede who is a sun worshipper by birth, is the nicest person you ever met, but in the winter when there's no sun to speak of at all then their sweet personality is hibernating. I'll try to be friendly in mid November, but I can't promise anything...

To say goodbye

Last night I was listening to Kristina från Duvemåla. It's a musical made from the epic books about people migrating to the new world from Sweden in the late 1800's.

The wife Kristina, hesitated to leave her home and there was so many unknowns waiting her, even though she lost her daughter the last winter in Sweden due to very harsh conditions and lack of food it was still a very hard decision for her leaving it all behind.

She knew, leaving her parents and all her friends meant she would never ever see them again and the only way to communicate would be by letters that could take months to reach it's destination.

I've done the big move before, 11 years ago I left my home and moved over to the US. And I have to say, in just 11 years the moving has become less of a trauma.

It really hurts to leave all our good friends over here, but with Facebook and texting, IM and SKYPE, instant sharing of pictures and thoughts make it seem so much easier.
And considering the long boat ride the people did back in the late 1800's that took around a month, and lots of people died on the way due to sickness and famine, a really uncomfortable 11 hour flight don't seem that bad in comparison.

We are talking about how we should plan everything here the next couple of months, and we say, well, you have to fly back for the retirement, go hunting, go skiing, or to just renew my resident status or what ever the occasion, and it's so effortless.
Costly, sure, but effortless!! Comparing myself with poor Kristina who new when she bordered that ship that would take her across the Atlantic ocean, she would never see her homeland, family, and friends ever again, our move is effortless.

I don't have to worry about never seeing all my friends again, all I have to worry about is to make sure I have every body's phone number plugged in my cell phone so I can text them all...

“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there’d be a shortage of fishing poles”

With that in mind we have decided to move to Sweden for a while.
In three weeks from now, Erik, Syssa and I are leaving, and in a few months Alyssa, Dale and Lina will join us.

I thought it would be a wonderful time to document how the transition affects the family. How the kids react to a new school system, the new language and environment. For all of us how the differences between the cultures will affect us, how Christmas is going to feel for example. And for me, how being away for 11 years may make me look at things differently.

Right now, I’m concentrating on trying to buy all clothes and shoes we will need for at least a year, because I know for sure, I don’t want to buy clothes there…. it costs a fortune!!!

Next, we have to make sure all papers are in order, fix ID cards for the kids and that the birth certificates and passports are valid.

We found a power converter online that we will buy to make sure we can bring some electronics, like the WII and Xbox for games and also Net Flix. I want to make sure I can watch some of my shows over there! I also want to have a croc pot to prepare dinners in, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them in Sweden and they are absolutely wonderful to have during the weeks when I work long hours.

New Rules: May 13 2011

Bill's saying everything I've tried to say for a long time, just very much better and funnier!

Education Hurdles

I have learned a lot this year, I have to sit in on a 4th grade social studies class every week and I have learned about the great state of Colorado, the exploring travels of Lewis and Clarke and a lot about the Native Americans that lived here before the white man came and took over.

In our school, an elementary public school in south central Colorado we have one hour of social studies per week and one hour of science per week. The rest of the time is vastly spent on creative writing, reading and math.
I know we as Americans are steadily creeping toward the bottom of the education scale in the western world, and when it comes to the subjects of history, geography and civics we’re so far behind to that we are about to fall off the chart all together.

When it comes to science I think it all has to do with the religious agenda, there is really no need for science, right? If we "know" that the bible is true to the very last letter, God created earth in 6 days about 12,300 years ago. Science tells us different, teh dinosaurs were here millions of years ago, for example, then why teach and try to understand science at all since it's obviously false?

When we lived in Arkansas and I was researching homeschooling for my then 5 year old son, I got in contact with a homeschool group that strongly opposed any kind of teaching that went against what the bible said.
One lady told me with great disgust in her voice that her 7 year old had been facing evolution in class in 1st grade and because of that the parents had immidiatly taken their little girl out of that god forsaken public school and she warned me of all horrible things my son could be facing. That’s about the same time I said thanks but no thanks and left that meeting.

When it comes to social studies the reason for not teaching it is not as obvious or clear, but I think it’s considered better for the next generation not knowing what ass holes we're recoviering from beeing. The history is not pretty, we don’t look good…. at all.
As we demand people around the world to do what we tell them to do it might be better if we as a nation stay unaware of our own trespasses.

While the Union fought the Confederates to get rid of slavery during the civil war, the rest of soldiers not fighting that war, were busy breaking treaties, and killing the Native Americans out west in hunger for land and gold.

While we were busy saving the Jews from the horrible concentrations camps in Europe during WWII, the south had laws prohibiting African Americans the same rights the white population had, and lynchings and KKK was a fear facing blacks living in the south.

While the human right’s organizations condemn torture interogation methods used(I truly believe it’s a war crime that should be prosecuted and the responsible officials be put away), the drone attacks against innocent Pakistani civilians happens every day without a peep of complaints from the human rights organizations.

There are 100,000’s of people around the world suffering from our policies , our protection and support of evil dictators and our never ending hunger for cheap goods and oil, and by not knowing anything about the rest of the world, the rest of the world stay anonomous and less worthy of our concern.