Well, the title pretty much sums up the last few days for me. :)
I've been doing quite a lot of thinking and reflecting about things, I need to do that every once in a while if I'm not to get lost and loose focus in my life - and while I have found it difficult to really take the time to do that (I tend to write, a lot!) these past few months, I've had some pretty good sessions now - and hopefully that will do me good in a longer perspective as well!
I have also managed to make a really thorough apartment cleaning this weekend! I'm not done with everything, but at least I don't have that much left, and hopefully I'll get through those bits and pieces during the week to come.
I have a feeling I'm going to go into a more intense period now, and I honestly think I'm up for it now! 2010 ended really badly, and 2011 haven't started out all that well, but I am really starting to feel better in a lot of areas, and hopefully that will continue, and I will be able to apply my thoughts and ideas on the more practical aspects of my life now.
Bringing all this down from this abstract level: Tomorrow I'm going to have to find the construction workers as there are things not working out - STILL!! They're not even in my building any more but apparently things can still go wrong! *sigh*
After that I'm off to Uni as the second half of the Old Testament/Hebrew course starts tomorrow - and hopefully I can spend the afternoon doing some work on my own.
Oh, and I have to say: I love my new Sammy computer! We get along sooo well! *lol*
I've managed to download/install most of the programmes I usually use, and it has worked like a charm. I had the "old" Office package, Office 2007, which is really for Windows XP and Windows Vista, and Sammy has Windows 7, so I wasn't sure if that would work : But it did! :)
Also have an old version of Photoshop that I love using for digi.scraps and graphics, and it worked like a charm here as well. I even managed to get a whole lot of brushes from my really old computer onto this one (I didn't even have them on my old laptop!) so I hope to have time for some scrapping and graphics soon! :)
Showing posts with label bathroom renovation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bathroom renovation. Show all posts
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Bit of Bad News ...
Can't say this weekend has been really great, unfortunately ...
Basically a bad incident on Friday spoiled most of it - and even though I know I shouldn't let things affect me too much, but sometimes I do find it difficult.
I was working on my laptop, sipping a drink (yup, I know, no eating or drinking near a computer ... *sigh*). The construction work was going on but since I've had my own lock installed again, I felt quite relaxed despite a lot of drilling and hammering ... until they dropped something HUGE outside my apartment! Don't ask me what it was but it sounded gigantic. I leaped in the air of course, knocking over my drink ... which poured all over my laptop! NOT GOOD!
I've been doing what I can to try to get it to dry, but so far no luck! The computer works, in itself - but none of the keys work ... making it impossible to work with it or even log in. I have been told to be patient, so I guess I should give it a few more days before giving up - but it's more than frustrated.
I did managed to bring life back into my old computer - and get it hooked up to the internet ... which took most of Saturday (*sigh*) - but it's slower than slow and nothing I can cope with other than as an emergency solution for a short time.
I guess I'll make up my mind about my laptop toward the middle of the week - but I'm already trying to check out the market for a new one, as I might simply have to buy a new computer. Not exactly something I was counting on, but not much to do about either - I need a working computer ...
Other than that, not much has been going on this weekend. I managed to get a whole lot of laundry done this afternoon, which felt quite good as I was running out of clothes to wear! :)
Next week will be pretty heavy for me, at least the first half of it, and I'm a bit nervous about it since the weekend hasn't provided a lot of calm reflection - so to speak. I guess I'll just have to work at it and hope for the best.
Tomorrow I will actually attend both New Testament and Old Testament lectures! :)
Tomorrow morning three lecturers applying for a job at the Department will each give a "trial-lecture", and I know one of them - he taught New Testament Greek when I took it in 2008 - and last spring I kind of sat in on his lectures on that course again, to freshen up my Greek skills! :) I went to similar lectures in Sociology of Religion in January and it's quite interesting!
Then there's the usual OT/Hebrew lesson in the afternoon, and I really enjoy those lectures as they are now covering stuff I'm not 100% sure of myself, so I'm learning a lot by attending them.
I have a big challenge to face on Tuesday, but I will try not to get to far ahead of myself - but I'm hoping for some time to deal with that tomorrow afternoon, I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of thinking in order for that to work out well.
Basically a bad incident on Friday spoiled most of it - and even though I know I shouldn't let things affect me too much, but sometimes I do find it difficult.
I was working on my laptop, sipping a drink (yup, I know, no eating or drinking near a computer ... *sigh*). The construction work was going on but since I've had my own lock installed again, I felt quite relaxed despite a lot of drilling and hammering ... until they dropped something HUGE outside my apartment! Don't ask me what it was but it sounded gigantic. I leaped in the air of course, knocking over my drink ... which poured all over my laptop! NOT GOOD!
I've been doing what I can to try to get it to dry, but so far no luck! The computer works, in itself - but none of the keys work ... making it impossible to work with it or even log in. I have been told to be patient, so I guess I should give it a few more days before giving up - but it's more than frustrated.
I did managed to bring life back into my old computer - and get it hooked up to the internet ... which took most of Saturday (*sigh*) - but it's slower than slow and nothing I can cope with other than as an emergency solution for a short time.
I guess I'll make up my mind about my laptop toward the middle of the week - but I'm already trying to check out the market for a new one, as I might simply have to buy a new computer. Not exactly something I was counting on, but not much to do about either - I need a working computer ...
Other than that, not much has been going on this weekend. I managed to get a whole lot of laundry done this afternoon, which felt quite good as I was running out of clothes to wear! :)
Next week will be pretty heavy for me, at least the first half of it, and I'm a bit nervous about it since the weekend hasn't provided a lot of calm reflection - so to speak. I guess I'll just have to work at it and hope for the best.
Tomorrow I will actually attend both New Testament and Old Testament lectures! :)
Tomorrow morning three lecturers applying for a job at the Department will each give a "trial-lecture", and I know one of them - he taught New Testament Greek when I took it in 2008 - and last spring I kind of sat in on his lectures on that course again, to freshen up my Greek skills! :) I went to similar lectures in Sociology of Religion in January and it's quite interesting!
Then there's the usual OT/Hebrew lesson in the afternoon, and I really enjoy those lectures as they are now covering stuff I'm not 100% sure of myself, so I'm learning a lot by attending them.
I have a big challenge to face on Tuesday, but I will try not to get to far ahead of myself - but I'm hoping for some time to deal with that tomorrow afternoon, I have a feeling I'm going to need a lot of thinking in order for that to work out well.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Coping ...
Things have been working out fairly well this week, so far ... I can at least handle (sort of) the more basic parts of my life, even though the whole grieving process is difficult to tackle right now.
I'm trying to attend most of the Hebrew lectures now, as they are getting close to the end of the first part of the course. We had a mentor meeting yesterday, and while not many students showed up, I think the meeting in itself went pretty well.
Lectures after that and then a bit of interesting conversation at Uni ... I had planned to take a train home at about 4.45, but when I got to the railway station there was another train chaos going on. Apparently something had happened between Malmö and Lund, and whatever it was caused major difficulties - which meant that basically all of my trains were cancelled!! Thanks a lot! *rolling eyes* I ended up taking another, very late, train to Helsingborg (which is waaay off!) and from there I could take a bus home, but I didn't get home until around 7 p.m. - yawn!!
I've been to lectures today as well, which was interesting as usual. Today the students were taking a more active part than they usually do. Yesterday they were given an assignment, to prepare a minor speech about different things relating to Hebrew grammar, like a grammatical construction or a certain word grouping or something like that. They did a really good job and it was very interesting to listen to them!
When I got home I FINALLY had my old lock back in place again!!! When the whole renovation thing started they exchanged the locks so all the workmen could have access to the apartments. While I realize the necessity of it, I didn't like it - particularly since some of them didn't even announce themselves before barging in here ... Once or twice I'd come out of the bathroom to find several construction workers in the hallway ... *sigh*
But today they put my old lock back in, meaning no one can come in here unless I actually INVITE them in!! *YAY*
Since the construction workers are well and truly finished with my apartment now I'm hoping to be able to finish what I'm supposed to do here as well fairly soon. I still have some rearranging to do and then I have to make one last clean-up of everything, but then it should be okay!
I'm trying to attend most of the Hebrew lectures now, as they are getting close to the end of the first part of the course. We had a mentor meeting yesterday, and while not many students showed up, I think the meeting in itself went pretty well.
Lectures after that and then a bit of interesting conversation at Uni ... I had planned to take a train home at about 4.45, but when I got to the railway station there was another train chaos going on. Apparently something had happened between Malmö and Lund, and whatever it was caused major difficulties - which meant that basically all of my trains were cancelled!! Thanks a lot! *rolling eyes* I ended up taking another, very late, train to Helsingborg (which is waaay off!) and from there I could take a bus home, but I didn't get home until around 7 p.m. - yawn!!
I've been to lectures today as well, which was interesting as usual. Today the students were taking a more active part than they usually do. Yesterday they were given an assignment, to prepare a minor speech about different things relating to Hebrew grammar, like a grammatical construction or a certain word grouping or something like that. They did a really good job and it was very interesting to listen to them!
When I got home I FINALLY had my old lock back in place again!!! When the whole renovation thing started they exchanged the locks so all the workmen could have access to the apartments. While I realize the necessity of it, I didn't like it - particularly since some of them didn't even announce themselves before barging in here ... Once or twice I'd come out of the bathroom to find several construction workers in the hallway ... *sigh*
But today they put my old lock back in, meaning no one can come in here unless I actually INVITE them in!! *YAY*
Since the construction workers are well and truly finished with my apartment now I'm hoping to be able to finish what I'm supposed to do here as well fairly soon. I still have some rearranging to do and then I have to make one last clean-up of everything, but then it should be okay!
Monday, 28 February 2011
Latest Project:
My latest project - moving the last two bookshelves into the hallway ... which naturally involves putting all the books in a great big pile on the floor first, then dragging the two bookshelves across the apartment and then trying to sort through the great book pile and put all the books in order ... I am almost finished now!
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Renovation Part III: Pictures
I will finish the Renovation-entries by sharing some pictures, the varying state of my apartment during the past two weeks or so ...
On purpose I will not include any pictures from the bathroom, as I really do want to make a proper Before-and-After post on that later on, when everything is REALLY finished. Naturally I'll include photos from the other rooms as well when they are all done too, but here's a taste of what it's been like.
When I moved back home, this kitchen awaited me (not exactly thrilled about that, but I guess I should have cleared away more stuff than I did before I moved out):
Varying stages of my hallway:
And the living room:
Bedroom - this is how it looked when I got home, and found out I had to clear it all away (one more time!!) for the electrician:
And here I have cleared away the bookshelves (again!) - meaning all the stuff ended up in my bed:
And now it's all back together AGAIN ...
Finishing off - though I said I wasn't going to - with a picture from my bathroom.
The latest drama was this Wednesday, I think! A carpenter came in to fix a few things they had noticed weren't working perfectly. He asked me if I had noticed something, and I mentioned the ventilation in the bathroom which had been making quite a lot of noise. He told me he'd take a look at it, and I let him get on with it. After a while I heard a lot of noises and he swore and rushed out to get a few other carpenters! It turned out he was going to take down the ventilation box which is over the bathroom cupboard - and ended up cracking one of the ceramic tiles, just where the water pipes were going! Not good!
It took them almost two days to fix it - but now it's fixed and no noise, yay! - and here's what my bathroom wall looked like then:
On purpose I will not include any pictures from the bathroom, as I really do want to make a proper Before-and-After post on that later on, when everything is REALLY finished. Naturally I'll include photos from the other rooms as well when they are all done too, but here's a taste of what it's been like.
When I moved back home, this kitchen awaited me (not exactly thrilled about that, but I guess I should have cleared away more stuff than I did before I moved out):
Varying stages of my hallway:
And the living room:
Bedroom - this is how it looked when I got home, and found out I had to clear it all away (one more time!!) for the electrician:
And here I have cleared away the bookshelves (again!) - meaning all the stuff ended up in my bed:
And now it's all back together AGAIN ...
Finishing off - though I said I wasn't going to - with a picture from my bathroom.
The latest drama was this Wednesday, I think! A carpenter came in to fix a few things they had noticed weren't working perfectly. He asked me if I had noticed something, and I mentioned the ventilation in the bathroom which had been making quite a lot of noise. He told me he'd take a look at it, and I let him get on with it. After a while I heard a lot of noises and he swore and rushed out to get a few other carpenters! It turned out he was going to take down the ventilation box which is over the bathroom cupboard - and ended up cracking one of the ceramic tiles, just where the water pipes were going! Not good!
It took them almost two days to fix it - but now it's fixed and no noise, yay! - and here's what my bathroom wall looked like then:
Renovation Part II: Emotional
Due to quite an intense week, unfortunately the blog hasn't been updated. Hopefully I can take some time this weekend to catch up with it!
This entry will try to focus on the emotional part of this whole renovation mess I've been living in for the past 5-6 weeks - naturally it won't be very detailed as emotions are, at least to me, something very private. But I will try to write something.
I think what has become most evident for me is how much I actually value my home! When I was on sick-leave, my home became my refuge, it was the only place in the world where I could totally relax and where I was completely at ease - at any other place there was at least some kind of anxiety involved, although of course the gravity of it varied.
But since I have been feeling better, I can be relaxed at other places as well. Anxiety has not that big part in my life any more (although some of it has come back lately - but that's another story) and I don't have to be on my toes and feeling anxious as soon as I leave my home.
But still, home apparently means a great deal to me - which became very clear when I was more or less thrown out of my home.
I spent three weeks not living at home, and that was really hard on me. Part of the time, I could borrow Christian's apartment - where I was on my own and could go about my business in the way I wanted - and the rest of the time was mostly spent with my Dad and his family, and I'm used to being there as well ... but it was still hard on me not being around my home, my stuff! (This is not to say I'm not grateful both to Christian and to my Dad for making these arrangements possible, because it made things work out well on a practical level!)
Since this was a reaction I had not anticipated, I also was not at all prepared for it, and probably didn't handle it in a great way ...
Things have been feeling a lot better since I was able to come home - but there is an element of anxiety still, as there has been complications and I've basically had people walk in and out any time between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to try to fix this and that ... And that makes it hard to relax even when I am at home ... this has made me truly appreciate weekends though! :)
Having to go through this renovation mess has also made it impossible for me to try to really deal with my feelings and emotions. I feel like I have been forced to push things aside and telling myself I'll have to deal with them when things calm down a bit - and that is something that I don't feel good about. Pushing things aside make them pile up inside me and eventually I feel like I'm going to break, both physically and emotionally, because there is so much inside me that I can't let out.
This weekend I think is the first time since Christmas, where I can really sit down and work things through (I write - a lot!), not worrying about anything, just trying to focus on what has been going on and how I'm feeling about everything, and why, and where all my emotions come from, and how I'm going to deal with them.
I still have stuff I need to do, but I truly feel I have to prioritize my writing now, if I'm going to be able to feel better!
I have several other blog entries in mind before I feel I'm back-on-track with the blog, so hopefully I can get my act together and publish them during the weekend.
This entry will try to focus on the emotional part of this whole renovation mess I've been living in for the past 5-6 weeks - naturally it won't be very detailed as emotions are, at least to me, something very private. But I will try to write something.
I think what has become most evident for me is how much I actually value my home! When I was on sick-leave, my home became my refuge, it was the only place in the world where I could totally relax and where I was completely at ease - at any other place there was at least some kind of anxiety involved, although of course the gravity of it varied.
But since I have been feeling better, I can be relaxed at other places as well. Anxiety has not that big part in my life any more (although some of it has come back lately - but that's another story) and I don't have to be on my toes and feeling anxious as soon as I leave my home.
But still, home apparently means a great deal to me - which became very clear when I was more or less thrown out of my home.
I spent three weeks not living at home, and that was really hard on me. Part of the time, I could borrow Christian's apartment - where I was on my own and could go about my business in the way I wanted - and the rest of the time was mostly spent with my Dad and his family, and I'm used to being there as well ... but it was still hard on me not being around my home, my stuff! (This is not to say I'm not grateful both to Christian and to my Dad for making these arrangements possible, because it made things work out well on a practical level!)
Since this was a reaction I had not anticipated, I also was not at all prepared for it, and probably didn't handle it in a great way ...
Things have been feeling a lot better since I was able to come home - but there is an element of anxiety still, as there has been complications and I've basically had people walk in and out any time between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to try to fix this and that ... And that makes it hard to relax even when I am at home ... this has made me truly appreciate weekends though! :)
Having to go through this renovation mess has also made it impossible for me to try to really deal with my feelings and emotions. I feel like I have been forced to push things aside and telling myself I'll have to deal with them when things calm down a bit - and that is something that I don't feel good about. Pushing things aside make them pile up inside me and eventually I feel like I'm going to break, both physically and emotionally, because there is so much inside me that I can't let out.
This weekend I think is the first time since Christmas, where I can really sit down and work things through (I write - a lot!), not worrying about anything, just trying to focus on what has been going on and how I'm feeling about everything, and why, and where all my emotions come from, and how I'm going to deal with them.
I still have stuff I need to do, but I truly feel I have to prioritize my writing now, if I'm going to be able to feel better!
I have several other blog entries in mind before I feel I'm back-on-track with the blog, so hopefully I can get my act together and publish them during the weekend.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Renovation Part I: Practical
I thought I'd start off by giving you an insight into the practical aspects of this whole renovation mess ... to give a background on what has been going on and maybe that will be at least part of an explanation to why I haven't been feeling very well lately.
Basically it was a bathroom renovation, so they were going to tear down the whole bathroom including the walls and floors. You could make a choice to also have your entire kitchen renovated as well, as they were changing all the water pipes at the same time - this would, however, be too expensive for my taste. They did recommend that we'd do the hallway as well, as in all likelihood there would be damage made to the hallway in the renovation process - also they were going to widen the bathroom door, which meant tearing down part of the concrete hallway wall.
It was also decided that since this whole mess was going to go on, they would also change all the electrical stuff in every apartment ... the fuse box as well as all the wall and roof electrical outlets - this was going to be done the week before the renovation project started, and this was scheduled to take three weeks.
Before the renovation itself begun, they changed all the locks ... I'm sure they had some secure way of doing this, even though I never understood the finer details, but basically they removed our door locks and replaced them with temporary "construction locks", allowing all the construction workers to pretty much come and go as they liked.
After that it was time for the electrical work. Which included moving A LOT of furniture!! As I mentioned here before, I managed to miss one outlet, but cleared away a couple of bookshelves and was told they would fix it during the bathroom renovations (there are at least two, maybe more, companies involved - the electricians and the carpenters, and I assume there are plumbers as well, though I don't think I've come across any of them).
On Friday 21st (January), the covered the hallway floor, and on Monday 24th, I moved out.
Luckily I had a friend in Lund, Christian, who was willing to give up his apartment for me, and temporarily move in with his girlfriend Maria - who I had as a mentor when I was taking Greek! :) I very much appreciate that, as I basically had nowhere to go! We were allowed to live at home, as we were supposed to have electricity most of the time - but with no running water, a toilet in the basement, and shower in barrack in the yard, I really did NOT want to live here.
I stayed in Christians apartment Monday through Saturday morning that week - and I did discover during that time how much I really like my Home! Christians apartment was really nice, and it was a lot closer to Uni than mine *lol*, but I still felt a bit homesick!
Saturday morning, I went up north to visit my families, and I stayed for about 10 days. There were a lot of reasons why I didn't feel great, but I'll see if I can tell you something about that in another entry.
Anyway, I stayed with my Dad and his family between Jan. 28 and Feb. 7, and I also visited my Mum. It was nice seeing them again, but it felt strange to be there for such a long time during mid-semester.
On Feb. 7 I went back south, again to Christian's apartment - where I stayed until Friday. It was said I could move back home on Friday and I spent quite some time that week to make sure that was okay.
I went home on three occasions that week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, and tried to find people to talk to - but I kept getting quite vague answers, to be honest.
I was quite nervous when I went home "for good" on Friday afternoon, but when I got here I quickly realized that I did have electricity and I did have running water, which at the time was good enough for me.
That weekend flew by, I was completely exhausted and basically didn't do much of anything.
Unfortunately I had discovered there were A LOT of things left to do, and maybe the most annoying one: the electrical outlet in the living room. As I had decided to rearrange the furniture while I still had to move them things were an extreme mess!!
I spent a lot of time during the beginning of the week trying to find people and get things done, but it took until Wednesday before the electrician showed up. Only to tell me that since the outlet went straight through one of my inner walls, I had to clear the outlet that was on the other side of the wall as well (in the bedroom).
I basically had a complete melt down, as I had already cleared away at least two bookshelves there before, they had changed the outlet and I had moved everything back again (along with all the stuff from the bathroom and some other things!)...
So I moved it all over again, but then it seemed impossible to find the electricians anywhere. I had a carpenter in on Friday morning to do some stuff, and by then I was really upset, there were a lot of things that I had to have electricians to fix (for instance, they removed my internet/telephone outlet when they wallpapered the hallway, which was done at the beginning of the week, and hadn't put it back!) ....
The electricians were nowhere to be found, and I really wanted to take a trip to Lund that afternoon - so I left here at noon and put a huge note on my door with biiiig red letters, stated I needed help from the electricians!
Around 5.15 p.m. when I was at Uni, the Head of the entire renovation project called me!! He is Danish and for the life of me, I cannot understand that language ... so I hardly understood what he said! Very embarrassing! I figured out that either they had fixed most of the stuff and were going to do a check on it on Monday (as in, today), or they were going to fix it ... on Monday.
I kind of dreaded going home, but when I got here I at least had telephone/internet and the outlet in the living room was fixed! Yay!
I spent the weekend trying to get everything back together - and this morning the carpenters came and did a few minor things- but there are still stuff left ...
The "bosses" came around 11 a.m. today to do a survey of the work being done, I had hoped everything would be done but naturally there were a number of things they are going to get adjust during this week.
But at least I can get my place back together now, I still don't want to put furniture in the hallway, as they are not quite done there yet, but I have gotten most of the stuff back where it's supposed to be, so I'm hoping to be able to have this apartment in tip-top shape come this weekend!
This has been quite a difficult time for me, for a number of reasons - I am truly glad that almost everything is finished, but I'm quite down and I think it will take a while for me to make a come-back from this.
I hope to make another entry fairly soon on how I've been feeling (even though I won't go into that much detail!) this past month ....
Basically it was a bathroom renovation, so they were going to tear down the whole bathroom including the walls and floors. You could make a choice to also have your entire kitchen renovated as well, as they were changing all the water pipes at the same time - this would, however, be too expensive for my taste. They did recommend that we'd do the hallway as well, as in all likelihood there would be damage made to the hallway in the renovation process - also they were going to widen the bathroom door, which meant tearing down part of the concrete hallway wall.
It was also decided that since this whole mess was going to go on, they would also change all the electrical stuff in every apartment ... the fuse box as well as all the wall and roof electrical outlets - this was going to be done the week before the renovation project started, and this was scheduled to take three weeks.
Before the renovation itself begun, they changed all the locks ... I'm sure they had some secure way of doing this, even though I never understood the finer details, but basically they removed our door locks and replaced them with temporary "construction locks", allowing all the construction workers to pretty much come and go as they liked.
After that it was time for the electrical work. Which included moving A LOT of furniture!! As I mentioned here before, I managed to miss one outlet, but cleared away a couple of bookshelves and was told they would fix it during the bathroom renovations (there are at least two, maybe more, companies involved - the electricians and the carpenters, and I assume there are plumbers as well, though I don't think I've come across any of them).
On Friday 21st (January), the covered the hallway floor, and on Monday 24th, I moved out.
Luckily I had a friend in Lund, Christian, who was willing to give up his apartment for me, and temporarily move in with his girlfriend Maria - who I had as a mentor when I was taking Greek! :) I very much appreciate that, as I basically had nowhere to go! We were allowed to live at home, as we were supposed to have electricity most of the time - but with no running water, a toilet in the basement, and shower in barrack in the yard, I really did NOT want to live here.
I stayed in Christians apartment Monday through Saturday morning that week - and I did discover during that time how much I really like my Home! Christians apartment was really nice, and it was a lot closer to Uni than mine *lol*, but I still felt a bit homesick!
Saturday morning, I went up north to visit my families, and I stayed for about 10 days. There were a lot of reasons why I didn't feel great, but I'll see if I can tell you something about that in another entry.
Anyway, I stayed with my Dad and his family between Jan. 28 and Feb. 7, and I also visited my Mum. It was nice seeing them again, but it felt strange to be there for such a long time during mid-semester.
On Feb. 7 I went back south, again to Christian's apartment - where I stayed until Friday. It was said I could move back home on Friday and I spent quite some time that week to make sure that was okay.
I went home on three occasions that week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, and tried to find people to talk to - but I kept getting quite vague answers, to be honest.
I was quite nervous when I went home "for good" on Friday afternoon, but when I got here I quickly realized that I did have electricity and I did have running water, which at the time was good enough for me.
That weekend flew by, I was completely exhausted and basically didn't do much of anything.
Unfortunately I had discovered there were A LOT of things left to do, and maybe the most annoying one: the electrical outlet in the living room. As I had decided to rearrange the furniture while I still had to move them things were an extreme mess!!
I spent a lot of time during the beginning of the week trying to find people and get things done, but it took until Wednesday before the electrician showed up. Only to tell me that since the outlet went straight through one of my inner walls, I had to clear the outlet that was on the other side of the wall as well (in the bedroom).
I basically had a complete melt down, as I had already cleared away at least two bookshelves there before, they had changed the outlet and I had moved everything back again (along with all the stuff from the bathroom and some other things!)...
So I moved it all over again, but then it seemed impossible to find the electricians anywhere. I had a carpenter in on Friday morning to do some stuff, and by then I was really upset, there were a lot of things that I had to have electricians to fix (for instance, they removed my internet/telephone outlet when they wallpapered the hallway, which was done at the beginning of the week, and hadn't put it back!) ....
The electricians were nowhere to be found, and I really wanted to take a trip to Lund that afternoon - so I left here at noon and put a huge note on my door with biiiig red letters, stated I needed help from the electricians!
Around 5.15 p.m. when I was at Uni, the Head of the entire renovation project called me!! He is Danish and for the life of me, I cannot understand that language ... so I hardly understood what he said! Very embarrassing! I figured out that either they had fixed most of the stuff and were going to do a check on it on Monday (as in, today), or they were going to fix it ... on Monday.
I kind of dreaded going home, but when I got here I at least had telephone/internet and the outlet in the living room was fixed! Yay!
I spent the weekend trying to get everything back together - and this morning the carpenters came and did a few minor things- but there are still stuff left ...
The "bosses" came around 11 a.m. today to do a survey of the work being done, I had hoped everything would be done but naturally there were a number of things they are going to get adjust during this week.
But at least I can get my place back together now, I still don't want to put furniture in the hallway, as they are not quite done there yet, but I have gotten most of the stuff back where it's supposed to be, so I'm hoping to be able to have this apartment in tip-top shape come this weekend!
This has been quite a difficult time for me, for a number of reasons - I am truly glad that almost everything is finished, but I'm quite down and I think it will take a while for me to make a come-back from this.
I hope to make another entry fairly soon on how I've been feeling (even though I won't go into that much detail!) this past month ....
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Last of the Photos!
Yes, here are the last of the photos ... I'm guessing I'll continue taking pictures when I get back and try to get everything in order again (especially since I'm thinking of redecorating my living room!).
The last of the really old electrical outlets that are now finally exchanged for new ones:
The living room:
Note in the last two pictures the beautiful plastic instead of a doorway! *lol* I have a door but it's down in the basement so they decided to cover it up with plastic instead!
Kitchen:
Bedroom:
Bathroom - BEFORE renovation:
I am very much looking forward to seeing the AFTER-pictures! :)
The last of the really old electrical outlets that are now finally exchanged for new ones:
The living room:
Note in the last two pictures the beautiful plastic instead of a doorway! *lol* I have a door but it's down in the basement so they decided to cover it up with plastic instead!
Kitchen:
Bedroom:
Bathroom - BEFORE renovation:
I am very much looking forward to seeing the AFTER-pictures! :)
Please note that I will try to update my blog whenever I can, from Uni or from my families when I'm up there visiting - but there will be no pictures until I get back (sorry...).
It seems right now that I'll be able to move in on Feb. 11 but I guess there's no guarantees, right?!
Take care!!
It seems right now that I'll be able to move in on Feb. 11 but I guess there's no guarantees, right?!
Take care!!
My Mess In Pictures!
So, here they are ... the photos from The Mess!
I have been taking a few photos every now and again during this mess, and will share them with you here. I'm counting on making a final round tonight when most of it is ready (also would like Before- and After-pictures of the hallway and bathroom which will be redecorated), so I will probably make one last entry tonight ...
(all photos taken with my new camera, Samsung ES28)
Here we go:
Moving books and bookshelves (from the hallway into the kitchen):
My hallway, on January 18 (before the electrician was here):
My bedroom - I had to move one bookshelf for them to reach the electrical outlet, but in order to move that I had to move a lot of other things as well:
Kitchen and bedroom:
The hallway (Jan. 22) - the wardrobes are covered in plastic, and the electrician has (among other things) moved the fuse box:
Moving bookshelves in the living room to free the last of the outlets that needs to be remade:
I have been taking a few photos every now and again during this mess, and will share them with you here. I'm counting on making a final round tonight when most of it is ready (also would like Before- and After-pictures of the hallway and bathroom which will be redecorated), so I will probably make one last entry tonight ...
(all photos taken with my new camera, Samsung ES28)
Here we go:
Moving books and bookshelves (from the hallway into the kitchen):
My hallway, on January 18 (before the electrician was here):
My bedroom - I had to move one bookshelf for them to reach the electrical outlet, but in order to move that I had to move a lot of other things as well:
Kitchen and bedroom:
The hallway (Jan. 22) - the wardrobes are covered in plastic, and the electrician has (among other things) moved the fuse box:
Moving bookshelves in the living room to free the last of the outlets that needs to be remade:
Tough Week ...
I do apologize for not writing here at all during the week - but it has been one of the most intense weeks I've experienced in a VERY long time! It's been quite hard to get through everything, also because during the fall I wasn't feeling great and I wasn't very "active" at all. Now it seems it's all caught up with me and it tends to get a bit too much at times.
I had an exam with a deadline on midnight Monday so I spent almost all day at Uni and continued working on it when I got home. I wrote frantically until around 11 p.m. but just as I was about to send it I felt like maybe I've completely misunderstood a couple of things! NOT good! It was too late to do anything about it, but I sure am dreading the result (also, it's SOOOOO important that I pass this exam, which makes me even more nervous!) ...
On Tuesday the spring semester started at Uni, and with that the Old Testament/Hebrew course where I am mentor, this year along with another girl. We were supposed to introduce ourself and the mentor activity - and even though I really have become quite secure at the Department, things like that do make me nervous still ... I think it worked out fairly well, and it seems like 16 students will take the course now, which is a lot! Not sure how many of them stick with it until the end, but at least it's a good start.
We had lectures in the afternoon as well, and I sat in on the first half before rushing home to start moving furniture. The electrician was supposed to come on Wednesday morning, and I needed to move everything away from every single electrical outlet in my apartment as well as make sure they could change the ceiling outlets and the fuse box in the hallway. That sure took some doing, especially since I was REALLY tired ... I realized I did NOT want to be home while he was doing it ...
I didn't get everything done Tuesday night, so I was up at 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday and finished it, and left home at about 6 ... I was at Uni at 7.30 and stayed there until about 4 p.m. (and sat in on an OT lecture), ate in town before going home. I was home about 6 p.m. and it was a MESS. I hadn't managed to disconnect my ceiling lamps, so that had been done ... but all of them were just in a mess on the floor and it was pitch black inside my apartment. I had no idea what they had done or if they had connected ANY of the leads at all. I ended up finding a tiny flash light and went around the apartment trying to figure out what they had done and how to get at least one lamp working again... and I did succeed in the end even though I was in a terrible mood.
On Thursday I went to Uni again, though I slept in a little. When I was about to get ready the electrician showed up - apparently he'd forgotten something in my apartment and he also told me I had missed one outlet when I was clearing away, so they hadn't been able to change that. I said I'd have it cleared by the time the renovations started - but it does involve moving two or three bookshelves *sigh* - so hopefully they'll get it done then ... At Uni it was an OT lecture and I spent some time talking to the teacher afterwards. I also met the other mentor and we talked a little about the first mentor meeting that was scheduled to Friday afternoon.
When I got home it was time to move more furniture, as on Friday morning construction workers would be in here covering the floor in the hallway and doing some other stuff.
I was up early Friday morning as well and went to Uni. At 9.30 there were three lectures in sociology of religion, as they will appoint a 50% teaching position in that subject. Of the three people there, I "kinda" know one of them, at least I know who she is, and I do know another one. I had him during a few courses back when I started Uni after my sick leave, and I actually chose between sociology of religion and Old Testament when it came time to specialize my studies ... I hadn't seen him in a long time so it was nice to be there, and I'm actually surprised at how much I remembered (since I haven't taken this subject since 2006!).
I had a little while to myself during lunch before it was time for OT lecture and after that the first mentor meeting. I think it went really well although I always have a tendency to over analyse things. Afterwards I talked a bit with the other mentor, Elisabet, before heading home.
Friday afternoon and yesterday I have spent trying to prepare for my three week absence ... I am really nervous about these three weeks and how things will turn out, but I guess I just have to hope for the best. At the moment I'm trying to get my apartment fit for the renovation, move some furniture for the electrician, trying to find a way to save my flowers, doing laundry and trying to figure out how to actually pack stuff that will keep me going for three weeks ... etc. etc.
I have taken photos continuously of the various states my apartment has gone through, so I will try to make a photo entry later tonight.
But now I have to try to dismantle the mirror wall I have in the hallway ...
I had an exam with a deadline on midnight Monday so I spent almost all day at Uni and continued working on it when I got home. I wrote frantically until around 11 p.m. but just as I was about to send it I felt like maybe I've completely misunderstood a couple of things! NOT good! It was too late to do anything about it, but I sure am dreading the result (also, it's SOOOOO important that I pass this exam, which makes me even more nervous!) ...
On Tuesday the spring semester started at Uni, and with that the Old Testament/Hebrew course where I am mentor, this year along with another girl. We were supposed to introduce ourself and the mentor activity - and even though I really have become quite secure at the Department, things like that do make me nervous still ... I think it worked out fairly well, and it seems like 16 students will take the course now, which is a lot! Not sure how many of them stick with it until the end, but at least it's a good start.
We had lectures in the afternoon as well, and I sat in on the first half before rushing home to start moving furniture. The electrician was supposed to come on Wednesday morning, and I needed to move everything away from every single electrical outlet in my apartment as well as make sure they could change the ceiling outlets and the fuse box in the hallway. That sure took some doing, especially since I was REALLY tired ... I realized I did NOT want to be home while he was doing it ...
I didn't get everything done Tuesday night, so I was up at 2.30 a.m. on Wednesday and finished it, and left home at about 6 ... I was at Uni at 7.30 and stayed there until about 4 p.m. (and sat in on an OT lecture), ate in town before going home. I was home about 6 p.m. and it was a MESS. I hadn't managed to disconnect my ceiling lamps, so that had been done ... but all of them were just in a mess on the floor and it was pitch black inside my apartment. I had no idea what they had done or if they had connected ANY of the leads at all. I ended up finding a tiny flash light and went around the apartment trying to figure out what they had done and how to get at least one lamp working again... and I did succeed in the end even though I was in a terrible mood.
On Thursday I went to Uni again, though I slept in a little. When I was about to get ready the electrician showed up - apparently he'd forgotten something in my apartment and he also told me I had missed one outlet when I was clearing away, so they hadn't been able to change that. I said I'd have it cleared by the time the renovations started - but it does involve moving two or three bookshelves *sigh* - so hopefully they'll get it done then ... At Uni it was an OT lecture and I spent some time talking to the teacher afterwards. I also met the other mentor and we talked a little about the first mentor meeting that was scheduled to Friday afternoon.
When I got home it was time to move more furniture, as on Friday morning construction workers would be in here covering the floor in the hallway and doing some other stuff.
I was up early Friday morning as well and went to Uni. At 9.30 there were three lectures in sociology of religion, as they will appoint a 50% teaching position in that subject. Of the three people there, I "kinda" know one of them, at least I know who she is, and I do know another one. I had him during a few courses back when I started Uni after my sick leave, and I actually chose between sociology of religion and Old Testament when it came time to specialize my studies ... I hadn't seen him in a long time so it was nice to be there, and I'm actually surprised at how much I remembered (since I haven't taken this subject since 2006!).
I had a little while to myself during lunch before it was time for OT lecture and after that the first mentor meeting. I think it went really well although I always have a tendency to over analyse things. Afterwards I talked a bit with the other mentor, Elisabet, before heading home.
Friday afternoon and yesterday I have spent trying to prepare for my three week absence ... I am really nervous about these three weeks and how things will turn out, but I guess I just have to hope for the best. At the moment I'm trying to get my apartment fit for the renovation, move some furniture for the electrician, trying to find a way to save my flowers, doing laundry and trying to figure out how to actually pack stuff that will keep me going for three weeks ... etc. etc.
I have taken photos continuously of the various states my apartment has gone through, so I will try to make a photo entry later tonight.
But now I have to try to dismantle the mirror wall I have in the hallway ...
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Lots To Deal With
Today has mostly been a strange day, not quite sure what to say about it actually.
I ended up deciding not to go to Uni, for some reason or other, being at the Department hasn't really been working for me this semester. Well, I'm starting to think it's going to have to work from now on - because today they started the major renovation-project (bathroom and most of the kitchen) in the house next to mine. Meaning almost constant concrete drilling ... let's just say that does not constitute the ultimate study environment!! *sigh*
I'm often feeling extremely tired, I have been for most of the semester, and that is not something I'm really comfortable with - especially not since I'm going to have to put my studies in overdrive starting NOW! I will try to get better at eating vitamins, and also eating a bit better than I have been doing - but at least I'm exercising every day now ... that should count for something, right? :)
I'm facing a couple of new challenges now though, that I'm starting to get anxious about. One will be dealing with a straight up "old-fashioned" anxiety attack tomorrow morning (or possibly two, depending on what happens!!), so I'm going to have to try to prepare for that. I will also have to take on another kind of challenge during the weekend.
I think I'm right in acknowledging the fact that I do feel anxious, and trying to deal with it - instead of just postponing things, telling myself I'll probably feel better about them later on ... but that doesn't make me feel much better right now! Still, I think I actually will feel better when I start to see that things are actually getting done, that I'm conquering my challenges and actually dealing with them - at least I hope so!!
With that being said, I'm going to try to take a while and write in my diary tonight! I usually find it difficult to do so in the evenings now, I usually want to write in the morning. And while I cannot neglect my morning-diary-routine, I can't write everything in the mornings, because then I won't get any sleep at all. So hopefully I can get through some things tonight, and deal with the rest, and the more immediate preparations tomorrow morning.
I ended up deciding not to go to Uni, for some reason or other, being at the Department hasn't really been working for me this semester. Well, I'm starting to think it's going to have to work from now on - because today they started the major renovation-project (bathroom and most of the kitchen) in the house next to mine. Meaning almost constant concrete drilling ... let's just say that does not constitute the ultimate study environment!! *sigh*
I'm often feeling extremely tired, I have been for most of the semester, and that is not something I'm really comfortable with - especially not since I'm going to have to put my studies in overdrive starting NOW! I will try to get better at eating vitamins, and also eating a bit better than I have been doing - but at least I'm exercising every day now ... that should count for something, right? :)
I'm facing a couple of new challenges now though, that I'm starting to get anxious about. One will be dealing with a straight up "old-fashioned" anxiety attack tomorrow morning (or possibly two, depending on what happens!!), so I'm going to have to try to prepare for that. I will also have to take on another kind of challenge during the weekend.
I think I'm right in acknowledging the fact that I do feel anxious, and trying to deal with it - instead of just postponing things, telling myself I'll probably feel better about them later on ... but that doesn't make me feel much better right now! Still, I think I actually will feel better when I start to see that things are actually getting done, that I'm conquering my challenges and actually dealing with them - at least I hope so!!
With that being said, I'm going to try to take a while and write in my diary tonight! I usually find it difficult to do so in the evenings now, I usually want to write in the morning. And while I cannot neglect my morning-diary-routine, I can't write everything in the mornings, because then I won't get any sleep at all. So hopefully I can get through some things tonight, and deal with the rest, and the more immediate preparations tomorrow morning.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Theory and Practicality - and a Musical!
This week has mostly centred around the terms theory and practicality for me. I think I am more of a theory-person than a practical person - it's important for me to think things through, to figure out why I react the way I do, things like cause-and-effect, the correlation between various things in my life. I write a lot, and have done since 2004 - so the theoretical side of my life is quite important to me.
I am however quickly realizing that life is far from all theory! Theory is great, but the question is how useful it is if you can't put theory into practicality! If you can't make practical use of your theories, then what's the point?
So basically what I'm working on now is actually putting all my thoughts and theories into use, making them work for me and moving them from my mind and from a piece of paper into the real world. Not always an easy thing to do, but I think it's worth putting an effort into!
Apart from studying - which is a constant factor in my life even though I don't spend much time at Uni these days - I have managed to get some practical stuff done now, and it's good to have got those out of the way.
One thing has been this HUGE renovation which will take place in January-February next year. I dread it SO much (long story), but at least I now have done all the practical stuff involved, chosen the look of the bathroom, placed the official order (they will also wallpaper my hallway, as they indicated they will probably do so much damage to it, I might as well get new wallpapers while they're at it) and stuff like that. What's left there is basically how I'm going to handle it, as I won't be able to live in my apartment for about 3 weeks ... but I'm trying not to panic about that just yet ...
I also managed to sort out some banking errands that I've been putting off for a while, so it feels good to have done that now - hopefully things will work out from now on!
The bit of really good news then ... :) I found out that one of my favourite Swedish musical artists, Christer Nerfont, will sing Jekyll & Hyde in two shows - in my home town!!!!! We have a rather small theatre here, but never get any of the "good stuff" *lol* - that's usually put up in Malmö! It is the Malmö Opera doing this as well, but it's so cool they will do two shows here! :) I booked myself a ticket for November 27 yesterday and I'm totally looking forward to it. I was sad I never got to see Jekyll & Hyde when it ran in Stockholm, so seeing it now will be great, especially with Christer!! (He sang one of the songs, I think it was "Dangerous Game", on a Musical Highlights concert I saw a few years ago, and I was really impressed!!)
Finishing off with some photos from last Saturday - of two big girls and a great looking brand new car! :)
(Also thinking a bit about changing the layout of this blog a little bit, it's basically looked the same since 2006!! Not quite sure yet though - and it won't be that big of a change if I decide to do it!)
I am however quickly realizing that life is far from all theory! Theory is great, but the question is how useful it is if you can't put theory into practicality! If you can't make practical use of your theories, then what's the point?
So basically what I'm working on now is actually putting all my thoughts and theories into use, making them work for me and moving them from my mind and from a piece of paper into the real world. Not always an easy thing to do, but I think it's worth putting an effort into!
Apart from studying - which is a constant factor in my life even though I don't spend much time at Uni these days - I have managed to get some practical stuff done now, and it's good to have got those out of the way.
One thing has been this HUGE renovation which will take place in January-February next year. I dread it SO much (long story), but at least I now have done all the practical stuff involved, chosen the look of the bathroom, placed the official order (they will also wallpaper my hallway, as they indicated they will probably do so much damage to it, I might as well get new wallpapers while they're at it) and stuff like that. What's left there is basically how I'm going to handle it, as I won't be able to live in my apartment for about 3 weeks ... but I'm trying not to panic about that just yet ...
I also managed to sort out some banking errands that I've been putting off for a while, so it feels good to have done that now - hopefully things will work out from now on!
The bit of really good news then ... :) I found out that one of my favourite Swedish musical artists, Christer Nerfont, will sing Jekyll & Hyde in two shows - in my home town!!!!! We have a rather small theatre here, but never get any of the "good stuff" *lol* - that's usually put up in Malmö! It is the Malmö Opera doing this as well, but it's so cool they will do two shows here! :) I booked myself a ticket for November 27 yesterday and I'm totally looking forward to it. I was sad I never got to see Jekyll & Hyde when it ran in Stockholm, so seeing it now will be great, especially with Christer!! (He sang one of the songs, I think it was "Dangerous Game", on a Musical Highlights concert I saw a few years ago, and I was really impressed!!)
Finishing off with some photos from last Saturday - of two big girls and a great looking brand new car! :)
(Also thinking a bit about changing the layout of this blog a little bit, it's basically looked the same since 2006!! Not quite sure yet though - and it won't be that big of a change if I decide to do it!)
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