Pacific Highs Goes East Bay

During April-May we were apartment hunting for three specific reasons: (1) bigger apartment, (2) less rent and (3) closer to UC Berkeley. We decided to go East Bay. After several more or less good options (I’m very sensitive about where to live and found complaints on every single unit we viewed, I mostly complain about their standard) we found I pretty nice apartment complex in a not as nice neighborhood as we live in at the moment. I guess it’s ok, but it’s not like you wanna take a walk around the block like you can do here in Pacific Highs. However, the lower rent, a larger unit and the easy communication to Berkeley was tempting.  Moreover, I was freaking happy to finally have found an apartment that lived up the scandinavian standard of living I so desperatly have looked for ever since we moved to the states. We will move on August 27th.

These pictures are from their “showing apartment”. We were not allowed to see our actual unit since someone lived there and it was against their normal rutines (this is actually quite commen here, that you don’t see the actual unit but someone similar instead) and we were of course told that the unit we signed up was exaclty like this one. But it wasn’t. Our unit did not have an updated kitchen (that goes for the dishwasher, the cookstove and the whole kitchen area) and my husband asked carefully if we could expect any updates anytime soon-and we couldn’t, the window in the living room area is much smaller which naturally effects the lighting in the apartment- which we found very dark, the floor was different both in the sense of the non-carpet area (which was much smaller in our unit than in the showing apartment) and the color of the carpet itself which appear to be in a kind of grey(ish)-beige(ish)-red(ish) funky color, I’m also pretty sure that the apartment we viewed had two walking closets becasue whichwas one of the things I was the most fond of and our unit only has one. They also had a very strange color on the walls which we were told were an egg white tone. But I didn’t see it. The assistant manager Rob (who we actually like despite the fact that he sometimes appears more like a cartoon than someone professional) kept his face on while we told him that we wanted the whole apartment re-painted in white. He found that suggestion very odd, he had never seen a completely white room/apartment before and told us that he would see what they could do for us. I felt extremely frustrated and thought to myself that I might just as well paint the fucking apartment by myself.  This is truly the end of the contemporary housewife.

Yes, this might be insignificant details to complain about, but I want to remind everyone that this is still a confession blog. No, I’m not very proud of myself and I do try to accept that every detail around me cannot live up to what my sense of quality and good style is. But, om my God, it’s pissing me off. I’m not entirley sure what my husband thinks though, I know he found some of the differences striking and he was also very concerned about getting the apartement repainted. He was also concered about me and asked in the car if I was disapointed. I feel like a spoiled brat.

Today were having our own apartment viewed and afterwards we’re having lunch with our landlords ( a very, very nice coulpe). I woke up this morning (4 am) with second thoughts.

Back to Housewife

 

Back to housewife. Yes, it feels like I have been on some kind of break. Perhaps not from the whole housewife concept or life style but from my every day life. Which I very much enjoy.

July /August has been stressful. I guess my tolerance of stress has changed a lot during the last year. So has my social skills. I do enjoy socializing but not all the time. If something, this year has perhaps made me a little bit asocial. But I don’t mind.

So; Maui, Seattle, friends visiting and one trip to Sweden visting friends and family- I will try to update and tell you all about my summer later. But right now I’m just going to hang out in our apartment. I arrived from Sweden yesterday at 9 pm and I feel pretty tired. My husband met me at the airport and when I came home he had flowers waited for me. I had them by my side of my bed so they would be the first thing I would see when I woke up this morning. But the first thing I saw was my husband.

So back to housewife. Today I have watched E! and tried to keep up with the Kardhasians, and now I’m watching Ice loves Coco. The TV has been on all day, just as I like it. To tell the truth, the one thing I have been missing these two months is watching TV. The lack of TV makes me uncomfortable. Right now I’m waiting for my husband to come home from work. I told him I would be happy if he could get off from work earlier but we’ll see. I think we will have burgers today. It’s nice to be back in the states. It felt very good when I arrived to New York last night and even better when I came to San Francisco. I had imagine the moment I would see the first glimt if my husband. I have missed him so much during these to weeks and I managed to recall all the romantic movies I’ve seen when people spot each other at the airport. I saw myself running towards him, jumping up and hugging him, he would lift me and swing me around. Afterwards everything was to be as romantic as it could be; it would be lighted candles, love songs and we would just spend some quality time together. But I was to tired and had to much stuff to carry to actually run when I saw him. It turned out that I was to tired for everything else as well.

Well, back being housewife? In a way (I don’t want it to stop!:), but not really. Next week, (already), I will attend UC Berkeley. A new adventure begins. But until then, I will enjoy my last week as a housewife. I will watch my soaps, I will go to the spa, I will cook for my husband, perhaps do some shopping, I will plan and organizing a new decoration for our new home (we are moving on the 27th!, so yes, lots is changing right now), and I will of course try to update this blog and eventually, end it.

Back to housewife. Right now.

Money and Class Disorders

When thinking of housewives, people often assume you are rich and that you don’t need to work. I blame the TV shows Svenska Hollywoodfruar and The Real Housewives of the Orange County etc. Sure, these are housewives that don’t have to lift a finger because their husbands pays it all. It is for sure a fabulous life style. When growing up, I was often told that rich people are no happier than poor people; you can not buy happiness and that money doesn’t make you happy. I have indeed agreed with this statement and I’m very proud to come from a working class family. However, as things change, I have been put in the situation where I don’t have to work for my living, I have got married and moved to the States and I have become a true housewife with lots of spare time. Am I happier?

To be honest, I think I am. Sure, this has not only to do with money but it would be naive to ignore that money is a significant factor in this case. If my husband didn’t make enough money to support both of us, I would have to work. Moreover; if we weren’t married I wouldn’t have the benefit at all. It is often wrongly assumed that my husband makes lots of money, I’m not sure why though, perhaps I’m making him look more successful than he is when I speak of him or maby it’s just people’s own interpretations on the fact that I left to America to be a housewife. But to be clear: the concept of housewife mustn’t have anything to do with money. It has to do with family politics. The husband is out working, living in the official sphere whereas the woman, the wife, is supposed to stay home in the private sphere, taking care of the home and the family. So, it has in fact more to do with family politics than money. Two good examples of this matter are two very good housewife friends of mine: Marge from the Simpsons and Peggy from Married with children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although, even if my husband might have stated that Homer Simpson is his role model, I have to say that Marge’s husband and mine are nothing like eachother. The same goes for Al Bundy, Peggy’s fabulos husband. But of course, the concept of the housewife is mostly class related today. Most women have to work to support the families. Furthermore, it includes some kind off arrangement. I am particular fond of how Hollywoodfrun Maria Montezami choosed to put it when asked about their economy; “My husband pays for everything!” And yes, I laughted then. But now. It’s like I have done a trip backwards in time. The ugly truth is that my husband does pay for everything. I’ve had this image of myself as an independent strong woman, with my own accesses and resources, but if truth should be told: I haven’t signed one check since we moved here, I almost never use the ATM, I only pay with my Bank of America Visa card and to make things even more conservative and traditional housewife-ish I have to confess that my husband actually gives me cash every other week for minor expenses such as bus money or for coffee. This has been my chocie. I find very relaxing not to have to think about money at all.

When my husband and I dated I insisted that we always would split the check, I paid for all my train tickets from Stockholm to Linköping by myself when I visited him- I insisted we split everything although I was a poor student while he worked as a research engineer. It was extremly important for me that he didn’t pay for me, that I was on my own and didn’t depend on him. As we moved in together this started to change; I still insisted to pay half of all our new furnitures (which I chose of course) and all other the decorations made in our home; however small, tiney changes appeared. Like he was paying more rent, naturally since he had a much higher income than I. We decided that we would pay the amount of rent we paid when we had our own appartmens. Also, he started to pay mostly of the food, he got a car (which I mostly used) and payed overall our entire household. Some how, I was still broke. And now, well, you all know how it all ended up. My husband pays for everything. So, no I don’t have any money of my own. My husband always says; “but it is our money and you can do what ever you want”. But it doesn’t feel like that in practice. And I’m pretty sure there are other housewives agreeing with me; both Anna Anka, Maria Montezami and Marge Simpson (among many housewives) actually work part time, more or less.

For all of those who saw Maria Montezami’s spending of her first salary got a good laugh; instead of buying a new bag she got a refrigerator and stuffed it full of jank food. She wanted to use her money to do something nice for her family and I wasn’t able to then, but now I can actually relate to her doing. What would I do with my first pay check? I would probably do something for my husband, perhaps buy him dinner but that doesn’t feel very special cause we have dinner all the time. Perhaps I would buy him someting. Perhaps lots of donuts for him to bring to work. Or would I actually buy something for myself?

I have thought a lot about social classes since we moved to the US perhaps because it’s more obvious here than in Sweden. The Swedish standard of living in Sweden is indeed very good and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Here, I see homeless people almost where ever I go and I usually just walk right by them. When we were here in 2009 I tried to buy a homeless man dinner, but my husband didn’t want me to and then he was about to come along and then everything got complicated and the dinner never happend. I still wonder what happend to that man every time I walk by that particular spot where he used to sit. Also, of course, I think about all the people living on the street we saw when we were in India. Some how, it was easier then as I expected it to be poor. Here, in the American dream, it is something else. Of course, my own destiny comes to mind. I was myself a child on the street, left to die or left to live. There is something wrong with the world when a mother has to give up her child. But we already know that.

In the meantime, while my process of understanding my destiny and my privilge position, I spend most of my time at the health club, working out and relaxing. My personal trainer is very happy with how my muscles increase but seems to be highly concerned by the fact that I’m not actually loosing any weight.

Masculinity in Question: What I Want

There is an ongoing medial discussion about men in the Swedish press; “Men- winners or loosers?” I am not entirely sure the exact purpose of the discussion, though it seems like the discussion basically tries to figure out what a man is, how he should act and how the man role has changed over time. It witnesses of a kind of crisies for masculinity in Sweden and I consider this topic as a direct reaction to feminism and to The Second Sex. Sure, nowdays it is indeed a little bit old fashion to still be talking about men and women, specially in the field of gender studies – why don’t we just talk about different power structures and people?

I am one of those who speaks for a gender perspective on things, not necessarily to categorize us into men and women, but how gender is a social construction that we constantly keep to reconstruct and reproduce in all our actions. I am one of those who sees that there are different kinds of masculinities; the hegemonic, the self made man etc. and I am one of those who believes that it is significant to consider all these masculinities when we discuss what we call the male gender. This is a perspective that the discussion in Sweden tends to leave out; it has indeed the ambition to discuss this, but it ends up in stereotype of men (hegemonic) and it’s opposite; what is often referred to feminine masculinity or just gay. Eric Amerillo’s hit “Om sanningen ska fram” or as people refers to it; “vill du ligga med dig då?” illustrates this frustration that guys on the dance floor feels when they try to find a girl to hook up with for the night. Accordingly, the inner conflict for guys is to combined their new masculinity (where it’s ok to be sensitive, show feelings etc) with the stereotypical and hegemonic where men are men without feelings and takes control over every situation. Amerillo states in Dagens Nyheter that girls are attracted to testosterone which very much speaks against the argument that guys could be men in more ways than the stereotypic hegemonic way.

I am the kind of woman who defently have certain expectations on a man. Not because I want to, in theory my point of view is that every one should be able to be and act as one wants to. However, if truth should be told, what do I see in a man?

When I met my husband I was young and I was going out several times á week. I often found myself on the dance floor, flirting and that’s also how I met my husband to be. When my sister was visiting a couple of weeks ago she asked me how to meet guys when out on the pub and this is the ugly truth of how it goes for me. At first sight, I found him very masculine; he had this typical well trained body, I could tell he was in to sport just by looking at him. He had jeans and a t-shirt, he had his hair perfect but not over done and I found his confindence very attractive. It is about sexual attraction and there are no rooms left for insecurity or second thoughts. Honestly, I didn’t think; what an intresting man, I’m sure he has this wonderful personality and intellect that will attract me if I talk to him. No. It was all body body body and it was all about looks, glowing confidence and how he actually acted in a stereotypical masculine way that I was attracted to. I really didn’t want to know anything about his feelings or his intellect. But he wanted to show me and as soon as the day after we first met when he handed me over his Master thesis during breakfast. Ok, so he has a brain and intellect but why should I care? was a thought than ran through my mind. He showed his feelings in several ways; the first night he spoke about the scare on his back which he had since he was a kid and had a tumor and I, to be honest, thought; Ok I didn’t need to know that. I was later chocked when he on our second date took me to a ball game and took my hand when we were walking on the parking lot and I rememered I almost got a panic attack when I heard him speaking on the phone with his father telling him (after just 2 or 3 weeks of dating) that he had a girlfriend. Me, that is.

When I met my husband I was wildely attracted to his stereotypical hegemonic masculinity. I found myself safe when he acted it out among friends, at parties and when he flirted with me with a high level of confidence (of course; it is a fine line between high level of confidence and just being arrogant and cocky). I didn’t want all that other crap about feelings. I wanted excitement. I’m a feminist so I have been keeping this a sectret; but I do enjoy when guys open the door for me, I enjoy when they pull out the chair for me, when they order for me at resturants, when they pay the bills, when they pick me up by car, when they lead me into a room and introduce me if we are attending a party etc. In other words; I love when a man acts with confidence and act like I’m his woman. I love when my husband acts like that. I find this kind of arrogance very sexy. It is when I am in a committed relationship that I want all of that other crap and find it attractive. And now I am. I sometimes argue that his masculinity has changed over the years, and perhaps it has, but on the other hand, perhaps it is me seeing more in him than just the stereotypical hegemonic masculinity.

A couple of nights ago as I was going to bed, I was thinking about true love, Mr Right/Prince Charming, masculinity and what I have been looking for in a man, what I wanted before, what I want now, what aspects that are important for me as a girl, woman, wife and friend. I realized that I probably always have wanted the same thing. As a child, playing with Barbie, my Ken was always very handsome, well dressed, intelligent, successful and polite and I guess that’s what I have been looking for. You see, this is going to sound very unsympathetic I realize that but this in a confession blog; of course personality is everything, but I can’t help myself finding myself attracted to ambitions and success. I do think that is a part of peoples personality. And that’s what I want. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to live with a man who for sure has a very nice personality, but didn’t had the confidence or the ambition to do something more of himself (I know I’m a terrible person). It wouldn’t be enough for me and I wouldn’t be happy. I guess I am that kind of person myself, I do want the world, big or small, and I don’t want anything holding me back.

Instead I want company.

Training for Beach 2011: Maui, Hawaii (Dance Your Ass Off!)

I haven’t been a huge fan of geeting in shape for the summer; but as it turns out, that this year, Beach 2011 actually is Maui, I decided to give it a try. I have longed for a vacation for a year now and I have nagged my husband about my needs of a charter trip. Every sine I was twelve I have dreamed of going to Hawaii but I actually never thought that particular dream would come true. I became even more frustrated  when my husband went there for a conference without me in 2009 and ever since I have begged my husband to take me there. And now, the 14th July we finally doing it. I like to think of this as our honeymoon since we haven’t had one yet.

Anyway, to get in shape I decided to loose a few pounds and got in contact with my personal trainer. All housewives must have a personal trainer. Besides, it seems to be a popular trend at the moment. My personal trainer suggested I would loose ten (10) pounds (don’t you just love personal trainers:)! I started last Saturday and so far I have managed to get by two of her work out sessions. I have ten (10) sessions with her. The idea is to train with her three (3) times a week, combined with brisk walks during the first week and then, hopefully, I may advance and add some more cardio exercise next week. So far, it’s going really well- I actually don’t feel that tired after working out and not that hungry. I have even cut down on my wine… One glass a day is apparently enough when loosing weight. But then, what does she know of being a housewife? Anyway, yesterday I cut down my wine habits to zero – I just didn’t feel like it, perhaps I’m starting to get motivated.

I get the feeling that I’m my personal trainer’s favorite klient, she really really likes me and I really don’t know why. To be honest, I’m not very nice and also (out side the record), I have trashed talked her at several occasions. She is just to happy, to laud, to much and she is not my image of actually being healthy. However, it is something about her. And I do like her. I like care for her. That’s why I went back. Moreover, I think the training schedule is very good.  She cheers for me, she runs by my side, she carries around my towel and my water, dries my sweat and is calling me “champ”. Furthermore, she constently saying I’m glowing and is beautiful which I found very hard to believe when I’m almost about to pass out from the exercises and my sweat is all over the gym. However, it is a nice thing to say and a nice thing to hear and when I told my husband about it he said: “But you are glowing and you are beautiful!”. My husband is a very smart man. Are they playing for the same team now? Well, it felt nice and motivating.

However, the best way (and funniest) to get in shape is to shake it into shape. Dance your ass off! However, I’m not talking about aerobics, step up, zumba or other wanna be dance styles, no I mean the REAL thing. My husband and I have created a play list on spotify called “Dansa och le” and EVERY day when he come home from work (I’m sure he doesn’t want anyone to know about this), we put on high music and just go with the flow. And I have learned that it is difficult to dance and make dinner at the same time. I am sorry that I don’t have a video to post on this yet but in the meantime, Hollywood housewife Maria Montezami makes the point pretty good:

Now I’m off to get tortured by my personal trainer (who I don’t expect dance like this in the kitchen).

The Ugly Americans Doing Typical American Stuff

What do Americans do during the weekend? Well, if you live outside the city, your goal seems to be to go into the city, perhaps going shopping, having lunch, go to a museum and then end the perfect day by catching a movie. If you however live in the city, your primary goal should be to get out of the city. And so we did.

One of the American’s favorite activites is hiking. You get both spectacular nature and exercise in one. Hiking is actually walking and I remember when we for the first time in 2009 went hiking with the real americans we found it a little bit silly over all. First of all, taking the car and drive about an hour just to take a walk for another hour and then drive home? Yes, to Swedes this seems like the stupidest thing to do. In Sweden, we take a walk around the block. However, one should keep in mind that with all the hills here, hiking in California is not the same thing as taking a long walk i Sweden nor is taking a walk around the block. I thought about this as we packed our hiking stuff and pick nic in to the car, yes hiking is an activity that reqiures lots of stuff. When we’re out hiking, we see lots of people with lots of eguipment but so far, we are not that advanced yet. But I do think we are on our way, we certainly have adapted to this culture. For instance, Saturday  (after an hour with my personal trainer) I wanted to spend lunch at Baker Beach, but it was freezing cold and we ended up having coffee by the car. The car has become a very good friend, a place to relax by and feeling home.

I like weekends like this. If we don’t go hiking we play tennis and afterwords we enjoy some wine or champange in the middle of the day. That’s a life style I can live with.

Housewife or Just Unemployed?

Yes, this is a question I have been struggle with since all this housewife stuff kicked in. This is a relevant question since both my husband and I come from typical small own working class families. Furthermore, we also live in a society where it is expected to work, you have to work if you will be able to make a living. So this, not have to work or not be expected to work, was indeed, a new experience for me.

Last fall, this was really hard for me, not to do anything. I was hoping to be able to work as a teacher or perphaps try something on that I have never done before like working in a resturant. I believe it’s quite easy to get jobs like that here, but still I was concerned about long hours and working weekends. The truth is, I didn’t want to work while my husband was at home – I just wanted to have something when he was at work. I didn’t really look for any jobs, I just spoke of it like I was going to. Instead I spent about four (4) hours a day at my health club, working on loosing a few pounds and enjoying the spa area. I have never been able to enjoy spa before, I tried last summer and it started as a disaster but turned out to be a good thing when I finally, after a day’s work doing nothing was able to relax: then I just feld a sleep in one of the chairs by the pool. Perhaps I was a little bit exhausted.

It is only housewives who don’t have to work and have the possibility to spend their whole days at a health club and spa that manage to use that particular time for/to feeling a little bit sorry for themselves. I did my work out, showered as long as I could, went to the hot tub, used both the saunas and sat in the spa area (all towelled up), read Vogue or gossip magazines and felt sorry for myself becasue I had nothing to do, no real purpuse until I (which I almost every time did) falled a sleep. When my husband came home and asked me how my day was I had no adventures to tell him. I mostly complained about other guests at the health club or bitched about my personal trainer (who really was going on my nerves). I mean, what can a girl do? shopping, health club and spa, watching America’s next top model, watching E!, making dinner plans, tennis, redecorate our home, staying in nice hotels,read vouge, order roomservice, making sure my husband doesn’t dress himself all the time, fighting for details when it comes to decorations, cloths and hotelsrooms, bringing to much shoes when we travel, be sceptical to every new home my husbands suggests, arrange our soical life, trying to not be a bitch at restaurants, trying to not be a bitch over all all the time, chardonnay, merlot and champange, not think too much… Even that becomes quite boring after some time. Perhaps I would feel more glamours if we had more money. I felt unemployed and perhaps I am.

The generation of housewives before me, actually worked. They worked at home with housing and children. And when I had a closer look at the reality shows Svenska/Norska/Danska Hollywoodfruar I realized that almost all of them were actually working too, perhaps not all of them full time but even Maria Montamzai worked once a week with styling houses. Not to mention, the salary they got for being part of the reality show. Today, everyone is doing something.

I had this glamours idea of myself sitting in the US and writing novels. It turns out that Danielle Steel just lives on the other side of Lafayette Park from me and I have spent lots of time walking by  her castle hoping she would take notice of me and invite me in for tea. She actually wrote one of my favorite novels Zoya; the story about a Russian royal girl who’s entire family was killed in the revolution and she ends up to be an American woman. I think I love it because it was my first grown up novel and the last time I reread it was last summer.

However, it is significant to underline that I have come to an arrangement with my thoughts of being at home in terms of a housewife and that I have compromized with the term unemployed. It turns out that I actually needed this time for myself. It is a privilge to just take a year off, saving your energy for what is coming (but I don’t think I have used my time off that well). To be honest, I kind of like it and I don’t want it to end. I enjoy to be at home.

Most of the time of this year I have spent dreaming.

Reality Soap: Keeping Up With the Kardashians, season 6

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My passion for reality TV is well etablished. When I grew up I watched (along with most of the people in Sweden I would imagine) Robinson, which was followed up by Big Brother and then by Baren, Farmen, Bonde söker fru, Svenska hollywoodfruar etc. When I finally got the oppurtunity to move to the US, I knew that there would be a buffé of reality shows for me to consume. And it is, it really is.

Yesterday (Sunday) Keeping Up With the Kardashians season 6 began. I have been waiting for this ever since Khloé and Lamar ended (about two (2) weeks ago:). I have successfully followed the Kardashian family since I moved to the states in aug 2010. Keeping Up With the Kardashians is a reality show that have been running on E! since 2007. At the beginning, it seemed to be about Kim Kardashian and her family but it soon developed to be a show with focus on the whole family; not to mention the three oldest sisters Kourtney, Kim and Khloé (No, I haven’t been able to see all the seasons yet). The show was of major success (which I believe only the amount of seasons can tell you) and was followed up by Kourtney and Khloé take Miami, Kourtney and Kim take New York (which I followed along Holly’s world – Playboy girl and reality star Holly Madison’s life in Vegas) and Khloé & Lamar (which views Khloé’s marriage to the famous basket player Lamar and how it is to get married within 30 days!). The sisters also have one (1) younger brother, Rob, and two (2) sisters who is now entering the hollywood life as well by modeling etc. Like all reality series, we get a view point into their fabulous lifestyle, which I have to admitt, I am a little bit jealos of. These girls are not only extremly beautiful, there are smart business women who are very successfull. And to be honest, I am a little bit in love with them. However, their lives tend to be a little bit turbulent (as all of ours are) both regarding careers, love life and family problems. I do find the enjoyment to follow this entertainment every Sunday on E! at 10 pm. I think it is my favorite show at the moment and the best thing of all is that I have managed to force my husband to watch it with me. My husband is now, indeed, involved of what’s going on with every character in the show, which is highly important so he doesn’t accidentally asks stupied questions during the show.  It feels nice to be able to share this passion of mine with my beloved. Here is a little taste of what will come up during season 6, and yes, I am extremly excited.

Always Put off Today What Should Have Been Done Yesterday

This seems to have been a theme in my life the last week. I haven’t really done anything; not that there are not things I have to do. I have the laundry, the dishes, making dinner every night for my husband, make lunch boxes to my husband, clean the house, go grocery shopping and over all; organize the household. Oh no wait, I’m a contemporary housewife – I don’t do such things, at least not on my own.

Anyway, it’s not that I don’t have anything to do; it is actually the opposite. I still have several prose projects I would like to finnish (somehow), I have ideas for six articles that need to be written, I really need to study German and I really need to start going to the gym again. I think I have gained about one (1) kilo. It bothers me that I don’t have the energy or focus to do these things.

Instead I find myself at home; thinking about the things I should do instead of actually doing them. I watch TV and I watch my soups. I have now worked myself through Grey’s Anatomy season 3-4 and I was looking forward to start watching Smallville season 1 today but the sound isn’t working.

Perhaps I’m a little bit bored. I shouldn’t be but I think I am. I haven’t even bothered to write on this blog. According to Simone de Beauvoir’s chapther “The Married Woman” (which by the way is my favorite chapter in The Second Sex), boredom is a common state of mind among housewives. Also, the truth is, I have been kind of homesick lately. I miss our apartment in Sweden, I miss going grocery shopping at ICA Maxi or the Coop just a few minutes away from us. I miss having a pet. I miss our life there. I miss home.

I think I will put off today what should have been done yesterday today as well.

Damn Right I’m Good In Bed, I Can Sleep For Days!

I’ve had two nights of twelve (12) hours sleep this weekend. Indeed, a good night’s sleep is always a good nice sleep.

Last weekend were very active, my husband and I played tennis, we tried new recepies, celebrated the Memorial day by watching old war movies on channel 49 AMC, my husband enjoyed the soccer game between Manchester United and Barcelona. No, I’m not a soccer fan but I was very happy that my husband was able to watch the game on TV – usually they never show soccer games here. Meanwhile, I read Mara Lee’s Salome, a novel I had been looking forward to for some time. Also, there were also tennis on TV, some kind of Open and someone Swedish playing (no I’m not a big tennis fan either). I read twohundred (200) pages in Jag är tyvärr död och kan inte komma till skolan idag. Moreover, the sun was shining and we had what people imagine when you live in sunny california.

This weekend: nothing much to tell. We’ve been mostly indoor, my husband continued to look for updates to our GPS, he watched the Giants game and the hockey game (Vancover vs. Boston), and I enjoyed myself by wacthing season 1-2 of Grey’s Anatomy eating Ben & Jerry. Yes, I do spend lots of time watching my favourite soaps - I am a real housewife after all. This kind of consumption is, according to me, the best way to make time past (yes, I know, how every chick lit of me). To make life past.

In one of the episodes, Meredith asks through her/the voice over: If you knew this was your last day on earth(/in life), how would you like spend it? A thought flew through my mind: I would spend it just like this.