Pink work lamp

Look what I found at Fyndet in Haninge this week: a lovely pink work lamp!

Pink bread box

In my quest to turn the whole house into a pink kitsch wonderland I have now begun to expand my collection into the kitchen, starting with this fabulous pink bread box that I bought at Lagerhaus last week. It was also available in other colours, but white and black are just so...not pink.

My husband was actually okay with both the bread box and its colour. He likes to see me happy, he is good like that.

True love

Muddiz introduced us and it was love at first sight. Oh, how I want you, how I need you. You light up my days and nights. My bedroom will never be the same once you are in it. Your sparkle, your glow... Come to me and never leave me, my beloved pink chandelier!

Ångerrätt and bad karma

I thought I had found the ultimate little diaper bag to go with our new double stroller: a Ju-Ju-Be BeTween. The bag seemed to be big enough to hold everything needed for a quick trip with two children without being too bulky and it even matched the somewhat odd colours of our ABC Zoom, so I ordered it online at "Lilla Max och jag". It was not until I actually held the bag in my hands that I realized that the pictures and videos on Ju-Ju-Be's hompage had maybe been somewhat flattering as the bag turned out to be a lot smaller in reality than what I had anticipated. It was simply way to small for my purposes so I immediately contacted the lady running "Lilla Max och jag" about a return. In reply I got an email saying that she did not really want to take back the bag, considering it had been on sale and that she had already paid for the delivery to me (p&p was included for purchases exceeding 300 SEK). Wasn't I maybe interested in exchanging it against the next bigger bag in that line? I wasn't. The BeAll is not just bigger, it also has a completely different design and I really don't like it. So I told her I was sorry, but that that bag wasn't for me and that I really just wanted to return the BeTween and get my money back. That was yesterday.

Today I had received another email from her with a new suggestion: If I didn't want the bag, why didn't I just sell it on Ebay? People there would often bid more than what the bag costs in the stores. I wrote back, again, and, with as much politeness as I could muster, let her know that this was starting to feel somewhat unfunny. According to Swedish law I have a whole 14 days of "ångerrätt" (meaning a right to "regret" my purchase and return the goods) when purchasing items online. If this right should be affected by the item being on sale or her paying for the delivery, shouldn't that be pointed out somewhere? But it neither says anything on their homepage nor in any of the mails I got. Hell, I did not even know the bag was on sale until she said it - on their homepage it just says "Nyhet!" (meaning "New!"). Last time I checked, "nyhet" and "rea" (meaning "sale") were not the same word. And either way: it doesn't matter. I just want to return that bag and unless one of you can enlighten me otherwise I also assume that I am BY LAW entitled to do that.

The real question though is why I keep attracting problems like this. Why do I constantly need to argue and discuss with people to get my right? Is it all about bad karma? I must have sinned BIG TIME in a previous life: defiling graves, stealing candy from orphans and snorting cocaine off a hooker's body, or something along those lines. And now it's coming back to bite me in the ass.

ABC Zoom

This afternoon we went out to buy groceries and returned with a double stroller, an ABC Zoom. I had seen it on the internet before and really liked it, but for my husband it wasn't love at first sight.
As opposed to about 95% of the other double strollers on the market the children don't sit beside each other in the ABC Zoom, but opposite of each other. You can also have them sitting back to back or facing in the same direction. It is extremely flexible - you can switch and turn around the seat units and the carry cot as you please. At the same time it is, of course, longer than your standard stroller, but actually not by that much. It LOOKS very long with the seats on it, but the frame itself isn't much longer than that of the Gesslein stroller we are using at the moment. It's something one will get used. I'd definitely rather have a long stroller than one of those monster strollers that should be sold with a "Caution! Wide load!" sign. The only alternative would have been a Phil & Teds stroller, but neither my husband nor I liked any of the models we tried.

Now all we need is the adapter for our Maxi Cosi Cabriofix car seat (very handy that it can be used with the stroller) and, oh right, the baby.

Nathalie Choux

Pontus' room is finally coming together, the only thing that still needs to be improved are the very blank walls. After giving up on my initial plan to paint something myself (my Barbapapa looking like the severely traumatized victim of domestic violence, black eye and all) I surfed around for some nice artwork for children. Unfortunately a lot of what one comes across is so unbelieveably tacky and tasteless that it defies words. But then I found (and fell in love with) the pictures of Nathalie Choux, a French illustrator.



These are the 7 pictures I have ordered so far, but just the other day I saw 4 more that I feel I also just have to have.



I think they are so great - if Pontus ever grows tired of them I might well put them up in my room.

I'm dreaming of a pink Christmas

With December quickly approaching I am now busy putting together everything I need for the perfect pink Christmas.

What I already have:

- a large, hot pink Christmas tree (210 cm)



- another, smaller Christmas tree (60 cm)



- 2 adventsljusstaker (traditional Swedish advent lights you put in the window)



- some Christmas tree decorations from last year, including a wonderfully tacky glittery white bird with feathers and sequins that I got from one of my colleagues

What I still need:

- many more wonderfully tacky Christmas tree decorations, such as these:



- an adventsstjärna (another traditional Swedish Christmas lamp you hang in the window)



- yet one more pink Christmas tree, this one even smaller than the ones I already own and made of feathers



I am sure that there's more. There's always more.
Pink is the new Christmas!

Babushka lamp

I saw this lamp in a magazine yesterday. My wishlist just keeps getting longer...

Pink music

I feel like I really need the new Apple iPod Nano 16GB. Not as much in reality as in my head maybe, but who can blame me when it is just so damn pink?

The MP3 player I am using right now is a Creative Zen Stone Plus 2GB. It is of course also pink and, above all, super small, but I think I am ready to take my pink music to the next level.

Bargain hunt

I went to Eko in Länna today where they had 50% off on all children's clothing. Pontus now has enough bodies, pants, shirts etc. in all kinds of sizes to last him for eternity (or hopefully at least the winter).
All in all I bought 30 items, none costing more than 30 SEK, which is a real bargain.

Now, not wanting to tease or anything (lie!), I would like to mention that to find similarly good prices Muddiz travelled all the way to Ullared with her family. Ullared lies on the other coast - Länna a mere 2 highway exits from where we live.

I think I win this round of the big bargain hunt!

Three-tiered cake stand

Look what I bought today...
It's pink, it's plastic, it's my new three-tiered cake stand from Rusta.



Now I have got a good excuse to bake cupcakes again.

Freebies

I got a box full of really cool children's books at work yesterday:



And to make sure that Pontus won't have to read alone I got a whole pile of thrillers for myself as well.
Brand-new books for free - yes, my job has its perks!

Me love canopy swing long time

Here it is, my beautiful canopy swing!



I made it clear to my husband that he'd better get started on assembling it right away in case he wanted to watch the soccer game later in the evening and that not-so-subtle threat seemed to do the trick. It took him somewhat longer to put the swing together than it took Spain to beat Russia, but at around 22:30 h we had a functioning canopy swing in our backyard. Unfortunately it was dark outside by then and making out a dark canopy swing against a dark background on a photo proved to be tough, so I re-took the picture this morning.
Don't you just wanna sit down in it and canopy swing the day away?

Canopy swing countdown

Today we will finally go and buy my canopy swing. When we went to the store last week it was temporarily out of stock, but they said they would get in new ones today. And they better do, because I have been waiting long enough...

I will post a picture as soon as we have put it together, which, knowing us, might mean either October or never.

Diaper bag extravaganza

I am still window shopping for a new diaper bag. Unfortunately most bags are either impractical or ugly or, in the most unfortunate case, both.

I found some alternatives to the OiOi Change Mat Kit I wrote about a couple of days ago though:

1. Gaia Ready Set Go

This is another all-in-one solution which is very similar to the Oioi Change Mat Kit. The main differences I could make out are the position and style of the pockets and the fact that the Gaia model has a strap. I think the strap is smart, because then you can carry the set around your wrist and have the second hand free to support the baby. I am not so fond of the colours and designs though - the Oioi Change Mat Kit is much prettier. And yes, that matters.




2. Dadadoo Quick Change

Dadadoo has a lot of very nice diaper bags (just look at the "Sweetheart" for example. The Quick Change is a smaller bag with a seperate changing mat and comes in 5 colours, 2 of which are different shades of pink. It too has a strap so that I could use it as a regular little handbag once Pontus learns to use the bathroom. There isn't much that is not to love about this bag, really.



All the bags/sets basically cost the same (between 350-400 kr), so price is not a deciding factor.
But which one should I take? Or should I buy a new full-sized diaper bag instead? Help!

New wheels

Only a little more than 6 months after his birth we bought a second stroller for Pontus today.

He just never really warmed up to the seat unit of our Gesslein F2. Everything went well for about a week, but after that he would not stop screaming and throwing himself around whenever we put him in the stroller. He even tried to climb out a couple of times.

Things got better when we turned the seat unit so that it was facing forward, something that is really not recommended for children younger than 1 year. But Pontus seemed to be so happy not to have to see my face all the time that I could actually go out for a walk with him. As soon as I stopped walking, however, the screaming started again, so I had to find some unconventional ways to constantly keep the stroller in motion.

When we went to Germany we tried the stroller my parents bought (a Römer/Britax Yanis) and Pontus just loved it. He could sit up in it and lean forward, which made a big difference. The seat unit of our Gesslein stroller is (similar to that of the Bugaboo) pre-shaped in a way that it can not be adjusted for Pontus to sit completely upright. But now that he has learned how to sit and lean he does not want to be half-lying on his back, looking up at the sky (or me) anymore.

So we went today and bought him a stroller similar to the one my parents have: the Babytravel Clik Clak.



They had a special price for the camouflage one and it was actually not that ugly (and a little more colourful than plain black), so we took it. It also folds up nice and compact, so I will maybe take it with me a little more often than I could be bothered to pack the big Gesslein Stroller.

I do have a vague feeling though, that this was not the last stroller we will buy...

Diaper bag issues

The first diaper bag we bought was chosen more with focus on how well it would match our stroller than actual functionality. That was, of course, a huge mistake, as we wound up with a bag that is as wide as it is deep, making it very hard to keep it organized. The bag is very spacious, but everything important tends to wind up at the bottom of it. It also only has one fairly short zipper, which means that in order to get to the bottles or the diapers one needs to unpack everything through a tiny opening. At the end of the day my hands and arms often were so full of scratchmarks from the zipper that I looked as if I had wrestled a Siberian Wildcat.

When the weather got better I quickly ditched that diaper bag and started using one of my regular shoulder bags. It is open, which is why I can not use it in bad weather, but at the same time it makes it really easy to rummage around in it. My new "diaper changing kit" now consists of 2 diapers that I put in a Ziplock bag, a little package of wet wipes and a small towel that I use as a changing mat. That is more than enough and works very well. But I want to improve upon perfection and I think I have found the solution:

Low and behold, the OiOi Floral Bouquet Change Mat Kit.





I could put the diapers and wet wipes in it and leave the towel at home. And if I need to go and change Pontus' diaper I can just grab it from the big bag and don't need to carry everything else with me. Plus it is really pretty, unlike a lot of other, similar products that I have seen.

I like it!

Pink my life

If you, like me, love all things pink you will undoubtedly understand that finding a page like Pink Superstore is as close to shopping heaven as one can get. It's just all pink, all the time. They have a whole section just with pink diaper bags - how much better can it get?

Another great site is Pink Princess, which (the name gives it away) is also dedicated to making your life just a little more pink.

I got my tax refund a couple of days ago, so it's the perfect time for a little retail therapy...

Is there such a thing as too much pink?

I found this faceplate skin for my Wii guitar on amazon.com and I just have to have it. It would make my life so much more...pink!