Life At Jenny´s House

dosfamily-lifesum

So Jens and I had a talk with the kids. We told them. “Hey listen. If we are going to survive this long summer break you need to stop shouting “MOM”, “DAD” every 15 minutes.  We are simply going to go mental if you do”. They looked at us as if they understood.

Now they have started to call us “JENNY!!!, JENS!!!

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Other things that has happened: My lens hood is broken so sometimes my pictures look like this…

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… an acquaintance (with a very neat garden) was here and complimented us for having such a cozy and welcoming garden. This came as such a surprise to me; I always think that people with neat gardens look at ours with a frown and see nothing but a tangled mess. He excused his own garden with “we don´t want the hassle of gardening so we plant nothing and only keep a trimmed lawn”

I get that but for me it´s like this:
I love having a garden and I plant things as if I was totally unaware of my lack of consistency. If the plant survives my neglect I tell myself. “Wow this sure is a keeper! Let´s go buy some more of them!”

Stuff is growing everywhere and if I don´t feel like pulling weeds they will be left there growing into full length.
Apparently I´m not the only one who finds this endearing.

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Viola is singing and talking mostly in English nowadays.  (with cousins in the US she has the privilege of being exposed to the language often. that and also 100 of hours of youtube a day helps). She asks us to give her sentences in Swedish for her to translate. It can be anything like “I would rather be sleepy in London then naked in Paris” or “If you don´t give me my breakfast now I´m going to throw a tantrum” or simply: “Can I wear my tail to school?”

We are so impressed with her ability to improvise and she wont give up until we understand. Like f.e.
We asked her:
How would you order a ham and cheese sandwich?” 
She said:
Can I please have some bread with cheese and pigs butt?”

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The baby birds left the bird house.

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Also Saba the cat spends a lot of time outside. On a leash. She gets tangled up in pretty much everything. The swing, plants, toys and weeds and so on. Thanks to this we´ve finally figured out how crop circles are made. You simply put a cat on a leash in a field and eventually you´ll have a perfectly round shape with a cat stuck in the middle. I made a rough sketch to explain it.

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10 Comments

Join the discussion and tell us your opinion.

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Malin
June 18, 2014 at 11:05

Man blir glad av dina foto och dina rader! Fortsätt så! Ha en skön sommar!
/Malin

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Jenny Brandt
June 18, 2014 at 11:13
– In reply to: Malin

Tack för din kommetar Malin!

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Mette / ungt blod
June 18, 2014 at 22:14

<3 ALL of it!

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Jenny Brandt
June 19, 2014 at 09:40
– In reply to: Mette / ungt blod

Thank Mette!

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enannanhelena
June 19, 2014 at 01:35

Sitter här och ser de sista minuterna av en fotbollsmatch (jag vet knappt vilka som spelar eftersom jag läser på den här skärmen istället…) Plötsligt blev jag väldigt sugen på en smörgås med grisrumpa på ;). Så fint ni verkar ha det. Jag älskar verkligen sådana härligt “lurviga” och lagom ostyriga trädgårdar!

/helena

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Jenny Brandt
June 19, 2014 at 09:39
– In reply to: enannanhelena

En annan Helena!
Haha “lurvig” är verkligen en bra beskrivning.

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Lena K.
June 19, 2014 at 03:52

Hi Jenny, thanks for the fun post! Saba is looking super cute (and slightly wild, which is always a plus.)

As a language teacher, I’m so happy to hear that your daughter Viola is enjoying learning English so much (in the summer at that!) She’s clearly lucky to have such helpful teachers. ;-)

Like you, I’m also a messy/creative?/adventurous?/experimental? gardener and I’ve always enjoyed seeing pictures of your creative/adventurous/experimental (/messy?) garden. I totally agree with you on celebrating the hardiness of plants rather than forcing fussy ones to stay put. Your post reminds me of two things:

First, a “backwards compliment” that a neat and tidy friend gave upon receiving photos of my garden: “Oh, it’s so YOU!” I know she meant well (as in, creative, adventurous, and experimental) but I automatically assumed, “Oh no, she thinks it’s messy just like I am!?”

Second, I thought of the proverb: “The grass is always greener on the other side.” I don’t have a list of Swedish-English proverbs, unfortunately, but I here’s a favorite list with many, many proverbs in English (and German) if you and Viola are interested. :-)

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Jenny Brandt
June 19, 2014 at 09:38
– In reply to: Lena K.

Lena K!
Oh thank you for this fun comment!!

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Katarina
June 19, 2014 at 12:47

Dear Jenny,
I discovered your blog few years ago and I instantly loved it. I admire your “down to earth” attitude in your posts and how you are not trying to picture your life in a “polished perfect” way for your readers but life as it is. I find that inspiring about you and Isabelle. And of course your creativity and coolness!

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Jenny Brandt
June 19, 2014 at 19:46
– In reply to: Katarina

Katarina!
Such a nice comment. THis makes me really happy. especially the part about me not trying to make it look polished perfect.
Have a great midsummer
/Jenny