Yesterday was the traditional Swedish Christmas. Susanna cooked salmon (okay, ham is probably more traditional, but I think fish works as well) for lunch and then we watched Donald Duck on TV with half of the Swedish population. After the TV show we opened presents. That leaves today (Christmas Day) pretty open.

This morning I took Hoagie to the Kronobergs Slottsruin for a hike and pictures. It was overcast and cold and I didn’t have a lot of luck with the camera, but here are a few pictures from today.

It has been a month since I’ve posted, so welcome to a my scattershot method of updating my blog. It is also a good view into how my ADHD mind works. I’m squeezing in drafting this post between the Swedish Christmas Bingo (Bingo Lotto) games on TV tonight. I’ll let everyone know if we win millions tonight. Update: I haven’t won anything yet!

My move over here is progressing! I spent a few weeks back in the US getting my interview completed at the Swedish embassy. I had planned to return on Christmas eve. However, I was approved a week after my interview and moved up my return trip. The approval was only step one. I needed to get my biometrics done here to receive my residence permit. Susanna scheduled an appointment for me the day after I returned home last week and I received my residence permit in the mail yesterday! I have an appointment early January to get my personnummer (Swedish social security number). Then get a bank account, driver’s license, doctor, etc. It should keep me busy through the first part of 2026. But at least I don’t have to leave the country!

We are in the middle of the holiday season. Izzy had her last day of school on Friday; Susanna had to work today and yesterday, but has tomorrow off. Tonight is Christmas Bingo (and as of this point in the blog, I still haven’t won anything). Tomorrow is Christmas eve and the traditional day for opening gifts in Sweden. Izzy’s cousins are at their dad’s house on this week, so we went to Susanna’s parent’s house on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with her extended family. I drove the hour up to Vetlanda to pick up Susanna’s grandmother. Her English is pretty weak, so it was a good chance for me to work on my Swedish. Of note, her English is still better than my Swedish, but I am understanding more and more. It was a fun day of food and gifts, though the night ended with Izzy feeling sick with a sore throat and fever. Don’t worry, Izzy felt much better after a good nights sleep.

The days are short and cold, but the sun was out. I was able to get down to the lake around sunset on Sunday (which is a little before 3:30 pm this time of year). Hoagie enjoyed getting out to run in the woods, and everyone eventually made it out to walk “the loop” down to the cabin on the lake and back up the road. Luckily for Hoagie, there were no cows, pigs, sheep or other equally terrifying animals out in the fields.

The workshop is making slow progress. A few days ago, the landlord, Bo, and I installed a board over the hole from the door at the rear of my workshop. Yesterday Izzy and I stopped by to put the second coat of paint on the board. Today I spent a few hours cleaning up the room a bit and putting the shelves in place. The walls are still bare and I need to bring my tools over. I can use the industrial tablesaw next door and I think Dan has a router I can borrow for now, so I think it is time to start building a pair of hall benches. I know my ADHD will make it tough to work on a project and not just building out a workshop. I think I mostly spent time in my workshop in Preston making stuff for the workshop. I’ll have to work hard to make sure I’m more productive here.

I leave on Thanksgiving morning, or as they call it in Sweden, torsdag (Thursday); I’ll catch an early train to Denmark and a flight from Copenhagen to Boston. I have an interview at the Swedish embassy for my residence permit next week and I’m hoping that it won’t take too long to get approved. I’m running low on time with my tourist visa here in Sweden and only have a few weeks left before I need to depart for 3 months (if things take a while to get approved).

This week is about getting things in place for leaving. I dropped Susanna’s car off for service this morning. Tomorrow I’m planning on going to the workshop to wrap things up for a while. I’ll be dropping my car off with Dan and Charlotte on Wednesday and probably leave Hoagie out there at that time. I still need to pack; I won’t be bringing a lot back with me, so it shouldn’t take too long.

I took Hoagie on a bus ride to Söder (South Växjö) this afternoon to get some outside time. We walked around Bokhultet nature reserve for a while until we were both cold and then took the bus back. The cold will take a while to get used to.

It has been a busy week. We got snow. Not a lot. A few inches. But it snowed through the day on Thursday. Plenty of snow that would have certainly shut down the schools in Connecticut. And probably made for a delayed day on Friday. But this is Sweden. So I woke up early and drove through the snow to meet the electrician at the workshop at 0630 in the middle of a snowstorm. Izzy went to school and Susanna went to work. We all survived.

It is also getting cold. I got Hoagie a shirt/sweater to wear. He loves the snow and winter, but it seems cold enough that with his short fur he should have something extra on top. I can’t tell if he likes it or not, but at least he doesn’t seem to freak out with it on. I think I need a warmer winter coat and snow boots, but I’ll wait until I return from the states to pick them up.

Susanna’s car battery died last night. She had a late night at work, working the closing shift at the preschool followed by a team meeting after closing. I got a call from her at 8 pm that she couldn’t get the car started. Of course I didn’t have jumper cables (yet), so I drove the 30 minutes in the snowstorm to Hovmantorp to pick her up and drive her home. This morning she took my car to work. I took the bus (and walked) to the car parts store and picked up jumper cables. After lunch, Hoagie and I walked downtown and then took the bus to Hovmantorp and made the 20 minute trek to Susanna’s work to help her jump the car when she finished work. Hoagie didn’t mind the bus ride and spent most of it sleeping on the seat next to me.

The electrical work is done in the workshop. I’m hoping to get out there tomorrow morning to clean and organize after moving things around for the electrician. The new lights are a huge improvement, though now I can see where I messed up when painting the walls.

My workshop is coming together. I have the walls painted and have started organizing. The landlord has a lot of old hand tools and some workbenches they are letting me use while I rent the space, which will help a lot. I’m still waiting on the electrician to replace the lights and add some outlets on the wall. The bathroom that is off the back of my workshop will be closed off (and opened to another space in the building), which will give me more wall space in the workshop, but a slightly longer walk to the bathroom. Overall I think I’m in pretty good shape. Tomorrow I’ll bring some of my tools over and start working on making a Danish Cord Bench from Oak (assuming I can grab some oak tomorrow am).

The weather will turn cold this weekend, so I’ll get to see how well the heat in the shop works. It has been staying at 15C (around 60F) which is a pleasant temperature for working. However it hasn’t really been that cold yet.

I took Hoagie back to the castle ruin this morning to get some exercise after Izzy headed out to school. I am still getting used to the weather. It is overcast, damp and cold today. But, Hoagie needed a chance to run in the woods and I could use the exercise. There is a nature reserve just north of the castle ruin (across the lake) with a few trails. I may try to visit there later this week if the weather supports.

Now back to my chores!

It has been a busy two weeks. Last weekend, Izzy spent the night at the local 4H camp for a Halloween camp. She had a blast and made a friend. Unfortunately her friend is from Älmhult, so not too local (but not too far either). She will be visiting Växjö next weekend, so they are planning on getting together. This past week was Izzy’s first week at school. I think she had a good week, despite me getting the start time wrong on Monday morning and getting her to the school a few minutes late. No real harm, but I did feel pretty stupid. We also met with the district nurse for Izzy’s medical check-in on Monday, which made for a very long first day at school for Izzy. It was a lot of time talking to the nurse to basically get told that we are good on vaccines (or ahead since kids here don’t get the influenza vaccine routinely).

The week has been pretty busy. I only have few hours between Izzy leaving for school and needing to be home when she gets out of school. I’ve started painting the workshop and have the walls primed. If I have time tomorrow I’ll finish painting the walls (at least the first coat). I also spent Friday helping Dan put roofing tiles on the guest house he is building; it was a good reminder that I don’t really like heights.

In addition to making Izzy late the first day, I’ve had my other moments. On one of our morning walks in Rottne, Hoagie decided to find a big patch of mud/cow manure to roll in. I don’t have a hose in Rottne (or at least haven’t found one yet) and I didn’t want him to get back into the car covered in smelly mud. So, I walked him down to the freezing cold lake and did my best to wash him off and try not to get myself soaking wet at the same time. He did get a proper shower when I got home with him. When I got back to the workshop (after the fun freezing lake dog wash), I went to get the paint out of the car and dropped one of the buckets in the parking lot. Of course the buckets are plastic and it broke. So that took a bit to clean up. Not really the best day.

We’ve been trying to enjoy living in a city. It has been nice to walk to the city center for dinner out the last two Friday nights. Izzy and I have made several trips down to walk through the stores and see what is around. I even found a closer parking lot on one of my walks with Hoagie. Parking wasn’t something I really worried about in Preston. It isn’t a reserved spot and isn’t in a garage, but there seems like there are always spaces available. Plus it is right next door. I can’t believe I didn’t find it until just now. And it will save over $100/month on parking. Seems like a win to me, though I may not fully agree when it finally snows.

I have finally heard back from Swedish immigration, and will be returning to the US later this month for an interview at the embassy in early December. Hopefully things can get processed and we can really settle down here. I’m planning a few weeks back in the states, and a return to Sweden in time for Christmas and for most of Izzy’s winter break. If I don’t have a residence permit by then, I’ll have to head out again in early January. Leaving will make it a challenging logistics juggle with Susanna’s work and Izzy’s school schedule. But Susanna’s family is here to help out and we signed Izzy up for after-school care. Hopefully I won’t have to be gone for too long.

This morning Izzy, Hoagie and I took the short drive up to the Kronobergs slottsruin (Kronobergs Castle Ruin) to get out and let Hoagie run a bit. The site is closed for repairs, and the park was empty. Hoagie loved running around Stallholmen. There is only one way off of the small island, so it was a pretty good place to let him get some exercise.

I’m also making progress on the workshop. The landlord cleared out the metal floor plates for me and moved in two workbenches and some hand tools that they will let me use for the duration of my lease. The bathroom should be finished this week, and we are talking to an electrician on Friday to get some outlets added to the space. I’m debating repainting the space and getting new lighting installed. My hope is to start moving in this weekend, though if I’m painting I’ll probably hold off on moving a lot of stuff into the space.

Tomorrow Izzy is going to the Växjö library to do a writing workshop for a few hours, and I’ll take Hoagie up to Rottne and the workshop for a bit.

Today Hoagie and I drove the 20 minutes north to Rottne to look at a space for a workshop. I’ve met with the owners a few times and looked at available spaces. Today I settled on a space that is approximately 35 m² (375 ft²). The lease will start on November 1st, and I’ll have some work to do to get the shop setup. However, I can’t wait to start moving in and have my own space.

The space is a little smaller than ideal, but that will encourage me to keep it clean and organized. The owners will remove the metal plates and leave the wood floor exposed which will be much easier on my feet (and dropped tools). They will add some electrical outlets, and I plan on finishing the inside of the walls with wood, but maybe that will be too much work. The landlord may also upgrade the lights, and there is a bathroom off of the back of the shop that will be finished this fall.

The location is nearly ideal (of course a space in the city would be ideal, but that is hard to find and expensive). There is a nice walking path outside the door to stretch and get Hoagie out, and the bus stop is right out front for the days I don’t feel like driving!

My plan is to do mostly hand tool work, but am still looking at a lunchbox planer and possibly a bandsaw, but might stick with a planer and circular saw for a while.