Welcome to Chaos !!

Well a winter storm came down on Portland and other places as well in the US. The street I live on has had no power for over 50 hours. That means no light, no hot water, no heat, no internet and my phone does not work in the apartment either due to a broken cell phone tower. The winds were so strong that several trees fell on the power lines and for a while a large part of Portland had no power. Lucky me my place is still out of power. Cause I need to live in an icebox for some fun.
I can see my breath inside. I slept inside in outdoors clothing underneath several blankets. I dug out my camping stove and some propane tanks so I could make tea, soup and other food. I had battery operated candles, regular candles and flashlights.
I do not like being cold. And I have lived in Sweden and Alaska and never been without electricity for this long. Like WTF? And Portland General Electric (the company I pay for electricity) raised their rates 18% this month (if I am not mistaken). Thanks! Here I am reading a book in bed while I am pretending I am camping at South Base Camp in Nepal.

After like 5 hours of this adventure it is not so fun anymore. If I wanted to go camping in January I would had rented a cabin in the woods somewhere.

Having said all of that.....I am currently at the airport in Portland. Flying to Sweden. My Mom is not well and I am going to help her. So I am stressed out. Plus I am dealing with a tumultuous situation at home (in Portland), so yes......stress level is almost off the chart . I need more than a day at the spa, I now need a facelift. Please donate to the Tati facelift fund.

Of course the flight was delayed so that means I won't be able to catch my scheduled connecting flight in Amsterdam to Arlanda Stockholm......so now I have eight fun hours to spend at Schiphol Amsterdam. Who wants to meet me there for lunch? About to board soon......write when I am in Europe.

 

I think I am getting sick. Woke up early today with a raspy feeling throat, felt cold all day and could not get warm until later, been having chills, achy scalp, sneezing the kind of sneezes that feel like "sick" sneezes and now I am like almost feverish......very warm. My face feels hot and my ear openings feel like they are slightly pulsating. Perhaps I will sweat it out tonight. So when I started to get a cold as a child my Mom would wrap me in a blanket head to toe, fill up a bucket with piping hot water, had me put my feet into the water (ouch!) and then I sat there until my Mom decided it was enough and my feet looked like red lobsters. Then she put thick socks on my feet, on with pajama bottoms, rubbed some vodka around the chest area and on with a warm cotton shirt. At some point during the night she would check on me, if I had been sweating she changed my pajamas and shirt and sometimes the sheets and pillowcase and comforter too if needed. That was called sweating out the cold. 
I am just drinking fluids and I will make sure to dress warm and put on socks before I go to bed tonight. I feel like a babcia sitting here explaining that I have a cold and giving out some remedies. Rub the vodka on chest!
Of course I am not in the mood to do anything besides nothing and I love doing nothing. Afterall the sloth is my spirit animal.
I had pizza in bed while solving Wordle, of course the first word was "pizza" and I got lucky and solved it on the second try. Yeay.

Well......we are a little more than one week into the new year. How are things going for you? I am in the midst of a LOT of stress, a LOT. Anxiety and tears. And that is all I can say about that. At least I have the best baby to keep me company - Kaya. I need a full day at the spa when I come out of this mess. I need to create a spa fund for Tati.......donations accepted now.
I do not know if you have heard that an airplane 737 emergency door got lost mid flight over Oregon yesterday and the door landed in somebody's back yard here in Portland and a cell phone that belonged to somebody on that plane landed in Portland as well - intact. Like......what a terrifying ordeal! I am glad that nobody got hurt. I don't know if I would step onto an airplane after an experience like that.

 

This was it, my last latte of 2023. From Stumptown here in Portland. And I got it for free just because. Sweet! Here you can see the Stumptown locations. I actually brought a bag of Stumptown coffee beans with me to Japan to give to the location there but I never made it to Kyoto.

No snow here.

I am at home tonight, I can't recall the last time I went out somewhere on New Year's Eve. It's been a while. I took a bath earlier so I go into 2024 nice and clean. I'm in bed, reading and writing (as usual) and watching the Elvis movie on Netflix. What a story, I love Elvis by the way. One of my first memories of listening to music as a child was sitting at home with a small single casette player listening to Elvis songs over and over again.
I had tea and a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie tonight.
What do I wish for in 2024? PEACE. Both world peace and personal peace. Therefore I have two candles burning tonight......for peace.
Happy New Year everybody.

Well.......let's take a look at some work pics from the year that is almost over. I hope that I have not put any of these up yet, I really can't remember and I am too lazy to check.
I got two new outfits this year, they got lost at first and ended up at a neighbor's for a while. I tracked them down with the help of the post office and eventually got them back. Like WTF......give me back my lingerie you weirdo! If you want to sit at home with my lingerie in your hands you will have to purchase it from me like everybody else.
Lavender and black, both with rhinestones.

And this is what they look like on.

The lavender one is barely there......it is quite popular.

Sitting around. Being bored. I am bored a lot at work. I am sticking with the Pleaser Stardust heels.

I danced at a place called the Sandy Jug a couple of times, it wasn't a place for me. I decided to not go back there, some time later the club suddenly closed down. That club had the WORST dressing room I have ever been inside of (blergh and shudder) and I have been in quite a few. The club was crappy in my opinion, even for Portland standards.

After the Riverside Corral sadly closed I found another place, I am there once in a while but not often. No touching the dancers......I like that. That is how it should be and strictly adhered to. You can have a hug though if you are nice. Hugs are good for people.

Selfie from underneath the work lights. Is it time to go home yet? I want to lounge in my bed and read.

Started off my day like this yesterday......this is one of my favorite things to do. Coffee in bed, read, relax, enjoy the silence plus dogs in the bed.
I no longer get a latte from somewhere in the morning, I make myself coffee at home. No need to drive somewhere, this way is much better for me right now. 

Then I watched an episode of Pippi Långstrump on svtplay and I have 12 more episodes to watch. Yeay Pippi!
Ann arrived later and we went and had massages in the evening. Here I am before the massage......

And after. It felt so good. I would like weekly massages - yes please.

After the massages we went back to my place and had heart shaped våfflor (waffles) topped with raspberry jam and whipped cream.

And drank this pink rosé with raspberry sorbet in the glasses. If you have not had pink bubbly with sobet you MUST!
I thought the bottle was so sparkly and pretty, so I am saving it.
One day I might put a candle in the bottle.....maybe.

In the evening we started watching Barbie. I had a feeling I would fall asleep before the end and I did. Ann fell asleep shortly after me. The plan is to watch it again tonight.
I saw this pretty rosebud at Jenkins Estate this afternoon.

We had some tea later and then Ann left. I took a bath with some nice bath salts that my friend Monika gave me when I was in Sweden last summer. Now I am in bed......about to watch Barbie again.

In Sweden we have something called Julkalendern, been around since I was a kid. In fact Julkalendern started in 1960 and it is like an advent calendar series made for tv, one episode per day starting December 1 and ending December 24. It is part of our Christmas tradition. This year's Julkalender is called Trolltider and the original version was shown 44 years ago. I decided to watch Trolltider yesterday and watched the last couple of episodes today. Of course I loved it - trolls, tomtar, witches, faeries......all the stories from childhood. I told a friend about it and he watched it too although he does not speak Swedish and then he decided to rewatch all the episodes.

I also watched the Swedish King's speech, very nicely delivered but with a serious tone. Because the situation in the world is grim. I am about to rewatch it tonight. The speech can be found translated on the web in case you want to know what he said. I can't help but to compare it to Trump's Christmas message he posted on Truth Social......talk about a difference in tone and content. I feel extra Swedish tonight and I usually consider myself a global citizen.
And that is my beautiful hometown Stockholm.

That's it from me for tonight this late December evening. I am in bed with two sleeping puppies. Exactly the company I want to have in my bed. And pink sheets, a warm electric blanket, soft blankets and plush pillows. Bliss. Happy Holidays.