Some of you might not want to know who I am, but for those who do, here are some facts and other boring stuff...

Like it says on the first page, my name is Christina and I'm 50 years old. I live in the south of Sweden, in Sjöbo... Not quite East and not quite the middle of Skåne so I call it the "Middle East"! I moved here in November 2009 after having lived about 16 years in a harbor town called Trelleborg. I was raised about 15 km north of Trelleborg, but I had to go through high school in Trelleborg. During those three years I found Trelleborg so boring that I swore I would never live there! Oh well, that was then... I liked living in Trelleborg, but things and life change.

After high school I got a great job in a big company, but after almost two years I decided that I wanted to see the world. I went to Greece for almost four months. I did the dishes in a Swedish/Danish/Greek restaurant on Crete in the evenings and I had the days off to do whatever I wanted. I got to see a lot during those four months. Things a "regular" tourist doesn't get to see... It was a great experiense!

After Greece I stayed home for about a month, but there were no jobs to be found so I packed my bags again and went to the United States. I ended up in Florida and I stayed there a whole year. I started out as an au-pair in a family, but there was almost nothing for me to do so I left... Shared a house with an American girlfriend and a guy originally from Italy. It was tough days, but we had fun! We cleaned houses, did laundry, baby sitting, ironing and a lot more that people hired us to do. One thing that I will never forget is when I was asked to baby sit a newborn little girl from Brasil... They wanted to name her Kristina (after me!) and wanted me to be her first baby sitter. She was the cutest little baby I had ever seen! After I got back home to Sweden I received photos of her every Christmas until she was about five - I think... That was one really funfilled year!

When the year in Florida was over, I went back home to Sweden and right after I got home my mother got sick. If she hadn't, I think I would have just taken a job, earned enough money to buy a new ticket back to Florida and who knows what I would be doing today if I had gone back...

After a few months I did get a new job, as a receptionist in a small company in Trelleborg (!). I ended up staying there almost nine years doing a little of everything. The last couple of years I was an indoor sales person and I loved it! After about two years I decided to move to Trelleborg... Yes, I know what I had said when I went to high school... My mother died shortly after I moved into my apartment and I got all her plants. Her Hoya carnosa was among these and that is the reason why I started collecting hoyas. More about that in how it all started. I really need to update that page also!

My family is not big. My last grand parent (a grand mother) died around Christmas when I was 13 years old. On new years eve the year after, my father died, only 55 years old. My mother right after new year more than 17 years ago, only 62 years old. In 2005 one of my brothers died, only 43 years old. My oldest big brother (14 years older than me) and my youngest big brother (3 years older than me) are what's left of our family if you don't count my two uncles and their families...

I became really good friends with one of my neighbors and she introduced me to dogs. She had a dog and I never thought I would like dogs, but it was actually fun... Not the same as having a cat, but still... She took me to a kennel and they had the cutest little Shetland Sheepdog puppies! One in particular... and this little dog came home with me for a trial period to see if she would get along with my cat. They got along really well...

My cat enjoyed his last years in the house we bought in 2002 and that might need some explanation. In 2004 I spent one month (January) in Germany to study German and when I got home I thought my boyfriend had given him too much food so we put him on a diet... It worked some, but he still looked a little fat. He was fine otherwise, and when we took both animals to the vet in September 2004 we found out that my cat had cancer in both his kidneys and that there was nothing we could do about it. We decided to let him live as a "king" whatever time he had left. He lost some weight, but other than that he was in no pain or anything. He had lots of fun during the spring! He ate whipped cream, tuna fish and other "forbidden" stuff whenever he wanted... He even chased birds in the garden! Saturday May 14th 2005 his back legs suddenly got a little unsteady. That weekend I spent with him, taking care of him, spoiled him, walked with him, he slept his two last nights in my arms... Monday May 16th 2005 we took him to the vet and by then he was tired... Really tired and didn't seem to "blaim" me for what I was about to do. It was the toughest decision I've had to make (so far) but I know it was best for him. He had a wonderful life and I'll never forget him. I'm glad I've taken so many photos of him the last years... More photos of him will be added on his page. I still had my dog, but it wasn't the same as having a cat. My new little kitten moved in on Monday July 18th 2005... What a birthday present for my dog! My dog didn't quite like him at first, but they had so much fun together. Photos of Simpson have been uploaded on his page, but more will follow!

At the end of April 2008 I had to put my dog to sleep. She had had a heart murmer for about a year but had been doing really well. Early that spring she started coughing and was put on medication and at first it seemed to work, but after about a month she was suddenly getting worse and on April 29th I took her to the wet for the last time... I cried the whole short drive back home! Thankfully I still had Simpson... he seemed to miss his dog friend sometimes, but while I lived in my apartment I couldn't get him any new friend.

So, what do I do today? The company I worked for was sold and I was one of those who had to leave. However, I did find a new job in Trelleborg and I spent about five years there, working with indoor sales/marketing and having contact with more or less the whole world. This was a big advantage with this job. I also studied German at the University, but that turned out to be tougher and more time consuming than I thought...

In December 2006 I decided to take my drivers license. Yes, at "old" age... Said and done, I bought a package with 23 lessons and after the 8th lesson I was tired of it... I felt I needed a "carrot" and bought ny own car. It is a really cool car, a Renault Megane (3-doors) in an orientblue metallic colour and it was used, but fairly new... Having my own car really helped me get my license and I got it on my first try at the end of May 2007. Since then my car and I (oh, and passengers too) been around a lot at hoya meetings and so on... Getting my drivers license is probably one of the best things I've ever done! In October 2008 I sold my blue Megane and bought a red metallic Megane (5-doors) instead... It is much newer and even nicer to drive than the blue... Except for some problems with the windows! So far I've had three "window elevators" exchanged and I'm just waiting for the last one to "fall". The third one fell down a couple of days before the problem was discussed on a TV-show and after that I was compensated for the costs by Renault and I also got half a promise that they would also pay for the last one if it fell down during 2010. When I turned 40 I got a cool licence plate holder on the back of the car so now I advertise for myself!

My drivers license also helped me get a job. I was working as a consultant (a company hired me out to other companies) and I really liked my first assignment and in the fall of (2009) I started my fifth and last job for this company. I stayed there until October 2013, when I decided to go back to school for about six months. I studied to become a podiatrist and in the summer 2014 we renovated an old garage next to our house and that's where I now have my own company and I am enjoying every moment of it. Being my own boss sure has its advantages - and disadvantages too of course. Here is a link to the website I started for my company: www.handochfot.se (it will open in a new window)

In May 2008 we sold our house, separated and moved... We both still liveed in Trelleborg. A lot had happended during the past few years and I had changed a lot... the feelings had changed, but I might add that we are still friends. The apartment I bought was really nice, but I have a lot less hoya space so the first six months I sold some of them and tried to fit as many as possible in my windows and on shelves on two walls where the sun shines a lot... The end result was quite nice, but around the time I was done arranging hoyas it was time to move - again! Nothing planned, it just happened...

During the summer 2009 we (me and my new boyfriend) went on house shows... Mainly because it was actually fun, but after a while it got more and more serious. I realized I was no apartment person... At the end of August we found a house that both suited us, Simpson and my hoyas. Funny, but it really IS a Hoya house! We had to wait until November before we could move into our house and after moving in (actually on the first day) all the trouble began... I'm not going to get into details, but I can mention that the sellers hadn't cleaned the house before they left it... the kitchen fan above the stove was so full of grease that it was dripping down onto the stove - just to mention ONE thing!

It was a hectic time after we moved because it was hard not to have a clean house, but you still wanted to live there (so to speak). We both work full time so it took quite a while before we had clean enough to put our stuff in cupboards and drawers, put carpets on the floors (we had slippers on all the time!) and so on. I changed old / sewed new curtains for weeks, but when I was finally done I was very pleased with the results. Thanks to everything else that took time, my hoyas were just put in the window sills as I moved them from my apartment, but a month ago today I spent a whole Sunday (March 21st) just organizing hoyas and pots. It was quite a challenge, but in the end I was pleased with it and it seems my hoyas are also pleased because I find new growth and buds/flowers here and there... How our windows turned out can be seen here...

During the summer 2010 it started happening things in the house... we decided to start renovating/rebuilding and redecorate the second floor, to begin with. It was a lot more work than you think, but the result was very nice. We arranged a computer room and that was an easy one to do. After that we made two rooms into one big bedroom with a big walk-in closet and even if we got more work than we thought we are really pleased with how it turned out! Next project was the hallway upstairs and that leads to the stairs gowing down... Hmmmm, I wonder if you'll ever be finished in a house??!! Oh, the computer room is now also my sewing room and part of the bedroom was rebuilt to a walk in closet where I now keep all my fabric storage and some other useful stuff for sewing. I have made several really nice hand bags in the past six months and there will be more when I get the time.

For some years we just renovated room after room and life went on pretty smoothe. Until one day at the end of 2016, when we decided to start renovating our hallway downstairs and also our kitchen. Those two project took until spring 2018 to finish as we only had time during weekends and it was not all weekends we felt like renovating... Anyway, after we were done with the kitchen we were going to start on the living room. When planning the living room we realized it really is too big and we don't need all that extra space. So we will take half our living room and turn into a dining room together with our kitchen, which means we will have to tear down a wall in our kitchen, but that's a project for the summer vacation 2019.

On top of everything, Sune moved in on July 1st 2010... Sune is Simpson new friend and really cute - when he's not into a lot of mischief! Sune will get a page of his own, but everything takes so much time... Sometimes I wish I had a couple of months off to JUST update my website...

I think I'd better stop here, so you don't fall asleep... Thanks for the visit!

Sjöbo, July 8th 2019

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