Trumped by a Possum

(The road to Mora. We travelled this road a couple of weeks ago and will be embarking once again on a journey there tomorrow! The Tjejvasa takes place on Saturday. Gulp.)

You may or may not remember how or when this whole song and dance got started. And by song and dance I mean this blog and my sometimes crazy stories. This particular story that I am about to tell has roots in my very first post when my husband and I had embarked on a friendly game of competition. 

Fast forward (or rewind) to this past Friday morning, which was February 14th. The alarm went off earlier than usual. Or so it seemed. My husband was covered in pillows and blankets and a soft snore could be heard as I quietly made my way out of bed to go make coffee, feed the cat, & prepare a special Valentine breakfast in bed.  Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I was planning to use a cookie cutter to cut heart shapes into a couple of cardamom bullar (buns) I'd picked up. I had hoped to find something already heart-shaped but this would have to do. I can't help it. I just love hearts. 

Cat fed, coffee brewed, and heart bullar ready, I headed up to surprise my Valentine. I tip-toed quietly into the dark bedroom, careful not to jolt him awake, and whispered "Happy Valentines's Day" to the pillow and blanket covered bed lump. He had been out with some work colleagues the night before so I knew he was extra tired. Ha. Suddenly he jumped up and spun around to face me and with the most joyous expression you can imagine, he exclaimed, “Fipin!" He was playing possum. 

What??! I was completely and utterly stunned. I just stood there with the tray in my hands staring at him. Was it true? Yes, I had a vague recollection of our game way back around the Christmas holidays when we set the date for Valentine’s day at 7:00 a.m. (But didn't you mean the year 2015??!!) If you don’t remember, Filipin is a game played when you eat hazelnuts, whole in the shell hazelnuts that you must crack open to eat. The game occurs when you open a shell and discover two hazelnuts inside of one shell. A rare find, but completely possible. You then choose a player and the two of you set a date and time in the future, could be near, could be far, and the first person to say “filipin” after that date and time wins. 

Being so focused on this upcoming cross-country ski event and all of the training and stresses it entails, I was obviously off of my game. I have won most of our past games but perhaps this will begin a new trend. I can honestly say however, that seeing his face so bright and cheery and happy made it worth losing. (No, I’m not a sore loser. What makes you think that? :-p) 

Ps. God-willing, I will complete the Tjejklassik this Saturday when I (hopefully) reach the Tjejvasa finish. More on that later ;-). 

Lillstugan

(Lillstugan in Mora, Sweden)

Well, this lovely little cabin, aptly named Lillstugan, will be our home away from home on Saturday. We are renting a car and driving up to Mora, which is in the Dalarna region of Sweden, to cross-country ski. The snow situation has been less than ideal in Stockholm and since I have not had much experience with cross-country skiing previously, we decided that getting away to a place with snow and well-maintained ski tracks would be good (or actually, awesome) for my pre-race training. Now, calling it a race is a bit of a leap, since the only "race" that will be happening in my world is the race against time to get to the finish before they close the finish. 

Mora is home of the Tjejvasaloppet finish line and I think it is only appropriate that we are heading directly to the finish this weekend, even if the race isn't until February 22nd. This way my animal instincts will get to know the "smell of the barn" so to speak, and I will know where "home" is during the race and perhaps be able to detect it as I am getting closer. My husband raced mountain bikes a few years back and one of his friends liked to joke that he "smelled the barn" as they were getting closer to the finish because he would speed up. Just like cows start to walk faster when they are coming in from grazing. They smell the barn and speed up. 

Well, hopefully that will be me in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I will smell the barn and there will still be enough umpfhin me to speed up. Heck, if I just make it in time before the finish closes I'll be happy :-). But this weekend? It will be all about honing the new mad skills I acquired last Sunday in my ski lesson. And having some fun with my favorite person in the world. 

Hope you all get to spend time with your favorite person and have a Happy Weekend too!