Monthly Archive: July 2004

At the dinner table, conversation the first: Liz: Daddy makes the best spaghetti sauce in the whole world. Martin: I don’t think so. I like the sauce they have in the cafeteria at school. Liz: No way, josé! I’ve eaten WAY more spaghetti sauces than you and daddy’s is definitely the best. Martin: I’m allowed to think differently. At the dinner table, conversation the second: Karin: Daddy is not the best! Liz: *indignantly* He is, too! Anders: *raises eyebrows, looks at Karin* Liz: Who’s the best, then? Martin: *pause* Lena Philipsson *It hurts

The sky is bloated with rain, the fat white underbelly of the clouds straining to… eh, never mind, do over. Rain splats, it chitters and chats, it crackles on the windshield, a lacy wash of upwardly mobile raindrops racing, spitter splat. Much better. 😛 I’m so tired of rain. You would think that after living for 7.5 years in Sweden, I’d be used to it, but no, hope springs eternal. Apparently, so do rain clouds. I keep leaving my umbrella in the car, to make things wetter. I checked with my mom, and it appears that the weather in Michigan...

It’s so nice to be loved. My family rocks. I e-mailed my mom yesterday to ask her to schedule a couple of sessions for me with her massage therapist while we’re in the States and this morning she e-mailed me back to tell me that she had already done so before she even got my e-mail. And yesterday in the package of birthday presents that my brother sent Karin, he included 3 CDs for me. Dido’s Life For Rent, Amanda Marshall and The Best of REM. Life is good. I ran a bunch of errands yesterday, so my to-do list...

Evening Blessings: singing in 2-part harmony a song I have heard only in my head for 25 years 2-week old kittens and their blue, blue eyes pale evening sunshine like a benediction on the fields 13 para-sailers swooping and soaring over Lomma beach stopping to let a large family of baby geese cross the road Lund won the prize for the worst weather in Sweden for the month of June, snatching the sunless crown from Växjö who usually wears it. Out of the entire month we only had 184 hours of sunshine, 51 less sun-hours than normal. Gothenburg had 301...

Do you know how many things I could be doing if I didn’t have to be at work doing nothing?! LOTS, that’s how many. I have a list a mile long. I have a lot of lists. I’m listy that way. Actually, I’m knocking things off my list like a marksman, thwak! pow! zing! Of course, each time I cross something off I add something else. It’s an obsession. It’s never-ending. Why don’t men have the list gene? Or do they start out with it and then slowly crush it until all the breath has gone out of it and...

One of our cars is sloshing. It’s the old Nissan and I wouldn’t put anything past it at this point. We’ve had nothing but rain here for weeks on end, and on Saturday night while I was at the movie with Camilla, it poured, leaving a very puddly, worm-happy world when we left the theater. We both really liked the movie, and I thought it was far and beyond the best of the 3 Harry Potter films. We didn’t puddle-stomp our way back to the car, but we could have if we hadn’t been talking so much. We got to...

cookies for dessert potluck? check marinated pork chops for grilling? check potato salad and grape tomatoes? check cooler with beer, pop, saft, ice? check deviled eggs? check sticker prizes? check stapler, paper, pen, stuff for treasure hunt? check happy faces, good moods? check CD of patriotic songs? check red white and blue clothing? check sunshine and blue skies? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh! Happy Birthday, America.

I just got called an old fart. I sent out birthday invitations and nearly all of the responses I’ve gotten back have made jeering or jokey remarks about my age. It’s making me want to call off the party. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to HAVE a party but I sort of felt like I SHOULD have a party because that’s what you do in Sweden, and, I guess, most places, when you have a big birthday to make you feel old celebrate. I don’t want to turn 40. I’m not looking forward to it. It really bothers me....

In Sweden, the government pays you up to a year and a half after the birth of a child at between 60-80% of your pay. When Karin was born I wasn’t yet working so I was only (only!) getting 60 kronor a day which was the minimum one can get when one has no other salary (it’s since gone up). I started working when Karin was 7 months old. You are able to use the paid maternity leave days until the child turns 8 at which time you lose them. You can also give them, or at least a portion...

POW. Every time I think things are going along well, something happens. Not necessarily to me, but even a stab to the heart of someone I care about is like a stab to my own. 🙁 I honestly don’t understand why people have to hurt others by being selfish and stupid. There is no excuse, as far as I’m concerned, for some behavior. I know it’s hard to be an adult sometimes and it’s not always easy to do the right thing, but wouldn’t it be nice if people TRIED, at least?! The sun was shining this morning when I...