Monthly Archive: December 2006

09
Dec
2006

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE STRESSMAS

It’s late and I’m wiped out, but I’m not done yet with the things I wanted to do today. The kids and I went through all of their bookshelves and cleaned out a knee-high (on them) pile of outgrown books to take to the AWC Media Sale (and thus donate to the international school afterwards). We stripped all the beds and re-made them with clean, sweet-smelling sheets. Karin insisted on having a “grownup” comforter, even though her bed hasn’t been pulled out to the full twin size yet. They helped clean up the entire kid’s department, although it was a...

07
Dec
2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTIN!

My firstborn turned 9 today. No matter how much I squish him down on the top of his head, he keeps growing. All he wanted for his birthday, and all he got, was books and Lego (and one Bamse DVD). If you were 9 years old and your parents asked you what you wanted for your birthday dinner, what would you say? Pizza, maybe. Tacos! Hotdogs…hamburgers, salmon even. I was pretty sure he would say salmon or the inevitable sushi, but he wanted JULBORD. He and Anders made a list of all the absolute must-haves for his julbord birthday dinner,...

06
Dec
2006

GRANDPA’S UNDERPANTS, ALSO HOW TO DRIVE YOUR CHILDREN INSANE IN UNDER A MONTH

When it’s bathtime, the kids usually get about 10 minutes to play because it is also a chance for them to soak the dirt out (more necessary in the summer than now, granted, but still). Then I (or we) come in and help them shampoo and scrub down. A few days ago, when I came in, they were playing a Swedish children’s game the purpose of which is to get the other person to laugh. The rules of the game go like this: the person who is doing the provoking asks the other person questions. The provokee can only respond...

05
Dec
2006

PARTHEIMERS

I keep thinking, while things are happening, oh! I want to write about this. I need to remember this, and I very carefully take the thought and tuck it away and, of course, promptly forget it, so that when I actually have a moment to sit down in front of the computer, all I have is a pocket full of tuckery and no substance. I think I need to start writing reminder notes on my hand again. That always worked in the past. I think I used to write better than I do now. I feel like I’ve run out...

03
Dec
2006

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, NOT EVEN A ….UH, OH

2 Things I Really Didn’t Need Today: Waking up with a headcold and sorethroat AGAIN, which effectively put the kibosh on singing in the 3 concerts scheduled for this afternoon. Opening the boxes of Christmas decorations which Anders kindly carried down from the attic only to find they were full of…you guessed it…mouse turds and chewed styrofoam and paper. sigh The mice ate several decorations that were styrofoam-ball based, and one which was made of salt dough (for which I bear no grudge), and EVERY PIECE of dried, green-painted macaroni that Martin had painstakingly glued to a cardboard Christmas tree...

02
Dec
2006

THE ONLY THING BETTER THAN SINGING IS MORE SINGING*

I like singing at the elderly care homes, which we do twice a year, because our audiences for the most part are so very appreciative. They sing along and nod and smile at us. Frail shoulders bob when we sing the livelier tunes and more than one face is teary-eyed when we round up with the 3 tightly harmonic verses of Silent Night. But it makes me very pensive as I can’t help but put myself in their slippers and wonder what life is like there for them, what will it be like for me if I end up someday...

01
Dec
2006

AND I’M NOT EVEN IN A POST-NABLOPOMO SLUMP

Heading into Christmas crazyness and I sit here and feel I have nothing to say that is interesting (even to me) since my life is one gigantic to-do list right now. I did SO MUCH today, I am giving myself a pat on the back for all my accomplishments, and it’s only 10:30! Who knows what else I can get done before I go to bed? This weekend the kids and Anders are going to an overnight Christmas Scout camp, and I am singing in 5 concerts at elderly care homes around Malmö. It’s fun but it sure takes up...

December 2006
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