Monthly Archive: February 2010

28
Feb
2010

FIVE DAY DOG

It’s no secret that we would love to have a pet with fur. And no secret that we, sadly, can’t; at least not of the dog or cat variety (and the other choices aren’t palatable or preferred). So we dog- and cat-sit whenever we have a chance, with the caveat that it can’t be for more than week, which is approximately how long it takes for Anders to break out the inhaler or my eyes to start itching like crazy. I’m a confirmed cat-person and my willingness to dog-sit is mostly done for the sake of my children, even though...

25
Feb
2010

THIS OLD HOUSE

How much I love my space, love making it mine, love surrounding myself with ephemera and the pleasing shapes of furniture and items that speak to me in some way. Ever since I had my first own room, I’ve loved making my space mine. Choosing the colors around me, which paintings to hang where, which items to set out for admiration. Arranging books on shelves, picking out pillows for sofas, rearranging things until they are just so. My first own room was in Belgium, in the house we rented for 3 years in the little village of Overpelt. Isn’t that...

21
Feb
2010

CUSP

A slow, quiet dance through the day. No plans and no real motivation to do much. Nothing needed cleaning except the daily cycle of dishes in and out of the sink before and after each meal. One book read yesterday, one read today; both have sequels coming out in several months: I hate having to wait, would rather order them immediately online. What does it say about me that the pinnacle of my ambition on a lazy weekend is to sleep in, read a book, watch a movie, take a nap? I laughed at the kids after we’d thrown them...

20
Feb
2010

IN JUST TWO DAYS, TOMORROW WILL BE YESTERDAY

This is the 3rd weekend of February. Before you know it, Christmas will be here…that’s how fast it feels like it’s going. It snowed again last night, or this morning: really heavy wet snow. The kind that soaks your mittens instantly when you scoop up a double handful and shape it into a ball and fire it at the nearest person who is ducking to scoop their own. It snowed again this evening: sideways horizontal blizzard snow that clung and stuck to every surface like flocking. We spent most of the afternoon shopping. The kids needed indoor gym shoes because...

18
Feb
2010

THIS, THEN THAT

Good: a gift of REAL cinnamon buns from a friend Not so Good: the amount of sweets I’ve been stuffing my face with lately Good: another several inches of excellent sparkly packing snow. Nope. Still not tired of it 🙂 Not so Good: Anders’ plane being delayed due to the weather Good: a lovely evening of book talk with a bunch of bookworms Not So Good: nobody really liked the book. Sorry, Graham Greene, no love for you. Good: catching up with my family via an ongoing round-robin email Not So Good: haven’t talked to my mom in WEEKS Good:...

15
Feb
2010

LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT

I’ve been lucky so far—I don’t have a lot of wrinkles and have hopefully inherited the youthful skin my mom and her mom were blessed with. However, having blurry eyes day after day and a job that requires staring at the computer for 8 hours, plus wanting to keep up with my online life at home in the evenings has meant nothing but SQUINTING for what feels like ages. I can’t see a damn thing. It’s a good thing I know how to touch type. ARGH. And I’m giving myself wrinkles to boot! *** Martin and I went to the...

14
Feb
2010

THINGS I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT

blurry eyes and re-occurring eye infections dry skin cleaning out the front hall closet and maybe some other closets while I’m at it getting going walking again summer vacation plans serious book purging—there is no room left on my shelves. Maybe I just need more shelves? putting photos in photo albums long-neglected tape to PC project spring cleaning. Like, seriously. When was the last time we moved furniture and cleaned behind it? It can’t be good that I can’t remember. magazine purging—WHY do we have dozens of archives boxes full of old magazines we never look at? Martha Stewart Living...

11
Feb
2010

IT’S ALL RELATIVE

In January I passed my 13th anniversary of our move to Sweden, and later that month a cousin of mine finally made the move here. She’s also married to a Swede, but because of their careers they’ve been commuting back and forth from Sweden to the US for TEN YEARS. She said part of the reason for the decision to finally choose one place was motivated by how tired her husband was starting to look. I’m boggled that it took that long, but delighted that they chose Sweden. My mom’s family is huge—her dad had 7 sisters and a brother...

10
Feb
2010

NOT RAISING THE BAR, JUST HOLDING IT UP AND LOOKING PAST IT

Are you getting what you want out of life? Do you even know what you want to be when you grow up? Have you settled? When you were a child and the future was open wide, did you fix your dreaming eye upon a goal and never waver? There were so many choices then, so many things we could become, so many things we could do, so many places we could go. What items do you add to your list when you’ve crossed off the ones you scrawled in crayon once upon a time? Some people seem to know instinctively...

08
Feb
2010

PUTTING THE BLAH IN BLAHG

I have a really hard time writing here when I’m feeling down. I want my journal to be a place of positivity and light, not a drudge through dreary blahness, and when I’m not feeling the motivation or the mood, it’s really hard for me to kick myself over to the blog and make my fingers do some walking. I know that rainbows don’t have to shoot out of my eyeballs or ponies prance by in order for what I am thinking and feeling and writing to be of interest to SOMEONE (Hi Mom!) but I keep thinking that way,...

February 2010
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