Yearly Archive: 2015

25
Dec
2015

RETROSPECTIVE

hristmas Day is here and I have a pocket of time in between all the items on the to-do list, so I thought I would sit down and fire off my yearly retrospective. I know it’s a little early, but we are leaving super early tomorrow morning and I won’t be back until after the new year, and I don’t want to post my retrospective for 2015 in 2016! We’ve had a lovely Christmas, with much time spent with Anders’ family, celebrating his mom’s birthday (and her return home), Christmas Eve with her yesterday and the whole family tonight for...

23
Dec
2015

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER

How in the world has it come to this? Writing a Christmas letter for 2015 when I swear I JUST WROTE THE LAST ONE?? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess! 2015 has been full and busy. Anders had lots of traveling for work, though Liz didn’t have any, for the first time since 2007. 🙁 He went on a ski trip back in January with work colleagues, to the Czech Republic and then again with Karin in February for a week in France. For work, he went to China twice, Thailand, Italy twice, and Germany, most often for...

22
Dec
2015

FINAL COUNTDOWN

Done! Done and dusted! I went shopping after work, for TWO hours at the biggest shopping center in Scandinavia. It was bad but it actually wasn’t as bad as I was dreading, so that was good. And I found a store that sells American candy and junk food like Cheetos and Pop-Tarts that I didn’t know existed. I walked around it drooling. I may have restrained myself. I may not have. I’ll never tell. I was only shopping to get the last stocking stuffers I needed to make sure everyone’s stockings are thoroughly stuffed, and I succeeded so now the...

20
Dec
2015

THE WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART

1 day until the light starts returning. 3 days until vacation starts. 5 days until Christmas (4 if you’re a Swede). 5 days until the very last episode of Downton Abbey. 6 days until we leave for Germany! 11 days until the end of 2015. 25 days until Martin stops annoying me with detailed playback of AHS Hotel episodes. 39 days until choir starts. 48 days until the first Melodifestival competition. 82 days until Pie Night! 164 days until our 20th wedding anniversary. 171 days until Martin graduates high school. 194 days until our summer celebration trip to the US....

13
Dec
2015

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

I am steaming through the Christmas to-do list! Tree is up and decorated, house is decorated, Christmas letter is written and ready to be printed, photos are cut and sorted, and the vast majority of my shopping is done. DONE! So late this year, but at least I’m nearly done. I still have a couple of things to get for Karin, stocking stuffers and a present for Anders’ mom, and that’s it! Next week I have to bake cookies for a work fika (I am avoiding baking cookies otherwise…if they’re not in the house, I can’t eat them, see?) and...

07
Dec
2015

GETTING IN THE MOOD

Liz: *sitting on couch, holds up iPad with something funny on it* Hey Martin! Look! Martin: *leans over and looks out the doorway of the computer room on the other side of the house* I’m not a hawk. Today, Martin turns 18. ADULTHOOD! Woot! Do I get a prize for successfully steering my firstborn through to adulthood? Oh wait, I already got one… when he was born. *rimshot* The first email I got this morning was one from the school system officially locking us out of his information. Since he’s now officially an adult, we no longer get to know...

26
Nov
2015

ANOTHER LAME BLOG POST

I’m reading along in a book I bought a couple of weeks ago, part one in a new paperback trilogy by one of my favorite fantasy authors (which continues the story from several other trilogies…she’s prolific) and about 100 pages from the end, the story abruptly switches from one page to the next. I stop in confusion and read back, then forward. It’s a complete jump in wording, in the middle of a sentence and in the context of the story. The page number on the left is 564. The page number on the right is…629. AUGH!! 65 missing pages...

22
Nov
2015

SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR

Things That Got Forgotten at Our Annual Thanksgiving Potluck Last Night Black olives Late night snacks Group photo for posterity People That Were Not There, Sadly Barbara (work trip) Camilla (sick) Alex (Angie’s oldest boy, better things to do) Emily, Martin & Molly My first family We were supposed to be 21 people but ended up 20 after Camilla called last minute to say she was sick. I took Friday off in order to be able to deal with shopping and cleaning and preparations and it really helped make things less stressful. Karin had the day off too, so we...

17
Nov
2015

MOSTLY KARIN

Am so unmotivated when it comes to writing right now. Karin is sitting behind me and I said, “Karin, help me write a blog post. What should I write about?” One guess what her answer was. It’s not a super busy week and work has been EXTRA slow. We are having a mandatory department meeting this week. I suspect some sort of re-org. Urgh. I’m taking Friday off, though, so that will help, haha! It’s hard to come up with things to write about that don’t have to do with my weight, my weight loss, my menu plans, things I’m...

15
Nov
2015

THREE THINGS

When I can’t think of anything to write, lists are always handy. I already did two things, so here’s three! Three things from my to-do list Get Martin’s US passport renewed Mail my US voter registration application You guessed it…clean the Tank of Death & Despair Three things I’ve already done today Vacuumed Showered Watered plants Three books recently added to my list of books to buy Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller Radiant by Karina Sumner-Smith Three really good books I’ve read recently Uprooted by Naomi Novak Bryony and Roses by T....

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