Monthly Archive: February 2023

26
Feb
2023

THE NON-FICTION LIST

I read a lot. And I have a LOT of books. Since I got my Kindle, the number of physical books in my house has dropped, since I don’t buy actual books anymore, preferring to buy ebooks instead, because 1) instant gratification, 2) no one will have to deal with them in the future when I’m gone, and 3) my bookshelves are full. Every year, the AIC hosts a “media” “sale”…quotes around those because it used to be more “media”, meaning that we allowed books, DVDs, CDs, games, puzzles, etc. But more and more it’s just books, and just English...

22
Feb
2023

SPRINGISH THINGS

It’s officially spring here in southern Sweden, despite being still February and a full week away from March. Sweden’s meteorological office, SMHI, defines spring as having arrived if the temperature has been above freezing for a week. I call borderline bullshit though, since I had to scrape my car windows this morning and it was ONE degree Celsius at 8 am, which means it was definitely freezing or below overnight (again). We’re still wearing winter coats, scarves, and gloves, though I’ve haven’t worn my heaviest winter coat for a few weeks now…which is nice because it weighs a ton. And...

18
Feb
2023

DOMESTICALLY INCLINED

Last night, Otto the storm stormed through, with galeforce winds that made the house shake and rattle and all the vents whoosh every once in a while. By 10 pm, it sounded as if we had a freight train going by the house nonstop. I read in bed until close to midnight and it never really let up once. But this morning I woke to sunshine. It clouded over pretty quickly, but the sun is peeking out again now, though there are still clouds and I can see the tops of the trees waving. I filled up the bird feeders...

15
Feb
2023

MY TWO CENTS*

I’m leaving for the US in, basically, a month. I have a small stack of stuff that is going with me and several reminder emails to myself about things I need to get (mostly gifts) before I leave. Yesterday afternoon, Martin emptied out some container in his room and came in to give me some American change, and ask where he should put the others he had found. We used to have a huge plastic Coke bottle that was about a quarter-filled with coins from all around the world. Every time we were going somewhere, we’d have to empty it...

11
Feb
2023

MERRY CRATESMAS!

The crate arrived yesterday! It was a big event here, but I haven’t written all that much about it. We ordered a crate kit from UPakWeShip, and doing so was inspired by a conversation I had with Annelott about getting stuff for Martin, and stuff from my mom’s to me, over here. I had been thinking that shipping household goods would be so crazy expensive that I hadn’t even looked into it, but she said, it can’t be that bad…people and businesses ship stuff all the time. I had extra savings due to the stimulus checks that we got from...

07
Feb
2023

GOTCHA FOR KARIN

Last weekend, when I was on a Facetime call with my brother, he was talking about his job and the issues he was having with some of the places that he picks up skis from. He works for a small company that prepares skis for the customers of various dealers and ski shops. They pick up skis and service them (cleaning, sharpening, waxing) and then they take them back in time for people to get their skis before they go skiing. In the course of the conversation, he mentioned that one of the places he goes to weekly is St....

06
Feb
2023

RESUMÉ

Three men seen at the same time, at the same crosswalk, in Malmö: one wearing a full dress tuxedo tails riding a bicycle standing on the pedals with flowers in the front basket one walking, wearing a bright green tracksuit, holding a large globe of the Earth one leaning on a bike, waiting for the light to turn, with a HUGE blonde afro (at least a foot out from his head or more) and a ginger beard When we were at our friends’ Mats’ birthday party some weeks ago, his nephew Jon, who is now 32 but whom we’ve known...

04
Feb
2023

TURNS OUT I CAN BE MORE BORING

Are you sad and lonely when you’re alone or are you quite chuffed about it? I really appreciate my downtime, when I have the house to myself, even though I love having my family home, too. Today, I got up super early (for a Saturday) to take Anders to the train station to catch the 7:20 am train. The moon was full and huge and shining like a giant silver coin in the black sky, but on the way home, the sky was lightening and turning orange and lavender and purple, even though the sun wasn’t all the way up....

02
Feb
2023

A NEW MONTH, A NEW POST!

How can it be February already? I’m having flashbacks to my college roommate Chris’ F*ck February parties of the mid-90s, after we had moved to Chicago and were no longer sharing an apartment. She covered the floor of her apartment in beach sand, had blowup palm trees, and the required dress code was Hawaiian shirts and leis. Good times. Believe it or not, I STILL have symptoms: stuffed up head and coughing whenever I talk. It’s now February 2nd, so I’m officially in my second month of being sick, though today was the first day in weeks that I woke...

February 2023
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