Author: lizardek

16
Apr
2024

YOU DON’T PAY TAXES, THEY TAKE TAXES*

For something like 20 years the 1040 tax form in the US was pretty much exactly the same. Maybe even longer, and then, about 6 years ago, someone decided it needed updating. And EVERY YEAR since then, that someone has kept on updating it. It’s different now EVERY YEAR. So you have to read the incredibly confusing instructions every year and try to make heads or tails of it again. Is it simpler? No. Is it easy to understand? NO. Is it better? NO. It’s just different. GAH. It’s that time of year again when my obligations as a US...

13
Apr
2024

A RATHER LAZY DAY

Today was sunny for most of it, despite the forecast of rain for the whole weekend. Karin was home (until dinnertime) and she and I spent quite a lot of time hanging out on the deck. It was almost too hot for me, but not quite. I haven’t done much today: 1 load of laundry, took the recycleables out, and sent the US tax forms to myself at work to print because I couldn’t get our printer to work. I also ordered new print cartridges if that counts toward “doing things”. Oh, and Karin and I went to the frame...

08
Apr
2024

PATH OF TOTALITY

I couldn’t decide if I was envious of all the people in America who will get to see a solar eclipse today. It’s already partial as I’m writing this. My friends Kathey and Russell, who live in Dallas, are the only people I know off the top of my head who live along the “path of totality”. I have an online (former LJ) friend who is in the US from Sweden to see it, along with her husband. Both of them are certified eclipse chasers who travel the world to see any kind of eclipse. I read up on solar...

02
Apr
2024

APRIL?! APRIL SHOWERS AND APRIL HOURS

Holy rabbits, Batman, how can it be April already? Yesterday was a holiday here in Sweden since it was Easter Monday, which was a shame, because it meant we couldn’t pull April Fool’s pranks on our colleagues in the office. One of the big Swedish newspapers had an excellent joke article on their main page, mentioning that Ven, the island off the coast of southern Sweden, was going to have to lose 500 meters worth of land in order to accommodate NATO warships. I saw some funny ones after the fact today. One worth mentioning was Dulux Paints Instagram post...

30
Mar
2024

ABOUT TO SPROING

Since I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, and only had a few years of semi-religious interest in high school, Easter has never been about Jesus much, for me. In my family, it was all about coloring eggs, hiding eggs, finding eggs, and Easter baskets full of candy. Interesting that both Easter in the spring and Halloween in the fall have such an emphasis on sweets. We have always decorated eggs the “old-fashioned” way, both when I was growing up, and with my own children when they were small. Vinegar, boiling water, and food coloring. We never used any...

27
Mar
2024

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

My best and oldest friend, Becky, just became a grandmother. My best friend here became a grandmother last June. One of my good high school friends also became a grandmother last year. It’s a little freaky, considering I still feel about 29 inside, to think that I’m well past grandmother age. We all apparently waited much longer than the previous generation, but that makes sense considering we all had our kids much later, too. My mom was 23 when she had me. I was just 33 when I had Martin. I’m in NO hurry to become a grandmother myself, though...

18
Mar
2024

PINING FOR SPRING

I’ve just not been in the mood to write any posts, even though I seem to be thinking about it all the time. Blogger’s guilt. I think it’s only my brother who ever reads this anyway, and he’s busy too, so I’m not disappointing anyone but myself, haha. Martin and I went and saw Dune 2 last weekend, after rewatching Dune 1 a few days before. He’s now re-listening to the audio books and did a Dune-themed crossword. My colleague Emelie saw it the week before we did and raved about it (Dune 2, that is) and said she thought...

10
Mar
2024

POTTERY, PINK, AND PIE

Last week was really busy, so I’m kind of looking forward to this coming week, which isn’t busy at all (at the moment). Anders leaves for a week in Italy tomorrow morning, which also means I’ll be alone every evening entertaining myself with my book, iPad, TV, crossword puzzles, and a new jigsaw puzzle. Last Thursday I organized another pottery painting evening for the AIC, but it turned out to be just Lisel, Kirstin, and I, with Lisel’s 2 daughters, Martin and Theo, and Martin’s friend Thea. I painted the outside of a bowl (cereal-bowl sized) with a bird and...

02
Mar
2024

IT’S A LOT RIGHT NOW

I just hung up the artwork that John and his kids made for me, for Christmas. It’s two flowers made of sliced up, painted pinecones, mounted on a wooden board. I’ve been debating where to put it, and originally thought of putting it out on the porch, but the walls out there are stucco, so not only does Anders not want to put a nail in them, but there’s no good way to mount anything at all on them. I couldn’t even use a CommandStrip, which is what I’ve now used to hang them on the tile wall in the...

19
Feb
2024

MUSIC IS LIFE ITSELF*

It’s music drought time right now on Spotify’s Discover Weekly. I don’t know what time of year most artists release new music, but everything being suggested to me is at least 10 years old, if not 30 or more. If I wanted to listen to Diana Ross or Linda Ronstadt, Spotify, don’t you think they’d already be on my playlist? I guess all the new music hit before Christmas. So, it’s a perfect time of year for Melodifestivalen. If you’ve never heard of it, you haven’t lived in Sweden. It’s a series of competitions during February and into March, where...

April 2024
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