I can’t remember him so small, he’s so big now. It’s hard to believe I could hold all of him cradled in my arms when he’s almost as tall now as I am. His feet were so small and so perfect, they fit in the palm of my hand. Now his shoes are nearly longer than mine. But he still has the same smile, the same dimple, the same twinkle in his eye, and the same infectious laugh. 11 years old and growing, going, but not yet gone, thank god.
Why are we friends? We’re so different! You come from another state, another country, another culture. You’re older than me; you’re younger. You’re religious, and you—you’re political. You’ve made choices in your life that I can’t fathom. You’ve had things happen to you that I can’t relate to. You’ve done things I couldn’t or wouldn’t or wish I dared to do. You don’t have any children. You have too many. You don’t want any. You’ve got a baby; your kids are grown. You believe in things I could never swallow. You believe in things that go against my grain. You...
Everywhere there are yummy yummy recipes coming at me like zingity fattening yummalicious food bombs. First, I do it to myself by visiting friends with mad cooking skillz and the willingness to share recipes. And I buy Martha Stewart Living magazines just so I can LICK THE PAGES. And then I make it worse by choosing to participate in the AWC holiday cookie exchange which kickstarts the baking of the Christmas cookies. Then ozswede perpetuates the temptation with a string of delicious recipes that have me frantically printing and gathering and drooling, and then she sends me links to things...
ozswede says “get blogging” and her wish is my command. Of course, my motto is: Be careful what you wish for! I honestly don’t feel like I have anything important to write about right now…I’m in that holiday zone, finally. Plus I’m deep in the archives of NotAlwaysRight, laughing my head off on every page. All the houses in Sweden have their advent lights and Christmas stars in the windows. We took a couple of hours today at work, 3 of my colleagues and I, and drove to our print-house where our account manager had invited us for a holiday...
For the past 8 or 9 years, I’ve participated in an AWC event on Thanksgiving evening. It’s nothing to do with turkey or tryptophan or football or parades because none of that exists in its American holiday form here in Sweden. Instead, our Thanksgiving celebrations with friends and/or family has always been scheduled for the weekend after (or in the case of this year, the weekend before). Because the fourth Thursday in November is just a regular workday here, it’s been a pleasure to have a holiday event scheduled on that evening instead, something that has now become a tradition...
Cracking Me Up: Not Always Right More Cracking Me Up: Craftastrophe
I’m thankful for the obvious things that quietly light up my life every day. The things I don’t notice, the things I take for granted, the things I’ve become so familiar with that they fade into the humming background until, like a sudden ray of sunshine, my notice and regards falls upon them and illuminates them; makes them new. My funny, freaky, healthy, smart children. My husband who puts up with much more from me than he probably ever expected. The commitment that we hold for each other. My beautiful cozy home. My far-flung family: mom, sister, brother, in-laws, cousins,...
Not too long ago, ms_hackman, who is intimidatingly crafty to begin with, suddenly became obsessed with monster hats and started making them by the dozens and posting them on her LJ. I immediately squeeed with joy over them, because who can resist monster hats?? and she responded by sending 2 of her amazing creations to the kids. Who are totally in love with their monster hats! THANKS, JENNY!! Humongous Happy Belated Birthday Wishes to gnostraeh!
Tomorrow is the Annual AWC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and I’m participating for the 8th year. My recipe criteria this time was simple: easy, fast and no having to go to the store to buy special ingredients. The kids and I spent the morning perusing cookie recipes, rejecting the ones that, despite how good they looked, required things we didn’t have in the house: no oatmeal, no peanut butter, no chocolate-candy centers. Finally, I found a basic cookie recipe and then I tweaked it completely to come up with our very own new holiday cookie! Pretty soon the house was filling...
1. Two turkeys is probably enough, unless we actually have 12 adults. 2. Find something other than green bean casserole for a veggie dish…there’s always TONS of it leftover and no one really likes it that much. 3. Have Kelly do the pumpkin pies every year. MMMMMMMMMMM 4. Maybe move the TV into the playroom for the evening. Or else think up better responses to the frequently asked question about why we adults talk so loudly and laugh so much.