Category: general

23
Jan
2011

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Honestly, I don’t know where the times goes. I could have sworn I just posted but when I look at my little calendar I see it was last Tuesday! 5 whole days ago! And I suspect it will be another 5 days before I post again as this week is just NUTS. I have something scheduled every day, beyond the usual work work work. Tomorrow we have Parent Meetings at both Martin and Karin’s schools, so we can’t go together. I’m going to Martin’s, and Anders is going to Karin’s, but I really wish we could both get the same...

18
Jan
2011

IT TAKES GUTS TO GET OUT OF THE RUTS

I forgot to make note of my moved-to-Sweden anniversary until I was reminded by blue_eyed_girl‘s post today. I moved here on January 11th, 1997. Anders has already arrived a week earlier and the day before I got here, his sister had a baby boy, who celebrated his fourteenth birthday last week. Crazy how time flies. With the 14 years in Sweden and the 6 years I lived overseas as a child, I’ve now spent 20 years of my life overseas. I figured out in the car on the way back from the birthday dinner for Henrik that in another six...

16
Jan
2011

TORTURE

Is there anything more agonizing to a rabid book lover than re-reading a huge long series of books that one loves in order to read the latest one in the series and finishing it only to remember that not only have all the story lines been left hanging but the next book isn’t even PUBLISHED yet? I’ve spent the entire weekend (with a few breaks for walking, showering, eating, laundry) immersed in reading. I feel like I’ve just come up for air. And now I have to start the book club book which we’re meeting on Thursday about and try...

12
Jan
2011

WRITING IS MAKING SENSE OF LIFE*

There’s been some speculation out there, wondering whether blogs are dying. They’re so 2010. Maybe it’s just mid-January slump. I know THIS blog isn’t dying. It’s too important to die and it’s going nowhere unless I do, and I have no plans to disappear. It’s been awhile since the question of why I blog has been raised, though the answers remain the same. Important, you say? How could this blog be important?! What cheek! Yes, indeed: it IS important. What I’ve gained from this online journal, this interwebby rambling, this obiter dictum, is immeasurable. Friends, family, community, posterity; a place...

09
Jan
2011

TIDDLY BITS

Last day of sluggishness wasn’t very sluggy, though it got off to a sluggy start with a major sleep-in. Asked Anders to take an hour out of his day to purge clothes in our closet and he went bananas and filled 8 big paper shopping bags and a giant black garbage bag with discards. Whoa! Organized MY side of the closet too, clearing out some tops I never wear and putting things in order. I don’t switch back and forth between winter and summer clothes, but I do keep the hanging items organized by type: sleeveless, short-sleeve, long-sleeve, sweaters. A...

07
Jan
2011

DOGS & BLOGS

I think we fall a bit in love with every subsequent dog that we babysit. THIS dog, however, was really hard to give up. He was just the most darling thing ever and all of us enjoyed his company so much. I’ve told berchshill that I really hope she’ll keep us in mind the next time they need a dogsitter. The kids were out in the snow with Mental every day, playing fetch. We went for a long walk today in the brilliant sunshine, and later he kept putting his head on my knee to be scritched and I hugged...

04
Jan
2011

MIND OVER MATTER

Things that do not work as they should: the Internet connection. The computer. The refrigerator door. The dishwasher. The dryer door. The vacuum hose. The kids’ computer. The printer. My eyes. Aiee. When I write them all out like that, it sure makes for an expensive sounding list. On the bright side, everything ELSE in the house works! I’ve been a bit of a slug, both mentally and emotionally, the last few days. I think it’s post-year let-down. As if the project that was 2010 has left me feeling drained and husked. Even though I worked yesterday and today, and...

31
Dec
2010

RETROSPECTIVE

find closure in the year-end retrospective that I’ve been doing on this journal for—goodness!—8 years. It’s fun to look back and count up and tote up and list the things that happened, the experiences that shaped the year and the literary and musical discoveries I made. Outside the window, the world is white: still so much snow on the ground and the sky is white as well. The hoarfrost of yesterday is gone, but a heavy fog descending promises more for later. Two Swedish couples, very good friends of ours, are coming to celebrate New Year’s Eve with us; Anders...

30
Dec
2010

ICE ICE BABY

I suppose it’s that time of year again. To look both backward and forward; to make resolutions and promises and open your eyes wide to the wonder of what will come next. This morning, the white world was whiter: covered in thick hoarfrost, fat and full and frozen. Chickadees flock to the frozen feeder, grabbing seed and flinging themselves to the top of the bird cherry. From the bedroom window I could see a bird with a very red body and strained to make out what it was; there are no cardinals here and the red-breasted robins aren’t that red....

29
Dec
2010

R & R

It’s the day before the day before the day before (as Karin put it, earlier today). There’s nothing much doing this week and I’m managing to be just fine with that (beyond checking email a little too often). We’ve had my cousin Cate and her family over for dinner one night and an AWC event cancelled and mostly have spent the days sleeping in, reading, relaxing, watching movies and TV and eating too much. January is soon enough to get motivated and I shall. It’s a promise to myself, not just a resolution. Time to get a grip and get...

October 2025
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

Archives