Interviewed the kids in this Facebook meme and wrote down their exact responses 🙂 Apologies to those who’ve already seen it, but if I don’t put it here it won’t be in the yearbook. Martin – age 11 Karin – age 9.5 going on 17 1. What is something mom always says to you? M – Stop fighting! K – Get a life 2. What makes mom happy? M – When we do (stop fighting) K – Hugs & kisses 3. What makes mom sad? M – When we ignore her K – If I don’t want to be with...
How many gazillion posts can I start writing with no clue as to what I’m going to write about, limping solely along on the determination to post something or die trying? 1703 apparently, as of this one. My daughter has been, for whatever reason, lamenting the fact that she is THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD with an outie bellybutton. I’m not sure exactly how this bit of information has suddenly come to the forefront of her consciousness. Comparison tests in the locker room while changing for gympa? She is the only person in our family, at least, but I...
Hearing that (another) friend has been diagnosed with cancer has put quite the damper on my weekend, even though I think, given today’s medical advances, that she can beat this, it’s still a horrible experience for her and her family to go through. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about. I’m not thinking about what it would mean to ME to receive such a diagnosis; my mind skitters and leaps about it, looking distractedly in the other direction, pulling my sleeve and pointing, not letting me dwell on any of those grotesque and overwhelmingly awful scenarios. *** Martin and I took...
It’s a bit late for me to actually be starting to write something here…usually I try to start writing, if I’m going to write at all, by 10:30 at at the latest. I write most of my journal posts late at night, though, because I’m a die-hard night owl. Even though I try to be better about going to bed at a decent hour, at least on weeknights, I fail frequently to actually get into bed before 11:30 and I fail nearly every night at putting my book down and turning out the light before midnight has come, peered at...
Today was moving day at work, so I didn’t feel like I contributed very much to the bottom line today, though I did finalize 3 brochures that I was waiting for miscellaneous bits & pieces of, and slapped together a HTML invitation and proofread a convoluted translation of a case study that was originally in Korean. There was a bit of a holiday atmosphere both on Friday and today as people packed up their stuff, so I don’t think I was alone in the decreased contribution factor. 🙂 I had already packed up everything else in my office last week,...
Reading travel books about exotic places is a stimulating torture process. Even though we have vacation plans that actually involve travel this year, they are not, sadly, to somewhere we haven’t already been. After finishing the travel book that has taken me much longer to read than any book has a right to, I’m now yearning to explore European destinations I have yet to visit: Prague (yes, I know!), St. Petersburg, the Italian coast, more of Greece, Ireland, Wales, Portugal, France (when all I’ve seen is Paris). And that’s only grazing the surface. Poland! Croatia! Budapest and Zagreb. I’m not...
Has anyone ever read Colette? Her work was intriguingly and lovingly described in a book I’m reading and I’m wondering if she still holds up and if anyone can give me an off-the-cuff recommendation. I’m in the middle of Frances Mayes A Year in the World which is making me want to travel and to eat, and to read. So many places to go!! It’s the weekend and I’m oh so glad. I skipped out a little early this afternoon from work, egged on by the party atmosphere of a workplace that is packing up and getting ready to move...
I’m so focused on other things (work, mostly) that I’m continually surprised by the promise and the preparation that the Earth is making for the return of spring. Driving up the hill, out of the corner of my eye, my mind registers a patch of what can only be snowdrops. Another garden, caught in peripheral vision, seems to be polka-dotted with tiny yellow bulbs…surely not crocus already? The sun has been shining inbetween times, but with my head bent to the cyanotic glow of circuitry, I keep catching only the tail-end of it, as I leave the office. It’s not...
*happy mail dance* A new pair of pants and a card from my mom. Thanks, mom! A box full of orange-flavored tic-tacs from my brother.* Thanks, John! A card & a photo of a park in early spring from a friend. I’m continually flabbergasted and touched by the thoughtfulness and generosity of people, especially and most mindbogglingly, from those I have never met. Last week I posted about the cruddy mood that had rained all over my parade and was threatening to eat me alive, and today in the mail I got a card prompted by that post from Bethany....
Just the kind of day I needed after the week I’ve had. Waking at my own pace to frost and sunshine, puttering about, reading a bit here, cleaning a bit there, not really doing much of anything. Looking through Lego boxes with Martin to find all the different Lego people heads we have (41!), and having a delicious dinner of sushi out and then Melodifestivalen LIVE at Malmö Arena! There wasn’t anyone on the line-up that I cared all that much about, so I could relax and enjoy the show without thinking too much about it. It was quite different...