Category: general

06
Feb
2009

25 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT LIZARDEK

Might as well not waste this only on Facebook! 😀 1. Europe (Belgium, Germany, Sweden) has been my home for 18 years of my life and I suspect I’m here to stay. I’ve moved 29 times over the years and have lived the longest in this current house: 6.5 years. 2. Despite having been eligible for the past 7 years, I still haven’t gotten around to applying for Swedish citizenship. 3. I refused to try sushi until I met Anders when I was 30 years old—now I can’t get enough. 4. I have never bleached, tweezed, tattooed, pierced or waxed...

04
Feb
2009

ROOTS & WINGS

Yesterday, I was a guest at an evening activity with one of our vendors. We were divided into 2 teams by our hosts: two delightful chefs who are making names for themselves in the Öresund region. David Fernandes, who owns the S:t Gertrud Patisserie and Tareq Taylor, who made a name as the owner and master chef of acclaimed Malmö restaurant trappaner. The activity was cooking our own dinner, under the leadership of our two chefs, and then sitting down to enjoy it. It was great fun, and the food was fantastic. One team (mine) was in charge of the...

01
Feb
2009

EVERY MINUTE OF IT

Many people who have families and husbands and live by a certain routine and level of activity might be completely at a loss if faced with a sudden abundance of alone time. How can you function when the people that you care for and adjust your life around are out of the picture for a time? I know most mothers crave some downtime; time to themselves to rebuild their stores of energy or just some peace and quiet for a few short hours. But I know an equal amount of them who claim not to know what to do with...

29
Jan
2009

UNDER FIVES

This seems to be one of those dreaded dry periods where making up memes in lieu of actual journal posts is about as scintillating as it gets. In the face of minimal inspiration, no motivation, and a blank slate of interesting anecdotes and memories, I’ll roll with the small stuff that I can squeeze out. Hey! It’s better than bullet points and to-do lists, right? 4 things I regret That we never bought a video camera when our kids were small; losing all the German I learned in high school; not getting the job with Hallmark at my first interview...

28
Jan
2009

LISTENING FOR YOUR VOICE

I was in a ridiculously good mood this evening, and indeed, for most of the day, despite a beginning-to-be-crushing list of projects at work, and a meeting that droned on for longer than I would have liked. Why the good mood? I have no idea. Feeling better will do that to you after a week and a half of physical misery, I suppose. I can breathe, I can sleep without drugs, I feel as though my brain is limbering up again, and I shall restart my head-cold-interrupted walking schedule tomorrow. Some things that have been on my to-do list for...

26
Jan
2009

GUIDE TO ACTION

It’s 11 o’clock and I wasn’t going to write, and I read through my blogs and got up from the chair and then I came back and sat down to write something, because HEY! I miss you guys when I don’t write. I can breathe today without the intervention of pharmaceuticals: HALLELUJAH. I’m still not what you would call HEALTHY, but at least I feel like I’m on the mend. We had an excellent guest speaker at the AWC meeting tonight; she’s a coaching and training expert in personal efficiency and helps people learn how to be more organized, and...

25
Jan
2009

UNHHH

I am considerably in awe of, quite dismayed by, and frankly, a bit threatened by the human body’s ability to manufacture mucus. If only I could harness this power in some much less disgusting way! I’d make a fortune! When sick, your whole world narrows down to the physical sensations that tend to consume all conscious thought. Things hurt that don’t usually hurt, calling your otherwise oblivious attention to them. You didn’t even know you HAD muscles there, much less that they could ache so much. Suddenly every square millimeter of space occupied by your sinuses becomes of utmost importance:...

22
Jan
2009

I HAB A CODE ID BY DOSE

Karin was sick over the weekend, running a fever, complaining of a sore throat and being generally draggy. She stayed home from school Monday, with my chaperonage to make sure that she didn’t play games all day as sick kids who stay home from work DO NOT GET TO HAVE FUN. She was allowed to watch TV and DVDs and otherwise she could lie on the sofa and sleep or lie in her bed and sleep or lie in OUR bed and sleep. I worked the entire day, while she slept and watched and moaned about how boring it was...

18
Jan
2009

THE MORE WE WRITE THE LESS WE DIE*

I read Post Secret via my RSS feed every Sunday. Sometimes I can’t relate to some of the secrets that are posted, but most of the time I am touched, moved, amused or saddened by the things that people confess to. This one, posted today, struck me cold and silent for a moment. Isn’t this SO TRUE? I can’t grasp it either. I can’t fathom the fact that I won’t live forever. Can you? We talked about it a bit at book group on Thursday night, though the central focus was, of course, on books, and the central anguish in...

16
Jan
2009

THEY’LL THANK ME FOR IT SOME DAY

Conversation in the car: Karin: Mom, EVERYONE has a Wii except for us. Liz: What, EVERYONE? EVERY SINGLE ONE? Really? That’s so sad! Karin: It’s true. Liz: Awww, you poor thing, and here you’ve only JUST gotten Playstation 2. Karin: *sighs* Liz: Too bad you have such sucky parents that only buy the old stuff and the used stuff and the hand-me-down stuff. Karin: Yeah. Liz: Hey! Wrong answer!! Karin: *giggles madly* Poor Karin. It’s true, though. We are really cheap when it comes to the toys and gadgets our kids have. It’s not that we don’t buy them things,...