Category: general

04
Jan
2007

CYBERMOTHER HEN

Suddenly, all this “my kid has a blog” stuff seems much more serious than the funny little frolic I had sort of blithely assumed it would be. Karin had been agitating for a ‘wabsit’ for weeks. She went so far as to draw up an instruction sheet listing all the things she wanted her website to have. Translation for the 7-year-old’s-writing-impaired: Karins website. What there is: spel (games), calendar, search things, send to someone, make books to print, work with letters, write what you want to have and web email. After trying to explain the differences in websites in terms...

03
Jan
2007

ÜH OH

Remember that bonus photo yesterday? Yeah, her. That kid of mine got a blog.* Run for your lives! Anders bought a little adapter thingy and hooked up the cables to my old American stereo tape deck and I’m currently recording the first of my many, many mixed tapes to a .wav file on the computer to be edited and sectioned later for burning onto a CD. Whee! I’m such an über-geek! I’m even geekier because I know how to make a ü without even hesitating. ü ü ü! hahahaha! Umlauts always make me giddy. I met my friend Camilla for...

02
Jan
2007

THE NIGHT THE LIGHTS WENT OUT IN FLYINGE

Earlier tonight the full moon was the brightest spot in an otherwise pitch black world. The power went off around 6:30 and stayed off until almost 9…I was just about to start building “Karins wabsit things yahoo” with my daughter when with a whuff everything blacked out. Martin and the twins were playing in the playroom and they ran screaming for flashlights through the hallway and the living room, tripping over furniture and bonking into each other on the way. All photos by Anders Ek We got candles lit all over the house and then I had Martin fetch a...

01
Jan
2007

WHEEL TURNIN’ ‘ROUND AND ‘ROUND

For the record, there is no better party-opener music for a New Year’s Eve bash than Steely Dan’s Reelin’ in the Years. And this might be the quintessential New Year’s party dinner menu, Chez Anders: Roasted Asparagus with Tarragon Lemon Sauce Lobster Soup with Cognac and Snow Peas Filet of Beef with Garlic-Herb Sauce Potatoes mashed with Truffel Oil and Porcini (Karl Johan) Mushrooms Vanilla Creme Pudding with Champagne Jelly and Raspberries Despite the excitement and fun of the past week I am more than ready for our regular routine to return, so much so that I was having urges...

29
Dec
2006

R&R DOES NOT, APPARENTLY, STAND FOR REST & RELAXATION

More like “Rarin’ & Roarin’”…I need a vacation after my “vacation” and I’m not even done with it yet! Zoooom! This is the first evening in 8 days I’ve had a chance to really sit down at the computer and most of it has been frantically whipping the AWC web newsletter into shape for publication tomorrow on Sunday. We have picked up John & Simone at the train station and taken them final Christmas shopping baked Reindeer Poop and Christmas sugar icing cookies and made Rice Krispie Holly Bars gone out for sushi dinner and watched The Commitments, The Curse...

23
Dec
2006

CHRISTMAS CHEER FOR CHRISTMAS NEAR

Except for a little bit of stocking stuffer wrapping to be done, everything is ready for the big 2 days coming up. When you’re an American in Sweden, Christmas is so nice, you do it twice! Tomorrow we’re having Anders’ family over and watching Kalle Anka, having a visit from Tomte (sssh!), giving gifts and eating julbord (lost count). On Monday, with John and Simone we’ll have the American version with stockings and more gifts and a big turkey dinner to round things off. We even have freshly baked Christmas cookies for dessert: Iced sugar cookies, Rice Krispie Holly Bars,...

21
Dec
2006

I’LL TAKE ANY RISK TO TIE BACK THE HANDS OF TIME

I got such a “good” response to the photo of me in my home-made camouflage uniform homecoming dress the other day that I just went hunting through photo albums to find a picture of the other home-made dress that I wore to Senior Prom a few years later. My mom made it, I don’t think I sewed a stitch. It had a darling little half-jacket and a gold belt. At least it started out with a gold belt, since that is what I was wearing in the pre-party photo taken at home, although it’s missing here. Unlike the homecoming dance...

19
Dec
2006

REALLY? REALLY REALLY.

Remember those 10 days of antibiotics a month or so ago that were supposed to completely squash the recurring sorethroat thing I had going on and on and on like a coldbug energizer buddy (which is how you say bunny with a cold in your nose)? Well, just like the poltergeists in the TV, CarolAnne, DON’T LOOK INTO THE LIGHT because it’s baaaaaaack. bleargh I cannot, CAN NOT be sick right now. I don’t have TIME to be sick. Coveting in a Major Way: Everything Krista Rääk makes (although when I try and pronounce her name out loud I sound...

18
Dec
2006

KEEPING YOU IN STITCHES

Gah. I hate sewing. It goes all the way back to when I was 13 or 14, taking home ec in junior high. Even though all my girlfriends were in the class with me, and it was only for a term (we alternated to woodshop, which was okay…I made the cutest mouse-shaped cheeseboard for my mom which she still has, and then cooking class, which I also hated, but mostly because the teacher was so awful. She stood over your freshly baked and just-removed-from-the-oven brownies and scratched her dandruffy head RIGHT OVER THEM. *shudder*) My sewing skills are only what...

17
Dec
2006

I WAS GOING TO COUNTDOWN BUT I ONLY HAD FOURS AND FIVES

Only 4 more days until the solstice and the days will begin lengthening again! Only 4 more days of work before Christmas vacation! Only 5 days until my brother and Simone arrive for a week! Only 5 more little presents to buy and I’m done! Only 5 more days to payday, thank goodness! Things That Made Me Happy This Weekend: talking to my oldest best friend Becky last night and hearing how well things are going for her this year after a couple of really rough ones; reading the pregnancy announcement of a dear online friend; receiving a box from...

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