Category: general

25
Sep
2023

DOPAMINE FOR A DULLARD

Are you good at procrastinating? I’m usually pretty bad at it. Oh, I can be lazy as all get out, and I can waste time like a champion, but I’m not that good at actually procrastinating. At least about things other than working on losing weight or saying no to cookies. Which, come to think of it, are the same thing. I can spend a good hour or two playing iPad games or scrolling through Instagram posts and reels, but if I really have things to do, especially if I’ve written them down in a list, then I’m pretty good...

22
Sep
2023

3 THINGS

3 things I’m looking forward to pottery painting again, things slowing down a bit (hahahahaha), art and handicraft fair in Malmö next weekend 3 things that were good about today talking to my mom while I was out walking, a quick backrub from Karin, getting out of Sandby ICA in under an hour on a Friday after work (though not under 1000kr) 3 things that I have to do this weekend install a new docking station for my workspace at home, buy more prosciutto manchego sticks for dinner tomorrow because I keep eating the ones we already have, pay bills...

17
Sep
2023

THE BUSY, IT’S HERE

It’s already crazy at work and busy with AIC obligations before the annual meeting in just over a week, but now my social calendar has exploded too. During the next 3 weeks, starting tomorrow, I have 7 days with no plans. 9 with no EVENING plans. 7 AIC activities. 1 massage. 1 hair appointment. 4 dinners (2 that we are hosting and 2 that are elsewhere). It’s busy time, that’s for sure. And because it’s already mid-September, my thoughts are turning to end of year events. I have Friendsgiving on my mind: need to nail down a date that both...

09
Sep
2023

DINNER TABLE CONVERSATIONS

There’s a writing prompt that I’ve seen kicking around for years, that I’ve never really thought too hard about using. I think it was just one of those conversation starter questions that teaches you things about yourself before that, because it was certainly a question I read or heard long before people were blogging or needing writing prompts online. It’s the one about who would you invite to dinner, if you could invite anyone, living or dead? I find it as similarly useless as the question about what one thing would you bring with you to a desert island if...

07
Sep
2023

THE LESS I CARE, THE HAPPIER I AM

I can’t get a solid night’s sleep anymore. It’s kinda bumming me out, and it’s not something I could take (or would want to take) medication for. It’s because I have to get up multiple times during the night to go to the bathroom. If I took some kind of sleeping pills, what are the chances I would then wet the bed? Don’t want to know. The diabetes medicine I am taking has “frequent urination” as one of its side effects, which is way better than frequent anything else in the evacuation system of your body, believe you me. But...

03
Sep
2023

THE BUSY STARTS NOW*

Hello September! It’s the start of a new AIC season and the busiest time of both our AIC year and work, so things are a little crazy at the moment. We kicked off the new AIC season with a monthly meeting that wasn’t really a meeting at all: mini-golf at Ribersborg in Malmö. We had a lovely evening for it, sunny and warm, and a decent turn-out of 17 people, which included the manager of the golf venue and kiosk. I can’t remember the last time I actually played mini-golf. I suck at it, but it was fun, and surprisingly,...

26
Aug
2023

IT’S ALL IN WHAT ISN’T SAID

I keep meaning to sit down and write something. I have half-written posts on notes, in emails, in my head. Ideas for posts. Headlines for posts. But they all come to nothing if I don’t actually sit down and write. Today felt like a waste of a day off. Load after load of laundry and then I sat down to work because I needed to spend a few hours keeping caught up with the giant pile of urgent emergencies I have right now, and it turned into nearly 5 hours and I’m nowhere near caught up even though I got...

20
Aug
2023

SUMMER BLUES & POTTERY PAINTING

It’s already nearing the end of August, and I feel like it was JUST April a minute ago. I know that years speed up as you get older, and I know I’ve kvetched about the phenomenon before, like pretty much everyone else, but how is it nearly autumn again already?? Eeeesh. Anders weeded the vegetable garden yesterday and uprooted all the kohlrabi except two, which had been thoroughly holed by worms and slugs, and then he uprooted all the snap peas as well, half of which never came up at all, and half of which yielded a couple of handfuls...

17
Aug
2023

PATIENCE, SCHMATIENCE

I can’t remember a time I wasn’t impatient. I’m really fast at so many things, that impatience seems like my default state. Sometimes I feel like I have to wait for everyone: to catch up, to get it, to keep up with me. That makes me sound arrogant and rude, but most of the time, I’m just impatient on the inside. I hate waiting, but I do it when I have to, which is a great deal of the time. I know that people aren’t as fast as me, but I don’t make apologies for my speed. I’m not talking...

12
Aug
2023

TO REGARD THE PEA IS TO ENVY THE PEA.*

Thursday was my birthday and I took both it and Friday off from work, which was really nice. Vacation feels very long ago, despite my semi-long weekend of travel to see Becky and London and now this long weekend to celebrate my birthday. The kids and I went out to dinner on Wednesday night, in Malmö, though we weren’t super impressed with our meal, unfortunately. It was still nice to hang out with the kids, and going to Dolce Sicilia afterwards for gelato made up for it. On Thursday morning, I got up early, and Karin got up with me...