Lizardek

24
May
2024

LET ALL THY JOYS BE AS THE MONTH OF MAY, ONLY NOT SO FAST

May is flying by, as is spring, and though I am trying to notice it every day, notice the flowers, the green, the sunshine, the skies, it’s all going too fast, and I can’t believe it’s nearly June. We’ve had nearly 2 weeks of gorgeous warm summer weather, not too hot, but lots of windy days and yesterday it poured rain all afternoon. Which we needed so no complaining. Due to the summer heatwave, all of Sweden is quite dry and that one afternoon of rain wasn’t nearly enough. The lilacs are nearing their end. The 6 lilac bushes at...

17
May
2024

WOE IS KNEE

I promised a knee post, but I don’t really feel like writing about it more than what I already did in my last post, especially since I don’t think anyone cares except me. My knee is MUCH better, improving every day. Almost no pain, and I can walk without crutches, or with just 1 for balance. I can straighten it and bend it more than 90 degrees though that is still a little bit of a struggle. I’m continuing with the doctor’s orders until I see her again next week for a follow-up. I am most wary know of overdoing...

13
May
2024

TRAVELER

I’m back! 3 weeks in the US went at the speed of light. It was, as always, great to spend time with my sister and my mom, but a bit disheartening to see my mom’s memory issues up close and personal. Karin was the perfect traveling companion. Thankfully, I was recovered from the stomach bug and traveling wasn’t an issue. Our plane from Copenhagen was delayed and then delayed again, which was fine with us, as it meant we could sleep a bit longer before leaving for the airport and it also meant our long layover in Toronto was shorter...

20
Apr
2024

READY TO GO

By the time you read this, I’ll be gone. HA! What a way to start a post. I’m leaving, on a jet plane. But I know when I’ll be back again, because that’s how round trip tickets work. I woke up at 3 am on Thursday night, sick as a dog, and throwing up. Fever, etc., all the not-fun stuff of a stomach bug. Sick all day Friday which meant not being able to go the office for our consultant’s last day in Lund, her farewell lunch, getting stuff done, printing necessary papers, and then also having cancel my hair...

16
Apr
2024

YOU DON’T PAY TAXES, THEY TAKE TAXES*

For something like 20 years the 1040 tax form in the US was pretty much exactly the same. Maybe even longer, and then, about 6 years ago, someone decided it needed updating. And EVERY YEAR since then, that someone has kept on updating it. It’s different now EVERY YEAR. So you have to read the incredibly confusing instructions every year and try to make heads or tails of it again. Is it simpler? No. Is it easy to understand? NO. Is it better? NO. It’s just different. GAH. It’s that time of year again when my obligations as a US...

13
Apr
2024

A RATHER LAZY DAY

Today was sunny for most of it, despite the forecast of rain for the whole weekend. Karin was home (until dinnertime) and she and I spent quite a lot of time hanging out on the deck. It was almost too hot for me, but not quite. I haven’t done much today: 1 load of laundry, took the recycleables out, and sent the US tax forms to myself at work to print because I couldn’t get our printer to work. I also ordered new print cartridges if that counts toward “doing things”. Oh, and Karin and I went to the frame...

08
Apr
2024

PATH OF TOTALITY

I couldn’t decide if I was envious of all the people in America who will get to see a solar eclipse today. It’s already partial as I’m writing this. My friends Kathey and Russell, who live in Dallas, are the only people I know off the top of my head who live along the “path of totality”. I have an online (former LJ) friend who is in the US from Sweden to see it, along with her husband. Both of them are certified eclipse chasers who travel the world to see any kind of eclipse. I read up on solar...

02
Apr
2024

APRIL?! APRIL SHOWERS AND APRIL HOURS

Holy rabbits, Batman, how can it be April already? Yesterday was a holiday here in Sweden since it was Easter Monday, which was a shame, because it meant we couldn’t pull April Fool’s pranks on our colleagues in the office. One of the big Swedish newspapers had an excellent joke article on their main page, mentioning that Ven, the island off the coast of southern Sweden, was going to have to lose 500 meters worth of land in order to accommodate NATO warships. I saw some funny ones after the fact today. One worth mentioning was Dulux Paints Instagram post...

30
Mar
2024

ABOUT TO SPROING

Since I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, and only had a few years of semi-religious interest in high school, Easter has never been about Jesus much, for me. In my family, it was all about coloring eggs, hiding eggs, finding eggs, and Easter baskets full of candy. Interesting that both Easter in the spring and Halloween in the fall have such an emphasis on sweets. We have always decorated eggs the “old-fashioned” way, both when I was growing up, and with my own children when they were small. Vinegar, boiling water, and food coloring. We never used any...

27
Mar
2024

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

My best and oldest friend, Becky, just became a grandmother. My best friend here became a grandmother last June. One of my good high school friends also became a grandmother last year. It’s a little freaky, considering I still feel about 29 inside, to think that I’m well past grandmother age. We all apparently waited much longer than the previous generation, but that makes sense considering we all had our kids much later, too. My mom was 23 when she had me. I was just 33 when I had Martin. I’m in NO hurry to become a grandmother myself, though...

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