Lizardek

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...

16
Dec
2006

DO BE DO BE DO

I jammed the ring and pointer fingers of my right hand in an ill-advised, mis-timed high five with the boss of my old job who is a current colleague after a funny comment he made while disco dancing at the work party last night. Ow. Typing hurts like a sonofagun. So if I stop using the i o k l , and . keys you’ll know why. 2 years ago or thereabouts I began to feel that my life was spiraling out of control. Every day was busy, with a job that demanded more of me than any other job...

14
Dec
2006

HOW WE SPEND OUR DAYS IS HOW WE SPEND OUR LIVES*

Oh, hey, I KNEW I was forgetting something! *waves* Hi there, little neglected internet! How ya doin’? Are you busy with the busyness like me? Julbord count: 4 There’s been a lot of music in the air this week. Maybe I am hyper-aware of it because I’m a singer. Tuesday evening one of our printing company took a bunch of us out to dinner at Wallmann’s Salong, a big dinner theater place in downtown Malmö. While the singers had good voices and were clearly dinner theater veterans and very good at what they do (which didn’t include their sideline as...

11
Dec
2006

CHRISTMAS SHEEP

Baaaa! Now’s your chance to give it to me! Xmas Stocking leave a gift for lizardek your username: your gift: (30 characters or less) get your stocking

10
Dec
2006

I DON’T KNOW IF THERE’LL BE SNOW, BUT HAVE A CUP OF CHEER

I joke about stressmas, but the truth is, I love Christmas preparations and I love Christmas. I do as much as I can to make sure that the holiday magic is there for both myself and my family. If that means knocking myself out for a month, so be it. The thing that actually causes the stress is that I can’t leave off doing all the regular daily stuff to just concentrate on the holidaze! Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the cookies, the tree, the ornaments, the nativity and all the hope that goes with it, the decorations, the cookies,...

09
Dec
2006

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE STRESSMAS

It’s late and I’m wiped out, but I’m not done yet with the things I wanted to do today. The kids and I went through all of their bookshelves and cleaned out a knee-high (on them) pile of outgrown books to take to the AWC Media Sale (and thus donate to the international school afterwards). We stripped all the beds and re-made them with clean, sweet-smelling sheets. Karin insisted on having a “grownup” comforter, even though her bed hasn’t been pulled out to the full twin size yet. They helped clean up the entire kid’s department, although it was a...

07
Dec
2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARTIN!

My firstborn turned 9 today. No matter how much I squish him down on the top of his head, he keeps growing. All he wanted for his birthday, and all he got, was books and Lego (and one Bamse DVD). If you were 9 years old and your parents asked you what you wanted for your birthday dinner, what would you say? Pizza, maybe. Tacos! Hotdogs…hamburgers, salmon even. I was pretty sure he would say salmon or the inevitable sushi, but he wanted JULBORD. He and Anders made a list of all the absolute must-haves for his julbord birthday dinner,...

06
Dec
2006

GRANDPA’S UNDERPANTS, ALSO HOW TO DRIVE YOUR CHILDREN INSANE IN UNDER A MONTH

When it’s bathtime, the kids usually get about 10 minutes to play because it is also a chance for them to soak the dirt out (more necessary in the summer than now, granted, but still). Then I (or we) come in and help them shampoo and scrub down. A few days ago, when I came in, they were playing a Swedish children’s game the purpose of which is to get the other person to laugh. The rules of the game go like this: the person who is doing the provoking asks the other person questions. The provokee can only respond...

05
Dec
2006

PARTHEIMERS

I keep thinking, while things are happening, oh! I want to write about this. I need to remember this, and I very carefully take the thought and tuck it away and, of course, promptly forget it, so that when I actually have a moment to sit down in front of the computer, all I have is a pocket full of tuckery and no substance. I think I need to start writing reminder notes on my hand again. That always worked in the past. I think I used to write better than I do now. I feel like I’ve run out...

03
Dec
2006

NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, NOT EVEN A ….UH, OH

2 Things I Really Didn’t Need Today: Waking up with a headcold and sorethroat AGAIN, which effectively put the kibosh on singing in the 3 concerts scheduled for this afternoon. Opening the boxes of Christmas decorations which Anders kindly carried down from the attic only to find they were full of…you guessed it…mouse turds and chewed styrofoam and paper. sigh The mice ate several decorations that were styrofoam-ball based, and one which was made of salt dough (for which I bear no grudge), and EVERY PIECE of dried, green-painted macaroni that Martin had painstakingly glued to a cardboard Christmas tree...

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