I’ll never stop missing my mom when she’s not with me. I don’t think I’ll ever be too old for my mama. And now she’s here! And it’s great. 🙂 It’s been a crazy couple of weeks with work and class and sick kids. Anders is going to be gone all next week on a business trip so I’m even more grateful that my mom is here to help out, and the kids have been wound tight as rubber-bands counting down the days to her arrival. Now they’re ignoring us all equally in the wake of the fun gifts that...

Home again today with a feverish child (different one) which is giving me fits because WORK!* but at least I can get the last things done around the house before Mom comes tomorrow and burn that CD for galestorm. Thank goodness Anders and I can switch off mornings and afternoons. It Never Fails to Make Me Laugh: “I’m crushing your head!” *I know they don’t get sick on purpose to keep me from work, but AAGH.

Karin: …If you weren’t here, would I have to get a new mama? Liz: *maniacally* NO! I’m your mama! I’m the best mama you’ll ever have and you’ll never have another mama because I’m the best mama in the whole wide world…*pause, then continuing brightly* …well, except for MY mama! SHE’S the best mama in the world! Martin: Ja, jag håller med.* Liz: *nodding* pause Liz: *affronted* HEY! Martin & Karin: *giggle madly* *Yes, I agree.

I had to vote on 6 out of 17 books suggested for our next books for the AWC book group. Despite wanting to choose books that I’ve read because I know how good they are and I really want to share them, I managed to vote ONLY for books I haven’t yet read. Woot! My mom is going to be here in 3.5 days. Yay! I have a huge pile of CDs with songs on them that I want to mix for galestorm but just realized that 1) only about 10-11 songs fit on a CD if they’re not in...

It’s probably no secret that I love children’s books. I love the illustrations and the stories. I love the fantasy, the world-building, the freedom, the problem-solving. I love the evocation of earlier times. I love the imagination that flowers and blossoms and swells out of them. I can’t remember learning to read. I think I’ve always known how. I’ve been speed-reading since I was a child as well, and since reading was my primary and favorite source of entertainment, I’ve read A LOT. I keep good books, and I hunt down books I read as a child so I can...

That really loud sucking sound earlier was me. I was sort of half-consciously but very determinedly p-u-l-l-i-n-g myself out of the morass of sleep that I had submerged myself in after coming home from a 6-hour choir practice today. I think I could have quite easily slept all the way to bedtime and beyond, but somehow my quicksanded brain knew it wasn’t a good idea and rescued me. With the high-pressure front we have sitting over us in Sweden, which has resulted in multiple blue sky and sunshine days of chilly Spring, I don’t really think it was fair to...

What the hell are you doing, sitting there at your computer, reading this?? The SUN IS SHINING! It’s spring! GO OUTSIDE! *opens doors and windows wide*

Dear Internet, I have a confession to make. I’ve been seeing someone else. She used to be my number-one until you came along and turned everything upside-down. Now, I’m feeling like a fool, torn between two…eh, never mind. It’s just she’s so jealous! She’s constantly wanting me to do things with her, go places together, and it means less time with YOU. I feel guilty when I’m with her. I feel guilty when I’m with you. Finding time to spend with each of you seems more and more difficult these days, but I’m trying! Anyway, I just thought it was...

The Easter Bunny has trailed a wake of sugar-coma-induced destruction. Darn that glycosidic bunny! It may take us a couple of weeks to come down from the high. The Easter weekend has been both bad and good. Martin and I attended the AWC Easter Egg Hunt, along with 39 other extremely excited children. Karin, however, was at home, learning that Mommy is serious about the consequences for bad behavior. 🙁 She made me proud though, by accepting her punishment bravely, for the most part, and I think she (and I) have both learned something from it, which makes it almost...

Yea, verily, said the Lord, on the fifth and twentieth day of March it shall be lighter out in the evenings and the spring shall arriveth, and ye shall eat waffles. Fiat voluntas tua! It’s Waffle Day! Put your hands in the air and shake it like you just don’t care! Say it with me: YAY WAFFLES! Waffle Day is one of those bizarre Swedish traditions that you just learn about and shake your head in bemusement (NOT amusement, Sheryl!) over and then enjoy. It’s technically the Feast of the Annunciation, but I’m not sure Maria and her pal the...