So many thoughts, whirling around my brain. Each one glitters in the streetlights like snow, before coming to rest in the cold and crispy covering that coats everything. I would make a good troglodyte, I sometimes think, or a hermit, burrowing away inside my cave, surrounding myself with the things I want and need, no desire to go outside and squint in the bright sunlight. Usually I’m drawn to sunshine, but this weekend, I seem to have been working on my anti-tan. Tjej, another American expat in Sweden, got a group of us together recently and after a lot of...

How To Make Me Feel Old: Tell me with all the seriousness available to your 5-year-old self that the song on the radio is a good one and ask me to turn it up. It was the remake of The Who’s Behind Blue Eyes. Re Melodifestivalen 2005: Nana was robbed. Even though we did think Las Vegas is a good song and Martin Stenmark a cutie. How is a song about a gambling town in another country supposed to be the best representation of Sweden? Hmmm…Also, rather against my will, I found myself really enjoying Jill Johnson’s Redneck Woman. Sigh:...

I’m so screwed. I was so tired yesterday evening after a long week of work and busyness and whatnot, that I actually went to bed and not just to bed, but to SLEEP at 9 o’clock…ON A FRIDAY NIGHT.* Anders called right before that to say he had just landed at the airport in Copenhagen and would be home in about an hour…but I didn’t even hear him come home, poor guy. Then Karin woke up at 3:30 a.m. calling for mama and papa (nightmare) and at 5 a.m. I gave up and got up and turned on the computer...

I think I figured out what my problem is. My brain is not the boss of me. My tongue, my TONGUE, is the boss of me. Earlier this week it was a gigantic large second helping of chicken-mushroom-artichoke casserole. Yesterday it was chocolate cake. Today? Popcorn and vanilla creams. I think I need a middle manager. Hee! Anders has been gone for 2 days to Dublin, Ireland on a business trip, and every time I tell someone where he is, I say Dublin in an Irish accent. What’s up with that? I blame The Commitments. He gets home tonight. I...

Spring is rapidly approaching and in the interest of dropping a few pounds before it gets here, I thought I’d take a tip from the most effective dieting plan I’ve ever seen. Dude! The snowman in our yard? He just sits in the sun and the weight melts off him…like…er…water.

You’ll Eat It And You’ll Like It! Liz: *comes home after a full day of work and makes a tuna-mushroom-artichoke casserole with crumbled potato chips on top for dinner* Dinnertime! Family: *comes to table* Karin: *turns up nose and makes gagging noises* Liz: You know, someday this will be your favorite dish, and you’ll make it so well that someone will marry you for it. Anders: *smiles at Liz* Karin: *clutches throat, rolls eyes up in head* Liz: …or maybe that’s just me. Karin: *keels over in chair with a groan* I’m having an illustration orgy. Every now and then...

Hey! Guess what I’m eating right now?! *bounces off the walls and carooms across the room* CHOCOLATE-COVERED RAISINS! Sent to me by a very nice woman who lives in Ohio and who participated in GISBE! Along with books and some other candy that I didn’t really see very well because my nose was deep in the chocolate-covered raisin bag. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Thank you, Heather! My poor partner is still waiting for hers, but it was mailed today, so it’s finally on its way.

I’ve stopped and started this journal entry about 5 times now. Everything I start to write sounds trite. I’m making myself yawn. yaaa-a-a-a-wn. The sun shone all weekend. What a gift of sunny days we’ve had this winter, even WITH the snowstorms and Siberian Express and usual quota of grey, rainy days. There is so much snow on the ground and it’s so cold that despite the sunshine, the snow doesn’t seem to be melting very fast, even though the edges are looking acid-dipped, sun-chewed, exhaust-browned. The other day I meant to write about my morning ride to work, after...

I think I might have broken my social interaction mechanism. Or else I just overdid it and need to sit with it elevated for awhile. I’m discovering more and more that I need more downtime in my life than I tend to allow for. Or else I’m just getting boring old. I suspect part of it is less tolerance for living outside my comfort zone. After 3 evenings of social events in various settings, the following things were once again reinforced for me: Once you stop working with someone, if you have no other common context, the conversation really tends...

I can’t keep up this week. Cracking Me Up: On a Lighter Note… Can’t Stop Staring: Cold Water