My kids are entering the activity stage of their lives, the one that lasts forever or until the parents go insane and buy them mopeds. Luckily, Flyinge is so small that after this first year or so, they’ll be able to walk to their various appointments. Karin has soccer starting tomorrow and will be doing ice-skating school with Anders this fall. Martin has Mini-Gang which is a music-play afternoon and has officially started Scouts. Anders was a long-time Scout and a leader, and many of his/our friends are people that he grew up with, was in Scouts with, and was...

I’ve written and erased this post 3x already this morning. *rolls eyes* People at work are treating me like a fragile flower…I think they’re afraid I’ll burst into tears or something. I confess I was near tears a couple of times yesterday, but more because of shock and because of feeling that 4 years of working for something and building it up and making it good is about to disappear *poof* into thin air. People kept asking me how I was, and when I said okay, they would ASK ME AGAIN with an even more concerned look. Which just made...

We were just informed in a mandatory all-employee meeting that our company is dissolving and we need to find new jobs no later than December 31st.

I haven’t mentioned the Olympics much here, because as you may or may not know, I don’t watch TV hardly ever, except for West Wing which disappeared from Swedish television like 8 months ago and apparently likes vacation so much it is never coming back, and Little House on the Prairie re-runs which I would totally sit slowly down on the sofa for, relaxing into a slack-jawed state because Michael Landon OH HOW WE MISS YOU! I’m secretly hoping that Swedish TV will start sending showing Little House re-runs on Fridays so that Karin can be properly introduced to the...

Starting on Friday, September 3rd, Liz is taking Fridays off with Karin (paid! muahahaha!) for 49 WEEKS in a row…Now, the dilemma…what to do, what to do?

It’s a beauty of a day today. The sky is piercingly blue with fluffinated, fluffoid, fluffanuffalous floating clouds. It’s warm in the sun and there’s a cool breeze. Yesterday was so windy that the tarp-n-tent that we had erected over the deck for Saturday’s party blew over, causing me to leap out of bed in the early a.m. to help Anders who was already outside wrestling with the beast. Today, the wind’s mom has obviously told it firmly to settle down and it’s amusing itself with little soft almost-autumn leaf rustles. This weekend coming, we are going to plant the...

Monday: massage, regional planning meeting Tuesday: finish AWC website and do AWC newsletter Wednesday: choir starts Thursday: book group Friday: evening at Emily & Martin’s cabin Saturday: Stone Age dinner and then crayfish party AT OUR HOUSE (yes, I’m certifiable) Sunday: Finish all AWC stuff before meeting Monday: John leaves, Karin dentist appointment, first AWC board and monthly meetings I had a 3-hour nap today. And I power-walked for half an hour with my brother. I’m tired. That’s all. Oh, and also…Reese’s Fast Break candy bars are better than sex. Why didn’t you send a box home for ME, Sarah?!

5:00 a.m. : Oh GOD, We didn’t kill all the #$%@! flies before we went to bed last night!! 5:10 a.m. : SMACK! 5:15 a.m. : SMACK! 5:45 a.m. : Bzzzzzzzz!! aargh 6:00 a.m : SMACK! 7:15 a.m. : Bzzzzzzz! oh, for fuck’s sake 7:16 a.m. : Swish! 7:20 a.m. : Swish! 7:33 a.m. : SMACK! 10:15 a.m. : Aaagh! We overslept! Get up! GO GO GO 10:17 a.m. : Who’s damned idea was it to schedule a party for 60 people 4 days after our return from the States? 10:18 a.m. : Oh. Yeah. Mine. *grumble* The tent went...

Presents go a long way for making up for the fact that I just turned 40. Today at work my department gave me a lovely set of fat matte etched gold earrings. Only one problem: I have virgin lobes. I’m not altogether sure why I’ve never gotten my ears pierced. I do know why I haven’t gotten a tattoo: I’m a big wimp. My mom doesn’t have pierced ears either, and part of me thinks that it’s cool. We have less holes in our heads than most people. 😛 I also know that I would spend a FORTUNE on earrings...

WHY OH GOD WHY do I have Yankee Doodle stuck in my head, only with the words “I’m an Oscar Mayer Weiner”?! Somebody, please, shoot me now!!