Yesterday morning, and after we got home from Helsingborg, Martin spent several hours engaged in putting together a godisjakt (candy hunt) for Anders and Karin to do. He worked really hard on it, and the whole thing was his own idea. They’ve been practicing following complicated instructions at school, so I’m guessing this is an offshoot of that. He came to me early in the morning and asked me to spell a few things for him, and spent about an hour cutting out letters and drawing little faces on them. Anders told me later how it went. First they had...

The lemurs were loose. The tamarins were, too (and some had babies!). So were the iguanas. The Tropikariet was great, and the kids loved it. First, we drove to Helsingborg and had a very American Sunday brunch at a place called O’Leary’s. There is a new owner who turned out to be quite the asshole, as he apparently gave Neitha a huge headache when she called to reserve our tables by telling her that they didn’t do the buffet anymore. She held him to the promises the previous owner had made her, and he was rude to all of us,...

That’s what I’ve got. They’re huge. I hate them. Today I’m wearing a brand new bra that my mother got for me, and unfortunately, I feel like I ought to be wearing an 1800’s decolletage gown that pushes up my bosom, at a ball, with a lacy fan in front of me, my hair up in sweeping curls and a beauty mark on my cheek. Whoa. Our house is getting to the point of being so clean that if the sun was shining, it would sparkle. 3 more rooms done today and the floors in the entire house except the...

Märta and Einar will be here any time to start the cleaning marathon. However, first I MUST go to the store because we ran out of toilet paper. I’ve known it was coming all week, but was too busy and never near a store to do anything about it, and Anders didn’t remember either. He probably never thought about actually, because he’s a man, and men don’t have running grocery lists in their heads at all times. The sushi dinner last night was good, if a little weird. There was lettuce in all the rolls. It wasn’t bad or anything,...

I thought I was just getting used to it and didn’t hear it anymore, but it turns out the woman that owns the farm behind us has “eliminated” one of her roosters. His constant crowing, 24-7, and egging on all the other birds finally did him in. I can’t believe it took nearly TWO years for her to do something about it. Someone must have complained. It wasn’t us, I swear, even though the constant crowing, starting around 5 a.m., and continuing throughout the day had us daydreaming rather frequently about coq au vin. I saw today as I stood...

Thank God It’s Almost Friday 🙂 Anders and the kids made homemade pizzas for dinner, just as I was heading out the door for social circle at Sigurborg’s. I wanted to stay so badly…but, commitments… 🙁 argh Anyway, it was a nice evening, even though I was the only other member of the AWC there. Sigurborg had invited 3 of her neighbors (1 didn’t show) and another woman from Iceland who is planning on joining. We spoke Swedish the entire time, and each one of them at some point complimented me on my Swedish. I’m really beginning to wonder when...

President George Bush has been complaining about “the filter” of national media, which garbles his feel-good all’s-well-in-Iraq message by reporting on the car bombings, the killed-in-action Americans, the fleeing foreign aid workers, the internal White House investigations and recriminations, etc. So this week, he and others in his Administration will be going around “the filter” to give interviews with local newspapers and small television stations. The idea is that journalists not used to dealing with Presidents and Cabinet secretaries will be more easily awed and deferential. In other words: We’ve reached the point in our Iraq adventure where the President...

(That’s how Anders refers to my LJ 🙂 Anders just sent me this, which engenders an immediate WTF response: Open a Word document and type = rand (200,99) Press Enter Be careful not to click on PRINT.

One of the presents my mother has bought for my daughter for Christmas is, and I quote: a toy motorcycle with a rider that shoots across the room and does wheelies LOL! Karin’s going to love it (as will her dad, I’m sure).

Caught myself reading my friends list and getting incredibly jealous of all the lovely pieces everyone is creating CONSTANTLY and thinking, where do they find the time?! ahem. oh, yeah, now I remember. Note to self: They have all that time to be crafty because they DON’T HAVE KIDS! hahahaha!! Package from mom with 3 books today, too, to add to the good things for today list 🙂 Yesterday, I caught Anders watching an E! TV special about Jennifer Lopez and he tried to deflect my derision by asking me if I wanted a $1,000,000 diamond ring like hers. heh....