Backhoe-man came an hour early, stopping me from pitching a fit, but he also gave us the bill for the 3 times he’s been here in the past couple of weeks, which was a bit of a staggerer. 🙁 Anders and his dad got the entire yard raked out and sowed grass seed and the second they were done, it started POURING rain. It just poured. For about 20 minutes, giant puddles formed in the yard and the ditch in the front was completely full of water (and floating grass seeds). So they have to re-sow quite a bit tomorrow....

Me: I will sleep in my own bed all night. Karin: Jag ska sova i min egen säng hela natten. Thanks for all the sympathy and advice. Some of it is being put into prompt action. Our dinner date was cancelled tonight due to a sick kid (theirs, not ours) so we had a relaxed evening, doing nothing much. I finished my new Smithsonian, which had a fascinating article about famous inventions that came about as a result of an accident (matches! Post-It Notes! vulcanized rubber! penicillin! popsicles! microwave ovens! Teflon!). I actually worked on my collage book for a...

I’m ready to brain my daughter. She’s been a problem sleeper since the day she was born and we’ve jumped through all kinds of parenting hoops trying to work with and around it. She regularly wakes up in the middle of the night and comes into our bed. However, since she’s getting pretty big, it’s much more of a problem than it used to be, and I’m about at my wit’s end. 🙁 We have an antique American double bed, which is barely big enough for the 2 of us, and exremely crowded if you add another body, especially one...

Thanks, Mom! 🙂 Bahahahahhaahaa!!!

After picking up the kids from skagis (our family word for “skola & dagis”), we headed out into the bush looking for autumn finery to deck our Halloween party tables. First stop, a red-ivy covered house (permission received earlier) where we bagged leaves. Next stop, our babysitter’s house, where a giant chestnut tree has covered the ground with nuts and chestnut casings. Chestnut jackpot! Then it was off to our traditional stop, where we get more red ivy (a different leaf) and those orange papery chinese lanterns. Here was where disappointment struck. No lanterns. Not a one…wait! here’s one! and...

How come no one ever told me about this when I lived in the States? Word of mouth from a friend is that it’s SUPER cheap and you get TONS of stuff in every “lot” you buy. Great source for party supplies, costume accessories, novelties, craft supplies (basic, but still), etc. etc: Oriental Trading Company We expats have to send orders to someone in the States, however, to avoid extra tax and customs charges getting slapped on.

People with too much time on their hands

Just got confirmation from my mom that she is coming for Christmas! Hurray!!!

Large Straight: a double rainbow over Flyinge as I drove home yesterday Small Straight: the Festis juice bottles in my refrigerator: green, yellow, orange, red I’m in the middle (yes, still) of reading A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence, and I’m really having to force myself to finish. We read one of her books in book group some months ago and afterwards I borrowed several more of her books from a friend and devoured them. The only one she didn’t have was this one, so I put it on my “books to buy” list and my mother found it...

After doing all this: getting up at 6:30 a.m. fixing breakfast for the kids, dressing them, getting their teeth brushed getting out the door, dropping them off at daycare and school working 8+ hours (with a break for a yummy oriental AWC lunch in the middle) picking up the kids from daycare and school driving to the grocery store, shopping, driving home again fixing dinner for the kids (plockmat) and me (salmon pirogi) putting a load of laundry in filling the dishwasher giving the kids a bath, getting pajamas on, reading bedtime stories picking up answering emails fixing some AWC...