Tagged: beinglizardek

03
Sep
2024

NOTHING MUCH TO SAY BUT I’M SAYING IT ANYWAY

It’s September, the weather is fantastic, though the nights are getting longer and darker. We’ve had gorgeous summer weather all week. In fact, it’s supposed to get up to 30C tomorrow! That’s 86F! In September! Unheard of. That’s climate change for you. I’m perfectly fine with it, as I’m back at work and not sweltering anywhere and it cools down drastically in the evenings and the house stays cool during the day as long as we have the blinds pulled in the living room. Clear blue skies, too. Perfect! I don’t really have anything much to write about. Crazy busy...

26
Aug
2024

GOOD STUFF

I just picked another big handful of snap peas and found 2 decent-sized cucumbers, a week after I thought we were done with both for sure. Today was a nice easy, stress-free start to work after 3 weeks of a very relaxing vacation. I’m very glad that it was so, and that a bad day didn’t wreck all the recharging I did. Almost everyone is back from vacation, though one of my team members is sick. Hugs all around this morning! I had plenty to do, and a fun layout to work on, plus a new project to begin (the...

22
Aug
2024

SUMMER SOLILOQUY

Tomorrow is my last full vacation day, if you don’t count the weekend. It’s been lovely having 3 weeks nearly completely free from shoulder pain and stress and office politic aggravation. I’ve done my absolute best to actually rest, relax, and recharge, and I really, really hope that one day back at work won’t undo it all. This week has been marvelously sluggy: I’ve slept in nearly every day, or at least woken at my own pace, and stayed abed with my book or iPad until I felt like getting motivated. I had a to-do list for the week (because...

02
Aug
2024

AGING IS JUST ANOTHER WORD FOR LIVING*

Ermahgerd, it’s August! Yesterday, Debbie and Camilla took me out for the afternoon for an early birthday celebration because I’ll be gone over the weekend of my actual birthday. I left work at 12 and picked up Camilla, and then we drove out to Slättarps Gård, which was a lovely location out in the middle of absolute nowhere. There was a café/restaurant, outdoor seating in a garden bower, an art gallery, a florist, and a little boutique. We had a delicious lunch, sitting in the shade of the trees, with beautiful weather, blue skies, warm and breezy summer weather. They...

23
Jul
2024

I AM SWEET ENOUGH ALREADY, AM I NOT?

I can’t seem to quit sugar. I have no self-control whatsoever. UGH. Back in 2013 I stopped drinking soda cold turkey. I’d been a Coke addict since I was really young, often drinking multiple cokes a day. Coke was my THING. All our Swedish friends learned fairly quickly to have Coke AND ice on hand when we were over, neither of which is really Swedish. I stopped drinking soda because I had read somewhere that the amount of sugar in soda if you drank one can a day was equivalent to 20 pounds a year. So it was WEIGHT LOSS...

03
Jul
2024

SORRY, HAVE MOOD POISONING. MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING I HATE*

So far, it’s been one of those weeks. Monday was a complete shit show with one frustrating, aggravating, and upsetting thing after another. I hadn’t slept well, and my knee was hurting to boot. The only good thing was talking to my manager and knowing that I have her support, no matter what. But the residual feelings about everything that happened 3 days ago is still bugging me. Why is that I just can’t let things like this go? They sit and spin about in my head, on repeat, for DAYS. Last night I slept poorly again. I woke up...

23
Jun
2024

THINKING ABOUT THINGS

Eesh, there is nothing like working on an inventory of ALL your stuff to make you realize exactly how MUCH stuff you have. Years ago, I started an “inheritance inventory” of our belongings, designed to be a list for my children to know the history and provenance (as much as possible) of all the items in our house. We have furniture from my grandparents, from my parents, from Anders’ parents. We have art and knick-knacks and figurines from all over the world. I read about this somewhere and my little organizing-devil OCD mind thought, “oooh, what a great idea!” I...

22
Jun
2024

MIDSUMMER MEALS & MORBIDITY

Another midsummer eve in the books and contrary to CNN’s strange idea of how Swedes celebrate, we only did the drinking part. And actually only 2 of us did the drinking part, since one was driving, one doesn’t drink, and the other can only drink limited liquids due to a heart condition. We had an absolutely lovely day, weatherwise, which was extra appreciated, because today is rainy, cloudy, and humid. Anders was out in the yard for most of the day: mowing, weeding, trimming the hedges, and putting down slug-killing pellets. I cleaned inside and outside, tidying up the deck,...

03
Jun
2024

LA LA LA

Sometimes I feel out of step with the other members of my team. I don’t know if it’s because of ME, personally, or a cultural difference (they’re all Swedish), or my age, or what. They all agree on some things that I don’t agree with at all, or at least I don’t care about. I’ve talked to my manager(s) about it, and they seem to think that it’s just me, and have reassured me more than once that they are grateful I am different. Ha! Tonight it’s cooled down quite a lot from the humidity and high temps of yesterday,...

29
May
2024

GRATITUDE POST

Things that are good right now: Spring into summer in Sweden: sunshine, perfect temperatures, cooling breezes, green growing things, flowering trees, wild daisies along the roads, birdsong, bumblebees and butterflies, the sounds of children playing in the neighborhood (and lawn mowers and hedge clippers) My family: being celebrated for Mors Dag (Swedish Mothers Day) with double rose bouquets, chocolates, and a Lego peacock, spending time together and eating delicious dinners that Anders cooks, planning a birthday trip (with Anders), crosswords from Martin that blow me away, Karin’s enthusiastic drive to do odd jobs around the house for money (and her...