Tagged: famdamily

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...

13
May
2024

TRAVELER

I’m back! 3 weeks in the US went at the speed of light. It was, as always, great to spend time with my sister and my mom, but a bit disheartening to see my mom’s memory issues up close and personal. Karin was the perfect traveling companion. Thankfully, I was recovered from the stomach bug and traveling wasn’t an issue. Our plane from Copenhagen was delayed and then delayed again, which was fine with us, as it meant we could sleep a bit longer before leaving for the airport and it also meant our long layover in Toronto was shorter...

30
Mar
2024

ABOUT TO SPROING

Since I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, and only had a few years of semi-religious interest in high school, Easter has never been about Jesus much, for me. In my family, it was all about coloring eggs, hiding eggs, finding eggs, and Easter baskets full of candy. Interesting that both Easter in the spring and Halloween in the fall have such an emphasis on sweets. We have always decorated eggs the “old-fashioned” way, both when I was growing up, and with my own children when they were small. Vinegar, boiling water, and food coloring. We never used any...

27
Mar
2024

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

My best and oldest friend, Becky, just became a grandmother. My best friend here became a grandmother last June. One of my good high school friends also became a grandmother last year. It’s a little freaky, considering I still feel about 29 inside, to think that I’m well past grandmother age. We all apparently waited much longer than the previous generation, but that makes sense considering we all had our kids much later, too. My mom was 23 when she had me. I was just 33 when I had Martin. I’m in NO hurry to become a grandmother myself, though...

16
Jan
2024

BAD LUCK BUG

My sister has a bad luck bug on her somewhere, and I sure wish we knew how to get it off. All her life, if there was an accident waiting to happen, it was waiting to happen to her. Even when we were kids, she was always the one getting hurt somehow. Maybe because she was much more daring physically than I was, I don’t know. Two years ago she hurt herself badly in an electric scooter accident, ending up with a concussion and horrible bruises on her face. We weren’t sure she’d be able to fly to Europe for...

14
Jan
2024

BETTER AND BRIGHTER

When I say that tidying up my house and cleaning things makes me super happy, I sound like the most boring person in the world, but I don’t care. It does. I like nothing better* than looking around or walking through my home and admiring how nice it looks and all the things in it that make me happy. I LIKE having a neat and tidy place to live. I like a harmonious feeling to the colors and fabrics and patterns that surround me. And I like having things clean. It’s so OCD, but that’s just how it is. Having...

04
Jan
2024

SNOW DAY

Today has been such a productive day, though a kind of letdown day, too, because I took mom and Danely to the airport this morning. We have been having another windstorm, and on top of super-cold temperatures and snowstorms, southern Sweden has been socked with winter. It was -4C this morning and not great for driving as it had been snowing all night, though it was mostly blowing around into drifts. We left at 7 am in order to have extra time, and good thing we did. I ended up taking Anders’ car because the Tesla wasn’t charged up enough....

31
Dec
2023

THE STORY OF THE FROG LAMP, NEXT LEVEL

The saga continues. If you have never heard the story of the frog lamp, stop what you are doing and read this first: The story of the frog lamp HIlarious, no? Definitely yes! Cut to pre-holidays 2023. The frog lamp, technically Sammy’s, has not been seen in some years. John and Simone moved to a new house 7 years ago to accommodate their growing family and at some point the frog lamp was relegated to the attic. I do not understand how anyone could bear to hide away the awesomeness that is the frog lamp, but apparently not everyone has...

30
Dec
2023

FULL UP

We drove down to Germany on December 10, staying in a little unmanned hotel outside of Hamburg. It was a long drive and good to break it up, especially since we drove down in a rain and windstorm that lasted 4 days. We had a wonderful week in Hopferau, at my brother John’s house, warmly welcomed by the entire family. The week included Jakob’s 10th birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day (with Karin!), a walk into Füssen to see the town and the church and castle, a walk around Schwansee, and exploring the village on the sunny day before we left....

13
Dec
2023

VACAY!

I’m on vacation, woo hoo! Yesterday was my last week of work until nearly the new year. I started it off right by leaving work early and getting a fabulous massage from Emily, then I picked up sushi on the way home, and ended the evening by creating and publishing a crossword puzzle. Today, I have finished the last of the household chores and cleaning that was on my list, and I will leave in about 1.5 hours to pick up Martin and then head to the airport to get my mom and Danely. The holidays have begun! I thought...

April 2026
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