Tagged: goodthings

30
Dec
2024

RETROSPECTIVE

nd of the year retrospectives are fun to do. I’ve been writing them since 2008. I guess they appeal to the listmaker in me, and the OCD-me as well, because now that’s it been a tradition for 16 years, I can hardly stop now, can I? 2024 was a good year in many ways, judging by the family Xmas letter that I wrote and posted last week. Lots of travel for all of us, and I DID make it to Ireland, after dithering for a very long time between it and the south of France for my birthday trip. Karin...

26
Dec
2024

THE THREE RE’S: REST, RELAX, RECHARGE

It’s the day after Christmas. Boxing Day in the Commonwealth. Annandag Jul in Sweden. It’s a holiday here, too, though lots of stores are open. We had a lovely Christmas. The kids were both home for Christmas Eve. We watched Kalle Anke (which is obligatory in Sweden) at 3 pm with glögg and cookies, then opened one present from under the tree. Then we had julbord, which Anders fixed most of. All the trimmings: 3 kinds of herring, cold smoked and warmed smoked salmon, homemade hovmästarsås, romsås, brunkål, rödkål, and creamed kale (from our garden!), smoked sausage, liver paté with...

22
Dec
2024

EK FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER 2024

We still had Liz’s mom and Danely here until January 4 so 2024 started out nicely with family in the house. Karin, however, was still in Austria finishing up her second ski guide season. Anders went skiing up north at the end of January with his best friend Mats. Anders has had a lot of travel this year with work, with multiple weeks away in Kumla, Tingsryd, Italy, Norway, Germany, and Finland, among others. Good thing he loves his job! It’s been a busy year, for sure, with lots of travel, and lots of moving. Martin moved in with Theo...

21
Dec
2024

DEFUSING

Today was lovely. The first day of vacation. Both Anders and I slept in and it was great not to have an alarm go off and to be able to fall asleep again after each of my nighttime bathroom runs. I’ve had a few times lately where I had to get up around 4:30-5 or so and could not get back to sleep. No fun at all on a work night, when you are so tired by 3 pm you could cry. Then I just stayed in bed after we both woke up around 9:30 (!) and checked email, played...

10
Dec
2024

I GUESS THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH BOOKS*

We only have one book left for the AIC book group, which is scheduled for discussion in mid-January. So last month the organizer sent out the request for book recommendations (feels like we just did this, but it was July 2023) and we all sent in 5 book names, and then we got the list and voted, and the results just came back in. It seems that a couple of regulars didn’t recommend any books, but of those of us who did, each of us got at least one of our recommendations onto the list. Unfortunately, this year, there are...

30
Nov
2024

BUNNY BUNNY BUNNY

Just like you are supposed to say “rabbit rabbit rabbit” on the first day of the month, I feel like there should be something you say on the LAST day of the month. Like everyone else, I’m a bit boggled that it’s already the end of November. Maybe I should say “bunny bunny bunny” now! That sounds legit. I’ve made an excellent start on my holiday to-do list. Wrapped up the few gifts that have to be put in the post, just have to get them into padded envelopes and INTO the post. Unfortunately 3 of them were supposed to...

23
Nov
2024

BACK FROM THE DEAD

Yowza, three weeks flies by when you are having fun! I’ve been full up with all kinds of things. Mom and Sarah arrived on November 4 and we had about 3 days before Sarah left for Ireland, into which we crammed pottery painting, thrifting for night stands, and various other activities. I worked half days that week, and then we had the weekend, where we took mom to brunch at Torna Hällestads lanthandel (with Karin and Anders), and the following week, I worked from home every day, so that mom wouldn’t be by herself. We had massages, and met up...

23
Sep
2024

THE ONLY WAY TO DO ALL THE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO DO IS TO READ*

Karen Sommerfeld asked her followers on Facebook what present they had gotten as a child, that made the biggest impression on them or that they loved the most, and the comments section exploded with people reminiscing about Spirograph, Lite-Brite, Barbies, and various other things like bikes and toy keyboards and perfumed pens. I immediately thought of the giant Barbie head I got one year for Christmas that you could put makeup on and style her hair. Not terribly interested in either makeup or hair styling after that, but it definitely got played with. I had a Spirograph, too. And of...

22
Sep
2024

RATTLING AROUND

There’s always a lot rattling around in my head. Mostly things that need to be done, or at least not forgotten about. But also, thoughts about my family, the book I am reading, what to fix for lunch or for dinner, thoughts about work, and other miscellaneous crap. I used to be better about writing about all these things online. So did everyone else. I’m the last blogger standing. At least maybe last personal blogger standing. There are people who seem to have transitioned blogging to newsletters, so I guess they count. I used to spend hours online reading other...

16
Sep
2024

GOING AND COMING

We moved Karin to Copenhagen over the past week. She moved in on Tuesday last week, and it was a super easy move, as she didn’t have so much furniture, and only a few boxes and miscellaneous other stuf. She and her best friend Elsa actually had the trailer filled before Martin even arrived in the morning to help. So we drove over to Copenhagen, and her new apartment is really nice. It’s a big 3-bedroom, brand new, on the south side of Copenhagen, quite near the water. We got her all unloaded, and then Martin and I went and...

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