Tagged: littlemisssunshine

23
Jul
2019

ANGELS AT THE IRS

Yesterday, I got an official-looking envelope in the mail. The return address was the IRS. “Uh oh,” I thought, as I opened it, and I was right. I’ve been filing my US tax returns the exact same way for 20 years and for 2018 they changed everything. All the forms (bar one) were completely different, what they asked for was different, how they asked for it was different, and I struggled really hard to figure things out. I read all the instructions. I read them several times, but most of the time I couldn’t figure out what exactly I was...

04
Jul
2019

HONEY AND HOTDOGS AND HOLIDAYS

Two people, both complete strangers, that I’ve talked to recently on the phone, have referred to me with what I thought were rather strangely inappropriate endearments. One called me “honey” and the other repeatedly called me both “momma” and “baby girl” during our conversation. These are women who I am betting are younger than me, and even if they are American, doing this kind of thing strikes me as weirdly off. The only people I would refer to as “honey”, first of all, are my husband or my children. The only other time I would call someone “honey” is if...

27
Jun
2019

HOT ENOUGH FOR YA?

Today is cool and overcast with a pillowy, layered duvet of clouds above us but it’s still summer. It’s still warm enough for Capri pants and short sleeves but maybe not for sandals. Yesterday and the day before that, and the day before that, were HOT. Over 30C which is close to 90 in Monopoly temps. And humid, too, which made Barky completely flip out. Last year in Sweden it was hot early and May set records for sunshine and high temps. It was also a record year for forest fires, unfortunately, since there were so many days without rain....

27
May
2019

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, THEN UP

We voted yesterday in the EU elections, but honestly, after hearing the results of elections all around the world, I wonder why we bother…I don’t feel like it makes any difference against the rising wave of nationalism, populism, right-wing rhetoric. Everyone I know expresses outrage and despair that the right-wing parties are gaining such ground, but SOMEONE must be voting for them. GAH. I really hope it doesn’t take a world war, climate explosion (beyond crisis) and a couple of generations to turn the tide again. Karin and I got her taxes done last week and I took them to...

31
Mar
2019

SHOULDA WOULDA COULDA

There is so much beautiful artwork out there and sometimes it really pains me, like I mean, REALLY hurts, that I can’t just buy it all. Or at least one piece from each of the many, many artists I admire so much. Paintings, illustrations, embroidery, photography, drawings, collages…my walls would be literally COVERED floor to ceiling in every room if I allowed myself to indulge my passion for art. Thank goodness for Instagram then, which has turned, for me, into my own private art museum, with ever-changing displays of loveliness. I can admire art, like it, write a comment to...

22
Jan
2019

GODDAMMIT

Just wrote a whole post explaining why I’m not posting much because our computer keeps crashing whereupon it crashed and ate the whole thing for the second time in a row. I give up.

17
Nov
2018

STUFFED

I think a lot about dying these days. I’m not sure why. Maybe because I’m over halfway to a hundred? Maybe because I wonder what my family would do without me? Maybe because I see signs of decay in so many places. It’s in the news. It’s in the illnesses and diseases and diagnoses that drop like bombs around you. It’s a worm in the brain that whispers what if. What if? What would I do if I lived forever anyway? Even if inevitable, it’s a squirmy uncomfortable contemplation. All the accumulated flotsam of my life, both soothing and cluttering...

31
Oct
2018

CARPE DIEM AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES

I find it so inutterably hard to read the news these days. It feels overwhelming and awful and as if we are just buried in an unending heap of horrible that goes on and on. I know that it’s NOT all bad news, but the scary stuff so often outweighs the positive that I really struggle sometimes to find the good things. I read Hans Rosling’s book Factfulness a month or so ago and he talked quite a lot about how the human brain is wired to respond to bad news and drama and that we, as humans, tend to...

28
Jul
2018

PLUMBING THE DEPTHS

I just realized what is wrong with me. I’m in a rut. You know the one, maybe…where life is moving smoothly along and nothing much is happening; certainly nothing worth writing about, and you don’t feel particularly sad or happy or really, anything. You just get up in the morning and do the things you have to do: shower, dress, brush your teeth, etc. You go to work, you eat the meals that keep you going, you do some of the things that you like doing: reading, watching a movie or a show, making phone calls, checking email, but there...

16
Jul
2018

I’M MELTING, I’M MELTING

It’s official: I’m overheating. The house is hot, I’m hot. Every fan we own is on, and it’s NOT HELPING. GAH. It was 32C when I got home today. That’s 96F. In SWEDEN. Even in mid-July, that’s damn hot. Add hot flashes to that, and I am one unhappy camper. If it doesn’t cool down soon, I’m going to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West in a pool of my own sweat, swearing all the way. Yeah, yeah, there’s no humidity and it will cool down overnight, but OMG I’m hot today. I was so hot and tired...

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