Tagged: martinbean

07
Dec
2014

HOME SWEDE HOME

I bet you thought I’d NEVER get back! It actually felt like longer than 2 weeks away. Weird how time distorts. I had a lovely week of vacation at my sister’s new (temporary) place in Connecticut, just hanging out and enjoying the American bounty of Thanksgiving and family. Sarah and Mom and I binge-watched the entire first half of Season 1 of Outlander while it snowed outside. We avoided the malls on Black Friday but ventured out Saturday and things were just as crowded. Eek! Mom and I left Sunday for Boston and I had a good week working and...

21
Nov
2014

GUEST BLOGGER

Since I didn’t want to just toss out another throwaway post, I asked Martin if I could post his latest article for his school IB newspaper. This is the third article he’s written, though this one was a collaboration with a friend. The first article was about indie music and the second about Halloween costumes for those who want to avoid store-bought witches, vampires and sexy cats. So, here you go, an extremely well-written article (if I do say so myself) by MY SON (and a friend) which will be PUBLISHED in a (school) NEWSPAPER. American Horror Story—Terrifying tales specific...

19
Nov
2014

BAD START, BETTER END

Had a bad start to the morning. Got totally stressed out, yelled at the kids, was late to work. Have had a borderline headache for several days. Advil holds it at bay, neck massager helps but only temporarily, then it comes crawling back up my spine to rest at the base of my skull. Karin was home sick with a sore throat (again!) for 2 days, but she went to school today. However, she’s been complaining that her throat is even worse now…nothing seems to help. Martin came up on the bus to my office after school to ride home...

08
Nov
2014

GOOD NIGHT

I just drove Martin in to Lund to drop him off at the train station (he’s going to a movie with a friend in Malmö) and it was nearly pitch black out… the streetlights weren’t on yet, but light was nearly gone from the sky. They WERE on when I returned back through our village at 5 o’clock. And it’s still nearly two months until the shortest day. UGH. Every year, the darkness of this time of the year gets harder to bear. The only respite is the month of December when everyone’s windows are lit up by advent candelabras....

06
Nov
2014

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS, A LITTLE BIT OF THAT

For some stupid reason, Martin’s school did not do individual school photos this year. Or else he missed the day and didn’t find out if there was a make-up day. I have heard from two other friends with kids his age that their schools didn’t do photos either. WTH? Now I have to find time to take him to a photographer if I don’t want to have a gaping hole in the parade o’ school photos that every child’s life (at least in the Western world) is not complete without. Warning: this post is going to be all over the...

28
Aug
2014

FIFTEEN-TWO AND A PAIR IS WAIT, WHAT?

I don’t know why we don’t play more card games here, or board games. We have tons of games, and several decks of cards, but for some reason electronic versions seem to win out on a daily basis. I grew up playing games with the whole family, and constant cards games with my siblings or solitaire when I couldn’t get any of them to participate. I used to know over a dozen different kinds of Solitaire; nowadays I only play the two simplest versions, probably because they’re the speediest, which gives instant satisfaction and keeps you playing. My mom’s family...

17
Jul
2014

PINTEREST

What is up with the tired? I come home from work and by 5 pm I am so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. If I sit down on the sofa, it’s all over: I wake up 2 hours later. If I power through and do things around the house, by the time 8:30 rolls around, I have to prop my eyelids up with sticks and they ACHE with tiredness. I’m not tired when I get up, even though I’m not sleeping all that well (too warm, too bright, gotta pee, whatever) I’m not tired at work. It’s just...

19
Jun
2014

ANTICIPATION

Wheeee! Vacation! At least a week plus 1 day, plus 2 weekends, so altogether 10 days off! I didn’t get everything done that I wanted to at work, but it wasn’t my fault…late responses or no responses from people I was waiting for answers from, and a miscalculation with an IT person that came to fix a problem and ended up making it worse so that I lost nearly an hour and a half of working time. But, whatever: vacation! Martin has to have surgery on his arm. We went to the hospital call-back on Wednesday, a week after the...

11
Jun
2014

SUMMER BREAK

I was so glad for the fact that I didn’t have a lot of meetings today at work…I thought I’d be able to get a ton of work done, especially on a couple of complicated layout projects that needed some extra time and focus. The morning was spent getting the monthly enews (33 different versions/languages) finalized for distribution but after lunch, I was going to hunker down and chip away at those projects until they surrendered. Except, I got a phone call at 1:20, and it was a young woman whose name I didn’t hear at first, calling to tell...

11
Apr
2014

WHAT’S UP

It is such a long time since I posted that I feel like the veriest tyro. A blogging beginner. Again! Today was spelunking day, and on Monday I got sick with a massive head cold. …NOOOO. I was determined that NOTHING was going to hinder today’s appointment so I medicated and rested and took half a day off and another morning, and by today I was fine, though a bit stuffy in the nose, still. Compounded by allergies, I am ALWAY stuffy in the nose, so I figured I could get away with it. Off to Landskrona we went, and...

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