Tagged: offspring

02
Jun
2016

ALL AT ONCE

I am the lamest blogger that ever lived. Okay, not really. There are lamer bloggers out there (naming no names). I guess when you are a blogger who is no longer really blogging, you are an epilogue. There have been lots of things to write about, but they are all happening at once which makes sitting down and finding words harder than you would think. This past weekend was Swedish Mother’s Day. I was given flowers (peonies!), a Pandora bead for my bracelets of a lion with a crown and a little bag of my favorite dark-chocolate-covered cherries. In the...

21
Mar
2016

BUT DO I REALLY FEEL THE WAY I FEEL?

Spring spring spring! Everyone is posting about spring! AT’CHOO! RUB RUB RUB….augh, my itchy eyes! Spring: pffooey. Allergy season, more like. It gets worse every year, which bums me out because I AM excited about spring. Can we skip to the part where my eyes stop itching? haha! Anyway. It’s Easter break and the kids are off school, despite the fact that they were off school for a week just 3 weeks ago. Spoiled rotten, that’s what. Karin is off for the second night to stay with friends in Lund. She’s flying the coop more and more. Martin is still...

20
Sep
2015

BUSY BEE

Crazy season is starting. I can feel things revving up. I have a full day tomorrow that includes meetings at work and outside of it, plus a doctor’s appointment. Tuesday is a goodbye party for an American colleague who is moving back home, and Wednesday Barky gets beautiful again (thank goodness). Friday, Camilla is spending the night as we are leaving super early in the morning to spend the day in Gothenburg at the Book Fair where we have tickets to see Laini Taylor speak twice! I hope she won’t think it’s weird when I come up to say hi...

06
Sep
2015

CRAYFISH, QUESTIONS & SEASONAL SWINGS

We are falling into fall. The cold, the rain, the grey, the dark, the falling leaves. The fields are all stripped and plowed; haybales dot the hills. Geese and swans are flying fast; it’s coming. Because we had nearly no summer, it feels as if it’s been fall for some time. It’s not that I’m ready, exactly, but resigned, at least. Yesterday was the annual crayfish party that rotates among Anders’ old Scout friends. He wasn’t here, unfortunately, as he’s still in Italy, but the kids and I went and had a nice time despite that and the weather. Yesterday...

25
Feb
2015

LIFE WITH TEENAGERS

To get any computer time in this house currently, I have to a) forcibly shove my son/daughter off the chair and turn off World of Warcraft while he/she’s struggling to get on her/his feet b) threaten death and destruction if I don’t get five minutes to, like, pay bills c) say I need the computer. say it again. say it several times. in a determined tone of voice that brooks no argument. rinse, repeat. d) wait until my children have gone to bed, which is starting to be past MY bedtime e) wait until my children have grown up and...

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...

21
Nov
2013

MOSTLY KIDS, WITH A SIDE OF STUFFING

Our Internet was totally spotty yesterday and kept cutting out completely, so with the slowdown, I just couldn’t get up the ork to sit down and write a post. Plus, CAKE BOSS. Martin warned me loudly and vociferously about the slippery slope dangers of The Learning Channel, which I had never previously watched anything on, and didn’t even know we had. “It’s the channel with HONEY BOO BOO, Mom!” he exclaimed, in utter disgust at my naivete. “Ohhhh,” was my response, “but but but CAKE BOSS.” haha! I don’t really care about Cake Boss. I was just filling time waiting...

16
Nov
2013

16 THINGS FOR THE 16TH DAY

1. We are almost completely out of toilet paper. Someone emptied the stock without writing it on the shopping list, prompting an angry harangue from me. Everyone insisted on their innocence, so it was apparently NOTME that did it. 2. We have friends coming over for dinner tonight that we haven’t seen in ages. Anders is making a feasty menu that includes pulled pork sandwiches, spare ribs, American coleslaw and twice-baked potatoes. I am adding a green salad and making dessert: white chocolate & raspberry pastries with ice cream and mini-meringues. 3. I dusted the house and now I can’t...

13
Sep
2013

END OF A LONG WEEK

Tonight feels like a harbinger, of sorts. It’s not the first time that Karin has been away overnight, but Martin is out, too. He doesn’t go out often or socialize nearly as much as his sister, mostly because the majority of his friends live much farther away. She can bike to the next village or get one of us to drive her over since we’re in that town nearly every day for something: groceries, gas, soccer practice pick-up and drop-off, etc. But tonight they’re both gone, and while it’s not the first time that Karin has been away overnight or...

16
Aug
2013

NATURE’S ROLLER COASTER

When I was young I LOVED roller coasters, with a white-hot heat. Standing in line for 2 hours to ride a 5-minute loop-de-loop? No problem, let’s go again! Which was kind of strange, considering that I’ve suffered from motion sickness since I was an infant. I’ve never been able to read in the car, and I always offer to drive because riding in the backseat? Not an option. Up until I was in my twenties I was a roller coaster fiend. Bring ’em on Cedar Point! What’cha got, Great America? I’ll see your Space Mountain and raise you one Demon...