Tagged: offspring

17
Feb
2009

INFECTIOUS, CONTAGIOUS, CATCHING, SMITTEN

Thanks to Geena I have not gotten a damn thing done in 3 days, since she oh so nonchalantly mentioned Color Infection in her Facebook status recently. Oh sure, it came with a disclaimer: an “addictive” warning label, but it wasn’t in really big neon-colored blinking letters with screeching sirens and strobe lights and police tape cordoning off the bodies of those who have died of starvation and/or dehydration because they can’t walk away from this damned addictive little game. Best part? When you pass all the levels, you can google “Color Infection II” and play some more! XD I...

16
Jan
2009

THEY’LL THANK ME FOR IT SOME DAY

Conversation in the car: Karin: Mom, EVERYONE has a Wii except for us. Liz: What, EVERYONE? EVERY SINGLE ONE? Really? That’s so sad! Karin: It’s true. Liz: Awww, you poor thing, and here you’ve only JUST gotten Playstation 2. Karin: *sighs* Liz: Too bad you have such sucky parents that only buy the old stuff and the used stuff and the hand-me-down stuff. Karin: Yeah. Liz: Hey! Wrong answer!! Karin: *giggles madly* Poor Karin. It’s true, though. We are really cheap when it comes to the toys and gadgets our kids have. It’s not that we don’t buy them things,...

17
Jul
2008

STUPID HUMAN TRICKS

I’ve talked about my freaky kids before. They’ve got quite a bag of stupid human tricks between them. Karin can splay her toes abnormally wide and pinch with them. They can both roll their tongues, and Karin can turn hers over to the left or right or from the front down under. Martin can vibrate his eyes (I used to be able to do that, too, but found it started hurting to do it as I got older). Karin recently discovered she can also do the tongue flower! I shudder to think what effect she’ll have on the boys when...

06
Jul
2008

WATER BABIES

3-day weekend: hot summer days and cool summer evenings, blazing sunshine and electric blue skies with fat, white puffclouds. A green grasshopper clinging to the side of the house. Wilting roses, sun-struck geraniums, though no one here calls them geraniums any longer. Giant slices of watermelon, potato salad, rice krispie treats with red, white & blue sprinkles, steak on the grill. Hours in the pool, towel-wrapped kids with blue lips and red shoulders. Clover in the grass, butterflies on the wing. Photos by Anders Ek Super Summer Belated Birthday Wishes to idahoswede!

18
Jun
2008

HEJA SVERIGE!

Since this photo was taken an hour ago, Karin has also painted 3 Swedish flags on her face. For the last game (for those of you who are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, it’s the European Soccer Championships) she made Anders paint her face blue with a yellow stripe down her nose and across her cheeks and then added 2 “Go Sweden” tattoos on her arms. Sadly, they lost to Greece. Tonight, they’re playing Russia. Heja Sverige! Edited to add:: Doomed to disappointment, Russia won 2-0.

12
May
2008

TAKING THE PLUNGE

Hey! Who turned off the heat? The temperature plunged today, in half, and the wind is blowing cold. The pansies are happy about it, though, if no one else is, since they were beginning to wilt. I was afraid it was too good to last, and though I’m very hopeful that the last week and a half of absolutely perfect weather won’t be the last we’ll see all summer, I’ve lived in Sweden far too long to be sanguine about our chances. So, hold your thumbs that Swedish summer has not come and gone already in May! It’s exceptionally poor...

10
Mar
2008

LIFE IS ALREADY TOO SHORT TO WASTE ON SPEED*

There’s no real coherency here, just observations and dribs and drabs of thought, as if my brain were a giant mixer and someone’s set it on permanent pulse. It’s like the damn dishwasher. Something is wrong with it and it stops in the cycle every 2 minutes and one has to come and restart it each time. After half an hour of this, it will run for awhile and then start the whole stop-and-start cycle again until the bitter end. What does it want from me? Just SOME ATTENTION?? Anders is in Italy again this week. He was there 2...

01
Feb
2008

FORGIVE THE FISH METAPHOR, BUT THE SUSHI IS TELLING

The sushi was awesome, though the kids were of divided minds. We sat at the tables in the back—they have exactly 10 chairs in a tiny back room (and a counter up front that seats 4). The fish was fresh and the spicy salmon roll rocked my socks. The kids were a bit taken aback by a strange maki piece that was PINK instead of the usual seaweed black. I asked the owner what it was: soybean paper! I didn’t get one, so didn’t taste it this time. Anders said it was nothing to write home about, but it sure...

27
Jan
2008

THE WEEK IS WORTH THE WAIT

No matter how often it’s sunny, it’s still like a miracle to me when the sun comes out. To wake and see the blue sky above the tossing branches of the pine trees and the bird cherry across the ditch and the sun, that pyro, striking sparks off everything. After weeks of overcast skies and rainy days and windstorms, a sunny day is awesome. It AWES me. It makes me sit up and take notice. Suddenly everything that has been drab and dark and grey is silver and light and glinting gold. The asphalt is mica-ed with sparkles; even the...

16
Jan
2008

SIMPLE PLEASURES

Does getting older mean that you slowly freeze from the inside out? I swear poor circulation will be the death of me one day. My hands are SO COLD. I hate sitting here staring at the screen, unable to think of a single thing to write about. What a lame-o! Forging ahead, regardless. Never let it be said that writer’s block has got the best of me! My kids have been traditionally a little late to the party when it concerns iconic movie figures. Last year they were obsessing over Star Wars, watching the movies over and over, play-acting Jedi...

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