From the beginning of my plans to go back to school, I’ve been intending to go only part-time, almost entirely due to the fact that I’ll be attending classes 500 miles from home. I figured that a full-time schedule would involve entirely too much travel, but in the past couple of weeks the class schedules have been posted and it looks like I could manage a full load after all. The way the schedule is set up, I won’t have to make many more trips down to Uppsala if I add the other classes, but I will have to stay over one night most weeks and two nights at least a few times.

Olof and I have talked quite a bit about it, and we’ve decided I should go for it. I was prepared for him to be a little resistant, but in fact, he was all for it. There are some good reasons for me to do it this way. The biggest, of course, is that if I’m going to do this, I might as well do it and make real headway, rather than dragging it out for who knows how long. Also, the overnights will give me lots of good, uninterrupted working time. And not least, I’ll be able to get larger student loans, which will cover all those flights and hotel rooms.

Olof still has a fair amount of paternity-leave days saved from the little girls, so he’ll be taking those when I’m gone and the kids will still have a full-time parent at home. I think that is probably what this whole plan hinges on — with him home, I won’t feel as sad or guilty about being away from them, and they won’t miss me as much, either. Olof has said that he’s looking forward to it, especially as he’ll have the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Yrsa, something he’s missed out on since going to work in town when she was three months old.

I’m trying not to kid myself; I know it’ll be an adjustment for all of us. Still, I expect it will be less of a shock than when Olof started his new job last spring. In some ways, I think we — or ast least, I — still haven’t fully recovered from that.

Bureälven, or the Bure River, cuts a swath through our little town, passing not more than a couple of hundred meters from where we live. It’s always high in the spring, of course, but this year is something out of the ordinary. It’s covered nearly all the bridges in the park next-door to our house, and it’s risen over its banks to seep into the grocery-store parking lot, as you can see to the left in this first picture.

These next shots are from our little walk through the park this evening. It’s almost unrecognizable in places.

Just for reference, this picture is from the last day of school a few years ago. The bridge in the background is the same bridge that’s in most of the pictures from today.

Last weekend I ground up some spelt in my grain mill and made this bread. It was so good, far beyond my expectations. It really is amazing the difference fresh flour makes.

All of a sudden it feels like summer is just around the corner. The yard is all but bare of snow and bicycle helmets have taken the place of snowsuits in our front hall. It’s no longer getting completely dark at night and the grass is greening up nicely. In just six short weeks the kids will be out of school and Olof will be have a month’s vacation.

This year we’ve got nothing big like last year’s Legoland adventure in the works, but even so, we should have no trouble filling up the weeks. There’s a bunch of stuff around the house that needs to be done, and I’ll have to get cracking the whip over Olof’s back early on to make sure that we can cross a sizeable portion of it off the list. Honestly, most of it isn’t anything that he/we will have personally to do, but we will need to be pro-active in deciding what to do and making arrangements for the work.

The big projects we’re looking at are having the house drainage re-done and painting the exterior. The front porch railing also needs to be repaired or replaced, but we can’t really do anything about that until we take care of either or both of the first two things. In addition, I’d like to have the new flooring I bought two years ago for the hall installed, and Olof wants to put in an inside entrance to the attic crawl space. Probably we should have the bathtub plumbed in, finally, so we don’t have to fill it from the shower. And Tage wants to build a playhouse.

All of that will eat up a big chunk of time and a bigger chunk of money. I’m tired just thinking about it. Good thing we’ve got a vacation coming up.

It’s been grey and rainy-slash-snowy all day, and considering it’s the first weekend of May I would be upset about that, but seeing as how today had been earmarked for cleaning up the yard, I’m not too bothered about having to stay inside. It’s always a little dismaying seeing what the yard has turned into over the long winter, and it’s not a whole lot of fun to spend the afternoon clearing away the dead grass, assorted trash, and what must be at least a hundred pounds of dog crap (sidenote: we allow them to poop only on the small, “bad” side of the yard, but still raking it all up is a LOT of work).

Instead of that drudgery, we spent the day inside with a toasty fire, where I tidied up a little, read a few chapters of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and watched a terrific Braves game. Meanwhile, Olof did some computer-y stuff and the kids played suprisingly harmoniously. I don’t mind one bit giving up a Saturday to snow and bluster for all of that.

Olof’s out patrolling the mean village streets tonight with the local parent watch. They make the rounds of the local party spots, keeping an eye out for kids who might need some help. It’s cold out, so I’m expecting there won’t be much happening out there. I hope he’ll get home early, without event.

Lydia’s upstairs, eating chips and watching bad TV. Truth be told, her attention is probably focused more closely on her phone than on the television. The five thousand text messages she sends each month aren’t gonna write themselves, after all.

Tage’s spending the night with his cousins, so he’s missing out on the chips and movie that are occupying his little sisters. I imagine they’ve got something at least as good on offer over there, though, so he surely wouldn’t complain.

Me, I’m just poking around on the net, watching old episodes of The Guardian between my younger daughters’ requests for drinks of water and more chips. I do love me some Simon Baker.

I just got this in my email and I gotta say, if Romeo turns up at my door with all that in hand, I’ll more than gladly fork over $138.09.

You’ve just ordered pizza from our site

Pizza Super Supreme with extras:
- Beef
- Pepperoni
- Onions
- Green Peppers
- Easy On Cheese
- No Sauce
Pizza Spicy Sicilian with extras:
- Italian Sausage
- Green Peppers
- Pineapple
- Extra Cheese
- No Sauce
Pizza Hawaiian Luau with extras:
- Chicken
- Green Peppers
- No Cheese
- No Sauce
Pizza Triple Meat Italiano with extras:
- Ham
- Italian Sausage
- Pepperoni
- Green Peppers
- Green Peppers
- Onions
- No Cheese
- No Sauce
Pizza Meat Lover’s with extras:
- Bacon Pieces
- Green Peppers
- Extra Cheese
- Extra Sauce
Pizza Super Supreme with extras:
- Bacon Pieces
- Chicken
- Pepperoni
- Green Peppers
- Green Peppers
- No Cheese
- Easy On Sauce
Pizza Italian Trio with extras:
- Beef
- Pepperoni
- Ham
- Onions
- Black Olives
- Extra Cheese
- Extra Sauce
Drinks
- 7up x 6
- Bacardi x 4
- Schweppes x 3
- Coca-Cola x 6
Total to pay: 138.09$

If you haven’t made the order and it’s a fraud case, please follow the link and cancel the order.
CANCEL ORDER NOW!

If you don’t do that shortly, the order will be confirmed and delivered to you.

With respect to you
ROMEO`s Pizzeria

A few months ago, Brynja realized that she has more names than just the one, and now when you ask her what her name is she’ll rattle off the whole thing, Brynja Astrid Eivor Tjerngren. If you listen closely, however, you’ll notice that what she really says is “Brynja Asbjørn Eivor Tjerngren.” Obviously it makes just as much sense to share the dog’s name as to share Farmor’s.