Lydia is sleeping over at her cousin’s house tonight, which is a nice change of pace, as we’ve had friends of hers over three nights in the past week. I usually don’t mind when her friends spend the night, but a little goes a long way for me, and three nights in one week [...]

We had a nice, relaxing day at home today, which was definitely called for after all the hectic Christmas celebrations. Like most people living in Sweden, we had the “main event” yesterday afternoon/evening, and we spent several hours over at Olof’s sister’s house with her family and their parents. We did all the [...]

Tage is screaming his head off, and neither of us has any idea why. I think he’s probably just over-tired, but, like all little kids, refuses to realize that and just go to sleep. I have often wished that I could go to sleep more or less whenever and wherever I wanted to, [...]

I woke up Friday morning with a bit of a sore throat, but didn’t think much of it as I so seldom get really sick. Unfortunately, “seldom” is slightly different from “never,” and this has proved to be one of those rare occasions when a bit of a sore throat turns into something more. [...]

Lydia came home from school today bearing the news that we fell down on the job as class parents. Apparently the class parents for the other two first-grade classes took goodies to the school for their respective classes this morning, but the poor red group got nothing. Lydia was quite upset at the [...]

In my ongoing quest to make a Christmas candy that Olof’s family doesn’t find strange or disgusting, I happened upon a recipe for marzipan bonbons that just may do the trick. Myself, I hate marzipan–it’s too gooey-sweet–but this might be just up the in-laws’ alley! I think I’ll try to make the candies [...]

I was just looking at the calendar and was surprised to find that we’re almost through the darkest part of the year (Winter Solstice is less than a week away) and the darkness hasn’t bothered me at all this fall and winter. I think it’s probably a combination of a lot of things, including [...]

It’s Lucia Day today, and Lydia fulfilled her Lucia duties admirably this morning by waking me with a tray of saffron bread and fresh-brewed coffee. She came into the bedroom dressed in her white dress and red sash, with a crown of (elecric) candles adorning her head, and sang the Lucia song for me. [...]

Whew! I just finished up with my holiday cards, and they’re ready to go in the mail. This was a task I was dreading a bit, as I had thirty-nine cards to go out, so it’s a real relief to be done with it! We’re also done with all our shopping (as [...]

I have been so busy lately, and I’m starting to feel a little burned out. I’m glad that I’ll be done with my class next week. Today I turned in a book review I’d been putting off literally for months, and I also did an oral presentation on Walden and participated in a [...]