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 is… Read More Kid stuff

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 usual Christmas… Read More Post-holiday update

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, but the… Read More Blah

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. On… Read More Ghost of Christmas Past

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 unjustice of… Read More School doings

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 sometime in… Read More Sugar overload

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 my… Read More Realization

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. She… Read More Lucia

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 think I… Read More Friday

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 discussion about… Read More This and That