I was up early and unwilling in the -20°C (-4°F) morning to take Lydia to town for a haircut and our monthly lunch-and-shopping date. She had her allowance to blow and I didn’t feel like tagging along while she tried on every t-shirt in a one-mile radius, so after our Subway sandwiches we split up for an hour or so to do our own thing.

I had Olof’s credit card, so I made haste to Hemtex (the home textiles store), where they’re having a half-off-the-sale-price deal, and I made a killing there, if I do say so myself. I got a pair of down slippers, two fringe-curtain sets, a tablecloth, two coffee mugs, and four boxes of tree ornaments, all for under 200 kronor ($25-ish). And as luck would have it, I haven’t carted the Christmas stuff out of the living room and down to the basement, so I had no problem tucking the ornaments away in their rightful place. Win.

Tomorrow I’ve got to be up even earlier, to take Lydia to her snowboard lesson at 9 o’clock. I confess I’m more than half hoping that it as cold tomorrow as it was today, so that the class will be postponed. I expect, though, that we’ll probably end up a degree or so on the “warm enough” side. Ah well, at least I’ll be able to go grocery shopping on my own while she hits the slopes. Win there, too.