We spent this past week school shopping for Martin. He had expressed a desire to switch schools already back at the beginning of the year, but we didn't get off our duffs until just recently, when suddenly realizing that if we were going to make the switch, we needed to do it NOW. As in, RIGHT NOW.

He's in the middle of sixth grade and we live in Eslöv's kommun. A kommun is relatively analogous to a county, and even though we live right on the border between two counties, in fact our village is split in half by the river that marks the boundary line, we ended up with Eslöv instead of Lund. And unfortunately, Eslöv is much the poorer in both money and resources, at least when it comes to small village schools like ours and small junior highs, like the one Martin would have automatically attended next year, which was also 20 minutes away in Löberöd, in the wrong direction.

At the beginning of his sixth-grade year, Martin's class dropped from 26 to 18. 3 of the children actually moved, but the rest switched schools because their parents either didn't want them to go to the country school next year or because they wanted to take advantage of the advanced curriculum and resources offered by next-door Lund county. In Lund, the kids start their third language elective in sixth grade (on top of Swedish & English), instead of waiting until seventh, for example. If we had waited to switch Martin at the beginning on next year, he would be a year behind the Lund kids at that point, instead of the half-year he is now. In addition, the Löberöd school, which we had heard when we moved to Flyinge 12 (!) years ago was a good one, has declined in quality and in the national statistics. There were other factors as well, including long gaps in the class schedules where the kids are actually free for up to two hours between lectures and the fact that the open campus allowed them to roam the village or end up at other children's homes in the middle of the day without supervision that had me really upset.

At an information meeting two weeks ago, which we attended at the Löberöd school with Martin and the parents of several other kids from our village and the 2 neighboring ones, we were not terribly impressed with anything we heard. That jump-started both of us, and we decided to check out the 2 schools in Lund that we knew the other kids in Martin's class had switched to.

One was Kunskapsskolan in south Lund and the other was the Bilingual Montessori School which is on the north side. Anders and Martin attended an information meeting at the first, at which they were VERY impressed. The school has a very forward-thinking curriculum and teaching plan which leaves a great deal of the planning and responsibility for goal-setting up to the student. Very Montessori in many ways, from all we could tell. We arranged school visits for Martin for both schools and he spent Thursday at the first and today at the second.

Yesterday, after a full day at Kunskapsskolan, Anders & I picked him up, had a guided tour of the premises by the School Assistant, and sat in on the end of day gathering for 1 of the 4 sixth grader groups. I was appalled at how dirty the school was, quite frankly, and also at how very chaotic everything was. Party due to the end of the day excitement, I'm sure, but I was actually not too thrilled with what I saw, despite thinking that the teaching method had definite appeal and that the teachers all seemed very friendly. Martin told me later that only 1 kid, apart from the 3 kids he knew from Flyinge, even talked to him. The school has over 300 kids in grades 6-9. But we had heard good things from the Flyinge kids that we had talked to AND their parents, so were still willing to give it a chance.

Today, we took Martin to BMSL and what a difference. I know that appearances are only a small part of the picture, but the school was clean, well-kept and the kids were well-behaved and there was no sense of the chaos and crowding that I had sensed at the other school. Even though the principal was late for her appointment with us, we still had a tour of the school and she gave us information, answered all our questions, introduced us to several teachers and talked to us for nearly an hour and a half. Martin disappeared into the sixth grade class and had a great day. This school has around 300 kids as well, but in the 6-9 grades there are only 45 kids and they have a floor and a half to themselves. It's a fairly new school, and that also probably helped in the difference between the two.

I picked Martin up at 2, and we talked all the way home. He was bouncing with excitement and declared that BMSL was his choice, hands-down. The kids and teachers had all been friendly and welcoming...everyone had talked to him and asked him about himself; he liked the atmosphere and the classes. Well, okay then! He already has a spot confirmed at both schools, so now it's just a matter of calling to tell them we'll take the one at BMSL and informing the school in Flyinge that he'll be switching as of the end of this term, which is two weeks away. He'll start the new school on January 11th.

They take care of all the logistics with switching his status from the county and we don't have to pay anything to do the switch. The only thing we have to work out is the logistics of getting him to and from school, but since BMSL is located only blocks away from my office, I can drop him off in the mornings and he can walk the 15 minutes up to my work when his school day is over and by the time he gets there, it's only about 15-30 minutes until I'm ending my day. So the only days we'll need to worry about are when I have to work late or someone is sick or I'm not in the office.

He doesn't seem nervous at all about the switch, even though he'll have a bit of catching up to do and will also be dumped straight into French as well, because the Bilingual Montessori School is actually TRIlingual. They hold their regular classes in Swedish, English and French! And they offer Spanish on top of that, and when we told her he really wants to take German, she said, "Great! We will push to get that into place as well."

Whew!

Blindingly Bright & Beautiful Birthday Wishes to americantjej and Belated Ones to georgiamars!

December is like a ticking time bomb, with giant 7-segment alarm-clock red numbers counting down faster than I can even find wire cutters for, much less figure out whether to snip the red one or the green one before everything goes BANG!

The moon was full yesterday: it was hanging out well above the horizon yesterday morning, huge and shining white against the dawning sky, about 3 times as big as normal. If I had only left for work about half an hour earlier, I bet it would have filled my vision until I fainted from the lack of space in the sky. I remember once, driving from Chicago to the Michigan Dunes with one of my college girlfriends in the car. We were going to stay at her then boyfriend's place near the dunes, and we turned off the highway and up the exit ramp and over a hill and just as we crested the hill, there was the moon right in front of us. It was HUGE. It was like a joke: a cosmic HA! GOT YA! We gaped at it. It was so large it felt like we could just drive right up onto it. It filled everything; there were no peripherals left.

The calendar is full, too. I know, I know...it's the same old holiday song. It's full of fun things: Christmas lunches and Christmas dinners and Christmas parties and Lucia concerts. Birthdays and Christmas markets and glögg and pepperkakor. I have about half my shopping done, at least, but Christmas cards? Christmas letter? Tree chopping & decorating? I haven't even started the Christmas cookie baking for US. O! The humanity! Ah well, I'll bet you I get it all done. 4 dollar no holla. And what I don't get done? Eh. Whatever. I love to say this: it's not the end of the world. It's not! Keep your pants on! (I love to say that, too). World continues: pants remain.

Something else I love to say: Use your head for something else besides a hat rack. My dad used to say that all the freaking time. Martin remarked on its frequency to me today after it came out of my mouth yet again. Hee! Sorry kid! What goes around comes around, or the fruit doesn't fall very far from the tree. I'll bet you he and Karin will be saying it to THEIR kids someday, only probably in Swedish: Använder huvudet till annat än perukstock!* HAHAHA! Not nearly as melodious.

What do you love saying? Is it something your mom or dad always said to you?

Really Great Writing Out There Right Now: Things to say before you go

An Awesome Hat for Sam to Make!: Snowman Hat!

Can't Decide if I'm Coveting This for Karin or...Myself: R2-D2 Hoodie

*Perukstock = wig stand...there's no word for hat rack in Swedish. Anders could only come up with hat hylla which is a hat SHELF.

It's official! The holidays are here! We started decorating the house today, went to a glögg party and I "baked" the first cookies of the season. Using the term "baked" very, very loosely. My friend Debbie served these at a book group this past year and I've been badgering her for the recipe ever since. I decided they would be the cookie I'd take to the AWC Holiday Cookie Exchange, and when I called her a couple of weeks ago to remind her, she said, "Darn! I was hoping you'd forgotten about them, because I was going to make you a tin of them for Christmas!"

"But that's okay," I said. "I'm going to give these AWAY, so I'll need MORE. Plus, when would I ever refuse cookies? Never! That's when!" So she caved in and gave me the recipe, and I went grocery shopping yesterday (after cleaning and setting the table and before my pre-party NAP) and bought the ingredients. Except our local grocery store didn't have one of them, so I had to drive into Lund to the big mega-everything grocery store to get them.

SO GOOD. And SO easy! And I actually had enough that I can take some extras with me to give to the poor people who didn't sign up for the cookie exchange, AND take some to work AND still have some for us at home. They're so festive with the white, red & green!







Cranberry Pistachio Bark
500 grams quality white chocolate
250 ml. dried cranberries
240 ml. shelled pistachios

Roast pistachios at 180C for 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool. Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler or on low heat (keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn). Stir cranberries and pistachios into melted chocolate. Pour onto foil-lined (25 x 38 cm) edged cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, then break into pieces. Makes about 750 grams.

I made 2 batches, and used an extra small bag of pistachios and cranberries each, and another 100 grams of white chocolate. I had to make 72 cookies, but since this was broken into pieces like brittle, I had probably twice that. It makes a LOT of cookies! De-double-licious!

Year after year, the things I am thankful for remain much the same. They're so obvious, they almost go without saying. And yet, to go without saying them is unthinkable; I can't take them for granted, and yet isn't that what we do, so much of the time? We go through our daily lives and we can't fall down on our knees every moment. There's lunch to be packed and homework to be done and beds to be made and meetings to go to. There are cookies to be baked and children to be hugged and dogs to be walked.

So we can only pause, now and then, to suddenly stare about us and blink in the sudden glare of realization: what we have. What surrounds us. How full of beauty and pleasure and laughter and delight our lives are. Some of you might be thinking, "Hmph. Speak for yourself, missy" and of course, I am. That's all I can do. But even in the roughest of tough times, there must be some light that shines, something that speaks to your soul and gives you cause for gratefulness.

For the past 13 years, we have gathered our closest friends (and sometimes our family) together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Anders and I provide the turkey, stuffing (inside the turkey), mashed potatoes and gravy. Everything else is delegated. One person brings pumpkin pies, one brings extra dressing, the one that's a chocoholic brings a chocolate dessert. Someone is designated to bring the black olives and the cranberry sauce, and sometimes there is green bean casserole and sometimes there is a tossed salad and sometimes there is some other traditional dish: corn casserole, savory sweet potatoes, broccoli & cheese au gratin. Wine in bottles and boxes. Smiles and laughter and now, all these years later: memories and shared history; stories of us, our past and our friendship.

Some friends have moved away, some can't always be with us, and one has passed away. Sometimes we have new friends that we ask to join us, but always the people we invite are those with whom we feel a bond of friendship and tradition that makes us look forward every year to the next celebration. There's something special about this gathering, and though I miss my family and the traditions of my childhood, it feels right that here in Sweden we have built up and refined and made something of our own that we can share and revel in each year.

Tomorrow: cookie baking & a 50th birthday party open house!

By the way, for those of you who care, I went with Martin and a girlfriend Friday night to see New Moon and well, maybe we were just in the right mood, and maybe it sounds really silly, coming from a mom and woman who is well past the demographic these books and movies were aimed at, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was MUCH better than the first one, and it was especially fun for us to listen to an entire packed house of theater-goers, the vast majority of whom were teenage and adolescent girls, gasping with sheer joy every time one of the two male stars took off his shirt. If you're at all into Twilight, it's well worth the ticket price.

*Title from a quote by John F. Kennedy

There's so much to be grateful for and to give thanks for that I don't even know where to start. Family, friends, health, work, ...EVERYTHING. I am blessed with goodness. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone reading this! Mwah!

***

Clean bill of health at the dentist today. I am completely and totally amazed at how dental technology has changed and improved since I was a child. I don't think I've had anyone stick a needle in my gums in YEARS. I had a check up and cleaning today, and told the dentist that I've been worried about one of my left corner teeth because it's been growing very sensitive, especially to cold and once in awhile gives me a jolt of pain when I bite down on something. I had a filling put in last year, but she took xrays again and said the filling was still in place and there was no sign of a new cavity. So she put liquid plastic all around the base of the tooth and hardened it with an LED light and then added some kind of gel on top of that, and hey presto! it took literally minutes and was completely painless.

***

We are school shopping for Martin. He wants to go to a better school and we are all agreed that we don't want him to go to the county school in Löberöd next year. They start earlier with languages and other advanced curriculum in Lund's county, and we can switch him, even now in the middle of his sixth grade year, without having to pay anything, and that way he won't be too far behind all the other kids when he starts 7th grade, which he would if we waited until fall.

He and Anders went to an information meeting at Kunskapsskolan in Lund tonight and had a good impression. Next week he's spending the day at the Bi-lingual Montessori School in Lund (which is really close to my work and which we know has spots available) and then we'll see which one he chooses. Lots of reasons for making this decision but we think it's the right one.

***

New Moon tomorrow with Martin and a girlfriend. I'm looking forward to it, not least to going to the movies, which we do all too seldom.

***

My arm is still super tender from the vaccination. ow.

I got shot in the arm this evening. I have to say, I've been sort of dreading getting the H1N1 vaccination...I never get flu shots, I have always just taken my chances, but I guess something about a) the fact that if I did get sick with it, it would be 2-3 weeks of illness versus (hopefully) 1-2 days of potential side effects from the shot and b) how can you say no to getting a vaccination that the country you live in has bought for every single one of its residents? Not only did they do that, they also took the time to make up schedules for every person in the country AND send them a personalized letter of appointment to come in and get it. It would just be churlish to refuse, don't you think?

Also, don't you think churlish is a word that should be used more often? What a great word! Where have all the churls gone? Long time passing.

"Getting vaccinated" was my to-do list item for today, and since after I came home and fed the kids dinner while Anders was at IKEA picking up Martin's bookcase, they have all three gone to Scouts, leaving me in sole possession of the house for the next hour and a half, I suddenly find myself at loose ends. I'm not bored, like I was momentarily the other day (and by the way, thanks for the fun questions!), but I'm not feeling very motivated, though there are a ton of things I could no doubt be doing. I suspect that what I will do, once I have finished this post, is go Christmas shopping online, and get some of my first family presents dealt with.

We went to IKEA on Sunday, the first time we have braved the new behemoth of a store that opening not too long ago in Malmö. It's terrifyingly huge, and crowded and damned confusing. Luckily, we knew what we wanted and Martin turned out to be a whiz at reading the floor plan map and keeping us oriented, so we were able to get in and get out rather quickly. He now has a new desk slab (a 2-shelf affair that hooks onto the frame of his loft bed), a new dresser and the aforementioned bookcase. He is still in need of new bedding, curtains, and a rug. I have not posted photos because I have not taken any yet...the OCD in me wants the room to be FINISHED before I show off its magnificence to the world.

Plus, the other evening, when Anders was done painting the trees, I went to get his Nikon out of the camera bag, where it reposed, lens down in its padded pocket and upon lifting it up discovered that the lens was completely smashed. IN THE BAG. Anders had no idea how something could have happened to it while in the bag, but there it is.

Have you started your Christmas shopping? Please don't tell me you're done!

Cool stuff: Food flags and Bio-Diversity

Bubbly Burbly Bountiful Birthday Wishes to gnostraeh! And a bundle of belated ones to dbrus and Megsie!

I'm bored. Ask me something.

Quite often during the day I come across things that I see or hear or like that I want to remember to share, but by the time I get a chance to actually sit down at the computer and write, usually quite late in the evening, all those things have long since dropped off my brain radar, lying lost and forgotten on the side of my mental meanderings like single shoes that people pass later on the highway and wonder about. There's no meaning in them, those single shoes. They're just there: road markers.

A million different thoughts zing around inside my head every day, in fact it's incredible how many thoughts must pass through any given brain on any given day. Gazillions! Our brains work so damn hard and yet we blame them for everything we forget: it slipped my mind, we say or, it's on the tip of my tongue...as it if weren't secreted away in some pocket of the hippocampus; merely misfiled. It's there, it's just not always retrievable. If only we had some sort of mental google machine (moogle? broogle? or maybe just this: hahahaha!). A brainiac dewey decimal system.

Anyway, it's the weekend and it's quiet out here now. It's always quieter on the weekends when folks are busy with their families or all the million things they don't have time for during the usual round of work/school/sleep, or just taking the necessary downtime needed to recharge before Monday morning rolls around again.

With all the craziness that is the end of the year for me, a couple of days of quietness sound lovely. I have NO days left this month that don't have something scheduled in them. And then it's December.

Batshit insane schedule
Saturday: man the kiosk for Karin's soccer team, do AWC website updates
Sunday: soccer games
Monday: visit to junior high school with Martin
Tuesday: H1N1 vaccination
Wednesday: Grocery shopping: buy turkeys
Thursday: Dentist appointment & wreath-making class
Friday: Cleaning, cooking, party preparations
Saturday: host Annual Ek Family Thanksgiving Potluck Party!
Sunday: Party aftermath cleanup, get down Christmas decorations, bake cookies
Monday: AWC Monthly Meeting and cookie exchange
Tuesday: Massage appointment (whew!)

That brings us to December 2nd. Normally by mid-November I've already done the majority of my Christmas shopping, bought cards, started the annual Christmas letter. And there are 4 family birthdays to deal with in December as well. This year? God knows when I'll even get started. I just looked at the December calendar and out of 31 days, only 12 are free before Christmas. And considering the list of things that needs to get crammed into those 12 days, I might just need to a) clone myself b) get busy already c) hire a personal assistant or d) have a mental breakdown. Hmmm. Which would you pick?

Walking through an early winter evening, with the shine of the streetlights on the wet pavement, there's a strange sense of peace that envelops you just as surely as the scarf you have wrapped around your head. It wasn't cold enough to wear mittens; I let my hands dangle inside my big warm sleeves. The scarf was more for surety, a precaution against cold in the throat. It wasn't even cold enough for dragon breath, but it was dark as the inside of a dragon's cave and damp like it too. Looking up, I could see stars, not stalactites. No sign of Smaug.

Do you know the difference between stalactites and stalagmites without looking it up? I read the trick of remembering once, it's a simple mnemonic: stalaCtites have a C for ceiling, stalaGmites have a G for ground. Pretty cool, eh? Caves, even though I think they are nifty and mysterious and wonderful, give me the heebie-jeebies, thanks to a creeping claustrophobia that usually only manifests in crowds. I've been in a lot of caverns as a youngster, including the Mammoth Caves and some really amazing ones in Spain, but it's been awhile since I was underground in a natural cavern. I think my dad must have had a thing for caves, since we always made a point of touring any that happened to be nearby whenever we were road-tripping.

The only cave around here is Tykarpsgrottan, which is really a limestone quarry, but Karin was a baby when we visited it. The last one I was in, this past summer was, coincidentally, also a limestone quarry.

Karin's room is rather cave-like, what with the dark red walls and the black furniture, especially when she has the blackout blind pulled down. It's very cozy, though. Martin's room will be quite the opposite. Anders painted the walls this past weekend and the colors Martin chose are light and lovely: a pale creamy biscuity beige named Silke, and a medium-dusty pale Sage green. I had printed out the tree pattern and Anders had bought the paint for the 3 different colors to be used for them, but then he came to me and said that HE wanted to paint the trees.

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed, "okay, but I thought I was going to do it." Well yes, he said, but it was the only really fun part of renovating...he'd already done all the boring things: stripping, spackling, painting ceiling and trim. How could I argue with that? Even if Martin and I had also done some boring parts: moving out furniture, cleaning out stuff, stripping off the border...I wasn't really emotionally invested in having to paint the trees. Anders brought home a projector and made a stencil by tracing the tree pattern onto butcher block paper. He's already painted the bright one, and is halfway through one of the dark ones. These are leafless trees, no verdancy despite the woodland tones. It's going to be a real forest on the long wall, a groovy grove of bare branches.

I was going to try and tie this all together with some sort of meditation on trees growing from the ground like stalagmites but it just sounded silly and when you come right down to it, makes no sense so, so much for that flight of fancy. :P Anyway, the light and dark aspects completely aside, it's a rather fascinating exercise in the differences in taste and the reflections of personality when you compare the rooms of my kids. And yes, when we're done I'll post photos, I promise.

*Title from a quote by Arlo Guthrie

A general feeling of not just well-being but a physical spine-tingling glee. So many good things, good news, good vibes going on this week that my hair might as well be standing on end with excitement and The Happy. Mr. Bluebird's on my shoulder, it's the truth, it's actual, everything is satisfactual!

Yesterday was one good thing after another: getting up smiling because even though it was hard to get out of bed, it was Friday, having a good and productive day at work, then a lovely dinner with the Wonders: ALL of us this time because Debbie's husband Ola is home from the hospital for a whole week to rest and regain his strength and put on some weight before facing chemo #3. He's been in the hospital for 8.5 weeks and the whole family was over the moon to have him home. Debbie was practically glowing, she was so happy that things are going better. She came late after getting the family settled but it was so wonderful to have our whole circle of friends together again and be able to talk over everything that has been going on in the past few months. I think we all needed it.

It was pouring rain and driving was pretty treacherous both on the way there and on the way back, and I didn't get home until almost 1:30 in the morning. All my family was asleep, snug in their beds, and Anders had left the computer on for me, so I checked email before heading to bed, only to find a messagel from my brother practically pulsing with more good news:

Not only is my mom coming for a long visit, but my brother and Simone confirmed their tickets for Christmas and are arriving for a week starting on Christmas Eve! Yay! Now I just need to get my seester over here, and the holidays would be complete!

And the email after that? From my dear, dear Bluepoppy saying she is back in action and blogging again! Yippee skippy! First Marilyn, then Sheryl, then Miss Doxie and now BP! Even Woman in a Window posted something today! Now I just need to hear that Wee is blogging again and things will be perfect! It's like an early Christmas!

Today I got to sleep in, and finish a good book and start another good one and putter about the house just getting things done. And then, to put the icing on the good stuff cake, my mom emailed me with a huge long list of books that she just bought...for me! And then I made a most fantastic dinner! And I get to sleep in tomorrow, too!

Man, this has been a good week. :) Here's hoping that YOU are having a good one, too. *showers sunshine upon your head*

Bubbalicious Belated Birthday Wishes to davesanngel!