lizardek's obiter dictum

REPLETE

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:06:13 GMT

I've been filling up. Filling up with lovely days and family goodness and the stupified silence of children stunned by the awesomeness of their Christmas presents. Filling up with cookies and turkey sandwiches and clementines and love. Too busy to sit down and write, too busy to take a moment because all the moments are taken: real life, days present and future and full.

Friday is a full moon, but it's nearly there now. Last night it was shining clear and crystal down on the sugar frosting sifted across the grass, the hedge, the yard. I've not slept well the past few nights: too many people in the house. Breathing, coughing, moving. Up and opening doors, and my restless brain is keeping tabs: I don't want to miss a moment with so many loved ones in the house.

Today a head cold is pressing me down, gurgling at the back of my throat: tickle, tickle COUGH. Two days ago we went to see Avatar. I am still thinking about it. Yesterday we had 50 people in the house. I am still thinking about that, too. I am a spinning top, the kind that lifts and flies with a zing!

A short list of awesome things: a mini ping-pong table! My party-preparation-cleaning crew that did everything to get the house ready and the food prepared while I was at work yesterday. Lego games. Rice Krispie Treats with cinnamon red-hots. Perfect presents for everyone. A huge pile of new books to read. Anders whipping up a perfect julbord for Christmas Eve and then a perfect turkey dinner for Christmas Day. John fixing the dishwasher. Simone sorting the three bags of party debris into the proper recycling bins. An oven-baked brie coated with brown sugar, chopped almonds and cinnamon: O M G . A holiday card from you. And you. And YOU. Thank you!

One more day of work and one more party, and then a week of sleeping in, of slothfulness if I want it, of reading a dozen books, of meeting and spending time with some good friends, of enjoying every moment with my mom and my family. Just what I need, if I can turn my brain off work. A week of savoring, of remembering, of mulling over the moments that have filled me up these holidays and given me the energy to begin a new year brimming.

Crystal Glitter Candy Birthday Wishes to courtesy!

WHAT A BRIGHT TIME, IT'S THE RIGHT TIME!

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:41:59 GMT

Sleeping in, Finished a great book, house spotless, and refrigerator stuffed with all the trimmings for a complete Swedish julbord and ready to go! Anders' parents got here just after 3 p.m. and the kids watched Kalle Anka until Karin and I left to pick up John & Simone at the airport (on time! smooth sailing!).

There is still a ton of snow and there are lovely advent lights in stars in the windows of every house. We had a wonderful evening stuffing ourselves silly on all the good food that Anders and his mom had prepared and then (finally! said Karin) opened a portion of the presents before dessert. The kids got the biggest present: a mini ping-pong table! I have threatened death & destruction if anything on the tree gets broken since it's been temporarily set up in the front hall, since John & Simone are sleeping in the playroom.

Anders is wrapping presents in our bedroom with the door shut, stockings have been stuffed and I am sitting here wishing that your year will be merry & bright! Much love and Merry Christmas!

LAME DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE UPDATE

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:15:11 GMT

Almost ready. The snow is melting, though we still have a ton here in our village due to the fact that we live in a precipitation pocket where it's always colder or rainier or snowier than anywhere else in Skåne. Seeing black wet roads and grey/black sludge edges makes me sad because everything was absolutely COVERED with white just 2 days ago. *sigh* ...I've been told more snow is on the way; hope that is true.

I have fallen down on the cookie job this year, but I don't care. It's just as well. I've already gained a ton of weight the last 2 months and if I had as many cookies in the house as I did last year, it would be even worse. We have a bazillion sugar cookies and RKTs to make tomorrow and that will have to do for this year. :)

I was the last person at work today. There were only 6 people from my department there to begin with and everyone was gone by 3 p.m. It's so nice when the office is empty and everyone is on vacation: I can actually get things done!

Tomorrow I am sleeping in a bit, then doing a quick vacuum and cleanup in the bathrooms and making the Rice Krispie Holly Bars. Everything else except wrapping is done. It's 10 p.m. now and I am throwing the kids in bed now so I can get to it. The in-laws come at 2 tomorrow afternoon, and we'll watch Kalle Anka and I'll leave halfway through to go pick up my brother and Simone and when we get back: julbord and presents. Whee!

Grattis Grattis Grattis på födelsedagen to Kathey!! and Big Belated Birthday Wishes to Laini!

IN THE LANE SNOW IS GLISTENING

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:19:05 GMT

Look what happens when someone leaves the snow on overnight! 24 hours plus of snowfall and we have over a foot. I threw the kids outside with a camera and told them to take photos. "Of what?" they asked. DUH! Of things covered in snow! When I got the camera back, they had taken pictures of both the cars and the mailbox and some blobs of snow on the side of the house.

Anders is out shoveling, the kids are out sledding and I, in a hilarious twist of irony, am about to DEFROST THE FREEZER. Hahahahahaha!!

ABOMINABLE!

Clifford the Big Red Rock in his Christmas clothing

One of my little angels

THERE'S NO FEELING LIKE SNOW FALLING

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:01:14 GMT

It's been snowing all day, going from those fat & floaty puffed-up snowdrops; you know, the showy kind that turn into hyperspace when you're in the car at night and turn on the brights for a second, to the tiny crystal glitterbits just being flung about by the wind. We have 4-5 inches, not counting all the drifts from the blowing winter breezes and no end in sight.

Already I'm sure that the prediction about a white Christmas for the first time in 10 years will come true: there is so much snow already down that even if it abruptly warmed up enough to start melting it wouldn't all be gone by Thursday. Hurrah! Snowball fights and sledding and snowmen and shoveling. I don't even mind brushing the powdery piles of cold white diamond dust off the car each time I need to go out. Snow!

All the presents are purchased, and wrapping can commence at anytime. I'm in the middle of what is so far an excellent book (The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson, for those of you who always complain when I praise a book and don't mention the title) and Anders is cooking dinner: his most excellent spaghetti meat sauce. We opened a giant box of Christmas meats that his parents gave us in preparation for Christmas Eve and Anders will be making meatballs later. Then myskväll to top it all off.

I've been cleaning since I woke up, with some breaks for reading, both the book kind and the blog kind, plus a quick trip to the grocery store with my daughter. I woke up around 7:30 and promptly went back to sleep, only to wake again at 9-something with a dehydration headache that wouldn't quit. It took a shower (water on the outside) and a huge drink (water on the inside) before I felt human again. The list of things that have to get done this weekend is already more than half done and I've only got the rest of the laundry (1 load in the dryer and 1 in the wash), the fishtank and 2 rooms left to vacuum. Anders only has 2 things left on MY list that he needs to do, too, and I think we'll be able to relax by mid-day tomorrow and just take it easy.

Strangely, I've only received 4 Christmas cards so far this year...wonder if we'll get a huge pile in the mail on Monday or if this is the year that finally, people have stopped sending them. Kind of a sad feeling, if so. I'll be posting my Christmas letter via email to most people, though I did send out about 15 copies, and suspect lots of friends are doing the same thing. It's simply more environmentally friendly, I suppose, though as I said, it's a bit sad to think that even Christmas cards are going the way of the dinosaurs. We so rarely get any mail in the post, so every letter or card is always cause for a little happy dance. My sister's little boy has actually put it on his Christmas wish list the past two years: real mail, a letter every month. And I'm ashamed to say that none of us have stepped up to give it to him. I'll have to do something about that! I know how excited I am to get mail, it's a shame not to be able to make someone else happy for such an easy and simple thing.

Snowy Blowy Winter Wonderland Birthday Wishes to My Darling Wee and a Bundle of Belated ones to ms_jacket!

BITS OF TID

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:41:09 GMT

There were some topics gnawing at me earlier but they have left off and moved on. Instead you get this: bits! Would it be better with bullets? Does it sound weird to say just bullets instead of bulletPOINTS? Did you understand me anyway or do I do too many PowerPoint presentations at work?

***

We have 1 present left to purchase for the kids, and Karin has 1 present left to purchase for her grandparents, and we have 1 birthday present left to purchase for Anders' mom. I don't know if Anders is done with his shopping for me. He just smiles and looks mysterious. He has already wrapped one thing and put it under the tree, but he showed me the label first because he was so proud of it: Merry XO-mas to Liz (Merry KISS-mas, get it?) Hee!

***

Yesterday, when I left work, I was done with all the current things on my task list, and my action folder was empty as was my inbox. I thought to myself, "I might actually be bored tomorrow at work." BWAHAHAHAHA! Fat chance! I fired up my PC this morning only to see the emails and requests come flying in...like BULLETS. Aimed at me! *sigh*

***

Imagine my surprise yesterday, while still at work, and checking my home email just before getting ready to leave for the day, to receive a Facebook friend request from "Karin Slaughter-Ek"...hmmm...my 10-year-old daughter appears to have renamed herself! She also appears to have added 5 years to her age and be attending a college, how strange. So we had THE facebook talk when we got home. And upon checking the rules for FB accounts, it turns out that minimum age limit is 13. So we continued the talk and segued into the ethics of dishonesty and how it follows you around, especially if you put it out there on the internet. Once you create an account with a fake age, you can't change it. So she decided to de-activate it and wait. Pats on the back & praise all around! She has a lot of classmates and friends her age that have (faked) FB accounts, so it wasn't an easy thing for her to decide. She wants in on the action. Urgh.

***

Martin's class (the oldest at the school) performed yesterday evening at Holmby church in the annual Lucia pageant. They had a Lucia procession up the aisle, with his classmate Hilda as Lucia and all the girls dressed in white and the boys dressed in white as well (several of them, including Martin, with the rather silly traditional starboy caps), and all of them holding lit candles. Lucia's crown included SIX lit candles. As they marched up the aisle singing, I had a moment of panic for how close some of those clutched candles were to the long hair of the girls in front of them but they all made it safely to the front of the church.

Before the performance started, I actually found myself having to squash an appalled reaction to the noise level and rambunctiousness going on among all the kids present. The church was full of schoolkids and their parents and siblings, standing room only along both sides and it was LOUD. Even this completely non-churchy person was taken aback by the complete lack of reverence shown for our surroundings. I know Swedes are not very religious at all, but if this is the kind of attitude displayed, why bother making a point of having this show at the church? I kept wanting to stand up and exclaim something to the effect of "You're in God's House, people! Settle the hell down!" At which point I giggled madly to myself and Anders asked me what I was laughing at, which just set me off again.

The sixth graders sang several songs and then a small choir of younger children sang 4 songs and then the whole audience sang along to another handful of carols. Halfway through the performance, Martin abruptly left the stage and went to the front row and apparently sat down. A few minutes later 2 of the teachers scurried with him out the corner door. We couldn't tell what had happened since we were so far back and we couldn't get out of the pew we were sitting in the middle of without making a huge scene so we just sat there, craning our necks, trying to see what had become of him. I figured he'd either gotten stage fright or felt light-headed and I figured he wouldn't come back because he would think it was too embarrassing. But he did! Yay! He came back at the end of one song and got his candle back from the kid next to him and finished the performance. Afterwards, we found out that he had thought he was going to faint from the warmth and had gone to sit down and the teachers had taken him out for some fresh (and very cold) air. Whew!

***

Coveting: Beautiful, customizable family trees

Cool as All Get Out: Stop motion artistry at its finest

Almost makes me wish my kids were small again: Crankypants!

Snowy Sparkly Blowy Birthday Wishes to Sam!

***

It snowed today: fat and fluffy flakes. The ground is coated just barely with sparkling white but it's raining now. *sigh* I was momentarily excited at the news Anders passed along that according to the experts we have the best chance in 10 years to have a white Christmas. HOLDING THUMBS! CROSSING FINGERS! (both of which will make it difficult to wrap presents, much less finish typin

DEPTH RESISTANCE & BOOK BOUNTY

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:12:09 GMT

Sometimes I feel like I'm living on the surface; skimming surely over the top without ever managing to puncture through and end up submerged. I can go for long periods of time living up here, skating along. It makes it hard to write. It makes it hard to come up with a true story; no description is deep enough for veracity.

Maybe it's the wintertime, the darkness, the sluggish response to everything. Maybe it's the way my eyes slide along the surface, too. I don't see things or I don't stop for them, the way I do in the spring and the summer. There was a glimpse of white on the river as I drove over the bridge, enough of a recognition to identify a swan but I didn't really SEE it. There was another glimpse of white in the pasture as I passed on the way to work, a peripheral flash of shape and expectation that gave me knowledge: a stork. But I didn't REALLY see it. It's not that there is less to see, it's simply that my eyes are turned inwards and away. It makes for boring posts.

Now is the time of preparations, and frenzied bustling and at the same time a deep sense of slowing as we come to the darkest day. A clementine momentarily arrests me: a bright dollop of glory and a sharp tingle on the tongue. Sunshine in the morning gives me joy but it's a muted feeling. I remember the light and turn; heat-seeking.

Everything I write sounds banal. Trite. I write a sentence, backspace. Write another, delete. Who cares that twice this year it's taken me two weeks to read a single book? Who cares that I finished writing, enclosing and addressing my Christmas cards? We watched Ice Age 3 tonight: whoopee.

I just finished reading the 3 Merlin books by Mary Stewart. Did you know she is still alive?? Did you know she is NINETY-THREE? I had no idea. I know we had these books in the house when I was growing up; I must have read them at some point, one would think, and yet if so, I remembered nothing. And they are so good! They don't feel at all as if they were written in the early 1970s—they're fresh and dynamic and a fascinatingly intricate take on a tale so well-known as to be cliche. Her children's book, The Little Broomstick, was a childhood favorite, a birthday gift from my maternal grandparents in the 70s. The inscription on the flyleaf, in my grandmother's hand, says To Elizabeth Slaughter from Grandma and Grandad Pangborn Aug 197- ...isn't that strange? So I don't know what year I actually got it.

I have a couple of shelves of hardcover books missing their dust jackets: all gifts to me from my parents and grandparents for birthdays and Christmases throughout my youth: A Wrinkle in Time, The Grey King, Lad: A Dog, Heidi, The Three Toymakers, just to name a few. The cloth of the covers is softened and the edges of the spines are whitened and worn: old and battered good friends.

Looking over the list of books that Stewart wrote makes me realize that I have a lot of catching up to do; with these three I've only read a total of four of her oeuvre. It's as if I've opened an unexpected treasure chest, seeing that long list of books that I haven't read by an author that has captivated. It's the same way I felt when I discovered Dorothy Dunnett: pure glee. A whole stack of beautiful books to get my hands on and devour.

What are you reading? Any old favorites to recommend? Preferably ones with a substantial body of work?

Cupcaked & Candled Belated Birthday Wishes to fiveandfour!

COILED

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:29:49 GMT

Funny how the year is winding down but we are winding up. I am wound up! The older I get, the faster it goes. And you know what? It's not like I ever really wind down. I think maybe I'll just keep on winding tighter and tighter until the end when I suddenly snap and go whizzing right out of the atmosphere, like the rubber bands I used to shoot down the hallway for my cat.

The nice thing about being wound up is that a great deal of it is with anticipation. There's so much to look forward to: my brother and his wife, and my mom arriving, the holidays, all the events that are on the calendar and then, just think! There's all of next year! We'll probably go somewhere and do some really amazing things. We'll have so much time! I might get to see you! I might get to see YOU, too. I can't wait.

I took this photo earlier just for the fish.* I look smirky in it even though I wasn't actually smirking. How about them cheekbones? Hee!

What are YOU looking forward to?

Bang Bang Wow Birthday Wishes to lady_chai and kachunknorge!

*for the halibut!

TURNING TWELVE

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:06:38 GMT

What a 10 and a half year old little sister thinks about her big brother turning twelve: Hmm...well...AWFUL ! no..AWESOME..maybe :P
He's a good brother i guess, he lets me read his comic books almost always, lets me teach him World of Warcraft, lol, he likes sushi too!
He's very helpful (not sometimes), he's my lovie dovy bwother. He's good at playing the piano and watching TV too ! He's good at making adventures on Spore, he's good at making paintings, he explains words for me, He's the best brother you can ever have ! XOXOXO ! <3*

What a mom thinks about her first-born and son turning twelve: GAAAH! How old AM I?? URGH. This is the year that Martin will pass me in height. Not SO hard considering I'm on the short side, but still a rather major milestone. When I look at him now, I can see in his face both the man he will be and the little boy he has been for so long. It's so strange to be able to look at a face so familiar and see all the former faces that inhabited him: baby, toddler, small boy, pre-adolescent and also be able to glimpse the future in his eyes and the turn of his head and the smile he flashes when something strikes him as funny, which is often. TWELVE.

What a dad thinks about his first-born son turning twelve: He's smart...he just has a strange sense of humor. Mostly because he doesn't think my jokes are funny, when they RULE. You can definitely tell he's almost a teenager.

Hippity Hoppity Over the Toppity Birthday Wishes to martinek and to sari, too!

*Karin actually thought up AND wrote all this herself.

SWITCHING SCHOOLS

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:58:20 GMT

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!

BOMBS, MOONS, HOLIDAY CROONS

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:54:39 GMT

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.

MERRY CRANBERRY!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:30:06 GMT

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. unsalted 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!

NOT ONLY TO UTTER WORDS, BUT TO LIVE BY THEM*

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:28:42 GMT

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

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:11:09 GMT

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.

LOOSE ENDS, FOR A MOMENT

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:03:36 GMT

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!

FISHING

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:11:17 GMT

I'm bored. Ask me something.

READY SET GO!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:56:59 GMT

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?

YOU CAN'T HAVE A LIGHT WITHOUT A DARK TO STICK IT IN*

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:26:58 GMT

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

ZIP-A-DEE-DOO-DAH

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:19:25 GMT

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 message 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!

THERE'S A POINT IN THERE SOMEWHERE

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:34:22 GMT

I'm starting to get excited about the holidays now. Especially since I just got the news that my mom is coming! YAY! She's coming AFTER Christmas, but that's okay because she's staying for nearly a month. Woot! And hopefully, my brother and Simone will be able to come up for at least a few of the days between Christmas & New Year's, too. Hope, hope!

Question for parents: how late do your kids stay up? (did I ask this before? or am I just having déjà vu?) If they stay up until 10 on a school night, what age were they when they were allowed to do so? There is some extremely fierce lobbying going on here, and I need ammo.

I've had a lot of anxiety this past year about not writing the way I want to write. But suddenly, I feel much calmer about it: if it's not coming, it's not coming. It's not going to stop me writing, dadgummit. At some point, it will surely be back (and no, I didn't just call you Shirley).

Really Great Writing Out There Right Now: What's so great about literacy and education?

Awesome Eyes: Owl in a box

One jack-o-lantern is moldering, his grinny grimace drooping down to the pavement. Time to bag them up and pitch them before I can't approach without gagging! Anyway, it's time to get them gone, because I plan on pulling out the holiday decorations in another couple of weeks. I already have advent calendars ready for both kids for the first time in...ever. I was joking at work today with a friend that you can't sing Christmas carols until December and then saw that someone in the next office building over already has one of the triangular Swedish Advent lights lit up in the their window. I'm pretty sure you can be expelled from Sweden for things like that. Even our local grocery store already has Christmas stuff for sale, though they at least haven't actually started decorating the premises yet.

Things People Have Said About Me Lately:
"I thought I'd ask you because you have a database in your head and know everything."
"Mama äger att måla! (Mama rules at painting!)
"You're exceptionally weird, even for an American."

Cracking Me Up:
Liz: Karin, what the hell is this mess? Come and clean this up! You don't need to leave this stuff all over the place.
Karin: Sorry.
Liz: Sorry isn't good enough.
Karin: *without missing a beat* Oh please my darling mother, I promise it will never happen again, I grovel before you and apologize.
Liz: That's better.
Liz & Karin: *giggle madly*

Martin's room renovation is proceeding apace. Anders has spackled and removed the last remnants of wallpaper glue which Martin & I missed (there might have been some implications about our patience level in there somewhere). BUT the wallpaper set that Martin picked out has turned out to be too expensive. So, I'm going to paint the trees myself. Martin has chosen the colors: a natural palette of soft greens and browns, and now we just have to get moving so we can get this all done before the holidays. I don't think it will be done before we host Thanksgiving, though, more's the pity.

ALL OVER THE MAP WITHOUT A PADDLE

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:17:22 GMT

Gah. I feel subject-less, blocked, empty of title and content and meaning. I can't make up another meme, can I? Well, I suppose I could, but credibility, wherefore art thou?

What I really want: another day to sleep in, a 3-day weekend, maybe some vacation. A dark den for hibernation. Everyone at work is talking about what days they will be taking off during the holidays but I just grimace: none. My colleague is going on his honeymoon over Christmas and New Year's and I am working. If my mom decides to come, and if she does, if my brother also decides to come, I will have to try and figure out a way to either work from home or finagle a few days off.

Something I don't appreciate: being asked, whether consciously or not, to defend the entire American system and way of thinking. I don't think that I am a typical American, although I guess I am, when I'm the only one some people ever really meet or get to know. I don't like talking politics or ideologies with ANYONE, much less feeling like I represent any sort of stance because of my citizenship. I know that every expat faces that situation at some point during their overseas tour but it still gets my goat, every time.

Lots of people spend their online time and build their online presence by getting very passionate about causes and injustices and beliefs. Not me. My causes and injustices and beliefs are my own business. I may choose, once in awhile, to air something here, but most of the time I keep such things to myself. I don't expect my friends and readers to do the same, but I do expect them to respect the fact that I don't wear my heart on my blog, such at it were. What I think about the news headlines and hot button topics and topical issues is what I think about them. I don't feel any need, most of the time, to comment on them or engage in debate.

I thought flannel sheets would be cozy but too warm, but I find that I like them more and more the longer I use them. It's not really all that cold yet in the house; temperatures are supposed to be dropping this week, but so far I have found them not only cozy but quite comfortable and suspect that as it grows colder I will appreciate them all the more.

The urge to Christmas shop is upon me, but I have yet to receive ideas from my first family. I have lists (very long, expensive lists) from both my children, and the usual one-item list (very short, expensive list) from my husband. I am feeling the urge, for some reason, to get all my shopping over and done with so I can relax and spend my energy on not making and eating a million Christmas cookies this year.

The leaves are mostly off the trees now. Yesterday, while in town, the kids and I parked the car at Davidshallstorget and walked over to the Science Fiction Bookstore through the most beautiful carpet of small yellow maple leaves polka-dotted over darker, wetter shadow versions of themselves. All this and cobblestones, too. Now we can see though hedges and trees are assuming that stark outlined silhouette state that will be with us until the ice and snow hits, when they transform yet again into fairy-sparkle padded pillow versions of their summer selves.

I finished the book group book this morning, by giving up at 300+ pages and skimming the rest of it. I couldn't take any more. How A Confederacy of Dunces ever won the Pulitzer Prize is beyond me. Or any prize for that matter. It's unfathomable that it shares a prize with books like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath. Actually, when I look at the list of past Fiction winners for Pulitzer Prizes, it seems extremely uneven, so maybe it's just me. Did anyone like this book? I mean that is reading this and could answer me? Thankfully, the book I started this evening is already, after only a couple of chapters, scrubbing Dunce's excrescence from my mind, so no harm done.

For someone who had no idea what to write about when she started, this sure got long quick. Off to read in bed. Alas for not being able to sleep in tomorrow, though!

TRIPLETS

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:01:27 GMT

3 moods I was in today: manic, happy, aggravated

3 feelings I experienced today: bloating, amusement, affection

3 things I'm looking forward to this weekend: sleeping in, seeing Katrina, bookstore visit

3 things I need to accomplish this weekend: laundry, shopping for Father's Day, finishing the bookgroup book

3 things I keep wasting time on: Sword of Fargoal, Facebook, reading blogs

3 things that have made me happy lately: county-wide recycling pick-up program, a minus on the scale, that my friend's husband may get to go home from the hospital this weekend for a few hours

3 people I'm thinking of: Bryce, Melanie, my dad

3 places I wish I were: my mom's house in Michigan, Soliden, somewhere sunny

3 work-related tasks I did a lot of this week: presentation reviews, case study layouts, advertisement layouts & admin

3 people I wish had blogs: my mom, my brother, Becky

3 LJ'ers I'd like to meet in real life that I haven't yet:* gnostreah, jackiejj, kimbis

3 shamefully neglected projects: my family website, my collage book, my letter-writing

3 things I miss: vacation, that early-relationship glow, the eyesight I took for granted in my younger days

3 fruits I never get tired of: golden kiwis, clementines, red seedless grapes

3 things I'm glad don't actually exist in real life: dimension spiders, orcs, sparkly vampires

3 things I wish there would be an end to: health scares among my loved ones, the crappy weather, this list

3 ways to end this list: stop at 2, go to bed, triple-dog-dare YOU to your own list of triplets

*They're not the only ones, though.

BY CHANCE, MET; BY CHOICE, FRIENDS

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:57:29 GMT

What if we had never met? What would your life be like? Some of you might argue that, in fact, we never HAVE met, and some of you have only met me once or twice in person, but maybe the meeting of the minds that passes for frequent contact here is enough. Maybe it counts! For all the friends I've never met, and the ones I've only met a couple of times and all the ones that used to live nearby and whom I never now see, it must count for something, right?

What if you'd never come to that meeting? What if you'd never followed that link? What if you'd chosen to go to a different school or take a different class or move to another neighborhood? What if you hadn't gotten that job at the place where I worked? What if you had, but had decided, upon a few moment's first impression, that I wasn't someone you wanted to get to know? Our past is full of such moments, missed connections, near collisions, glancing blows to our experience.

If what we are is the sum of our experiences, and all the things that have happened to us, then that includes all the people that we have met, that we have interacted with, and most especially it must include those that are kin, whether by relation or likemindedness. How much poorer my life would be without the people who happened upon it, who added to its breadth and depth and who enrich it daily.

The family that let me grow and experiment, the teachers that let me stretch my mind and creativity, the friends that let me dare and dream and do. If we had never met, my life would have been so different. I would never have learned HTML if I'd never met YOU. I would never have learned how unconventional I was at heart if I'd never met YOU. If YOU and I had never met, I wouldn't have learned how to take words and twist them in my grasp until they formed a shape that reflected my heart. Every one of you has given me something, added something to me, showed me something I didn't know, answered a need I had.

If I hadn't trusted a friend, I would never have met Anders. If I hadn't met Anders I would never have moved back to Europe, learned a new language, conceived and carried Martin and Karin. Imagine! I might have fallen in love with someone else and had some other life. Or I might never have met anyone whose heart matched my own and my life would have been infinitesimally less blessed.

What if YOU and I had never met? It's unthinkable.

Big Bouquets of Belated Birthday Wishes to vember!

YOU'RE NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:03:34 GMT

There's my motivation! I found it! It was lurking...in my brain. Always the last place you look, eh?

Things I did at work today:
Watered the plants, confimed procedures with a colleague on the phone, reviewed a flash card, ate breakfast, laid out 5 case studies, uploaded an updated datasheet and sent out a call for translation for localized versions, reviewed 5 presentations, made a new ad look better, sent out 4 ads to publications, ate a super salad for lunch, found a logo for someone, had a discussion about how best to do the next cheat sheet poster, farted around for 20 minutes while our awesome IT guy fixed my computer (2 new memory boards, 1 new graphics card with an extra fan), answered several questions, thanked someone for a job well done, finalized 9 enewsletters, fixed a typo on 31 enewsletters, updated the enews archive page, cancelled a dinner date, read and answered over 100 emails, finalized another ad and sent it for review...among other things. Productive!

We were supposed to go to the wallpaper/paint store after work but Anders got stuck helping someone and we wouldn't have made it before they closed, so we'll go on Wednesday instead. Martin's room renovation is in full swing. Instead I unloaded the dishwasher, made dinner, read 2 chapters, power-walked on the treadmill for 35 minutes and made a couple of phone calls. I have some other projects percolating in my brain right now...we'll see if they get started tonight or not.

Both kids had their H1N1 flu vaccine shots today and are walking around wincing any time they have to lift their arms. Karin has the most awesome sad "feel sorry for me" face ever. Is it wrong that I can't help laughing every time she tries it out on me?

Even though the weather was for shite today, it always seems like a good day when I have motivation, a good mood and a positive attitude. I get knocked down, but I get up again.

EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:29:27 GMT

If I went back and read through entries from former years written about this same time, I suspect that a theme of split restlessness and lethargy would be revealed. It's hard to understand how I can feel both so itchy to do something that I can't identify and sluggish and slow at the very same time. The weather is reflected my mood today: grim and gray and cantankerous, blowing this way and that.

The AWC Halloween party was a smash success, a record-busting bash. There were 213 people attending, the most we've ever had at any AWC event in our almost 12 year history. I think the most we've had before this was 180 and that was probably a Halloween Party, too. It was almost half and half adults to children ratio, and since we held it at a great playplace in Malmö, it was 3 hours of happy hyperness. Everything went smoothly and my costume was a success, though both Karin and Martin tossed their defining costume accessories off as soon as we got in the door and took off running. We saw them when it was time for dinner and when it was time for trick-or-treating, but otherwise they were just red-cheeked sweaty blurs in the distance.

I found a sun mask at the costume party place in town and wore a bright green shirt, to which I clipped big flowers in pink and white. I was a Sunny Day in the Garden, of course :) Martin borrowed my authentic French beret and wore a striped turtleneck and mustache. Karin wore a silver face mask and that was enough for her. Anders wasn't motivated enough to dress up this year.

And now it's into November and December and the holiday season has officially begun.

Hopefully the restlessness and hunger for whatever it is my brain is craving will be figured out soon and I can get on with the getting on.