For the past four years–minus the last trimester of my pregnancy with Petra and a few months post-partum–I’ve been taking the anti-depressant Zoloft for depression and anxiety issues.  I can’t overstate the difference it’s made in my life (and in the lives of my family), but the time has come in this pregnancy for me… Read More Drug-free

It’s been snowing lightly all day, and we’ve got a pretty good cover out on the lawn now. In preparation for what’s surely to come, we drove to town earlier in the day and bought Tage a new pair of good quality snowboots (and I have to admit that I’m more amused by the brand… Read More Winter tidbits

Camera! I want the camera! I want to see pictures! Let me have it! Pleeeeeaaaaase?

*The resident two-year-old’s pronunciation of the name “Asbjørn.”

I suppose we can say that winter is here now, since we woke this morning to the first snow of the season and Olof put the studded tires on the car this afternoon.   I’m never going to be a true fan of winter, but honestly, I can take it a whole lot better when it… Read More Change of seasons

Yesterday evening Lydia’s 4-H club had a six-hours-long Halloween party in town, so Olof and I imposed yet again on his parents and left our little ones at their house so that he and I could get dinner and see a movie while Lydia was doing the party thing.  While it was very nice for… Read More Date night

This morning when I got up and went out from the bedroom, I was dazzled by the rays of light streaming in through the kitchen windows. Inexplicably, as it’s a song I’ve not thought of or heard for years, I started humming “My Old Kentucky Home” (you know, “the sun shines bright on my old… Read More But I’m from Idaho!

I don’t generally identify myself as a vegetarian because, while it’s not a daily–or even a weekly–occurrence, I do eat some meat now and then.  You will never, for example, see me turning my nose up at bacon, and upon occasion I’ll eat some turkey breast.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I might as… Read More Dilemma

On Angela’s recommendation, I ordered this book last week and received it in the mail the day before yesterday. I read it in one sitting that same night, and started implementing the “four steps” immediately. Now, I don’t want to tout it as a miracle cure, and I’m aware that we are only two days… Read More Asking the experts