It’s the time of year for the stomach flu, or, as it’s charmingly called in Swedish, the “winter vomiting sickness” (vinterkräksjukan). Most often we get through unscathed, but this past week hasn’t been a pretty one chez nous. I was struck first, early Sunday morning, and spent all of New Year’s Eve making bathroom runs.… Read More Sick

This is good: This is better:

When I was in college I worked part-time at the circulation desk of the local public library. One day when I was checking in magazines, the cover of the new Rolling Stone caught my eye. It pictured an up-and-coming band whose debut album I’d recently bought and liked, so I set the magazine aside and… Read More Blast from the past

This one recorded by Olof: “I put on Playhouse Disney and after a couple of minutes Higglytown Heroes came on. Tage said, ‘This show is not good for kids, change the channel.’ I asked why and he said, ‘They don’t have any legs. I need a show where they have legs.’” One can’t help but… Read More More fun with Tage

The melodrama, I mean. Tage is very resistant to going to sleep in his bed by himself, and lately we’ve been taking a sort of tough-love approach to bedtime, with varying results.  Last night was one of the less successful efforts.  He spent close to an hour crying and wailing and, frankly, getting on my… Read More It runs in the family.

Today was the worst day of Lydia’s life, worse than all the previous ten worst days, which, incidentally, were all in the month of December. For the past several months, to hear her tell it, each day has been worse than the last. And not only was today the worst day ever, I also ruined… Read More Melodrama much?

I’ve let posting go so long now that even claiming post-NaBloPoMo slump is pushing it a bit. What we’ve got here is just plain old laziness. For all of you who were wondering, Olof did indeed get his Wii yesterday. He actually went to the game store on Thursday night at 11:30pm so he could… Read More Saturday

The Nintendo Wii is due to be released in Sweden next Friday, and the excitement in this house has reached fever pitch. Olof pre-ordered one nearly three months ago, and he can hardly contain himself now that the big day is almost here. A few minutes ago he made me watch a ten-minute-long Legend of… Read More Wii will, Wii will … cost you!