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Re-scheduling

I have always been a person who needs a lot of sleep. When I was in high school, long past the age of a set bedtime, I went to bed at 9:30pm on school nights. My freshman year in college I foolishly scheduled an 8:00am class, and it took me all of one week to… Read More Re-scheduling

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It’s official!

We got a paper in the mail yesterday confirming Lydia’s name change, so we’re all officially Tjerngrens now! It feels a bit anti-climactic after having waited for so long, but it’s still nice. Now we just have to get it switched over at school, the doctor’s office, etc. On the subject–sort of–of doctors, I had… Read More It’s official!

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Inskolning*

Tage’s in the middle of his pre-school orientation, which means that he and I go in from 9 to 11 every morning so that he can play and get a feel for things.  We started last week, and on Friday I was able to leave him and go home for a little while.  This morning,… Read More Inskolning*

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By any other name

Close to a year ago we sent an application to the tax authority requesting that Lydia’s last name be changed. There are a few reasons we did this, the most compelling (in my opinion) being that we don’t want her to be the only one in the family with a different last name. After a… Read More By any other name

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Civic Duty

Today is election day in Sweden, and we’ve got what CNN is calling a “knife-edge” race.  I’ve been particularly interested in this election because it’s the first one since I’ve been eligible to vote myself, and I must confess to getting a little thrill at the polling place earlier today when I placed my vote.… Read More Civic Duty

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Language Lesson

Olof is working, Petra is sleeping, Tage is watching TV, Lydia is playing at a friend’s house, and me … how am I making use of this unexpected bit of free time? Not at all well, I’m afraid. I could be reading or writing or cooking or cleaning or performing any number of worthwhile tasks,… Read More Language Lesson

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Exhale

So finally the kids’ birthday season is done for this year, and I have 10½ months of breathing space before it starts up again. The highlights of Lydia’s birthday (at least from my perspective) were to-die-for apple pies with homemade vanilla sauce and bowling in funny hats. I think the bowling was high on Lydia’s… Read More Exhale