Is is just me, or is “purple heart” an inappropriate name for the color of a Crayola crayon?

My hands are so cold I can hardly type. I wanted to get at least 2500 words written on my book tonight (I’ve fallen behind again, I’m ashamed to admit), but my resolve petered out after 1423. It’s just too, too cold in here to stay much longer. Winter has finally arrived up here, and… Read More Sub-zero

Have I ever told you that I make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? No? You might think that you make the best, or that your mother or grandmother or even Mrs. Fields does, but you’d be wrong. It’s me — I make the best ones. There’s a secret, you see, and because… Read More Tuesday

After lagging behind in my NaNoWriMo daily word goal for the past six days, I’m nearly caught up again! I wrote 3000+ words both yesterday and today, and if I do the same tomorrow than I’ll be back on track. I can’t tell you how good that feels. It does get me down a little… Read More Monday

I don’t have many nervous habits, I don’t think, but one thing that I do do when I get stressed or anxious is to pick at the skin on my lips. I’ve done it as long as I remember, and even though it hurts like hell I can’t seem to break the habit. I’ve reached… Read More Saturday

We really need to get our sleep schedules on track here, especially since we’re going to be adding a new baby to the mix next summer. Last night I was so tired that I went to bed shortly after Tage–miracle of miracles–fell asleep at eight o’clock. Then I woke up when Olof came to bed… Read More Sleep-deprived

Not that it got a chance to be much of a secret, considering that I could keep it to myself for only two days (and then only moderately successfully), but here you have it: I’m pregnant! I figure I’m due mid-July, so it’s still early days yet, but where I come from we like to… Read More In which the secret is revealed

So somehow I did something to my knees a month or so ago and the pain just wouldn’t go away, so I finally went to the doctor this morning. He poked and prodded around and determined that it was a lingering inflammation for which he gave me a cortisone shot in each knee. Within a… Read More Tuesday

I’m afraid that NaNoWriMo has stolen all of my words. I’ve met my daily goal (1,667 words) on each of the eight days of the “contest,” but some days only just barely and the effort is leaving me tapped out. Today was another glorious day up here in Norra Västerbotten. The weather has been so… Read More Monday