I overheard this conversation between my daughter and her friend this afternoon as they were putting on fake tattoos: Sandra, importantly: My dad has two tattoos. REAL tattoos. Lydia, unimpressed: Yeah, my mom has five. Sandra, wide-eyed: Can I see?

The weather has taken a decided turn toward the chilly and I fear that Autumn’s days are numbered up here in the Great White North. It’s getting dark around six o’clock in the evening now, and we haven’t even set our clocks back yet. It won’t be long until Lydia’s going to school before it’s… Read More Tuesday

I just finished up printing and folding the invitations for Lydia’s Halloween party. There’s been some uncertainty about whether the date conflicts with some other kiddie event, but we couldn’t get any firm details about the other shindig, so I decided just to go ahead and stick with what we’ve got planned. We’re inviting sixteen… Read More Sunday

So the promised package did indeed arrive yesterday morning, promptly at seven o’clock, and it was, as expected, a birthday package from Lydia’s biological father (mailed four weeks after her birthday, despite his having promised her two weeks before her birthday–in his first phone call this year–that he was getting her presents and sending them… Read More Saturday

Tage really needs more fiber in his diet. He gets constipated about once a week, on average, and it’s no fun for any of us (least of all for him, I’ve no doubt). Just now it’s getting close to midnight and we’d all like to go to bed, but Tage won’t–or can’t, I suppose–settle down… Read More Thursday

I went to the dentist today, as summoned, for my annual checkup, and my teeth were presented with a clean bill of health. I love going to the dentist, because from the time I was 12 until I was 29 and had been entered onto the rolls of Swedish residents, I had been to the… Read More Tooth Tales

We’re very last-minute at Mosaic Minds this time around and there’s a bit of a frenetic feel in the air for all of us. The saving grace is that each of us seems to be as bad as the next when it comes to pushing the limits of the deadlines, so there aren’t any resentments… Read More Tuesday

My computer mouse bit the dust a couple of days ago and I’ve been reduced to using an old, scroll-less mouse. Oh, the horror of scroll-less-ness. Last week I would have told you that I hardly used the scroll button and that any old mouse that worked would suit me fine, but oh, was I… Read More Monday

We made a trip out to the overstock store, Överskottsbolaget, this afternoon, and as usual found plenty of things that we didn’t need but just had to have. My best purchase, I think, was a new chew rope for Asbjørn, who simply adores chew ropes. And this wasn’t just any chew rope; it was a… Read More Sunday

I signed up today as a participant in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. I first heard of it last year when Carrie and Kisha were gearing up to write their novels, and I thought briefly about giving it a shot myself, but was ultimately daunted by thought of having to write, on average, about… Read More Saturday