This afternoon, cabin fever setting in and our cupboards nearly bare, Olof and I packed off the three older kids to various friends and family members and headed to town to do some grocery shopping. We hadn’t given a great deal of consideration to what we’d buy–I wasn’t thinking beyond cat food, kitty litter, and… Read More Problem solved

Today has been just what a Saturday should be: I slept in, got up around ten and made some cookies and puttered around, had friends over for coffee and goodies, took a nap, ate dinner, and am now preparing to watch Miss Marple and eat chips. Doesn’t get much better.

I am so over dinner, honestly.  There are just so few meals to make that everyone–or even the majority of us–will eat.  On those days that I do actually stir my stumps enough to prepare something, I most often cook for Olof and the kids and then I eat something else entirely (toast, cereal, yogurt,… Read More What’s wrong with beans and rice, anyway?

I can’t say for sure how much of it is due to her and how much due to us–she is our fourth child, after all–but Brynja is a ridiculously easy baby. I’d elaborate, but there’s really not much to elaborate on; she eats well, she sleeps well, she’s happy when she’s awake, she’s peaceful when… Read More Two months, two days

Petra and I braved the elements this afternoon and headed over to the öppna förskolan, or “open pre-school.”  Most towns in Sweden have at least one of these, generally run by the church or the county, where parents who are home with young children can take the kids to play and meet up with other… Read More School lunch

And not the kind from Dairy Queen, unfortunately.  It snowed all last night and most of the day, and though the temperatures haven’t been too, too cold, the weather has been nasty and blowy.  Where’s my spring?

For whatever reason, Petra’s verbal skills have always been markedly more developed than her siblings’ were at her age. Well before she reached age two, she was putting together long, grammatically correct sentences in English, and she’s gotten only more advanced since then. Olof and I are surprised nearly every day at some new thing… Read More Copycat

I have a recurring dream.  Or, my dreams have a recurring theme. Every few weeks or so I dream that I’ve found myself unexpectedly and inexplicably back in the States, and I’m struggling.  My adversary might be my old, horrible job, or my crazy and threatening ex-husband, or the mounting stack of bills that I… Read More If I had a therapist, I’m sure she’d have a field day with this.

This picture illustrates perfectly the personalities of my dogs, Asbjørn relaxed and calm* and Lucy anxious and watchful. *unless Farmor is in the vicinity — then all bets are off