Petra’s quite taken lately with the Playhouse Disney program, Lazy Town, and tonight at bedtime she asked for a pair of Stephanie pajamas.  Tage laughed dismissively and told her there wasn’t any such thing.  I guess she’ll have the last laugh when the pair I just found on eBay arrives in the mail.

Surprisingly, after last night, things were good between Lydia and me today.  There were no harsh words between us at all this morning, and when she came home from school she cleaned up the living room then set the table for dinner, all without being asked.  Even better, she willingly did a few little chores… Read More A better day

Lydia needs to learn that if she’s going to complain to her friends about how stupid and mean I am, she really should save it until she’s out of earshot.

Here in Sweden, Father’s Day is celebrated this weekend, so we were invited down to my in-laws’ house for a family fika (coffee and dessert), followed a couple of hours later by a surströmming dinner.  Because she is the kindest woman on the planet, my mother-in-law not only gave me a pass for the dinner… Read More Something fishy

I had thought we might stay up all night watching election results, but by about two o’clock I was really longing for my pillow.  I managed to keep my eyes open until three-thirty–long enough to make sure that we wouldn’t wake up to any nasty surprises in the morning–and after Pennsylvania was called we turned… Read More It’s a start.

I’m just sitting here on tenterhooks like every other American and much of the rest of the world. I don’t expect I’ll sleep much tonight.

After more than a year of being able to spell only his own and Olof’s names, Tage has recently mastered the writing of mine as well.  For the past couple of weeks I’ve been finding scraps of paper all over the house with my name written in his kindergartener’s hand and a sprinkling of hearts… Read More Freud would have a field day with this, but I just think it’s sweet.