Have a little read through this post, replacing every instance of “furry shoes” with “those cool sandals,” and you’ll have a pretty good idea of how I spent yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately for Lydia, I’m even less likely to buy her a pair of Crocs than I was to buy furry boots, if for no other reason than that they’re crazy expensive.

I know, all of you who live in the States think that I must be some kind of miser not to shell out twenty or thirty bucks for a quality pair of shoes for my kid, but like so many other things, these shoes are three or four times as expensive here in Sweden than they are in the U. S. of A. I’ve never thrown down a hundred semoleans on a pair of shoes for myself, and I can wear a pair of shoes for years, so I’m not about to spend that much on any item of clothing for someone so fickle about fashion as Lydia is. Though, the fact that she and I wear the same size shoes these days does bear a certain amount of consideration — if she did get a pair and later got tired of them, I suppose I could take them over for myself (forgetting for the moment, of course, that I don’t like them). And Lydia does have her tenth birthday coming up, and “even” birthdays (turning 10, 20, 30, etc.) are extra-special in Sweden. Even with all that, I just can’t see my way to buying them, not at this price. I did just send a missive off to my mom, however, letting her know that if she’d like to take over the Croc-hunting from her post in the Land of Reasonable Prices, her efforts wouldn’t go unappreciated. We’ll see how it turns out.

And on the subject of birthdays, I did want to assure you all that Petra didn’t have so traumatic a time as the picture I posted would suggest. It was the assembled revelers’ rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” that prompted the tears and wailing. Once Olof took over and plied her with some birthday cake, her good humor was restored. Wasn’t that a great picture, though? Here’s another:

After the party had pretty much died down, Petra and Debbie’s little boy, Edwin, got some quality playing time in.

By early evening, all the excitement caught up with her, and she had to take some down time.