The kids were out of school this whole past week for fall break, and it was a lovely week for it, weather-wise. Or it would have been, if we hadn’t all been in various stages of sickness all week long. Luckily, it wasn’t anything more serious than a sore-throat-and-cough kind of virus, but it was… Read More Weekend update

The scene: Tage and Petra, both feeling poorly, are lying on the couches watching TV. Tage changes to a different program. Petra, whining: I don’t like this one, Tage. Tage: I don’t like it either. Petra: Then why are we watching it? Tage: I don’t know.

Tonight’s the night we change back the clocks and go back to winter time, which means that tomorrow it will be dark by four in the afternoon. Other than that, I have to say that it doesn’t feel much at all like winter’s on the way. The temperatures have been mild, up in the 40s… Read More Fall back

I’m having a hard time accepting that this Olof-working-away-from-home thing is our new reality. I keep feeling like it’s just something to get through, a hurdle we have to climb over before we can get back to normal, to him here at home with us every day, but it looks instead like it’s something that’s… Read More How long ’til retirement?

Today is her name day, and while I usually make cupcakes for the kids on their name days, I think the babe will have to wait until next year, at least, for such a sugary treat. It was actually this time last year that I discovered her name, seeing it for the first time on… Read More Yrsa

Generally speaking, Swedish kids spend far fewer hours in the classroom than their American counterparts. While all-day kindergarten is the norm these days in the States (or so I hear), kindergarteners here are in school for only 18 hours per week. Different schools use different schedules, but here in our little town, Petra and her… Read More Different

I spend a lot of time sitting in front of the computer with a sleeping baby on my lap, and after I’ve taken all my turns in Scrabble and played as much Bejeweled Blitz as I can stand, I surf around, all too often to food sites. As it turns out, many of my friends… Read More I scream, you scream