It's Crush On Husband Friday

I like fried chicken,
you know it's true.
But there's no sweeter meat
in the world than you!

Lyrics borrowed from Nina Simone's "Gimme Some", snow courtesy of Swedish permafrost, loving wife model's own.

She Knows Her Stuff

Can't wait for tomatoes and sun shining through lacy curtains.
Can't wait.
I'm going through withdrawal, looking through this summer's photos.

But February has it's moments. Like my baby throwing herself at me today, full frontal:
"Let go of the phone, we're going to hug!"
Mindfulness, Blanka style.

Cornwall Calling (I Think)

Dear British readers (all three of you),

We are spending two weeks in Cambridge this summer and are hoping to extend our stay in England with an additional week in Cornwall. Yay! But where should we stay? Since we'll travel by train (and with children, ahem) I was thinking that maybe we should look into the Polperro area, rather than say Land's End. Is this a good idea? Or do you know the perfect fisherman's village, where we could rent a cottage, dip our feet in the water and have some Pimm's? Lemme know, darling Brits!

Luv,
A.

So Far So Very Good

People ask me how is Everything.
And I say that Everything is the best thing I ever did.
Happy Monday.

Hello Friday

It seems our weeks are made up of Fridays alone.
I don't get it.
We run from Monday 'til Friday and then it's Friday again.
How is this possible?

I hope the weekend will bring you all kinds of comforts and joys.
Mine holds driving lessons and lasagna.
And hopefully a little time doing nothing.
The rest is yet to come, and babe won't that be fine.

Random On This Wednesday

My friend Emi hasn't blogged for a while and one of her readers wrote "Take your time, we'll be here" in the comments section. People are good. And kind.

We have so much snow here that I feel like I can't burden you with any more winter shots. It's crazy, let's just leave it at that. Crazy and cold.

I finally got around to ordering some books from amazon. Thanks for helping out with the inspiration. (God, I took my time, didn't I?)

Tomorrow I'll finally get to meet Marylove's baby. His name's Erik. But she's offered to name him Erik Anna Elisabeth, in honour of Rebecca and myself. The jury's still out on that one.

We finally watched "The kids are allright" last night. Julianne Moore is a goddess, what can I say.

My parents are coming to town this weekend. You already know this, but allow me to repeat myself: I love it when they're here.

The driver's license is almost within reach. And since this is the way I work, I'm freaking out on the finish line. I've lived in suburbia without a license these last 18 months, but it hasn't been killing me until this week. Gaaah.

I'm too tired to write proper letters and e-mails and it's a shame, because I'd really like to.

My best friend is in Mexico with my godson (and his baby brother and the gorgeous father). I miss them. Come home soon, you globetrotter you.

Tomorrow Jesper's making lasagna. I won't get to eat it until Sunday and that will be quite the trial, my friends.

I'll let you go now. I can't thank you enough for coming here.
Bonne nuit, sweet dreams, godnatt.

Unexpected Valentine

The best part of the day was finding myself being surprise-recommended on LinkedIn. Yes, I can hear myself. And I know LinkedIn is a far cry from Wuthering Heights, everything Austen and even poor Jane Eyre. But is was so sweet and kind and such a surprise that it almost had me in tears. What an exceptionally gracious thing to do. To recommend someone and describe them as the bee's knees. If that's not a Valentine, I don't know what is. Thank you so much, young master Björn. That was a great thing to do.

Blurry Bunny Fever

Maybe one day for the benefit of your eyes (and tempers), I will stop using the iPhone as my main camera and learn how to do a proper job with a real one. Maybe that very same day you will no longer have to endure the masses of blurry pictures I have been torturing you with lately. Maybe one day. Not today, though.

Last weekend the kids and I explored the Beatrix Potter exhibition at Millesgården. I was a bit apprehensive at first ("what if it's 'only' an art show? what if they can't touch anything? what if there's no coffee?"), but it was so brilliant that I'd like to take them back tomorrow (only my mother would never speak to me again, she wants to take them herself).

There were clothes to try on, vegetables to harvest, fish to catch, eggs to find and plenty of books to read. We sat down on velvety pillows under a pretty tree and just read and read. Everything was lovely. Pretty. Sweet. And that, my friends, was just what the doctor ordered.

"I just LOVE Beatrix Potter!" Wilhelm exclaimed yesterday. "I mean, I don't have a crush on her or anything, that would be really weird. But I love her paintings. Everything's so... pretty." Coming from my dinosaur-bakugan-pokemon-shark-lego-monster-lover, that was quite something.

That said, can I just say that I find her stories, ehum, a little boring? Is that sacrilege? Please forgive me if so. I love the illustrations, sugary sweet as they may be, I love the ballet, I love the, ehum again, merchandise (please forgive me again, readers of greater intellect and more acquired tastes). But the stories? They are a little bit on the dullish side, are they not?

Anyway. Since this magnificent excursion the kids have had bunny fever and keep asking me if Easter is anytime soon. They keep talking Peter Rabbit and playing Jemima Puddleduck like there was no tomorrow. And if that doesn't say "Well done, Millesgården!", I don't know what does. Funnily enough, they haven't asked me to read them anything Potterish even once...

Bleak Midwinter? Check.

I pull her home through the storm and it's like walking through the Blair Witch Project.
When she sings it's ok. And when she cries it's ok. But every time she stops I have to turn around and make sure she's still there.
I've never felt closer to Laura Ingalls.
When I finally open the gate at home she falls off the sleigh. On the front steps she breaks down and howls like a wolf. "I have snow INSIDE! And my HAIR is cold!"
I don't think we've ever been this wet without swimming.
We enter the house shaking and when I start to pull off her layers she falls into my lap, laughing.
Apparently I look funny. Like, very funny. Like, laughing beyond control funny.
I put on the Babar film and the teapot and seconds after her brother runs up the steps.
Now all of us are home. Eating knäckebröd and putting on dry clothes and lighting a fire.
We are not going out again anytime soon.

Monday

I've kept thinking it's Monday since, well, Monday.
My weeks seem to be circular.
And everyone seems to be knitting, did you notice?
Of course you did.
We're eating lots of soups and stews but keep forgetting to light a fire in the evenings.
It's like we're done with winter, but winter's so not done with us.
The street is covered in ice.
I fell yesterday, not elegantly. Ploff.
We made valentine's. Quite possibly the ugliest valentine's ever made. It was lovely.
Those little ugly things made my heart sing.
Nothing says I love you like glitter and glue and a kitchen floor covered in paper and paint.
It's February over here.
So very February.

This Weeks Eats

The weekly menus have moved! If you're fluent in Swedish you may enjoy them here: http://thisweekseats.tumblr.com/
If you're not, and feel you miss out on this new deal, let me know. Your wish is my command.
Happy Sunday night, dear all.

Dear February

You are not too easy on the eye.

Extra Curricular

Some days call for hot dogs. This particular one did. And we got the added bonus of watching grown men swim perfectly nekkid in the icy water. Nekkid! (A sauna close by.) The kids especially were thrilled with that. Jesper was not thrilled with the children and I playing on the ice, so that had to stop. But it was a good three minutes! And he is right, of course. I just love that feeling of walking on top of a lake. Love it. But will control my impulses these days of thawing, I promise.

Update
For the most dedicated and interested friends of Leo, I'd like to announce the following: The Missus had her baby! We have a baby boy! Ok, she and her husband do. But still. He feels at least two parts mine. On Monday I will see him and oh joy, what a happy thing that is.

Update 2
Not really an update, no. I'd just like to say Thank You. When you comment it makes me happier than you can imagine. Thank you. Thank you for coming here and reading nonsense and finding the time to say you actually enjoy it. You are good people. And I'm very lucky.