How our days look now

It seems a bit strange to me, but the first time Chester and I had a day home on our own was the day he turned 4 weeks old. Greg was home with us for his first ten days (when we weren't at BB). And then my mom and step-dad were here up until the 4 week mark.

So now Chester and I just hang out for a good portion of the day.

Although I guess Chester is sleeping for most of our time together. He is starting to be awake for longer stretches of time, and I think it makes us both question what we are supposed to be doing with that time. He used to fall asleep while eating, sleep for a variable amount of time, wake up, get his diaper changed, then eat again and repeat. Now he doesn't fall asleep every time he is eating, so then we have time to stare at each other for awhile. Or get fussy. Sometimes we lie on our back and then on our tummy and then on our back again. Today we sat down and read half a storybook.

When Chester is asleep I like to attempt short and quick outings. Our first day together we took the bus to the store and bought taco supplies (it was a Friday) and took the bus back home, all within an hour. That was partly due to a perfectly timed return bus, for which we did a small bit of running to catch. Another day we met up with Greg to go to the library. We wanted to check out the children's section and also pick up Chester's free book, his gift for being born. They have lots of good places for feeding a baby, and a bathroom that is well-equipped for changing diapers. I plan to make use of these spaces whenever I am in town and in need.

When we are at home I've been having a good time getting Chester comfortable being worn in the wrap. Right now we both like it a lot. He likes to fall asleep while being worn, and I like to get laundry done (or blog?) while wearing the baby. Mutually beneficial. And hopefully good training for dancing in the future(: Priorities, you know(:

Plus, bonus, when I have the wrap tied on, but Chester isn't being worn, then I feel like Rey from Star Wars.

A good day

By 5pm it had already felt like a full day. A full day with plenty of good.

I started the day with Swedish class. I'm back again, going to class five hours a day. It was actually a huge ego boost to go back to the class. It had felt like I hadn't advanced much, but going to class made me realise that I really am much further along than when I last left off. So all is good there and hopefully before long I'll be able to take the final test and officially be finished.

On Fridays we finish at noon, so I got to meet up with Greg and some friends for lunch, which is always a good thing. It is rare that the full group is all able to make it due to traveling or meetings or what have you. So, extra nice today.

And after lunch I ventured to the library. I had a stack of books I needed to return, and a list of potential replacements. This year has been far and away my best reading year of my adult life. I figured I could only make a stellar reading year better by adding in a little Astrid Lindgren, in Swedish of course. I decided to try a few of her other books and wait on reading Pippi for the time being.

Other notable things about this good day:
1. I may have found purple maternity pants on a site like ebay, but please don't tell anyone, because I really want to win this auction.

2. There was a cat sitting in our backyard meowing super loudly, so I stuck my head out the window and called to it and it just stared at me and then resumed its loud meowing.

3. There is a local book club (in English) that I haven't gone to yet, because the books always seem a bit out there. The next one could be potentially really good, so fingers crossed for that.

4. When we are in the US there is an opportunity to go to a contra dance with Notorious, who I think is a super fantastic contra dance band.

5. I was sitting with my arm next to my belly and got a huge karate chop from our baby. Startling and awesome.

6. As I started to get hungry for dinner I remembered that last night I made double-dinner, so all I had to do was heat up some leftovers! Plus, tacos on friday, like a good Swede:)

Knitting and Reading; Reading and Knitting

My sportlov posts have made me realise that I am doing knitting and reading. I hadn't knit anything in a long time, so that is really the new element here. And this means I have now reached eligibility for the Yarn Along blog link-up, which I had previously only observed from a distance.

Photographic evidence of what I'm reading and what I'm knitting. Not pictured: my glee to have stumbled upon a legitimate reason to join such a lovely blog linkup.

Sportlov, day 2

What kind of sporting did you do on Tuesday Meghan?!

I'm so glad you asked.

1. Walking Greg to the office. I once again enjoyed the longer route through the woods home. I saw two dogs and a man on his balcony in a robe smoking a cigarette.

2. Duolingo. I can't keep my bars up, and I'm trying really hard to fix that this week. Here is an actual duolingo sentence:

Vargen hoppar över stolen.

It means:

The wolf jumps over the chair.

This is not the only gem I've gotten.

3. Knitting.

4. While listening to podcasts.

5. Fitness for core strength.

6. Cooking dinner. There is usually a pretty long turnaround time between when I find a recipe online and when I actually make it. However, when you have had an idea to make tomato soup in the back of your mind for months, and then a recipe that looks super good appears, there is just a one day turnaround. I'm happy to say that you would not regret it if you made this tomato soup. Top it with some avocado slices and you won't regret that either.

7. Reading.

This day was pretty much exactly like yesterday only different and better. Because, Tuesday!

Sportlov, day 1

It is sportlov this week. That means the sporting holiday. For all those living in Sweden who are called to the mountains for skiing and sport. Sportlov occurs on different weeks in different regions of Sweden so that the ski resorts have a nice, steady flow of sporters.

I'm not at a ski resort this week, but that won't stop me from compiling a list of my sporting activities for each day of this holiday. Here's Monday's lineup:

1. Walking Greg to the office. This consisted of exactly what it sounds like, a half hour of walking and talking with my husband. This was a nice return to our former daily routine. Plus on my way back home I took a slightly longer route and walked through the woods. I saw four dogs.

2. Knitting. I'm working on a knit tie for Greg. Jimmy Fallon is wearing them all the time, and I think they look so good. Hopefully I can make Greg's look similarly good.

3. Light household cleaning. Dishes. Sweeping. You know.

4. Podcast listening. This happens simultaneously with sports #2 and 3. I am super into the Invisibilia podcast right now. And I've been doing some This American Life and Radiolab.

5. Swedish studies with Duolingo.

6. Reading. I am on an Ian McEwan kick. I recently finished Sweet Tooth and then reserved The Children Act from the library. When it was available to pick up, I managed to also borrow two additional books of his. So it is a thing.

7. Fitness. I figured I better list the actual sporting last to give the appropriate impression of my sports list. I've been doing videos from Fitness Blender to strengthen my core. It is useful in life and dancing to have a strong core, but usually I'm so physically tired at the end of a day of dancing that I couldn't possibly think about doing anything else. So during vacation week I am dedicating a little bit of every day to core fitness. Ta Da.

Recombobulating

I just finished reading The Secret Garden, which was such a perfect choice for me. I had never read it before, but had seen the movie. It was a lovely little book, and I read it at the perfect time of year. It feels like spring here. Although officially it is spring in Sweden? I guess they don't care about the equinox, but just start saying it is spring after reaching a threshold of consecutive warm days. 

For all the miserable cold that has been happening in the US, it has been just the opposite in Sweden. The winter was unseasonably warm, and the little snow we had gotten has been melted for several weeks. Yesterday was a perfectly warm day with lovely blue skies. 

In the name of 'spring cleaning' Greg and I washed our windows and did a bit of dusting and oven cleaning. I bought purple tulips, and we've put away the Christmas decorations (I guess we were a little late on that one). Broth is simmering on the stove, and my old world woman aspirations are soaring. 

7QT - tiny cup photo, reading, dancing, and food (and working all night long)

- 1 -

Oh yeah.

Stylish Bruins players who must be thinking 'why is my cup so tiny?'

- 2 -

Alternatively, in the above photo, you might have noticed that nice outdoor wooden dance floor. I certainly did.

- 3 -

I'm not really proud to admit it, but right now I am reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Two years ago I tried to read these books, only I messed it up and accidentally read the second book thinking it was the first. As I was reading I figured out my mistake after realizing that the author was writing as though the characters had already been introduced to me. So then after reading book #2, I basically already knew what happened in book #1 and figured it wouldn't be as exciting, so I just went on to #3.

So now, two years later, I figured that since I couldn't even remember what happened in the books I did read, hopefully that would mean I had forgotten any spoilers to the first book. This way I could essentially start over. Except that once I started reading I sort of remembered at least one big outcome. Although I don't know how the outcome comes to be, and that almost seems to make it more thrilling? I don't know. Either way, I hate being so engaged by a book that is sort of a cheap thrill, but engaged I am.

Oh! My favorite part is that living in Sweden for a year has taught me some cultural context which I never would have picked up on before. For example, when the guy goes to live in a cabin that is not very well equipped, the author writes that there was not even a cheese slicer with the kitchen appliances. The essentiality of the cheese slicer to Swedes is a thing worth knowing.

- 4 -

Here are some thoughts on dancing, because a week wouldn't be complete without it. (Except for last week, because I had to miss dance to go to my first Swedish lesson.)

At the weekly dance sessions, I would classify several regulars as extremely good dancers. It is really nice to be able to dance well with someone, and it is interesting to see how certain dances work better with different people. When I first started dancing I was told that the best dancers will make you feel like you are doing everything right without any help from them. So when I end up dancing with certain people (ahem, like perhaps the person doing the instruction for the dance) I automatically know that if things aren't working out, it is really most likely to be my fault. Sometimes it is easy to start thinking that I've got the hang of a thing, and then we rotate and I start stepping all over the next person. Plus, even before the dance starts, just knowing that my partner is far better than I am makes me nervous, which causes me to be less good than I ought to be.

So, that is an interesting thing that I like to think about.

- 5 -

Have you ever bought a vanilla bean? I just bought the first vanilla bean of my life. Technically I got a pack of two. I should take a photo maybe, because they came in this long skinny tube. I feel like I just joined an elite club. The vanilla bean buyers. You should seriously try it.

- 6 -

Today is the Swedish National Cinnamon Bun day - kanelbullens dag. While still a fairly young holiday (introduced in 1999), it is certainly much loved by the people.

- 7 -

I'm running out of topics here, so let's talk about work. I am finally one of those physicists who uses a computer program that takes hours upon hours to run, so I can set it running, and just walk away (or go to sleep or whatever) and then I can brag about how I worked All Night Long! Seriously. 6pm last night until 6am this morning were incredibly productive.

- The End and The Linkup -

7QT: prepare to brew edition (also the no-photo edition, sorry)

- 1 -

I updated my About page. Ta Da.

- 2 -

I maintain that Conan O'Brien's Dartmouth commencement speech was the best ever commencement speech. (Here for reference.) And even though I didn't graduate until the following year, I still sort of claim it as my own. The woman who gave ours was lovely and accomplished and perfectly deserving of giving a Dartmouth commencement speech, but because I am a horrible person the only thing I remember her saying is a comment on how unfortunate it is to be the person following Conan's speech. Right.

So anyhow, that is not the point of this quick take. The point is that I saw the transcript of this commencement speech on kindness, which was really a great thing to read. I highly recommend it.

"what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving"

- 3 -

This weekend, we brew! The big surprise I got for Greg before he arrived in Sweden was homebrew equipment. It seems a little odd to buy new equipment, since we had equipment in NH, but it was actually more economical to buy new than to ship. Plus the resale value of the equipment will be quite good, from what I can tell. We found a recipe for a rye-wheat, so hopefully that turns out to be delicious!

- 4 -

That means tonight, we clean! The apartment is still pretty clean, because I spent a lot of time cleaning before Greg got here, but clutter has gathered and recycling needs to be recycled and whatnot.

- 5 -

Here are some old blog posts about our previous brewing experiences. (Note two of these are written by Greg.)

- 6 -

Today my library book is due. I really really like taking trips to the public library. So many books, just waiting to be read!

- 7 -

Last year I bought a waterproof backpack cover from a sporting goods store, but it ended up being too small. Luckily, Greg's backpack is smaller than mine, so it fit his perfectly. I've gone without for a long time now, sticking to the put-my-stuff-in-a-plastic-bag-inside-my-backpack trick. But I figured it was time to get a cover. I ordered a size small after debating between the small versus the extra small for a long time and reading a lot of conflicting reviews saying the listed dimensions were larger/smaller than actuality. Needless to say, it is about three times larger than it needs to be, but luckily it sinches waaayyyy down. I am pretty sure I could fit inside of it.

- The End and The Linkup -