My Latest Teenage Girl Crush

Is it okay to still have teen crushes when you're married with children?

As far as I'm concerned, Tim Minchin is the best thing since sliced bread, and I have to thank Kel D. for introducing us. Thanks darlin'. He's not as cute as my husband, but I'm definitely seeing possibilities with eyeliner here. Mikael?

This is my favorite version of this particular song. It's ruefully beautiful, and funny. And I'm singing it all. the. time. And shedding a little tear, because it goes straight through to the heart, and blah blah blah, just watch it!!!

Three Hours

We've had three hours of sunshine this November. So far. Um...it's worse in Greenland? Maybe?

I hate the cliché of Monday, because Mondays are usually just fine in my book, but I've had to take extra steps to keep the troops (me) at the office happy.

Like this picture of my family of sleepyheads yesterday morning. Awwww.



And this picture of me looking fabulously ridiculous.



And this desktop wallpaper from National Geographic is keeping me in artificial sunshine these days.
Tip: to find beautiful wallpapers from NG, just google "national georgraphic wallpaper" followed by what you'd like a picture of, ex. "morocco", "iceland", "elephants" etc. I find beautiful wallpapers of their excellent photographs to keep me going that way.

Honest Scrap

It's been ages since I was tagged with an award, and this one is so pretty and red I can't resist. It's for bloggers who express themselves honestly, and I'm really glad someone appreciates me for that. That someone is Fe in Australia, and she's also just about as honest as they come. My obligations with this award are to tell ten things about myself, and tag another three bloggers. The last one's easy enough, but the first one might be a little hard, since I'm usually pretty good at spilling the beans and I dare say you people know everything anyways. Let's see.

1) I like puppies. Ok sorry, that doesn't count. Well then...I used to be really good at French and German. In high-school in Texas, when everyone else was taking Spanish for their compulsory one year of a foreign language, I took a year of Latin, three years of German, and two years of French. This meant giving up other "fun" courses like Art, which people took because they could have fun with staplers. Not a huge loss. My proudest moment was when I was entertaining a German guest in Copenhagen not long after I moved here, and he actually said to me that I had a really good German accent. Then it all went down hill from there because I never got more chances to use it.

2) My favorite moment of the month is when I spy my Vanity Fair in my letter box. I know then, that I've got hours of quality sofa time in front of me. Delicious. I always read the Proust Questionnaire right off the bat, and to each question find my own answer to it as well, but I never get to tell anyone.

3) I think becoming a grown-up has been really bittersweet. I love it because I can do what I want: have kids without being barraged with folders on prevention, paint my walls red, have drinks with friends. The bummer is realising that people aren't grown up just because they're 30 yrs. or older. The people who are running the world are just tall children who can drink beer, basically. This makes me try more to be a responsible grown-up. You know, a tall child who can drink beer, with a conscience.

4) Pertaining to the award given here, I suppose it's no secret that I'm pretty big on disclosure. I like telling it like it is. I do however know that it comes with responsibility, or diplomacy at the very least. Learned that the hard way.

5) Nothing really shocks me anymore.

6) I have a secret. For a years I've known that a famous Danish actor, with a wife and children, had an affair (with a woman who looks a lot like his wife) which begat a child. And he wants nothing to do with the kid, who I've babysat on a few occasions. And it kills me that I can't tell anyone, and that he continues to enjoy the glory of his one, famous role. Not to say that you can't be brilliant in your work life, and a bastard at home at the same time (Peter Sellers, Thomas Mann, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and many many others), but that just ain't right. You don't want a kid, you keep your dick out of the candy jar. Sorry, did that sound crass?

7) I'm in the process of cleaning up. It takes a long time. When I say cleaning up, I mean in everything. Last year, I scuffled all the pictures from my 7 years with my previous partner together...and threw them out. All the love letters too. It hurt, and I still wonder now if one day I'll kick myself for doing that. But Jennie from 2009 is still glad I did it, and may just have to come in and convince Jennie 2034 that it was the right thing to do at the time. I'm slowly letting go of memorabilia from my Dad too. That's tough, but I inevitably feel a lot lighter when I've done it, and I like that feeling, so I imagine I'll keep at it until I'm down to the few pictures I have and my 23 years of memories of him.

8) As you probably know, climate change scares the crap out of me. And the way humankind is tackling it has yet to impress me. And the only way I can deal with that is by not pretending that everything is still "business as usual". And that, is why I do not fly. (And before you get on me about how I still have electricity, and ride in cars sometimes, and every so often I may eat a pineapple flown in from God knows where, but if I did all that and still flew, I wouldn't be able to look my kids in the eyes. That was the short version.)

9) I am living the life I wished for ten years ago. I remember coming to Copenhagen as a newbie, not knowing a soul save my ex, going to parties, meeting interesting people, and wishing I could have friends like them. Now I do have interesting friends, but, they are even better. And the same goes for the husband, and the kids, and the place we call home, for all its faults.

10) Just a few years ago, I might have been embarrassed to admit that I'd met some of my friends on the innernets. Now that I have met may of my friends here, it'd be a bit hypocritical of me to say so now. Some of these people I will probably never meet face to face, which is not to say that they are any lesser. Some of them have turned into real dates for cocktails, sushi, or even offers to take care of my kids. And so I take any previous inhibitions on this matter back. Blogs are perfect tools for doing the groundwork in a relationship, so when you meet in real life, you can get straight to business. Now I don't want to get all mushy or I might just throw up a little, but...I love you guys.

I tag:

Babs
Eva
Indra

Child Labor

This clip may not be overly fantastic or anything, but it just shows that we like to put our kids to work around here!



On that note. In the next year, we will still only have two kids to send out into the fields. Some of you have heard, some not, as I haven't had time to call around to everyone but....the kid fell out! It was very undramatic. Luckily I was only 8 wks along, so I wasn't losing something I felt I knew too well. If it had kicked me already, well that would be another story. While this kind of thing isn't recommendable in general, I'm chalking it up to life experience, good or bad. At any rate, one in four pregnancies ends this way in the first trimester (if not more!), so after having two kids I knew my statistics would start working against me.

I'm fine really. This was a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't physically fun or anything, but it hasn't been hard mentally either. So let's not dwell on it. I have two kids that are alive and well, and pretty damn cute.

And this is what happens when you work them too hard doing laundry...

Bennys Badekar

Not having had a Danish upbringing, there are a few childrens' phenomena I've had to do some catching up on. Like Bennys Badekar (Benny's Bathtub). A cartoon movie from 1971 that all Danes around Mikael's age have imprinted in their brains as a quintessential part of their childhood. I told one of the employees and Halfdan's daycare that I'd never seen it, and she just couldn't have it. She lent me her own private copy, and we've watched it pretty much non-stop since. I love it. It's beautiful, the music is lovely, and I love seeing how my kids love it too.

There are a few things I'm sure other people would find objectionable, like this song with naked mermaids. But the song and text is quite charming.



This song is just great. I love the melody; it's so beautiful it almost beings a tear to my eye. Though the drawings are quite simple, I find them just so artistically lovely, and well composed - it's a real visual treat. I wish I'd known about this movie sooner.



Yesterday started out well, then it turned into an absolute jumble. I find myself looking at this movie, and thinking back to the Denmark that once was. It's changed an awful lot. Also in the 13 years I've been here. It's become a hostile environment for free thought, for people coming from the outside in, despite the fact that Denmark boasts of its global prowess, exporting design, beer and whatnot. Denmark has had a tough time adjusting to this change, especially thanks to some specific political parties. They're trying to hold on to a Denmark that no longer is, and a world that no longer is, with a blind eye and an iron grip. I would like to tell them to watch a movie like this if they want nostalgia, and then to keep it out of the parliamentary proceedings.

As Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

On top of the Danish People's Party's antics, my son's Kindergarten is in a state of dissolution. They're letting one of the most brilliant people in child care in Copenhagen slip away. And I've got to stop it. Pulling off my civilian clothing and donning my super hero garb now...

Alternative Vitamin D

It's been grey here for so long, I don't remember the last time I saw the sun. It can be hard, but there are rewards.

Like the colors in the park nearby to enjoy while cycling through them.



And it's a good excuse to wear my favorite color lipstick, and my matching raincoat.



And the grey city takes on another feeling when I've got this tune in my ears.



Monday is how you make it.

A Coincidence of International Character -or- The Time My Husband Inadvertantly Outed My Friend's Brother-in-Law

Recently, I had a little get-together at my place. It was just Mikael and myself, Mikael's friend Peter, Mina and her husband Niels, and Grace, a blog friend originally from a tropical country, now living here with her Danish husband. Grace hadn't met the other attendees, save myself and Mina. She was just visiting Copenhagen a short time for her work and we'd enjoyed several meetings here and there with other gals we know from our particular blogging sphere.

At some point in the conversation, Grace tells us about her husband when she mentions that he is from a very tiny Danish island, Hjortø, where there are few inhabitants. Mikael lights up, actually having had met some people from that island. In typical Mikael fashion, instead of asking what Grace's husband's family name was, he rapidly starts telling one of his oh so many anecdotes. This is roughly what he tells us:

Many years ago, Mikael's ex-girlfriend's brother had gone to school with someone from Hjortø, and told Mikael many comical things, like how this person always had a knack for falling out of windows, walking into trees or other precarious situations of that nature. He even met him once, briefly.

Then, just a few years ago, Mikael was talking to the bartender at one of our old haunts. He spoke with a typical Copenhagener accent, but let on that he was in fact, from the small and sparsely populated island of Hjortø. Immediately of course, Mikael had to mention the fact that he had once met one of his fellow islanders. He said he couldn't remember his name, but then told of this person's habit of falling out of windows and the like. The bartender didn't miss a beat. "Anders Gammelgaard" he said.

At this point in Mikael's anecdote, I recognize this last name to be Grace's married name. I mention this to our little party and Grace confirms that in fact, it is her brother-in-law. We all laugh, at the luck of Mikael having had met him many years before. Mikael forges on, saying that there is a small twist to the story. He hesitates to tell it, but we convince him to go on.

The bartender, a very artistic personality, and quite brazen at that, then stated flatly to Mikael: "He was the first guy I ever gave a blow job".

We are rolling over from laughter at this new found sexual innuendo, not to mention I am looking nervously at Grace, wondering what she makes of it. The thing is, she hasn't quite gotten the detail that the bartender himself was male, and mentions that her brother-in-law always has a lot of girlfriends. Mina and I look at each other and decide we should break it to her. We say it in unison. Grace goes quiet, her mouth perfectly rounds out an "oh."

Luckily this hasn't rocked her boat too much, and we continuously laugh at this indeed crazy coincidence the rest of the night.

*Just to clarify things- the story is true, though some of the people and place names have changed, to protect the innocent.