Everydaystranger

I’m just going to come out and say it, and I’ll take my stoning-
I hate Spring.
Seriously. I just hate it.
I’m sure you’re shocked by that. You think: Helen, the crunchy granola fruity hippy doesn’t like Spring? Is that possible? That little Fruit Loop doesn’t like the season known for the renewing [...]

I have a confession to make.
OK, so, you know last night was Oscar night.
I know-in the grand scheme of things, this is not a big deal. Oscar night does not change the price of your stock portfolio. It does not solve the problem of world hunger. It does not end that pesky [...]

It’s been a bit of an introspective week for me-I swing from body functions to looking inward with the turn of a spindle-and I’m no different today.
I got an email from someone I consider a friend. They had lost someone that they loved very much, and they were spooling with grief. Grief, this [...]

Reading the comments the other day from the “Life is Short” post, I realized you were on to something. Maybe the best and greatest that we take with us when we go isn’t a punch the air kind of day, it’s a collection of tiny memories that will replay on a loop for us. [...]

Big news-
(no really)-
Angus and I are delighted new parents.
We have successfully adopted this gorgeous darling.

I wonder what it is about our days that makes us remember them. Can you look back and say: “Oh yes-February 19, 2004. I remember it well, that’s the day I had scrambled eggs for breakfast and had an Americano instead of my usual latte at Starbucks.” Or: “Sure, I recall November [...]

This blog is usually about me because, well, it’s a blog about my life (hence the “me” part). But today is Red Nose Day here in the UK. Red Nose Day is run by Comic Relief to help save lives, both in the UK and abroad. Comic Relief helps fund projects [...]

Angus and I sometimes watch a BBC Three series called Wedding Stories, not because we’re engaged and I’ve subscribed to Modern Bride and have catalogs of tiaras to wear or anything like that, but because it’s hilarious. Basically, the BBC has picked ten couples it follows around leading up to and on their wedding [...]

One less stress.
I finally passed my UK driving test.
-H.
Psssst-Happy Valentine’s Day, too.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, in case you somehow have been in a coma the past few weeks and failed to see the barrage of Hallmark pink and red-related illness hung in every possible doorway.
When you’re a kid, Valentine’s Day is about giggling. It’s about slipping a Valentine’s card into the handmade pocket hung on [...]

Some mornings you wake up and the sheets tangle around your leg like a vine. You struggle, not just in putting your Ready to Meet the World Face on, but in the little things like breathing and moving and trying. The day comes up and takes in your personal space. Real life [...]

Angus’ daughter Melissa and her best friend, International Erin, arrived yesterday amongst a cloud of snow flurries (we call her International Erin as her parents spell her name “Erin”, as opposed to the Swedish spelling of it, which is truly international indeed). Angus decided to up the embarassment factor to the nth degree, so [...]

Work is going spectacularly badly-so badly that I can almost not face it. The other day I found out that-after I’d left the rocket riding gerbil as it has launched-my colleague and boss both got awards for their hard work for the gerbil, with a

I think often of how it would be. I think that’s a good thing, that I at least visualize, that I at least try. It comes to me in small moments, with a whiff of talcum and caramel. I can imagine the monitor sqwaking, and I get up and silently pad into [...]

27 February 2007
Seriously, If You Want Math Get a Calculator
So by checking on dates from my last cycle (aka The Cycle That Did Not End Well), I calculated that 8 days after my positive pregnancy test the spotting started. The spotting turned into bleeding. The bleeding turned into clots. The clots turned [...]

Yesterday was even worse than car tire puncture day. Much worse. In a meeting I was so incandescent with rage I nearly slammed my laptop shut, flipped my scarf over my shoulder, pushed on my sunglasses, slung my hot bag over my shoulder and declared in the perfect Joan Collins-haughty voice “That’s it! [...]