
Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, can I get you a cup of coffee? Or tea?
This week our thoughts are with Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine. In the news they say that Europe haven’t seen a war like this since the second world war. I’ve been watching more news this week, than I have this past year. Ukraine isn’t that far away (I have friends there,) and there was only a few weeks ago we had reason to step up the military presence at the island of Gotland (Swedens biggest island in the Baltic Sea.) Sweden is not a member of the security alliance NATO, but there is a cooperation with NATO, and a zero tolerance for this war. I’m not going to say anything more about this, other than that it makes me very sad. War and killing is unworthy of our human existence. It would be so much more useful to focus our energy towards stopping climate change and making sure that there is a world for our children to inherit. (Well perhaps rising oil and gas prices due to this war will force people to make changes. It will effect all of Europe.) How are things in your corner of the world?


The weather this week have been interesting. On Monday we had a fabulous snow storming giving us a lot more snow. On Tuesday, when I went skiing with the children at work, all the new snow made the conditions perfect for skiing, and the sun was shining on us. There was no wind on Tuesday. It felt like spring. The snow photos in this post is from the ski slope, taken this Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday we had mild weather with wind, clouds, and partly sunny. On Friday it was sunny and no wind. Looks like the weather is going to be beautiful this weekend, and this coming week. In a way I want the snow to stay, so that we can take the kids skiing many more weeks. In another way I want spring to arrive. I want the ice to be gone, so that I can ride my bike, and enjoy my container garden.



Do you have any plans for the weekend? It’s been an intense week here, and I have some laundry, and cleaning to do, I also need to help my daughter with her homework, read some of my own schoolbooks (this week its about curriculum, and what knowledge is, how to transfer that knowledge into specific learning situations at school.) I am going to start by taking a long walk in the sun, and pick up some literature for my next class that just arrived. Hopefully that walk will clear my head. I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head, about my children, and work. I feel great, but there are many things to consider at the moment. I found out about my yearly pay raise yesterday. I am not entirely happy about it. I love my job, but my salary doesn’t match my education, performance, and responsibility. In combination with the cost of living getting higher and higher every year, rather quickly actually, do I owe it to myself and my children to get a higher paying job? I am the single provider in this family. It would be rather easy for me to get a better paying job. Many variables to consider. I’m not going to make any decisions today, but naturally I’ll have to think about it when the increase of rent every month is higher than the increase of how much I make every month (not good when your goal is to purchase a place of your own.)

Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share. I hope you are enjoying a fabulous weekend! I’m hoping to get outside and enjoy the sun now.
Love,
Maria