November is horrible

For the past few weeks my life has consisted of:

• Dressing and undressing children in rain and/or snow gear
• Schlepping children through the rain to and from school, the grocery store and the library
• Procrastinating doing anything useful
  
• Trying to pretend the sun might come out
• Trying to not check email 100 times a day out of boredom

Yes, the expat life is like one big vacation.

Swedes and other longer-term Scandinavian expats assure me that November is the worst month. Last year I must have still been riding the wave of expat adrenalin because it didn't seem so bad, but this year I feel like someone dropped a bag of bricks on my head and I can't squirm out from underneath. The result of this is a Mom with a less than sunny outlook on life (at least it's consistent with the weather), in which all things positive are now hideous and inconvenient:

Our great apartment? Horrible! If I have to haul 2 kids and 5 bags of groceries up this mini elevator one more time I'll die! The terrific public transportation? Heinous! What is wrong with these crazy people stepping on my children and not apologizing?! My favorite cafe near the kids' school? The tables always tip over and the chairs are broken! Etc.

So you see, I am doing a very poor job of dealing with November this year. Only 10 more days until Advent. Here's hoping the Christmas lights and glögg improve my mood (for the whole family's sake). Bah humbug.