Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The new Coldplay single

The new single from Coldplay is available as a free download right now, if you're interested. Which I was. And it's good.

Our life

Officially, I've been writing a term paper today. And I have gotten a lot done. My method is setting my timer for 30 minutes, working like crazy, taking a 15 minute break, and then working for another 15 minutes. It works for me, and slowly but surely a paper is emerging.

But, during my breaks, I've been reading entries on a blog I just discovered recently. Another Salt Lake City mom who writes about her family. I check out these blogs every morning when I turn on my computer. And they inspire me to write more about my family. I want this blog to be something we can all look back on to remember how things were in April, 2008.

So,here's how things are today, April 30, 2008 -

It's about 5:30 in the evening. We haven't had dinner yet. We used to eat dinner pretty early when the kids were younger, but now we rarely sit down before 6, and usually it's closer to 6:30. Today we're going to have baked breaded cod fillets, homemade baked french fries and peas. A few years ago I had a subscription to Cooking Light and starting in January this year I decided to start using those magazines which I've saved and try to make all of the recipes in them for each month. I don't manage to make all of the recipes, but it's a fun way to try out new recipes. They're almost always good and relatively healthy. And the idea that I have to make recipes from this month's magazine appeals to the nerd in me.

Espen went to Gaute's parents after school today. For the last two years, he has gone over there every Wednesday and done some work for them. Things like vacuuming, taking all of their old newspapers to be recycled and stuff like that. They pay him about 10 dollars a week and make his favorite dinners for him. I think they both like the arrangement. They get to spend some time with him - unlike Anders and Johan he's not that in to going over there and hanging out anymore. Gaute and I are happy that he makes some money so we don't have to give him any :-).

Anders went to his afterschool football academy today. I went up and watched the last half hour. They have a really fun time. The boys in the 4th grade are a pretty tightknit group, especially the ones who are into football. He doesn't go to his regular afterschool program on Wednesdays and Thursdays when he has football academy, but comes straight home when school is over at 1:30. He changes into his football gear, grabs a water bottle and rides his bike up to the football field. We are so lucky to live so close to the school and to the football field, the two main focuses of the kids' lives!

This whole school year, Anders and Johan have been walking home together at 3:30, when they are finished with their afterschool program. I've had to pick Johan up the last few weeks when Anders has been at football academy, however. Today Johan really wanted to walk home alone, though, so we let him do it. He ended up walking home with our neighbor who goes in the same class, but he was really proud of himself. He even has his own key now.

Gaute's been working hard, as usual. He goes to work every day - he is officially a consultant for Guard Systems - he and another guy have made one of the tracking systems they use. But, Gaute being Gaute, he has many, many things he is working on on the side. If you look here, you'll find some of the stuff he works on in the evening. He spends a lot of time on all of that stuff, and although I do complain at times, I don't complain too much, because it's all starting to produce a pretty good extra income (did I mention that we're headed off for a week in Paris this summer?)

Well, dinner's almost done. Time to go down and set the table. Espen has football practice from 7 until 8:30, and then there's a very important Championship League game between Liverpool and Chelsea that I can't wait to watch.

And tomorrow and Friday there's no school - Labor Day weekend!!!!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Bergen

I just spent the last few minutes uploading pictures from our trip to Bergen onto my Facebook page. Facebook has a much better and faster system for uploading pictures than Blogger does, so I've decided to just post a link to my album there, rather than upload all of the pictures again (yes, I know that was a run-on sentence). So - here is the link.

We had a fun time. The weather was crappy, but it was really good to see Tori and Sindre and their families!

By the way, get a Facebook account, those of you who don't have one already!!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Off to Bergen tomorrow

Tomorrow we're taking the train to Bergen. Gaute's sister's son is being confirmed on Saturday. Confirmations are really big in Norway, and nearly all 14-15-year-olds are confirmed. Originally, the confirmations were religious, and a lot of them still are. For those who are not religious, the Norwegian Humanist Society also has confirmation ceremonies. As a type of right-of-passage into adulthood. This is the type of confirmation Sverre is going to have. His older sister, Runa, was confirmed two years ago. The weather during that trip was gorgeous, and we've had a week of really nice weather now, but it's supposed to rain all weekend...

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The wedding


On Saturday, my stepbrother, Dan, got married! They have had a website set up for the wedding, and when I checked it this morning they had posted pictures from the wedding. I wish I could have been there. It looks like everyone had a really good time! And it made me feel really homesick for my family...My mom and my sisters - and my grandma - looked great! Can't wait to see you guys in about 8 weeks!!!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Party tonight

For the last few months, seven other moms and I have been planning a party. We've invited the parents of all of the 2nd graders at Korsvoll school. Some of us have been to a similar party for the 4th graders' parents, and it was a great party, so we decided to do the same thing for the 2nd graders.

We've rented the local sports hall (been to oh so many parties there), and have hired a catering firm to provide tapas. We've also hired a DJ who will playing classic hits from the 80's ;-). 92 people are coming to the party!! And it's a sunny, nice day -should be really fun!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Twenty hours working at McDonalds

I filled up my car with gas today, and it cost me $117 - yes, one hundred and seventeen dollars, not kroner. And it's not like I'm driving around in a big SUV or anything. I know that Americans are complaining a lot about how gas prices have really gone up lately, but they've gone up here, too, and until a gallon of gas costs NINE DOLLARS A GALLON, which is what I paid today, then I don't want to hear any more complaining.

Monday, April 14, 2008



Yesterday was a fun day! It was "Tourist in your own city" day, which meant that we could go down to the city hall and get a pass which gave us free admission to all museums in Oslo, plus free public transport. We wandered around downtown and went into a few museums. The kids don't get downtown very often, so they thought it was pretty cool. Then we walked over to the new opera house which just opened on Saturday. Yesterday it was open to the public and we got to walk around (and on) it. (That is not snow on the opera, by the way. It's made out of white marble.) It was incredibly expensive to build, but it is so cool!! You can walk all around on the roof and it goes straight down into the water. Here is a series of pictures of the opera, and here for pictures from the grand opening on Saturday.

Yesterday afternoon, Espen had another game, and he was captain once again! The weather was quite nice when the game began...


...but went downhill pretty fast.


But, the good news is that they won - 6-4! And Lyn won their game last night, too, and they are leading the series at the moment!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Low energy

I've been feeling pretty low on energy lately, and I think a lot of that has to do with the weather. We've had rainy, cloudy weather for weeks, and I'M GETTING REALLY SICK OF IT! I want nice spring weather!

And I want to be done with all of the papers that are due within the next few weeks. I'm severely lacking in motivation to get them done. I will be so happy to be done with school....

But, it's Friday! Tonight is homemade pizza night, and then good Friday night TV entertainment....

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Lupine Hill Farm

My mom was inspired and is putting together a blog, too!

Lupine Hill Farm


Go, Mom!

Football nerd

Until my kids started playing football, I had never seen an entire game. And the first games they played when they were in first grade didn't exactly inspire me to become a fan. But something has happened the last 3-4 years. I love football.

Last night Liverpool played an important game in the quarter finals of the Champions League. It was such a great game, and they won, and I couldn't have been happier!

Monday, April 07, 2008

Heia Lyn


Lyn's first home game last night! It was about 35 degrees, raining and windy, but we put on warm clothes and showed up. And were so glad - it was a great game. They won - 3-1!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Looking ahead to the weekend

It's Thursday evening....I have a paper due on Monday, which I am trying as hard as I can to get done by tomorrow afternoon. I have lots of fun stuff planned for the weekend and sitting in front of the computer is not one of them.

Saturday night Gaute and I are going to a party. Should be a fun one - it's an annual party that we've been to several years in a row now.

Sunday night we have free tickets to the first home game that Lyn is playing this season.

Fun, fun weekend!