Stomach flu and a bit more

We were supposed to leave for the cabin today, but Johan has the stomach flu, so the trip has been postponed. Poor little guy - he's asleep on the sofa right now. Hopefully this will be a short term thing, and he'll be feeling better by tomorrow. Tomorrow is Gaute's birthday, and I know that he'd like to spend it at the cabin!

This morning, Anders, Gaute and I headed down to the American embassy to get Anders' passport renewed. We got there right when they opened at 9, so everything went quite smoothly and quickly. In 3 weeks, we should be getting the new passport in the mail. While we were at the embassy, I realized that the stamp I need to get in my passport every two years to prove that I am allowed to live in Norway was going to expire in a few months. So, we decided to stop by the office where I need to get a new stamp. It's always really crazy there, but I would prefer not to take time off work to get it done. We walked in and took a number - we were number 127 and they had gotten to number 54! So, two hours later, they finally got to me, and spent 5 minutes putting a new stamp in my passport... It is the most frustrating, annoying thing!! Always a super long line of people, no matter when you go there!

After that, it was off to the next item on our agenda for the day - signing the contract for the new apartment we bought! I don't think I ever wrote about it on my blog, but last fall we bought a studio apartment nearby as an investment. We have been renting it out and making a bit on it. Gaute has now been really bitten by the real estate mogul bug, so he's been on the lookout for another apartment to invest in, and he finally found a good one. It's a one bedroom, brand new (actually not finished yet) apartment, also within walking distance of our house. It's really nice, with the living room a wall of windows. The price was reduced as we are going to have to paint it and set in the kitchen ourselves, but it will be a good money maker. And we also have in the back of our minds, that our kids might want a place to live when they move out sometime in the future. The pictures below are from the brochure - the apartment we bought isn't furnished, but it has the exact same floorplan as this one.

The apartment is in the tall building in the middle of the picture. Great location, as you can see. That's a big lake on the left hand side, and there are ski tracks starting right next to the building. We live about a 10-15 minute walk away.


This is a drawing of what it will look like - it's close but not quite done yet.


Looking from the kitchen into the entry and bathroom.


The kitchen (with a loft above it which can be used for sleeping or storage)




Looking from the living room towards the kitchen




Looking out towards the balcony. One of the windows is actually a sliding glass door.


The bedroom - it's a tight squeeze, but there are sliding doors into the living room on each side of the bed, so you don't have to climb over each other to get in and out of bed.




The bathroom






The only bad thing about this apartment, is that it is so nice compared to our house, that I wish we were moving in to it ourselves. Would be a tight squeeze for a family of 5, though!!