From our little corner

Ever since the Corona virus hit Norway earlier this month, the Norwegian government has put Norway “on pause”. Schools have been closed and those who can, work from home.. We have also been encouraged to social distancing and limiting human interaction as much as possible.

We are now in week 2 of the national lock down and things are still spinning. I see many  frustrated posts on social media about kids/youth/parents not respecting the need for social distancing to limit the spread of the Corona virus. With kids, it can be hard. The kids cannot sit inside all day watching tv and playing on the ipad. They need fresh air and movement. Luckily, the girls have each other to play with. I can’t imaging how the days a panning out for the only child…

SweetieS’ wonderful teachers have put together a daily plan for us to follow from home during these weeks. For SweetieL the day to day life is harder. While SweetieS is having “schooltime” there is not a plan for us to follow from her kindergarten. There is only so much fun in coloring, activity sheets, perler beads and games. Especially when we have to limit the noise, so SweetieS can concentrate on her schoolwork. Nevertheless we are getting thru the days…however slow they sometimes pan out.

The slow pace in our day-to-day life have made me appreciate the smaller things. Today I saw that my orchids have actually created sprouts! So maybe my fingers aren’t that brown after all. One can only hope.

not one, but two sprouts

I hear that many Norwegians are using the extra time at home to do some Spring-cleaning. We are just enjoying the low pased life before everything goes back to the normal stressful everyday life.

- how are you spending your days during the Corona season?
- what do you do to keep your kids occupied?

Medallions

SweetieS has gone on hicks with her grand-parents several times. And for kids who finish the hicks, medallions are rewarded. Needless too say, SweetieS has a few…eventhough she is “only” 3 years old…

Long have I had a project in mind….and now I finally sat down and composed this post.

Earlier this year I picked up this frame at a local flea market (in Oslo these are typically hosted at elementary schools)…If you are interested in attending a flea market – and contributing to the local youth activites, you can find an updated list here

With a few coats of paint and some fabric I had laying around, SweetieS now has a place to put her medallions. This DIY project was inspired by this post on Pintrest.

I know, they aren’t hung perfectly straight..

- how do you organize your medalions?

Feeding my OCD

Most of you who know me in person, know I have my OCD moments. This Christmas I got to experience SweetieS love for beading with Hama beads. Remember those small yet colorful little plastic beads? Put the beads on pegboards to create a “pattern” and iron to “fuse” them together for a long-lasting keepsake.
With Mother Nature finally bringing some more snow to this Winter, in-door games/hobbies are welcome @CasaR. We played outside in the snow yesterday, but with the howling winds and freezing temperatures, it didn’t take long before we were cold and headed indoors.
SweetieS has beaded a few times in kindergarten, but this Christmas I got to see first-hand how SweetieS sat deeply concentrated for a period that seemed like an eternity and just beaded. So bringing along experience from my wonderful sister-in-law for organizing the beads I went shopping when stores opened today.
My sister-in-law has this case, but I wouldn’t find it in a store here in Oslo.What I really liked with this solution was that the individual boxes can be taken out of the case and has hinged lids. Luckily my trusty Biltema had an option for me here. The case can be opened and lay flat on any surface. A case has 18 individual boxes with hinged lids. The boxes are “locked” in the case for easy transportation. Just remember to lock the lids too…
Some pictures after I had filled them…

“closed”	“open”

Here is a close-up of the individual boxes…

hinged lid	clip lock	it even has a belt clip

The boxes are a handy size, measuring in at 90 x 63 x 68 mm.
Just as I had filled the boxes with the beads I had at hand, my OCD kicked in…I needed a way to label the boxes. So that when the content was gone, I knew what to color to refill. Pintrest to the rescue! I came over a few interesting pins, here is one I found particularly interesting... As the case is black I didn’t want the color swatch to be too girly, so I formed the swatches as flowers instead of hearts. They as stuck to the lids using gluedots.

The flowers are very simple to make..all you need are 7 beads. Instructions can be found here I you need it explained in details.
As we were out of wax paper I dug out my trusty craft sheet I got @Clas Ohlson (I think it’s called a silicon baking sheet) to d my ironing, and it worked just fine. You will however get a fine mesh-kinda pattern on the melted side, but I don’t mind….
Just a note, two of these cases fit perfectly into a cube in IKEAs Expedit (is no longer available, but Kallax is practically the same product) shelving unit. So I have enough boxes to cover all my coloring needs.
I had planned this to be a birthday gift for SweetieS..but that’s in May. I couldn’t wait that long to present SweetieS with her newest “toy”. So when SweetieS came home from kindergarten today she got to play with the beads while I made dinner…Even BabyL joined in on the fun. Though with the larger version, Hama Maxi. While SweetieS has been playing with the Midi size, these are 5mm in diameter. You can read more about the different sizes available here.

the girls beading…

Now off to find some more pegboards….three is not enough…

- have you tried beading?
- how do you store your Hama beads?

Dropped by for a short visit

Yesterday my grandfather-in-law dropped by for a short visit. Old school as he is, he doesn’t like to come emptyhanded…
So these beauties found themselves their way to CasaR…

- has somebody brighten up your day lately?
Have a continued wonderful day

Anniversary days

Just a few days ago me and hubby celebrated our 4^th wedding anniversary. Time sure flies...

A year ago today we were in Portugal attending a dear friends wedding. (July 23rd – Happy Anniversary!)

Being nostalgic I took a look at pictures taken from both days..love looking a pictures of details from the big day. Thought I’d share a few of them here. Maybe it will give ideas / inspiration to others planning their big day…

Survivor

- they survived!

A few days ago I posted about the freak hail storm that hit my house. I finally had time to check on my backyard plants. I was relived to find all my strawberry plants and my little rose bush had survived. Now crossing my fingers that the berries will start coming before the summer here in Norway is over…

And the skies opened up…

We’ve passed the middle of July and the skies opened up and what comes down?

HAIL…only in Norway…

My poor strawberry plants and roses…hopefully they survived the pummeling. I’ll have to check on them when it stops hailing and raining.

Backyard surprise

It’s always nice to wake up and the Sun is shining. Spring is finally here…

With the Sun shining thru our windows I got a reminder that it’s time  to do some serious washing. But beyond our windows I got a nice surprise…flowers that the previous owner planted are still thriving

Took a few snaps…

Ignore the dead leaves laying around…the backyard still needs some work

My poor Hydrangea

With Spring just around the corner, I bought a blue Hydrangea to bring in some color into the living room.

With my “brown” gardening fingers I thought reading Plantasjens (in Norwegian) tips on how to care for the flower would give me a good starting point.

With a well-lit placement by the porch door I thought it would thrive…After a few weeks I noticed that something was wrong. The edge of the flowers started to look burned

I quickly googled it and found that it might just be burned by the strong Spring Sun. Hopefully my Hydrangea will like its new placement next to the couch better

My super sweet sister

My sister and the her boyfriend came over for dinner this past weekend. And as sweet as she is, she brought a little gift…

A beautiful orchid…

Thank you sis, hope my brown fingers don’t kill it.