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?

Is Spring finally here?

After getting myself updated on Facebook I realized there has been an excessive amount of Spring posts. Friends and family have been posting their first Spring sprouts. Is Spring finally here?

The weekend @CasaR has been spendt inside….with wind and local showers, playing outside was not an option.

- has Spring arrived where you live?

A geo here, a cache there

This evening I found my first geocache! Along with my friend Lexipo we went hunting for a few caches around where we live. And guess what! we found not only one, but two! A good and healthy little hobby…fun looking for caches while getting in a little movement. Recommended! An alternative way to enjoy the wonderful nature around us.

Since I haven’t gotten myself an app for my iPhone, I’ll do my logging here

The two caches we found if you wanna give it a go…
Trolldalen@Hellerud
Klatring i Østmarka – Hellerud

Fun but also scary…as one cache required facing some fears – spiders, claustrophobia and heights… So good luck to you if you intend to give these a try.

Weird, the first time I read about geocaching I never thought I would try it out myself. But thanx Lexipo and Jens Voigt for introducing me to a fun new hobby.

- have your tried geocaching?
- how do you face your fears?

Signs of Spring

The trees and bushes outside have started sprouting, my Pumas have found their way out of storage and already taken their first steps outside. Ahhh Spring has arrived!

Though I did get a negative reminder of Spring this weekend too. With the snow melting out comes the turds dog walkers have left during the Winter. Please dog people, pick up after your pets!

Snowflakes keep falling on my head

Today I woke up to snow!

Though the temperature is not cold enough for the snow to stick…The first snow has arrived!

I hope you are prepared…have you change to winter tires on your car(s)?

Natures fall color palette

It’s official, fall is here.

This week I was out strolling with BabyS and she was totally mesmerized by all the beautiful colors that surrounded us. I recommend taking a stroll in the Norwegian woods these days. It really is beautiful…

some of the color palette on my stroll…

Well the summer is over for sure. These days there is more wind and rain than there are sunny days. Though the temperature has still not dropped below 10°C. So these days I’m trying to cram in as many strolls with BabyS as the weather allows.

All I can say, get on some warm clothes and go out and enjoy Norway!

Beautiful Norway

Sorry for not posting for a while, the passed week has been spent in Ørsta – in northern Norway. And it was Baby S first road trip. So it required some planning on my part, what we “needed” to pack and what not as we had a packing limitation in our little car – a Citroën C3 (remember my post about our little car here?)

As we drove to Ørsta we got to see some of Norways’ beautiful scenery…caught some of it “on film” and thought I would share here…

with scenery like this the 10,5 hours drive was worth it…

For those wondering how the long drive went…we are happy to say it went great. Baby S slept most of the drive, only waking for feeds and diaper changes – and the occasional stretch we felt she should have.

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.

It's snowing!...again

Didn’t expect it would be snowing when I woke up this morning. It’s not many days ago since I posted about the first flowers showing up in my backyard. But living in Norway it’s not a total surprise…
Well with this kind of weather I guess I will be using our fireplace and curling up in the couch…and doing some crocheting. Hopefully I will done with the baby blanket I started on soon.

...feel warmer already...

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

Signs of Spring

The down jacket has been put away and the not-so-fluffy-jackets has come out of hiding.

The snow is melting away and out comes the turds!

Darn it…my neighborhood is like a poop minefield these days. Please all dog owners pick up after your dogs…they can’t do it themselves

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.