The month of May

The month of May is a hectic month at CasaR. With Norways national day just passed, I have my hands full with planing and getting ready for the birthday of SweetieS and SweetieL. As they both are born on the same day it’s double the trouble fun.

As part of getting CasaR ready for the hoards of family and friends coming over, I have tried to organize our hallway. After SweetieL began kindergarten…it has been a constant mess…well some of it anyways…the shoes to start with…

before	after

I upgraded our existing IKEA setup. The old setup was two Tjusig shoe racks combined. I just added a third rack (remember to secure them together) and on top a Elvarli shelf on top. I added a few Grundtal hooks on the top rack so the girls can hang their jackets when they get in the door.

May 17th is Norways constitution day…so we all dressed up and went out. It is a tradition in my neighbourhood to have a May 17th parade….so we joined that. The girls mood was not dampened by the few raindrops that came falling down.

SweetieS	SweetieL

This week is full of events @CasaR. So when I get my head over water I’ll post an update on the girls birthday celebrations….

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?

July 22nd

It’s been four(!) years since I sat at a resturant in Albufeira, Portugal and got the news…bombing in Oslo, shooting of youngsters at Utøya. I remember how the minutes ticked by while checking with family if they were safe. Some of my closest friends where together with me in Portugal, gathered for my bestfriends’ wedding the following day.

It’s been four years and for many a time filled with sorrow. 77 lives where lost that day and countless lives affected. So taking a minute to reflect…

- where were you when you got the news?

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?

Hipp, hipp hurra

hurra hurra!

Just dropped by to wish all fellow Norwegians a wonderful Constitution Day.

Happy May 17^th

As BabyS is so little we decided to have a calm day at home, enjoying the wonderful sunshine on our pation with the TV on (switched to NRK2) to watch the children's parade in downtown Oslo.

- how did you spend you day?

and I’m off to enjoy some more ice cream….

Simply amazing

Well my friends it’s almost time…for another season of Amazing Race Norway. Saw the trailer the other day and I’m excited.

Freddy dos Santos is again the host – hopefully this time he won’t spoil all the action with his contant talking. Last season he kept the viewers constantly updated on the teams whereabouts and how many minutes they were apart…spoiling some of the fun of not knowning.

the trailer shows this seasons teams

Was disappointed when I didn’t see my friend amongst the teams. Since I knew he had applied and went for several rounds of interviews last fall. Eventhough he had told me his team didn’t make the cut, I was secretly hoping…can’t win’em alll, hopefully he’ll apply for the next season.

So mark your calenders! The season premier is aired on Tv2 this Wednesday March 6th.
For those of you who want more updates, follow their FBpage here

- which of the teams are your cheering on?

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.

What is the Norwegian language coming to?

With the feeling of being a stranded whale lately I’ve spent a lot of time being a couch potato. And as a result of that I’ve had a lot of time to read quite a numerous amount of blogs and online news. I’ve never been a nag (at least I think so myself…) about correcting others spelling and grammar.

But lately…what has the Norwegian language come to??? Don’t “people” even try to use some kind of spell check before posting anything?

Kinda disappointed that reporters in major Norwegian newspapers can write articles with HUGE spelling and grammatical errors…

Happy May 17th

(Just a short post today…)

Hipp, hipp, hurra

Wishing Norwegians all over the world a wonderful May 17^th.

The Amazing Race, Norwegian style

Yesterday I saw a little reminder (aka billboard) on the season premiere of The Amazing Race, produced by the Norwegian TV channel TV2.

I’ve been a big fan of the US version of The Amazing Race for years and having a Norwegian version sounds entertaining.

The Norwegian version is hosted by former Norwegian football player Freddy dos Santos. Like the US version, there are 11 couples racing to the finish. Though the prize money is nothing close to the US version, which is 1 million US dollars cash, not to mention all the prizes for the winners of each leg. The Norwegian version is around valued up to a million Norwegian krone (the winners get not only cash, but also a car). In comparison, todays exchange rate 1.00 USD =  5.80161 NOK. In other words, nowhere close. But still it’s the challenge the contestants are there to experience, isn’t it???

So 8PM tonight I’ll be centered in front of our TV ready for the first episode. I look forward to watch how the stiff Norwegians handle the challenges the world has to offer…

Here’s a little video of the Norwegian contestants
http://tv2.no/v/602409
And some other clips from the show
http://www.tv2.no/play/underholdning/theamazingrace/

Follow The Amazing Race on Facebook

Good luck contestants!