My New Norwegian Home

One of my favorite luxuries in Norway are the heated bathroom floors. I call this a luxury because it's something I never grew up with, I don't know of anyone in Kentucky at least who has a heated floor in their bathroom and I think it really is a luxury to have one. To Norwegians, this is just a standard part of their housing. Without the heated flooring, the bathrooms are pretty cold, so it's actually a handy thing to have in the flooring and it's also comforting to start your day getting your toes toasty from a warm floor. Under the bathroom tiling lies a mat with coils, these coils are what heats the floor. It's a good investment as it doesn't take up any space unlike a heater in the bathroom as it's concealed under the flooring, it can be used to heat the entire bathroom and it doesn't use much power. Not that bathroom floors are particularly nice to look at or anything, but here's ours. Warm and toasty. 

How to fall in love with a Norwegian in 2 easy steps: 1) Find a Norwegian. 2) Fall in love. Simple as that. I love my Norwegian. Regardless of nationality, I'd love him just the same. God helg!!! :-)

Last April/May we took our trip back to the United States to visit my family and our sweet little Pia came with us. I was very anxious prior to the trip because I really didn't know how travelling 24 hours with a baby would be. It really wasn't as bad as I imagined, but I do have a few things I will do differently this time around and some pointers to share. I had read and read and read so many tips on how to travel with an infant. Of course every kid is different and I have since stopped reading so much about others' experiences with their own children. It only leaves me shaking my head and thinking to myself, "That is so not my kid!". Here's a few pointers from my own experience: Bring a travel stroller, not the huge prams we use in Norway. They're big, bulky, you have to also pay for your own travel bag for them (I bought one used) and in my experience when I brought it to the airport in Washington D.C., they were confused and asked how many strol...

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today after listening to some music my husband had on MTV Rocks. It takes me back about 10 or more years, hence the title of a Disturbed song as my blog post title. (It's now sometimes embarrassing to admit to some of my former music taste.) Usually I feel indestructible and very healthy. I've now been sick 3 times in 2 months. I'm pretty sure I haven't helped matters any because I hate being sick and I really make a terrible sick person. I just want to deny it as long as possible and keep going, which in turn probably makes me sick longer as I just won't take a break. This makes my 5th day of possible flu, though I am feeling better. Even though I was feeling pretty cruddy last week, I was thinking 2 things. How much it is good I'm in Norway and I felt like this and how much I wish I were in America feeling like this. It's a lovely torn feeling. One day at the end of last week I was feeling somewhat better and I finall...

Also known as Valentine's Day, February 14th is what Norwegians sometimes call Alle Hjerters Dag. I've never really been too big on celebrating Valentine's Day. It's just a commercialized holiday anyways. My hubs and I are sort of anti-gift giving for most holidays. We give chocolate and make homemade cards. I think that's sweeter than anything else actually and if we just ignored the holiday completely, I'd be ok with that too. I'd just go out and buy my own chocolate. ;-) Since we're anti-celebratory, we went to the local dump at my own request. I really just wanted to make room in our over crowded storage room and Saturday was of course a good day to do that. I love being dumped on Valentine's!  The day just kept getting better and better. This was my first trip to the local dumping site and I discovered a "bytterom" where one can go and just donate stuff so someone else can take it if they wish. That is my kind of place! :-)...

Hubby's cooking! I love it when my husband cooks dinner. And by that I mean eating at a restaurant or ordering a pizza. ;-) Domino's is new to Norway and it has now opened its 3rd restaurant here in Skien. While we have McDonalds, Subway and Burger King in Norway, it's nice to also have a Domino's to the chain of American restaurants here. It makes me feel a tad bit better about the food culture that I miss so much! :-)  It was especially nice to order what I wanted online and have hubby pick it up on his way home from work today. Though, because our Skien Domino's has had a grand opening it was very busy with a long waiting time, so I'm pleased with ordering online instead of in the store. The Norwegian Domino's menu follows after the Icelandic menu, but from what I've seen a lot of the options are the same. You can order sides such as chicken wings, bread sticks, cheese sticks, cinnamon sticks and even chocolate sticks. MMMMM! My husba...

The title isn't a typo. It's just a really bad pun which I hope you get. ;-) I have kicked my studying norsk up a notch. I'm now studying this language a couple of hours a day. Quite frankly, I am beginning to freak out about my upcoming job search in the fall. I think my worst nightmare is probably being at home with nothing to do. I fear I won't know the language well enough to find work, or I will have to settle for a job at the "bottom of the barrel." Though there isn't anything wrong with that, it's just not something I'd prefer to do. Most importantly, I just want to feel productive, like I'm doing something and I'm helping support my tiny family. Phew! When I put it like that, it only makes my anxiety go through the roof! The only way to solve this problem is to study norsk and get over my self-consciousness of speaking norsk. To help myself learn on the go, I've attached a small notepad to my keyring. If I hear or see a wo...