My New Norwegian Home

Just a little tip for those interested! :-)  Mattilbud is an easy way to compare weekly sales each grocery store is having. All grocery stores are listed such as Kiwi, Rema 1000, Meny, Coop Prix, Spar, Rimi, Joker and many others. It's also a paper-free way of viewing what would already be in a paper ad you'd receive in the mail.  It can be downloaded as an app with iOS, Windows or Android. I find this comes in handy as it's always updated on Monday morning, so I just check the new sales and I know where to shop for the week. 

The sun is out. The sky is blue. Birds are singing. It's a nice 60 F degrees! Gardening. Ahhhh it's spring! Hens and chicks.  Dandelion. Løvetann. I didn't want to get too close as I suspected there was a bee hive nearby,but here are hviteis. Happy Friday! Hope you enjoy the wonderful weather! :-)

I have recently returned to Norway from a nice trip to Kentucky. In the meantime while I am working on a seperate, but longer post, I thought I'd share one of my experiences which generally speaking sums up a common stereotype between Newark and Kentucky. As a Kentuckian, I admittedly am a bit biased and take pride in being from a place that is generally known as very friendly and hospitable. The difference in Newark and Kentucky customer service (true story): Newark Welcome Center The employee is wearing earbuds and chewing gum sitting behind her desk. I walk up to the desk and ask for help and whether she can help me get in touch with a local hotel so my family and myself can stay the night. After waiting for a 5 hour layover, we were told our flight was going to be 3.5 hours late. We decided to rebook the flight for the next day and find a hotel. The employee behind the desk didn't make eye contact with me and just pointed to a phone about 30 feet away and said rudely, ...

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...