Get the bikini out!

Just as I anticipated, the Weather Gods felt a little threatened by my protest and sent some warmer weather my way. Yesterday when I got home from work, the temperature showed -12 C/10 F. I was tempted to get the bikini out and do a little Weather Dance in the snow. (Let it be known that I DO NOT EVER wear a bikini. But if I did, I'd definitely get it out to celebrate the change in weather.)

Note to self: It may be worth writing a letter to Santa next year. It seems that my letters are taken seriously.

PROTEST!

Dear Weather Gods,

Please accept my official, sincere and humble protest against the weather. -27 C/-16 F is cruel. Please show some mercy. I don't mind the excessive amount of snow you've sent us, but I can no longer tolerate the cold.

Although hibernating for the next 4 months sounds tempting, I'm afraid this is not a realistic option for me as I have too many people depending on me.

I know you think we're all vikings up here in the north, but the viking blood running through my veins is very diluted and, yes, I will admit that I am a wimp. Please take into consideration that I have lived many years abroad.

Just a friendly reminder; Norway is not the north pole.

Please grant my wish for milder days ahead so that I can actually enjoy all the snow.

Kind regards,

Tonje

When the stars appear

Supper, teeth brushing, face washing, potty visits, scripture reading, kids book reading, prayer, stuffed animal choosing, hugs and kisses......... and then, finally, singing. In other words, bedtime rituals. Last night was no exception to the rule. But the singing part had a new twist to it.

A while back I introduced Selina to my ultimate favorite song ever: "More than words" (by Extreme). When she asked me to sing it to her AGAIN at bedtime last night, I willingly and happily agreed and did my best without a guitar or someone to harmonize with me. It's just not quite the same. So I got the lap top, pulled up youtube and watched the music video with her, I never get tired of that song. I first heard it back in '91, and I think I can safely say I'm pretty tired of most songs I heard in '91. Except this one. It's a true work of art.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_dN1WXBxuw

Do you hear what I hear?

The thing about ears in an interesting thing in my opinion. Take my kids, for example. I really don't know why they have ears. I guess they have what's known as the infamous selective hearing phenonomen at this stage and will fully develop the use of their ears as the years go by. Maybe by the time they're 18 they will hear all I have to say? Wishful thinking I know.


I am grateful for my ears. I am grateful that I'm able to listen to my kids giggle. I am grateful I am able to hear them say "I love you, Mommy".


I am grateful I am able to listen to music. This is no doubt one of the best things in life in my opinion. Last night was an exceptionally great oportunity to listen to some great music. Link and I joined a few other thousand country music fans at the Toby Keith concert in Oslo. I had no idea that many people even knew who he is. But they showed up in their boots and cowboy hats. It was great!


The concert was beyond awesome. Toby Keith no longer scares me. In fact, after bonding with him for about an hour and a half, listening to him share his experiences about his friends, horses and Willie Nelson, I have the feeling he's a pretty cool guy.

I have one wish, though. He needs to stop doing those Ford commercials. We're Chevy fans in this household.

Gratitude

With Thanksgiving being a week away, I wanted to take some time out of my EXTREMELY busy schedule to ponder about some things I'm grateful for.

I really didn't need to think very long to realize that I have many things to be thankful for. But I'm not much for clichés, and some things, such as family, friends, food, clothes etc, are too obvious. (I'm not saying they're not important to mention, just simply too obvious.)

So I had to think a little harder to come up with something that maybe I don't realize I'm grateful for and take completely for granted. Quite a challenge.... I'm still thinking.....

Got one! I'm thankful for contact lenses. I am blind without them and would be a circus freak with glasses! It's nice not to have to sit face to face with the TV and also not to have to glue my eye balls to a book while reading. It's a relief to be able to recognize my own children when they come running towards me, it's comforting to be able to see the road when driving and it's of course reassuring to be able to see my eye lashes when putting on mascara.

I'll try to think of another not so obvious thing tomorrow. Too much thinking for one day already.

Later!

Freaky

With Halloween just around the corner, I've been reminiscing about times I have been scared. You know, heart-in-your-throat-blood-pumping-scared. (Most of them are for some reason movie related).

The first thing that came to my mind was when I was around 9 years old. I had watched "Jaws", which resulted in me having vivid imaginations of sharks in not just the swimming pool, but also the BATH TUB! How sad is that! That's the mindset of a crazy 9 year old, though.

In the early 80s I also watched "Aliens" with my brothers. I was terrified to be around pregnant women for a while after that. I guess I was half expecting something grotesque to jump out of their belly.

About a year after we got married, Link and I moved in to an apartment in Murray, Utah. It was just the 2 of us then. One of Link's favorite things was to hide somewhere in the apartment and then freak me out. I remember walking around in there, knowing he was somewhere just, waiting to give me a heart attack. He's just really good at that stuff.

One time, Link somehow convinced me to watch "The Ring" with him. Those kind of movies really aren't healthy for me and my vivid imagination. For weeks afterwards I was scared to walk past the TV. (This will only make sense to you if you know anything about "The Ring". I don't suggest watching it just to make sense out of my not being able to walk past the TV, though.)

I was in an AWESOME book club while living in Utah. We had read a book about unsolved mysteries, such as Jack the Ripper, the Lindgergh kidnapping, the JonBennett Ramsay murder etc. The movie "From Hell" (about Jack the Ripper in case you haven't seen it) came out right about the time we were reading this book, and we went to see it in the theatre. I was so scared afterwards. Link was out of town, so I came home to an empty apartment. I had to turn all the lights on in all the rooms and cranked ABBA up on the stereo.

The other night Link had a full-blow snoring night, so I ended up sleeing on the couch. Half way asleep I hear this sound coming from Amilia's room. It sounded like a mooing cow. I know for a fact the we don't keep a cow in Amilia's room. The only explanation for the mooing then is that her Fisher Price farm is haunted. Let me just say that that's not the first toy that is haunted.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

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How in the world did my blog counter jump from a little over 3000 hits last week to well over 11000 hits this week? I'm confused......