Emblitas External Monologue

The wrong size

2011-09-02T09:44:00.001Z

I have a problem- see, every time I look in the mirror I see a fat chick. In my mind- I am not a fat chick, so this causes quite a bit of distress and feeling like I am somehow not entirely myself. This has been going on for some time, but I have put it out of my mind (and stuffed candy and pastries in my mouth) and just occasionally lamented the disappearance of my youthful figure.

This August I stepped on a scale for the first time in years and hoo boy.... that was not the number I was expecting. And as I was shopping for my fall wardrobe I couldn't help but notice that I was even having trouble fitting into a size 46 (14/16US) all this made me a little depressed and then determined to really change something.

I wasn't entirely sure how to change something. For a long time I've felt out of touch with my body -as in when am I hungry, when am I full, how big a portion is enough. I could seemingly eat and eat without noticing that I was full (until much later when I felt ill) and even then, still manage to want to snack on something. Then I remembered an article I had read on how diet cola products make you fat. So I decided to kick my diet cola habit- I went from mainlining- to 1 glass a day. It was 4 days of horrible headaches, and after they lifted I started to wonder when or if I would feel a difference. Its been almost a month and a half and in the past couple of weeks I can say that my body's messages about fullness/hunger seem much stronger than before. So I am eating less (without depriving myself of anything so far) and still feeling comfortable and full.

I'm not saying that its a 100% solution (I had a pastry yesterday only an hour before dinner :/) But it seems to be easier for me to hear what my body has been trying to tell me through the haze of aspartam. So far the weightchange is incremental (2 pounds down) but at least it is going in the right direction.

I'm not hoping for a size zero... or even a size 8 for that matter- but I would be thrilled to get down to a size 10-12, which was my medium size for a long time. It would really just be nice to look into the mirror and see who I expect.

Bicycle parking

2011-05-27T11:32:00.001Z

Bicycle parking, originally uploaded by emblita.

Stockholm was gorgeous, I loved walking around and perusing the small shops and gazing up at the beautiful houses. I think I need to come back soon!

Drainpipe growth

2011-05-05T10:57:00.001Z

Drainpipe growth, originally uploaded by emblita.

This is what happens when you don't clean your drainpipes for years and years. Makes for a pretty picture though :)

Its a nice day for a white wedding

2011-04-29T15:26:00.002Z

My favorite group photo from Vegas, originally uploaded by emblita.

In celebration of the Wedding Day of the eh (year? decade? century?) I felt like sharing one photo of my own :)
There is me and hubby with friends in Vegas getting hitched- it was such a fun day. I hope Will and Kate enjoy theirs as much as I enjoyed mine (ditto for their marriage).

Old trees

2011-04-27T21:11:00.001Z

Old trees, originally uploaded by emblita.

This birch tree is over a hundred years old and wonderfully bent and gnarled.

Afternoon snack

2011-04-18T11:19:00.002Z

Afternoon snack, originally uploaded by emblita.

Chimpanzee watches us carefully in Busch Gardens FL (January 2011)

INTP

2011-04-15T14:56:00.003Z

Took a mini-class in the MBTI communication skills today and it reminded me of a) how much I enjoyed learning about them in college, and b) how much I wish I had finished my MA already. I score as an INTP and as such the careers most suited to INTP personality types are the following
Possible Career Paths for the INTP:

Scientists - especially Physics, Chemistry (You wouldn't suggest this if you'd seen my math test scores :/)
Photographers (My favorite hobby, but I can't see myself doing it as a job)
Strategic Planners (Eh? no)
Mathematicians (See answers for Scientist)
University Professors (Ah... this would necessitate my finishing my MA and possibly a PhD too.... hmmmm)
Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, Computer Animation and Computer Specialists (Not very interested in this field)
Technical Writers (Don't even know what that is although I suspect it involves math and mathematical formulas see answers 1, 3,4 and 7)
Engineers (See several other answers regarding my lack of math skills)
Lawyers / Attorneys (Work with them, 'nuff said)
Judges (See above)
Forensic Research (CSI Emblita! Has a ring to it but still... see answer 1 et.al.)
Forestry and Park Rangers (Um... this would require being OUTSIDE brrrrr)
Hmmm... no Project manager at a university or even International Coordinator (both of my job titles) but a lot of math stuff... apparently I am of a very unusual non-math inclined INTP personality type.
This course really hit home that although I am quite happy and competent at my job, it is not exactly where I want to be. And considering this list there is only one job for me- Professor. Better get cracking on that degree then.

I ask you- is this the face of a University professor?

Gulfport Casino

2011-04-14T15:55:00.001Z

Gulfport Casino, originally uploaded by emblita.

Spring flowers

2011-04-13T09:56:00.001Z

Spring flowers, originally uploaded by emblita.

Finally

The hair

2011-04-06T09:47:00.004Z

DSC00325, originally uploaded by emblita.

Oooh

2011-04-01T21:51:00.003Z

Oooh, originally uploaded by emblita.

One of my favorite photos from our Florida trip, I loved his expression and the light in the afternoon sunshine :)

This is a shot of my little ladybird dipping her toes in the pool. She was fascinated by the pool and constantly wanted to splash around in it...
It was such a fabulous vacation, we'll have to go again someday

This one's about hair

2011-03-30T13:58:00.000Z

So I've been letting my hair grow out for a couple of years now and I have officially entered the "Sick of my hair" phase. I dyed it a little darker a few weeks ago in the hopes of staving off this feeling. The fact of the matter is that I want a big change is the hair department.
As it is its this length

(I apologize for the Bi*sh plz look- It took like 10 tries to get all of the hair in the photo. Self-portrait fail)
Problem is though, I never wear it down. And if I do I will have thrown it up again within minutes. Like so:

I have caved in to my hairtiredness and made an appointment for Monday. But I am undecided about what look to go for. I sort of like the long bobs I've been seeing, but feel like taking it shorter.
Pixiecuts are out of the question though... A) My face shape cannot carry that look and B) my husband considers hair that short to be one step away from getting really fat and wearing tracksuits all day.

So I'm thinking of above the shoulders below the ears will be a happy place to go. The question is only what style to go for.
I'm leaning towards something like this

In fact I think I've sported a similar look before.... letsseee

Or maybe a little longer like this maybe

Decisions, decisions, decisions....

Nursery

2011-03-23T22:01:00.000Z

I realize that Ísabella is already 18 months old but her nursery was finally ready a couple of months ago. I finally snapped some photos of it and felt the need to share!
So gratuitous sharing here you go!

I love the creamy yellow in the room, my mom did all the decorative swirly bits on the walls. Both the changing table and recliner are reused from Askur's nursery.

The crib is from Ikea, as is the lamp.

Also, one kid is cute- but two ... the cuteness just crushes my heart

Wakeup call

2011-02-28T15:02:00.000Z

There I was,kneeling on the floor, head bowed, fingers clutching the rim while I retched and, not to put to fine a point on it, vomited copiously into the toilet. The first few retches returned a bag full of popcorn. The next time around, a couple of (very uncomfortable) hours later, my dinner made an inelegant entrance... an hour after that and we went again and I still hadn't emptied my stomach. It was here at this unlikely moment that something I already knew really hit- really got through: I‘m eating too much. Immediately followed by an promise to myself that I would never eat so much again.
For a long time I've be been eating too much- I haven‘t eaten too badly (which probably explains why I‘m not fatter than I am ) I always have salad with dinner, I make a lot of lean protein yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, that wasn't the problem. For me the main problem was that I was constantly eating. I would eat breakfast and then have a sugary snack, and then (particularly in the past two months) I‘d be eating another sugary snack before lunch. Then lunch and a snack, a snack when I got home, then dinner and then an entire microwave-popcorn bag before going to bed. In short... not good.
Spurred by my disgust it is now a week later (not by any stretch of the imagination a long measure of time, but still!) and so far I have managed to change how I eat. That is, for the most part skipping snacks, and eating smaller portions. The first change that I have noticed is that I am not so bloated all the time, which is nice. Two, I actually get hungry, which is also nice to experience –I had really stopped listening to my body and hearing what it has to say is a nice change of pace.
But I am not dieting- since I know myself and if I would tell myself in all seriousness that all sweets/baked stuff/salty goodness would have to leave my diet I would be binging on those selfsame things within an eye-blink. So I‘m going for the same plan with those. I skip them on a daily basis (a huge change btw) but will be having a little bit on occasion. Like say Saturday night where I took two mini mars bars and chopped them into little bits and nibbled on them all evening (and nothing else).
Now I don‘t know if this will last- but for now its working. It is so logical, but so difficult to get started on changes like these. For now I don‘t have any real long-term goal, I am only focusing on getting through each day and hopefully one day I won‘t have to concentrate on stopping myself from eating too much. That day half the battle will be won.

Growing

2011-02-01T23:27:00.002Z

How quickly this little squishy baby became

Alert

Strong

Curious

Standing

Driving

playing

Older

Exploring

A kid

Curly wurly

2010-10-29T13:57:00.000Z

As a child I always wished I had curly hair. I looked at curly-haired little girls with deep jealousy, and even slept in curlers sometimes (and as a teen ...sort of had a thing for curly haired boys). But my hair has always been relentlessly straight despite my many efforts, and with age I've mostly gotten over it.
However, my fervent wish must have registered in my genes because

Look! Curls!
Yay for genes!

The problem with food

2010-10-21T09:16:00.000Z

Why is it that you crave food when you're not hungry?
Why do I stuff myself when I know I'll feel uncomfortable and upset afterward?
Why is it so hard to pull the breaks and eat better/less?

It's a conundrum

I miss the days when I would think to myself "I have 25 bucks... food or shoes?" and invariably I'd go buy shoes.

Angry

2010-03-16T21:55:00.005Z

Yes, angry. In fact make that angry and disgusted.

For a while now I've become more and more aware of the lack of clothing on women in music videos. At first it was limited to a certain type of rap video but like any other virus it spread and now it seems that it is not possible to make a music video with a female artist without her outfit looking like she has a second job swinging around a pole or possibly by standing around unsavory street corners leaning into cars. This, pisses me off. It offends me, as a woman and as a person.

I've heard people say its just the fashion...
Fashion? Oh please, its just an excuse for the popular music industry to explain how they took back all the progress made during the 90's when we had women who wrote and sang on their own premises, when Lilith fair was a big deal, and not to mention that their buttocks weren't filmed at a porno angle. Women in the music industry have been reduced to oversexualized gyrators and thus stripped (hah) of the power their music had. Now they seem like they are only there to be looked at, the music no longer having any deeper meaning.

Its not that I object to female sexuality, not at all. Sex is good, we should all have some (consensual and with lots of foreplay just fyi). But the women we are confronted with in music videos are not expressing female sexuality, they are just channeling porn. And as we all know, porn has almost nothing to do with actual sex. So I'm feeling nostalgic about the days when Alanis ranted about her ex, when Nelly Furtado wore clothes, and when Beyonce was an independent woman and didn't need anyone to "Put a ring on it."

Am I alone here? Or do you notice this as well.
I think that this new decade should go for a new look; Sexy, not skanky!
Five feminist songs

The battle of the Bulge

2010-03-01T11:21:00.004Z

not the WWII one... the other one, the one we all wage with our waistline.
In January I got a grip and started taking bi-weekly 90 min. hot yoga classes at a local gym (the instructor is actually from New York). Those classes KICKED MY ASS every time. I went with my mom and was really good about going and voila! In 6 weeks I gotten down a dress size. Then we went to Denmark for 11 days. 11 days of eating out and being invited to dinners (which always included some delicious desert) and damnit... I think 6 weeks hard work got erased in 11 days of foodie decadence.

Denmark is just bad for my waistline...

Tomorrow is my first day back at my Hot Yoga class... I hope it won't take another 6 weeks to get back to where I was...I want to go further! because then we're going on vaca again. This time one that includes bikini wearing places. So it is once again time to fight the battle of the bulge. Hmmmm maybe I should try to take 3 classes a week plus the daily walks. Perhaps then I'll be able to stand (and by stand I mean lay on a sunbench by the pool) proud in my red polka-dot bikini.

Wish me luck!

Brownies

2009-12-06T11:07:00.003Z

So in a fit of ..... something I decided to make brownies from scratch the other night and they turned out sooo good that I figured I'd share the recipe with you.

I got it from Luscious Chocolate Desserts, then tweaked by me
Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I couldn't be bothered to find a conversion table so I put in ca 230grams of chocolate and hoped it was about right, erring on the side of too much chocolate)
1 cup sugar (I put half a cup of white sugar and half brown for extra chewiness)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I upped this to 1 tsp)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I like my brownies slightly more cake-y so I made it about 1/3 cup, added 2 tbs of cocoa and 1/2 tsp of baking powder)
1/4 tsp salt (I used maldon salt flakes because they are extra yummy)
1 cup walnuts, chopped (I skipped this, don't like nuts in my brownies)

Pre-heat oven to 325 farenheit, butter and flour an 8 inch square baking pan (I used a silicone baking pan).

Melt butter and chocolate until smooth. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla (I beat the eggs and sugar together for a few minutes) and whisk until well blended. Whisk (I used my trusty kitchenaid for this) in the flour and salt until well blended. Stir in the walnuts. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out sticky, with just a few crumbs clinging to it, do not overbake.
Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack (ehm.... you were supposed to wait?). Chill if you have the time, then cut into 9 brownies. (I left them in the pan and just cut as needed).

these brownies came out perfectly chewy on the inside with the crisp flakiness on the outside and were INSANELY good. I could have taken a picture but I was busy.

But look! Cute baby photo!

El dios de los muerte turkeys!

2009-11-24T14:03:00.003Z

One of my best friends here in Iceland is an American. We first met in high school (well not really, but its the closest school type... or possibly junior collage? Nevermind) when he was an exchange student. We became best friends following a night at a cafe where rather large amounts of cheap red wine and tequila shots were involved. It was as they say, the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
In any case he ended up coming back and staying.

Now Iceland is seriously lacking in holidays during the fall months and with Sam's Halloween/Thanksgiving homesickness, we started the now traditional Thanksgiving potluck.
Up until now we have held this party at my parents house due to none of us having room for such a big fiesta. But this year, we finally have a place to throw a big dinner party.

I am incredibly excited about having this here... to imagine that I now am grown up enough to have a real 12 person dinner party! Although I'm thrilled that we're still keeping this a potluck. Its always fun and people bring all sorts of amazing food (because there is only one American involved, mostly bring non-traditional Thanksgiving food).

My first real dinnerparty... Yay!

What I did this fall

2009-10-30T22:54:00.002Z

I've been gone from blogging.... well, since Ísabella was born, so here's a photo recap:
This is where we were last time we spoke :)

Then Askur turned 3

And we used the same occasion to name the new baby,

She got the name: Ísabella Ýr
Ísabella was our international pick, it works just about everywhere, and its Denmarks newest princesses first name :p and Ýr is an old family name (like dating back to 900 AD and also my sister's middle name)

Then, we painted our new house, and moved!

and slowly went from that, to this....

and eventually to this

As for Ísabella, she has grown by leaps and bounds. She keeps trying to hold her head high to keep a good eye on what is going on around her

And me, well, I've just been enjoying every minute of it :)

New girl!

2009-08-19T11:09:00.003Z

This little girl was unexpectedly (that is at 38 weeks 2 days)born on Tuesday night
She came into the world at 1:23am, weighing in at 3710 grams and 53 cm- a very average size for an Icelandic baby :) (Her brother was born at 40 weeks 4 days and was 3765 gr and 52,5 cm)

A very short birth-story:
I started having rather painless contractions at around 8am on the 17th. But I had some spotting and couldn't feel any movement so we went to the hospital for a check. Baby was fine- and we were told that I was almost fully effaced and 2 cm dilated- so we were actually in labor.
I didn't really believe it since it was so painless... so me and Klaus went to a cafe, had some brunch, went to a home-depot type store and bought garden furniture for our new place. Then came home... I had a nap and chilled out.
We then had a friend over for dinner and around the end of dinner I started having to breathe through my contractions. Still not all that painful- and 10 min apart. I watched tv (Criminal Minds for those who want to know), by the end of the show my contractions were down to 5 min apart and getting to be painful. So I called to hospital to let them know we were on the way. Called my mom who came over to stay with Askur, kissed our dinner guest goodbye and we were at the hospital at 10:45pm.

Because I've had an uncomplicated pregnancy, and was having normal labor we went to the hospital birthing center where we got a huge birthing room complete with hot-tub, kingsize bed, yoga ball and such. By 11:15pm labor was in full swing and I got in the tub. At around 12:30 I got out of the tub and into the bed and with a lot of screaming and grunting managed to give birth there at 1:23.

It all happened so fast that there was no time for painkillers .... but on the other hand it all happened so fast so I didn't really have all that much time to worry about that :)
By 4pm yesterday we were home and all is well :)

Naming

2009-08-04T22:09:00.000Z

Since we found out that we're (probably) having a girl I started thinking about names. Last time with Askur we happened upon a very convenient way of deciding on a name which was:
1. print out two copies of Icelands name committee allowed name list (very extensive girls/boys)
2. Me and hubby going into separate corners and checking off/writing down names we like.
3. Each make a list of favorite names
4. Compare lists and veto names either of us hated.
5. Make combined list.
6. Go through list and figure out what names wouldn't work outside of Iceland (very important since we come from different countries and we would prefer if both our families can pronounce the kids name)
7. Waited until the kiddo was born and take a good week to look at him and see what name fitted.
Surprisingly, none of our top contenders ended up being our choice- When we looked at him and tried the different names only one really seemed to fit. And so he ended up being named Askur (Ash (like the tree))

This time around, the criteria is mainly the same. But I've realized that I have a rather strict name criteria. Like- no biblical names, no girls names made out of boy's names (for me this just screams "Ooops you were supposed to be a boy!") like say Magnusina (yuk) I also prefer short names and names from old norse. Although, now we also have to take into account that this newest childs name has to work with Askur's. Good thing we have time :)

Then when me and hubbs discuss names we often run into trouble with names that work in one language and not the other. They are often the same name- but with wildly different connotations between countries. Like say I love the girls name Dagmar (which is actually the name of an Medieval Danish queen) but in Denmark its only known as an "old lady" or possibly a horse's name. So that's out. Or say the boy's name Rasmus, a totally normal danish name- in Iceland Rass is ass... so no.

So the discussion about names can get very interesting :) But we've started on our lists, and will probably be amending them until I'm almost due. In fact we've now finished our separate lists and are going to compile our top 10-15 name list. And like last time, we'll wait for the child to be born and get to know our spawn a little before naming (most likely)her. Since it feels like she's doing her best to get out of my body without any outside help- hopefully it will be sooner rather than later.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*
I've been prepping for this new little one in other ways as well. We have VERY VERY limited space here (until we move SQUEE!!!) I spent the weekend cleaning out clothes from my closet and making space for some of the smallest clothes (which should last the first 2-4 weeks). Some of them are ones that Askur wore, and some new ones.

I just loved washing them... and folding them... these itty bitty tiny little clothes. Its so hard to believe that babies really are that small!
I washed the bedding

and decided which outfit would be her "going home from the hospital" outfit.

Its not pink- obviously, but its so cute with all those little ducks on- and on the off chance that this baby turns out to be a boy (pls pls let it be a girly! But my hubby keeps saying "They only said that there is a 95% chance that its a girl... which means there is a 5% chance that its a boy"... I tell him to shut it, but now he's made me nervous)then there is not so much gender confusion :p

Birthday wishes....

2009-07-23T16:50:00.004Z

I guess this was the year when all my birthday wishes came true, and in a way the reason I've been stressed out for the past week or so.

When I got home from work on my birthday (at noon no less!) my hubby and Askur greeted me with a brand spanking new Exclusive Tempur bed already set up in our bedroom! Damn... it is beautiful and incredibly comfortable :)

Then later that night at my b-day barbecue my friends gave me an envelope- they had all gotten together and gave me enough for a new fridge! (which I haven't bought yet)

That same day ... the sale of my MIL's apartment was finalized as well, so there we were- all of a sudden we had enough money for a down-payment on a house. And we had had our eye on one specific house for a while, and were waiting for a viewing.

Getting to see it was more difficult than it sounds, its being rented out and yeah.. so there was a wait. Then last week we finally got to see it. And it was as good as it had looked on the photos. Its a duplex? As in its a three story house split down the middle. So we'd have 3 floors, 5 "bedrooms", living room and dining room en suite, and two bathrooms.(I'd show you photos but the sales listing has been removed squeee!!! and I didn't take photos during our viewing because those renters.... seriously messy people) Which means, we'll have a master bedroom, kids bedroom, and nursery on the top floor and an office AND a guest bedroom/whiskey lounge in the basement... instead of our two bedrooms, 1 barely bathroom, small livingroom and kitchen that we live in now.
An hour after we had viewed it we found ourselves sitting in the realtor's office signing a offer to buy (a goodly bit under the asking price no less :p ). Two hours after that the Realtor called us to tell us that the sellers had accepted our offer. In the days since we've been filling out loan applications, finding, copying and sending various documents about our finances and this morning we handed in the last papers.
Needless to say... I'm a bit freaked out, and stressed. I haven't let myself get really excited until next week when we finalize the contract- pay our deposit and all the loan stuff has been approved (we should know by the end of this week). Then I will allow myself to get seriously excited about our new home. At this point it still feels like something could go wrong.

So maybe... I really did get EVERYTHING on my birthday wishlist. And seriously... how many times can you really say that?

Numbers

2009-07-14T10:18:00.003Z

31 years- my age as of today
33 weeks- of pregnancy so far
15 names- on our naming list for the new baby
7 weeks- of pregnancy to go (no more please!)

90 thousand*- price of the new fridge I'd like
389 thousand- price of the new bed I'm lusting for
10 million - how much we have for a down payment on a house
39,5 million - how much the house we're interested in buying is.

The happiness my husband, son, unborn baby, doggy, friends and family bring me every day- priceless
Without them none of the numbers would mean a thing

*Fyi all numbers are in Icelandic króna so don't feel faint at the numbers f.x. 100.000isk is roughly 800usd

Postcard from Spain*

2009-07-09T15:29:00.003Z

Hola companeros!

The weather is awesome! We've been chillin' by the pool and eating good food. The stores all started their sales so I went a little hogwild in Zara's baby section.... hem hem
See you soon!

Emblita et al

Ps. send more money

*As per spec- postcards should always arrive after the person has returned home.

The weirdness of pregnancy

2009-05-29T20:37:00.003Z

* All the hair on the right side of my body is growing faster and darker than on the left side... i.e. I have longer darker roots on one side, one bushy eyebrow, one hairy armpit and one leg which seems to be on the way to Hobbiton. I pluck, tweeze, shave and wax both sides on the same schedule but I may have to reevaluate this since its obviously not working very well.

* You know how they tell you that your bowels slow down during pregnancy. Well, I can now tell you (thanks to some corn on the cob and The Curious Incident With the Dog in the Nighttime) that it takes food about two weeks to get through.... yuk. That thought is almost stopping me from eating these mint chocolate cookies... almost.

* Peeing a little when you sneeze- although this possibly is a bigger risk during you second (or third/fourth/fifth etc) pregnancies

* Suddenly finding yourself waddling like a duck.

* Your tummy looking like Alien is trying to make a comeback (or possibly its the Spaceballs alien which also tapdances and sings)

And for something completely different; Photos

Baby driver

Out in the countryside enjoying the sun

Petting a calf (this is taken about 30seconds before the calfs mum made a very loud bellowing sound and we had to take Askur outside crying)

Fleur!

Puppy!

Startrekkin'

2009-05-18T21:53:00.002Z

I suppose it comes as no surprise to anyone that I am a huge StarTrek fan. Mostly TNG, but the original series (mostly the movies) and DS9 were up there too.
I love it for its campy humor, tackling of deep social issues with panache and the relationships between the characters.
So I guess you'll be even less surprised that I've been to see the new StarTrek movie (ehm twice... within a week) and I LOVED it...it was so good!

But I've been reading discussions by other Trek lovers around the internet and find myself at odds with so many of them. Particularly the Tech-trekkers... you know the ones who are all upset because they "messed up the original timeline" or did "impossible" things like giving a cadett a field promotion to first officer and then to captain. There are seriously PAGES and PAGES of people nitpicking over this sort of stuff.

And I can only wonder ... did these people ever WATCH StarTrek?
They pulled this crap all the damn time *cough* acting ensign Wesley Chrusher (hadn't even started in Starfleet academy)*cough*

And really... you're worried about the timeline? All the Startrek series did so much gratuitous timeline messing that its a surprise that the universe didn't collapse unto itself, not to mention the many timeloops, alternate realities and even people surviving 80 years in a transporter memory loop (that would be one Montgomery Scott).

Above all I wonder if they haven't totally missed the point. StarTrek was never about the tech- by their own admission, most of the time they made stuff up as they went along (divert the auxiliary power through the main deflector array etc).
First and foremost it was the humor, relationships and intelligent grappling of some really big societal issues. (I won't bore you with the details... if you like it you'll watch it :P)

But this particular StarTrek flick managed to really revamp Trek- there was a lot of the camaraderie, silliness and characters which I loved from Trek. Coupled with action, a decent plot and some very good cinematography.
And for me... the Spock-Uhura relationship was awesome (Spock is totally hot :)) and it really explained a LOT. For one, it explained why Kirk never got in her pants (in the OS Trek),it totally makes sense.

So from me- it gets two thumbs up. I hope you all go see it too :þ

Weeks and weeks

2009-05-05T21:06:00.002Z

I've been trying to get my head around all that's gone on in the past few weeks. Nothing bad- but just lots of stuff.
For one, I developed a hip problem, I can't sit for long periods of time- pregnancy related obviously- and my doctor ordered fewer work hours and water erobics for pregnant women. This was of course the week before I was off to Boston (which includes sitting still on a damn plane for 5 and a half hours)
Another pregnant woman who works with my mom, told me that I should try this chiropractor/cranio sacral dude who apparently could work miracles and after a fairly nerve wracking meeting with 3 bosses where I had to A)negotiate fewer hours and B)Argue that they hire my replacement immediately starting part-time since I couldn't promise that my hip situation wouldn't get worse and I'd be bedridden. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep that from happening- but I can't control it entirely, I was willing to try just about anything.
Anywho I think the chiropractor saved my butt- literally, with 40 minutes of cracking and various torture methods of the back-cracking trade, I walked out feeling much better and its stayed much better too. Its not totally good- I still need to stand up from my chair every 10-15 minutes and my pregnancy Boppy pillow has made sleeping bearable.
It also made for a great trip to Boston, I was able to cavort about with my girls! without worrying too much about the state of my bum. We had amazing weather and hanging with my favorite girls was awesome! We ate (dear gods, we ate so much... but I was eating all my fav foods from the states in 5 days... no wonder I gained 6 pounds... pregnancy notwithstanding) and we hung out, chatting like old days- it was so wonderful!

We also visited some other old friends like Target and T.J. Maxx :p Where I let my ovaries do the shopping :p lots of pretty dresses and clothes with ducks on them.

I was however a dumbass and hadn't charged my camera and forgotten my charger... but you can see lots of photos over at Fabulous, who always has her camera ready and charged :p

Its a....

2009-04-07T10:33:00.004Z

Hey there,
What? Blogging? Ehm... right. It's been a while. I put this squarely on the shoulders of the puppy/toddler combo which has been waking us grownups up at the CRACK OF DAWN. Thus leaving us tired, cranky and listless most days. They are cute though, which I suppose makes us forgive them and not throw them out of the house.

The boy will wake up (really really really early) sit up in bed and yell "PUPPY!!!" at which point the puppy wakes up and starts jumping around and then about 5 min later starts by peeing on the floor (if I'm not really quick to grab my robe, hop into my boots and take her outside to pee)
Oh gods I hope this wake up excited/peeing inside thing stops soon. Its an overrated part of the puppy experience.

They both love this Pottery Barn chair... and often a fight ensues over who gets to sit in it.

But mostly they are happy to share a space.

In other news (if you haven't heard via Twitter and Facebook) we went to have a sonogram of the as of yet unborn member of our fam. After carefully looking for every possible angle the doctor said: "Well I can't see a hotdog... but it looks like we have a bun" (me, hubby, my mom and my sister (yes this was a family outing)all giggled dutifully) and ended the session with a very clear "I can't see a penis." So it looks like we may just have a girl on the way! WOOT! Little dresses!

Hi! The doctor can't see a penis- buy me cute dresses stat!

We're adding one, might as well add another

2009-03-19T13:22:00.003Z

family member. Just because having two kids isn't enough. We decided we should just go for a full set and so in a couple of weeks we will be adding this little cutie to our family unit

She is of course one of my parents puppies :) Her official name is Blíða (pronounced sortof like Bleetha (with a soft TH sound)which means sweet and mild)we haven't quite decided on the name- we'll see.
So... yay! Puppy! Now all we need is a house :þ

*Ehgads realized this means pottytraining and housetraining EEEK at the SAME TIME*

Being preggers

2009-03-04T13:21:00.003Z

Now that the cat is out of the bag I can finally talk about this pregnancy stuff. I've been dying to share, but at the same time terrified of telling. Make no sense? Well, thats me in the 1st trimester. Paranoid and freaked out.
Unlike my last pregnancy this time my stomach has really troubled me. I was so nauseous from 6wks on that I wondered how I would survive, and now its just graduated directly into heartburn...ugh. I don't know if this is the "different pregnancies different experience," the fact that I had my gallbladder removed or (oh please please please) that its a little girl (I read somewhere that being pregnant with a girl has you making more hormones and thus more likely to experience the Sick). You can tell that I'm really hoping it means girl :)
Unfortunately you can't tell gender until 16 or 17 weeks (my moms BF is a radiologist and we're going to go have it checked out at the end of the month!)

Now since we have passed the first trimester I've started focusing on the important stuff- like say the search for cute maternity clothes *note... those are not to be found in Iceland... they have lots of black, expensive black stuff... and I am many things but I am not A. Jolie -I like color! So I've been pouring over various websites and finding all sorts of cute dresses and skirts. I'll probably start shopping soon since I'm sorta already showing. I'm almost embarrassed by this since I didn't show at all until 19 wks last time. On the plus side my ass has decreased by 2 dress sizes...this did happen last time too. The rest of me doesn't shrink.. just my ass. It's weird.

The other big thing I've started thinking about is my maternity leave. I'm going to take the whole 9 months that I'm entitled to (I get 6 months at 80% of my present pay but you can spread it over 9 months... plus I can get what amounts to a months pay from my union- the Icelandic system is 3 months for mom, 3 months for dad and 3 months to split at 80% pay) and we did the math- and we should be fine financially. Plus then someone else gets my job for 9 months which is better than unemployment right?! Klaus of course gets his paternity leave from Denmark and because we're in different systems we each get the whole leave -in Denmark parents get a total of 12 months, 2 months that the mother has to take, the rest to split between the two. So Klaus will take the full 10 months. His plan is to take some of it at the same time as me but leave most of it for when I have to go back to work. This worked wonderfully last time and both Askur and Klaus loved hanging out together. That way we also avoid the expensive private daycare (for kids under 18months) and can hopefully start the kid in daycare right off the bat. Heck, it worked out fabulously with Askur.

We're both really excited. I can't wait for summer to show up- it will basically be summervacation- 2 or 3 wks of work and then maternity leave! Yippy! Also there will (if all goes well) be a wonderful little baby with that amazing infant smell and much snuggling. YAY yay yay!

Announcement

2009-02-26T09:03:00.006Z

So I've been keeping a secret :)(well, and been feeling nauseous and exhausted)

At 13 weeks and due on August 30th :)

YAY!

Coupledom

2009-02-20T09:35:00.005Z

Stole this Meme from Sundry who got it from Dooce- what can I say- I've been slacking on the bloggy front what with work, sickness and a visit from Denmark. Hem... eh HI! look! a blog post!
What are your middle names?
Me- I don't have one, hubby's is Wallberg

How long have you been together?
Lessse since oh mid december 1998

How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Eh... if "dating" can be construed as "jumping in the sack" about 3 days

Who asked whom out?
Okey, so here's the thing. I was renting a house in Kalihi with my BFF Aurora and and a third roommate, when one day Klaus calls Aurora from the Philippines or Australia or something and says he'd like to come by Hawaii and would it be cool if he and his friend crashed at our place. Since we're all cool-college-student-babes at the time, we're all "Sure, no problem. They can crash on the futon in the living room"
Anywho- a couple of weeks later these two scruffy looking Danish dudes show up and start off by taking over our kitchen to boil potatoes (they'd been in Asia for a year and apparently missed potatoes). I semi-registered that the taller of the two was cute, but seriously- I had finals and like 5 papers to finish so I didn't take much notice. Even when said tall Dane started rubbing my shoulders while I was typing up a storm. I finally finished my finals, and finished packing since I was leaving for Iceland the next day- and went to the beach with the guys and there Klaus and I started talking and that night- while watching Entrapment- all of us laying on the floor we started making out :) Eventually the action moved to my bedroom, my invite, so I guess I asked him.

How old are each of you?
I'm 30 and he's 37

Whose siblings do you see the most?
Mine, since we live in the same country and area

Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Parenting...

Did you go to the same school?
No... different countries

Are you from the same home town?
Again... no different countries

Who is smarter?
School smarts? Me I guess I have a BA in Psychology and History and am working on my MA in medieval history :) Although if you have a burning need to know who won the world cup in 1986 Klaus is your man.

Who is the most sensitive?
A tie, we're both sensitive- just about different things. Which is good because then generally at least one of us is calm and can comfort the other.

Where do you eat out most as a couple? 
*Blush* in Iceland... TGIF, in Denmark Jensens steakhouse

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Probably Bali... it was certainly the longest traveltime wise i.e. 36hours of planes and airports *shudder*

Who has the craziest exes?
We're both pretty cool with our exes
 
Who has the worst temper?
Him- I usually try to be polite- probably because I worked in customer service

Who does the cooking?
Me! Because we made an awesome deal when we first started living together... whoever cooks, doesn't clean!

Who is the neat-freak?
Him- he's a Mr. Clean whirlwind (he works nights while I work days- I'll come home from work and the house will be spotless- *LOVE*)

Who is more stubborn?
Ehm... we're really good at talking and compromising. Depends on the situation I guess

Who hogs the bed? 
The boys

Who wakes up earlier?
Klaus is a light sleeper in the morning, while it takes a LOT to wake me up. But usually I have to get up and go to work. So a eh... tie?

Where was your first date? 
In mah bedroom yo. All kidding aside... our first like, go out for dinner thing? I can't quite remember although he did take me for a cruise from Copenhagen to Oslo where we had to dress up for dinner. This was in March 1999... what?! He lived in Denmark and I lived in Hawaii...

Who is more jealous?
Neither

How long did it take to get serious? 
Lets put it this way. When we got up the morning after hooking up we were girlfriend/boyfriend and never looked back.

Who eats more? 
Klaus will eat more food in a sitting. I'm more prone to snacking

Who does the laundry?
Klaus usually- since he's home during the day

Who’s better with the computer? 
Me :)

Who drives when you are together?
50/50 although tellingly, when Klaus was walking Askur to his daycare, Askur pointed at our car and said "Mommy's car" Klaus told him, no its daddy's car too. Askur didn't buy that and said "No, daddy has a bike!"

Weee, that was fun and you now know way too much about the mating rituals of northern Europeans (who don't really date) Over to you

The fall of a government

2009-01-29T10:07:00.003Z

I've had several worried tweets, messages and such regarding the political situation here in Iceland and I am just here to say. Don't worry. Its all good. In fact over 70% of the population is thrilled that the government lost power.

But it doesn't mean that life has changed one iota- there are no food, power, or heat shortages. No troops in the streets (not that we have any anyway), there is no looting or otherwise any sort of breakdown of civil order. I still have to show up to work, government workers still get paid, pre-schools and all schools are open (despite the 10 inches of snow :p)Which just goes to show how little our parliament means to the day to day running of the country. This is not the first time that a government goes bust in the middle of an elected period and probably not the last time.

What is happening now is that the 3rd and 2nd largest parties are in talks to create a new government -with the support of the other minor parties thus giving them a majority. The new governments plan and ministerial posts will probably be ready to start work tomorrow or Saturday.

Meanwhile the nation is holding its breath- hoping that with these new people- most of whom have been in the opposition in parliament for over 18 years, will react faster to the problems faced by the average Joe and will do more for the people of Iceland than for the rich and the bankers (mostly the same people). Quite frankly the average Icelander would like to see the bankers heads on the block. A little prison and oh yes stripping them of all the wealth they have siphoned off the public in the past years.

Irritatingly the "Independence Party" who has been in power for these past 18 years has refused to acknowledge that the protests had anything to do with their fall from grace. Instead they are whinging about the flakiness of the Social Democratic Party (their former partner in government over the past 2 years and 2nd largest party)who broke from the government after the frustration level of the public and its own backland became too much to ignore. I offered to call them the Waaaambulance.
What they don't seem to get is that they got fired- by the people.

So now- along with the election which will be held in May at the latest- what people want is a rewrite of our constitution to make sure that we have more direct democracy (voting for people instead of parties)stricter laws about financial firms and their ilk, and mostly we want it now. Although we'd probably settle for having the National Bank director (and former Prime Minister)getting fired, interest rates being reduced and some very direct action to help people who are struggling with loans. At least, we'd settle for that next week. The week after that they better get cracking with that Constitution rewrite or there will be more protests where people will stand outside parliament and bang on pots and pans just to remind those in power that their power is only on loan.

Hai! Puppies!

2009-01-19T20:40:00.003Z

My mom and dads dogs just had surprise* puppies!
*Surprise bc the vet did a sonar scan and saw no puppies and on friday my sister came home after school and Fönn had already had 3 puppies (in the shower no less) with three more to come! 5 girls and 1 boy! SOOOO cute!

I need to go over with my camera and take photos. We've been too busy just gazing at them :p I'll remember my camera tomorrow promise!

Baby love

2009-01-07T13:57:00.003Z

Can we talk about babies? Please?
I've stopped myself several times from raging about miscarriages, maybe that wasn't a good idea but I really didn't want to linger on that hickup in life. After all I still have a 50/50 success rate right?

But babies... I love the stage that Askur is at now, he's so talkative and sweet. He has firm ideas about which movies to watch (mostly Cars, Bob the builder and Horton Hears a Who), what books to read and what picture to color. He doles out hugs and offers kisses and tells me about his day when I/we pick him up from daycare. It is all so wonderful and sweet and yes, I love it and him more than I knew I was capable of.

Nevertheless I want another baby. I so want to hold a tiny little baby in my arms that doesn't try to get away and that I can spend an hour gazing at. The smell, the touch of their smooth baby skin. Its seriously a glimpse of paradise if you ask me.

Also there is the fact that I feel that I was often too stressed (first time parent hello!!)when we first had Askur to truly revel in the joy of those early months. I long for this so much that I'm kinda tearing up over here.

But first, there is, of course the whole pregnancy bit to go through. The getting pregnant I don't mind one bit (hee hee trying can be fun)but once I get pregnant (and manage to stay pregnant) there are a few downsides.

Things I am not looking forward to are:
2 out of 3 months of the 1st trimester during which I feel totally exhausted.
Even more stretchmarks.... sigh -good bye red string bikinis...forever (I held out slim hopes of ever wearing one of those again after Askur was born)
Giving birth... yes earthmother-goddess-one-with-the-universe-eat-the-placenta-natural-birth thing is not for me. I got the drugs (after 11 hours of useless labor) with Askur... but vbac is HARD WORK people... and it hurts... A.L.O.T. Yeah... so not my favorite part. Although you do get one of these as a prize :P

Not sleeping... you've heard this from everyone who ever had a baby. The not sleeping is bad... and for me it continued for the better part of 2 years! But obviously I'm such a glutton for punishment that now that we finally have got Askur to sleep through the night we start trying for another one. Smart I am.
But ....still
I can't stand it! Want another!

Retrospect part Deux

2008-12-30T21:23:00.006Z

Oh HAI! Long time huh? Its been a busy holiday- filled with snot and pus (in the boys eyes... eeek) and some intensely passive aggressive drama.

Now, we were in the midst of the yearly recap and I think I was done with August. Oh and before I go on, most of the comments were wowed with Klaus's year long paternity leave. Well there is a reason for the length (unusual even for Europe)- Because we have legal addresses in different countries we fall under the rules of each country. I.e. I get the whole 6-9 months that Iceland has, and Klaus can take 10 months (plus 6 weeks paid vaca thus the whole year)of the joint 12 month maternity/paternity leave in Denmark. So that's why he's been on such a long paternity leave... and he loved it.

Okey where were we? August? I think so
In August I won two PIF contests and held a double PIF contest. The boy turned two and had a party. We also went to Denmark for a long weekend, and it comes to mind that this was the last time we saw my MIL before she died. That's such a weird feeling.

September, I had surgery, and despite having three holes in my tummy I felt much better. The relief of not having nightly abdominal pain was so great... so happy I had that surgery. I also had deep thoughts (HAH!) about haircolor, joined in a Bloggy Bridal shower for Jess and Torsten and started yoga classes again to my intense relief.

October, I think October may just win "The Suckiest Month Ever Award." It started with a terrible haircoloring mishap. We found out we were pregnant(Surprise!) and subsequently suffered a miscarriage. Then, a week later, during our first! trip alone in two years my MIL died suddenly from multiple organ failure. Woot! Lets never have a month like that again. E.V.E.R.

November tried to make up for October by having absolutely nothing happen. I took gazillions of Xmas card photos of the boy and got upset about bankers, waxed poetic about socialized medicine, showed photos from Toronto and yeah... like nothing happened.

Ah December, full of excitement and hope. We had a wonderful holiday (despite some familial drama which involves a cat... and is making grown people act like sulky 13 year old girls... I'm so not playing) involving lots and LOTS of presents! I have 10 full days of yule/new years holidays which is awesome and I don't actually have to go to work until Friday. AHHhhh...

Tomorrow is the last day of 2008... I wish you all a wonderful new year and thanks for hanging out with me here :)
Happy New Year!

Retrospect

2008-12-23T13:21:00.006Z

*I totally stole this idea from Annie- who is brilliant and hope that she forgives me*

In January we had a lot of snow, and went sledding with Askur every chance we got. I also reminisced about getting pregnant the first time.

In February I got the flu... like a real influenza flu and was confined to bed for almost 10 days... wow that sucked. We also battled sleep issues with the boy and wondered if spring would ever come back.

In March things started looking up, weatherwise at least, I still got sick. Askur discovered the joys of crayoning on the walls (I've since had the rule that all crayoning happens in his seat and under supervision). And wondered if I'd ever be able to stop snacking (so far eh ... no... still pudgy).

April had zombie dreams, acne and went to the petting zoo with Askur. I also finally went to the doctor about my persistent stomach pain and was tentatively diagnosed with a wonky gallbladder (can't believe it took 6 months before I got it removed)

Lessee May, well, Klaus went back to work (in Copenhagen)after a year of paternity leave and I was left alone in Iceland for almost a month- eeeeek. But we did also go visit Klaus in Copenhagen for a long weekend while Denmark was enjoying its best May-weather-ever. That was pretty awesome.

June, 90% of june was spent on vacation with my mom, dad, little sister, hubby and Askur. We spent a week in Denmark and 2 in Turkey at our friends vacation home. An incredible two story penthouse apartment. Not bad at all.

July, I turned 30... so now I must be a grown up. Ehm apparently that's it.. it was summer! I was too busy being outside and playing with the boy.

In August I won two PIF contests and held a double PIF contest. The boy turned two and had a party.

Can't get any further today- Yule starts in just an hour and a half (6pm on the 24th for us Northerners)
Merry Yule!

Give a little

2008-12-17T09:53:00.002Z

My hubby and I have soft hearts, a condition that only got worse (if you can say that) after having Askur. So every year we try to donate a little something to charity. It may not be much but I think if everyone helps a little it will amount to a lot.

This year we donated a small sum to the Icelandic Mothers Help which donates food to families in need. Plus, for the past 4 years we've partaken in the "Give an extra present" program. Where you buy a present for a child and write gender/agegroup on the card and put it under a Christmas tree at one of our local malls. These are then distributed to parents who cannot afford presents for their kids (so heartbreaking- we always get choked up thinking about it). Our gift criteria is usually "something we'd give our own kid." Financially for us- it doesn't make a big difference in the holiday budget but we hope that it makes a difference for someone who is in a shitty situation.

This year is worse than it has been in the past decade for a lot of people and we are blessed to both still have jobs, a home and money for food and presents. Even though we live in a society that does pay unemployment benefits, housing benefits and has free healthcare- there are still plenty of people who just barely make it through each month. And we feel that being members of this society gives us a lot of rights, but also responsibilities, one of which is to help those in need.

Come on Yule.... I'm ready for ya!

2008-12-15T20:53:00.004Z

Despite being sick as a dog (actually managed to come down with a fever at my work xmas party and be home by 8:30...) we put this 3 day weekend (the extra day off we got from work)to very good use.
We went out to the mall and met 3 santas* (Askur was very suspicious of them and refused photos).. hm maybe I shouldn't have put him in his policeman t-shirt- they are thieves after all.
* Iceland has a total of 13 santas or the Yule Lads best known for thievin', drinkin' and pranksterin'
The apartment is all decorated

and today I baked three sorts of cookies

Oatmeal lace cookies- you're supposed to roll them up but I'm too lazy and they taste just as good flat.

Vanilla almond cookies - this is a new recipe that I tried out... really yummy!
And Chocolate drops which is a chocolate chocolate version of a coconut chocolate spots. I never really liked the coconut so I ditched that and added half a cup of cocoa ... I don't have a photo- too busy tasting them So So GOOD!
If you guys like I'll post recipes :P

And while I was doing all that stuff my darling hubby vacuumed and mopped the floor and mailed the christmas cards. (I LOVE my husband! Mr.Clean!)All we have to do next weekend is decorate the tree and wrap presents. Stress free- just the way we like it :)

HELP!

2008-12-11T14:00:00.002Z

Okey- I'm trying to come up with a thesis proposal, just a basic one, that needs to be sent in tomorrow. Thankfully I do know some things about my proposed thesis area thingamawazzit but the question is... will the faculty think its any good?
So any comments would be much appreciated. Does it sound like good crack to you? Or like I've spent too much time taking classes in Underwater Basketweaving?

Proposed thesis for MA in Medieval studies.
My main area of research would be in the plagues in medieval Iceland. To map out which plagues travelled to Iceland from mainland Europe, if they followed the same timeline as other pan-European epidemics. Which diseases were most prevalent, had the biggest impact on society here and how did they differ from the European experience.
The main focus would be on the two main scourges of medieval Europe i.e. the Black death and smallpox. Both smallpox (Variola major and minor) and the Black death (Yersinia pestis) are believed to have required a certain level of population density to become epidemics in human populations, therefore researching how they travelled this far away from the overcrowded cities of Europe and how they acted in the sparse rural areas of Iceland is important in understanding how plagues spread. How did they spread once in Iceland, and did later outbreaks coincide with large European outbreaks or did the disease become endemic in Iceland. Furthermore, what impact they had on the rural society in Iceland is one of great interest.

Thanks!

Positive sides

2008-12-04T12:49:00.004Z

I've been feeling a bit blue lately- what with one thing and another, but I know that there is also plenty of positive. So in the spirit of the festive season ahead of us I've decided to make a little list of the good things happening.

I just finished paying off my creditcard- like 2 minutes ago. Gone- done- closed!!!
Paid off 10% of my overdraft
Have money in my savings account (not much.. but everything counts right?!)
Put money in boy's savings account
Bought all presents except 1!!!
Fabulous's present is wrapped and ready to go to postoffice!
The Rector's Yule present to uni staff is 2 extra days off YAY! (which means I'll almost have 2 whole weeks off over the holidays -paid, mind you:) )
Faculty boss gave us one "shopping" day off in December :) Also, paid.
The sun is shining
Hubby is home for the next 6 weeks!

Aaaah, feel so much better now :) Funny how writing lists can help

Big Blows

2008-11-25T21:27:00.002Z

It was a thursday in October, and I suddenly realized in the post-operative haze that my period was late. So I took a pregnancy test and there they were... two lines. Pregnant. We were surprised and shocked. But it didn't take too long since we had planned to start trying for a second child this fall.
But the next day I started stressing, I would go online and look up things like "miscarriages in second pregnancy." I would try to keep myself from obsessing and thinking about it. My mood would swing from ecstatic to terrified. The sense of unease carried through the weekend and on Monday in the middle of the workday I started bleeding. The boys had a stomach bug and I excused myself by saying that I was coming down with it. I went home as quickly as I could. I ran into the bathroom and watched crying while the toilet turned red with blood. After a while- I crawled into bed with my sick husband and told him it was over. No more zygot. Internally I named it the zygot that couldn't.
I ended up getting the stomach bug anyway.

The whole thing happened so fast, the realization of pregnancy, the worrying and the miscarriage. Followed in quick succession with our Toronto trip and the death of my MIL. It was a lot to deal with in a short period of time.

I don't pretend that my insight was so great that I knew something wasn't right. Maybe it was just my natural tendency towards freaking out. Maybe it was a hint from my body to my subconscious... preparing me that it wasn't going to work out. In anycase when I started bleeding I felt a sense of relief- thats how much I was worrying.
When conception happened I had just been operated on, taking lots of painkillers and generally in bad shape. I don't know, can't know if that had anything to do with the mc, but I am allowing myself to believe that it did. That my body just needed to recuperate before reproducing. Or we can just put it down to lack of preparation and organization.

I need to feel this since we are now trying again. I feel hopeful that things will go well when we manage to get pregnant. That with proper planning, vitamins and such we I will be able to get pregnant, stay pregnant and have a healthy baby at the end. Aparently the statistics are on our side. But just in case, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Yulecard photo redux ad nauseum

2008-11-24T12:13:00.004Z

I'm sure that you are all sick of my posts about the darn card photos. But the lack of natural light (living in a basement, plus high trees, plus low sun..... eeek) and no external flash (I think I will start saving up for the 430 speedlight!) has been making things hard on me. So I now have two final versions. I'll be printing them out at home and I've cut the colored cardboard and printed the greetings. All that is left is choosing which photo.
So here are the two finalists:

The old favorite- I've used Picasa, Paint.net and Gimp (I'm too cheap to get photoshop) to try and get the light/colors right and I think I'm done trying now.

The new favorite- one of the few photos from this session that was in focus. I like that he's gnawing on a thai massage stick - which sort of looks like a small pipe so he's extra father Christmassy.
So dearest internets. Which one would you like showing up on a card this coming Yule?!

Yule look and redone photos

2008-11-18T22:46:00.003Z

So yes, I've started my yule preparations, lights in the windows and such. I mean its pitch black until 9am and dark again by 6pm.... so a few yule lights really make a big difference. Light is good for the soul and all that.

So I tried a few more tricks with the photos ... I think they look a bit better- still not quite what I wanted but I need to print them and see how they look.
Its been really rainy and grey the last few days which mean that there has been NO natural light here- one of the downsides of living in a basement apartment. Sigh... its supposed to get brighter soon. Lets hope so 'cause the gray is getting me down.

Yule card photo- take one

2008-11-15T21:53:00.006Z

So, tonight I made a first attempt at getting a Xmas card photo of the boy. I'm not loving the light... my external flash (which I bought in a shady backstreet shop in Chinatown in Singapore... and haggled a lot for- in retrospect I should have just shelled out the cash for a real flash ) died... and I tried using a piece of paper wrapped around the built in flash as a light diffuser but they still came out sort of odd colored.

I took out the best ones- but I'm going to try again tomorrow with some natural light.

Anywho here is the first batch!

The dark beigy background color really bugs me... and my photoshop skills have deserted me. Can't make it go away! Grrr

Then of course the problem was trying to get the boy to actually look at the camera. Very difficult... with a toddler.

Ugh... the colors and light... just kinda off. Will try again tomorrow.

Toronto

2008-11-12T12:33:00.002Z

Hey! So yeah... we went to Toronto back when the financial thing was just starting and my MIL died and I've been so upset about that I completely forgot to photoblog the trip. Hem hem. So here we go!

Toronto was Fabu! The weather was perfect the entire time we were there and we were really touristy and couply
We explored the CN tower

Those are my feet on the glass platform

View from below

I had pancakes for breakfast.... yummy (my hubby took this photo which is why the focus is totally on my cleavage... )

Canada was sporting its prettiest fall colors

We hung out by the harbour and had really nummy lunch

Downtown Toronto had seriously cute quirky buildings

We drove down to Niagara falls

The fall colors! So so pretty!

I lusted after this house! SOOO perfect... well maybe 3 garages is a little over the top... one is fine.

Yeah... Toronto- pretty darn cool place.

Funny.. but true

2008-11-06T12:28:00.003Z

Borrowed from sinfest.net
This is true here in Iceland as well.... banks and their owners make mega bucks for themselves pay each other huge bonuses, go bankrupt and leave us plebs with the bills... why are they not paying back their multi-million (dollar/krona/euro) bonuses... being forced to foreclose on their mansions? Sell their yachts and private jets?
Why should the people who can least afford it pay the most for their folly?
I think its because other rich people don't like seeing rich people having to pay for their actions. After all they didn't steal money from "important people"
Makes me sad
Makes me want to throw a molotov cocktail or two... (I won't... but the rage is there)
Grrr Arrrgh

Evil commie pinko socialist medicine- a true story

2008-11-03T22:57:00.002Z

Sunday night- notice that my left eye is swelling up and is full of mucus....
Monday morning 8:04 am- Call local healthcare center. Tell them I need to see a doctor today, get an appointment at 10:00
Monday morning 10:00 am- show up at healthcare center, check in, pay equiv. of 8 dollars.
Mm 10:04 am- sit down in front doctors office- look at Bazar magazine, notice Nicole Kidman is looking very photoshopped
Mm 10:05 am- go into doctor, have a chat. She checks my eyes, prints me a prescription and info on how to use the drops. Tells me to call back in a week if it doesn't get better.
Mm 10:18 am- get prescription at the pharmacy
Mm 10:35 am- back at work

Mm 11:30 am- eye already less swollen YaY!

Obviously this just goes to show that socialized medicine is bad, really bad.... you should definitely not do this in the states... even though its way cheaper per person than the system you've got in the US. No healthcare should be a privilege not a right. Yeah, thats how is should be.

6 random things

2008-10-29T11:39:00.003Z

Since the past few weeks have been marked by both emotional and well national/global turmoil that I haven't quite processed yet- I mean I will probably blog about them but I can't quite gather my thoughts at the moment. MzEll kindly tagged me for a meme, thus freeing my from staring blankly at my empty blogwriter not knowing where to start (inlaws? government? IMF? Gordon Brown? My treacherous body?)

Thus The 6 Totally Random Things About Moi:

1. I feel so guilty about reading my favorite guilty pleasure books (favorite when I was 13-that I am currently rereading) that I feel a need to hide them- or apologize for reading them if someone catches me- why?

2. My feet will feel cold until the outside (or inside for that matter) temperature hits ca25c or 77F.... wierd... but true.

3. Love the idea of supernatural things being real but also freak myself out worrying what would happen if they did. Sheesh...

4. Suffered from nightmares for a long time (possibly having to do with my supernatural fetish) took a dream psychology class and learned lucid dreaming.... buh bye nightmares!

5. I would wear evening gowns every day if I could get away with it.

6. I can't wear high heels - I love the look but only last wearing them for 30 min, then I'm done. End up either barefoot or I was smart and brought ballerina flats too.

Was that random enough? Lets hope

Tagging:
Misty at Our House
and
Fabulous at Fabulously Out There

That is if you two haven't done this already! The 6 random things is all around

When it rains...

2008-10-16T12:54:00.002Z

First of all, may I just say that we had a fabulous time in Toronto. Me and hubs got to sleep in, meander around town hand in hand, eat good food, be ultra coupley and even managed to squeeze in some touristy stuff (including renting a car -we hate organized tours- and driving to Niagara Falls and going on the Maid of the Mist). I of course have lots of photos which I will post later, but I came straight to work from the airport so photos will have to wait.

I also brought my PIF parcels with me to Toronto and mailed them!!!! So yes dear MzEll and Jess your parcels are finally on their way to you!

But the unhappy streak that I whinged about before leaving just kept coming. If you recall I mentioned that my MIL was hospitalized before we left, but we were told (by the nurse) that her diagnosis was bleeding ulcer and she would be fine.
Turns out it wasn't so fine. Tuesday morning my MIL started having difficulty breathing, then her liver stopped functioning and eventually all her organs ceased to work. Aparently the doctors did everything in their power to resuscitate her, despite their efforts she did pass away sometime Tuesday morning.
The hospital got a hold of hubbs while he was running back to the hotel to get something- I was sitting in the all-day-breakfast diner writing postcards while he got whatever it was he forgot. Suddenly he came running in, sat down next to me and said "I have terrible news" he blurted out "my mom is dead."
So final isn't it?
After the initial shock, I can't say that her death surprised us. The 2 pack a day cigarette habit for the past 45 years, the drink, the undereating, the breast cancer and its chemo and radiation had just broken her body down.
Nevertheless, despite her many bad choices, she was my hubbys mom and my son's grandma.... and she did leave too soon at only 63.

The unbearable suckiness of life

2008-10-09T10:50:00.004Z

Oh life, ... it just kinda sucks right now... there is some personal stuff going on. And like always with good disasters there are several sucky things going on. There are some I'd like to talk about and probably will at some point when I feel ready and then the extra ones like say, catching the stomach flu from HELL and not being able to keep anything down for 2,5 days, my MIL being admitted into the hospital and the gad-darn economy taking a nosedive straight into a cliff-face. Sort of like one of those air-crash investigation episodes, one moment its all clear skies and all is good and all of a sudden boom! The rudder cuts out, the pilot gets sucked out the front window and the passenger cabin fills up with smoke i.e. a total aw man we're so screwed! While on the ground the airline company looks a little nervous and embarrassed "so yeah... maybe we shouldn't have skimped on the repair stuff huh?" as they grind a toe into the ground.
Maybe this is a bad analogy since we're off to Toronto tomorrow afternoon.

Ugh, so please will someone tell me a happy story?

Bookless parenting

2008-10-03T15:26:00.003Z

The hubs and I were talking the other night about ...well all sorts of stuff really but ended up talking about a friend of ours who has read every single parenting book on the planet and is constantly worried about "making parenting mistakes." Then we looked back and realized that (with the exception of having read one chapter in The Happiest Toddler on the Block) we haven't read a single book on parenting. . . we're just all laid back and "eh, we'll figure it out somehow" parents. I mean we have rules, like only one piece of candy, not too much tv, sleep routines etc. But somehow we came about these things without books.

This is totally different from how I tackled pregnancy... I was a reading maniac. I read books, blogs, like every conception/pregnancy website in existence. I was constantly worried that something was wrong with the pregnancy, the baby and everything so I felt like I was armoring myself with knowledge. I even made a point of buying my hubby books so he could "know" all about pregnancy (I especially underlined the parts where it said the father should give the expectant mother many many back and foot rubs) too.
And I realized that this difference probably has less to do with my heaps of experience with kids and more to do with the difference between roller coasters and mountains.

Confused? Let me explain:
I am deathly afraid of roller coasters... like if I try to go one of the big ones I will have a panic attack and physically unable to get myself into one.
Mountains and climbing them doesn't worry me in the slightest. I can stand on the edge of a cliff face and be all... "wow look at that view!" Even though I am waaaaay higher up than I would ever be in a roller coaster.
See for me the difference is not height... its control. On a rollercoaster I have NO CONTROL. I can't make it go slower, or stop, rewind. Someone else is in control...someone who doesn't give a rats ass about me. While hiking, I can say stop anytime, I can take a different route, and if there is a fuckup ... I would still be in control of me. Does this sound backassward to you guys?

Anywho ... my point is; during the pregnancy I felt like I had no control over what was going on- I couldn't see if something wasn't right so I was often quite panicky. Although it abated once I could feel movement, and if I was getting worried I'd just poke the belly for a response.
But now that we have a kid and there are approximately a thousand-gazillion-trillion potential bad things that could happen I'm just not worried. Because I can see him and his little face, experience his growth and development- make things better just by being there. Thats why I'm so relaxed and not worried about being a parent. Irrational? maybe ... but there you go.
Just proves the old adage of "nought as queer as folk"

Hair dye oh my!

2008-10-02T19:52:00.003Z

Well... so after last weeks discussion of haircoloring I went and colored my hair this color:

I quite liked the color but still felt it was a tad on the dull side. So I chose a second (just a wash-out color not a permanent one) that had the beautiful name of "Golden copper blonde" yeah.... except it turned out bright orange! It was really bad you guys.... I didn't even take a single photo. I washed my hair incessantly (the bathwater kept turning purple- while a beautiful color...just not the color I wanted for my hair) until it had toned down considerably. But it was still bad... because the roots of my hair were still very red/orange and my ends light reddish blonde. So I decided to dye again... this time a dark blonde and it came out thus:

Its still not perfect- but way better, and I do like the slight red eh "copper" undertone. In any case I'm keeping it. By that I mean that I am terrified to do any more damage.

What I don't get is why I let myself get suckered into the copper trap again! I've gone down that road before and it took 6 months of orange ickyness before my hair looked just a bit normal again. Lesson relearned- sticking to within a shade or two of my natural haircolor from now on. I swear....

Getting back on track

2008-09-25T21:20:00.004Z

I had my first yoga class - post gallbladder removal- with my old yoga teacher.
See a few years back I was REALLY into the Yoga... I went 4-5 times a week and got into tremendous shape. Then I moved to Denmark again, where I got depressed, ate a lot and got fatter than I had ever been. Meanwhile my yogateacher closed his yogastudio and went into self-help stuff.
Anyhow he obviously decided to get back in the saddle, and so did I. I'll admit I was feeling a bit self-conscious about having gotten all pudgy since I last saw him... so when I saw he had gained a good deal of weight too I felt relieved. Like here we are, in the same boat. The imagined camaraderie of the once shapely now pudgy people getting ready to get back in shape (as I type this I am enjoying (a small) bag of M&M's... hmmm).
Although I'm thinking I may have to do several workouts at home since I'm able to get to the classes only once or twice a week.

I've of course been hearing a lot about the Shreddy thingy. But I'm a bit worried about the general "it made me want to die!" comments about level 1! I mean what happens at level 30? Or however many levels there are...
I've already ordered some yoga and pilates DVD's for home use but perhaps I should add something more intensive into the mix. Any suggestions Oh wise and powerful Goddesses of the Blogosphere?

A bloggy bridal shower

2008-09-22T11:47:00.002Z

*I was going to post this yesterday but I am a dork and forgot*

Dear Jess and Torsten

I wish you all the best on your foray into the world of smug marrieds! I'm sure people will tell you tons of both happily ever after stories and Marriage is DOOM stories. Don't believe them.

Marriage (as far as I can tell) is a process. One that will happen (hopefully) over a long long time. There will be ups and downs, good times and bad. But in a great partnership the good times will be double as good, and the bad will be halved. Together you are stronger than you think.

Marriage tips from a silly Icelander:
Talk to each other about the small stuff before it becomes BIG stuff.
Argue about who gets the tv remote, and who's turn it is to play on the Wii.
Laugh in bed.
Divide the chores!

Congratulations!
To Jess and Torsten
Þau lengi lifi! Húrra! Húrra! Húrra!

Shorts

2008-09-19T13:28:00.004Z

On haircolor
Back when I showed you the before after/photos from my haircut/ dye job Jess left a comment which exclaimed "The hair is so cute! Also, I totally didn't know that you weren't a natural blonde."
Well, truth is that I was a very very blonde child- white blonde. Then as I got older my hair darkened and ultimately became the typically Icelandic dark ashy blonde, I hate the color. It mostly looks grey, its not brown, its not blonde just a dull ashy color. Ugh. So this is why I've colored my hair since I was 13.

Every now and then- like now. I get really annoyed with having to color my hair every 4 weeks and think that I should just let it grow out and then I get annoyed with the lack of color and the whole color cycle starts again.

So now I have outgrown roots -again and am debating if I should go blonde again, or if I should try for a color closer to my own... you know ... give my hair a break from dye for a while.
What do you think? Blonde or Semi-natural?
*Edited with photos*
So here are some photos of two types of "Semi-natural" coloring. You can see my ultra blonde look up in the header.

So here I have highlights and lowlights. Not bad- I rather like this combination

And here the base color is darker with some highlights.
I prefer the first option... I like the lighter base color - What do you guys think?

Yet another pay it forward update

2008-09-15T21:39:00.003Z

Now that I almost have MzEll's parcel ready to go and I still haven't heard from A who was my second winner. Since it's been so long, I'm going to choose another winner from the original 12 commenters.
Now I'm taking out MzEll and A so you all have a 1/10 chance of winning.
Okey I'm going to the random number generator NOW:
and the winner is (drum roll) commenter no 1! Jess of DuWaxLoolu!
Congrats Jess- I'll now have to go search for purple things! :)

Hol(e)y stomach

2008-09-09T20:24:00.002Z

Hey there everybody. So they made me stay overnight since my surgery ran late, but went well.
I showed up at 7 am, as per the instructions and since my surgery got bumped until one thirty, I spent most of yesterday nodding off in the hospital bed- in between reading my book. I finally got into surgery and as these things go don't remember a thing until I woke up feeling incredibly thirsty and with 4 holes in my tummy.

Obviously I was pretty out of it to begin with- but was on my feet and eating dinner later in the evening. (actually that was a surreal experience, when I was in highschool/junior collage I worked at the hospital information desk and remembered that mashed potato minced beef in sauce combination quite well....). The nurses seemed overly interested in when I needed to pee. But aside from that it was all smooth sailing.

The strangest thing about all of this is being away from the boy. Obviously, when I was in the hospital it was okey. But tonight my mom took him back to my parents place it was strange to kiss him goodnight, knowing that he was going to sleep somewhere other than with me, and even though I know I'm not really up to taking care of him -it still makes me a bit sad. (The reason for this is that the hubbs is still in Denmark and I'm not allowed to lift the boy up for the next week). He'll be back tomorrow though, so will my husband, and there will be plenty of sticky little boy kisses (and kicks to the tummy ow).

Thanks for all the well wishes! I really appreciate it :)
And now I'm going to chrash on the couch and watch tv. Laterz!

Twas the night before surgery....

2008-09-07T22:00:00.003Z

... and all through the house, not a creature was stirring. Hang on, I am stirring. I'm stirring my tea. Eh, never mind.... lets segue out of poetry.

So, this run up to surgery has been one big fun house of bad timing.
Originally my surgery was scheduled for Wednesday, which was okey since hubby was getting back from Denmark Wednesday evening. I had arranged for my parents to look after Askur and everything was set.
Then on Thursday, just as Klaus was getting ready to go to the airport. The hospital called me and told me they had to reschedule my surgery for Monday. Otherwise they would have to postpone it another 2 weeks. So I said okey- because the attacks have been happening pretty much nightly for the past couple of weeks and I just can't deal anymore.
So I called mom, and luckily she doesn't work on Mondays so that was alright, but it did mean that I had like 80 gazillion things that needed to be done in two days instead of having Monday and Tuesday to finish things up! So I tried to speed everything up.

Of course at 3 pm the kindergarten teacher calls me to let me know that Askur has a fever and I need to pick him up. This is the point where I really start to feel stressed. I couldn't take the Friday off- simply too many things to cover. Ugh. I almost called the hubby and told him that he needed to get back on the darn flybus and skip work for the week! Plus I had to go to the hospital for a pre-op interview with the anesthesiologist, assistant doctor, surgical nurse and have blood tests done. Which took up most of the morning then work. But with the great help of my mom, SIL and sister, I got all of this crap done and the boy was in good hands.

But now I have a cold and am worried they won't let me have the surgery.... does anyone know what hospital rules are on this? Well, I'll show up in the morning and hope it goes okey. So far I don't have a fever- just a snotty nose. Typical playschool cold.

Anywho, here's hoping all will go well, and I'll be back home tomorrow night -gallbladder free.
Now I'm going to go have my doctor prescribed "nice" shower (not kidding thats what the info letter from the hospital says). Everything is packed and ready for the boy and for me. Wish me luck!

__________________________________________________________
PAY IT FORWARD CALL OUT! Hey A who won one of my PIF contests -still haven't heard from you, please send me an email or leave a comment. Otherwise I'll have to draw another winner.

Winners!!

2008-08-31T22:10:00.002Z

Congratulations commenters no# 8 and 12! That is MzEll from Cookiemonks and A who I don't have any info on- A email me or leave a comment so I can send you your PIF parcel!

I'll be sending out your parcels this week, since next week will be filled with post-op bedriddenness.

PIF parcels and PIF contest x2!

2008-08-22T13:09:00.003Z

Hi everybody!
Wow have I been bad at the blogging. I'm blaming it firmly on Twitter. I can't seem to do the whole Facebook/twitter/Blogger trinity at the same time. So I'm back here- again, at least for now :)

New this week, I got my PIF parcels!!! I was of course incredibly excited to see the goodies that I got and was not disappointed!

Askur of course could not wait for me to take a photo of the boxes and crawled up on the table and started unpacking. (*note- no interest in the card- typical kid!)

These are the goodies from Sherry over at scenicoverlook
I especially loved the To Do lists! So pretty! and the Burts Bees lipgloss and well all of it!
(Not pictured are three small balls that Askur took immediately and prompted him saying a new word! Bolti (Ball) and hasn't let go of them since )

These lovelies are from Kim at 3Giraffes
I love The Book Thief, I read it last year but my copy fell apart (thank you humidity in Phuket!) so I'm thrilled to have it again ;) The chocolate sauce looks so yummy and prompted my husband to suggest eh a somewhat naughty use for it. Men :) Personally I'm looking forward to pouring it on icecream and making hot chocolate with it. The magnets went straight to the fridge -trés cute!

Now after being all giddy over my PIF goodies its time to:

Pay It ForwardX2!

I've already bought some cute stuff to send out to my winners so lets begin!

To Play just leave a comment by answering these two questions:

1) Do you consider yourself a geek and why?
2)What place/country would you most like to visit?
* Obviously I'm asking 'cause I'm totally a geek and want to know if I'm alone in my geekdom (By geek I mean fantasy books, comics, movies and sci/fi-fantasy tv.... eh not computers or math *shudder*)
and the second because, well, I travel, a lot and am always interested to hear about others dream trips or real trips.
So fire away - the contest will end on Thursday the 28th Midnight GMT!
Good luck everyone

Back back

2008-08-13T14:15:00.004Z

Back from my little weekend trip to Copenhagen- I went shopping a bit... just a tiny itsy bitsy bit (what do you mean you don't believe me?! Ehm... okey I shopped a bit more than a bit... ) and mostly took photos with my cellphone since I was too lazy to lug the big camera around with me.
Where it rained

A lot

Then the sun came out the next day

and we ate lunch outside- and Askur played on this reminder not to litter.
Went to Tivoli and chased ducks

and sat on (plastic) turtles

Askur bounced around like a pro

and yeah... just enjoyed being together and relaxing.
Oh and as promised before and after photos of hair!

Mullett (Yuk) Outgrown and dark roots New cut and color!
And since this is such a photo heavy post I figured I'd share this with you....

ha ha ha .... its an actual mall in Iceland... and I still can't believe they were allowed to build it.

Off to see the wiz... eh I mean inlaws

2008-08-07T08:16:00.002Z

Yup- we're off to Denmark yet again later on this afternoon. It's Klaus's work-weekend and the boy and I are going to hang out- shop, play, hang out and probably jump on the bed.
The plan was going to be "be outside in the good weather" but according to Denmarks national weatherforecasting system its going to rain. Perfect excuse to go to the mall :p

I did get a haircut and color... but forgot to take a picture ... so one is forthcoming at the beginning of next week. Its a blast from the past, that old favorite, the straight shoulder length bob much beloved in the late nineties. I love it.

Promises promises...

2008-07-31T21:19:00.002Z

a week goes by since I talked about writing blogs with content... and since... crickets creek creek creek.
So scratch that plan shall we.

Lets talk about much more important things. Namely, hair. I have made an appointment for a haircut and highlights on wednesday. Last time I went (in December!) I was so unhappy with my hair that I hid it under headbands for 3 months. Lets have a recap photo here

So yeah... I do not want to go there again... but the hairdresser has been cutting/coloring my hair for years and this was the first time I got a bad haircut. So I've generously decided to give him another chance. In preparation I've been scouring the internet for a nice mid-length cut... and coming up with nothing but meeeehh styles.
I want a sort of classic shoulder-length style, soft long layers around the face but I can't seem to find the perfect photo to bring with me. And after last time- I am a little worried about going in there without a style that I can point at and say "Like this, please!"
Anyone bump into the perfect mid-length style please let me know where to find it- or send me a photo!

Letsseee ooh birthday presents. I haven't actually told you what I got have I?
Well, most importantly my fam all chipped in so I was able to get this

Isn't is just GORGEOUS!? It isn't the one I had originally found... I went to buy the other one but they were sold out. I went back to work in something of a huff, and started looking for bikes in Denmark -thinking I'd just buy one over there and haul it home when by chance I came upon that one. I called the store immediately to make sure they had it in stock and the minute I was done at work drove to the store to buy it... I am so in wobe.
Klaus and I also got a little kidwagon thingy that we can hook onto our bike and bike Askur around. When Klaus had put it together and strapped a very happy looking Askur into a seat he looked at me, waggled his eyebrows at me and said "look there is room for two kids... hint hint"
So cute! My husband's biological clock is ticking very loudly these days :)

Klaus gave me that romantic trip for two to Prague that I had been vying for... we're probably going sometime in October or November.... kidless! Can't wait!

Then I also won an PIF contest! Which I am totally taking as an cosmic birthday present :p so soon a second PIF contest will be up and running here. That is, if Kim from 3Giraffes ever escapes from Whistler.

Delving into the past

2008-07-24T22:48:00.005Z

Some of you might wonder why it is that I, an Icelander, choose to write in English. And read blogs in English- and in case any of you have spent time pondering this question here is the answer... to an unasked and possibly fictional question.

Well you see, when I was Askur's age- about 2 years old (Oh so many years ago :p) my parents (and me... obviously) moved to England. Durham, England to be precise. My parents had both gotten into Durham university for gradschool in the fall of 1980 and so off we went.

When we arrived there I spoke Icelandic reasonably well and within 3 months of our arrival I was fluent in English and already correcting my mom and dad. My mom calls it genius, I'll cop to annoying little know-it-all kid. I was a sponge.... I loved books and would pester my parents into reading Oscar the Cat and The Elves and the Shoemaker etc. at least elevengajillion times a day.
By the time I was 3 and a half I could read both English and Icelandic and had started school- half a year early. Thats me... little overachiever (I grew up to become a master procrastinator- no reason to overachieve). In any case, from then on I adopted English as my first and preferred language.

We stayed in England for 4 years, we moved back to Iceland in 1984.... yes that's NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR! The love of the English language, particularly the written word never left me. If you would ask me what my favorite toy was as a kid, I might answer swings, bikes, even Barbie dolls. But in truth most of my time was spent reading. I would read anything I could get my hands on. These days my preferences in books are more set but I will try to read at least one new book a month (and about 5 of my old books).

My loveaffair with books has been a long and illustrious one. I love well written books, a phrase well put and pun cleverly turned. I can disappear into different times and worlds at the drop of a hat... disappear so completely that it takes a great deal of willpower to come up for air.

So I guess it takes no big leap to come to the conclusion that I have often fantasized about being a writer. I have always thought that blogging was my cop-out version of being a "real" writer. Until, that is I read this post at 3Giraffes in which she goes to a blogHer seminar where they claim that bloggers are Writers. I thought about it for a bit... and then I immediately thought "oh crap, now I'm going to have to think about what I write on my blog... will it have to have actual thought put behind it and f**k... some content?" In fact I think my comment was along those lines. Maybe I will try and put more thought into the posts but somehow I have an inkling... that well thought out blogposts will go the way of the many novels I've started to write, kept somewhere in a never opened folder on my harddrive and only considered when I'm feeling guilty about not fulfilling the promise of my childhood. I do hope that one day I'll brush at least one off and make a real go of writing an actual book. If only for myself.

Highs and lows

2008-07-22T21:52:00.002Z

Last week was set to be a week of birthday celebrations. My 30th (as seen right here) and my sister's 16th birthdays are only a day apart and we held a joint party on Saturday- which yes, was amazingly fun and I got lots of good prezzies :) Which I'll get to in a minute.

Sadly my mothers cousins husband died last week, he fell of horseback and broke his neck... so we had his funeral to go to on Friday. It was just so sad, his little grandchildren crying in the church, his wife, her head down and shoulders shaking.... she had just lost her mother less than a month before. The whole thing was so so sad- and I have a hard time explaining why it was such a difficult funeral to sit through.
On the upside at the wake I had a chance to chat to some family members that I don't usually get to see. So that was nice.

After the funeral I had completely forgotten that me and my sister's birthday party was on Saturday and all the baking and prep work was yet to be done!
At 4 pm on Saturday the sun was shining, the cakes were ready, food was on the table and I really had a wonderful time.

That was seriously yummy cake!

These young gentlemen kept us entertained while we waited for everyone to arrive

Candles all blown out and eh lets eat cake!

Yay! Mom blew out a candle!

We got help opening the presents (and holy moly do I need a root touchup!)

Isn't that enough for one post?- I'll continue later with info on prezzies!

Well, its my 30th birthday today

2008-07-14T08:14:00.003Z

Does that mean that I have to grow up?

Travel story part deux

2008-07-08T21:55:00.003Z

We arrived in Turkey late at night in pitch darkness- got out of the airport and found our rental car. Then all we had to do (all ... hah!) was drive 200 odd kilometers (in the dark, in a country none of us had been to) and find the holiday town of Alanya and then go through that and find a) the small town of Mahmuhtlar, drive up into the hillside above and find Holiday Village. The directions we had were somehow dubious .... "turn left at the Green Peace Hotel sign" and "turn right at the mosque" By some miracle we found our way there without too much arguing.

When we walked into the apartment my sister just ran around going "Wow wow wow" and I have to say ... if this is how the other half lives... its niiiice. Two floors, 4 double bedrooms (2 had balconies) 3 bathrooms, a hot tub and oh 400 sq ft of rooftop balcony.

This is our bedroom, with balcony! ... can you guess which side is mine :p

This entire Holiday village is privately owned which meant that we pretty much had the pool to ourselves.... and the slides had on/off switches which even Askur learned how to operate. Pretty darn cool.

Askur looooved the slides

Even though we were just 5 min from the party central in Mahmutlar it seemed like we were far out in the countryside. Most mornings we would wake up to the sounds of goats baaah-ing with the lead goats bell clonking in the midst. I liked standing out on the balcony and watching the goatherd meandering around. It was incredibly pretty there.

Most days we would just hang out by the pool and enjoy the peace and quiet. The only thing to break the silence was the plaintive cry for prayer from the nearby mosque.

The couple of days were we actually ventured into Alanya we managed to go to the beach

Saw the Alanya castle

Go to the waterpark

Obviously ... Askur totally learned how to slide by himself during the trip! And is now a sliding pro. And my mom, sister and I may have shopped just a little (cough cough).
It was a wonderful and relaxing vacation. I just wish it could have lasted longer. On the ride back to the airport I even suggested that we just skip the plane and keep driving. Go see Troy and Istanbul .... you know, just for kicks :)

WINNER!!!

2008-07-05T20:44:00.003Z

I meant to find the winner yesterday- I swear I was as excited as you are! Giving can be so much fun. In any case due to a very very very bad gallbladder attack - which had me vomiting in the movie theater (we saw Hancock- pretty good, vomit notwithstanding) and crying with pain for a goodly part of the evening. Thank goodness the damn gallbladder is getting scheduled for removal next week (eh... I mean that I'm talking to the surgeon next week to schedule the surgery).

Right, anywho I clicked myself over to the Random Integer Generator put in the numbers and voila The Winner is .... drumroll.... Commenter no#12! that is Janice from The True Adventures of Axel and Outlaw
Congratulations Janice!
Now I have a good reason to go out and get Icelandic stuff to send to her :)

While we wait....

2008-07-01T20:41:00.003Z

For the end of the Pay it Forward contests I thought I'd put up some long overdue photos from our vacation!
Denmark

garden party (Btw. This cute house and its INCREDIBLE garden is for sale- too pricey for me but still ...)

My dad and Askur watch the pedestrians go by

I love this building!

Tivoli

Askur discovered iPod

At another garden party!

That concludes the Denmark part- of course check Flickr for more photos :)

Endoscopy and Pay it Forward contest!

2008-06-30T20:01:00.007Z

*Edited I forgot to let you know when the contest ends! So I'm putting in a little clock widget thingy to count-down for us
Its the lower counter that counts.... I can't get rid of the other one! Sorry :(

Create a Countdowngreat free widgetsWidgetbox

I had to have an upper intestinal endoscopy today.... which was not exactly the most fun way to spend an afternoon. But at least I had the grand day of Pay it Forward contests to look forward to!

Yes, I'm playing and I figure that the 5 of you that read this blog have a pretty good chance of winning. And winning is always fun :)
So the rules are simple:
To enter you must leave a comment
The contest starts today and ends Friday the 4th of July
If you want to collect your winning you'll have to check when I update the blog next weekend and email me your mailing info.
If you win, you have to have your own Pay it Forward contest and keep the love going!

I will use Swistle's random number generator to settle the contest.

Okey, so I think thats all in order then.
As to what you might win (should you be the lucky winner) I sort of want to pick something that would fit the person who wins. However, I probably won't know all of the people who join in.
My ideas have ranged from a book (paperback), to Icelandic felt jewelry or candy or even one of my photos that I'd have enlarged. So there is plenty of leeway as to the actual prize.

So in your comment I would like you to give me an idea for what sort of prize you would enjoy (within reason :p). I'm not promising that you will get precisely what you ask for- its more for me to get a sense of your individual tastes :) And I'm curious what great ideas you'll come up with!

Righto- lets stop the yapping and start the contest!
Good luck everyone

Back, and Birthday thoughts

2008-06-24T13:23:00.003Z

Hi! Nice to see all you guys again. I've been blissfully MIA during my vacation. I even turned off my telephone once we were in Turkey, so no telephone, no email, no internet. Unsurprisingly that translated to me managing to read about oh.... 20 odd books during that time.
The holiday itself was relaxing, we did little other than eat, lie by the pool and read, and then eat some more (well, my dad and Klaus insisted on playing tennis every day around noon! in the boiling heat and watch the Eurocup in football (what Americans insist on calling soccer)). The trip home wasn't quite so blissful, what with flight delays, airport security and the fact that I held a sleeping toddler in my arms for two consecutive late evening/night flights. When the captain on the flight from Denmark to Iceland announced that there were 10 min to landing I almost burst into tears from sheer relief.... and the cramps in my arms and back. Ow.

I'm slightly rested now, and my mom and I dragged ourself to a yogaclass last night- which was probably better for my back than my backup plan of taking painkillers and lying on the couch.

____________________________________
It just hit me that I am going to be 30 in about 3 weeks... yes THIRTY. I'm about to become a grown up. And since its such a big birthday I've been composing a wishlist in my head. Quite aside from my normal amazon.com wishlist :þ

The Impossible Wishlist
A house, preferably a Swedish style wooden house, red, with a white country style kitchen, a big corner bathtub... oh and a big garden.

An all expense paid 2 year round the world trip for the three of us during which we would only stay at nice 5 star hotels and resorts. Like this one, oooh or any of these.

A Methan fueled car- stationcar, automatic. Delivered to me by the hysterical guys from Top Gear. With a bumpersticker that says something like "Powered by the junk in your trunk" or "Poop Power!"

Hmm... in fact I can't think of more impossible gifts aside from maybe, lower food prices, and a stop to inflation. But that sounds so mundane somehow.

The Improbable (but still within the realm of the possible) Wishlist

A long weekend trip somewhere nice with my hubby.

A several week trip to some nice beachy part of SE-Asia... taking place in January (because January sucks doodoo) . I loved Bali in January! (hint hint)

A trip on the new Airbus A-380 with Singapore Airlines... preferably in one of those 180°reclining seats. I don't really care to what destination.

The Very Practical Wishlist

An old fashioned womens Bike- this one

An external harddrive to keep all my photos on... 'cause my computers harddrive is full! Crap.

MP3 player with video :) This one looks cool

New pots of various sizes

And Canon DSLR extras too bien sur!

So there, the wishlist is out there we'll see what turns up!

On the eve

2008-05-29T22:28:00.002Z

So here we are, the night before we're off on vacation. I'm pretty much packed, and I've made a great deal with my darlin Sma - who is going to clean up and wash the floors once we're done. Other than that I've managed to get all those last minute things done like say, clean up my makeup closet, removing everything from the bathroom shelves, cleaning them and rearranging everything. Bought decorative candleholders, placed them in the windowsill according to the principles of the great Dibbahala san.

So yes, I've been busy with all those little things that are totally necessary before a long trip. I was going to write a few entries set to post while I was gone, but I was too busy doing all these important things.

In any case- I'm tossing my suitcase into the back of the car tonight and have everything ready to go in the morning. Half day at work and then we're off... so excited!
Flipflops and tanktops for the next 3 weeks! Yay!

Stress-ed

2008-05-27T22:02:00.002Z

This is my last week of work before our 3 week vacation starts on friday (although the airline has already sent us an email stating that our flight will be an hour and a half late!) afternoon.
Between now and then, I need to figure out babysitting for the boy, finish all the text for a whole new website for work, laundry, packing, more laundry, trying to get everything relatively clean and eh Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgh

The only thing keeping me going is the fact that there is a 3 week vacation at the end of all this. A vacation with my boys, my mom, dad and sister (a.k.a. built in babysitters - Hello sleeping in!). First we'll enjoy a week in Copenhagen and then two whole weeks in Antalya, Turkey. I expect to return rested, and disgustingly tan.

A potty moment

2008-05-19T22:50:00.003Z

My mom decided that its about time that the boy start getting acquainted with the potty. So today while babysitting she bought him his first -see-through-green potty.
Seriously, I hadn't even started thinking about potty training. To me he's still so little. :(

In any case, we got home from my grandmothers birthday dinner and I hurried into the bathroom because I had to pee. And there is was, the potty. On a whim I decided we should have a potty moment and took his pants and diaper off and put him on the potty.

He found this hysterical and got up, and sat down the the potty several times. I told him that he was supposed to sit on the potty and pee, just like mommy does. But he gave up on sitting on it. Instead he grabbed the potty, lifted it over his head. Danced around with it laughing and, and, peed on the floor.

He looked so surprised and delighted from seeing his pee on the floor that I couldn't help but burst out a big guffaw. Just as well that I had already peed huh?
Of course he then dropped the potty he had been holding above his head and as I stumbled off the toilet in a graceful slow-mo moment he dropped down and patted the pee with his hands. Oh boy.

Its moments like that, that make parenting seem worth while.

Uh Hi!

2008-05-16T15:40:00.004Z

Yup
I'm back
Well, to be truthful, I've been back since monday night.
But hey I've been busy at work, figuring out babysitters (Oy Vey) and being swamped at work all in one go.... needless to say that I didn't do any dishes between monday and thursday when I finally caved in.
But I have been putting photos into my flickr from the trip if you want to go take a look.
If you can't be bothered here are some of the highlights from the first couple of days.

Askur enjoying his breakfast our first morning in Denmark.

I asked Klaus to get a highchair before we got there- but instead he found this genius "danish design" baby chair that you can fasten to almost any chair and voila. Child is at right hight and securely fastened! Plus you can fold it completely flat and thus lug it around with you.

Denmark turned on the sun for us, and we spent a lovely afternoon in the park

complete with castle!

We did touristy stuff like go up to the top of Rundetaarn (lit. The Round Tower)

Hi there!

Askur thought squishing his face up against a window in Rundetaarn was great fun

Klaus had beer

You know, I'm all for people doing their thing but but but, the loud, monotone, repetitive pleas of "Lord come down to us" got kind of annoying and I secretly started hoping for a revival of the Spanish Inquisition (who were not down with people being overly religious in the streets).

Which put a damper on an otherwise lovely hang out in the sun. But not too much of a damper... the weather was to good to get riled up over anything really. So I imagined the Spanish Inquisition jumping about with Mel Brooks in the lead singing "confess, confess, confess!"... and then Monty Python's Inquisitors would show up too and be all silly too.
That gave me a good giggle.

So that was the first day and a half- more photos tomorrow!

Single-ish mothering

2008-05-06T21:00:00.002Z

I've been alone with Askur since Klaus had to return to work on Sunday (work being in Denmark). This transition is mostly visible by the marked increase in junk on the floor and overflowing dirty plates in the sink. Seriously- singles that manage to have a child, a full time job and a clean house- I bow to your greatness..

Thankfully this is very short-term since on me and the boy are heading off to Denmark ourselves for a long weekend with daddy ... in oh dear... two days, well... one and a half. So I have a full day of work tomorrow and a half day the day after that, then its off to Copenhagen. Not bad since if finally started raining here and in Copenhagen its sunny sunny and warm. So warm that when I talked to Klaus earlier he asked me to bring his shorts! And to remind me to bring my sunglasses. Mmmmm I can't wait.

I have to say though, I've really enjoyed getting to spend alone time with the boy. After work we run around and play... Askur often laughing so much that he gets the cutest little hickups.

And even big hugs and baby kisses. Pure bliss.

Skin problems -Edited with update!

2008-04-30T21:44:00.003Z

I have to tell you guys, my skin has been acting up. Its been wearing short miniskirts, too much makeup and giving me attitude.

That is, my skin is acting like a teenager... at the hight of teenageriness- its all spots, redness, big pores and *shudder* yellow zits.... eeeeeeeeeek!

I've been trying all sorts of skin care regimes but nothing seems to be stopping the breakouts. I've even tried some Loréal anti-acne cleanser with salicic acid and duuude I haven't had to use that sort of stuff since, well, since I was a teenager which sadly, was about 15 years ago.

And somehow on the brink of my thirtieth!!! birthday my skin is acting thirteen. What can I do? It doesn't seem to be related to what I eat, I'm constantly breaking out - one spot heals up ... another one pops up. Its sincerely tiring and I would love to have this stop!

My co-worker is in New York this week and I asked her to buy me some Patricia Wexler M.D. Acnescription- anti aging acne stuff (you know 'cause hello! Almost 30 and small lines are appearing!). The reviews sound good and at this point I'm desperate. So do any of you have any experience with Patricia Wexler stuff? Is it as good as they say?

*Edit*
I think I may have the answer to my skin issues (and NO, I'm not pregnant), while reading the paper this morning I saw a little article about Lýsi- which is cod liver oil, and I've been taking cod-liver oil capsules every morning and recently added Omega 3 capsules as well. In this article they talk about that the capsules themselves are made from pig skin.... and me... I have this weird genetic thing (from my maternal family) that I can't seem to process pork or any pig-by-products. I.e. it gives me humongous zits and well, tummy issues. So instead of doing something beneficial for myself... I've been poisoning myself with pork! So, until they develop a way to make the capsules out of fish gelatin (which was the point of the article) instead of pig gelatin I'll have to stop taking the stuff.
Well, at least I'm going to stop taking it for a couple of weeks and see if my skin clears up.

Weird dreams

2008-04-29T09:48:00.003Z

I dreamt that I was in a big multistory treehousish club/bar that was set into a canyon wall and a zombie showed up and started biting people and zombieism spread like wildfire through the crowd. I was running away trying to avoid the (thankfully old-style slow moving zombies even though the spread was all rage virusy) zombies and climbing up and down the outside of the club trying to get away. They were all grr argh and I didn't bust out a single Buffy or Resident Evil kick-ass move.

(All those Zombie movies watched, all those Zombie survival tests that I've taken and my dream self couldn't even find a blunt instrument to thwack the zombies with? Shame shame)

No instead I ran and ran and inexplicably found myself on Oprah's yellow couch (yes that of Cruise jumping shame, eh I mean fame) being interviewed about a book. I was pretty panicked and kept telling Oprah that we had to run because the zombies were coming! But she kept at it, professional that she is. But alas the zombies showed up and I had to run again... and then I received a kick to the head.

Thankfully it was a toddler sized foot. So I rolled over rearranged my darling toddler into a less dangerous position and fell asleep again nuzzling his head.

I'm the sort of person

2008-04-28T10:23:00.004Z

Who was always surprised when I did good on an exam.
In fact, once, in a physics class I got a 98% on a quiz. I marched up to the teacher and asked her if she was sure this was the right grade for me.
Thats how surprised I was- because physics... not my forte. And eh... I'd spent most of that particular class sitting in the way back with my friend Christian making a bass out of one of the chairs. hem ehm... *

*Brought on by working in a building full of students on the verge of breakdowns due to exam stress. **
** Boy am I relieved I'm not taking exams

Back from the doctor's

2008-04-18T15:23:00.002Z

and after some poking and prodding (and me going ow) I'll need to have a radioactive dye test done so that they can see whether or not my gallbladder is actually doing anything.
Apparently, my symptoms are not 'typical' and the doctor wants to 'proceed cautiously' which is doctorspeak for "Well there's something wrong but I'll be buggered if I know what it is."
Sigh
So update next week hopefully.

Oh and hey, I finally got around to downloading photos from my phone to the 'puter and you know what? Most of them are taken in IKEA. Big surprise there I suppose :)

Last weekends trip to IKEA- Askur was all over those carpets and yes there's me (and HELLO CLEAVAGE)

Here's one from a year ago

Catbed/babybed same same

Oh and here's one from the grocery store.... the people that work there must looooove us.

Bulletin style

2008-04-16T13:50:00.006Z

I don't send you flowers, or call, or write! Bad bad emblita.
My short hiatus has not been from any lack of things to say but rather too much to do. So all those lengthy posts will have to come out in one bulletin lighting round!

Had a slight breakdown when I noticed (after weeks of nightly crying) that Askur's lip-connecting string-thingy in the upper mouth was red and irritated when I brushed his teeth. Lots of guilt (imagining the doctor yelling at me- "It's a birth defect that comes from the mother ingesting too much Diet Coke! Shame! Shame!"), and a doctors visit later we're fine. Its totally normal- must brush less vigorously.
I have an appointment with a stomach specialist (I'm sure that there is a much more specific and latinized title but I can't be bothered to google for it. So there. Call me a pleb if you like) on friday because of my buggered gallbladder. Likelihood of surgery ca. 70%. Ow. But better than nightly munching of various stomach stuff and painkillers so that I can sleep. Not to mention the bloating.
Days bicycled to work since flu- 13! Woah baby!
Did I mention the bloating?
There is a new yoga teacher at the gym- she actually studied yoga in India and man... she kicks ass. By which I mean she kicks our ass twice a week. I really wish I could add a third yoga class a week. But she teaches mon-thu and I need a day inbetween classes. I wish they would add a friday evening or even saturday lunch class. That would rock.
My darling hubby has to go back to work -in DENMARK- on may 4th. He has to take a 4 week course so we'll possibly only see him every other weekend. Sob sob.
We got a spot for Askur at the playschool right next door to us YAY! Except- he can't start until august.
Shit
We'll have to get lots of help from friends and family so that he can be babysat in May. I'm on vaca in June, and after that my sister has been hired to take care of him when I'm working and Klaus is in Denmark. phew.
I also realized that I had lots of frequent flier miles and bought tickets for me and the boy over a long weekend to visit daddy in Copenhagen in May- in our apartment! (Added bonus... H&M BABY!!!!!!)
Hmmm I'm sure there was more, but until then- photos! Mostly from our trip to the petting zoo last weekend.

The playarea at the zoo was loads of fun- for big kids too.

Klaus started jumping too- and bounced all the little kids off the bouncy pillow

Where is the cow Askur?

He got mauled by a horse.
and finally got to go home and got a hug from his favorite aunt

Jökla- the samoyed

Learning from the movies

2008-04-07T14:53:00.003Z

In the last couple of weeks I‘ve seen two movies that have taught me many new things.

From 10.000BC I learned that:

Turkish (ish) slavers had iron shackles in 10.000 BC (8000 years before historians think it happened)

The Kheops pyramid was actually built by „Atlantians“ using..... wait for it..... yes, the majestic Woolly Mammoth and african and caucasian slaves. (7.500 years before those pesky historians think it was built by egyptians)

That hunter and gatherer tribes in the mountains of central asia did not have a word for snow- rather they used the term „white rain“ (eh... even Icelanders have about 20 words for different kinds of snow like most tundra/mountain dwellers. I mean when the ground is white for a big chunk of the year you make up a damn word for the stuff right?)

That hunter and gatherer tribes were still hunting big ass mammoth herds in 10.000BC (although all the bigger species of mammoths were hem hem extinct before 11.000 BC)

That there were man-eating veloci-turkeys living in the tropical forests??? Of the eastern mediterranean.

I also learned that by using Google for 5 minutes you could have found out what was actually happening in 10.000BC.

From Doomsday I learned that:

The correct reaction to a virulent plague is not to identify the virus, method of transferral or look for a possible vaccine or cure. Nope, the correct reaction is to build a wall clear across the country locking in all the infected areas and mine the coastal waters and just let everyone fend for themselves.

That when the majority of the population has perished from said virulent virus the logical thing to do is to stay in the city and become a ca. 1980‘s punk cannibal tribe. You know, (since this is set in Scotland) instead of going out into the countryside and live off mutton, Angus beef and various corn products- and you know... fish... from all those lakes, lochs and sea.

Or- you move into a medieval castle (formerly used as a tourist attraction) and set up court around a crazed sadistic former doctor who is a sheriff of Nottingham wannabe (in the guise of Malcolm MacDowell) and pretend that you are living in Nottingham.

That the best way to cook a human being is a. Alive, b. In their clothes, c. Burnt on the outside, raw on the inside.

That Scotland has enough stocks of fetish wear to last over 30 years (including a full gimpsuit and net stockings).

And finally I learned that whoever wrote the script to this movie, wrote it after a marathon movie session which included 28 Days Later, all the Mad Max movies, Resident Evil, King Arthur, Robin Hood and possibly The Lost Boys. Then he smoked some crack, fell asleep, had a funky dream involving all these movies, woke up and thought his dream would make a great movie.

Well, it made a good comedy at least. I laughed more at these two movies than I have at actual comedies in a long long time.

Oh and Sam - Feel free to add things you learned from these eh mammoths of moviemaking!

What? April?

2008-04-02T08:45:00.002Z

I was at work yesterday morning when I received an text message from my husband:
"There is a horse in our yard! What should I do?"
I of course call him right away (feeling suspicious)
Me "What do you mean there's a horse in the garden?"
Him "A big brown one right here"
Me "Hmm" beginning to smell a rat but still my aunt who lives upstairs does actually own a horse so its still within the realm of the possible "Have you talked to Hrabba?"
Him "No I wanted to call you first and tell you APRIL FOOLS!"
Me "Ha ha ha"

____________________________________________
On a totally different note- Askur and I were dancing in the kitchen yesterday when he gave me a big smile then pursed his lips and gave me a kiss .... on the lips... my heart just melted. I mean wouldn't you if you got a big ol' kiss from this little charmer?!
Awwwwww.....

And I'm throwing in an old one here, just for fun. Also 'cause I look cute and tan here. Check out how little he was....I can't believe how much he's grown. Damn.

Take two

2008-03-26T09:21:00.004Z

Right, apparently the high fever managed to expunge any vestiges of common courtesy from my brain since I completely forgot to wish you all a Happy easter yesterday, and ask what you did for the holiday. Which I hope involved sunshine, chocolate eggs, pretty bunnies and time with your families (with a possible side order of rainbows and such).

Misty at Our House mentioned how nice it is to be an atheist during this holiday- since you make of it what you like. In my group... it comes with a nice dose of irreverence along with the chocolate eggs. One friend of mine refers to this holy of holies as the Jesus-on-a-stick celebration.
But due to a story my friend told us we felt pressed to add another word to that. See, this friend of ours is a gamer (online roleplaying gamer that is) and she told us a little anecdote from her world of gaming (it included a lot of strange words we weren't sure what meant so I will attempt to just give you the pertinent info here)- one of the American gamers in her group was trying to explain the whole Jesus thing to some Japanese kids and when he told them about the miracle of the resurrection they thought about it for a bit and then said; "So Jesus is a zombie!"

I love it when a different culture looks at your own (well sorta my own) and comes up with a totally different interpretation of the basic stories that make up our cultural mythos. Stories that you know so well, that even zombie-movie-loving-atheists like me would never have thought of the resurrection in those terms. I think its brilliant- and so it became Zombie-Jesus-on-a-stick day.

__________________

I have never been on a diet- as to whether or not this is a good thing, I'll leave up for debate. I don't know since I've never actually tried. Recently, I've been trying to cut down on what I think is what is causing the slight pudginess that I've been ~~battling thinking about battling while eating pretzel sticks~~ amassing but lamenting. I make generally healthy food. Low fat, always cook with the "good oils" almost always have raw salad on the side (no dressing) so I think we're good on that end. My main problem is the snacking.
Snacking for the sake of snacking. You see I'll be sitting on the couch right after dinner. Feeling good, and full. But still I'm itching to go get something to munch on. Its like my brain has drawn a parallel between any (non) activity and snacking. This includes watching tv, reading a book and hanging out on the computer. So thats my pudge theory. Its all because of the incessant snacking.

So how do you stop the snacking? There are approximately 75.100.000 websites that promise me that I could loose X amount of pounds in no time!* But they all want money, and they all go on about the food I eat. But ... like I said, I'm not worried about the food I eat. I'm worried about the prezel sticks, the chocolate, the cakes, the cookies and the candy that I eat for no reason, when I'm full of yummy healthy food. And its not even like most of it actually tastes good. I'm just munching to munch. Its a mystery I guess.

*Results not typical, any actual fat lost may or may not be from following this program. Not FDA approved.

Right, well so I've been trying to control my need to snack and I started going to yoga classes again a couple of months ago. I go twice a week (when I'm not trying to die from the flu) and I'd really like to add a class a week to my regime. Plus (again when not dying or recovering from the darn flu) I'm going to start bicycling to work. I had already started in between flu's but I'm back to driving for the time being. (which I will stop asap because of the inflation in gas prices! Darn all this global economy crap).

So there- a plan .... well sorta. If anyone actually knows a good way to stay off the snacks that would be awesome because I'm telling you... I crave those pretzel sticks like crack! And I don't even particularly like the taste... isn't that messed up?

Coughy Easter

2008-03-25T13:25:00.002Z

Can you believe it? I got sick again.... dammit. So my much looked forward to 5 WHOLE days of easter vacation got spent either sleeping, lying on the couch or muttering "Damn you Sam and your host of ebola monkeys!" (Sam has apologized for bringing over more than just beer on monday) And now I'm better and also, back at work after a "vacation" which left me exhausted and listless, and now the boy is sick too, and its snowing again. UGH
This winter should be over now. I'm soo over winter.

So yeah, my easter- not so fun, didn't do anything, didn't go anywhere other than stumble from bed to couch. I did manage to watch the entire 7th season of Buffy -which was admittedly awesome (but also sad, because its the last one... and that means that there will never be more Buffy sob sob.... I realize that I own them all on DVD and they stopped making Buffy in 2003 but it still makes me sad to watch the last season. God I'm such a geek.)

Of course on Sunday when I finally started feeling better, Askur came down with the same thing. So now we have a fussy, feverish, clingy toddler at home, and a tired crabby mommy who goes to work but is still achy and tired after the darn flu. Again.
So I'm going to put all of us out of our misery and stop writing now.
I'll be back soon with a hopefully more uplifting post - and photos
Promise

Genetic crayoning

2008-03-12T14:10:00.003Z

A couple of months ago we (I) got Askur his first crayons, and since then I've wondered;
How is it that you introduce a child to crayons. Something that he has never ever seen before in his (short) life.

At the same time you give him a coloring book and show him that the two things go together.

(In this case a Bob the Builder coloring book)

And being a responsible parent you take the time to crayon with your child and compliment him on his coloring skills and tell him off when he hits the table.

But still, within 5 seconds of you leaving the child alone with his crayons and coloring book.... your walls end up looking like this.

Thus... it cannot be learned so I'm calling nature out on this one-the genetic need to scribble on your cave/livingroom walls.

Bad blogger

2008-03-09T15:57:00.002Z

Of course when I showed up at work after a week of being ill I had a weeks worth of work piled up on my desk- plus the usual workload so man was this week busy. Thus the total lack of attention to my blog. Poor thing.

My boss also set up a meeting for my 6 month evaluation- and as I am technically in a government job this is the do or die point. Either they hire me permanently or... they let me go. As far as I know I should be in the green -but I am having paranoid issues with this. See my boss, who is for the most part a fantastic person is a little hard to read (and a perfectionist). So most of the time everything is fabulous and brilliant but suddenly there will be an abrupt change and some project isn't good enough. Which freaks me out.
Also the meeting will be held at 3pm, in a restaurant, the day before the easter vacation starts and it kinda feels like you know ... a dumping ground. Am I being paranoid here?

I mean... granted the workplace rules for reviews state that they should preferably be held outside the workplace to make them more comfortable so that is possibly explained. And both my boss and me are busy -so maybe the timing is simply due to scheduling issues.

Or is it the good old bring-employee-to-a-public-place-so-he/she-won't-make-a-scene ploy and at 3pm so I don't have to go back to work after the meeting in tears and will then have almost a weeks vacation to calm down before finishing the 3 weeks notice period?

I'm trying not to overthink this, but I can't help but wonder about it- its the whole elephant in the livingroom thing. I like the job, the people and normally I wouldn't worry too much but I guess ..... its because I'm unsure about the boss thinking here.
So what do you guys think? Should I relax or should I start scouring the job section?

In-flu-ensa

2008-02-26T00:10:00.005Z

I'm sick- as a dog, whatever that means... but yeah the weekend started out well with going swimming with the boys- then a birthday party, dinner with friends and a movie (Jumper... which seemed more like a long pilot episode than an actual movie). Mid-way through the movie my joints started aching and by the time I got home I was basically shacking with cold and feeling like crap.
Sunday my fever hit 40,6c which hasn't happened to me since I was 11.

Tuesday I shuffled off to the doctor who promptly diagnosed influensa.... and to stay in bed for the next few days.

Wonderful. So here I am, on day 5 of the damn flu. My darling Sam is probably heckling me from a distance. Possibly pointing out that I deserve as much since I have a slight plague fetish- you know a couple of books on epidemiology, at least 3 books... no 4 books on the black plague and I think 3 on the 1918 flu. Right... so yes, I know that I know a lot about flu's and how they are spread and such but man... does it suck to have the damn flu. Yuk

Oh look let me distract you with cute photos!

All suited up for some sledding with dad

I want boobies mommy!

A smile! with teeth!

And look spring!

well sorta.... snowy... but still flowers!

On hold

2008-02-21T14:09:00.002Z

Ring...
Ring...
.
.
.
RIIIIINNNNGGG

click
You've reached the weathergods answering machine, we're not in at the moment please leave a message after the beep and we'll get back to you asap
beeeeeep

"Uh Hi, this is Emblita I'm just wondering if you have Spring sceduled for Iceland anytime soon? We're just a bit tired of this whole snowstorm/rainstorm/freeze/snowstorm thing you guys have been up to here... so ehh I guess just call me when you get back."
click

Sigh

The one about sleep- or lack thereof

2008-02-14T14:59:00.000Z

I realized yesterday that I haven't slept a full 8 hours in 17 months. In fact the last night I had a full nights sleep probably lies even further back (what with the 3rd trimester night-time peeing, wonky leg and the total inability to find one comfortable sleeping position)... and I love to sleep. I was one of those people who could sleep for 10 hours- no problem. If I was working an evening shift I was hard pressed to get out of bed before noon, mostly I'd drag myself out of bed around 1pm. Oh, but those days are long gone- and so is my fresh-facedness, I look in the mirror at this grayish, haggard face and wonder how it got so old so soon. This past month it has only been getting worse. Why?

Eh, not that I really need to wonder very long, the answer is simple: Boy. Small, of the toddler persuasion. He-who-likes-to-wake-up-at-4am-and-wants-to-play

Oh he's cute- but somehow seems less so at the ass-end of dawn. So this past week or so we've made a concentrated effort (or as concentrated as our sleep-deprived selves can manage) to get him to sleep earlier and sleep through the night. So we've managed the getting him to sleep early quite well. He goes to bed at 8pm and usually sleeps soundly. The problems really don't start until after midnight- then he starts waking himself up and cries -for what? I do not know- we'll put him back to sleep and then ~~5min~~ ~~A nanosecond later~~ an hour later he'll repeat the process. Ugh, usually my husband will end up bringing him to our bed so he can stop having to get up every hour, but then around 5am he starts upping the cycle speed and then finally wakes up roaring to go at 7am.... at which point I need to get up anyway to go to work but this still leaves us exhausted and not rested at all. Since he's been tossing himself all over us in bed.

I wonder what I/we can do to stop him from being so.... ehh.... active in the hours when his parents should be getting some real sleep. Is he just a light sleeper? Or is this through some fault of our own. And why oh why does he sleep like a log during naptime and early evening. The other problem is of course that neither of us is willing to sacrifice what little sleep we do get for a few nights to let him cry it out (as some books suggest) and it just seems so traumatic (for us- not him really). I keep hoping it will get better on its own - but maybe you really need to be pro-active with these things.

Right, enough of that- on to happier things.
For months I have been lusting after an household appliance- with deep sighs every time I passed it in the store and dropping HUGE hints at my darling husband.
Eventually I talked him into us getting it for each other as a Valentines gift (even though we don't really celebrate it). It is red after all. And gorgeous. And could be the least romantic Valentines day gift of all time.

But I loooove it and I promised I would do more vacuuming from now on. Now that is a romantic present :)

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

In parts of the world

2008-02-05T12:46:00.000Z

its all about Carnival or Mardi Gras and dancing in the streets in colorful, sequined and feathered mini-bikinis.

But its just a tad too cold to do that here in Iceland. (In fact it would still be too cold on the hottest day of the year but no matter) Instead us here in the cold north get treats that seem to make sure that if you ever did feel like wearing one of the aforementioned string bikinis we would look more like whales with feathers than one of those Brazilian dancy-types: Pastry buns dipped in real chocolate, filled with jam (raspberry yum) and whipped cream mixed with caramel topping (Hersey's).

And that was yesterday! Today its Sprengidagur lit. Explosion day, where you are supposed to eat so much salted and boiled lamb with sweetened mashed potatos and green peas that you explode. (Although I have never managed it- I can't stomach much of this stuff) and for the final part of this triumvirate of healthy eating days we have Öskudagur/Ash Wednesday which has been turned into a sort of Halloween with kids dressing up in costumes and singing for candy.
Who said that living in the northern hemisphere was good for you?

P.s. Sundry had a bouncy baby boy yesterday! Not that you need me to tell you since the entire internet was refreshing her flickr page like crazy yesterday- me included. But still exciting and YAY!

Amazed

2008-01-30T14:03:00.000Z

Today I am amazed,

I am amazed that my child, my love, my snugglepuss thought that it was a good idea to get up at 4:30am.

I am amazed at how many people in poor african countries are having trouble accessing their bank-accounts containing millions of dollars, and need my help to get them out.

I am amazed that our Reykjavik city politicians can play musical chairs with the mayorship and then get all huffy when city-dwellers protest.

I amazed at how much snot can reside in my sinuses. Yuk

And finally,
It will be amazing to get my long-awaited hour-and-a-half-hot-stone-massage-and-spa-day on Saturday... aaaahhhhh

ugh, snot.

2008-01-29T09:16:00.000Z

I've been suffering from the weirdest flu ever...my head has been filled with snot since last Wednesday, accompanied by a fluctuating temperature... and its still doing it. I stayed home Thursday and Friday (and Saturday and Sunday obviously) but even though I still had a fever last night I'm here at work because I just don't feel sick. I feel a bit off-kilter. But not sick, not what I'd expect when I have a fever... usually having a fever makes me feel horrible but not now. Nope, I pretty chipper. I guess you'll all chime in to tell me to go home... and really I'd love to except I relax more at work. Hmmm

Having a kid changes your life in more ways than you expect huh? Including that staying home sick doesn't actually mean that you get to lie in bed or on the couch doing nothing. No, you still have to full time mommy. Even though my husband is home too. It isn't that he wouldn't like to help out but more that the boy insists on his mommy doing stuff. No rest for sick mommys.

So here I am, at work, feeling a bit ugh-y but otherwise fine. I'm still a tad worried about this fever, so I'm going to the doctor tomorrow because having a fever means that there is an infection of some ilk running around your body right?! Its just weird to have a fever for this long....

When young people ....

2008-01-23T14:56:00.000Z

die, its always a shock. But usually I can abstract from the drama of celebrities dying. But Heath Ledgers death has oddly affected me.

I guess it might be that he's my age, has a small child and the fact that he seemed so ... for lack of a better word, normal, if a bit quirky. He always seemed like the class clown or the guy you knew in college who always was the life of the party. In short, like someone you'd like to know.

My heart goes out to his little daughter- hers is the biggest loss.

Lazy girl

2008-01-21T11:50:00.000Z

Me + January= Lazy
January sucks, I never want to leave my bed, its cold, dark and I feel sleepy all the time... probably due to the lack of natural light. Ugh. At least it will soon be over and it is getting brighter slowly but surely. Soon it will be February (three more hours of daylight!) and time to take a look at the things that need to get done this year (like say working out more... or something). I am staunchly against starting anything new in January, particularly if that "new" thing requires movement and energy. I know that I'd just give up.

In January the best I can do is drag myself out of bed in the morning, show up at work, do a little, maybe shop some sales and spend a lot of time in front of the tv. Its good if this also includes hot chocolate. But getting up the energy to change something in my life (even if I want to) it just isn't there. Its dark when I get up, its dark when I get home, until things (literally) light up a bit, I'm just surviving.

I had some very pointed opinions I had been lining up about reading Elle magazine and evil fashion people, emaciated teens and how the hell a size 6 turned into a Large in the fashion world. WTF?! But I can't seem to string it all together right now. I'm sure it will explode out of me one of these days.

That being said, January does have its moments

In any case my wonderful friend Me tagged my sorry arse and so without further ado, the 7 things I approve of:

1. I approve of winters spent in the tropics (Hawaii I miss you!)
2. I approve of students who read the damn website instead of bothering me.
3. I approve of wet kisses from my son (who hasn't quite figured out how to purse his lips)
4. I approve of wet kisses from my husband (:þ)
5. I approve of snow in January
6. I approve of hot chocolate made with real melted chocolate and heated milk.
7. I approve of sunshine, lollypops and rainbows everywhere

Snow snow

2008-01-15T09:51:00.000Z

Its snowing, in fact it has been snowing since yesterday morning. Its snowing the way it used to when I was a kid. I wonder if maybe the weathergods (or the Wintersmith) suddenly remembered this here rock in the N-Atlantic ocean. Or perhaps its more like meeting an ex-boyfriend on the street who starts hitting on you "Jeez, I completely forgot about you lot. It's been what? 10 years since you got a proper winterstorm, let me take care of that for you baby...." with a lecherous look in his eye.

hem hem.
In any case, its snowing, a lot. I practically had to dig out the car this morning. I would have walked (actually way easier than driving in this weather) but I need to do grocery shopping right after work because I'm having a shindig, a meet, a gettogether- with the girls from my Kvennó class. Which of course means that once I get home I have to clean and cook and still try to look good when everybody gets there. That is, if they can find the door. . .

I actually stayed up late last night trying to get everything relatively spick and span after a weekend alone with the boy (Klaus had to go abroad- but he's back now) but unfortunatly that doesn't change that our entry way is also the laundry room and general stuff attracting place. Not exactly the best first impression. It will get better- hopefully soon. But for now... I guess I'll have to try not to feel to embarrassed about the state of the place.+

* For Sam- sorry I forgot, its the lack of sleep I swear!! I dragged by BF Sam with me to Ikea while Klaus was away and bought a new cabinet, with pretty glass doors (to hide away the dvd player and cable box ... and keep them out of the boys hands!). Sam and I then assembled the thing. The cabinet was easy peasy, but the doors- they were killing us! it took twice as long to put them on the cabinet than the cabinet assembly itself. But Sam is a hero, and we got it done!

On a much better note, some photos of the boy playing outside this weekend.

Driving a bigrig

I kept waiting for a bird to come and bite that tongue there.

Well, at least we had fun running around.