We took it easy today so I think we’re finally getting into the “day of rest” groove this whole country has going on here. We barely made it up and out the door in time for church. I didn’t sleep well last night so I needed all the sleep I could get. I wish I had one more week off before starting school tomorrow. Kaleb feels the same. I’m wondering if the back-to-school anxiety is what got him in trouble at Sunday school this morning! His teacher told me he was hitting another boy and then when she asked him why he would do such a thing he gave her a smart mouth reply, “YOU tell ME why I would be doing such a thing.” Ugh. We had a long talk with him, took away his Nintendo for yet another day and made him write a letter of apology to his teacher. He swears he wasn’t really hitting the kid - that they were doing hand motions to a song and the kid got in front of him while he was doing them. I doubt that’s the whole truth, but his response to his teacher is what got him in the most trouble. That whole “disrespect” thing has reared its ugly head and we are at a loss as to how to deal with it. Some days I worry this is just the beginning and we have all those teenage years to look forward to, and other days I want to think it’s just a fluke and it won’t happen again. Denial is a much happier place to be in, that’s for sure. I’ll go with denial for now. I need happy.
After church I started taking down Christmas decorations. I think I’m a few days premature but I’m ready to start fresh tomorrow with going back to school and having a clean house again and everything back in its place. As I was standing in the living room taking the ornaments off the tree, I saw the tops of the mountains start to turn a wonderful pink color and I knew we were in for a most incredible sunset (it was around 3pm). Kory and I grabbed our jackets and snow boots and walked down the street to “our” beach to take a few photos. We just stood there watching the sky changing, the lighting shifting, the colors morphing, it was awesome (see photo!). I found a rock ledge to set the camera down so we could use the timer to snap one photo of us, but I took a few dozen of all the surrounding mountains. It was incredible and I’m still in awe that we get to live in such a beautiful place. It nourishes my soul like nothing else has.
Kaleb spent the afternoon over at Tobias’ house (which probably has a little less stress in it for him) so after the sunset Kory and I just kept on walking around the neighborhood. We stopped in for a visit with cousin Axel and Kari and they couldn’t have been happier that we dropped by. Kari said years ago people used to drop in on neighbors, but now things have gotten a little more formal and people are worried if their houses are clean enough or if people are just too busy with other things, so that tradition is going by the way side. I told her one of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to see my house, give me three days notice, but if you want to see ME, drop by anytime.” She liked that and will try to remember the sentiment. It’s fun to teach Norwegians some American sayings. The other day we were talking about someone who we described as “the lights are on but no one is home,” and cousin Odd about bust a gut over that one. He thought that was a much better way of describing that type of person than the saying they have for it here, which, when translated, means “they are poorly furnished.” Then Kory started telling him all the other ways we describe some people as “one brick short of a full load,” or “the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top,” stuff like that. I think that was the best entertainment Odd had all day.
While we were at Axel and Kari’s today I watched Kari preparing dinner and I learned how to make salad the way her grandmother used to make it. (She invited us to eat with them but I already had dinner made.) She cut up iceberg lettuce in thin strips and placed it in a bowl. Then in another bowl she whipped up a lot of cream, added some sugar and a little bit of white vinegar and mixed it in with the lettuce so it was well coated and that was it – cream and lettuce. It was quite tasty but who would have ever thought up that one? I’ve never seen so much dairy used to make a meal as here in Norway, but their dairy products are far superior to ours in the U.S. so I don’t blame them. Any recipe I’ve made using the dairy products here tastes much better than what I’ve made back home. The government doesn’t allow all the hormones and antibiotics in the cows and all the cows here are “free range,” so apparently that makes a huge difference. A happy cow obviously produces good milk. (Maybe I should have been happier when I was pregnant with Kaleb.)
After church I started taking down Christmas decorations. I think I’m a few days premature but I’m ready to start fresh tomorrow with going back to school and having a clean house again and everything back in its place. As I was standing in the living room taking the ornaments off the tree, I saw the tops of the mountains start to turn a wonderful pink color and I knew we were in for a most incredible sunset (it was around 3pm). Kory and I grabbed our jackets and snow boots and walked down the street to “our” beach to take a few photos. We just stood there watching the sky changing, the lighting shifting, the colors morphing, it was awesome (see photo!). I found a rock ledge to set the camera down so we could use the timer to snap one photo of us, but I took a few dozen of all the surrounding mountains. It was incredible and I’m still in awe that we get to live in such a beautiful place. It nourishes my soul like nothing else has.
Kaleb spent the afternoon over at Tobias’ house (which probably has a little less stress in it for him) so after the sunset Kory and I just kept on walking around the neighborhood. We stopped in for a visit with cousin Axel and Kari and they couldn’t have been happier that we dropped by. Kari said years ago people used to drop in on neighbors, but now things have gotten a little more formal and people are worried if their houses are clean enough or if people are just too busy with other things, so that tradition is going by the way side. I told her one of my favorite sayings is, “If you want to see my house, give me three days notice, but if you want to see ME, drop by anytime.” She liked that and will try to remember the sentiment. It’s fun to teach Norwegians some American sayings. The other day we were talking about someone who we described as “the lights are on but no one is home,” and cousin Odd about bust a gut over that one. He thought that was a much better way of describing that type of person than the saying they have for it here, which, when translated, means “they are poorly furnished.” Then Kory started telling him all the other ways we describe some people as “one brick short of a full load,” or “the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top,” stuff like that. I think that was the best entertainment Odd had all day.
While we were at Axel and Kari’s today I watched Kari preparing dinner and I learned how to make salad the way her grandmother used to make it. (She invited us to eat with them but I already had dinner made.) She cut up iceberg lettuce in thin strips and placed it in a bowl. Then in another bowl she whipped up a lot of cream, added some sugar and a little bit of white vinegar and mixed it in with the lettuce so it was well coated and that was it – cream and lettuce. It was quite tasty but who would have ever thought up that one? I’ve never seen so much dairy used to make a meal as here in Norway, but their dairy products are far superior to ours in the U.S. so I don’t blame them. Any recipe I’ve made using the dairy products here tastes much better than what I’ve made back home. The government doesn’t allow all the hormones and antibiotics in the cows and all the cows here are “free range,” so apparently that makes a huge difference. A happy cow obviously produces good milk. (Maybe I should have been happier when I was pregnant with Kaleb.)
No comments:
Post a Comment