American in Norway

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I would love to write a super great post about our plans tonight, & that 13 years ago TODAY I met my husband at a Halloween party... (Love you honey..) But frankly... I am having 15 people over in a matter of hours & I am still picking pumpkin seeds off of the floor.... I got Boo'd by Song for Whoever someone I used to actually go trick or treating with in the old days... (OK we were too old to go trick or treating but I am sure we egged cars or something... ) Cute rig ht?! So here's the deal: Go to as many of your blog buddies as you want and tell them they have been boo-ed . Have them pick up this picture and add it to their blog and say with the link who boo-ed them . Put the picture in your sidebar if you want so then others know that you have already been boo-ed , if you post lots and it's not on the main page where everyone will see your boo-ed post! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

OK.... I hope this won't be a weekly thing... but today is definitely OVERWHELMED WEDNESDAY Crap...is it Wednesday already? I have been working my tail off since last Thursday...lots of extra hours at the office trying to get everything done before the end of the month... throw into that kids, MESSY house... class mother stuff... AARRRRGGGGHHH! OK, I am going to break this all down into BABY STEPS & then MAYBE, I won't be SOOO BLOODY OVERWHELMED.... On top of working 10-12 hour days... (I know in the US this is pretty normal..but here in Scandinavia, where the work week is between 35-37 hours... I am pretty sure I will be receiving a medal in the mail for all of my hard work....) So on top of all of the long hours, messy house etc... I have my first "Class mother" meeting at Eva's "Barnehagen" (preschool) First order of business... to start planning a REAL old fashioned Christmas Tree Party.... The other mothers are throwing ideas out there left ...

It's Friday, It's Friday, Thank Goodness it's Friday !!! (Oh darn... just remembered I will be working ALL weekend) YIPPEE!I'm playing Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Fiesta Finish again . So after you're done here, go over there and check out who's playing this week!!! So"MY" FOTO this week isn't really mine... I snatched it from my friend Richard..... Is it just WRONG that a mother of 2 young -ish children, REALLY REALLY wants to carve her pumpkins like this ? because sick or not.... I think it is SOOOO bleeding funny!? (Note to self, I still need to track down pumpkins in this non-loving Halloween country...) Happy FRIDAY... Go check out carrie & give her some bloggy loving!

OK, so I found this great blog yesterday... GutsyWriter ... when scrolling through her blog..instead of doing the 999 things I needed to get done.. I found this post...which got me thinking... SELFISH PARENTS MAKE BETTER PARENTS ....I have been thinking about this for the past day now.. Although I don't like the word selfish because selfish makes me feel GUILTY .... being "selfish" parents is something Bjørn & I have have been working on for a while now.... Growing up, I recall seeing 2 kinds of parents... those that put their kids above everything else.. & each other... & those parents too occupied with themselves... to give a crap what their kids were doing... But i never really experienced/noticed a healthy balance..(maybe I didn't really notice it? Maybe I was too busy looking at cute boys? ) I was 30 when I met a couple... my friends parents, that I was in total AWE of.... Although married for, lord knows how many years, they were still ...

i have seen many a post about pissed off husbands & starving children due to our addiction to "BLOGGING"... Bjørn & I even went through a little "phase" where he was getting, dare I say, a little JEALOUS of the laptop... He would come home from work and ask "Have you been blogging today?..." Of course I would lie and say..." NOOOO " (first sign of addiction is denial..right?) But after I started trying to WORK with my ADDICTION... ie: get the kids fed & then go back to the computer... snuggle with hubby & then hop on the computer after he fell asleep, things got much better.... (I kid...kind of) Bjørn & I talked about my love affair with his laptop & I think in the end he too, could see the benefits in blogging.... I started blogging in May after my little sister got me into it. I don't know what I expected my blog to be like.... an online diary? a place to b! tch & moan about whatever I didn't like about m...

Yes. I live.... but I am afraid I am a bit of a Debbie DOWNER .... My fun family weekend? I was flat out sick the entire weekend... (but I understand the rest of the family had a good time...) I am still sick- ish . Not sick enough to stay home from work... but sick enough to whine about it to E V E R Y O N E... (sorry to all of you who have had to listen to me over the past few days....) I am irritated with myself for procrastinating on a couple of things... ie...AMERICAN taxes... (yes, the ones due on April 15th .... ) finally got around to mailing them off today ... after paying the $100 to Fed. EX them so they would be there by the 28th... Hit me last night that I had forgotten to renew my residence/work permit here in Norway... this time next week, I might be better know as the American in America ... OOPS! So Guess what I will be doing during my afternoon off tomorrow? .... waiting in line with 500 immigrants & the one case worker.... J O Y .... to see if I can stay in ...

It's Friday, It's Friday, Thank Goodness it's Friday!!!YIPPEE!I'm playing Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Fiesta Finish again this week .So after you're done here, go over there and check out who's playing this week!!! It has been a LONG, tiring week... Bjørn finally got home 1 am on Wed. night after a week & a half in Dubai... I had to get up at 5 am for work.. so we didn't have a chance to speak until after work yesterday. After finally making it home almost 2 hours late ... I drove up & the kids told me I had to wait in the c ar for a min. (daddy had to get the candles lit...) When they told me it was ok to come in, I walked into a CLEAN house... dinner on the table, with wine, candles& kiddos... AHHH... can we say HOW SWEET? Gosh I love this guy.... & for all of you who have made comments about my childrens BLUE BLUE eyes... you can see that they clearly come from their daddy.... Hope you all have a SUPER DUPER weekend...

I am participating in the awesome, great, fabulous blogathon being sponsored by SITS today. During my big day in the spotlight as SITS featured blog I had some of my non-Sits bloggy friends ask what SITS was? SITS is the Secret Is In The Sauce ; started by Tiffany and Heather who are self-proclaimed comment junkies. They wanted to create a blog that encompasses support amongst bloggers via comment love and support. SITS has not only been a great way to become a part of the blogging community and find some fabulous blogs but they were a TREMENDOUS source of support when I was going through a really rough time with both Hubby & child in the hospital this summer... Just having this group of ladies pull around me when i felt sooo alone was AMAZING.... Part of the blogathon is posting about the phenomenon which is SITS, but also write about 5 other blogs you've found via SITS... So here are my top 5... (this is so hard because there are so many of the blogs that I am ADDICTED to......

Mortified Monday , OH YEA.. I am bringing it back! You know you want to play. If you have a funny/mortifying moment you would share..leave me a comment & I will link back to you... (check out the original..... for some FUNNY moments) Mortified Monday... ** I finally found someone to take a look a look at my computer which died a few weeks ago. A nice young man, (FROM MY NEIGHBORHOOD) came & picked it up yesterday... So as I was drifting off to sleep last night it hit me.... HOOKER/ STRIPPER BOOB PICTURES.. Holy Crap! The HOLY SH*T Diet N I C E.. He doesn't know that I was just trying to show my sister that the dress didn't work... He is probably going to think I am some "Mrs. Robinson" with booby pictures on my computer... Oooo .. I can't wait till I have to go pick my computer up... or bump into him in the grocery store.... So I haven't been humiliated yet... I know the mortified moment will be happening this week.... (something to blog about NEX...

My adorable friend Infectious Chatter Tagged me for random/weird facts about myself. The rules: List 7 random/interesting/weird things about yourself people may not know and then tag 7 people to do the same, so without further delay, here you go friends: 1. I see dead people- OK..I don't really see DEAD DEAD people...but I do have a SIXTH Sense... I know this is probably weirder than you were wanting but... I would have premonitions of things that would happen...usually bad. For a while I even had my sister asking me if she should fly or not.. Kelly over at Song for Whoever can attest to my psychic abilities... 2.I have an irrational fear of sliding into a body of water in my car... or driving through long tunnels... I tend to hold my breath & have to white knuckle it... 3. I have "middle child syndrome"... (yes it is a very real condition) & I am the WORST SPELLER EVER... (these were both Soo lame...I figured they only counted for .5 of a fact.) 4. My first na...

I was GOING to go to bed early tonight.... but thanks to The Bloggess & this post... I can’t stop watching this. I have been sitting here in the computer again, forcing my children to watch me re live my youth through all of my favorite videos... EVERY RANDOM song from my childhood...teenage years... like this... Reminds me of the period in my life when I so desperately wanted to be British... Don't mind me... it is late & I am stuck in the late 80's.... I need to go & compile my playlist with every old, random, one hit wonder I can think of... And for all of you AMERICAN kids from the 1980's... you might actually recognize this one... Despite going to every Depeche Mode & Inxs concert that came through Philly together this has to be the song that reminds me of Song for Whoever

It's Friday, It's Friday, Thank Goodness it's Friday!!! YIPPEE! I'm playing Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Fiesta Finish again this week .So after you're done here, go over there and check out who's playing this week!!! This weeks photo is inspired by my new friend over at The Cottage Cafe' & her post My Heartfelt Thanks Since becoming a mom, I have tried to look for ways to show my children what the Christmas Spirit is all about... We have adopted families in need... Dane has gone with me to serve Christmas dinner to the homeless... but one of the best experiences I /we have had was a few Christmas' ago... My brother & sisters & their families gathered at my parents home in Kansas City...we invited soldiers from a nearby Army base to celebrate Christmas Eve with our family .... Jus t come over & hang out, so that they wouldn't be stuck on base without their family & friends. My mother had a friend married to a Sgt... ...

Today I had a little time for MYSELF... finally.... Yes it was a little Tree-sa time... Sigh... DEILIG ( means Nice in Norwegian) I KNOW...ya'll thought my name was Tressa didn't you? It is ..however it is pronounced TREE-sa (go figure..mom & dad thought they were being "different") I promised myself I would NEVER do that to MY children ... however, I did.. without meaning to... Eva Gabreille is pronounced Ava Gabreilla... (Norwegian pronounciation) so we have to correct everyone when we are in the states.... & Dane..bless his heart... in English... it is DANE...however on Norwegian it is pronounces DONN-A (NiiiiiiiiiiiCE for a little boy) So he has to correct everyone.... He wanted to change his name to Dan in first grade just so people would stop calling him DONN-A Oh & hubby? it is pronounced B-YERN So now that I am WAY off of track... I didn't intend on doing an entire post about our names.... just thought I would get that out there......

W.I.T.H.D.R.A.W.A.L i need a 12 step program . What a day I had yesterday! 300 PLUS comments from all of my SITS sisters! (340 but who is counting?) Thank you for all of your bloggy lovin...I LOVE y'all! But now, as i sit in my messy office with my tiara sitting crooked on my "up all night hair".. i wonder where do I go from here? It is like the day after your wedding & you realize the big day has come & gone ..... & me...being the freak that I am... have already read EVERY SINGLE ONE of your comments.... (good thing I got my big day in the spot light while hubby was out of town & the kids were home sick....) I would like to apologize for being FIRST so often on the SITS blog roll.... I got that in a LOT of comments... I kinda felt like a BLOG ROLL HOG ... (Go see who was first today...oops) But in my my defense....I do have a 9 hour time difference ... & all though You all may not have the 9 hour advantage... You do have TARGET & super Wal m...

Wow... to say I am excited to have my SITSta's here today is an UNDERSTATEMENT... I am SOO EXCITED! I even threw a little leopard print under my welcome sign for y'all.. When I found out y'all were coming over today I thought I'd whip up some " Hors d'oeuvres " .. a little Norwegian Salmon, Caviar, a lovely Cream Cake... and some real Norwegian Aquavit to wash it down... But then I figured heck, this is going to be a one time deal right? I might as well go all out ..& SPLURGE .. nothing but the best for my SITStas .. So I grabbed the kiddies & made a "run for the border".... (Swedish border that is) & decided to pick up some real delicacies... Oh ya, after only a 30 min drive across the border, I am able to pick up favorites such as the $15 can of "Spray Cheese" umm , a $40 case of Mountain Dew... or & don't forget the HO HO's for a mere $25... (they are all IMPORTED=FANCY..) See...anything for you, my new...

Scary Mommy has inspired me to write about Halloween... one of our favorite Holidays... or at least it USED to be until we moved to Norway... Halloween is still pretty new to Norway... Not sure how long it has been over here... but not long enough for people to know WHEN they are supposed to go out Trick or Treating... or get excited about decorating... or even to know that you need to go buy some good candy... (NOT clean out their junk drawers with whatever they might find...... some loose change... old gum.... a LIGHTER........) I love when Nowegians get all excited & ask me questions about Halloween... like "Why do you celebrate Halloween?" " Ummm ..free candy..." I know there is a story as to why we celebrate Halloween ... but whatever ..."when do you go out trick or treating for Halloween? ***crickets*** " Ummmm , ....ON Halloween" being a busy working mom...I haven't had a chance to spread the news to EVERYONE over here, that we need t...

There have been many mixed opinions on the name of the new daughter born to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway & her Hubby Ari... (OK so far the only opinions I have heard have been negative ) Emma Tallulah.. The news camera's were out in full force asking people what they thought of the name... Most people did not like it... most thought that it sounded "foreign" Then I heard... " Ja ! it sounds like it comes from A M E R I C A.... ewwww ..." (OK they don't say EWWW here...but i don't know how to spell the equivalent... you are just going to have to trust me on this ok ?) HELLO? When did America get the corner market on the name TALLULAH? Granted, Americans can take credit for a LOT of things but coming up with the name TALLULAH ain't one of them.... I know I am bound to offend someone ..... but TALLULAH? Sounds like a name I would use to refer to my daughters private parts.... "Honey, did you wipe your little TALLULAH? I don't want yo...

Can we just say .....F I N A L L Y!? I am so glad that SMUG S.O.B is finally getting his. For 13 years , OJ has walked around acting like he was above the law whilst thumbing his nose at the Brown & Goldman families.... Anyone want to chip in on a to buy old O.J. a paddle, for his trip UP the RIVER? I know, I AM horrible....

It's Friday, It's Friday, Thank Goodness it's Friday!!! YIPPEE! I'm playing Candid Carrie's Friday Foto Fiesta Finish again this week .So after you're done here, go over there and check out who's playing this week!!! Favorite FOTO of the week would be my children the GHOST BUSTERS .... Oh yes.... this is the way they entertain themselves when mommy gets wrapped up in her BLOGGING... I really like the Baby Einstein DVD being used as ammo... Oh & P.S. their clothes really do fit them...(I'm not a bad mother...) It is just the GIANT GUN shoved down the backs of their shirts make them APPEAR smaller...

Man...it seems like I am in the midst of a BABY BOOM.... Two of my girlfriends have had baby girls this month.... Mia Elizabeth & Ryan Addison.... The Princess of Norway had a baby girl this week....Emma Tallulah.... (Princess Martha,...I know you are TRYING to be COO L ...& CUTTING edge ...but it just ain't working for you.....your not a rock star ... you are an ANGEL teacher ... part time Princess .... Bless... ) I have another friend here in town...pregnant... My sister in law just announced PREGNANT... #4 (we were both preggers at the same time with both of my kids...) Eva just turned 4 & I can hear my biological clock TICK TOCK ... once again... It was right after Dane's 4 th birthday I started wanting another baby BAD ... Maybe at around 4 ,the kids lose all semblance of being a baby.... & I just HAVE to have a baby in the house.... I no longer have BABIES in my house... Just this past week, Eva with both hands on her hips & told me..." B...