American in Norway

Forgive me if this post goes all over the place... I have worked myself into a "tizzy" & that is never a good thing.... This is not a TEACHER BASHING post... this is a different culture..not sure what to do, I NEED to do something kind of a post.... : ) Usually I don't write about things I get really REALLY upset about... although I seem to do a lot of bitching... I really don't mean it... ask anyone who knows me in person... I really am a pretty positive, upbeat, person ... Today I am upset .... no, better make that PISSED OFF ... it is no secret that I didn't really WANT to move back to Norway... I try to cope with it the best that I can... & bitch & moan in a half hearted kind of way... but enjoy most aspects of life over here... My family is happy... I love my new house.. my job... and am finally making some real friends here.... However, there are a couple of things that I can't get over/used to here in Norway... the Health Care... & the...

BLOGGING....I'm not really sure why I started a little over a year ago.... my little sister blogs... ali explains it all... ... it looked like fun... I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with my family & friends in the U.S. (seriously never dreamed I would blog for more than a week or so...) Slowly but surely "American in Norway" became my sounding board... A way to get my thoughts out & not lose my mind... When Bjørn had his accident last summer & Eva got sick...my few readers reached out... "strangers" became FRIENDS... How do people that you chit chat on the Internet become friends? I dunno... but it happens... I had offers to meet me in Chicago to help me with the kids ( thanks Suzanne!) I had offers of care packages... I had words of support & virtual hugs... Things I appreciate so much & didn't know how much I needed.... My blogging group of friends have gotten bigger & bigger... & I have started meeting my ...

So finally... Eva's big day in pictures... Baby doll had a super wonderful day... Little American Idol... The cake... (she had to have one just like Danes....) Her birthday guests were ADORABLE... This beautiful baby boy came as a little dictator instead of a pop star... whatever... he is such a beautiful boy.. mormor (my mother) sent over all sorts of really cool Hannah Montana stuff...like pillow cases Super day had by all.... I have been a busy busy girl.... meeting lots of new friends through my blog... WHO KNEW? Try to fill you all in on the details tomorrow... : )

I always get kinda (VERY) BUMMED at back to school time in NORWAY I get HOMESICK for the United States.... I remember my days at school.... I LOVED school... not the learning bit... but the social part of it... I loved everything about going back to school... In elementary school, they would post which class room we were going to be in for the year... I remember peddling my bike as fast as my chubby legs would take me... in anticipation... what teacher would I have? who would be in my class? "Oh please please please let Michele be in my class... I hope we get to sit together...." And the weeks leading up to school & all of the shopping... back to school clothes & supplies.... All new outfits... all new supplies.... I loved getting a new "Trapper Keeper" each year... & every year you could look forward to moving up a grade... 3rd grade...4 th grade.. & finally 5 th grade where we "RULED THE SCHOOL" I remember being REALLY excited about bei...

Let me just say I miss my hubby.... How I managed him being gone for 3-4 months at a time I can't remember... I miss having him come home so I can ask all of my dumb WHY .. questions... So, sorry y'all... I will have to dump them all on YOU until he gets home for me to BUG..... So as I am running into my office this morning I happened to notice a little girl trapped in the back of her car.... wearing her formal Norwegian dress... Hmmmmm Upon further inspection I noticed it wasn't really a little girl trapped in the back of her car.. it was just her picture on a sun screen.... WHY? it was kindda creepy ... ( SOOOO creepy looking, I took a picture - I am too lazy to download the actual pictures) NEXT... Just wondering WHY someone with like triple FFF boobies would go out in public BRA-LESS ? WHY WHY WHY .. unless your freaking house was on fire & you had to run out of the house in the middle of the night.. I don't understand it... ( I was once trapped in Turkey w...

Only in Norway could my front door stand W.I.D.E. O P E N the entire night & nothing BAD happen... nothing gone missing.. the 3 of us are still alive & kicking.... lucky we didn't get any animals in the house... then again ONLY in Norway... would your neighbors let your door stand W.I.D.E. O P E N the entire night NOT come over to tell you... hrmpf ... They were probably wonding what the crazy American was doing... airing my house out? I thought it was a little chilly in the house last night.... that's what I get for sending my 10 year old down to check things out.... my bad... Hope y'all have a SUPER weekend...

Oh I had such BIGGGG plans this week... Bjørn is in Dubai.. & you know what they say? "When the cats away, the mice will play..." I remember the days of "playing" included weekends away with my girl friends.. & dancing on bars until the wee hours of the morning... Nowadays...my big plans included a bath, shaving my legs & blogging... Which I didn't even get a chance to do... Whaaa .... I did however make a HUGE dent in the pigsty we like to call our basement... (I would show you pictures, but I am afraid the authorities would take my children away if they saw how bad it was....) I also rediscovered my LOVE of ebay .... Oh yes, I remembered why I banned myself from bidding.... But seeing as it is only a few short weeks until I am in "the land of the round door knobs" I figured it would be ok to start a little online shopping... (start re filling the basement LOL ) (Is the U.S. the only country with round door knobs? - just wondering) I wa...

It is SILLY face week at I ♥ Faces I REALLY REALLY wanted to refrain from using another HOT LIPS picture..but I just could NOT resist.... Look at these cute SILLY little girls... My mom sent over these wax lips from the states for Eva's Birthday party... the kids LOVED them...heck I love them... I am going to wear mine when I go shopping.... Head on over to I Heart Faces , & see who else is playing!

With my 20th reunion coming up I thought I would get a couple of "touch ups" Collagen injections & botox... Hmmm.. what do you think? Too much? Eva's big party this afternoon & I am pooped... Will post pictures tomorrow..

John Hughes passed away yesterday..... I don't normally post about things like this....but when I heard the news in the cars...I must admit I got a bit teary.... Just want to say THANK YOU Mr. Hughes, for documenting my teenage years for me....& for millions of other American teenagers in the 80's. I can watch John Hughes movies OVER & OVER & OVER.... I am proud of the fact that I know Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles & Weird Science by HEART..word for word.... I can relate to something in all of his movies... I guess we all could... How many of y'all wanted to marry Jake Ryan? (Have you caught that that is/was the name of Hannah Montana's boyfriend? Hmmm.) - when I gave up on that idea... thought I would name my son Jake Ryan.... Who dreamed of taking a day off like Ferris? How many of you had an asshole big brother like Chet? My FAVORITE Quotes.... "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it....

When I was little...our summer vacations were about 3 months long & we spent pretty much EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. at the swimming pool.... We loved it.. thats what we did... (I don't remember being bored...) Sometimes if we were LUCKY, one of our parents would drive us down to ASTROWORLD for the day... & some summers we would make the 17 hour trek to my grandfather's HOG FARM in Ill... & catch the 4th of July parade... (in a town of maybe 900 people it was always a BIG deal....) BOY are summers now, WAAAAAY different than I remembered..... Last night Dane got a call from his godfather who wanted to know if he wanted to go sailing for the next few days... After 2 weeks of CRAPTASTIC weather.... (seriously...rain,rain & more rain & hi ghs in the 50's) The sun FINALLY popped out & they were headed to sea...did he want to go.... OH YEA!.... SO I packed little Thursten Howell up & sent him to sea for a few days of swimming, sun, seafood.... What a summer t...

Yea! Another excuse to post tons & tons of pictures from our summer holiday... Sorry to all of my regular readers... I know y'all have seen most of the pictures... (but if you make it to the end there are some NEW pictures of PARIS...) If your interested on knowing more about or trip, you can check out these posts.... Day 5 Berchtesgaden , Germany - the Eagles Nest Day 3-4 Tropical Island Berlin Home again home again..Where to start? DAY 1 Days 5-6 Untersberg - Austria & for all of the rest of you... I will try to keep our 7 countries in 14 days BRIEF.... In 14 fun filled days we managed to hit....Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg , France, & Holland... WE had a B L A S T... We learned a lot about history, geography, culture & each other.... We the NON-camping family... camped for 2 weeks & made it without TV & the Internet ... . WOW!! EVA at the Berlin Wall Dane at Mozart's birth home...in Salzburg , Austria ...