American in Norway

Doing a little throw back Thursday - on Saturday.. Cause that is how I roll 😜 Bjørn and I met at a Royal Caribbean Cruiseline Halloween party 18 years ago- & been together ever since...  Happy "meeting each other" Anniversary Blue Eyes- love you

So in order to make my 365 a tad more i nteresting ... I am going to attempt to take some pictures of some of the historical things in my area. Just around us.. we have things from the ICE AGE... the VIKING AGE.. World War II.. Anyone who loves history should  visit Norway! I happened to meet my husband on the highway. Literally.. I was heading back across the boarder from Sweden.. & he was pulled onto the highway right in front of me. May not seem like a big deal to most of y'all.. but lately it seems we are passing at the airport... & never seeing each other. He motioned me to pull over - & asked me out for coffee.. awwwwww. We found a little roadside cafe and had some nice alone time.. if even for a bit. From across the road I noticed a church -I had seen on the Internet before.. it was the Ingdal Church from the 1200's of course it was locked..  :-( But I bet it has a model of a Viking ship hanging ...

Day 2 of the A-Z challenge...  todays letter is B.. B is for BEAUTY Beauty is a BIG part of my job.. I work for a large Scandinavian Cosmetics/Skin Care company as a sales manager. I LOVE my job... .. if you were going to create a job JUST for ME.. this would be it. I love people.. I love make up & I love to travel... which I do often with my position. the challenge is to find the PERFECT balance between HOME and WORK.. sigh.. which I work on every day. B is also for BJØRN.. my Norwegian husband (Bjørn means BEAR in English) with really BLUE eyes ... and B is for our BILINGUAL.. Babies We have traveled to several places which begin with B... such as Bulgaria..Burma, Barbados,Bangkok  and Belize.. but not sure where I have those pictures saved.. :-)  So I will have to re post our pictures from BERLIN. B is for BERLIN Did I mention that I once lived in Burlington IA? ..

As y'all know I was having a wee bit of a problem with HOMESICKNESS today... I H A T E.. being away from my family for the holidays.. It is hard to believe I am a woman pushing 40, with kids of her own, when I go on & on & on about how much I miss my mom & dad, sisters & brother. It has been 3 years since I have been home for Christmas. Sure, I was home in Sept. but my family is scattered all over the US...Roanoke, Kansas City, Houston... (not counting the cousins & rest of the lot...) So the chance of me being able to see everyone is almost impossible... if I'm not home over a holiday or a wedding. Because of my HS class reunion & both of my parents turning 70 within the next couple of years, the chance of my getting the kids home to the US for Christmas within the next 3 years is next to impossible... When I said that out loud today...not being home for Christmas for SIX years... I.fell.apart. Eva is going to be 8-9 before I get her back...no longer...

What a F-U-N week to play! There were several pictures that I really wanted to use this week, but ended up throwing this one out there & am hoping for the best... One of the things I LOVE about the challenges on I ♥ Faces, is going through & finding picture that will work for a challenge.... I had forgotten about this photo... I LOVE this one of Bjørn & Dane... the looks on both of their faces just MELTS-MY-HEART- Sigh... & bonus...daddy was wearing his baseball hat so it COUNTS! Head on over to I Heart Faces , & see who else is playing! Are you playing yet? if not...WHY NOT? Sooo many neat bloggers who WOW me every week...get on over there...go on ...

I ♥ Faces...My friend & I.... Darn, I was too late this week..(lots going on you know...) this was the photo I was going to use... Dane my 9 year old took it.... some of my favorite pictures are taken by Dane... I really hope he sticks with it

An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland). (stolen from wikpedia...) First let me say that when I start getting all whiny & saying that I want to GO HOME... It has nothing to do with NORWAY ... There are many WONDERFUL things about living here in Norway.... I tend to get down & homesick when I have not -so-good-stuff- going on..... & just want to be home ...my home... with my family. My dearest friend here in Norway is named Leanna (also an expat...) & we know that we can always call each other & say "I am having a I hate (insert country) day..." & vent away.. Do we really hate the country? NOOOOOO... of course not... But somedays... living in a foreign country isn't as glamorous as all of my FACEBOOK friends think.... I thin...

What a year.... just when I think we are D O N E... we get hit with another WHAMMY.... Say a little prayer for us.... Bjørn is having complications with his arm... & looks like they are going to take him in on Monday & open his arm up AGAIN.... Can I just whine a little now... & say (scream) I WANT TO GO HOME! I am SICK TO DEATH of the "mystery" illnesses & ailings here.... Not sure what it is? lets just call it a virus... or i dunno... say that your body is healing itself... (from WHAT?) About 6 weeks ago Bjørn noticed a golf ball sized lump under his scar.... it worried him enough to make an appointment.... What did the Dr. say? Hmmmmmmm... not really sure.... Hmmmmmm took a few x-rays, but couldn't EXPLAIN anything to us.. ( in regards to what it may be...) they did make another appointment to come back & check it a month later..... by this time...(last week) the golf ball, had started getting smaller & moving closer to the surface... they told ...