Applesauce

I haven't been able to find applesauce in the stores here? Not sure if they don't eat it here or if people just make their own but it's slightly annoying. I have come to discover that Norway is not about convenience. There really isn't any fast food expect a McDonald's and Burger King and even those aren't drive ups. The variety at the stores is pretty limited and eating out is so expensive that people just don't. Banks don't even have drive ins. So it shouldn't have surprised me when I couldn't find applesauce. But it did and I bitched and then I decided to do something about it and I made my own. These pics are in reverse order so to get the full effect start at the bottom. This is the amount I got out of six apples.
Using my folley food mill to mash the apples.
Cooking the apples. They have to cook with skins on in a small amount of water until they are about mush and then they can be put into the food mill.

Averyisms

She has started calling me, "my muther." " Oh thank you my muther" is her favorite but occasionally she says, "my Grand muther" and then she laughs.

Still calls me sir even though we've discussed multiple times that girls are miss or mam.

When she's done going potty sings a song that goes," I'm done the lucky done." over and over again until someone helps her wipe.

Likes to pretend she's a meercat? To do this she lays on the floor and scratches her face with her foot and requests that she eats her food in bowls laid on the floor? I have yet to oblige this request.

She can open the fridge here so when she's told she can't have something she just goes and gets it herself! So the kid is landing in time out at least once a day for this activity.

When asked if she wants a time out her favorite reply is, "yes" WTF.

Believes that if it's light out it's time to get up, even when the sun rises at 5:30 am. Then continues to bug her parents until they finally give up and get up.

Likes to tell me I'm her best friend. This one makes up a little for the time out issue.

Tonight yelled from the tub, "Mommy my butt itches, come scratch it." Again WTF.

Likes to watch Looney Toons and eat a carrot like bugs bunny. Tonight when she asked for a carrot ten minutes before bed time and was told no, she went and got the carrot peeler and then we heard the fridge open. I think it's time for me to stop dinking on the internet and put said child to bed.

Trip Downtown

On Sat we took the bus downtown. Here are a few pics.

This is a building on NTNU campus. It has a hamburger place that is supposed to be the best in town.
View from the bus.
Another view from the bus.
Grumpy girl waiting for the bus.
We ate at Burger King and it tasted sooooo good. It cost about three times as much as in the states but paying $7 for a whopper jr was totally worth it!
Avery checking out the fish as the fish market's live tub of fish. The fish market was nice but nothing compared to Seattle's. I think we'll go again next week with my parents.

New Table

Last weekend we took the bus to Ikea and finally found a table. It cost us roughtly $185 or 935kr which I thought was a pretty good deal. We ended up buying two little tables because it was less expensive than buying one big table. Plus much easier to get two small boxes home. We had to take a cab back. I love Ikea they actually have reasonable prices on things, it's very refreshing. What we've been learning about this country is that food, housing and vehicles are expensive but many other items are comparable or even less expensive. Another interesting thing we learned is that Norwegians don't generally say happy birthday, they say congratulations! This weekend we are hoping to hit the fish market and walk around downtown a little.

Always the little helper.

Being an Expatriate and a Mom

It's so odd to me that now I'm the foreigner. I never thought I'd be in that position yet here I am. For the most part I'm finding it's not that much different than when you move to a new town in the States. The feeling of uncertainty and isolation are the same. The difference is that in Norway I'm reminded of it every day whenever I hear someone speak. Moving to Butte was a huge change. We didn't know another soul and we had never really even visited the town. So finding out the best places to shop and which Drs to go to proved a little bit of a challenge. The difference was that the list of Dr was in English and I had a car to take me to all of the stores. But we're figuring things out and slowly I'm becoming more comfortable. Although I really haven't broken out of my shell much. I've found that if I set small goals for myself each day I feel like I've accomplished something. Today it was emailing the cable company and working on a business plan I'm doing for one of Jeff's colleagues. Tomorrow it might be as simple as walking to the store or calling the cable company if they don't email back. Small things but you can't believe how much having a goal helps. More than living in a foreign country though I think I'm battling the most with being a stay at home Mom. Don't get me wrong I love it, love having time to clean the house and bake and hang out with Ave, however, when you're used to always going to work I think you start to believe that having a job gives you an identity. Lacy Kline, book keeper for Harley-Davidson now I'm just Lacy Kline... Mom. Like without a job you're less of a person because I've always been a Mom but now that's all I am and I feel guilty about thinking that way. I hate to say that but it's really taking some getting used to not having that part of my life. I am hoping that spending the next two years home with Ave will make me appreciate having a job that much more when I do get one again, and I will. I love being home but I'm finding that I'm not getting enough me time, time where I can just sit and think and not be interrupted by a three year old. So I haven't decided yet which challenge is greater, living in a foreign country or learning how to be a stay at home Mom. I know that sounds crazy but that's what I'm fighting with right now. I am really hoping that in a few months I'll excel at the stay at home thing and learn to appreciate it, I have learned to have a whole new appreciation for the women that choose this life over work. It's not easy, who'd have thought?

On another note, we went to Ikea and got a table this weekend, I'll post pics soon - very exciting! Oh and it's snowing - again. I swear it hasn't stopped for two weeks, either raining or snowing, where is my spring!!! Also my parents are coming in two weeks and I'm so excited and Jeff turns 33 this Thursday - wow we're getting old!

Avery's 3rd Birthday

Avery had a wonderful birthday. Yesterday she helped me make a cake and today she woke up to a princess costume and balloons. She got to talk on Skype to both of her Grandma's which she loved. She got a package of presents from America and there is another package on the way. I still can't believe my baby is three. Helping Mom with her cake.

Wearing her princess stuff in the morning.

Opening gifts with Nana watching.

She got a few costumes but she loved the pirate one the most.
I had to wear kitty ears and a tail.
Talking to Grandma while eating cake.
Being a princess.
She got this fantastic I see quilt from my Mom. Mom's friend Mare is a wonderful quilter and did such an awesome job on this. The other side is Tinkerbelle but on this side there are pictures of her Aunts and Uncles her Nana and Grandpa and other things that she loves. Thank you Mare and Nana, Avery loves it!
Being a kitty.
Making Daddy wear a mask.
Finally got the entire outfit on her.
What a wonderful day. Thank you everyone that sent or gave gifts and sent Happy Birthdays. She is a lucky little girl and felt everyone's love even though we are far away.

Norwegian Fashion

We got a catalog delivered to our door the other day and I thought I'd share some of the fashion. Surprisingly a lot of what they wear over here is very similar to what we wear in the U.S. Skinny jeans are huge here and almost everyone wears them with boots. I'd say 85% of women wear skinny jeans or leggings and surprisingly I have grown to really like them. Guys jeans are either loose like snowboarder style or tighter and there really isn't much in between. Everyone wears scarves including the men. From what I have heard, Europe is about a year or so ahead of us in fashion. So I wouldn't be surprised if you see some of these items in the United States stores next year. I thought this outfit was really cute.
The punk rock look is pretty big. Hey Kristy should I wear the dress on the left to your wedding - ha!
Belted shirts are big.
I thought these were unusual. I've also seen skinny jeans with ruffles at the bottom?
Funky pants, don't think I'll be getting into this style. The skinny jeans on the other page are pretty cute though. I have actually been surprised at how reasonable clothing is over here. With the price of food outrageous, I just assumed clothing would be the same. 229 kr is about $40. A good reference on the money is 100 kr equals about $17. So one of these days I'm going to get out clothing shopping. I really want to check out the stores downtown. They always have salg (sales) and the outfits in the windows are really cute!

TV

Television in Norway is interesting. We do not have cable yet, however, we still get about 14 channels including; the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and Animal Planet and the BBC? They play tons of American television over here. It is played in English and has Norwegian subtitles at the bottom. Shows they get include; the Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, Cougar Town, Two and a Half Men, That 70s Show, Criminal Minds and the list goes on. Most shows are a couple of months or even a year behind and they don't seem to go in any chronological order? But hey at least it's American TV! What I have noticed about television over here is that swearing is totally ok (Gordon Ramsay actually says the F word on his show) and nudity is fine. I've seen more boobs and butts since I got here than all my years in the states. It seems that sexuality and the human body are viewed as natural things and thus not taboo. Things that would never get by the censors in the States are no problem over here. Kind of refreshing. Another thing I have noticed is that violence is not tolerated as much. If a show has violence it is showed after 10 pm. In a way it makes more sense to me to not make such a big deal out of nudity and make more of a deal out of violence but apparently in the States we'd rather have our children embarrassed of their bodies but ok with seeing murder and violence. Kind of skewed views if you ask me. Oh and something I love at TV over here is that they have soooo many fewer commercials. We get to watch The Daily Show with no commercials and many of the programs will have about one commercial break. TV seems to run in 20 minute increments instead of half hour. So I have been pleasantly surprised by my TV viewing experience thus far. Norwegian shows, however, are still odd. Not just they fact that they speak a foreign language, they just seem odd to me, humor I don't get I guess?

Playing Outside

what we did this weekend.

Trondheim Sunset