Greetings from Hoth, revisited

Three years ago I had this post about crazy snowy weather. Well, now we're doing it all over again.
Two weeks ago a whole shitload of snow came down, and it never really melted away. And then another shitload has come down up today, adding up to what now amounts to absurd quantities of snow.

And what do we do in all this snow? Drive two hours to look at a new car...
The thing is, two weeks ago, when the first shitload of snow came down, we were in an accident. We were on our way home from grocery shopping and someone lost control over their car, slid over on our side of the road and slammed into us, front against front. It was quite unpleasant, and not something I would recommend anyone doing. It was a narrow country road, narrowed down even further by all the snow, and there were no high speeds involved, and we were practially unharmed, albeit thouroughly shaken. That is, I banged by knees and had a limp for a week and still can't kneel down bearing weight on one knee, but that's peanuts compared to what could have happened.

Though we escaped from it practically unharmed, our car didn't. And it turned out to be too costly to fix Helga, but luckily we got a good slump of money from our insurance company.

I must say, modern cars are designed very well regarding safety. Helga looked completely banged up, but all the panels and stuff that gave way, absorbed much of the energy of the impact, so that we could walk out unharmed. That is, I had to do a nose dive through the driver side door, as mine wouldn't open due to all the snow in the ditch we landed in.

Another thing, they never tell you airbag gas is SMOKY. And seeing so much smoke immediately after crashing, when you don't know that it's just the airbag gas, can be very panick-inducing. And it stinks. But, that put aside, it's a pretty nifty invention.

But we did manage to find a car today. I had checked every listing here and found two acceptable candidates, which we both viewed today. The first one, the seller hadn't even bothered cleaning. Sorry, but I refuse to purchase anything with food still stuck to the ceiling (how the fudge did it get there in the first place??) or still old gunk and parking tickets lying around.

The second car was much better. Prettier, cheaper, CLEANER. They were in essence the same car, both we viewed, a diesel Ford Focus mrk 2 (Helga was mrk 1), but the second one was so much better kept.

We've already named it the Tardis, because it's blueish gray in colour. And I can't wait to get it home here! The Volvo V70 rental we have at the moment, just has too much personality (read: annoying quirks) to be pleasing. I mean, a swedish car not handling the cold? WTF?

And on that note, I'll end this post. Going to veg in front of the TV, with a fire going in the fireplace and fresh green grapes for nomming on.

I has a happee!

Honeymoon is secured! I won't get too much into details, but it involves a longer mediterranian cruise, and I'm completely psyched about it! It was a special, travel fair combo price, making it actually affordable for us.

Interestingly enough, it's the kind of honeymoon we originally looked at, but discarded because it would be too pricey.

So now I'm immersed in travel guides and browsing online for places to go and stuff to see in the ports we're visiting. There's so much I've been wanting to see since... always. And I suddenly feel the need to learn some italian. Apparently, you have to be very specific about getting your receipt in Italy, because you can be fined if you're checked at the door and don't have it. It's not really to punish customers, but to force shops and restaurants to not sell stuff off the record.

I've already pinpointed what is supposed to be the best place for gelato. Watch this space for photos ;)

And... I think I need to step up the excercise a notch. Apparently cruises are bad for your weight. I can't imagine why, with all that food freely available at any given time and no real need to move an inch? Don't see how that would become a problem, nope.

I've already started. Albeit involuntarily. Today was the most snowy day in 70 years, apparently. That must have been Oslo. Regarding my town, I beg to differ. That day, three years ago, was absolutely ten times worse in chaos, and we had four times the amount of snow, and that in a shorter time span.

Nontheless, today was interesting and I'm aching in places I haven't ached before. In closer detail, my upper back and tonight, my lower back as well. Not back pains, but sore muscles. Unfortunately for me, we didn't have a proper shovel, only a crappy Lidl one, meant for German driveways where about three snowflakes fall during winter. Still, I shovelled bravely on.

And got out and bought a new one after work.
So now I'm going to veg out on the couch, completely guiltless, knowing I've earned it.

Lurking

Happy new year, everyone. A bit late. I hope you all had a good time with your families and foodstuff and such this holiday. Which is kind of weird saying now, after having chucked out the tree and banished all the ornaments and reindeer to the basement, where they'll wait another 11 months before they'll see daylight again (although, daylight isn't really the word in this part of the world in December).

Anyways. I apparently don't handle tear gas. There's supposedly one in a hundred who's immune. Well, I'm among one of the other ninty-nine.

How do I know this? Recent events in Gaza has sparked some rather violent (by norwegian standard) demonstrations, and working smack in the middle of Oslo, I got ambushed by a huge cloud of tear gas last thursday. I'm OK, hubby's OK and we were entirely safe the whole time, but the police had a hard time keeping control on the havoc-wrecking angry mob who pelted rocks and shot off fireworks at the police. I don't see the point. How's that helping anything? What the people of Gaza needs is an immediate halt of the war and unlimited humanitarian aid. I highly doubt a gang of glass-breaking hoodlooms is going to acchieve that.

Besides being occasionally trapped inside the office because of tear gas clouds outside, there's not much to report. The days fly by in a whirl, I've barely noticed that the week has started before the weekend appears and I'm baffled.

I've rearranged the living room today. While hubby was at work. I'm not so sure he'll like it. I'm not even sure I like it. I'm so damn impatient today, I can hardly sit still.

I am the queen of burps!

Today I shocked myself AND hubby by producing a low-rumble forever-lasting burp that made all the animals outside peek out of their winter dens.

I do female burps. Innocent, tiny belches. NOT earthquake-inducing terror burps like that one.
Well, I guess you learn something new every day.

And that's about the most exciting part of my day, unfortunately. We're having a slow Sunday, I'm testing a touch screen sollution computer for work, and am not so far impressed by it. And I dislike Vista, that's another thing. To me, Vista is all about flashiness and bling, and not so much about practical sollutions and stability.

We're still not sure what to do with our honeymoon. I'm so frustrated! We can't really afford something spectacular, yet still my mum expects it. She never got to go on a honeymoon herself, and regrets it. And she is convinced I will regret it also, if we don't go. And at the same time, I get the impression that going away for just a long weekend, doesn't count in her eyes as a honeymoon.

Well, isn't that dandy? There's so many things I could spend a shitload of money on (we're talking sensible things here, not redecoration the bath room with hello kitty tiles...), instead I feel pressured into spending that money on a holiday I feel I can't enjoy because I know I should be spending it on something more important. And if I do that, mum will haunt me with "But I just wanted you to have what I never had and all I want is for you to have a lovely exotic honeymoon". Well, mum, I'm not you! Hubby and I discussed it, and on a scale from 1 to 10, going on a honeymoon rates at respectively 4 and 3. Making a large down payment on our car on the other hand? A 7 or 8 on my scale.

Another thing, we're not charter people. It's not that I detest spending time on a beach and going for swims and getting some sun - but after a day, I would be tired of it. I'm not a beach person. I'm a see things and experience culture kind of person. So those cheap last minute charter deals? They're not an option.

Right now we're looking at spending a week in Dublin, self catered. Ryanair has some nice deals, so the flight wouldn't cost us much, and renting an apartment for a week isn't that pricey.

We've talked Florida too, but the flights are so expensive.

Damn it, I just want to drop the whole thing and go buy a Corgi. Geez... That would last for several years also, instead of just a week. Muuuh... Me wants a puppy.

Wordy

Hello again.

I'm wearing my horns. Seems like a good time to start wearing them now. Maybe I'll wear them to work tomorrow?

Or maybe not. I cut my hair last friday, going from quite the length I'd saved up since last summer, in order to have enough to have a proper up-do for the wedding. Now it doesn't even reach my shoulders, and it's been layer cut. The last two months or so my hair has also decided it wants to go curly, so it's a bit frizzy now. But I like it. It could curl up some more, to make proper curls, but wavy is nice too.

But yeah, my point... at work, everyone commented my hair. It was distracting, I mean, did it look THAT bad before? Keep in mind I have mostly male co-workers... Oh well, I'm pleased with it anyway.

We still haven't gotten closer to a decision regarding our honeymoon. So far all we know is that we have to count on paying a shitload of money, unless we decide to go UFO-hunting in Sweden, as Hubby so elegantly put it. I don't want to go UFO-hunting...

Looking forward to the Yule holidays. A lot of stuff already planned for december, but all nice, charming stuff. For instance, the traditional Yule market at the folk museum. I hope there'll be snow, and that can shoot some idyllic photos.
Oh, and the smells... cookies, and candied apples and gløgg. Oooo!

Looking forward to fixing all the gifts also. This year we've got it all planned, practically.

The dark, bleak winter is much easier to bear when I start thinking of all these things. Weee!

Calling you travellers out there!

Hubby and I are trying to plan a honeymoon next spring/summer.

Except we're almost clueless as to what we want to do. Or, we know where we want to go, but don't have the details ironed out yet.

We want to visit several European cities, such as Rome, Venice, Dubrovnic and Barcelona. And maybe tour Germany. Or England.

I checked how it would be to do a sort of castle tour of Brittain, but what the hell? Expensive much? Especially this place, a tree house. Just look at it, doesn't it look like the coolest place to spend the night ever? I would adore spending some nights in different castles, with whimsical rooms with hidden bathrooms and stuff, but it doesn't look like we can afford it. We are going to splurge, but I would prefer to have at least a two week honeymoon, instead of spending the entire budget on two nights at a quirky castle.

Then, seeing more of Germany would be nice too. And they have nice little quaint villages with charming B&Bs and... oh, I want to do all of it!

I also want to see Italy - tour Rome, see the Doge palace in Venice, eat Italian ice cream and in general, enjoy the beautiful architecture.

And then there's all the funky buildings in Barcelona, the Gaudi-stuff, and apparently it's one really nice city. I wouldn't know, I haven't travelled that much. Which is why I can't make up my mind now. I want this honeymoon to be memorable, and I want to do everything at once.

We're contemplating doing a cruise in the Mediterranian, but whoa mama, how to navigate in the jungle of cruise offers? I'm reading and reading until my head hurts about different cruise liners and itineraries and ship reviews and... Then there's the worry that cruises are for 55+ and families with noisy children.

Oh, and Croatia is supposed to be beautiful also. The choices, the choices. So many places offer stunning architecture, medieaval-ness and history - just what we're looking for.

So... Anyone have any suggestions?

Oh, and on a completely different note. We had a storm last night. It actually moved our BBQ... o_O Nothing's broken, but we had perfect timing on chopping down those pine trees outside this week. We had four tall and slim pines outside, two of which had damaged roots from when they built here. The other two blocked our sea view.
We chopped them down last... wednesday I think. Talk of perfect timing, honestly... those two with damaged roots had humpty dumpty written all over them.

Food meme

It's been a while since I had a proper meme, so I pilfered this from Karla.

1. How do you like your eggs?
In general, I don’t mind eggs, as long as they’re not runny. My favorite is omelette though.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea?
Coffee must have milk, or little bitterness. I can handle black coffee as long as it’s not that thick, sour goop some places serve you (shame on you, Colorline!). When it comes to tea; I don’t like black or green tea. I only drink herbal or infusion tea, and preferably bare.

3. Favorite breakfast food:
Oatmeal porridge or taco leftover salad.

4. Peanut butter:
Now there’s a forbidden item… It’s been at least 5 years since I last had peanut butter. But it’s not THAT yummy, so don’t feel bad for me.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad?
If any, I use sour cream (rømme). But I always add lemon pepper to my salad.

6. Coke or Pepsi?
Neither. I don’t drink soda. (Dude, do I sound like a total health freak or what?) I stopped drinking soda ten years ago, and now it’s just too sweet. I prefer carbonated water with a drop of lemon.

7. You're feeling lazy. What do you make?
If I’m lazy, we eat out! Or, I nag hubby into cooking. But my quick and easy dinners usually involve hot dogs or “fiskegrateng” you put straight in the oven.

8. You're feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order?
The last couple of times our favorite pizza has been not so favority. There’s something funky going on at the pizza place. But pepperoni and lots of cheese is usually a big hit.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make?
Lately I’ve been experimenting with beans and chickpeas (to Hubby’s disappointment). I like throwing lots of veggies and chicken or pork into my bigass cast iron wok. I also love experimenting with spices. I’m the kind of cook who doesn’t follow recipes, but just throw stuff together.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories?
The smell of Christmas dinner is always nice. Other than that, I can’t say.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories?
Red grapes make me want to puke sometimes, because that’s what I did one time after eating them as a kid. Sorry about getting too graphic, but they were not as nice when they returned.

12. Do any foods remind you of someone?
My nephew loves the Danish flat chocolate you put as a spread on bread. And Hubby is crazy about tacos.
Gulasch reminds me of my Oma, as she used to make so yummy gulasch when I was a kid.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat?
Yes. Seafood (fish is OK, but seafood is… nasty). Brunost, leverpostei, caviar, white bread, innards, sheep heads (in certain parts of the country they smoke them and eat them, and the eye in particular is supposed to be a delicacy). Then of course there’s bugs, slugs and animals I’m used to seeing as pets (dogs, guinea pigs). Oh, and brussel sprouts. They’re FOUL! And I can’t stand meat that’s sinewy and fatty and… eek. Pure meat, please.

14. What was your favorite food as a child?
I’ve always loved pot roast, and mums brown gravy.

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like?
If you count coffee, that’s one. Oh, and red meat, I couldn’t stand it as a kid, but now I love it.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate?
Cereal. Soda. Brunost (but only as a toddler, apparently).

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable:
Veggies: Cucumber, lima beans, tomatoes, fresh spinach and not to mention, mushrooms.
Fruits: sour fruits and berries. Raspberries is a big favorite, pomegranate, watermelon, pineapple.

18. Favorite junk food:
Boller.
19. Favorite between meal snack:
Boller. Unfortunately. But fruit and nuts is also OK.

20. Do you have any weird food habits?
Probably. I am very picky about my breakfast. Here in Norway it’s usually two or three slices of bread with some ghastly brunost or liverpaté. Norwegian breakfast sucks.

21. You're on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on?
Cucumber and tomatoes.

22. You're off your diet. Now what would you like?
Chocolate. Which is why dieting fails for me, I guess.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai?
I’m above average Norwegian wimp, but I wouldn’t stand a chance anywhere else.

24. Can I get you a drink?
I can get my own drink, thank you.

25. Red or White Wine?
White. Or rosé.

26. Favorite dessert?
Anything with chocolate and I’m pleased. I don’t think you can get anything yummier than oreo dream cake though.

27. The perfect nightcap?
Not my thing. I rarely drink, at all. I can count on one hand how many drinks I’ve had this year.